My son and I were in a three car pile-up on highway 26 a week ago. We were slowing due to an accident that had just occurred about 7 cars ahead of us, though we didn’t know it at the time. There was plenty of space in front of us and I wasn’t alarmed by the slow-down but as I was slowing I saw out of the corner of my eye some motion in my rearview mirror. I looked up just in time to see and hear a car skid, swerve into the oncoming lane and smash into the car behind me (that was also trying desperately to slow down). That car hit us. Nico’s beloved bike was on our attached trunk bike rack which absorbed a lot of the impact so our car wasn’t as damaged as the others. All other cars in both accidents were clearly totaled. 

When people hear that I’ve been in an accident, they ask right away if I’m okay. It is a natural caring question. But interestingly, I’ve been feeling an odd pressure to say that I am okay. I have found that I often do - which is true. But it is also true that I am not okay. I’ve also noticed that it seems like the physical symptoms are what I gravitate to talking about first, almost like culturally there is more space for and understanding of the physical pain as evidence of the trauma that one can see or directly speak to. Although the physical symptoms have been present, what has been far more significant and disruptive to my wellbeing so far has been the emotional intensity and mental fatigue of the shock and trauma.

​A couple visiting from the east coast had stopped to help the first accident then turned to see ours happen. The woman came running up to us just afterward, helped us out of the car and put her arms around both me and Nico and held us telling us we were safe. We were shaking badly and Nico was crying and her calming presence and immediate physical loving touch was amazing medicine. She sat with us (particularly Nico) while I ran around connecting with the other parties, EMT, Fire and State Troopers. I am so incredibly grateful to her and I vow to pay that favor forward if ever I am in a similar situation.

Tears welled up in her eyes as this question that weighed heavily on her heart surfaced at the end of our session. She was deeply concerned that it was disrespectful in some way; that it would disturb their peace or harm her loved ones to connect through mediumship. She had clearly struggled with the decision to move forward with booking a session and now, after receiving loving connection, evidential messages and healing from them she needed to address this last concern.

This is not uncommon and when it came up this week I was inspired to share some clarity and perspective. 

I have observed that this kind of question often has two parts, varying in intensity with each individual. The outer, more conscious part is worried about disrupting their loved one’s peace or disturbing them in some way. But there is often another, more subconscious part that is afraid. This part is often attempting to protect the person from pain and rejection. Likely this pattern has shown up in other ways in their lives and therefore they are not experiencing as much love, connection, fun, ease and abundance as they potentially could.


Here is my answer: NO. It is NOT harmful to our loved ones to connect with them through mediumship. It is, in fact quite the opposite in my experience! If you are feeling a pull, a tug, a longing, and or desire for connection with loved ones in spirit through mediumship, there is love and healing being offered. Those feelings are the INVITATION to reach out and RECEIVE. There is often healing needed for both sides. Your loved ones in spirit may sense that you are ready to evolve and they can help you release from stuck patterns and emotions in order to access more love in all its forms. 
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I hope this clarification helps those who have been craving yet resisting the love, resolution and healing they seek from loved ones in spirit. If you’re ready, you can book a session here.

A story and reflection about this week’s pink full moon…

I’m not sure about you, but this week has been intense for me! I imagine the beautiful pink full moon has had something to do with it. I want to give a shout out to my spirit team for helping me stay grounded and connected. I managed to spill water on my computer a few days ago and we’ve had illness in the house. My son was up almost the whole night with an intense stomach bug this week (which meant we were up all night too). It feels like I’m navigating a stormy sea of overwhelming feelings which is unusual for me.

Can anyone relate?

Then something special happened. On Thursday at the grocery store, I stood in a long checkout line and a lovely man, who shared that he is 81 years old, stepped in line behind me, his bright eyes full of vitality and appreciation of life. He easily started up a conversation with me and I fell in love with his energy right away. We created an immediate, deep and unexpected connection. As he was starting in on a story from his life, I felt the energy shift around him and I knew something spirit-led and magical was going to unfold. He proceeded to recount how just before his first child was born in the 60s, something special happened. He had been watching television to pass the time, since husbands were sent away in those days when a mother was giving birth. He and his wife had chosen a female and male name since in those days they didn’t know the baby’s gender until birth. An advertisement came on and it stated the name they had chosen for a boy and clearly said, “Josh is coming”. Minutes later he got the call that they had a son. He was blown away at the timing and accuracy of the clear message. He lit up with excitement as he shared this story with me. He had no idea about the work I do.

People often gravitate toward telling stories like this to me, not knowing I am a medium. I remember when on a whale-watching tour a few years ago, the guide told us that right after her father passed, a resident whale she knew well, came up closer to the boat and leapt higher out of the water than ever before. She said she felt that was a message in honor of her father. She felt compelled to share that story even though she said she rarely talked about the experience. My friend and I just looked at each other and smiled. 

I told my grocery checkout companion what I do and that this happens around me all the time, and his eyes lit up. He shared another astounding story of synchronicity and as he was doing so, I remembered that he said he needed to get back to his wife whom he was caretaking, so I ushered him in front of me in line. We exchanged such warmth in those short five minutes or so. With my eyes full of love, I told him that our conversation had made my day, and he said the same. 

As I was thinking about this exchange after dropping my son off at school Friday morning (thankfully he was better), I felt flooded once again by the warmth of the connection I shared with my grocery store companion and how my spirit team must have been involved - it was just what I had needed in my overwhelmed, sleep-deprived state. During that thought, I looked up to see a 33323 license plate in front of me. Whoa! That’s 333 and 323 (my birthday) - my signs from my sprit teams which I take to mean: Hello! We love you! You're on the right path! We hear you! We’re here with you! Yes, we did that! 

I have proceeded to see many triple digits since and even left a voice note for one of my coaching clients that was, I realized in delighted disbelief, exactly 3.23 minutes long. Amazing.

So again, thank you spirit team for bringing light, magic and connection in the midst of the tricky moments of life. And thank you full moon for shaking things up so we can release and renew again. Some patterns have surfaced into my awareness this week that I’m ready to shift out of and I am grateful for the ability to see them. How about you?

Love to all, Anna Blossom

Ps. Almost last call for my Spirit Rejuvenation Retreat! Feel your stress melt away, priorities shift for the better and lean into your intuition. May 24-26. Sign up here!

Every once in a while a theme emerges in this intuitive work that I do. It feels like an undercurrent of yearning in the collective human experience. I trust that the reason I am picking up on this is because it is my role to listen and create something to meet this need and desire. 

As it starts to come into my awareness, I listen actively to my intuition and the wisdom and guidance of my spirit teams. This inspires me to continue to serve toward the highest good and facilitate ways to access healing and abundance for all. I have fun building and creating and before I know it, things line up bringing a vision into form. This process often leads to the creation of a new offering. 
If the energy is aligned, syncronicites and affirmations often immediately follow. This validation is so rewarding - it helps me trust that my new offering will be the right thing at the right time. When I listen and follow in this way it can seem like a dance with energy. The energy of the people I will serve, the energy of their spirit teams and mine and the energy of general desire of life to evolve.
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In fact, that’s how I started writing these weekly posts and have created many offerings. Even concepts that reach into uncharted waters, such as bringing intuitive training and coaching to organizations. That seed of an idea in fact has grown into an exciting facet of my business - working with companies large and small, including currently supporting leaders and teams at adidas. If I hadn’t listened to these stirrings in my heart, if I didn’t trust the intuitive nudges, if I didn't notice the desires welling up in me, I (we) may have missed out on some truly profound experiences.

I want those profound experiences for you! For all of us. They are not exclusive to only a few. The key is to listen to your inner compass, following what feels good and trusting when the time is right to take action. Even the tiniest action can lead to an intriguing turn in a conversation, an idea, an opening in your thinking. I find that not getting too serious, having fun, listening and following what my body needs in order to be able to be present keeps me in tune. Like riding on the tip of the wave of life, balancing your own desire with the needs and desires of the energies you are interacting with. This is part of the soul evolving process we are here to experience in this lifetime.

I get to help people find that balance and release stagnant cultural and familial belief patterns, continuing to learn to trust themselves and the world in unfolding layers. I do this in my regular sessions to a degree, but really dive into this work in an intuitive coaching capacity, another seed of an idea that surfaced in tandem with my spirit team.

This week I worked with a new coaching client. I always love this process because it is SO magical to support and guide someone into the process of unwinding their mind and heart and looking together at what we find. We see with clarity in this safe container what they truly desire, what might be blocking them, and what needs to be acknowledged somewhere deep inside them in order to release and shift into alignment with receiving. It was really clear when we were having our first mediumship session, that working with her in a coaching capacity would be very powerful. She felt it too: a strong pull to continue the magical experience of intuitively-led guidance and for her to participate more directly and consistently in the process. Here’s what she said right after our first coaching session a few days ago:

"After our first intuitive coaching session I was able to articulate and validate my desired direction for my life. Anna helped me open myself up to patterns, interconnections, and history in a way I haven't been able to do by myself. She gave me simple ways - non scary - to be more mindful about my life in service of connecting all the dots that will lead me in the direction my heart and spirit have been yearning for. 
Thank you, Thank you. I am so excited for all of the everything!"

