Musings, News, Articles…
For Boulder… {grief medicine}
Sometimes grief moves in silence, a dark undertow too deep to fathom. Sometimes it is moments of bright grace, and tears that heal. Sometimes it is a screaming howl. Sometimes it's gratitude. Sometimes rage. Always raw, unwieldy, unexpected ~ a thing to allow, to care...
Bounty & Loss…
As I type this, I have arrived in a very different habitat/ecosystem. My heart aches a bit for the wild forests I have left behind ~ soon to turn to dust and brown, all the while exclaiming one last display of glorious, colorful splendour, and shedding their last...
On Naming…
Herein are just a few friends from my walk today...and some words about naming, and knowing the world around us: . . . I love naming things – not so I can check them off a list or file them off in a box somewhere, nor commodify or capitalize off them – but because...
My Earth Mama
In the age of Covid, I find myself wishing we wouldn’t use this time to get more digital, but rather to get more earthy. I’ve started to wonder: since when, and why, has outdoor and hands-on work fallen so out of fashion, while staring at a screen while sedentary for...
The Urgency of Slowing Down
Wild ones...I don’t think this is the springtime any of us were expecting. But it is springtime nonetheless, so I’m peeking out of my [quarantine] cave to say hello and send blessings from my hermit heart... How are you doing? How is your family, your community, your...
Beauty is Essential
Beauty is essential. In nature, it bespeaks a healthy and vibrant ecosystem. As a human, it calms, enlivens, and inspires my soul, all the while reminding me simply that this. is. home. I feel very fortunate to be able to take myself to places that remind me of the...
In Praise of Curves
"It's too wild. Too vibrant. Untamable. It scares me. It has too much power. How can I stifle it to protect myself?..." ...I have had to understand this tender wound under the skin of oppressors. For why else would they shame my emotions? They are merely...
Embodied Voice
: : A STORY : : As a child, all through primary school, I was provoked and teased for my emotions – somehow I hadn’t learned to suppress them like everyone else had, so they were still very alive, easily called to the surface. . . . . . So in order to protect myself I...
This is not Palo Santo…
This is not Palo Santo. Nothing against that beautiful plant, but it doesn't live here, and I realize I don't even know what it looks like! A quick google search turns up almost exclusively pics of sticks for sale. But palo santo isn't a stick ~ it's a tree! Do you...
Autumn Grief
The flowers have all faded, the seeds scattered to the wind and to be swallowed by the ground; the moisture has evaporated and leaves burnt by the sun hang on by a mere thread before casting themselves off to die and become mulch and eventually new soil…
Voice of the Earth
And still there are places where the pika squeak and thrive, where cold-loving evergreens reach toward the sky, where wild mountain waters run under stone through creases in alpine meadows… . . . …But even those pikas are threatened, so many of the trees have been lost to beetle-kill and other blight, and the waters are low, the snows shallow…
Moon Neighbor
I peeked outside my window to see a nearby porch light on. It brought me a moment of comfort and joy (as any good neighbor does), until I realized, "I'm out in the middle of nowhere with nothing but stars and silence!" And then I saw: the moon, rising...
Liminal Insight
(aka, losing our marbles...) TRUSTING THE WILD MIND: A LISTENING PRACTICE... I was thinking about wild mind last night, remembering how vital it feels to slip out of rational, plotting, methodical thinking, to let the mind wander and expand and take journeys of...
Cry to the Moon (New Video)
Enjoy this rollicking little video we made for NPR's Tiny Desk Contest this year! Whee...! Sign up to receive seasonal newsletters like these, as well as concert and workshop announcements pertinent to your region...
International Women’s Day
For this International Women's Day, I can think of no better woman to celebrate than my mother; the person who taught me by her striking example that I am whole and complete unto myself, that I am strong and capable and intelligent, that the earth is a friend who must...
Musings on the West…
If like me you're feeling pretty wintry and less outwardly festive in this new year, may I recommend a good documentary for these dark days? I recently watched "Ken Burns: The West," and WOW ~ heartbreaking and beautiful and intense! ...to learn this...
Wintry Musings…
Dear friends ~ I write you in the midst of wild times on Earth, in hopes that you and your loved ones are happy and well in this midwinter time... I've been struck so deeply as of late with our human plight, and the plight of the planet, that...
Angelfire (New Lyric Video)
In honor of the Solstice we have deepened into... ...and in remembrance that this is still only the beginning of winter. In the dark days and long nights to come, may we savor these times with quietude, reflection, stillness, and a slow but diligent...
Prayers for the Fires (New Video)
I'm posting this song today as a prayer for my friends and family currently affected by the fires in Southern California. I think of you every day, sending prayers for safety and sweet air. . . I also pray that in the wake of these fires, we dedicate ourselves even...
