The Birth of Rosie & Raven
In 2016, I had a dream so vivid it felt like memory. I was holding an old, mysterious book that looked like an illuminated manuscript with an intricate rose drawn on the first page. But the illustration was 3 dimensional, coming off the page and moving in a way my brain couldn’t comprehend. Holding that impossible book, I thought, Who created this? What is this? The pages were filled with indecipherable poetry, but it felt like truth. I woke with tears in my eyes, realizing my own mind had created that book, yet I had no idea how such a thing could exist. At that time, I didn’t know how to animate and augmented reality hadn’t entered the mainstream. I’d only just started creating my mixed media goddess series and the paintings were static (but in my visions they were always moving). But when I discovered AR at a tech show in 2018 and began animating my work, I often thought back to that dream, as if I had been shown a glimpse of what was to come.
For my birthday at the end of 2023, I gave myself the gift of a kundalini retreat and a plant medicine journey. With total clarity, I saw the last thing holding me back, keeping me from stepping into my full potential. Self-doubt was literally encasing my heart, and I released the shell right then and there. There was a beautiful song playing at the moment of release, and the lyrics echoed through my mind… “when she is ready… not a moment too soon.” In that moment, I knew with everything in me that I was ready to do what I was put on this earth to do. I didn’t yet know what that thing was, but I said out loud “whatever it is, i’ll do it.”
On Jan 1st, 2024, 2 days after that life-changing journey, a full concept dropped into my brain. It came in the form of a children’s book, and I realized immediately that the book I dreamed of 10 years ago was ready to be born into material reality. I didn’t have children. I had no idea how to write or illustrate a children’s book. I knew nothing about publishing. None of this mattered, because the doubt was gone and I knew the book already existed... I just had to remember it. I began writing that very night and the story poured out of me like water, emerging from the original vision of the rose. It came in rhyme, the illegible and unknowable poetry of my dream now translated into a language I could speak.
A few days after my journey, I found out that the name of the song that was playing during my journey was called Lineage of the Rose. And the full lyrics? “A ROSE BLOOMS when she is ready. Not a moment too soon.” I never consciously heard the part the part about the rose, but I was floored by the literal symbolism and clear guidance I was receiving... I was being led step by step into the beautiful unknown and like Alison in Wonderland and her rabbit, all I had to do was follow the rose. That same day, I went to the beach with my sister’s dog. She suddenly bolted down the shoreline, and when I caught up, I found myself standing in a circle of roses planted in the sand. It was almost too much magic and synchronicity for my brain to hold and I burst into tears of gratitude for the gift I’d been given.
From that moment, I entered into the deepest, longest, and most wondrous flow state of my life. It took me four months to write, illustrate, and animate the entire story. Another four months to step back, give myself distance, and return with fresh eyes. And finally, one more month to rewrite. In nine months, I gave birth to Rosie & Raven. Right on time.
The truth is, this book could not have been created at any other moment in my life. The technology advanced in lockstep with its creation—new breakthroughs in AI and AR arriving just as I needed them, making possible what had been impossible even months before. The eight years I had spent meticulously honing my craft served me beautifully when challenges arose; I trusted my own resourcefulness and determination. And had I not released that sticky, suffocating self-doubt only days before the idea came to me, I never would have had the courage to write my own story, to sing my own songs, to create a piece of art that so fully embodies everything I am.
This book is so many things. It’s my personal story, but more than that, it’s the story of discovering that I am my own teacher. The information I channeled has shown me the way, and following its simple guidance has elevated me into the next chapter of my own life. With Rosie & Raven, my hope is to remind children—and the child inside each of us—that we don’t need to search outside ourselves for wisdom. It already lives deep within, waiting to be remembered.
