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dear you, So many things and encounters happened in April that here I am - writing you this letter on the last day of this month. And even if it brings out some weird tensions in the body, remembering the student times often doing things on the last day and being aware that this time the lifeline is entirely my own construct, I feel happy to sit down and actually write you. So thank you for keeping your mailbox open to these - it means a lot. I will share a bit of what is alive and present, where to meet in the upcoming weeks and some news from plant world and the library. And I love hearing back from you, so if there is something that resonates in you, or the opposite, my mailbox is also open.
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April was a month of encounters - expected, unexpected, deep, surprising, eco-logical. I also moved through many lands and places and while it was inspiring and thrilling, moving so much and encountering so many different contexts in a short time is becoming increasingly challenging for my soul and body. And it feels so good to be back home now, in Willow House and have some time to process it all. One of the things that stayed with me most strongly was witnessing the meeting between present day humans and the imagined future ancestors 200 years from now. Its a beautiful practice from the Work That Reconnects that I held in Riga this month. I have held this practice many times in different contexts, but it was first time to read out the questions from the future generations - about how it is to live in the era of so much destruction; what gives strength to the current day people to keep taking care of the land so there is still water to drink and soil to be with in the future, etc. - in my first language - Latvian - and something in this touched me so deeply I can still feel it in my body. And the effect of this seemingly impossible encounter was so hope-giving and encouraging to keep going. Later in the month in Marseille I met over 200 courageous humans from Europe and more from the Trans Europe Halles network, who give new life to abandoned places - mostly ruins of the industrial growth society - old factories, military buildings, and more. Together we were exploring what it means imagining within the limits of planetary boundaries. I also had the honour to hold one of the opening speeches, which we drafted together with a garden at La Friche. Thanks to a dear friend of mine who recorded it, you can watch it here, if you are curious. We started the Rooted Allyship journey with eight amazing participants, which gave so much joy of doing the heart work of holding spaces together with plants. I had the opportunity to meet and listen to in close proximity to one of my favourite thinkers of this time - Bayo Akomolafe and be reminded that all doing is complicated and ecological. And then there were the most surprising and humbling encounters that kept weaving through April - those with the Owl. Part of a mentorship I am doing now is opening up to animal and plant guides. And so the owl has kept knocking my door - by literally landing in a tree next to which I am standing, by appearing in books, in news, on balconies, in the name of the street I am going for a healing session, in dreams, in conversations. In so many ways and nearly every day, and still - for some reason I kept resisting - saying no - you must have the wrong address, you must be looking for someone else, it is too obvious…and then I stumbled upon a big statue of the owl literally next to my house, which for sure has been there for a looooong time, but which I had never noticed and I finally put my armour down and humbled myself and said - I accept your invitation, apologies for being so silly for a long time. So now I am in the beginning of a new relationship which both scares me and thrills me so much. Do you have any stories of owls to share? I want to hear them.
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CRYING CHOIR May - June, 2026, in-person in Aarhus As part of a new artwork “House for Homeless Grief” we will be developing together with Katrine Faber and others, Katrine invites to join a crying choir - a space to explore the musical possibilities of the voice through work with breathing, crying, lullabies, comfort songs, songs of rebellion, gentle songs, wild songs, and mournful songs based on improvisation and the body’s music. A space to examine crying as rebellion and an insistence on love and life. We start on May 5th. More info here.
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RESILIENCE gathering, the Feminist Academy, Borzymy From May 6 -10, I will be in Borzymy, Poland, co-facilitating RESILIENCE - a Feminist Academy bringing together activists and movement builders from across Eastern Europe and beyond. The gathering focuses on collective resilience: sustaining activism, working through grief, building transnational feminist solidarity, and connecting our work to broader cultural histories and practices. It is organized by FemFund, filia.die frauenstiftung, Ukrainian Women's Fund, Women's Fund Armenia, and Women's Fund in Georgia. So excited for this work and especially to facilitate it together with Agnieszka Bułacik. If you are in Warsaw on the 10th and want to have a cup of tea, let me know.
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MORNING BRIEFING 27 May, 8.30 - 9.30, Aarhus Katrine Faber and I will be at the morning briefing hosted by Performing Arts Platform sharing the vision and process behind ROOTED festival, and glimpses into the development of House for Homeless Grief - a new international interdisciplinary installation by Teater Viva and Willow House/ROOTED Festival, exploring intergenerational trauma, climate grief, and the voices of the unheard. The event is free, breakfast included. Registration is required: sign up here.
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ROOTED festival 13 & 14 June, Aarhus ROOTED is a performing arts festival dedicated to plants and our relationships with plants. This year for two days and with over 30 participating artists it will be a rich program with performances, workshops installations, walks, film screenings and so much more. You can follow the festival here and the tickets are already out - HERE -and there is a limited amount of them, so don' t wait till last moment, if you want to join!. www.rootedfestival.com
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this month in ROOTED Allyship we work closely with Nettle - listening to her stories, learning her gifts and asking what we can do with the Nettle..In this process I am remembering my encounters with nettle since childhood…As children, my brother, cousin, and I played a game every spring - who could hold still the longest while nettle caressed our arms. The winner got a bun and this was one of the rare games I almost always won. While at the time it felt like a test of toughness, I notice now that in some ways it was also a practice in presence - in fact, if you approach the Nettles with presence, they almost never sting. Try it for yoursel! Here is some inspiration from our cat Graevling lying in the nettle field.
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librarythis is a continuous open invitation to engage with the Willow House library that houses a growing collection of books and publications on land, healing, feminism, spirituality, ecology, social justice, and much more. If you are in Aarhus, you can become a member and borrow books. Reach out for more information and the list of books available
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from the library shelves… (…) A little color in the almond blossom protects the heavens from the heathen's last arguments (However we differ, we realize happiness is possible, as is an earthquake.) A little dancing among the plants at a licentiuos wedding feast stimulates our blood. (The seed does not know death, no matter how far we go.) Eternity is shy of no one when she grants her body to all here…in the fleeting spring. excerpt from “As for Spring” from “Almond Blossoms & Beyond” by Mahmoud Darwish
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