Ancestral Healing

All Posts
Plant Medicine / Wildcraft
Etched in Granite
American History - 19th Century
Reflections
Rewilding
Marya's Mother
Healing
Ancestral Healing
Nature Journal
Homeschool
Memoir
The Writing Process

Nov 1, 2020
4 min

Historical Amnesia: From the Author's Pen

I spend much time exploring dark places—places where we are typically unwelcome. There are no complaints here. I signed up for it. I made...

Mj Pettengill

Oct 23, 2020
4 min

Forget Me Not: The Illusion

Facing fear in a rigged system while raising children—keeping them warm, fed, and sheltered—is downright perilous and unpredictable.

A Sinner Prepares For Church: October 6, 1872

Mj Pettengill

Oct 4, 2020
1 min

A Sinner Prepares For Church: October 6, 1872

I longed for the time when God shined His candle about my head as in the days of my youth.

Mj Pettengill

Oct 1, 2020
7 min

Ancestral Healing: Where Does it Begin?

We continue to pass along the grief and pain of those before us, and in time, forget their origins. We inherit their losses.

Mj Pettengill

Sep 29, 2020
4 min

Grandmother Wisdom: The Other Maryjane

I slid into the role of making the most incredible piccalilli east of the Mississippi River.

Mj Pettengill

Sep 24, 2020
5 min

The Poor: Lending Their Secrets, Part 3

When we finally summon the courage to view our past, we may awaken from our troubled dreams.

Mj Pettengill

Sep 20, 2020
5 min

I Screamed at God - (Excerpt)

I reached towards the wreckage of my whole existence.

Mj Pettengill

Sep 17, 2020
4 min

The Poor: Lending Their Secrets, Part 2

The practice of auctioning the poor is a form of indentured servitude, a custom in this country that dates back to the first settlers...

Mj Pettengill

Sep 15, 2020
3 min

Dare to Finish Last

You can be a strong force within yourself, family, and community without raising an angry fist.

Mj Pettengill

Sep 11, 2020
6 min

The Poor: Lending Their Secrets, Part 1

Buried deep in the bones of the earth, in dusty, misplaced archives, and scribbled in faded, yellowed diaries, their stories exist.

Mj Pettengill

Sep 4, 2020
6 min

Nellie: Upon the Bare Earth

There was light there, in the homeland of old stories, but not enough. I had been there too long.

Shoo Away the Ghosts: Simple Acknowledgment

Mj Pettengill

Sep 2, 2020
4 min

Shoo Away the Ghosts: Simple Acknowledgment

Where was God when it happened?

Marya of the Wood: I Left My Soul in the Pond of Mirth

Mj Pettengill

Aug 29, 2020
5 min

Marya of the Wood: I Left My Soul in the Pond of Mirth

Layers of rot and decay became raw—a rich scent of being—an invitation to pause and feel the silken grit all the way through to the bone.

Mj Pettengill

Aug 23, 2020
5 min

Marya of the Wood: The Last Note

One of the most essential elements of these healing gifts has been stitched into a higher awareness of my sense of belonging.

Mj Pettengill

Aug 20, 2020
4 min

Knowing How to See: Reclaiming the 298

Reaching into the corners of uncertain blackness, I saw the dimmest light, that of a dying candle. It was enough to almost blind me.

Mj Pettengill

Aug 13, 2020
4 min

Marya of the Wood: The Sacred River

As we stumble along unfamiliar terrain, we begin to understand that we are not searching for a pot of gold. We are here for the rainbow.

Mj Pettengill

Aug 10, 2020
3 min

A Magical Boy

That sacred site is an archetypal and genealogical vault filled with memories intended to be forgotten...

In the Bits and Pieces: Who Are These Numbered Souls?

Mj Pettengill

Jul 26, 2020
3 min

In the Bits and Pieces: Who Are These Numbered Souls?

I wasn’t the boy they wanted me to become. I was still me, one of them.

Mj Pettengill

Jul 16, 2020
3 min

Remember Me, But Forget My Fate!

I was forgotten before the ink dried; there would be no wastin’ of tears.

Mj Pettengill

Jul 14, 2020
2 min

Who Are These Numbered Souls?

I come before You, meek and lowly in heart...