You can probably see why I LOVE doing this work! What I get to witness and participate in is so transformative and awesome. I want that love for life and work, feeling of safety, trust and fun for you, too. I want you to feel like you can show up in your life authentically. So I’m inviting you to lean into trusting that you ARE safe to show up in the entire truth of who you are. I’ll back you up! And when you do this, the world will align around you to support you too. So wear that bright colorful thing… Reach out to the person you’ve been thinking about... Write that letter… Do that thing you’ve been dreaming about… Follow that intuition! And if you notice a feeling of fear or resistance when you lean into the idea of saying yes to the things you desire to experience, you might benefit from some support.

We could make some really cool things happen together in your life or organization. Let’s talk about how. :) 

Happy life-surfing and thanks for reading! Lots of love and abundance to you,
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Anna Blossom

Crying on the playground used to be thought of as weak. The men in our lives, mostly in previous generations, would try to help the boys toughen up and hold back tears to show they were strong. Why on earth did this become so normalized? 

We have had to do a lot of unlearning. I am raising a boy and I want him to feel. I want him to see his vulnerability as a strength and a superpower. I don’t want him to shut his feelings down, even when it can be difficult for me to be around them. So I’m walking a parental tightrope between the old way, and the new way. It takes balance to help him learn to function in a world that still holds onto outdated value systems and to provide the spaciousness and support for him to feel safe to sense and express his emotions. Ideally he can fully experience his feelings so he can be at home in his body and confident in his self knowing, creativity and authenticity. My hope is that with this self awareness he will have more empathy and compassion and therefore more desire and capacity to use his power and privilege in ways that benefit the community and the world. I wish this for all our children and all of us - especially those who identify as boys and men since they have been stripped so often of the freedom to express emotion.


Nico is eight years old. He could’t find his baseball hat before practice this week and had a thorough and full-on crying, screaming-at-the-top-of-his-lungs absolute melt down which of course was a challenge for anyone in the vicinity. This is “normal, natural and necessary” behavior for his growing brain, say amazing parenting coaches and twins Hannah and Kelty of Upbringing. But OMG it is tough to support him through it! It often feels close to impossible to not jump on the disregulation train and ride it to a far-off land where none of us recognize ourselves. But even still, I don’t want to shut those feelings down just because I am uncomfortable or because it makes other people uncomfortable. I want him to feel them in their entirety and continue to learn how to respond to them authentically and in a way that also fits into society. 

I remember when Nico was about one year old and I was in the Intergenrational Women’s Choir with the amazing choir director, Crystal Meneses. After a concert one evening, an elder came up to me and complimented me on how “good” (quiet) my child was during the performance. On one hand it felt nice to have that compliment, but on the other, it was off putting. The flip side of that sentiment is that a child is “bad” if they are loud. No thanks. I can’t imagine anyone feeling safe in that kind of scenario, but it is incredibly common.

This “good/bad” judgement based on a child expressing or suppressing feelings has had a powerful effect on many. This means that a LOT of children were and still are expected to mask or minimize their feelings. I want to clarify that allowing oneself to feel emotions and express them in a way that is conscientious of the spaces we share with others (more quietly for example), is quite different in my view than when one is shushed or told to stop feeling or stop crying and therefore suppresses their feelings. 

I now work with many adults who are trying to unlearn that pattern of suppression so they can connect with themselves more deeply and access their intuitive knowing to guide them into their lives - which in turn helps them feel happier and more at home in their bodies.

I’d love to remove the “good/bad” binary from our thinking about children, ourselves and each other. I want us to give and receive love and a sense of safety and welcome when we allow ourselves and each other to feel. These feelings are so rich with healing and clarity, releasing us from stagnation and pain and guiding us toward what we truly desire. 
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Many people cry in session with me and they often are quick to apologize for doing so. Why is this so common? Is the apology to keep me from feeling uncomfortable? Is it to excuse “bad” behavior from that old training? This crying is REALLY important! It almost always is a sign of reaching deep places, accessing the love and healing that has been hungered for, and the longing for connection that is finally felt. This can indicate that energy and emotion are finally moving; releasing grief and allowing in healing and beyond that, joy.

I’m giving you permission to stop apologizing when you cry. Own those powerful emotions! Your tears are the undeniable language of your heart showing you that you LOVE. That you FEEL. That you are PROGRESSING on your soul’s journey. Let them move through you with pride. 

This week I worked with a mom and her daughter who is about 11 years old. A few years ago a psychic suggested the daughter imagine curling up in a ball to block from receiving too much of other’s energy. I’m not sure if the energy of that moment moves through these words as I type them, but just for fun, don’t read the next paragraph yet. Take a breath and check in with how that suggestion feels when you imagine it for her. Does it feel in alignment to you? (You don’t need to know any other information, just trust your feeling. Then see if it matches what I felt below.)

Maybe it was helpful information at the time, but it really seemed like the opposite of what would be beneficial for her now. I could sense that she tends to energetically curl up in a ball in general and hold tight to emotion and energy in her body. I immediately wanted her to stand in a superhero pose, legs slightly apart, hands on hips, back upright. I wanted her to CLAIM her space and her body, bringing a sense of sovereignty and strength. I had the three of us stand up and do this pose as we talked about and felt the difference between curling up in a ball and the superhero pose and what that communicated to our bodies, our brains and the energies we interact with.

I’m suggesting the same for you when it comes to feeling your emotions. Be a superhero about it! They are natural and you have the right to experience them. Love them as they move through you. They are your teachers and companions. And if you identify as male or spend time with someone who does, let them know that you are an ally; that expressing their feelings is welcome and you will listen and support and love them for it. Even if it is awkward to say, the open invitation will be given and that modeling of direct welcoming of vulnerability can heal many layers for you, them and for the cultural energetic pattern connected with us all. 

Here’s another invitation for this week: make an altar in honor of your relationship with your emotions and/or in honor of a deeper relationship with emotions for those who identify as male. This can be one you create while on a walk with found objects or something in your home. Make a commitment to yourself and/or them that honors your feelings and/or theirs. You can speak this aloud, know it in your heart or write it down.

Journal or thinking prompt: A time I felt so grateful to cry was when…

(Notice what stands out that feels good about this memory and see if you can replicate some part of that experience next time you or someone else is having feelings that inspire tears.)

Thanks for reading this week! Make sure to scroll down to see more of my writing and subscribe to enjoy my mostly weekly posts. Leave a comment if you’d like. I love hearing from your heart!

Anna Blossom

As I sat down to write my words for you this week, I suddenly felt stuck and a little sad. As soon as I realized this, I knew why. 

Over the past few weeks, I had been inspired to expand my Muses of a Medium offering to include online audience readings, monthly guided meditations, exclusive content and community connection if you joined as a paid member. I put it all together and launched this invitation last week. 

However, I realized the moment I started to write that in practice, something felt off. I knew deep in my gut that I didn’t want to choose which words some would have access to and which words some wouldn’t. In this process, it has been interesting to discover what truly aligns with my heart regarding sharing my experiences here on Muses of a Medium. With some reflection, this became clear:

My intention is to invite you to be in the magic, the intensity and the healing that I bear witness to and help to facilitate; to create a path through my reflections for all of us to experience more depth, love, safety, trust and joy in our lives. I am moved to write because the experiences I have are not meant to be held and witnessed alone; they are part of a larger system of consciousness that is on a healing journey and one of my roles is to contribute to that healing journey by sharing here. 

Put another way, after I launched my subscription upgrade on this platform, I realized why it wasn’t quite the right fit. This important recognition wouldn’t have surfaced had I not taken those steps which has led to a deeper understanding about my evolving role in this work.

So I’ll keep writing and sharing here with no requirement to subscribe. If you feel moved to support my work by purchasing a subscription, that would be lovely and felt deeply. I’ll also occasionally share enticing ways to expand your experience with me including an online audience reading that I will schedule in the coming weeks. If you purchased a subscription during this time, reach out. We’ll be happy to refund you if you’d like.

I changed my mind. And I suggest you do too. 

If what you’ve decided on doesn’t end up resonating, change your mind. There is such an opportunity in being able to recognize the gifts in the discomfort that is felt when a change is needed. Adjusting to feel more at home in your world is a good thing. Many people I’ve worked with over the years harbor a belief that something must feel hard or have an element of difficulty to be real, believable or valuable. Often, they are not aware of this belief until it is spoken during a session and it is a powerful moment when it is brought to consciousness because it can then be changed. 

Here’s permission to shift and change in order to follow what feels right in your heart. As we all do this, we release stickiness or the weight of external expectations and see the world and our role in it evolve for the better. We give permission for everyone to show up more authentically. When we do that, we create more love, safety, authenticity and trust. And of course, we have waaaaay more fun! 

Here’s what I’ve got cooking right now, please take a look and join me for some fun, soul evolving magic!

Local PDX: SPIRIT REJUVENATION RETREAT | May 24-26 | Hood River, OR

This is a deep dive into loving community and presence with amazing offerings including a group mediumship session, learning about intuition, an intuitive animal experience on an animal therapy farm, a breathwork experience, sound healing and more! 4 spots left, sign up today!

1:1 INTUITIVE COACHING & GUIDANCE | 3 mo. min, 2x weekly access to me

This powerful remote or in-person program helps you dive into unseen belief patterns, harness your intuitive skills and fast-track your soul’s growth. "In my first coaching session with Anna, I recognized immediately that we had not only discovered and brought to light a core wound, but that we were tracing its ripple effect through my life - I was able to see how that event was a catalyst for so many of my self-limiting belief patterns. In an hour, we connected more dots than multiple sessions of therapy ever had." - C.R. Learn more and sign up!

