The journey of becoming begins when we pause long enough to listen.
Seasons of Becoming
A note from Gretchen. . . .
June's theme is Returning to Your Roots.
We often imagine beginnings as dramatic events—a new job, a move, a relationship, a milestone. Yet many beginnings arrive quietly. A single decision. A shift in perspective. A willingness to release what no longer serves us. But sometimes a new beginning is a actually a return home—to a part of the Self that has been forgotten, neglected, or left behind.
This month, I invite you to explore the threshold between what has been and what is emerging through reflection, meditation, writing, reading, and time in nature.
Reflections
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Meditations in image and word
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Threshold Journeys™
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Writing Prompts
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Recommended Books
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Reflections - Meditations in image and word - Threshold Journeys™ - Writing Prompts - Recommended Books -
© 2026 Gretchen Martens (Assateague National Seashore, Sentinels)
Reflection
After the Lightning: On Grief and the Slow Work of Becoming
When life shatters our assumptions and wounds us in ways we never expected, how do we continue becoming? Through the wisdom of a fire-scarred coastal forest, this reflective essay explores grief, resilience, and the journey back to the Sovereign Self, offering journaling prompts for your own season of renewal.
Wild Meditation
To everything there is a season. . . .
We welcome the times of laughter and dance and love. But in equal measure we push away the times of weeping and rending and hate. We say it is the wrong time or we are in the wrong season. When we do this, we deprive our Selves of the lessons of the shadow times, the gifts that come from living through challenges and uncertainty. Trust that every season brings with it a purpose and an opportunity. Dig deep, ask questions. Let all of life be your teacher. Look for the grace, express your gratitude.
Excerpt from The Edge of Becoming: courage, hope, and inner peace in image and word
by Gretchen Martens (©2026, Gretchen Martens, Village of Care Press)
Writing Prompts
Rupture and Threshold Moments
Think about a time of rupture. Were you broken, or broken open?
When has loss initiated your becoming? What emerged from the fracturing?
When were you forced to shed a role, identity, or illusion? When did you choose to?
Tell the story of a season when everything felt uncertain. What was quietly forming beneath the surface?
When did you realize you could not go back?
© 2026 Gretchen Martens (Bhutan, Mystic Forest)
Threshold Journey™
Walking the Threshold with Mother Earth
A guided practice for releasing what no longer serves you and creating space for what wants to emerge.
A Favorite Book
Returning to her Celtic heritage, Sharon Blackie speaks to how we as women often feel exiled—not only geographically, but spiritually and culturally. She suggests that reclaiming indigenous Celtic myth and local landscape offers women a grounded sense of identity free from the pressures of productivity and patriarchy, and reconnected to the natural world. Blackie explores archetypes of sovereignty, wildness, creativity, and elder wisdom. She argues that healing personal fragmentation is inseparable from ecological and cultural restoration. To “rise rooted” is to reclaim one’s place in the web of land, ancestry, myth, and community. Rather than offering self-help techniques, the book invites a slow reorientation—toward cycles of the seasons, the wisdom of story, and the courage to inhabit one’s own landscape fully.