Birds as metaphors for an intentional life.

Hi friends,

Blessed Samhain and Happy Halloween - the air is chilly and solemn today, and many begin exploring this time as a space when the veil between material form and the sacred is thin. We honor the closing of the harvest season, the quieting of the plants, the migrations of birds and the settling of animals, donning funny costumes and joining in community to share in the fun and reverence.

As Earth Medicine Apparel grows, so does our story.

Our first collection honored the Amazon rainforest — a special medicine frog called Kambô, a powerful plant called Toé, a great Kichwa healer, and the scarlet macaw. Now, new medicines to honor through visual storytelling are calling from closer to home — from the rivers, forests, mountains, deserts, and plains surrounding the Rocky Mountains. There is a rich abundance of medicine found in these lands where the Rocky Mountains meet the Great Plains, and I’ve been exploring it since I was a baby.

Birds immediately capture my attention when I see them. Since childhood, learning about birds on nature documentaries or reading Zoobooks, to becoming an adult and developing a deep interest in the sounds and behaviors, and ecological indications of our feathered kin, birds have always been some of my favorite animals we cohabitate with.

Birds remind me to pay attention — that medicine isn’t only found in ceremonies or plants, but also in the wingbeats and watchful eyes of life around us.
When they capture our attention, they offer us a chance to see differently, to rise above, to listen. And when I really sit still and listen, their songs and sounds begin to create a grand symphony of praise to creation.

Just recently, a walk at my favorite local park brought my attention to the unmistakable clicking call of a kingfisher. Soon, my eyes met a kingfisher swooping and diving with precision. As I sat on the edge of the creek and witnessed this incredible bird in action, I contemplated discernment and how I might move confidently through murky waters and new spaces. This past weekend, I spent time with my beloved in the lands of Taos, New Mexico. One morning, I sat quietly outside as I listened to a charm of magpies call from amongst the aspens and cottonwood. I smiled while observing their insatiable curiosity, fearlessness around being seen and heard, and a playfulness that came through even in the way they bop and dive between trees and roofs. I sat there in contemplation, wondering how I, too, am showing up with curiosity and playfulness to be seen as an artist and small business owner.

Across the world, feathers have long been seen as threads between the human and the divine — carried in ceremony, prayer, and story. From the eagle feathers of the Plains Nations to the radiant macaw crowns of the Amazonian Kichwa, from Ma’at’s ostrich plume of truth in ancient Egypt to the feathered cloaks of Norse Valkyries, cultures everywhere have turned to birds as messengers, protectors, and symbols of vision. Feathers adorn the regalia of Polynesian chiefs, the crowns of Mesoamerican priest-kings, and the drums of Siberian shamans — each one representing the same impulse: to rise above the ordinary, to bridge sky and earth, to listen more deeply to the natural world. This shared reverence for birds reminds us that flight, perspective, and connection are part of our collective human story — a lineage of medicine that moves through wings.

For my next series of designs, I’m drawing inspiration from the birds, plants, and mammals closest to where I currently reside. For my own lifepath of seeing animals and birds as metaphors for a more intentional life, harbingers of shifts in perspective and presence, has been largely about paying attention, noticing what’s happening in my life or the present moment, watching their actions, and allowing my mind to creatively dance through metaphors as it makes sense of the environment. Even as I explore wild and urban spaces in search of herbal medicines, my practice is to always sit with the plants and take time to witness the ecological relationships around them - taking time to bear witness to the dance of pollinators across a gumweed at sunset, or watching as pine trees send pollen across valleys with the wind. These moments deeply inspire my creative process and connect me in a relational way to the places I find myself.

I’m not quite ready to reveal the new collection — but let’s just say the Kingfisher Bandana (and other birds) may be making its way into your world soon. I’m working on a collection of bandana designs that will be perfect to join you on hikes and in ceremonies, plus some USA-made organic cotton pullover hoodies to keep you cozy and wild this winter.

Stay tuned for a presale of our new hoodies and bandanas, inspired by the wild medicines of the Rockies. We’ll unveil our next campaign partner and begin sharing the stories we’ve collected from 38 years of living and loving in the gaze of these mountains.

With wings and roots,
— Cloudsong 🪶 
Earth Medicine Apparel Co., Founder

Holiday Vending Events

• Saturday, November 22nd - CSCH Annual Holiday Faire | 10-4:30 | Lafayette, CO

• Friday, November 28th - Black Friday Artisan Market | 10-3:00 | Denver, CO

• Saturday, December 13th - Highlands Bazaar | 10-4:30 | Denver, CO