Does it take the fireworks to make you look in wonder?
A couple years ago, I did mushrooms and married Mother Earth. But this post isn’t really about that.
Before my wedding in April, I was talking with a friend of mine who used to live in NYC but now lives in a remote town surrounded by national parks, crystal blue lakes and beautiful vistas. I told her I’m excited to see what this new chapter of my life brings: What will I embrace or release? Who do I want to be, and what do I want to give to the world next?
She asked me what the answers were, and I said I wasn’t sure yet. “I do know that I want to be more in touch with nature,” I said. “I’ve realized how important that is to me over the last few years.”
My friend gave me a pitying look. “Well, any time you want nature, you can come visit me in the forest,” she said.
I’m so grateful for that. My two favorite parts of traveling are 1) seeing my friends who don’t live nearby!!! and 2) experiencing different forms of nature and foliage in different parts of the world. But the belief that a city doesn’t have nature feels so short sighted to me. And maybe a little sad, too.
Like the title of this post says, a couple years ago, I took psilocybin in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and married Mother Earth.1 This event was admittedly hilarious, but also deeply beautiful and profound to me, even now.
The ~trip~ simply reaffirmed something that I had forgotten about in the few years prior: That nature and her seasons are the most important things to me, the things I value the most, the reasons why I make art. It was a deep reminder to stay in touch with that part of myself and ensure the decisions I make align with that importance.
This importance is one reason why I love living on the East Coast, where each season is delineated with such stark contrast and, in the city, with so many specific cultural rituals: Blooming picnic springs, beachside road trip summers, leaf peeping cabin autumns, snowy holiday light winters.
Over the last few years, I’ve really embraced my Judaism, as well as my connection to the seasons and nature, combining it in a non-dogmatic way that feels good to me.2 Celebrating the seasons and holidays has helped me stay present in my life, and value the thing that matters most to me: Nature. It reminds me that the wheel is always turning, that no feeling is final, and to embrace the qualities unique to each season of our lives.
When I first moved to NYC, I was listening to a lot of old Sneaker Pimps songs, and this line from “Splinter” really stuck with me:
Does it take the fireworks to make you look in wonder?
It was 2011 and I felt exhausted by everyone seeking the next new high (literally and metaphorically), the girlboss-ification of capitalism, Tumblr posts about how “only the boring get bored,” etc. The lyrics felt like, why do you need the lights of Midtown to feel alive? Why do you need a warehouse party every weekend to find value in your life?
But I see the line differently now—The opposite, in a way: Do you need untouched mountain views to be impressed? Do you need absolute silence around you to enjoy Spring’s first singing robin?
Nature doesn’t have to exist in grand gestures. It’s the mama bird sitting in her cherry blossom tree nest, right above the benches in McNair Park. It’s the floral breezes that greet me when I turn onto my street at night in the summer. It’s the cold Atlantic Ocean on your sun-toasted skin at the Rockaways. It’s the ramps and rhubarb I picked up at the farmer’s market last weekend, and the seasonal surprise veggies in our biweekly CSA box.
I bought this book, “The Wheel of the Year: An Illustrated Guide to Nature's Rhythms” by Fiona Cook and Jessica Roux, after seeing it in the window at Asbury Book Cooperative down the shore last summer. The illustrations are beautiful, and although some of the text is a little simple3, it totally resonates with how I try to celebrate nature. The book gives me something tangible to hold when I’m deciding how to celebrate a seasonal change, instead of searching the internet for inspiration.
On Beltane, aka May Day, aka the day between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, I cracked open this book. It inspired me to make violet syrup with the big bag full of purple violets I had just harvested from the tattoo studio’s backyard. I picked up a twig on my afternoon walk to make a mini maypole with pastel colored silk ribbons for my seasonal altar. And in these gorgeously illustrated pages, I was surprised to see a passage that really reminded me of that conversation with my friend.
What do you think of when you hear the word nature?
Maybe you imagine a wild forest where no human has stepped foot for a long time. Maybe you think of flowers, animals, and trees. Do you think of people or cities when you hear the word nature?
In truth, we humans are nature, too. Despite historical attempts to control and distance ourselves from other living beings, the universe is a living thing, and we humans are but one aspect of this enormous, magical system.
For most of human existence, people have been connected to their environment, depending on it and giving back to it. It’s only in more recent history that such stark lines have been drawn between humans and the Earth.
As a result, these days we might think of “Nature” as some grand, distant other, something to observe and visit.
But we don’t have to think this way! […] Since you are part of nature, where you are is nature. That said, go ahead and find the dirt; find the green, the growing, the living. Speak to it. Listen to it.
The very land you walk on is alive, teeming with life you can and cannot see.
As far as art goes, I’m currently booking tattoo appointments for the summer in NYC! I’m at Haven Tattoo Studio most of the time, and occasionally at Meadow Sky Studio in Brooklyn because the arduous commute between Crown Heights and Ridgewood has been making me feel totally bananas.
I was soooo busy with appointments and my previously-mentioned wedding this spring, but I finally have more time this month to paint new designs. Some things that have been inspiring me lately: Old school tattoo designs, flower fairies, mermaids, jewelry boxes, and as always, nature. I really want to start doing scenery tattoos, and I’m currently working on some locket designs filled with mountain views and other moments in time, but I’d love to do a custom piece depicting someone’s beloved garden or meaningful vacation spot.
If you’re not in NYC, I’m planning to go back to Philadelphia in July or August, and likely San Jose this winter. Any other spots I should travel to in the meantime?
I started back up on TikTok, so you can follow me there if that’s your kinda thing. I sort of hate it, but we’ll see how it goes. Otherwise, I made an actual non-social-media tattoo portfolio on my site, and I’ll keep sharing info and flash here.
Maybe it’s trite to say, but I love tattooing! If you’ve been wanting a tattoo from me, I truly can’t wait to meet you & make something pretty together.
So technically, April 5th 2025 was my second wedding day, a fact that my new husband does not dispute.
Maybe this sounds specific and weird to you, but so much of Judaism is rooted in the seasonal year, it really makes sense to me. I’ve also found a lot of comfort and meaning in learning from people like Jewitches on Instagram.
It’s definitely written for grade schoolers who discovered witchcraft on TikTok, which I just love