Hello Maia and all! Glad to meet you all here, I am RU Maya's fan, have 3 her books from 2018 then I saw them first on AMAZON))) Maybe Maia remember how we talked about publication her books in my country(in time that it can be possible). Well, I go here for my fav science ru journalist and see Maia's public). It's cool, sometimes I'll come here. Hig you all and wish peace for all of us. Maia, you are great person! Blessed be!
I reread your post, in light of the very high temperatures today (10 July) and it caught my attention how my body reacts. I’ve always loathed the heat, but the reality seems different this year. I feel more… fluid? That’s the only way I can think of it. As a person with many and varied issues, many which cause pain, I’m intensely aware with what is going on in my body. But this year, I don’t find the heat unbearable I feel more embraced by it. The fact that I’ve been able to sleep helps in no small measure, I’m sure.
Having said that, I’m finding that as I age, I mind the extreme cold in more ways than the extreme heat! It’s always been the other way around. It’s interesting I think.
I've been surprised how much paying attention shifts my loathing... like if I am aware and in it, I'm less bothered my humidity and temperature. I don't quite understand how that works but its been true for me!
Hmm! Interesting! I’m always keenly aware of the weather, but this time round, it seemed somehow softer, more of a caress than a drubbing! I think the key thing for me is that this year, I have Homecare, and they keep me clean which makes a big difference. (Showering is painful and fatiguing).
Maia!!! Sooo... today(!!!!) <-- can you tell i'm EXCITED??? :D i received my brand new copy of Gail's book, Earth Acupuncture, thanks to your sad mention of it in Letting Magic In. I loved reading all about Gail and her great wisdom and input in your life ... along with her brilliant acupuncture needles.
Not till the end did you tell who she actually was. I sat there shocked and in tears as i read that portion. I've had (loved!!!) her first book, Wood Becomes Water, for a decade. Required reading for a master certification program ... and probably my favorite on that list. I've recommended it to others. Been wanting to re-read it, tho i'm enmeshed in a few others right now, as well. (Can i just stop having to sleep so i can READ ... all the time??)
Anyway... Earth Acupuncture looks sooo magical and special ... *sacred* really. THANK YOU, Maia, for mentioning it since i'd never have known of it otherwise. Deep gratitude.
P.S. summer in south Texas... is for hibernating and reading!! (long as that electric grid holds... and we have AC) rest of the year is mostly glorious for being OUTDOORS... (including reading) cheers, y'all! :D
Oh wow.... I always think of cold as the time to hibernate and read but you're sending me back to a summer in Rome where, yes, every afternoon when the sun was high and hot, we napped and read.
And I am so glad you could rediscover Gail. She was a treasure in my life. That her words remain allows her to be a treasure for all of us.
I am currently sitting in the Orlando, Florida airport, on my way back to Texas from a cruise to Bimini. Before my cruise, I downloaded a few books to sustain my sanity on an overstimulating ship. After my salutation to honor Yemaya, goddess of Caribbean seas, I settled into my balcony and opened a book by an author I was unfamiliar with. An hour later, I was completely enthralled with the richness of "Letting Magic In", slightly giddy and infatuated with the taste of my own magic. I finished the book and immediately began again. So I spent my weekend with the sun, the ocean, Yemaya and you! Thank you so much for your memoir!
Rene! This brought tears to my eyes. I LOVE that feeling of being so in a book that I have to return to the beginning rather than leave that world and I am beyond touched and thrilled and speechless that my words could provide that sort of space for you.
And thanks for seeking me out here on Substack. I post near the new and full moons... sometimes essays, sometimes exercises... whatever's on my heart, really. Welcome.
Hi Rene! Wasn't it fabulous?!?! I did pretty much the same - different circumstances. Hubs originally downloaded it onto kobo and i started reading it when he put it down, saying he couldn't get into it. Like you, i read right thru... completely enamored with the magic of Maia... and also started it right up again.
Later, i told him it changed my life! He felt badly since he's also quite the reader. No, it was obviously meant for ME, not you, so THANK YOU, I told him. Because it was. :D
I had an interesting exchange with a friend a couple of weeks ago. We both are cancer rising and I have cancer in a few more places in my chart. She looooves summer, whereas I long for the first signs of autumn, and really come into bloom when the days get shorter and candlelight fills my home.