Local PDX: MOMENTUM COLLECTIVE | Every other Tuesday 9:30a-12p in N. PDX

When we come together in community with an intention to expand and evolve ourselves for the highest good, we tap into a powerful energy that creates momentum and amplifies our growth tremendously, both individually and collectively. ​Sign up today and Join us for our next session, April 9th!

​- Anna Blossom

Hello my friends! I’ve been enjoying writing and sharing my muses with you. Thank you for reading. I’m so excited to have you along for the journey and I hope you’ve been finding value in the experience. I’ve decided to introduce a new way to connect with you and I’m really excited about it!

Here’s what we get to experience together if you choose to join me at the upgraded subscription level: 

• Quarterly Mediumship Audience Reading!! - Experience spirit connection live! I will meet you on zoom where I will open to the spirit world and deliver messages and healing to participants. You may receive directly for yourself, or you may witness others receiving messages. Being in either role is deeply moving and connecting in a community environment intensifies and validates the experience for everyone. 
  Upcoming dates: Thur. April 11th 6:30pm, Thur. July 18th 6:30pm, Thur. October 17th 6:30pm, Thur. January 16th 6:30pm

• Monthly Guided Mediation - Clear your energy each month with a new recorded meditation to help you reset and feel connected with your spirit as you journey through your life.

• Community Connection - Comment on posts, ask questions and share more freely in an intimate environment. This feature will be limited to paid subscribers only. 

• Members Only Posts - Enjoy exclusive content created for members. If you remain a free subscriber you will still receive one to two full posts per month.

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(Staring now at $11.11 per month or $111 for the year - WOW!)

Doctoring in TandemAs I opened up to the spirit world in one of my recent group sessions, I felt a father energy. There were a few other identifying details but there was something odd and a bit blurry about the energy. In moments like these, I make sure to trust the information that is coming into my awareness and it always pays off. When I asked if these details fit for anyone, four of the six people in attendance raised their hands. No wonder it felt odd and blurry - there were several of them! I proceeded to jump back and forth between each of the four dads as they shared their respective evidential messages for each of their children. It made for a fun start with some really important, loving and caring exchanges. 

At one point about three quarters of the way through our session, I sensed that we needed to pause. I stepped away for a moment to fill my water glass. As I did this, I felt a significant shift in the energy. Things began to feel heavy. As I set my glass down, I found myself saying, “Someone has a son.” A short-haired woman with a thick accent looked at me with loving pain in her eyes and said, “Yes. It is my son.” 

I explained how palpable the energy felt as if it was thick and weighted. Time seemed to slow down and all eyes and hearts were with her as more details began to unfold. At one point her son showed an image to me of him at her shoulder, constantly talking in her ear and I explained this to her. She confirmed that she talks to him all the time and feels like he is talking to her too. I sensed that he was very involved in helping her with something specific and important that she is doing, and that he is consistently giving her ideas about it. 

After I explained this to her, she shared that her son had been studying to be a doctor before he passed and that she had been a nurse. After he died she decided to go to medical school to become a doctor herself. It was so clear to me that he was with her on this journey, helping her, studying with her, learning and working alongside her. I could feel with certainty that as a team they would actively work together to help people heal. It was such a beautiful, loving and meaningful acknowledgement for her to experience, and for all of us to witness.
A few minutes later, I could sense that healing was needed for her grieving heart. I was moved to invite the group to participate in the energy work if they felt drawn to doing so. As I was opening to this, I was shown that there was difficulty in her relationship with her parents, who I sensed were also in spirit. She confirmed that this was true. They showed that they had not given her the loving, nourishing support she so desperately needed and they genuinely apologized for this. Together, her son and her parents wanted to help heal her heart from those traumas. Next, I talked the group through how to join me in sending healing to her. 

It was powerful and deeply moving for everyone and was just one of many amazing moments that happened that evening. What an incredible thing it is to be able to witness, hold space and actively help people communicate and heal, both living and in spirit. 

Join me by upgrading your subscription level and witness the power of spirit connection first hand during my next Audience Reading!

If you are craving an experience in person, consider attending my next retreat! We’ve got 4 spots left. May 24-26 in Hood River, OR.

Learn more and sign up here!

​- Anna Blossom

The other day, my friend Amber reached out to see if I might help with the visioning and organization of the upcoming Earth Day celebration at my son’s school. In our conversation she brought up how stressful the recent school lockdown was for the teachers. Apparently, there was someone in the area either seen with a gun or a shot had been fired nearby. The school was locked down until police searched the area and deemed it safe. As she was talking about it the desire welled up in me to support the teachers and staff and I knew it was time to offer what had been percolating in my mind and heart over the past year.

Our teachers and school administrators are AMAZING. They help our children learn to be in community and to expand their minds and hearts. They have also been through a lot in our Portland Public School district with the strike this year. I’ve been wanting to find a way to honor, support and uplift them as they support our children; to help them remember the deep well of energy resource available to them and the home they have within. 

My seat wobbled under me in a surprisingly satisfying way as I shared my vision with the principal in her light filled office last week. She was grateful and included my offer of providing complimentary guided meditation and healing sound to the staff in the internal newsletter at the end of the week. 

Even a year ago when this vision was slowly coming to form in my awareness, I saw myself surrounded by crystal singing bowls. I sometimes play the harmonium or shruti box to provide a healing drone sound to accompany my voice. Occasionally I will play a metal singing bowl or chimes, but have not had many opportunities to play crystal bowls. 
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Once I committed to this service, I reached out to see if I could borrow a set from my dear friend and collaborator, Rosemary (an amazing business coach btw!) She was happy to lend them. However, over the following hours, the realization surfaced that this offering for the school had a larger purpose in my unfolding role as a facilitator of healing and connection. I intuitively knew that I will be expanding my work to include more healing sounds from these instruments and so instead, I excitedly invested in my own set! I love them, they make me feel amazing and bring such a resonance to any space. I find that I can’t wait to play them every time I get home.

I have had a vision and deep desire to include more singing and sound in general in my work and play. It may come as a surprise to many of you, but I have actually been singing and performing music for most of my life. My mom, Connie Cohen, is a very talented songwriter so I grew up around music. I saw a 3/4 size electric bass at a music store at about age 12 and fell in love. I saved up and my parents helped me buy it. I was the only girl in my middle school to play the bass and was the lucky recipient of a scholarship to study with well known bassist, Tim Gilson, who played with the likes of Mel Brown and many others. 
Before long I started to accompany my mom, creating vocal harmonies and bass parts for her wonderful original songs. We toured up and down the west coast in the years that followed, singing and playing together as a mother daughter duo, even performing at Portland’s Aladdin Theater.
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​We continued to play with a bit less frequency as the years went on until I left to attend college at FIT in New York. My mom and I ran retreats bringing music and singing with us in one form or another all through those years. In fact, we were just working on recording a new song of hers in the studio this week.
If you’ve been to one of my retreats over these past few years, you know how magical it can be when the element of music and singing is introduced. Many don’t think they can sing, have little practice and didn’t necessarily sign up for a singing experience. The point of opening the voice in that environment isn’t about performative singing, though. It is about joining our voices together in community which does amazingthings for our nervous systems. When we do this, lots of pleasure and safety hormones are released and it makes us feel really good. In addition, we can both dislodge and harness so much emotion and spiritual energy through singing. For these reasons I integrate it into my practice in several ways. It is always a choice to participate, and I’ve rarely had anyone opt out.

We'll room at the Hood River Hotel, stays start at $60/night for our group and go up from there for rooms and suites.

What attendees from our Fall 2023 Spirit Rejuvenation Retreat wrote for those considering joining us: 

“Give yourself the opportunity to go within, find your center, your being and true sense of self. An awakening that you just need to experience.” 
“If you feel any YES inside or a curious nudge, follow your heart and open up to this gifted opportunity.” 

“It’s a holistic retreat and a wholistic retreat. There’s a diversity of modalities and the focus is on each participant’s wholeness. Absolutely glad I did it - exactly what I needed at this moment.”

“This was my second time and again I loved it. Just what I needed at this time in my life.” 

“If you aren’t sure what intentional community looks like, this is it. This retreat will help you understand what it’s like to sit in love and warmth.” 

Learn more & Sign up!

I hope to see you there or soon, and here’s a loving nudge to bring music into your life in all the ways this week. Hum, sing, laugh, play an instrument and enjoy music live or recorded.

​- Anna Blossom

This week a client asked me, with concern and angst written across his face, if we’ll be okay considering what is happening in the world right now. 
Though I don’t do future-telling in my practice, I do read the energy that I have access to. It’s a bit like reading the weather. I can see the configuration of energy right now, and maybe a little into the future, but that future can change based on how energy, intentions and desires move as things unfold.
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Usually when I check in with a client’s energy who does ask a question like this, I can sense that they have been consuming a lot of news. In these cases their energy has spread out from their body and is pretty entangled with what they have been focusing on. They seem depleted and depressed about the state of things.

