O’Neill: Cleaning out the cobwebs and exploring the darkness (column)

Casey O’Neill is a farmer and owner of Happy Day Farms in Laytonville, Calif. The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of The Mendocino Voice. If you’d like to write your own column for The Mendocino Voice, send your idea to info@mendovoice.com.

Last weekend I sat for a medicine ceremony, invoking the spirits of plant medicines and asking for perspective, lessons, and with a request for joy and childlike wonder. I’m still processing and have deep integration work to do, but the response came back that I’ve become too serious, too focused on work, too out of balance with the life I want to lead. The plants answered with visions and realizations, leaving me thunderstruck and daunted by the effort of change that remains in front of me, yet hopeful in a way I haven’t been in a long time.