Fire is an ally that keeps our homes warm and cooks our soups and stews. There’s also a flame that burns in our hearts, radiating warmth, friendliness, and loving-kindness.

Fire is an ally that keeps our homes warm and cooks our soups and stews. There’s also a flame that burns in our hearts, radiating warmth, friendliness, and loving-kindness.

Fire is an ally that keeps our homes warm and cooks our soups and stews. There’s also a flame that burns in our hearts, radiating warmth, friendliness, and loving-kindness.

Since 2017, I’ve been traveling to Peru every year to work with the Shipibo Konibo and partake in a sama, also called a dieta in Spanish. The Shipibo are the indigenous people who live along the Ucayali River, in the Amazon rainforest. According to their oral stories, they have been practicing sama for some 200,000 years.

I deeply respect and am inspired by those who dedicate themselves to making art. To make art, you must take responsibility to claim your joy, curiosity, and play. To quiet the conditioning that holds you back and give yourself the space to create must be done consciously. For me, art is the greatest gift I can give myself—it’s a form of self-love and self-care, a practice that fuels my courage to heal.

I came to this song, sculpture, then painting, contemplating and connecting with the archetype of the Queen of Cups and the goddess of the night. She has mastered the emotional realm, and in doing so, she can be with and transform the shadow self.