For generations, one was considered a good citizen of the community and the world by paying attention to current events. The news seemed simple: facts and reports on the goings-on locally, nationally and internationally. In a sense, it brought the community together. In those times, there were few sources of news. It was given at a calmer, slower pace and was minimally available. The variety, amount of access and quality of news that is created and consumed today is very different than in those days.

There is certainly a thread of that old way that remains true. However, a lot of what is available has become extreme on many levels both in quantity and quality. 

Does the news or media you consume make you feel:

• depressed 
• helpless
• angry and resentful
• spikes of emotional intensity?

Despite these feelings, do you continue to reach for them again and again?

Here is my suggestion for you.

Significantly minimize or take a break from the sources you are engaging with. They can provide a spike of adrenaline and all sorts of emotional responses that can set off a sticky addictive pattern without you hardly noticing. Even -and especially- when the information feels really relevant and important. However, the relevancy I’m concerned with is the relationship you have to the emotional spikes and drops these inputs provide you. Are you are containing your own energy or giving it away to these sources?

News and media are an inevitable and important part of our present lives. This is just an invitation to observe and be mindful of how you feel when you are engaged with them and how often you reach for them. 

If you are able to maintain balance, you likely have much more energy, clarity, will and ability to respond productively and take actions that support your values and beliefs. If you are engaged too much or in an imbalanced way, you likely will feel depleted and exhausted. There will be far less of your energy left to care for yourself and the world and to take the actions aligned with how you can help things heal.

Here’s my invitation: Take 10 days to two weeks to disengage with your usual media inputs and engage elsewhere. Try watching TED Talks in areas that interest you. Look on Substack for writers that are discussing things you are passionate about. Try alternate sources of education and media. You might get inspired. Maybe look into learning about a hobby you love or about something you’ve been curious about. 

Just like taking a break from a big project and going for a walk, resetting your energy and taking care of your nervous system will help you function better. This very much applies to how we consume news and media too. If you find you have a hard time taking a break and keep reaching for it, this might be a good sign that a break is much needed. There are many other perspectives right within reach that are important and that you can do your best work engaging with to make a difference. It starts with kindness, rest and love for yourself, then radiates outward.

I’d love to hear what you think and how this goes for you if you decide to say yes to this invitation. Please use the comment section below.

Some other ideas (make sure you read the last one!):

• Learn about another country’s recipes, language and culture.
• Read poetry, experience artwork.
• Read a fun novel or children’s book out loud with your partner, friends or family.
• Expand your awareness and notice what that feels like. 
• Go to the library or book store and explore new areas.
• Make a plan to do something educational and community oriented with your family.
• Volunteer in some way for your community. 
• Be creative, paint (your walls or on paper or canvas), reorganize your space, declutter.
• Rest. Allow yourself to think, write in your journal, stare out the window and sleep.
• Go on a retreat - MY RETREAT!! Coming up May 24-26, 2024 in Hood River, OR. - just now LIVE! It sells out each time and is limited to 15 people this time for a very cool reason! Check it out to learn more.

- Anna Blossom

As I try to articulate what rest is, it feels more like an idea, an imagined experience of stillness, calm, reflective and quiet alone time. A dreamy image of a large bed covered in cozy blankets and pillows floating in a sky of silky soft clouds; a quiet high windowed room in a nature filled place with long afternoon sunlight pouring in on a lounging figure reading on a plush couch. Or maybe staring out at the ocean in a warm tropical place watching the palms sway in the gentle breeze.

I find in my own life, what I often crave in my down time is connection with others, reflection, conversation, activities that help me to find meaning in my experience of life. Rarely do I actually find myself in those solitary imagined places. And if I do, I’m often laughing and visiting and parenting and soaking up the vibrancy of life. It is okay that the imagined version of rest also exists differently in my awareness. When it shows up as a craving it can be a calling card for a kind of nourishment I am needing. A little time alone, a walk in nature or a luxurious nap; to give space to my unwinding thoughts and connect with replenishing elements that help me to contemplate life, provide perspective and shake things up.

What if we use different words or ask different questions to understand what rest is? Can we blend nourishing and replenishing practices with daily life so the two states of being can coexist and bring more balance into our experiences? 
Try going for a walk when you notice you are starting to feel stressed or start feeling like you have to get that thing done. We all know that feeling. It is often the old familiar “not enough” pattern taking over and it is amazing how much we rely on this pattern in our western culture in order to motivate ourselves. It is an operating system that can quietly run in the background of our consciousness and can skew our perspective on what is possible, keeping us captive in a kind of race against an “other.” This fear based pattern doesn’t help us achieve a restful state and when our hearts are racing and our systems are on fight, flight, freeze mode, we aren’t sending out a very welcoming signal into the world to engage in abundance. Underneath it all, we’re feeling afraid. 

If you felt safe, what choices would you make differently? When that deadline is approaching and it is unrealistic, how do you respond to this recognition? Do you push and pull and stress to meet it, undermining your wellbeing? If we are all connected, when we undermine our own wellbeing, we are undermining the greater wellbeing. What if it is safe to reassess? To have a conversation with yourself, your boss, your team, your client about recognizing the limitations and adjusting, working with the energy that is unfolding in front of you. Most likely a better, more appropriate and more successful solution will appear that will align better for everyone. If we’re tuning in, the feeling of discomfort and stress is a signal that the energy has shifted from where it was before and there is a more aligned path if we are open to collaborating with the energy and each other to find it. Easeful and fun are the guides. Sometimes sticky parts arise as we move through change, but the overall feeling of alignment is the one to look for and trust rather than the fear of judgement or loss.

My invitation for you this week is to notice what is motivating you. Are you charged because you are racing against time? Are you charged because you are excited about what you are doing? Are you charged because you are angry? Or because you are reaching toward a goal? How can you allow yourself to feel most satisfied and safe right now in this moment? Please, no judgement here. Just get curious and observe. Judgement leads to there being a right or wrong. There isn’t one, we’re just all learning and evolving. That’s the goal.

Here is a special set of words that is coming to me to offer you now. Repeat each sentence aloud or in your heart as many times as feels right, taking deep loving breaths after each time to check in with how you feel about this truth before moving to the next. If you notice resistance in you as you say these words, allow healing energy to wash over that resistance and honor what comes to mind as you gently inquire why the resistance is present. Keep in mind that worthiness has no part in this, though it is common for it to be a sticky point for many. Here are the words:

I allow myself to experience love in all its forms without hesitation or delay. 

I trust my heart to discern what is truly in alignment for me even if it isn’t what I or others expect and I know that what is in alignment for me is in alignment for all.

I take actions that align with the truth of my heart and these actions lead me to more trust, safety and joy.


If you’d like some support to move through, understand and shift resistances that you are experiencing in your life or in this process or you are ready for an upgrade I’m happy to help you lift into your next level through my newly upgraded coaching program. (Ps. I’ve implemented a new sliding scale.)

​- Anna Blossom

People often question if the synchronicities they are experiencing or the signs they think they might be getting from their spirit teams or loved ones in spirit are “real.”  How does one know?

I often experience signs when I’m driving. It takes a certain set of complex skills to drive that eventually become automatic, where you don’t have to concentrate on driving and your body just knows what to do.  That kind of focus can sometimes allow another part of my awareness to be a little more open to receiving intuitive input. I’ll find that I am waiting at a stoplight and my head will turn without thought away, directly to a license plate that has a set of triple digits such as 333. This is can be a very common occurrence for me. When I see these, I smile and let a feeling of warmth and gratitude wash over me. I will pay attention to what I was just thinking about or taking about and interpret that sign showing up right then as validation or emphasis around that subject or idea. Either way, as I let myself receive love from my spirit team in that moment, I allow myself to fill with a loving boost of energy and warmth and I then give love and gratitude back to them. I have found that this exchange invites a ripe opportunity for more signs and synchronicities to happen for me.

When dropping my son off Monday, we were crossing the street to the school and I looked to the left and there was an 8888 license plate on a car stoped at the crosswalk. I said, “Look Nico, good luck for today!” and he smiled and I could see a warm feeling washing through him, giving him a boost of energy and confidence for the day. Then driving back the few blocks to my house, my eyes popped over to another car parked on the side of the road with a 555 license plate. Let me be clear - I wasn’t actively looking for these, and scanning all the license plates I pass by. When I do try to look for them, I rarely see them. It happens when I’m not looking for them. I just find my head and eyes moving automatically right to them and the numbers appear in front of my eyes.
​

I had been asking my spirit teams what would be relevant and good to write about this week for you and as I saw the second triple digit, I realized this was it! They heard my request for what would be relevant to write about to share with you this week, and as soon as I saw those, I realized it was this. Now, since that happened I have seen SO MANY! I saw several yesterday and then today on the clock I saw 11:11 as we were chatting during a break at my Momentum Collective this morning. I looked at the clock at 1:11, 3:33, 5:55. I saw a 888 on a car and another two triple digit license plates. I don’t always see that many, but this definitely has reinforced the message for this week!

What are your signs? Finding pennies could be your thing. Or a certain type of bird, or the fact that birds tend to fly in front of you. It can come in any shape or form.