However, I do notice that once I'm over the slump of finally giving in and accepting that winter is over, my energy regroups and I find joy in the new growth of spring as well as the long and hot summer days. I am reading your post Maia and writing this from Austria, where I am spending a hiking vacation with my children and husband. We have been spared by intense heat and our hikes mostly happened in temperatures in the 60s and low 70s. I fully embrace the gentle temperature, but interestingly equally find me embracing the heat of the sauna in the lovely vacation rental we're staying at. After a long day of partially strenuous hikes, it feels weirdly amazing to sit in the heat and sweat out the physical and mental effort.
We are going back to Germany in two days and I won't return to the States until the very end of July. I am dreading the humid Virginia heat, but at the same time long to be reunited with my garden, which I usually tend too in the early hours of the day.
Historically, heat has never been my body's friend. I could get heat stroke in 85 degree weather. I lived in Florida then so we never really had a break from the heat and it was always so humid.
Moving to Colorado helped with being able to experience deep winter too and then summer's heat is dry.
But this year something more has shifted. I am cold all the time. Winter is more difficult than it used to be.
The summer heat has finally hit and it's all I can do to not burn into crispy skin. I just want to lay on my chaise lounge and soak it all up for hours. I finally feel warm now.
It makes me see myself as my Chinese Sign of Fire Snake. I need to just lay on hot ground this summer... soak it all up and then retreat to my den for winter at the end of it.
I can feel so many more thoughts about snakes percolating up but they will take more time to put into coherent lines. Something about... what would happen if I lived life like a snake? What nourishment would I need? Oh, I know it wouldn't be exact... I won't be swallowing mice whole or anything like that... but in general... the idea. Shedding skin... exfoliating... becoming new. Possibilities.
Thank you for the thinking and feeling opportunity. ❤️
The timing of your posts always seems to mirror my moods. I was just writing about the heat of summer and my reaction to it this morning. The heat and humidity have me feeling lethargic and unproductive. And the garden seems to be feeling the same as the bee balm fades and everything is begging for water. My body really does react to the seasons in ways that often surprise me.
Thank you for your posts. Your reminder to check our bodies is really welcome. As an air sign I tend to focus on my mind and loose connection with my body especially when everyday life gets more demanding. It can be quiet revealing when parts of your body you didn't think would feel uncomfortable do feel like that. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
Love reading your posts Maia! As a double fire sign who doesn’t enjoy the sun or heat I have a complicated relationship with this time of year. I’m learning (a little!) how to use Traditional Chinese Medicine to enjoy more cooling foods and beverages and do notice my body really steers away from meat and spicy foods this time of year. I need to learn how to slow down more and rest. Your posts always put me in a calmer state! Thank you for sharing your wisdom and beautiful words! Xo Kari
Kari, I'm with you-- summer is my lest favorite season... I have to work a little harder to be in it and with it. The humidity just makes me boggy. I have a few friends who love it hot and humid which is such an anathema to me... but knowing how they feel reminds me that my feelings are not universal... and somehow that inspires me to shift a little.
Thank you for this lovely post Maia. It's been many years since I've visited P-town. Sad to hear that the shops have gone to tchotchke. Sigh, seems like that's what happens once a town or area becomes on everyone's list. I had the pleasure of hanging out on the Cape for work many years ago, mostly in Falmouth, and in all seasons which was wonderful. I can smell it though! Brings a smile to my face.
As for me, I will be taking one final round of travel next week - thankfully to Canada which looks cooler than here in Philly. Like Wendy Marie, I've lost the connection to the seasons and my true cycles having been connected to my working/travel cycles for all these years. I yearn for a time when I am able to sink into the actual seasons and be in my own cycles in that way. For now, I'm looking at a respite from the intensity of travel and work for the remainder of the summer - slowing down just a bit. I'll take to journaling your prompts - they are juicy!
Canada’s hot enough! We had a long, lovely, cool and rainy spring (unusual) but the heat has settled on the prairies where I live, bordered by bush, mountains, badlands and lakes. I don’t enjoy the hot. It’s going to be 97°F on Wednesday. Ugh! Luckily (?) I’ll be at the dentist. You see, very few homes here unless brand new, have AC , so when it’s 25°C outside, it’s 30°C (84°F) inside. But! Having said that, I’m not reacting as badly to the heat as usual. My mind and body feel pretty good because I finally got some sleep last night, and that’s a blessing, no matter the temperature. Given my druthers, I like to keep my home at about 18°-19°C (66°F or so). It is what it is and I’ve lived in enough places that’ve always green to know how keenly I miss the seasons, so I will be thankful for another day in this realm no matter the temperature!!
