Toko-pa Turner's Blog

Historically, the winter Solstice was always a time for homecoming. In cosmic terms, it is when the Earth begins to tilt back towards the Sun, gradually returning more light to our days. But like the celestial bodies, people from many cultures would also return to their heart’s home for the holy days ahead. In ancient China, […]

One of the most fascinating images in the Myth of Persephone is the pomegranate. Widely considered to be a sacred fruit in cultures around the world, it is often associated with fertility because of how packed with seeds it is. Curiously, eating a few pomegranate seeds in Hades realm is also what seals Persephone’s fate. Once […]

Though it is beyond anything that can be expressed in words, there is a nature that flows through and gives life to all things. In Taoism, this changing stream is referred to as Tao – or the way. Living in harmony with the Tao is referred to as wu wei. A person who practices wu […]

True happiness depends upon our reciprocity with the environment in which we are embedded, and unto which we are indebted. Our negligence of that reciprocity is, more than any other factor, what fosters unbelonging. It is at the root of loneliness, because without the greater intelligence of the mission coursing through our veins, making our purpose meaningful, we are but isolated bodies going through empty motions.

So much of the creative process is about uncertainty. Like a fog we must pass through, theres a length of confusion that precedes originality. I think of this fog as initiatory in nature, turning back those who cant withstand the uneasiness of not being able to see the horizon. But anyone who has passed through []

Of all the cards in the tarot, the Tower is the one you least want to get. Even less than Death, which often hints at renewal, the Tower is about the fateful hand of destruction. In most depictions, a massive bolt of lightning comes from above and destroys the Tower. Fire bursts from its windows, []

I recently watched a wonderful-difficult film called Honeyland, about Hatidže Muratova, a woman practicing ancient beekeeping traditions to cultivate honey in the mountains of North Macedonia.  The film follows Muratova in her long treks across the desert landscape, up a harrowing cliffside, where she pulls back heavy slate slabs, behind which the hives are hidden. Only ever []

There is an energetic stamp or vibratory signature behind every act of creation. Though difficult to perceive, it is like the wind blowing through a valley, touching everything we do. Although we create in a multitude of ways, it is what’s felt first by others. My partner Craig is a master flute maker, and though […]

Our capacity for embodied pleasure depends on our ability to receive, which is like a muscle that can atrophy if it’s been habitually contracted. A learned sense of unworthiness can act as a barrier against our well-being, keeping us from opening to the beauty that’s all around us. Whether it’s our ability to receive positive […]