There are a few things that I recommend paying attention to if you are trying to decide when something is a sign:

1. You aren't expecting it and there is an element of surprise. In other words, you aren’t actively looking around and scanning for a sign.
2. As a sign appears, it draws your attention away from what you were doing or thinking enough to notice it, to acknowledge it. There can be a feeling of time pausing or slowing down - as if witnessing that it is waking you up in a way.
3. Consistency of one kind or another. This can be in the form of experiencing the same kind of sign in different times and ways. Or many different signs but they are all related because they inspire the same kind of loving feeling. There are many different ways consistency can appear.
4. Spirit connection. If you are tuning into the experience that you are having, it can feel like there is another energy at play. This can be an elevated feeling or like a warmth glowing inside you.

What is the message? It is a message of love. It can feel like a specific loved one or set of loved ones or your spirit team in general. You can ask them and trust the answer you feel. Or maybe you just know. The message is that they are with you. Advocating for you. Supportive. That you are not alone.

It is important to acknowledge that there can be concerns when signs and synchronicities happen that can feel frightening or scary. When I experience someone feeling this way, usually I can see that they tend to gravitate toward being less trusting of the world in general. They haven't known how to interpret the experience and have automatically assumed. They are almost always so relieved to be shifting their perspective to this being a positive and loving sign from their spirit team rather than a bad omen of some kind. There often are other evidential and loving messages from their loved ones in spirit that help support this understanding as well. The way we interpret things has such a huge influence on the experiences we have. It is a good idea to occasionally get curious about how you are interpreting what’s happening in your life and see if there are ways you can upgrade them to bring more joy, more love and more trust into your life.

There are other ways to engage with your spirit team more directly. You can ask them or specific loved ones in spirit for help with something like a parking space in a crowded parking lot and magically it appears. It may or may not always work, but it will help you feel confirmation of them helping and loving you like any other sign or synchronicity. It is important in this kind of interaction with them to be tuned into inviting their energy. It could occur to you to ask because they are ready to support you in that moment and have blended their energy with you to help you invite engagement. If you ask without tuning in and ask all the time, it is less likely to feel authentic or to happen as much as you want. Keep developing your intuition and discernment to feel when there is an elevated sense of connection.

Like anything, signs and synchronicities can ebb and flow. You can feel less connected to yourself sometimes and that can also happen with your connection with your spirit team too. This is natural so don’t worry if things are quiet for a time. You are likely integrating and expanding and will soon come back in the flow in a more expanded and evolved state. 

The last and most important part of this puzzle is to TRUST yourself and your spirit teams. No need to second guess. Yes, it is a sign more often than not. There is no harm in allowing yourself to lean into this being true. Some fear that if they believe it, something bad might happen or they might fall off the edge of sanity or are worried it will keep them from relating to other people. I have found none of this to be true. Most often, there is actually a fear of receiving; a resistance to allowing in the love and healing for fear it may not be permanent, that it might cause more grief and loss. It can be scary to allow in love, it is a powerful force that brings with it change - for the better. Sometimes it can feel safer to guard from it, though this is often not a conscious choice.

So here is my invitation for you. Get curious. Where can you open more to receiving love in your life? You don’t need to have an answer right now. Asking the question can open places in you that are ready. Don’t worry about the “how.” That will unfold as your intention to open shifts your energy system and it will fall into place. Trust yourself and your spirit teams to know exactly what to do.
All my love,

Anna Blossom

Ps. What have you experienced on this subject? Do you have questions? Please reply in the comments section. If you don't have the substack app, consider getting it! That way you’ll have more access to being part of the conversation and easy access to my other past posts and all the great writers on this platform.

​Let’s build community!

As she suggested this, I had a vague thought somewhere in the back of my mind that they were out of town, in Eugene and there for his girlfriend’s nephew’s birthday. But only when I texted to invite them and my uncle responded stating those words in the same order they appeared in my mind was I shocked into realizing I’d already known this. HOW??? I scanned all my recent texts and phone calls with them, and saw that there had been no communication for a couple of months. Time seemed to slow down as I realized with a kind of sharp clarity that I had known this information psychically or through my intuition. I didn't normally get intuitive information about simple life details or in such a concrete way. It was like I woke up in that moment into an undeniable recognition of my ability and knew the experience was an invitation to fully step in.

When I was a child, I could sense what I’d call hot spots, or concentrated areas of stagnant energy or pain in someone’s body. I knew deep within me that I was a healer and that I could help people. I didn't have much language or context to talk about it all that much or develop it at the time. As a child growing up in an artistic and musical family, and living next door to an ongoing stream of chiropractic students, I always felt that I would become an art or music therapist or some kind of alternative medical practitioner. 

I was so clear about this direction that at age 13 I volunteered after school at a clinic owned by a family friend that provided leading techniques in physical and occupational therapy for children with cerebral palsy and autism. It was an amazing experience and I learned so much. I really appreciate the adults in my life who fostered my curiosity and drive to learn and be of service at such a young age.

Though I did a lot of different kinds of art growing up, when my grandmother taught me how to sew it opened a door of creativity for me. Designing took over my world as I grew and fashion design became my first fiery love and then became my first career. It was incredibly successful- I was following the energy and amazing things were happening. I was aiming for the moon, feverishly and excitedly and never looked back at the healing part of myself until I “made it” in the fashion industry. I was living and working in Italy for several years designing for brands including Max Mara and Patrizia Pepe. It was at that time that I started to pivot. I’m looking forward to sharing more about that part of my journey. If you’re curious, here’s a fun chapter from my time as a fashion designer, but do read on first. 

I had a lunch already planned with my aunt a couple days after that experience in my dining room and told her all about it. I shared that I felt a strong pull toward understanding what was happening and felt it was time to say “YES” to this ability that had been growing over the past few years. Her husband had died the previous year and she was familiar with the powerful healing experience of mediumship. I was not aware of it, though I was quite familiar with channeling, having had a close childhood friend who studied, practiced on me many times and then became very good. I had learned a lot from her over the years, but was never drawn to channeling myself. In this conversation, my aunt mentioned that she knew of someone she trusted who was running a mediumship practice group. She said she would vet it that evening and texted later to confirm that it looked trustworthy and said they were meeting the following day. 

I will take a moment here to acknowledge the amazing timing of these events: The experience I had in my home, followed by already having lunch planned with my aunt who then knew about this group which happened to be meeting the next day. Everything was lined up already, and this is how the magic of spirit communication and support often works. I can’t tell you how many times clients are amazed by the timing around their sessions with me. It has happened multiple times that people have booked months in advance and their loved one unexpectedly passes days before their session or a magical opening appears in my schedule just perfectly in time for someone who really needed it right then. This kind of timing happens all the time.

It was a warm summer day and I was wearing a casual long-flowing floor-length navy dress with platform sandals. I entered the back room of a tea house filled with couches and tables and a variety of people of all ages and backgrounds. The medium and animal communicator Thea Strom, who later became a friend and colleague, was leading the group. We went around the room and introduced ourselves and then she led us through one of the most powerful meditations I’d ever experienced. Even though I’d been intuitive my whole life and that had brought me into an incredible career, and some pretty magical experiences, I’d never opened up to the spirit world directly and intentionally like this before. She led us to connect with an animal and immediately I connected with my beloved cat who I’d known for all 19 years of her life. It was so powerful and I was filled with her love and her energy. My cat then brought forward a gift for me. The gift was the strong message that this space of intuitive spirit connection is where I belonged, what I had been searching for. I had tears of relief and appreciation streaming down my face. Tears from finding the doorway to the nectar of my own spirit and my meaning for being here, tears of so much love from the spirit world, I couldn’t contain it in my body.

Shortly afterward, we broke into pairs and I did a mediumship reading for the first time for someone. When I connected with her energy, I saw the image of an old typewriter with multiple keys jammed in the center and unable to type. I explained this to her and she said she was a writer and was experiencing writer’s block. I was blown away! The reading continued to unfold and I felt her father-in-law with her. I could sense he was helping her and a few things about him. She was quite moved by the reading and showed me a photo she had with her afterward and I was stunned to see the person I’d just been connecting with. He was a little different than I had seen in my mind, but so many things were accurate. It was an incredible first experience.
​

I knew then that this was a direction I must continue to explore and I began to dedicate myself passionately to studying mediumship. I was still advising startup businesses and doing freelance design and creative direction, but this became my new main focus. For about two years I studied and practiced and then began my professional practice. 

With ANNA COHEN being such a public-facing name for my fashion brand, I wanted something else when I started my new venture both because it was very different in nature and because I wasn’t ready to be public about what I was shifting into. So I started my business using my first and middle name, Anna Blossom. I knew I had been saving that for something over the years, but I didn’t know what it was until this direction unfolded and it fit perfectly. I built up my mediumship practice for a couple of years. Once I felt I was standing on solid ground and began to have a following, I was ready to “come out” as a medium. I was worried that people would judge me or feel uncomfortable with the direction I’d chosen to go in, but was relieved and surprised by how much support I received from my community. My work has grown and evolved over the years, and now the name of my business has evolved to be BLOSSOM INTUITIVE which has reflected the expansion of bringing more and different offerings and other healers into my practice as well. I am so happy to do what I love and help others to find their way home in their lives as well. 

Is there something that you are feeling drawn to but haven’t said “YES” to yet? In this moment you have an opportunity to pause and ask yourself this question. Maybe you know the answer immediately. Maybe there is a subtle knowing somewhere inside you that has been slowly emerging. Sometimes we are afraid of the powerful energy that comes with saying a full “YES” to something we know resonates with us.