What a lovely post, Maia! All about nature and the elements and the seasons. Thank you!
We got to spend summer solstice with my son (whose birthday it was!) and 12 year old granddaughter, Maia. I told her about how you actually chose that beautiful name for yourself. We all agreed that she was lucky to get it from birth. And her dad said he'd chosen it for her. I never knew how they arrived at it. She was pleased.
They came to south Texas from NH to be with us for the first time since she was a year old. She was *dying* in the heat and simply could NOT fathom how it could possibly get any hotter when we told her that it really wasn't full-on summer yet. And that down here, we hibernate in summer. :D
And then... Alberto blessed us for a few days with clouds and even rain(!!) and NH temps, while her poor mom roasted back in NH. Our solstice temps somehow shifted up there. The weather reset by the time they left that weekend and all is back to so-called normal. Perfect timing all around!
I love that Maia has been used in so many cultures... it makes the name feel layered with meaning: graciousness and water, illusion and a springtime goddess. How lucky your grand daughter is to be able to explore the nuance of it. I feel like, especially in our teenage years, we need to have a cornucopia of language available to us as we suss out who we are.
Thank you, Maia. Yes, familiarity and beloved in many culturals were among the reasons she was gifted her name. She has an exceptionally multi-cultural background. And she's been a student of many languages for most of her life to help her suss it all out.
Hello Maia and all! Glad to meet you all here, I am RU Maya's fan, have 3 her books from 2018 then I saw them first on AMAZON))) Maybe Maia remember how we talked about publication her books in my country(in time that it can be possible). Well, I go here for my fav science ru journalist and see Maia's public). It's cool, sometimes I'll come here. Hig you all and wish peace for all of us. Maia, you are great person! Blessed be!
Thanks so much for finding me here and continuing to read and support my books. xx
I reread your post, in light of the very high temperatures today (10 July) and it caught my attention how my body reacts. I’ve always loathed the heat, but the reality seems different this year. I feel more… fluid? That’s the only way I can think of it. As a person with many and varied issues, many which cause pain, I’m intensely aware with what is going on in my body. But this year, I don’t find the heat unbearable I feel more embraced by it. The fact that I’ve been able to sleep helps in no small measure, I’m sure.
Having said that, I’m finding that as I age, I mind the extreme cold in more ways than the extreme heat! It’s always been the other way around. It’s interesting I think.
I've been surprised how much paying attention shifts my loathing... like if I am aware and in it, I'm less bothered my humidity and temperature. I don't quite understand how that works but its been true for me!
Hmm! Interesting! I’m always keenly aware of the weather, but this time round, it seemed somehow softer, more of a caress than a drubbing! I think the key thing for me is that this year, I have Homecare, and they keep me clean which makes a big difference. (Showering is painful and fatiguing).
Maia!!! Sooo... today(!!!!) <-- can you tell i'm EXCITED??? :D i received my brand new copy of Gail's book, Earth Acupuncture, thanks to your sad mention of it in Letting Magic In. I loved reading all about Gail and her great wisdom and input in your life ... along with her brilliant acupuncture needles.
Not till the end did you tell who she actually was. I sat there shocked and in tears as i read that portion. I've had (loved!!!) her first book, Wood Becomes Water, for a decade. Required reading for a master certification program ... and probably my favorite on that list. I've recommended it to others. Been wanting to re-read it, tho i'm enmeshed in a few others right now, as well. (Can i just stop having to sleep so i can READ ... all the time??)
Anyway... Earth Acupuncture looks sooo magical and special ... *sacred* really. THANK YOU, Maia, for mentioning it since i'd never have known of it otherwise. Deep gratitude.
P.S. summer in south Texas... is for hibernating and reading!! (long as that electric grid holds... and we have AC) rest of the year is mostly glorious for being OUTDOORS... (including reading) cheers, y'all! :D
Oh wow.... I always think of cold as the time to hibernate and read but you're sending me back to a summer in Rome where, yes, every afternoon when the sun was high and hot, we napped and read.
