W

on’t you enter my little virtual magic cottage and make yourself home? Rest your weary feet and fingers, let down your hair, breathe in deeply of sweet aromas – of something delicious simmering on the stove, flower essences, herbs, incense – and let the your soul awaken to wonder and to new possibilities.

Speaking of possibility, what you see before you in the form of this website did not come quickly, but actually started last summer after a session with my caped business crusader I was asked during that time – “Are you willing to be seen?” And so I considered, felt into, embodied, meditated, and prayed on that query until the answer became clear. There were many early morning conversations with my beloved, much play with my little one, and then I knew. It was time for Milagro Roots to transform into an LLC and time for milagroroots.com to give way to brianasaussy.com. And so here we are, and here I am, ready to shine and ready to serve.

I have built several websites in the past several years, and I know that the project always begins with a simple question: what is the purpose of the site? Websites can be made to serve many different purposes — some sites are built to showcase a person’s writing or photographs, some sites are built entirely around a popular blog, some sites are built exclusively to sell wares and services. This site? This site is built for YOU. I know you appreciate beauty, and so my wonderful web mage has created beauty in many places — some obvious and some hidden. I know too that you appreciate good information, rich thoughts and melodious words, so we created a simple and beautiful blog, named Canto. I know too that you like the occasional magical surprise, so please do look at the new offerings as I believe there is something there for everyone. Mostly, though, I built this site to inspire you, to give you a breath of fresh air, peace, magic, and inspiration in a world wide web that is often too harsh, glaring, and seductive. So here you have permission to simply be, and wonder, and take delight.

Do let me tell you a bit about some of the key visual components my site magician and I chose to weave throughout the site. The sacred, flaming heart continues on as my logo, and more than that, my personal sigil. For me it always has and continues to portray our relationship to life, to creation — may it be that our hearts beat with vibrancy and fire for all that we hold dear and precious. You will also notice that the color palette has changed, we have simplified with black, white, and a deep crimson. In goddess traditions and the old night religions as some call them, these three colors were associated in various ways with the three faces of the goddess: Maiden, Mother, Crone. Although popular books on goddesses tell us that the Maiden was represented by the white, the Crone the black, and the Mother the red, an older way of knowing posits that the Maiden, the untried youth, is represented by black, the Mother growing in wisdom and depth is represented by white, and the Crone in full vibrancy of her ancient years is seen as the red one.

Black, white, and red are also colors heavily emphasized in alchemy. Within that discipline, black is known as nigredo, and it represents an afflicted state. Perhaps the affliction is a tragic blow we have suffered, simply being in a state of being untested and untried, or laboring under the belief that we are broken instead of blessed. When the water of life, the aqua vitae, the sweet element of water is added to the nigredo, we then experience the white, the albedo. In the albedo phase of alchemy, we come to understand purification, clarity, and the stirrings of nascent wisdom. From the albedo stage we then have the red, the rubedo. The rubedo is the ruddy color of healthy blood and rosy cheeks, the red rose, the red apple, and kissable red lips. The rubedo is also linked to sacrifice — the offering up of something held dear, the moment when we see with new and fresh eyes what before was hidden and shrouded in mystery.

There are more hidden treasures to find throughout this magical cottage and I will always be here, holding the door open, inviting you to stay for a spell.