If you’d like, you can take a few deep breaths, centering yourself. Allow your body to soften and your heart to lead. Let go of rushing right now, let go of what’s coming next. 

Let your heart allow a knowing to surface into your consciousness, a clarity, a feeling. Follow this feeling and let it reveal helpful information to you. This could be inspiring or it could be unraveling some stagnation that has been needing attention in order to shift and make room for you to move through and forward. There’s no way to do this “wrong” so trust that whatever is coming up in your awareness is helpful and healing. If you desire clarity, ask for it from your heart and allow it to answer. 
​
Please feel free to share below. I’d love to hear from you!

​- Anna Blossom

“Are there any other seats available?” I asked the flight attendant in the tiny section at the back of the plane. “I’m sorry, it is a full flight,” he said. I’d just realized that my seat wouldn’t recline and we were headed to Paris from New York. I was exhausted and exhilarated, high on the energy of the moment and was sure I’d want to sleep at some point. 
A little disappointed that I wasn’t going to be able to recline, I settled back down in the isle seat next to the well dressed woman seated next to me, who I’d been embarrassed to realize had heard me. She assured me with her east coast charm that those seats were actually the safest in the plane. After the sounds of preparing for takeoff, she asked why I was headed to Paris. I was excited to share that I’d been invited to show my apparel collection at Prêt à Porter Paris, a fashion industry trade show. She turned to look at me with happy surprise and said that she was headed there too and that she was a writer for Women’s Wear Daily (WWD is only the MOST important trade publication in the fashion industry!). OMG what luck, I couldn’t believe it! She said was covering lingerie and had been doing that trip for many years. Immediately we started connecting and she wanted to know my story. 
You see, being invited to show your collection as a guest is not the same as applying to show and paying a hefty sum to do so. Prêt à Porter had added a Green section to their trade show to promote and highlight brands that were in the new and emerging space of sustainability. At the time, there were very few brands that were actually blending sustainability with true high fashion and mine was a leader in that space. I had been trained in New York and Italy and then worked for top Italian brands for four years before returning to Portland where I started my line. 
Freshly back from Italy in 2005, I was getting to know local folks in the industry when a makeup artist asked me to partner with her to produce a fashion show. I thought about it and said, “Sure, on one condition: it has to be about sustainability.” She agreed and so I started to reach out to the few brands around the country who were in that space to see if they wanted to send collections to be included in the show. To my surprise, ALL OF THEM said yes! So I suddenly realized I needed to put together my own collection for the show. I didn’t have much time, I think it was about two weeks. So I borrowed $2,000 from a family friend, and having just moved into my new design studio, started creating. I didn’t know what would happen once I got a design studio. I just knew it was time, and that there was so much energy and momentum around it that I jumped in and knew something would come into being once I said yes to it. This is how my life seems to work, and why I now know I was primed to follow the path that has led me to the work I do now. 
During the process of creating this collection, I worked closely with my mom, Connie Cohen. She was instrumental in helping me understand concepts of sustainability, having written her Master’s Thesis on “The Role of the Arts in Sustainable Culture.” I remember us brainstorming late one night at the dining room table trying to sort out how to communicate the idea of limited resources in a way that was poetic and beautiful; that could inspire rather than scare people into making responsible decisions. We landed on a canary as an indicator species, and came up with a sort of poem that would tell the story of canaries in the coal mines. The fact that my anti-Apartheid Dad was from South Africa with its huge mining industry, added a flavor of meaning to this concept. 
My dear artist friend Susanna Battin became the first of my many interns. She helped hand paint the words of the poem onto a series of un-dyed bamboo dresses I designed for the show. I drew a canary and created a silk screen of it that I printed on the backs of all the dresses in different places. When the models walked out, they brought what we later called, “The Canary Story” to life one line at a time on each dress. When they all lined up and turned around at the finale, there was a flock of canaries flying across their backs. It was a powerful message and people were ready to hear it.
At the time, I didn’t realize I was launching what would become my fashion company, I was just following the inspiration and energy of the invitation to participate and lean into what I was passionate about. I had no idea that poem and canary would become the guiding light and icon of my brand, I was just trusting and following my intuition.

DEEP IN THE COAL MINES

CANARIES GAVE WARNING

WHEN TO TAKE ACTION FOR SURVIVAL

EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED

CHANGE 
​BE STRONG

FIND WHAT YOU LOVE

LOVE WHAT YOU DO

LISTEN FOR CANARIES

It was an exhilarating moment. I was excited to bring these two worlds together: Fashion and Sustainability. To make a statement that was so deeply meaningful to me, a tribute to the natural systems on which all life depends using my talent and training for something that could make real change. 

Soon I heard from several writers from local and national publications wanting to feature my work and know more about my vision. It was on. Time to create seasonal collections and start a company - and quickly. The canary became the logo for the ANNA COHEN brand and “Listen for Canaries,” the tagline.

It was an exciting time. I gathered more interns to help and started teaching Fashion Design at Art Institute International of Portland while building my business. I could hand pick the most talented students to work with me and that was such a great perk! Sourcing local patternmakers, sample sewers and production proved to be more challenging, but I made my way through and was soon balancing a large team of talent to bring this vision into form. 

I shared this story and more with the woman sitting next to me on the plane as we ate our dinner and enjoyed wine together. I also shared that I would leave the show early and return to New York to spend a couple exciting days with the executive team at the apparel company, Eileen Fisher. I’d been awarded one of five $10,000 Socially Responsible Women Owned Business Grants. They were flying us to New York to celebrate together, show us a window into how their successful socially responsible business model worked, and to be available for any questions. 
When we deplaned, a young girl was in front of us and the woman said to her with a beaming smile on her face, “You know, this is a famous fashion designer!” It was so lovely to experience her calling me that. 
We shared a taxi and hugged goodbye, wishing each other well. I was excited to meet up with my team who had already arrived from Portland. Only a few minutes later as I was entering our marbled flat, my phone rang, a number from New York. My new airplane friend had reached out to WWD and another writer on staff wanted to interview me right away about the Eileen Fisher grant. It was published a day or two later and was my second time being featured in the iconic publication. I’ll share soon about the first time, which was also an incredible and magical experience. 

It turned out to be quite amazing to see how Eileen Fisher and her team ran their business. It was so inspiring, organized and easeful in a time when that was not the norm in the fashion industry, which tends to thrive on fierce competition, intense timelines and complex systems. It was amazing and such an honor. Eileen was kind, gentle and strong and I learned so much that deeply influenced me in those couple of days spent with her and her team. 

I was following the energy, walking through doors as they opened in front of me and magical things were happening. At that time, my healing work was unfolding through my talent as a designer and visionary dedicated to honoring our natural systems. That evolved over time to include many more chapters that led me to where I am now. 
Your story is unfolding as you move along on your journey and this is an invitation to listen to what feels true, good and important and follow it through the opening doors in your life. Many times over, I have learned that this yields amazing things. Thanks for reading! 

“My friend accidentally killed her cat,” she said. “She hasn’t been able to get out of bed for days and is really struggling,” my dear friend and collaborator, Rosemary, said to me on the phone last Friday night. “Can you help her?” 
​
I arrived the next morning and met them both. We went upstairs to her bedroom while her husband and beautiful young children played downstairs. As soon as we started to talk with each other, her other cat, Cookie, scratched at the door, wanting to join us. Avery was surprised. “He usually isn’t like this,” she said as he connected with each of the three of us, looking at us and walking between us. I wasn’t surprised at all. This kind of thing happens with animals all the time when doing sessions. “He knows what’s happening,” I said. “He’ll help us.” 
I’d brought a bundle of dried lavender and rosemary to help with the session and he leapt up on the ottoman where I’d set it down and was rubbing all over it. All of us were amazed, but I knew it wasn’t time to use that tool yet, that would come later.

​As I started the grounding meditation, he walked under my legs, rubbing up against them and jumped up behind me rubbing on my back, very out of character for him. I could tell it was going to be magical. As I opened up to the spirit world I could feel Chloe, Avery’s cat who’d passed. She was sweet and loving and very forward. She showed her eyes first, beautiful and clear and unusual in some way. Avery confirmed this to be true. Then Chloe showed her beautiful fur and parts of her personality. 

The session moved at a gentle pace, one thing being revealed and then another. Soon her grandmother started to appear in my awareness and I could see that she was close with Avery, very dedicated to her when she was alive and also now. I had a feeling about something being in the room that was hers or representing her just behind me and to the right. Avery was astonished when I asked if there was an item representative of her in that part of the room and said there was a figurine that was on her shelf right there that was her grandmother’s for years that she’d recently taken down, and had just been thinking about. She’d been thinking about her grandmother and wondering if she might come through. Of course she came into my awareness just before we started to do healing energy work, perfectly timed to support Avery. 
I could sense her grandmother’s hand on her forehead, the soothing loving energy of her. I followed suit, placing my own hand there, caressing her forehead lovingly, explaining what I was feeling and knowing this was the opening that would help her let go. 
I intuitively knew immediately on the phone the night before that Rosemary would assist with the session. She works with energy too and I knew it would be part of her journey to learn, serve and receive as a healer in this process for her friend. She sat to one side of her while I sat on the other and with her consent we opened her energy channels with gentle touch, following the energy of her body to know where to place our hands. Avery was ready. The flow was powerful and she was starting to release deeply rooted energy and feelings of intense responsibility and tension that expanded beyond the trauma from losing Chloe. 
When in session with a client, I am shown through my sensory system, relevant information that will help them evolve and heal. This information is provided because the client has invited loving spirit connection and support and consented to receive. 

