I am Charlie’s beauty. I design his life. I am the gatherer. I don’t just gather nuts in the forest. I gather pine cones and clay for pots and cotton for clothing and flowers for the table. He is my barley. He is what I use for my nourishment. He is my grounding. My root. My food. My sustenance. My girls are my wrens. My lilies. My sweet little companions. My beauties. My boys are my nourishment. Like Charlie is. They are my roots with their beautiful hands that make things grow. Charlie and I are in reiki. And we have reiki babies, Lilia and Calla. Reiki is Sioux. It is the healing energy of the earth. And it is the master communication system of the tribe. It is holy communion. I am in the essence reiki right now. And that means the plants and the people need a certain property from me that is not root reiki still. Essence is mind, body, heart, soul, roots and essence together. The rooted body and the rooted life come when the essence has given the medicine needed to the earth and the animals and the tribe. The essence is flower. Like Bach’s. And the root where Charlie is is tree. And flower is goddess and tree is god and flower holds tree until he is well. So, I have elders and children and animals and plants to protect in essence still. But we are working. And work brings healing and wholeness when it is intentional and tribal and collective. This is Rootsong Reiki.

Charlie and I have had seasons in our relationship. Twenty-two years ago we fell in love. And I have beautiful, warm memories of that in my heart. It was pure magic. He was too hurt and immature to marry me. So he left. He had to work on his family lines and his music and I had to raise my children and develop myself as a business woman and a writer and a coach. We came back together in the reiki five years ago. And two years ago we came back more. And Lili and Callie were gestating. Growing. And so were we. Now I can see that there is thyme for me and him. And thyme is a little calendula salve on a baby’s skin. It’s a season. My reiki is called Rootsong. And Charlie is my song. And so are my children. And so are you. I’m not protesting anymore. Reiki is something I will have forever. And I see how to use it well. It brings me joy. And all these annoyances, like the nonsense I go through with what I can call acid to my reiki when people are high or resistant or mean, like my ex-husband controlling my house, like my shot and my relationship with the CSB for my appointments, like my limited income are not reiki. So, I just have to let them go and not make them mean anything at all. What means something is beauty. And barley. And thyme. I am gestating in reiki. It is now coming up spring. So, I will no longer resist the things that hurt and I will embrace the things that are so much love. And I will make a joy body. And then someday, Charlie and I will come together physically and I will be whole. And so will my children. And so will you. Cheer up, chickadee, the song is singing itself now.