And I am so glad you could rediscover Gail. She was a treasure in my life. That her words remain allows her to be a treasure for all of us.
I am currently sitting in the Orlando, Florida airport, on my way back to Texas from a cruise to Bimini. Before my cruise, I downloaded a few books to sustain my sanity on an overstimulating ship. After my salutation to honor Yemaya, goddess of Caribbean seas, I settled into my balcony and opened a book by an author I was unfamiliar with. An hour later, I was completely enthralled with the richness of "Letting Magic In", slightly giddy and infatuated with the taste of my own magic. I finished the book and immediately began again. So I spent my weekend with the sun, the ocean, Yemaya and you! Thank you so much for your memoir!
Rene! This brought tears to my eyes. I LOVE that feeling of being so in a book that I have to return to the beginning rather than leave that world and I am beyond touched and thrilled and speechless that my words could provide that sort of space for you.
And thanks for seeking me out here on Substack. I post near the new and full moons... sometimes essays, sometimes exercises... whatever's on my heart, really. Welcome.
Hi Rene! Wasn't it fabulous?!?! I did pretty much the same - different circumstances. Hubs originally downloaded it onto kobo and i started reading it when he put it down, saying he couldn't get into it. Like you, i read right thru... completely enamored with the magic of Maia... and also started it right up again.
Later, i told him it changed my life! He felt badly since he's also quite the reader. No, it was obviously meant for ME, not you, so THANK YOU, I told him. Because it was. :D
I had an interesting exchange with a friend a couple of weeks ago. We both are cancer rising and I have cancer in a few more places in my chart. She looooves summer, whereas I long for the first signs of autumn, and really come into bloom when the days get shorter and candlelight fills my home.
However, I do notice that once I'm over the slump of finally giving in and accepting that winter is over, my energy regroups and I find joy in the new growth of spring as well as the long and hot summer days. I am reading your post Maia and writing this from Austria, where I am spending a hiking vacation with my children and husband. We have been spared by intense heat and our hikes mostly happened in temperatures in the 60s and low 70s. I fully embrace the gentle temperature, but interestingly equally find me embracing the heat of the sauna in the lovely vacation rental we're staying at. After a long day of partially strenuous hikes, it feels weirdly amazing to sit in the heat and sweat out the physical and mental effort.
We are going back to Germany in two days and I won't return to the States until the very end of July. I am dreading the humid Virginia heat, but at the same time long to be reunited with my garden, which I usually tend too in the early hours of the day.
Thank you for the lovely inspiration to ponder.
sounds like you're having a pretty incredible trip! thanks for tuning in between hikes. :)
Historically, heat has never been my body's friend. I could get heat stroke in 85 degree weather. I lived in Florida then so we never really had a break from the heat and it was always so humid.
Moving to Colorado helped with being able to experience deep winter too and then summer's heat is dry.
But this year something more has shifted. I am cold all the time. Winter is more difficult than it used to be.
The summer heat has finally hit and it's all I can do to not burn into crispy skin. I just want to lay on my chaise lounge and soak it all up for hours. I finally feel warm now.
It makes me see myself as my Chinese Sign of Fire Snake. I need to just lay on hot ground this summer... soak it all up and then retreat to my den for winter at the end of it.
I can feel so many more thoughts about snakes percolating up but they will take more time to put into coherent lines. Something about... what would happen if I lived life like a snake? What nourishment would I need? Oh, I know it wouldn't be exact... I won't be swallowing mice whole or anything like that... but in general... the idea. Shedding skin... exfoliating... becoming new. Possibilities.
Thank you for the thinking and feeling opportunity. ❤️
I love picturing you as a snake lying in the sun.... in a lounge chair!
Love the snake skin goggles! 🥽 🐍
Wish I could load a photo here and show you-- they are wild looking!
The timing of your posts always seems to mirror my moods. I was just writing about the heat of summer and my reaction to it this morning. The heat and humidity have me feeling lethargic and unproductive. And the garden seems to be feeling the same as the bee balm fades and everything is begging for water. My body really does react to the seasons in ways that often surprise me.
I'm always amused by how much the garden reflects my moods. It's a bit wilty at the moment... but also full of life and color.