In this case, I was shown that there was a pattern in her life of taking more than her share of responsibility especially for outcomes that were not ideal and being extremely harsh on herself in a way that she wouldn’t do with anyone else, which she confirmed. I could see that this pattern was also at play with what happened with Chloe who had climbed into the dryer for a nap. Avery had closed the door and started it going without knowing she was in there. It was agonizing for her that this had caused the death of her most beloved animal companion and she held such a level of intense emotion, regret and sadness. She carried a huge amount of responsibility for what happened and even though she took actions that led to the outcome of her passing, I could see the responsibility was not all hers to hold. I helped her understand this and how interlinked Chloe’s passing and her healing was. The extreme version of this pattern at play made it no longer possible to sustain in Avery’s body and this is why we were there; why spirit connection was happening at this time. Many elements, energies and intentions were converging to support this transformation for her. 

I could also energetically sense that she would hold herself separate from others, not allowing herself to receive and that her incredible relationship with Chloe was a kind of healing she’d never experienced before, which she confirmed. I was shown and then explained that Chloe’s ultimate gift to Avery in her passing provided the opportunity to release this strong held pattern so she could be far more free and open in her life. It was clear that it would have been very difficult for her to let go of this pattern and allow this major shift - spiritual, emotional and physical without this intense experience. She also desperately wanted to know that Chloe didn’t suffer too much and needed to communicate how much she loved her and how sorry she was. 

There were more words and energy work that took place. She was holding so much grief and tension in her chest. Rosemary was amazed as she witnessed Avery’s body and energy system distinctly soften and release under her hands. 

It is hard to articulate the depth and measure of the incredible life changing experience that transpired from this exchange. I feel as though when I’m tapped into the level of consciousness, of being, of communication and exchange that happens while serving toward the highest good in partnership with the spirit world, a kind of powerful healing beyond our full capacity to understand takes place. 

We all felt deep and powerful shifts and knew when the healing was complete. As we did the closing meditation, Cookie, who had been working with us the whole time, scratched at the door once again to be let out. His work was done. I could feel and confirmed to Avery that his role would shift and he would help her continue to heal. 

“This is an absolute miracle!” she said. “I didn’t think I was going to ever get out of bed. And I feel completely different now. I feel lighter and back to myself. I couldn’t be more grateful.” She shared these words with gratitude filled tears as we locked eyes for a long moment then she and Rosemary had a long sweet tearful embrace followed by all three of us in a hug. We all felt so lifted by the experience. “This was absolutely incredible!” 

I then felt the pull to clear the room and her with the smoke from the lavender and rosemary. Afterward, Rosemary and I went downstairs to the laundry room where Chloe had passed. Avery thought she’d never be able to enter that room again. We opened the windows and burned the herbs in that space while Avery remained upstairs gathering items for creating an altar in there. Then we brought her gently into the room and made the beautiful altar together. Rosemary and I sang to her and Chloe. It was beautiful and transformative. Then our work was complete. 

I reached out yesterday to find out how Avery has been doing the last few days. Here’s what she said:“I feel like I have been reborn. It is the craziest thing. Like I’m meeting Alex and my kids for the first time. How a cat dying could cause what’s happening is mind blowing. The block that was there was preventing me my entire life from being where I am now.” 
This is the beautiful work I have been aching to write and share about for years. I get to see this incredible transformation unfold time and time again, each scenario unique, beautiful and profound.

Another friend reached out for an urgent session for her mom as I was writing this post this week. Her mom’s dog is passing and her mom’s mother very recently passed. I struggle to find the words for how powerful the healing and messages were that came through in that session yesterday. 
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Whether you are near or far, whether it is for you or someone you love, if you feel the pull to receive or provide a session for another who needs it, follow that feeling. There is a reason you are reading this, let that reason become clear. I am here to help and because of the trend of these sessions this week, I am opening up my books to do more urgent sessions (in person and online) and house calls, which I haven’t done in years, as needed. ​

What does this mean exactly? 

When I talk about following your intuition, here’s what I mean.
When you are faced with a decision, any decision, say YES to the one that inspires a good warm feeling. Sometimes it can be so clear that this feeling can spread from your heart and radiate throughout your body like a strong wave of rightness. Or maybe it is goosebumps that sparkle across your skin showing you that what you are experiencing is important, powerful, aligned. Or it could be a clear sense of knowing deep in your core. 

Sometimes people default to thinking about following intuition for things that feel like danger, “my intuition told me something wasn’t right.” And that can be important, relevant and true. But what I find in my experience is that if I am more focused on following the other side of that coin, attuning my awareness to follow what feels good, then what feels good is more of what I see and more of what I experience. 

For example, while on a walk, rather than noticing that someone feels suspicious across the street, I am instead drawn to things that are resonating at a higher frequency or that feel good. The flowers in the person’s garden I am walking by, the invitation I’ve just received to attend something I’ve been craving, the exciting inspiration that is brewing in my heart. The energy of the suspicious person has a lower frequency and doesn’t have much to stick to in me because I am not focusing my attention at that frequency or looking to engage in an exchange that feels like that, so it just slides on by. The person doesn’t notice me, and I don’t notice them. We are each going to be drawn to different things and therefore will be engaging with a frequency of energy that matches what we are each focused on respectively.

This doesn’t mean difficult things don’t happen if we are focused on positive experiences. Difficult things are part of life, they will happen and we will navigate through them. However, what we focus on and expect to experience, in other words, the frequency of energy that we engage in, is what we will find reflected in our general experience. So if we are more focused on following what feels good, rather than focusing on what feels bad or getting away from what has the potential to feel bad, we will likely be more attracted to and noticing a warm feeling of alignment that will multiply rather than a cold or scary feeling of difficulty which conversely multiplies when we focus on it. 

Our brains are tricky and can omit information that doesn’t support something we are focused on believing or feeling. They also have what psychologists call a “negativity bias” that is hard wired in us for survival from way back. This makes us hyper aware and seeking out threats at a far grater degree than things that feel good. So it takes awareness and practice to focus on what feels good and in alignment. 

When I’m in a session and I’m tapping into this feeling of alignment, I can often sense an echo of energy that spans outward- like a pulse of loving momentum I am connecting with through my sensory system. I find that by engaging at a conscious level with this energy, it brings that potential of alignment more into being. With this I can feel a kind of loving ripple of affirming energy, a surge of light pulsing out into the future and the past. 

Following your intuition is attuning yourself to the energy frequency of love manifested in your being as you connect and engage with the world and allowing that frequency to guide you. We have learned so many ways to keep ourselves from feeling safe in its embrace, for example being hyper focused on what could go wrong. But this higher energetic frequency is powerful and strong and will carry us though if we allow it in. We all have access to it and with intentional opening and trust, we can continue to find our way back home with its guidance. 

Try this: Take at least three slow deep breaths, unclenching the jaw, softening the shoulders, belly, hands and feet. Close your eyes and keep breathing deep loving breaths into your heart as if it is a third lung, expanding with your inhales and contracting with your exhales. Smile. Send love to your heart, to your whole being. Do that until you feel complete. 
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From this place, consider a decision that might be in front of you. See yourself looking in observing the version of your life with one choice and then with the other/s. Notice how your body feels and responds when you feel yourself in these different scenarios. Perhaps one will rise above because it feels most aligned, there is more brightness, color or there are warm feelings connected with it. Note if you are drawn to paying attention to what feels most aligned or what feels most misaligned. No judgement, just notice. See if you can start paying attention more in your moments, reflections, days, to what is going well, what you are loving, what feels good, and follow that.

- Anna Blossom

These ideas can be harmful. Here's my offer of a different perspective.

Occasionally someone reaches out for support because they are concerned that they have a negative energetic attachment that is hindering their growth or getting in the way of them feeling balanced or safe in their lives. I know I can help them, but my interpretation of what is happening is going to be different. 
I saw a couple recently who were told by a psychic that a family curse was the reason they couldn’t conceive, which they’d been trying to do with difficulty and through multiple rounds of IVF treatments. I was sad to hear that they had been told this. Words are very powerful and as practitioners, our mindful, professional and careful discernment and delivery of what is happening for a client is critical. Our words can create long lasting incredible healing and positive effects. They can also be harmful, as I felt was the case in this situation.

The couple shared this information with me at the end of their session. They were clearly distressed by the words and concept and were trying to find a way forward which was one of the reasons, I believe, that they came to me. As I was sharing my perspective on the idea of curses and encouraged them not to take the message they received about this to heart, I was shown by the spirit realm how the woman’s grandmother had come through earlier on in our session. How she pointed to a part of her own personality that was fear based and initially rejecting of new ideas, that felt quite restrictive. She showed this pattern in the family blood line, which my client confirmed, and then showed how her granddaughter is trying to change this pattern now in her life. I could see that it took a lot of effort for my client to fight against this pattern, which she also confirmed. Her grandmother then offered healing energy work to support actually shifting the pattern through her granddaughter for her and her blood line so she didn’t need to fight against it with such effort but would be released of its strong hold and I could feel a distinct softening in my client and the pride and relief from her grandmother. 

