Lindsey Kristen, One Earth Collaborative and the Water Serpent

I first met Lindsey Kristen when my partner and I camped at her private nature preserve on our bike/blade on the Little Miami trail in Oregonia, Ohio. (check out our experience https://youtu.be/4QWzKvpgqCI)

This charming spot on the mystical and tranquil Little Miami river is one of a network of properties to which Lindsey curates unique experiences and includes multiple camping sites, a tiny house, a B&B with two apartments. Lindsey Kristen’s work here integrates nature, art, movement and many opportunities to float down the river in a myriad of watercraft, whether tubes, kayaks or paddle boards. For this reason, Lindsey invited me to grab an innertube as a seat and we went down to the river’s banks and made our way to an island cutting the flowing water into two wide curves. The flow of the water was constant, but had slowed from the meandering rapids and sharp curves of the opposing banks.

Lindsey Kristen’s flurry of activity developed out of personal and shared traumas and the paths that led to the activist that she is today came from the process of healing. The retreat and wellness centers emerged out of unbridled struggles with addiction to provide a safe space for healing and alternatives of lifestyle to grapple with the consistent struggle with addiction. True Tonic Nature became a vehicle for these inspired transformations while working with plant medicine and herbalism practices to reset the consumers’ interaction with the world and opening to a materia medica of new plant options.

Lindsey’s delving into tree water sources for the Tonic movement brought her into a flurry of activity surrounding nature, art, movement, sustenance and flow. Lindsey is one that connects between people and ideas, always thinking of ways to amplify enhance the experiences that people come for at this little nature sanctuary on the Little Miami. Her magnetic personality is one that finds the strengths of others and weaves them into her tapestry of healing and restoration.

One recent morning I woke up to see an offer to join a tour to the Serpent Mound. I have been to the Serpent Mound and I am always looking for an excuse to visit. The Serpent Mound is located in Adams County, Ohio and is the world’s largest effigy. The ancient structure is thought to have been built and restored by the paleo-indigenous tribes of Ohio. There are more than 600 sacred sites in Ohio, many of them unnoticed and shrouded in mystery. Serpent Mound has multiple layers of meaning associated with its astronomical alignments, its location at the site of a meteor impact and the anomalies associated with a fault line at the site. These layers of natural and synthetic symbolism gives the place a particular charge that draws visitors on an international scale.

The ceremony was held at the Water Serpent, a secondary yet perhaps more ancient, primal natural anomaly. It was an honor to be in the presence of the Curandera and the participants and there was a sense of true spiritual work being accomplished. We emerged from the stream refreshed and recharged with new connections and friendships.

Currently, Lindsey Kristen has so graciously opened her space to Forage and Meditation tours. The collaboration of curiosity and enchantment of nature and all of nature’s wonders continues to flourish. When our essence is attuned to the places and people with whom we resonate, we can ride the wave of possibility and trust in whatever may come. The natural alliance among like minded initiatives will amplify the message. In this Great Return to Nature whose wheel turns at its own pace, each and every connection that we make is relevant, each and every experience is worthy and valid, each encounter through our senses to perceive our world is symbolic whose meaning is muddled, but whose truth lies embedded within. Yet, the most important of all endeavors remain: personal growth, growth in relationships, growth in capacity to care and nurture-called by another name the cosmic goal of love.

If you are intrigued by Forest Meditation Tours, please visit: www.naturecleanse.eventbrite.com

If you are intrigued by Forest Forage Tours, please visit www.forestforage.eventbrite.com

If you want to stay at One Earth Collaborative Reserve, please visit: https://www.hipcamp.com/en-US/ohio/lindsey-t-s-land-1/one-earth-collaborative-sanctuary

You can follow True Tonic Nature on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tonictruenature