Thank you for your posts. Your reminder to check our bodies is really welcome. As an air sign I tend to focus on my mind and loose connection with my body especially when everyday life gets more demanding. It can be quiet revealing when parts of your body you didn't think would feel uncomfortable do feel like that. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
I have a Gemini sun so I hear you! I think that's why I can write these prompts-- these are the questions I ask myself when I get disconnected.
Love reading your posts Maia! As a double fire sign who doesn’t enjoy the sun or heat I have a complicated relationship with this time of year. I’m learning (a little!) how to use Traditional Chinese Medicine to enjoy more cooling foods and beverages and do notice my body really steers away from meat and spicy foods this time of year. I need to learn how to slow down more and rest. Your posts always put me in a calmer state! Thank you for sharing your wisdom and beautiful words! Xo Kari
Kari, I'm with you-- summer is my lest favorite season... I have to work a little harder to be in it and with it. The humidity just makes me boggy. I have a few friends who love it hot and humid which is such an anathema to me... but knowing how they feel reminds me that my feelings are not universal... and somehow that inspires me to shift a little.
Thank you for this lovely post Maia. It's been many years since I've visited P-town. Sad to hear that the shops have gone to tchotchke. Sigh, seems like that's what happens once a town or area becomes on everyone's list. I had the pleasure of hanging out on the Cape for work many years ago, mostly in Falmouth, and in all seasons which was wonderful. I can smell it though! Brings a smile to my face.
As for me, I will be taking one final round of travel next week - thankfully to Canada which looks cooler than here in Philly. Like Wendy Marie, I've lost the connection to the seasons and my true cycles having been connected to my working/travel cycles for all these years. I yearn for a time when I am able to sink into the actual seasons and be in my own cycles in that way. For now, I'm looking at a respite from the intensity of travel and work for the remainder of the summer - slowing down just a bit. I'll take to journaling your prompts - they are juicy!
Canada sounds like the perfect place to be right now!
I have to say I was quite smitten with Wellfleet. If Asheville ever kicks me out, that might be my net port of call.
Canada’s hot enough! We had a long, lovely, cool and rainy spring (unusual) but the heat has settled on the prairies where I live, bordered by bush, mountains, badlands and lakes. I don’t enjoy the hot. It’s going to be 97°F on Wednesday. Ugh! Luckily (?) I’ll be at the dentist. You see, very few homes here unless brand new, have AC , so when it’s 25°C outside, it’s 30°C (84°F) inside. But! Having said that, I’m not reacting as badly to the heat as usual. My mind and body feel pretty good because I finally got some sleep last night, and that’s a blessing, no matter the temperature. Given my druthers, I like to keep my home at about 18°-19°C (66°F or so). It is what it is and I’ve lived in enough places that’ve always green to know how keenly I miss the seasons, so I will be thankful for another day in this realm no matter the temperature!!
What a lovely post, Maia! All about nature and the elements and the seasons. Thank you!
We got to spend summer solstice with my son (whose birthday it was!) and 12 year old granddaughter, Maia. I told her about how you actually chose that beautiful name for yourself. We all agreed that she was lucky to get it from birth. And her dad said he'd chosen it for her. I never knew how they arrived at it. She was pleased.
They came to south Texas from NH to be with us for the first time since she was a year old. She was *dying* in the heat and simply could NOT fathom how it could possibly get any hotter when we told her that it really wasn't full-on summer yet. And that down here, we hibernate in summer. :D
And then... Alberto blessed us for a few days with clouds and even rain(!!) and NH temps, while her poor mom roasted back in NH. Our solstice temps somehow shifted up there. The weather reset by the time they left that weekend and all is back to so-called normal. Perfect timing all around!
I love that Maia has been used in so many cultures... it makes the name feel layered with meaning: graciousness and water, illusion and a springtime goddess. How lucky your grand daughter is to be able to explore the nuance of it. I feel like, especially in our teenage years, we need to have a cornucopia of language available to us as we suss out who we are.
Thank you, Maia. Yes, familiarity and beloved in many culturals were among the reasons she was gifted her name. She has an exceptionally multi-cultural background. And she's been a student of many languages for most of her life to help her suss it all out.
THANK YOU for this. I'm at a bit of a cross roads with my writing and it's so helpful to me to understand what exactly is helpful and resonate.
What magic to be able to return to a place again and again. To observe it over time and to see yourself changed within it.