I was brought up in the Evangelical Christian tradition. Whilst I felt the loving energy of a divine essence, most of the rest of the religion felt like a lot of rules and constraints. And so, during my adolescence, I questioned and challenged. I really wanted to find answers but to some, I was too much, and one person described me (in a prayer meeting) as “an attack from the devil” – which got a loud round of “amens” from others. And so, I left the safe shores of my upbringing and began a long quest for a spiritual home.

I grew up in a steel town in Ohio, where industry rather than Nature played a huge role.  I also existed in a very strict Byzantine Catholic environment, where I was sent to a Catholic girls’ school which was equally strict, and upon graduation I got married young, and worked as a secretary, and then later became a nurse.  It seemed that even during my young adult years I was oblivious of the importance Nature should play in my life.  As a result, the jobs I took and the religions I followed seemed to lack something for me, but I still did not realize what that might be.