Having enjoyed many long conversations with Dori Midnight in her cozy kitchen sipping one of her extraordinary tea concoctions, I was eager to hear what she had to say about practicing the art of healing & transformation here in Northampton, MA. A recent transplant from San Francisco, Dori is an ordained interfaith minister and intuitive counselor who has come from a long line of tough ladies who healed people in their kitchens. She believes that healing is an “of the people, for the people” practice and works to keep healing accessible, affordable and full of magic. She teaches magic and folk & community herbalism to kids and adults, creates rituals and ceremonies, and provides intuitive counseling and healing for individuals.  Dori will be leading a workshop on Healing the Earth, Healing Ourselves on Saturday, June 18 from 1-4 at Montview Neighborhood Farm.  For more information about the workshop visit: www.montviewfarm.org.  To learn about Dori’s other offerings visit: www.dorilandia.com.

What are you trying to communicate or exp lore in your work?

I want the healing arts to be a down to earth, magical and accessible practice. My work is firmly grounded in self-determinism and collective liberation and illuminated by ancestral folk healing practices and magic. I believe that healing work should not be a luxury reserved for certain people, but that healing ourselves is inseparable from healing our communities and the planet. I am committed to mindfully attending to the impact that oppression (historical and present) has on our spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. My intention is to make social justice and anti-oppression work an integral part of our individual and collective healing process.

Where were you when you created (made) one of your favorite works?

Most recently, picking violets for violet charmed honey in a field near Northampton!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How do you see your art in relation to cultivating community, and how does community affect the work you make?

I think healers are artists who work with visible and invisible forces and pay attention and tend to the well-being of community, the wellness of individuals, and help observe and respond to imbalances in both. Because of that, my work as a healer means that I try to see everything as community—the humans (all of them, everywhere), the bees, the trees, the land we live on, even our stuff.  I love teaching workshops or gathering rituals that create a little community for that moment in which anything can happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is your spirit animal?

I have a lot of invisible animal friends, but my very first spirit animal was spider, who sent me to the emergency room with a poisonous bite when I was 4. I always kind of wished I could shoot webs out of my hands and climb buildings after that, but so far, that hasn’t happened, just a lot of spider dreams and spider visits.

What spaces in Northampton are you most curious to see inside of, or to (make) work in?

I like the idea of taking something, like healing work, that tends to be private and bringing it out to the streets. I love public rituals, so I’m excited about creating rituals in Pulaski Park or somewhere unexpected. I am also curious about doing healing work on the land around here itself, as a site of a lot of injustice, genocide and intense history .

What are some strategies you use to sustain your art (creative) practice (while living in Northampton)?

Resting, doing things slowly, dreaming, having long delicious feasts with friends and enjoying the local bounty, taking walks in the woods, and kitchen witchery.

What 5 items do you always carry with you?

1) a rock

2) a snack (I have been teased that I have a produce department in my purse)

3) a jar of tea

4) some little plant I picked to smell or feel in my pocket

5) magic