People Resources (referrals)
If I list a person or business here, it's because I have personal experience with them and think they're fantastic. My favorite health practitioners have pursued excellent scientific knowledge without blocking their intuitive wisdom, which they also nurture...this is always the combination I look for!
Frank Overton, Th. M., NCLPC, NCLMFT
Totally suspect to endorse one's Beloved, I know. But honestly, there is no one I can endorse more highly! If you are looking for a therapist who can hold who you are, who gets deep complexity, who is sex-positive, who will stay with you through the long haul, check Frank out. If you know me, enough to say that he keeps me sane, keeps me positive, and teaches me something every time we talk.
Red Mountain Goodness Soap
Read my friend Stephanie's story at the link. She taught me why even soap at so-called responsible places like Whole Foods wasn't working for me (hint: palm oil) and combines a scientist's knowledge with an intuitive heart. You can buy her amazing soap from her website or from multiple retail locations in North Carolina, Virginia, or Tennessee.
Jennifer Kapraun, New Channel Wellness Acupuncture
Jennifer is an AMAZING practitioner, and a huge part of my management strategy both for perimenopause and for seasonal pollen allergies.
Knowledge Resources
Enneagram
My favorite free online test is the second option at Eclectic Energies. It is fast, so if you're not sure what you think yet, you can check it out without a big time commitment. If you get an inconclusive result, you can work with me to determine your type or use the Essential Enneagram paragraph test to narrow down your result (it's $10). There is much information about the Enneagram available online; if you have a social science background, you might like Riso and Hudson's work best; if you come from a Christian perspective, you might like Richard Rohr's work. I like the Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition, partly because it is rooted in story, and partly because it is dedicated to "transforming lives and creating a more compassionate world." Narrative Tradition co-founder David Daniels also has a site that digs into various psychological and neurobiological aspects and implications of the Enneagram including sexuality and intimacy, anger, and more.
In brief, the Enneagram is a way of thinking about personality, a little like the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). What I love about the Enneagram is that it does not just categorize; it includes health arcs for each type (there are nine) from extreme dysfunction to enlightenment, and includes growth advice specific to each type. So while some people feel "put in a box" by other personality models, the Enneagram is all about getting you out of the box you're already in. It is used most often in three settings -- business, therapy, and spiritual development -- and I think the fact that those disparate fields have all found it useful speaks to it being something special.
My favorite free online test is the second option at Eclectic Energies. It is fast, so if you're not sure what you think yet, you can check it out without a big time commitment. If you get an inconclusive result, you can work with me to determine your type or use the Essential Enneagram paragraph test to narrow down your result (it's $10). There is much information about the Enneagram available online; if you have a social science background, you might like Riso and Hudson's work best; if you come from a Christian perspective, you might like Richard Rohr's work. I like the Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition, partly because it is rooted in story, and partly because it is dedicated to "transforming lives and creating a more compassionate world." Narrative Tradition co-founder David Daniels also has a site that digs into various psychological and neurobiological aspects and implications of the Enneagram including sexuality and intimacy, anger, and more.
In brief, the Enneagram is a way of thinking about personality, a little like the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). What I love about the Enneagram is that it does not just categorize; it includes health arcs for each type (there are nine) from extreme dysfunction to enlightenment, and includes growth advice specific to each type. So while some people feel "put in a box" by other personality models, the Enneagram is all about getting you out of the box you're already in. It is used most often in three settings -- business, therapy, and spiritual development -- and I think the fact that those disparate fields have all found it useful speaks to it being something special.
North Nodes
If you're curious about your North Node, scroll down to the tables on this page and find your birth date. Your North Node will be to the right. As with the Enneagram, a lot of information exists online. A couple places to start are Aquarian Astrology and Karen Black's North Node pages.
The idea behind North Nodes is that we all come into life with inherent gifts. That's great, but we can want to hang out in that zone where we feel comfortable and confident to the extent that we cut ourselves from growth we need to do. That comfort zone is the South Node; the place we're called to move toward is the North Node. Ideally we learn to use our inherent South Node gifts in the service of our highest North Node purpose. (Without conscious work, we tend to adopt the veneer of our North Node to stay safely in our comfort zone!)
You don't have to believe in astrology, or past lives, or having a soul purpose to find the information about your North Node eerily accurate. (After I shared his North Node information with him, one friend asked me, "Are you a witch?"!) Like the Enneagram, it is wonderful in that it gives you better understanding of where you're coming from without making you feel stuck there, and it shows you a growth path that will work for you if you work at it.
If you're curious about your North Node, scroll down to the tables on this page and find your birth date. Your North Node will be to the right. As with the Enneagram, a lot of information exists online. A couple places to start are Aquarian Astrology and Karen Black's North Node pages.
