Channeling the High Priestess

She advises—
”There’s a certain amount of friction needed on this plane so you don’t go sliding all over the Earth.
Resistance and barriers foster strength and fortitude.
You carry on despite the sometimes devastatingly depressing drag.
Use the friction to foster connection to spirit.
Your draw to the Earth is proportional to the celestial draw of the heavens—
the warm earth tones balance the cool indigo.
Both are needed to access the depth and beauty of the loving heart.
So invite the friction in and get to know it.”

Tricia Channeling the High Priestess

Waiting on the Cold White

The stark, icy cold of winter— the whiteness, the no-complication, the no-contour, the many shades of white layered on various shades of gray has yet to grace the north— I see remnants of autumn with its breakdown and hollowness but I feel a void of expected seasonal change— the uncertainty of the Oaks as they hold tight to their few remaining leaves, the green mosses shine chartreuse, confused though brilliant, shrouded in a near-blue frost as they await the chance to rest and lie dormant. Today they still feel the heat of the Earth warming their tiny roots and reaching towards the suns periodic kisses on the tips of their beings.

I remain in hope that starkness will arrive ridding the landscape of the complication of muted hues and lake water that still moves under the too-thin layer of uncertain ice. I cling to the hope that the presented landscape will once again offer me a blank page on which to spew my new aspirations and my, as yet recognized, winter-oriented insights.


I’ve always appreciated, even needed, the starkness of winter and its simplicity. The freeze offers opportunities— a snapshot moment but for months on end, allowing nature to slow and stand still. In other seasons varying, vibrant colors are on display, swaying in both graceful and severe movements. Scents grab us and throw us into the past, our eyes are tempted into the spectrum of hues and the birds awaken us with their symphonies of sound. The eyes, the ears, the nose, can be caught in a sensual whirlwind. But winter is less demanding, offering time to hibernate, even contemplate about where we’ve been and where we are headed. We can dream about the blessings of warmth, appreciate the slow thaw and its accompanying new growth, small eruptions of green on the thinning blanket of white, bubbling over with possibility.

Time, space and quiet are conducive to the creative energy reset, a re-contextualizing, an embracing of the heat of new perspectives after which we can once again honor the words— “Hope springs eternal.”

Tricia Schwaba, December 26, 2023

Lift the Crown & Heart Please

This photo represents why I am adamant about postural awareness. Figure 1 posture can be the result of lack of postural awareness and why many of us may shrink by inches as we age. Figure 2 posture can be the result of yoga and the heightened postural awareness it offers us. And it leaves space for the individual vertebrae to move freely and leaves space for the vital organs to flourish. This costs nothing & pays off big time.

John O'Donohue on Beauty

"Beauty likes to keep away from the public glare. It likes to find a neglected or abandoned place, for it knows that it is only here it will meet the kind of light that repeats its shape, dignity and nature. There is a deep beauty within each person. Modern culture is obsessed with cosmetic perfection. Beauty is standardized; it has become another product for sale. In its real sense, beauty is the illumination of your soul."