<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Lara Vesta]]></title><description><![CDATA[Lara Vesta]]></description><link>https://www.laravesta.com/library</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Fri, 01 May 2026 01:58:54 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.laravesta.com/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[What Is Ancestral Animism?]]></title><description><![CDATA[I've taken to calling my gnosis based, relationship based spiritual path ancestral animism, and my reasons for that are multiple. ]]></description><link>https://www.laravesta.com/post/what-is-ancestral-animism</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e8fbbaab5395dde6062b3b</guid><category><![CDATA[ancestors]]></category><pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2026 21:35:56 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/e37265_0ab09569f54e401a8a30f64b42129cb5~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Lara Irene</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[equinox balance meditation]]></title><description><![CDATA[Mythic cyclic consciousness understands there is no end or beginning, no striving for some “perfect” inhabiting of a polarity, but the beautiful dance that is balance.



My prayer is for the balance to be regained, on a micro level, and a macro, to be a part of the rhythm, to sing a soul song in the flow.]]></description><link>https://www.laravesta.com/post/equinox-balance-meditation</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69bdc14ae108eb64bf2145df</guid><category><![CDATA[ritual]]></category><category><![CDATA[practice]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 22:45:05 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/e37265_523cb4fb3cbb4819a1791be8078ab9bc~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Lara Irene</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Bog Hagging: An Intention]]></title><description><![CDATA[Who is the Bog Hag? This archetype, familiar to us, known in our bones, surfaced for me in late 2023 when I was skulking a thread about perimenopause that came up in my search results. A woman wrote something about embracing the Hag she was becoming, flipping the bird to expectations and taking up residence in her Hag hut. Yes. That will do, I thought, my heart opened and immediately wrote the poem that ends this letter.]]></description><link>https://www.laravesta.com/post/bog-hagging-an-intention</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69bdc52ce108eb64bf2151bc</guid><category><![CDATA[bog hag]]></category><category><![CDATA[transition]]></category><category><![CDATA[initiation]]></category><category><![CDATA[healing]]></category><category><![CDATA[stories]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 30 Dec 2025 08:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/e37265_868c10f011ba41088378e44df7fb4b6c~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Lara Irene</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[How To Return from the Underworld]]></title><description><![CDATA[This is an old trick I learned as a fiction writer. When you get blocked, don't stop writing. Change course. ]]></description><link>https://www.laravesta.com/post/how-to-return-from-the-underworld</link><guid isPermaLink="false">68cc5c05b8eb079bcb05c384</guid><category><![CDATA[transition]]></category><category><![CDATA[initiation]]></category><category><![CDATA[healing]]></category><category><![CDATA[stories]]></category><category><![CDATA[myth]]></category><category><![CDATA[return]]></category><pubDate>Sat, 20 Sep 2025 07:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/e37265_8a96efd5a0b543588dae9c58405ad2a2~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Lara Irene</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Who is the Dark Goddess]]></title><description><![CDATA[The journey to the Dark Goddess is a natural part of any death transition — any difficult rite of passage that takes us out of our ordinary experiences and places us into a liminal cycle. Death transitions may be those transitions classically seen as negative — such as a serious illness or accident, death of a loved one, job loss or divorce — but even so-called positive transitions such as marriage or the birth of a child carry the weight of endings. Largely we navigate our challenging transitio]]></description><link>https://www.laravesta.com/post/who-is-the-dark-goddess</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69bdc47a401a0b244d006418</guid><category><![CDATA[dark goddess]]></category><category><![CDATA[books]]></category><category><![CDATA[art]]></category><category><![CDATA[myth]]></category><pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2024 07:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/e37265_ac9ec4d64a2346319016cb829fba1a0b~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Lara Irene</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Names of the Living World: some land spirits]]></title><description><![CDATA[What are the names of the spirits in your ancestral languages? What are the names of the spirits in the land where you live now? How does our relationship to place transform when we view it as relationship, necessitating respect and reciprocity?]]