{"items":["5f9f2967134f240017016f33","5f92ca9e89c5de00172350d5","5f79c7f380db670017fcd1c7","5f765224c6a8f10018483669","5f73ae5539334900175dda16","5f6d0b650c89720017e2e824","5f6758843115060017365083","5f63d847275cd500171c22df","5f60c75c3b373b00178ba54a","5f5bdea90d59500017dc8288","5f52a4e245ae5000176c6759","5f4fc8ad8144d300174d82a7","5f4a9b8535ddae001804c530","5f42f0a07470af00170b8772","5f3eef77c7dc3b00172af860","5f3594d4d4513900177e638a","5f30919f0c71f60018e081c0","5f1d8833ea38400017d6bbd5","5f109aca16e0ec0017608499","5f0e141d1b540d00172f9bb7"],"styles":{"galleryType":"Columns","groupSize":1,"showArrows":true,"cubeImages":true,"cubeType":"fill","cubeRatio":1.3333333333333333,"isVertical":true,"gallerySize":30,"collageAmount":0,"collageDensity":0,"groupTypes":"1","oneRow":false,"imageMargin":32,"galleryMargin":0,"scatter":0,"rotatingScatter":"","chooseBestGroup":true,"smartCrop":false,"hasThumbnails":false,"enableScroll":true,"isGrid":true,"isSlider":false,"isColumns":false,"isSlideshow":false,"cropOnlyFill":false,"fixedColumns":1,"enableInfiniteScroll":true,"isRTL":false,"minItemSize":50,"rotatingGroupTypes":"","rotatingCropRatios":"","columnWidths":"","gallerySliderImageRatio":1.7777777777777777,"numberOfImagesPerRow":1,"numberOfImagesPerCol":1,"groupsPerStrip":0,"borderRadius":0,"boxShadow":0,"gridStyle":1,"mobilePanorama":false,"placeGroupsLtr":true,"viewMode":"preview","thumbnailSpacings":4,"galleryThumbnailsAlignment":"bottom","isMasonry":false,"isAutoSlideshow":false,"slideshowLoop":false,"autoSlideshowInterval":4,"bottomInfoHeight":0,"titlePlacement":"SHOW_ON_THE_RIGHT","galleryTextAlign":"center","scrollSnap":false,"itemClick":"nothing","fullscreen":true,"videoPlay":"hover","scrollAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","slideAnimation":"SCROLL","scrollDirection":0,"scrollDuration":400,"overlayAnimation":"FADE_IN","arrowsPosition":0,"arrowsSize":23,"watermarkOpacity":40,"watermarkSize":40,"useWatermark":true,"watermarkDock":{"top":"auto","left":"auto","right":0,"bottom":0,"transform":"translate3d(0,0,0)"},"loadMoreAmount":"all","defaultShowInfoExpand":1,"allowLinkExpand":true,"expandInfoPosition":0,"allowFullscreenExpand":true,"fullscreenLoop":false,"galleryAlignExpand":"left","addToCartBorderWidth":1,"addToCartButtonText":"","slideshowInfoSize":200,"playButtonForAutoSlideShow":false,"allowSlideshowCounter":false,"hoveringBehaviour":"NEVER_SHOW","thumbnailSize":120,"magicLayoutSeed":1,"imageHoverAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imagePlacementAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","calculateTextBoxWidthMode":"PERCENT","textBoxHeight":0,"textBoxWidth":200,"textBoxWidthPercent":50,"textImageSpace":10,"textBoxBorderRadius":0,"textBoxBorderWidth":0,"loadMoreButtonText":"","loadMoreButtonBorderWidth":1,"loadMoreButtonBorderRadius":0,"imageInfoType":"ATTACHED_BACKGROUND","itemBorderWidth":1,"itemBorderRadius":0,"itemEnableShadow":false,"itemShadowBlur":20,"itemShadowDirection":135,"itemShadowSize":10,"imageLoadingMode":"BLUR","expandAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imageQuality":90,"usmToggle":false,"usm_a":0,"usm_r":0,"usm_t":0,"videoSound":false,"videoSpeed":"1","videoLoop":true,"jsonStyleParams":"","gallerySizeType":"px","gallerySizePx":1060,"allowTitle":true,"allowContextMenu":true,"textsHorizontalPadding":-30,"itemBorderColor":{"themeName":"color_12","value":"rgba(164,6,6,0.75)"},"showVideoPlayButton":true,"galleryLayout":2,"targetItemSize":1060,"selectedLayout":"2|bottom|1|fill|true|0|true","layoutsVersion":2,"selectedLayoutV2":2,"isSlideshowFont":false,"externalInfoHeight":0,"externalInfoWidth":0.5},"container":{"width":1060,"galleryWidth":1092,"galleryHeight":0,"scrollBase":0,"height":null}}

1 2

4 5

Mj Pettengill

Down from the Tree - Book Three Samuel J. Hodgdon II A Boy ~ A Vision ~ A Knowing Tree The Journey Continues

Down from the Tree - Book Three
Samuel J. Hodgdon II
A Boy ~ A Vision ~ A Knowing Tree
The Journey Continues