| In 2012, two years after I left the ministry, I started drawing a woman fighting for her own freedom. I drew her, naked… meaning vulnerable… in the wilderness, usually with a full moon, often with creatures, but always withstanding the elements. After I drew about 10 of them, I realized I was drawing my own liberation from the church, ministry, and religion altogether. Her name is Sophia... which is Greek for wisdom, but also conjures up the divine feminine. I drew 62 drawings and gave them each a meditation, collected them into a book, and called it The Liberation of Sophia. I completed the project in 2014 when it was published. Then, earlier this year, another woman emerged from my subconscious. This one is fully clothed in a regal robe of some kind. Her hair is white. She is innocent but not naïve. Where Sophia was in her process of personal liberation, Timber is about healing her traumas, finding her place in the world, and establishing her boundaries. So far I’ve drawn eight of them. Again, her name came to me as Timber. To me, it means sturdy like an oak. It also means she’ll chop down anything in the way of her own personal authenticity and freedom… her right to be in this world… and to be fully herself. Her hair is white to represent the psychophysical ramifications of her traumas. It’s no accident my hair is white. She is also always alone, like Sophia, because even if she is surrounded by others, this journey is fiercely an individual one. I heard someone say once that we must heal ourselves from our traumas and what this looks like is we will then be able to remember them without reliving them. I like that. So… I sense that Timber is going to show us how to heal ourselves so that we can live life to the full here and now. It’s also a graphic exploration and expression of the power of the feminine. This has been a deep current in my own life… and I think it is very important… crucial, even… because I claim the church suffocates the feminine in favour of the patriarchy and, as a result, everyone suffers. I’m going to unwrap this more in next week’s letter because I want to say it clearly. It’s so important. The originals sell fast because so many women are identifying with Timber, so I make prints available of each one too. The latest one is called “I Am Light”, and is included in this letter. | 
