Hold Hands During the Burning

One Year Anniversary of Out of the Fire!!!!

May 10, 2024

Dear ones,

One year ago I began my first Out of the Fire post with these words:

What do we do when the world seems to be burning around us?

We hold hands. We show up. We take good action and make good trouble. We root in. We pray. We love. We weep. We sing to the trees. We know we are in this, together.

My intent with Out of the Fire over the last year was to dance together with the contradictions and find meaning in the chaos. And to celebrate everything.

This Substack has been a sanctuary to share the stories of stewarding land after losing 175 out of 180 acres to the biggest wildfire in New Mexico two years ago.

Out of the Fire has helped me go back to my journalism roots, to explore new forms of writing, to share deeper musings, and to have safe space to write more controversial things and talk about them.

**photo by Tara Sol • https://tarasol.love/photography**

Over the past year I’ve shared articles on wildfire, war, willingness, and writing. Out of the Fire has gone from 0 to 167 paid subscribers and over 75,000 free subscribers.

I relish each of your comments, emails, from the conflicts to the cheerleading.

Whether you are a paid or free subscriber, I’ve been so grateful to share my heart with you, write about tough subjects, and paint a picture of the rising from the ashes of a wildfire and of phoenixing through grief.

Below, for your reading pleasure, I’ve compiled a listing the articles I’ve written/shared over the past year. Wow.

For those who have sustained and encouraged me as a writer with your paid subscription, thank you, thank you, thank you.

For those of you who have read articles, commented, shared with your friends, thank you, thank you, thank you.

If you feel moved to upgrade your subscription to Out of the Fire I would be so grateful (and thank you to all of you paid subscribers for continuing to support my writings.) Paid subscribers receive new moon audio meditations, advance excerpts from upcoming books and early writings for future books, and a quarterly zoom call.

If you want to become a paid subscriber but can’t afford it at this time reach out to me and I’ll give you a free year, no questions asked.

One more way to help spread Out of the Fire: if there is an article below that really touched you, please share it with a friend and invite them to subscribe. Gratitude.

Happy One Year Anniversary, Out of the Fire! Here’s to another year of curious, compassionate creativity through words.

With a deep bow,

Ash