Hail and Welcome to the New Year!
What a delicious first month it has been. The Isis Phoenix Sensual Shaman U.S. & Canada Tour is well under way. I touched down in New Orleans on January 6th with my beloved beagle Molly Brown accompanying the travels. Our journey getting there, however, was a bit harried. We were waylaid with the aftermath of delayed flights circa the New Years winter storm that blew through a few days prior and inundated with security lines that snaked around all of LaGuardia. After a fashionably late arrival, we touched down in the Big Easy where we were picked up at the airport by our dear friend Audrey of Madison Holistic New Orleans and ushered to our flat where Molly and I set up our transformational temple through January 15th. I arrived just late enough to miss the Joan of Arc parade but was grateful that this sacred feminine icon was honored just before I got there.
Molly and I got to know the city taking long walks through the French Quarter and the museum arts district grabbing some chicory coffee for our strolls and spending some time in the local art galleries.
We had a long line of enthusiastic people come in for naked yoga and sensual shamanic bodywork and we generally enjoyed everyone we met. Every client I saw in New Orleans was a man, which was unusual for me as my practice is generally fifty percent men fifty percent women these days. The masculine clearly longs for the divine feminine here.
I was blessed with meeting wonderful new friends and traveling the ins and outs of the city accompanied by my sweet beagle. There are good southern values in New Orleans – a town of southern hospitality and sweet sounds of jazz. I had a great chaperone, an old-fashioned southern gentleman named Greg who was introduced to me by my mutual friends Lisa Kazmer and Eric Finkelman. Greg is one of those charming old southern-ers that sport old-fashioned values and know how to show a traveling lady a good time. I lovingly called him the Mayor of Bourbon Street as he seemed to know EVERYONE. We dined at Galatoire’s and had a private balcony set up for us at a little champagne bar off Bourbon Street, I think called French 74. Greg got the flu the next day, I think my Shakti was too much for him 😉
On my day off, with new friends I enjoyed traditional coffee and beignets at Café DuMonde, took photos by the steam boats on the Mississippi and visited the famous tree of life right next to the New Orleans zoo. I watched the sunset over the river, did lots of impromptu yoga and had some incredible conversations on everything from sound healing, metaphysics, relationships and spirituality.
My one downside to this incredible experience in New Orleans was that Molly had a really hard time when I would leave her alone to go out at night. The place where we were staying was quite haunted and Molly would lay her ears back and stare into the dark night for hours. Sometimes curtain rods would fall off the windows or we would wake to strange pools of water in places in the flat and in the session room. This past full moon is called the Wolf Moon which is just asking for a baying beagle to howl at it and howl she did with fear and anxiety when I would leave at night to explore the town. We got a noise complaint for a neighbor that gave us a bit of a scare. I’m open to hearing feedback around suggestions if anyone has tips and techniques for elevating dog anxiety that is triggered around abandonment. I won’t be taking Molly to Mardi Gras in February and March but she’ll be coming to Orlando to stay with our dear friend EveLynn who has two fabulous pups of her own.
We departed New Orleans on the evening of the 15th and touched down late in New York City under heavy fog conditions. We had a day here and then left to go offer bodywork at women’s weekend held by the fabulous Dr. Tammy Nelson. I find it is always such a gift when women ask for and claim their right to receive nourishing, healing sensual touch. I offered yoni steams, shamanic clearings, uterine alignment ceremonies and sensual bodywork to a powerhouse of diverse Shakti-fied women. The Shakti was so powerful that weekend the phones and internet and hot tub all short circuited where we were staying at some point. On Saturday night, after completing session work, I joined the women for a glorious dinner and then loaded up my massage table and drove back to New York City to catch the final third of Dzieci’s 24 hour Maraton Intensive. They are a group I’ve worked intensely with for the past two years whose quality and commitment to their work is unparalleled. If you ever dare to take a true shamanic journey into the paratheatrical, this is the one to take. Dzieci does it once a year – look for it next January. I joined this beloved theatre company during the midnight drum circle and just before the peyote chant – (no actual peyote is used). We danced, drummed and until about 7am.
I then crashed for a few hours and rose refreshed and took Molly and drove to Leominster, Massachusetts to spend a few days with our dear friend Lloyd, a perfect retreat after much work and a tired body from facilitating so many pleasure filled rituals. The three of us had adventures in the snow. There were times where I would look around and think… I can’t believe this is my life… how glorious… what a wonderful creation. I am so blessed, so very, very blessed.
I’ll be in New York City until February 1st and then off to Orlando through the 18th. Look for Molly and I under the Florida sunshine. EveLynn and I will offer some double sessions while I am down there and have a clothing optional spiritual gathering at her abode, details to come!
Save the Dates Feb 25-March 6th Isis in New Orleans for Mardi Gras and her Birthday!
March 15th-19th Isis in Phoenix / Tucson
April 1st-7th Isis in Toronto with Tricia
thesensualshaman 