Why #fromthewild?
Why #fromthewild? Why not #intothewild? Well because although I do go into the natural world for remembrance, the truth is that I am made of this stuff just as much as any sinewy creature, any legged or leggy growing thing, anything that grasps or gasps for air... I...
Wild Homecoming
I like to think that going into the wilds is like coming home, returning to a place that makes sense in a real way. For it is here that herbs and flowers grow, here where clean waters flow... Perhaps there is some element of escapism at work as well, but perhaps it...
On Wildcrafting…
On Wildcrafting, and Being a Living Part of the Land: ✧ Though absorption into music, dance, or even community are homecomings in their own right, it's possible there is no time I am happier and more at-home than when wildcrafting plant friends. Perhaps...
Full Disclosure
In the interest of full transparency, I will share that in addition to what I mentioned in my previous post ("You are Loved"), not only am I enjoying rooting for the first time in 8 years, growing gardens and other simple delights ~ but in the larger picture I've had...
You are Loved…
Dear ones ~ I just wanted to write a little personal note to let you know why I don't plan to be touring this year... Ahh, don't worry, we are working hard on music, and though the longing to share it is great, there are times when we artists must go inside our caves...
Grief Heals
Call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure if only we would make a practice of grieving something every day, I imagine the world would be a much healthier place. We do too good a job of pasting on a happy face, pretending everything is okay, or else hardening ourselves with...
Earth Day?
Oops, I'll confess that it slipped my mind it was Earth Day today ~ for me that's every damn day, and any day I forget that is a sad, lost, and lonesome one. Though being a part of 'civilization' doesn't always make sense to me, being amongst the wild and endemic...
Tinariwen: on exile, beauty, resilience, and the universal longing for home…
This weekend I had the privilege to see (and hear, and feel) some of the most majestic and soulful gentlemen on this planet. Though the room was filled with exuberant dancing bodies (mine included), I will be honest that I was struck to tears by the heartbreak of...
On Privilege…
This feels like a risqué subject to broach, as it calls us out, those of us who are trying to be "conscious" and self-aware and good stewards of this world ~ but who may be driven unconsciously by mindsets of **Privilege** we don't even know we hold. But potentially...
From Grief to Love… (An Election Response)
Though a part of me is struck with the surreal and comic absurdity of this moment in time (and perhaps even the possibilities for change it may provoke), I must address the pain and grief that was my and so many people’s first response…
Honoring Winter’s Cave…
…it is okay to go into the winter deep, to rest, and to fully give ourselves **time** for the practice of emptying, clearing, refining. The light will return when it does ~ please don’t force it prematurely. The bud must stay closed until it is ripe, and now is the time to root down, finding nourishment in the dark of the hard winter soil, trusting it’s okay to leave the skeletal branches of our lives bare and exposed to the reality of the cold world.
What is this “Wild?!”
What is this “Wild?!” It’s true, I use that word a lot. But what do I mean? Do I mean wild and crazy, doing things recklessly, out of the ordinary, loud and rebelliously…? No, in fact, the “wild” that I speak of is actually very ordinary, the natural state of things. A deer is wild, but it is quiet, timid, watchful…
Becoming Wild…
I see ridges and trees sloping and dancing all around me ~ and my mind, soul, and voice want to trace them, absorb them, become them, and sing them…
ABOUT
Ariana Saraha is a singer & musician based in the mountains of Colorado with a passion for pathos, primordial beauty, and the natural world. Whether writing, singing, or drumming, her mission is to invite us into the much wilder world beyond the trappings of civilization and the accepted meanderings of the mundane mind. She is working on a new album, From the Wild, and a book of musings to accompany it.![Raise your hand if you used to come to the Beltane fire parties I threw in Boulder 🖐🏼 {If you came, you would remember without a doubt ~ for the invitation came by phone: I called 300 people by hand (from my landline! 😭), and you all thought I was joking when I said we would get naked and leap the fire 🔥 But everybody came, and there was never a clothed person left standing. Even in the rain. We leapt hand in hand, two by twos and threes, sometimes more, sometimes solo. We shared and sang and uttered prayers. Some snuck off under the trees to make love. We played music late into the night. We embraced our aliveness wholeheartedly, unashamed. You all were glorious adventurers ~ thank you for joining me! 👏🏼} If you missed those times, let’s do it again someday! 🍑 #NeverTooOld #NeverTooLate (And in case there was any question, yes, I got naked and barefoot and jumped this fire. Multiple times.) .
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. #GetNaked #Beltane #BeltaneFires #BeltaneFire #Fertility #Ceremony #AncestralHealing #AncestralWisdom #Ancestors #TheOldWays #Remember #RememberWhereYouCameFrom
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