Stephanie's Studio

When I was doing research for my first book  "Sticks, Stones, Roots and Bones,"  I came across fascinating documentation of African American tree whispering. Essentially, tree whispering occurs after spending long periods of time with a particular tree and coming to understand its language. Since that time over a decade ago, I've explored the topic more deeply and have incorporated it into my novel. I also dedicated  "A Healing Grove: African Tree Remedies and Rituals for Body and Spirit"  to the magickal possibilities of trees. I get tree whispering at a gut level. Growing up, our home was enveloped by trees and I could see them from across the lake. I had the assistance of trees while practicing dance steps. I did my homework in a special tree, to which I also retreated when necessary. I now live in an urban suburb. Each day, seemingly, more land gets swallowed up by new construction for condos and townhouses. Still, trees and plants have a huge pre...

It wasn't long ago that the furthest south I'd been was Maryland. Then about 11 years ago I met Jannette who lives in the Knoxville area of Tennessee. Jannette is a warm and sunny person who worked very hard with me as the editor for "Sticks, Stones, Roots and Bones" and more recently on "The Big Book of Soul." Yesterday, I was looking in an old sketch book with Nepalese handmade paper in it, when I discovered this lovely landscape of the sacred grounds at Cerren Ered in Cosby TN. Cerren Ered , a pagan community in Appalachia, is home to many pagan festivals, it holds a camp ground, magickally charged trees and natural formations, a bubbling brook that seems to want to speak to you, and for a touch of whimsy, the infamous castle. I went there at not such a good time in my life. What I found was a natural environment that has a strong spiritual energy, almost every where you walk and I made the nicest friends ever. I spent as much time as I could sky cl...