The idea behind North Nodes is that we all come into life with inherent gifts. That's great, but we can want to hang out in that zone where we feel comfortable and confident to the extent that we cut ourselves from growth we need to do. That comfort zone is the South Node; the place we're called to move toward is the North Node. Ideally we learn to use our inherent South Node gifts in the service of our highest North Node purpose. (Without conscious work, we tend to adopt the veneer of our North Node to stay safely in our comfort zone!)
You don't have to believe in astrology, or past lives, or having a soul purpose to find the information about your North Node eerily accurate. (After I shared his North Node information with him, one friend asked me, "Are you a witch?"!) Like the Enneagram, it is wonderful in that it gives you better understanding of where you're coming from without making you feel stuck there, and it shows you a growth path that will work for you if you work at it.
Tarot
If you are playing with your own tarot readings, I tend to like the interpretations by Psychic Revelation and Crystal Clear Reflections.
Tarot as I use it is not a means of divination, except to the extent that, as Jung said, "We can predict the future when we know how the present moment has evolved out of the past." Jung saw tarot as an intuitive synchronistic tool (along with others such as the I-Ching or a transit horoscope) for tapping into the rich collective unconscious and to the deeper desires and wisdom of the Self.
"They are psychological images, symbols with which one plays, as the unconscious seems to play with its contents. . . . For example, the symbol of the sun, or the symbol of the man hung up by the feet, or the tower struck by lightning, or the wheel of fortune, and so on. Those are sort of archetypal ideas, of a differentiated nature, which mingle with the ordinary constituents of the flow of the unconscious, and therefore it is applicable for an intuitive method that has the purpose of understanding the flow of life, possibly even predicting future events, at all events lending itself to the reading of the conditions of the present moment. It is in that way analogous to the I Ching, the Chinese divination method that allows at least a reading of the present condition. You see, man always felt the need of finding an access through the unconscious to the meaning of an actual condition, because there is a sort of correspondence or a likeness between the prevailing condition and the condition of the collective unconscious."
[from Visions: Notes of the Seminar given in 1930-1934 by C. G. Jung, edited by Claire Douglas. Vol. 2. (Princeton NJ, Princeton University Press, Bollingen Series XCIX, 1997), p. 923.]
Read more about how tarot found me and how I use it here.
Astrology
Someone occasionally asks me (depending on the someone) either to “do their chart,” or to justify my use of a “pseudo-science” like astrology in my work. I actually rarely do either of these! But I will give you a brief overview of my personal take on astrology and how I have found it most useful to people. Read that here.
White Culture
If you are a white person here to learn what you know you don't know, congratulations and welcome! Of course, there is an endless list of resources; there is so much we white folks are taught not to know. But I want to keep this brief, intentionally, because I think hurling things at you you "have" to know about to be "serious" about racial equity is another way our culture keeps itself just the way it is. But if you have recently awakened to this particular journey or you are looking for a place to start, here are my suggestions:
If you don't read anything else, read this - Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture, developed by Tema Okun. Book mark it; print it out; journal about one item per day -- how you have seen it manifest in your life. What does it mean for your activism if perfectionism, either/or thinking, defensiveness, among others are themselves examples of white supremacy culture?
This web-based workbook offered by dRWorks is fantastic. You can spend a long time here (and do take your time)!
Seeing White podcast, by John Biewen and the Center for Documentary Studies. We learn best by stories, and John Biewen is one of the best at providing them, in an audio format, anyway.
Additional reading - suggested books for white teachers
Someone occasionally asks me (depending on the someone) either to “do their chart,” or to justify my use of a “pseudo-science” like astrology in my work. I actually rarely do either of these! But I will give you a brief overview of my personal take on astrology and how I have found it most useful to people. Read that here.
White Culture
If you are a white person here to learn what you know you don't know, congratulations and welcome! Of course, there is an endless list of resources; there is so much we white folks are taught not to know. But I want to keep this brief, intentionally, because I think hurling things at you you "have" to know about to be "serious" about racial equity is another way our culture keeps itself just the way it is. But if you have recently awakened to this particular journey or you are looking for a place to start, here are my suggestions:
If you don't read anything else, read this - Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture, developed by Tema Okun. Book mark it; print it out; journal about one item per day -- how you have seen it manifest in your life. What does it mean for your activism if perfectionism, either/or thinking, defensiveness, among others are themselves examples of white supremacy culture?
This web-based workbook offered by dRWorks is fantastic. You can spend a long time here (and do take your time)!
Seeing White podcast, by John Biewen and the Center for Documentary Studies. We learn best by stories, and John Biewen is one of the best at providing them, in an audio format, anyway.
Additional reading - suggested books for white teachers