Who DO I write for? (look for updates to this post as more comments arrive)

"I would be a liar, a hypocrite, or a fool -- and I'm not any of those -- to say that I don't write for the reader. I do. But for the reader who hears, who really will work at it, going behind what I seem to say. So I write for myself and that reader who will pay the dues.

... Every human being has paid the earth to grow up. Most people don’t grow up. It’s too damn difficult. What happens is most people get older. That’s the truth of it. They honor their credit cards, they find parking spaces, they marry, they have the nerve to have children, but they don’t grow up. Not really. They get older. But to grow up costs the earth, the earth. It means you take responsibility for the time you take up, for the space you occupy. It’s serious business. And you find out what it costs us to love and to lose, to dare and to fail. And maybe even more, to succeed. What it costs, in truth. Not superficial costs—anybody can have that—I mean in truth. That’s what I write. What it really is like. I’m just telling a very simple story."   - Maya Angelou

The neap tides have turned, the moon's globe is fattening up on her way to becoming full in Virgo on Sunday, March 16th. The 'old people' those who lived and felt the turning of tides and the fattening or leanness of the moon kept in sync with everything around them so what was inside became in sync with the outside. The full moon means the sun will be directly opposite the moon, and in the sign of Pisces. My astrologer says:

"The full moon takes place on March 16th, midday, at 26 degrees Virgo.  I like the look of this. It’s elegant.  You may be able to ground a good idea at this time."

The magic and the medicine of stories flows or is stopped at the border for another time, or for some other. I write because that's part of the remedy that keeps me fluid rather than brittle, tickled rather than tortured or torturous and I keep learning something through the process. With practice I gain some confidence with the ups and downs of the creating and loosen my grip on perfection. The magic and medicine remains lively and ownership is not part of the prescription. I write for the younger me who didn't have the words to speak in language forbidden by laws made up by missionaries with a bible and paper to take and bury the protocol and practices of common magic -- elemental wisdom. I write for my mother and my father, my aunties, my mango trees. I write to make space for Grace.

Now that the neap tides have turned the process of showing The Joy Weed Journal to an audience is nearly over. I have received valuable feedback and information that I will horde like a greedy bear cub hungry for a taste of something yummy. A second group of audience members read the story at their pace. On the inspiring and elegant Full Moon I will ask them "How is/was the medicine/magic/tale is for them?" With that feedback we head more fully toward the Spring Equinox on Thursday, March 20th!

Today, the first two salmon berry blossoms are smiling at me through the Quonset window, day by day the Spring sun partners with them and the promise of plump fruit.  With the horde of feedback I'll go back to the creative cave when the moon is new at the end of March; and muck around with the story(ies) editing, licking, and floating in the rewrites preparing for storytelling under the moveable umbrellas of The Safety Pin Cafe.

This post is a summary of the feedback our readers and audience have given over the past several weeks. A huge, sloppy and slurpy hug and thank you to all of you for your feedback and attentiveness you have written this border witch. Your honesty, love and support is such a gift. Thank you very much. Mahalo nui loa a pau.

Audience Feedback

The following quotes are posted with permission from our audience members who emailed me their  communications. In addition, there as comments posted on the individual segments of The Joy Weed Journal.

" I have been delighted to see you opening up in such a beautiful way.  And that you are asking for feedback, which in your old reincarnation, would have been forbidden as attention seeking.  I'm assuming too much,
but it's a thought I had, how you seemed to shun direct attention or affirmation in those old days.
I love that you are seeking feedback, and enjoy the dialogue, and of course, the stories,
which are so unique, as they are you.

I also wanted to say that I love writing, which has me in awe of what you are doing,
actually putting your writing into a cohesive story with so much of your cultural soul in it,
and so much playing with the elements.  It comes from your core, and takes great honesty,
so you have a fan!

It is so interesting to have known each other as young women, and now meet again in our mid sixties (well, I'm in my mid sixties)...as one phrase you used summed up for me why I always wanted to know more of you when we were young mothers, it was
"..not too many words to 'explain' ... enough to plant seeds or stir up primal roots for the committed explorer." - TW, Whidbey Island, WA

"Like S.P.C (safety pin cafe), old memories, old friends, a meta world & healings- so broth does for me.

I spend 85% of my waking life cooking, the other 15 if a cross between, hiking, working out, cleaning, and nature.

Fantasy--of memories- did i live them or are they a collective memoir of things past& almost forgotten--RESURRECTED.

through the labor of broth making the gift is more than the product- if you use protocol.

protocol.--- asking, waiting, listening, thankful and thankful again.

in my edge of the world, there is much excited! great food! great music, great style/fashion, cool stuff-BAM BAM BAM!!

i touch all that-- i walk through it, sometimes matching the energy, sometimes creating my own,  but mostly we walk through it all, like a fish in a fish tank, observing through a window. its a bit better now for me. i need to keep my energy clean and bright to have the stamina for all the cooking and walking i do.
 

i am thinking a lot about Raven and guardianship role, as well as other roles, he provides.

what about those twins...got lots of questions on that." - R.J.A., San Francisco, CA

" [in response to New Segment to The Journal] another fab read; lots of culture and history and wanting to read more"- jt, Lacy, Washington

" ... So that is what I need right now - sleep, rest, and taking care of myself.  I know you are familiar with that space.  I will dip and sip and savor The Joy Weed Journal again soon, I hope.  I know it would likely be healing."- K.A. Port Townsend, Washington


" I'm not sure I'm going to be a good reader for your story, but I will go back to it again.  Just not sure when.  Nothing to do with the story, really, just with me... It's almost like I have a fence around myself... Anyway, I may not be able to take in your story at all, just because of that fence.  But I do think what you're doing is wonderful and hope you continue!"- M.G. Langley, WA

" I feel surrounded by the love and warmth of Pale's magical life, a much needed remedy for these cold winter days and colder nights. The story guided me into a realm of the limitless possibilities that truly exist and are always within our grasp only slightly obscured by interference of common life. Following the advice of any reflection I experience to "go outside" and embrace the wonderment of life giving birth, I thank you Pale for the encouragement to breath deeply, allow for the awareness to grow and hold dear to your precious tale." - P.L. Langley, WA

And this feedback just added today, Thursday, 313/14

"I am only part way through the story and what I notice is that I must read it with a "different mind"--shoooo away the all too left brain of form and instead dance it with my right 5th dimensional formless self.  I let the words wash over me and take the essence of what you write, Moki, and that is most likely the "magic" of medicine story.

Raven has come prominently in my life while on Whidbey ... where I thought only eagle sat holding royal court over the world....as you can see, your whimsy and Hawaiian mind softens me and has me speak and see differently.  I am a fan and only hope I am back to Whidbey for the early fall story telling of the Joy Weed Journal--it is your voice and face that the story animates coming most alive for me."  -M.M. Clinton, WA