Winter Ross

Sacred Hoop Magazine • 1st December 2022

Scent of the Ponderosa: The Magic of Talking with Trees

The ponderosa pine called to me as I tramped down the hill from my evening hike. The call came as butterscotch incense. As a person with synesthesia, I experienced the scent not only as a song but as a warm touch. The tendrils of perfume were fingers beckoning me down the trail. I followed my nose until I found the source, nearly 50 feet away. How had I walked right past this magnificent being on my way up?

Colorado Central Magazine • 30th November 2022

Tourism/Travel: "Ragpicker Magic"

MAGIC? AT A USED BOOKSTORE? You’d expect to find it at the tarot reader’s place, the Buddhist temples, or among the breathtaking 14,000-foot peaks towering over the small community of Crestone. But at the used bookstore? That’s right, if you intend to explore the esoteric wonders of the little town nestled among the Sangre de Cristos, don’t miss the Ragpicker Bookstore. A visit to the Ragpicker, usually called “Carmin’s” by the locals, is an adventure. The shop is not hard to find; although, it

Spirituality & Health • 22nd October 2022

Self Help: "When Logic Fails"

My brain is fried. I’ve come to South Carolina from New Mexico to be with my sick mother, who’s in a nursing home. I am exhausted from moving from place to place: from guest room to retreat center to housesit to campground. I don’t know where to go next, and I can’t make a rational decision.

Questa News • 4th December 2021

Public Art: "Dumpster Diary"

A mini-mural by Winter Ross and the Vida Day Camp kids is the latest addition to our new library space. It’s on the dumpster out front in the parking lot, so you can’t miss it! This joyful visual representation of things the youngsters experienced or learned about during their three weeks of camp is just plain fun. A big river, fish, plants, flowers, bugs, waterfalls, thunderstorms, birds, beasts, and rainbows decorate the formerly dull dark green trash container.

Spirituality & Health • 10th March 2022

Medical Astrology: Connecting Stars, Planets,…

“For this is the great error of our day in the treatment of the human body, that physicians first separate the soul from the body.” —Plato Medical astrology is a branch of astrology that associates parts of the body (as well as diseases and treatments) with the nature of the sun, planets, and the 12 astrological signs. With ancient roots in India, China, Egypt, Greece and medieval Europe, the art of linking the cosmos with the human body—and the medicines and plants that treat it—is at least 5,000 years old.

Spirituality & Health • 22nd December 2021

"Art for Transformation"

THOUGHT: that mysterious electronic charge in the synapses in our brain. Sometimes we’re overwhelmed by the existential angst of being human. At other times, awe and wonder at the beauty of life on earth comes to us just as powerfully. Thought is what causes our tumbles and stumbles through what we perceive as reality.

The Taos News Tempo • 27th October 2021

Profile: "Takoja Institute: A Place of Sanctuary and Creativity"

Before she passed away in 2014, Judith Sauceda had manifested a vision - she created a sacred space, a salon where kindred spirits and wisdom keepers gather, a sustainable site where knowledge, skills and love can be handed down to future generations. Takoja Institute was established 30 years ago. Today her extended family and friends continue to support Judith's endeavor.

Winter Ross

Spirituality & Health • 16th July 2021

"Form a Goddess Circle, Find Your Sacred Self"

Which Goddess Circle Is Right for You? Try out several circles to find one that fits. Are you a gentle Crone seeking the company of other wisdom keepers? Perhaps you’re a new mother looking for support and friendship in a space where your child is welcome. Or maybe you’re a feisty lover looking for the wild dance. Maiden, Mother, or Crone, you’ll find what you need.

Spirituality & Health • 11th June 2021

Profile: "Lakota Activist and Builder Christinia Eala"

Christinia realized sustainable, owner-built housing with solar alternative energy was the direction she needed to take for reservation housing. She studied earthbag construction at Cal-Earth Institute, inspired by dome designs that are flood, fire, and earthquake-proof and architecturally based on the sacred circle. She teamed up with a solar school, experimented with hempcrete and pallet houses, spending years researching and planning.

Spirituality & Health • 25th May 2021

Buddhism/Self Help: "Feeding Your Demons"

A demon is a metaphor for anything that is taking your energy, be it fear, obsession, addiction, or something else.

Spirituality & Health • 23rd April 2021

Self Help: "A Grief Garden Can Help You Heal"

It was the sacrificial braid of human hair that brought the grief home to me. I felt like a grave robber. As I brushed leaf mold from the light brown twist, I realized it had once belonged to the mourner who’d designed and planted the small, circular garden bed I was restoring. She had left a traditional symbol of sorrow. Who was she? Who had she lost? How had the creation of this shrine helped her heal?

Spirituality & Health • 5th March 2021

Folk Medicine: "The Hoodoo Blues"

Hoodoo is a rich and complex collection of beliefs and magical practices. Spells timed to moon phases; charms, curses and crossings; dream interpretation; candle magic; incense; sachet powders; purifying baths; floor washes; symbols and sigils drawn on pathways; potent herbs and roots soaked in conjure oils; silver mercury dime talismans, and prayer bags anointed with sweat, blood or urine; are just some of the methods employed in acquiring that lucky life we’re all after.

Spirituality & Health • 9th February 2021

Divination: "Throwing the Bones: Finding Your Future"

For a year now, we have been hearing the phrase “In these uncertain times.” Many of us are having difficulty coping with the seemingly apocalyptic crises we are facing. We are lonely. We are anxious. We are grieving. There’s a part of us that believes in, and understands, the language of magic. If we are to heal wholly, we must engage all parts of ourselves in the process.

Earth First! Journal • 7th December 2020

Environmental Reporting: "Resistance to Oil and Gas in the Sacred San Luis Valley"

The Great Climate March Blog; Wild Woman Rising • 2nd June 2014

Travel Article: "The Holiness of Dirt"

I trudge breathlessly, head down, toward our next camp: the parking lot of El Santuario de Chimayo. I hurt all over; my joints are stiff; the soles of my feet are burning.

Society for Shamanic Practice • 29th March 2020

Opinion Piece: "Walking the Edge of Cultural Appropriation"

The young man was goth-like, pale and pimply, dressed in a long black coat and lecturing to a circle of listeners at an Earth First! gathering in the western wilderness. The subject of his talk was the cultural appropriation of earth-based spiritual traditions. He had embraced his Wiccan ancestral roots, he raged, and anyone white who strayed into Indigenous spirituality was simply politically incorrect, if not morally indefensible.

New Mexico Press Women's Association • 9th January 2014

Adventure Writing: "Orienting Heaven"

First Place Winner of both the New Mexico Press Women's Association and the Federation of National Press Women's Communications Awards for 2015.

Amazon Books • 6th December 2020

Visionary Fiction: "4 Warnings: Shamanic Journeys"

Review: You may pick up this beautiful, seemingly short, book casually. You will leave it being forever changed. Ms. Ross weaves a vision of our possible future as a species - indeed, as living creatures - which pulls at the heart and, hopefully, spurs us to action. Through her visionary travels with Bat, Orca Whale, Deer and Bear, she leads us on a journey encompassing the spiritual and physical realms which lie hidden within our psyches, to truths we know but don't know we know and sometimes wish we didn't. - Bruce Nygren, President Emeritus, Center for Non-dual Awareness.