So, Who is this Garden Goddess?

Sarah Swan
Aug 2, 2020
6 min read

Shix Maytski!

Good Morning!

How is everyone doing this fine day? Keeping busy? Keeping sane?

Are you coping? This quarantine is literally no joke, I'm telling you. I'm grateful for the hills and airing my dad and kids out.

First, I want to say thank you to everyone for stopping by today. I have had an overwhelmingly increase in followers lately on both my Instagram and my Nurse Sarah Facebook pages. I got to thinking, these people have no idea who I am. Might be a good idea to do an introduction post to share among my platforms. Especially, to let y'all in on this project I have been working on pretty much all quarantine (March 2020).

So...For those that don't know: My name is Sarah Swan. My Indian name is Many Eagles Woman. I'm from the great PNW. I'm an enrolled member of the Little Shell Band of Chippewa and a direct descendent of the Yakama Nation. I grew up deep on the Yakama Reservation in the town of White Swan, Washington. With all that being said, no matter what my Indian card says, I culturally identify as being a Yakama ayat (woman). FYI, the language I'm speaking that you probably don't understand is Ichishkiin. The Indigenous language of the Plateau. I'm learning. If you reside on the Plateau, I believe it's your responsibility to learn as well...the beginning steps to bring balance, healing, and harmony to these lands. My soapbox for the day...anyways.

Currently, I'm a RN, BSN and I work PACU/Recovery in the Surgery department. I'm the NOC, meaning I work the night shift. I have single-handedly been raising my children for 6 1/2 years. They truly are the reason I wake up every day. I cook, bake, garden, and create masterpieces of all sorts. I have a lot of friends that like to call me miss "Betty Crocker". I like to think of myself as the Indigenous Martha Stewart because not only is she oh so talented... she's down!

Anyways, In my 43 summers, I have done everything from fieldwork ( I don't think I was even legal to work lol), dispatching for White Swan Ambulance, pull tab dealer at Legends Casino (man I was a good one too), house cleaner, AmeriCorps volunteer, powwow back up singer (for the Big Guns during the 1990's and early 2000's), DJ (before the digital era in the Burien/White Center area... but Dayum ish was lit!), student, community organizer, and now for the past 13 years a nurse. Basically, I'm saying I have done some things. I have some ground to stand on.

I'm also a domestic abuse survivor. Truly a survivor. All you poor souls don't even have a chance, I can see those red flags coming a mile away....block. Furthermore, I have learned over the years that I'm an empath. Basically meaning I can sense energy. I can feel you before I even see you. My aura is also white. Babies, children, and animals are attracted to it. I have many who will back me up when I say I'm the baby whisperer. True story. Right, Elese?

Anyways, now you're, thinking OMG she has totally lost it! On the contrary, tomorrow I have a story to share and I will teach you how easy it is to see what color your aura is.

You know, I am Karen Swan's daughter (That's another story in itself). It was bound to happen that I go full fledge hippy. Haha. However, It's more than that. I have learned that this Universe is bigger than Christianity, bigger than the Yakama Reservation, bigger than the Earth. Most of all, vibrations, energy, and the Law of Attraction is real. Then you know what? My black thumb turned green. My cookies are not only as sweet as me but just as beautiful. I create freaking masterpieces in the tiniest kitchen ever and I don't even own a microwave. One day they'll make a Netflix documentary about me and I'll confidently say "Proving to the world I can do it became an obsession." Haha. I'm kidding, not kidding.

All jokes aside and I'm not lying about going, full-fledged hippy though. More so, I feel many of my Indigenous sisters and probably some non-indigenous sisters too: Are empaths; have a deep connection to the Earth, and are powerful in ways that American culture has a hard time accepting or even understanding (I'll dive more into as this blog series grows). We are products of near genocide, assimilation, and inter-generational trauma that are woven so deep in our DNA. Yet, we're still here... aside from all the healing we still have to do. I believe, our roots run so deep in this Earth, that the answers just like our traumas are embedded in our DNA. Furthermore, It's our job to dig those roots out, wash off the rot, replant, and heal.

I ask myself this question..."Do we have the tools as Indigenous people to heal these traumas?" I feel the answer is...yes. However, we're losing elders every day to this virus. Even worse the virus also makes it hard to reach out to our loved ones. We're missing out on teachings every day. We're missing out on how we congregate and heal. I know it's affecting me. I've been social distancing since mid-March 2020. I didn't get to dig. I didn't go to any of the feasts, I knew it was not safe...even back then. Thank heaven's for the hills and airing my Dad out up there. I think I would legit being going crazy right now. Anyways, I know I asked earlier, but I want to know. How is the world affecting you right? Are you coping? What are you doing about it?

You're probably thinking, why is all this important? Well, unless you are entering a spiritual awakening or have already awakened, this may be very hard for you to grasp. You know what? That is totally ok. Truly, you don't need to go any further in this blog series. However, if and when your soul decides to awaken, you will have sisters and brothers that are trailblazing, decolonizing, and above all raising the vibrations so we all can attract the life we deserve.

That brings me to my new blog series. It started out as "100 days of Actions and Intentions" to being called "Finding Medine". The 100 days of actions and intentions still may turn into a thing, it's pretty much already written. However, there are some legit basics of the metaphysical that need to be understood before this journey can be started. Oh yes, we are going there. You are entering the world of metaphysics, that's right. We and I am talking about Americans in general, focus on health as being physical health only. The cure for all disease comes in a magic pill you get from the "doctors". We even think, we always need to be on a diet and so on. Mental and spiritual health are often viewed as taboo, bizarre I know. Anyways, as this blog grows, all I'm going to say is keep an open mind. I'm going to show you how to check your energy, raise your vibrations, that the Law of Attraction is real, the divine lives in you, you are a god/goddess, and you are full of medicine! Truly laying a foundation down for your mental and physical health as well. When your spirit is happy the rest falls into place.

A lot of the activities I'm going to share as this blog series grows are family-oriented. Get everyone around you involved. When everyone's vibrations are high...miracles happen! I really don't want anyone going out buying a whole bunch of spiritual and metaphysical stuff. However, these are some material it won't hurt to have on hand. I will be teaching you how to make a lot of things as well, that will come in handy.

Non required materials (we'll use later on in the blog series):

Pendulum (any necklace will work)
tarot/oracle cards (promise you this isn't evil or devil worship - stay open-minded)
crystals (the ones you find on beaches and hikes are more special then ones you can buy)
smudge (don't buy it, grow it!)
I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out and we will probably discover even more stuff along the way.
We're going to roll with it!

Getting ready to be charged under the moonlight.

Lastly, I'm not going to show you how to pray. How you pray and who you pray to is your thing. It's sacred. I'm sure if you don't know how to "pray" you will learn as you become closer to your higher self. What I am going to show you is: How to check your energy, set intentions, meditate, etc. Ultimately, raising your vibrations.

I also want to point out that this blog is Anti-Trump, Anti-Fascism (as in literally Fascism), BLM, Pro-Choice, LGBTQ, Water is Life...basically anything that makes you truly good morale human and not a hypocrite. I will not tolerate hate, racism, homophobia, fatphobia, sexism, anything misogynist....do I need to go on?

With that being said, come back tomorrow and we'll learn about auras and the Law of Attraction. Let's raise these Vibrations!

I'm going to leave you with a meme I shared from the beautiful Candice

Benbow on Instagram @candicebenbow .