></description><link>https://www.laravesta.com/post/names-of-the-living-world-some-land-spirits</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69bdc3a59b4f1678f0821c56</guid><category><![CDATA[language]]></category><category><![CDATA[ancestors]]></category><pubDate>Mon, 01 May 2023 07:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/e37265_18988d5b4da544e386ff146601f64dc3~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Lara Irene</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Three Phases of a Rite of passage]]></title><description><![CDATA[Return is the third phase of an initiatory rite of passage. In myth it often includes a ceremony of homecoming, coalescence, community honoring. On return the initiate may ritually take a new name, something symbolic of the new role or work they embody after transformation. Return can be a time of mourning, grieving and celebration simultaneously. It is paradoxical, an ending and a beginning, often without a place of pause in the cycle of transformation, but still marking a definitive change, a ]]></description><link>https://www.laravesta.com/post/three-phases-of-a-rite-of-passage</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69bdbbf1401a0b244d004d1f</guid><category><![CDATA[transition]]></category><category><![CDATA[initiation]]></category><category><![CDATA[healing]]></category><category><![CDATA[stories]]></category><category><![CDATA[return]]></category><category><![CDATA[ritual]]></category><pubDate>Wed, 06 Jul 2022 07:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/e37265_a5bd72e4db29443dbb5f934e4938860d~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Lara Irene</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Wuldortanas: Divination and Plant Magic]]></title><description><![CDATA[These herbs were called Wuldortanas. Wuldor means glory, tanas is related to the word tanian, which means to decide by lots. ]]></description><link>https://www.laravesta.com/post/wuldortanas-divination-and-plant-magic</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69bdc2ad401a0b244d005f31</guid><category><![CDATA[herbs]]></category><category><![CDATA[language]]></category><category><![CDATA[ancestors]]></category><pubDate>Wed, 30 Mar 2022 07:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/e37265_37d540ea7cd94d6f8e4600adfe1eba3f~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Lara Irene</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[how to find your myth]]></title><description><![CDATA[The second our lives become a ritual story — honing us, annealing us, moving us outside of the known and into the unknown — we have again agency, choice. This is where working with myth can support our journey, and understanding the ancient form of the most human stories can give our own strange, underworld travels a comprehensive shape.]]></description><link>https://www.laravesta.com/post/how-to-find-your-myth</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69bdc085cf14a7a450ca12d8</guid><category><![CDATA[healing]]></category><category><![CDATA[stories]]></category><category><![CDATA[myth]]></category><category><![CDATA[ancestors]]></category><category><![CDATA[education]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 22 Feb 2022 08:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/e37265_87288dd3273446efbecb73f9a714540e~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Lara Irene</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[the Spiritual Uses of Illness: Disability as Power]]></title><description><![CDATA[Telling a story of empowerment around these embodied experiences has been essential to my work, and this passage about disability as a corollary for power affirms what I have been feeling and thinking for a long time.]]></description><link>https://www.laravesta.com/post/the-spiritual-uses-of-illness-disability-as-power</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69bdbeb0e108eb64bf213f5d</guid><category><![CDATA[transition]]></category><category><![CDATA[initiation]]></category><category><![CDATA[healing]]></category><category><![CDATA[ancestors]]></category><pubDate>Sun, 06 Feb 2022 08:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/e37265_f47236dd9c624ffb85f522ee19c917f0~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Lara Irene</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[How to set magical intentions for the new year]]></title><description><![CDATA[

Intention is the centerpiece of magic, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary, infusing traditional words or objects with power and meaning. Intention is also the potency of spiritual work. ]]></description><link>https://www.laravesta.com/post/how-to-set-magical-intentions-for-the-new-year</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69bdbdd1e108eb64bf213cef</guid><category><![CDATA[new year]]></category><category><![CDATA[practice]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 31 Dec 2021 08:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/e37265_541132275eb1461abb865e9396bfdf1d~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Lara Irene</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Root of Ritual]]></title><description><![CDATA[In the midst of transition I learned to trust my ceremonial practice. I’ve been through enough now to know it is the cornerstone of reciprocal consciousness, raising my awareness of the sacred balance of offering and receiving happening in every moment. When I feel off balance, overwhelmed or afraid, I turn to ritual — ritualizing my routine, my days and encoding my prayers in symbolic action.⠀⠀]]></description><link>https://www.laravesta.com/post/the-root-of-ritual</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69bdbb31cf14a7a450ca040b</guid><category><![CDATA[initiation]]></category><category><![CDATA[myth]]></category><category><![CDATA[ritual]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 24 Dec 2021 08:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/e37265_16941715c971468ea3e73ccabe78fa76~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Lara Irene</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>