There are moments in life when the world splits into a Before and an After.Moments when grief rearranges us quietly but permanently, like tides shaping the edge of a shoreline. Loss changes a woman.It can narrow her life or expand it.It can harden her or soften her.It can silence her or deepen her voice. This week’s theme in our Moonstone Sanctuary series is Soulcraft — the ancient feminine art of
Moonstone Sanctuary — A Blog by Melissa HorrellSet on Vancouver Island There comes a moment in every woman’s life when the ground beneath her shifts — quietly at first, like a low tide pulling away from shore. A whisper, a nudge, a sensation that what once fit no longer does. These are the thresholds of our becoming: subtle, powerful passages that alter us in ways we only understand once we’ve
The quietest leaders often hold the deepest power. They do not demand attention with grand gestures or booming voices, but their presence resonates in subtle ways — a pause in conversation, a listening ear, a thoughtful act that ripples further than anyone can see. And like any leader, their strength needs nourishment. Not the kind that comes from accolades or approval, but the kind that rises from within —
There is a forest on Vancouver Island where time seems to pause. Cathedral Grove, tucked within MacMillan Provincial Park, is not just a collection of ancient Douglas firs and red cedars; it is a living cathedral, its vaulted branches reaching skyward, holding stories older than most of us can imagine. Stepping into this grove feels like crossing a threshold — a liminal space where the ordinary world dissolves and
Vancouver Island is more than home; it is a living teacher. Its forests, rivers, and ocean cliffs hold lessons too complex for language, yet unmistakable to the heart. Spend even a few days here, and you begin to sense it: this land is alive with wisdom. Not loud wisdom — not the kind that demands attention — but the kind you feel in your bones. I didn’t understand this at
There are places in the world where the unseen feels close. Vancouver Island is one of them — a land where mist moves like breath across the treetops, where moss glows electric-green after rain, and where ancient forests hold stories older than memory. It’s why so many seekers, healers, and intuitive women feel called here. And it’s why Moonstone Sanctuary was born on this island — a home for rest,
For the quiet women, the intuitive leaders, and the ones who guide through presence rather than volume. There is a particular kind of woman I meet again and again on our Vancouver Island retreats and within Spa Sisterhood:A woman who leads quietly.A woman whose strength is subtle.A woman whose wisdom is felt, not announced. She is often the one others confide in.The one who notices the details no one else
There comes a moment in every woman’s life when the speed of the world becomes too loud to bear. The hustle. The noise. The expectations. The endless striving. We don’t always recognize it as burnout; sometimes it arrives as a whisper — a tightness in the chest, a sudden need to cry in the car, a longing to run away to the forest where no one needs anything from us.
There is a subtle kind of magic in gathering. Not the flash of spectacle or the hum of applause, but the quiet pulse of connection — a circle of women, each carrying her own story, her own courage, her own shadows. When we come together in fellowship, something remarkable happens: the ordinary becomes sacred, vulnerability becomes strength, and courage becomes luminous. This is the essence of sisterhood, and it
On Vancouver Island, the pace of life moves to the rhythm of the tides. There’s a humility to the landscape — an unspoken reminder that we are part of something greater, not separate from it. The sea ebbs and flows, the cedars stand patient through every season, and the mountains remind us that endurance and beauty can exist side by side. Lately, as I’ve spent more time immersed in island
When Adam Shoalts closed A History of Canada in Ten Maps with the explorers’ first glimpses of the Pacific, it felt like a revelation — the great western frontier shimmering at the edge of the known world.The journey had been perilous, the outcome uncertain, yet those early explorers were united by a quiet faith in discovery. Standing on the shores of Vancouver Island today, it’s hard not to feel
When I finished reading Adam Shoalts’ A History of Canada in Ten Maps, I couldn’t stop thinking about how much those early explorers and map-makers had in common with leaders today.They faced uncertainty, discomfort, risk, and sometimes failure — yet they kept moving forward, trusting something larger than themselves. Leadership, I’ve learned, is not about having a perfect map. It’s about having the courage to chart one. From
There are moments in life when the world splits into a Before and an After.Moments when grief rearranges us quietly but permanently, like tides shaping
Moonstone Sanctuary — A Blog by Melissa HorrellSet on Vancouver Island There comes a moment in every woman’s life when the ground beneath her shifts
The quietest leaders often hold the deepest power. They do not demand attention with grand gestures or booming voices, but their presence resonates in
There is a forest on Vancouver Island where time seems to pause. Cathedral Grove, tucked within MacMillan Provincial Park, is not just a collection
Vancouver Island is more than home; it is a living teacher. Its forests, rivers, and ocean cliffs hold lessons too complex for language, yet unmistakable
There are places in the world where the unseen feels close. Vancouver Island is one of them — a land where mist moves like breath
There are moments in life when the world splits into a Before and an After.Moments when grief rearranges us quietly but permanently, like tides shaping
Moonstone Sanctuary — A Blog by Melissa HorrellSet on Vancouver Island There comes a moment in every woman’s life when the ground beneath her shifts
The quietest leaders often hold the deepest power. They do not demand attention with grand gestures or booming voices, but their presence resonates in
There is a forest on Vancouver Island where time seems to pause. Cathedral Grove, tucked within MacMillan Provincial Park, is not just a collection
Vancouver Island is more than home; it is a living teacher. Its forests, rivers, and ocean cliffs hold lessons too complex for language, yet unmistakable
There are places in the world where the unseen feels close. Vancouver Island is one of them — a land where mist moves like breath