Now perhaps someone else might have perceived a pattern like that as a “family curse,” but I would never see it that way. We pick these patterns up from our bloodlines, from the traumas our ancestors have experienced and from our own traumas. These aren’t curses from my perspective. They are a natural part of being in a body and we have the opportunity to heal and evolve through them as the generations continue. 

In this case, what happened was a beautiful offering of healing that came through for her and her family from the loving energy and intention of her grandmother and was the right direction at the right time for her soul’s growth and development. It unfolded beautifully and naturally within the session with information that was validated by my client the whole way through so that she could feel held, safe and connected in the process. I don’t know if it will help them conceive, but it isn’t for any of us to know yet. What is in front of them now is a slightly different playing field that will help them be more present in the process of their evolving journey. 

We have a lot of media out there spinning ideas and representations about curses and negative attachments for entertainment purposes who have little connection with actual energy work or training in mediumship or psychic practices. We also don’t have many standards of practice that are ingrained in these professions and there is a wide variety of training and understanding of how to interpret the information and energy we perceive. For me, and most mediums who I’ve trained with around the world, our perspective is generally as outline here. The concepts of curses and negative attachments are a misunderstood interpretation of what is happening. The spirits connected with us are loving and are here to help us learn from and heal through the joys and struggles we experience. They are not the cause or perpetrators of our pain or difficulty.

It is important to share that some cultures very much believe curses and negative attachments to be true. Generally in this case these beliefs are ingrained in the culture so that interpretations from the spirit or energy realm are matching a collective understanding. 

When there is one belief structure interacting with a very different one, for example while in a reading or session between a practitioner who has one belief system and client who has a very different one, it can leave room for much misunderstanding. That is why it is very important to be discerning with who you invite into your energy or psychic space to support you and make sure their approach is clearly outlined so you can make an educated decision if they are a good fit for you. Above all, follow your intuition and remember that there is room for many truths. 

Always ask if you feel unclear or leave a session not feeling good about something. You may not be understanding the same thing as your practitioner. There is often a huge amount of information and energy exchange to fit into few words and little time. I have always been grateful when a client reaches out for clarification if something didn’t sit well with them after a session. It almost always is a misunderstanding and I am so glad to have the opportunity to clarify and provide context.

You can read about another kind of blending of energy from a loved one who has recently passed that is relevant and related to this subject. In general though, negatively charged or intended energy attachments or curses just don’t fit into my way of seeing the world, nor are they involved at all in the spirit connections I have the amazing honor to facilitate.

​- Anna Blossom

Just at the end of a very full session with a client a couple days ago, she shared with me that she’d been having consistent physical pain in her chest and heart since her loved one had passed. There were so many other things to cover in her session, I hadn’t been shown this information by her or my spirit team and I’m so glad she followed her intuition to bring it to my attention. 

Sometimes when our loved ones pass, I have found over the years that some of their energy can remain attached or blended with someone who is emotionally and sometimes who was physically close to them when they passed. We can do healing energy work as a team to release their energy which is beneficial to everyone; the loved one in spirit can move through their process of evolving, the loved one remaining embodied can as well. One can feel stuck and less connected with their loved one in spirit if this happens. Sometimes clients fear letting go when I detect this is the case, as if they will lose their loved one even more by releasing their energy. Contrary to this, in my experience both parties, once separated, can evolve better and connect better after this work. 

I felt into her body and could see that she was right, his energy was present. She said she’d tried to ask his energy to leave her body many times but it wasn’t working. This client was already quite intuitive and aware of energy. I could sense her frustration but could see that this wasn’t intentional on his part and shared this important piece of information with her. As we moved into the energy work, I was able to help them both to release his energy without issue from her body, but when I tried to bring healing energy into her system she was barely open to receive. As if the aperture or opening to receive energy was quite closed and tight. I acknowledged this and asked her to open to the healing powerful energy that was being offered to her. As I was asking her to do this, I could see that this minimal opening was part of the reason his energy was stuck. There needed to be additional flow IN and her fear of experiencing more spirit connection than she was comfortable with along with her past significant traumas that aimed her expectation toward a negative experience were at play. Once we acknowledged this, she was immediately able to reframe her expectation and open to the powerful loving offer of healing and support available to her. I felt the shift and so did she. 

I was pleased to get an email the next day from her that said, “THANK YOU for last night's session. My chest feels MUCH better!”
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There were so many other amazing things that happened in her session and that happen in all sessions, but I’m happy to get this down in writing to share!

As I was nearing the end of a reading I did last weekend for a family of five, I got the sense that someone had a very acute and painful back issue. I checked in with the group and it was related to Kara’s aunt. She had been caring for a friend who had fallen from a high distance and broken his back. It was a long recovery and he was in pain. I immediately felt I needed to do some healing energy work on him. I enlisted the group’s help and we sent healing energy through to him. I facilitated the group’s healing intentions and sent my own, talking us through for a few moments as it was being done. Once it was complete, I knew that he would feel better that day and told the family. Three days later I got this text from Kara who’d just gotten it from her aunt:

“Missing all of you. And get this: John hasn’t had any pain, hasn’t worn the brace except to go for long walks (which is new) and he JOGGED twice, ¼ mile each time! Kara, please tell Anna would you?”

I have been doing a lot of healing energy work in my readings these days and I can feel how powerful the energy is as it moves through my system and into the people I serve. I have heard great feedback from people who have been able to be released of various physical and emotional pain. This one tops the list so far! It is such an honor to do this work and so exciting to share!

(The image above is a picture from Kara's aunt's place where John was recovering from his fall.)

​I don’t always light a candle when doing a reading. But for this one, I was drawn to doing so. The candle I lit was a very special one. It was a gift from our wedding, a beautiful ornate beeswax candle that I used to help guide my child’s spirit to me in the weeks before he was born. I didn’t give it much thought; I just lit it and proceeded.

It was a very special reading, for an old friend I hadn’t been very connected with over the past 10 years or so. His dad had died several years before and recently when I saw him at a birthday party, I could feel his dad reach out wanting to connect, so I offered to help. Three months later, my friend, we’ll call him James, reached out, ready for a reading.

His dad was immediately present and I imagine that because I knew him, and because of his personality, ability to merge with my energy and desire to come through, I felt him almost closer to me than any spirit I had felt before. He didn’t come through with evidence; he immediately stepped aside and allowed James’s grandmothers to come through with evidence. After several images and feelings, a piano came to mind, and the vision of where it was in James’s mother’s house, which was correct. It felt as though there were possibly pictures there, and like there was a beam of light above the piano, and I got the sense that maybe his dad hung out there. James said that they had made an alter there for him after he had died and that he would check with his mom to see if there was something significant there now.

Then there was some energy work that James was ready for. He smoked cigarettes and I felt he was ready to move away from this in his life, which was right. There was an ability to offer some energy work to disconnect the habit from his energy system, so we worked on that as well. There were lots of other lovely connections and details that came in the reading.

When I checked in with his dad in the end again, asking if there were any messages or anything he’d like to show James, I got the sense that he was communicating that he didn’t need to prove anything, that James could feel him and knew he was there. I remained silent, feeling that I needed to allow space for something. His dad then brought forward the most beautiful glowing essence of a child. It was so powerful and incredible, it nearly knocked my socks off. I couldn’t contain the love, and tears started rolling down my cheeks. I told James all of this, and how his dad was essentially looking after, loving, holding space for and nurturing this little being. 

As it turns out, James’s fiancé is 12 weeks pregnant, which he told me after several sweet layers of this message came through. I have seen spirit babies before in readings, but this one was so powerful and so present and clear. It was strong and beautiful and I believe that one reason I connected so clearly to it was because James’s dad was assisting in sharing this very special energy with us.
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I only realized as I went into the living room this morning and saw that candle sitting on the table, that it must have played a special role in helping to connect with that beautiful spirit baby, especially after all the energy and intention I had put through that candle to bring mine to me. 

That’s what world-renowned British medium Mavis Pittilla said to me recently during a gallery reading at Spirit Camp on Washington’s beautiful Hood Canal.

It was somewhat of a miracle that I could even attend the mediumship retreat that preceded her reading. I was breast-feeding my seven-month-old baby, and I live 150 miles away. But the magic of the Spirit world seemed to align all the logistics perfectly, and I had just spent 3 exhilarating days immersed in the work of expanding my psychic gifts.

That night at the gallery reading, there was a crowd of about 150, most of them mediums from all over the world. I amazingly got a seat in the center of the second row after almost everyone was already seated. About half way through her demonstration, I realized I should record it to review later. Shortly after I pressed “Record” on my phone, she came to me with strong and accurate messages. Astounding.

It was this reading she did for me, and my experiences over the past year doing reading after reading and witnessing people’s lives change as a result, that guided me to make the choice to focus entirely on this work. It seems I don’t really have much of a say in the matter anyway. The mediumship is in fact, rising and taking over. And I’m happy to oblige. 

I’ve decided to start this blog to share stories and lessons that come through from the readings that I do. There is healing, love and learning for everyone in them. I promise to be honest, and to be a channel for spirit, and I’ll do my best to be interesting. And don’t worry. I won’t share your story unless I get your permission first. 

Here we go! Let’s see what unfolds…