Whether it was for food, for sex, or for comfort, hunger was something I was taught to fear and to keep under control…

You could argue that pole dancing is just another aspect of our ascension culture: always climbing, reaching, going up up up. But pole is also a descending art — it beckons us inward and down, into the sensual and primal sensations of the body…

I dreamt last night that I was giving birth to a Deer. I was surrounded by shadowed faces, none of them…

We live in a culture obsessed with ascension. We are rising, striving, climbing, trying so hard to go up up up…

Artemis is primarily a goddess of nature — a huntress and protectress of wild things. One of her most well-known sanctuaries is tucked inside a fertile valley in Attica, where the Erasinos River meets the sea. After so many years of adoring and studying the goddess, I finally was able to make Pilgrimage to the sacred wetlands of her temple at Brauron (Βραυρώνα).

Artemis is a paradox. On one hand, she safeguards young children and wild animals, acting as a midwife and protectress of life. On the other hand, she is a bringer of death. She exacts unflinching violence on those who break the sacred rules of her forest, hunting them down and killing them with her bow and arrow.

We venture into the valley of Lake Stymphalia (Λίμνη Στυμφαλία). A storm hovers over the valley, the filtered light illuminating a patchwork of cultivated earth. This entire region is sacred to the goddess Artemis in her form of Artemis Stymphalia, protectress of the lake, fowl and forests.

We began our journey on the Feneos plateau, 900 meters above the sea where lake Doxa (Λίμνη Δόξα) lies nestled in alpine forest. Walking past vendors of walnuts, wild thyme and honey, we made our way down a narrow strip of land that extends into the center of the lake.

Leaving Lake Stymphalia, we drive to Psari (Ψάρι) where a series of hikes begin at the village church and descend into the valley among olive groves and vineyards.

The November air is heavy with resin as we drive over the twisting roads. Passing through the small village of Steno (Στενό), I urge my friend to stop so I can drink from a spring that pours from the bark of an ancient plane tree.

In honor of the Shapeshifter. The Wearer of Masks and Speaker of Tongues. Don your own costume and descend.

With this playlist, I encourage you to experiment with feelings of liquid anger, the slow and heavy bubbling of a long-suppressed rage. Release the metal deposits of anger that encase your body and your heart. Warm them with movement and allow them to drip from your muscles, your skin, your hair. Like liquid metal — roll, roil, boil, and bubble across the floor
.

A steamy, sensual playlist in celebration of the last days of summer.

 Activate that sexual energy with deep bass, rhythmic beats, and slow, fluid builds.

Experiment with expansion and contraction while moving your body through space.

Leaving behind the dark of Chaos Season, we dance into the light.

Turn off all the lights and press play. See what kinds of things your body wants to do in the dark.