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Click here to read this on the web. “Look up! Light your life. The stars are kin. Heaven is home.”
~Jude Brown, astrologer and mother
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Dear one, In all the years I’ve been writing and sharing with you, this is hands down one of the most difficult newsletters I have written. But I want you to know where I am. This is the time of year that normally would bring a very different message from me – about the launch of Dreamfruit 2024. And while that release is still happening, it will be delayed. What other way can I say this? Yesterday I said goodbye to my beloved mother. I was honored to be her end-of-life companion, to be at her side through these many weeks of liminality and over her final threshold. To fill you in, this August I came to live with my mother here in the sandhills of Nebraska, and have been giving day-to-day care as she transitioned out of chemo (stage 4) and into what we would normally call ‘hospice.’ The quotation marks are there for a reason… this is a highly rural area, and when they say hospice what they mean is … well, the nurse’s exact words might have been something like “There aren’t really any services. Folks out there tend to look out for each other.” It has been a deeply tender time with just the two of us — not without its weirdnesses, mundanities, and profound beauty. I’ve drawn an incredible amount of comfort from the land here, as I know she did throughout her life.
Today, I am soul-tired and pretty ragged around the edges. The world has lost a unique and powerful traveler who I hope to share more about in the months to come. My mother was a brilliant astrologer, a natural witch, and a wild edge-dweller. She taught me to find kinship in the stars and to breathe with the earth. Her life, her wild mind, and her potent spirit live at the core of me — and are deeply woven into the vision of Dreamfruit. When we got the news about hospice and I told her I was on my way (from Oregon), she made me promise that I wouldn’t let her need for care take the place of completing this year’s book. As you might imagine, that’s been a pretty tall ask. But just over a week ago I was able to write the final line of the 13th dream of 2024. There’s much to share about this next edition of Dreamfruit, and pre-orders will be opening up as soon as I am able. But all of that will need to wait just a little longer while my heart and mind reconfigure around the seismic change of a world without this fierce and precious soul. Walking a parent to the edge of life is a profound honor, and has brought me personally to the very knife’s edge of the Mystery — day by day, hour by hour, breath by breath. Collectively, next year’s terrain is infused with a similar and poignant liminal tension as the world we’ve known dissolves and re-envisions itself. It’s a time to set the table for love and reconciliation, to lead with the heart, and to reach for integrity. Wishing a peaceful heart and quiet mind to each and all of us in the days ahead.
p.s. To stay current with the Dreamfruit 2024 pre-order campaign, follow this link. |
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