The Painted in the Desert movie is released: Watch it NOW!

This a very special day for the manifestation of dreams. Exactly a year and five days ago MK Barr and my life changed dramatically. We could not have anticipate how much committing to the Painted in the Desert documentary film would impact both of us then, but today we joyfully release it to the world. …

Image Highlights from the Painted in the Desert filming

First promo video for the movie, boy has the project grown since this!!     http://vimeo.com/26590741 Blog for the film: http://www.PaintedintheDesert.wordpress.com

New Mexico return to the graffiti tunnels of my heart

You have NO IDEA how happy I am to be back in New Mexico. It truly is one of the places of my heart, and I am glowing from the return home. There is something about the vastness of the sky and the pinion baking on the earth that satisfies me like no other place. …

Back HOME to New Mexico to film for Painted in the Desert-A Travel Essay

I have not been home to the southwest in six months. New Mexico is one of the most enchanting places I have ever been; I fell in love with the land three years ago, and have not been gone for more than a month since that time. I tend to start sobbing and shaking when …

Buck Brannaman and How the Horse Spirits Changed Everything

Horses completely changed my life. They are one of the great mysteries and miracles of my pathway into my sovereignty, and last night I was able to revisit that early passion I felt for them. A little background on why horses made such an impact on my passage. Over the last nine years my entire life …

Painted in the Desert-A Travel Essay and my NEW Name

This is so exciting, a NEW blog! My initial MelissaWeissSteele.Wordpress.com blog was a big commitment and surprising joy, and I met its call for a couple of years. In the last nine months I have left New Mexico, written my first book, The Oracle of Initiation-Rainbows in the Dark, and traveled to Central America. I …

Trespassing, Holy Dirt and Baby Jesus’ Shoes

I love to trespass. I have so few vices left that my punk rock soul needs something disobedient.  “You don’t drink, don’t smoke...what do you do?” {Had to get a little Adam Ant up in here}. I am actually a fairly modest person in everyday life, despite the wild and intense work I create. I …

Rainbow Journeys to Red Earth

  I wrote this at the end of 2006 when I had relocated to the southwest. This is the story of how the I was drawn to the place where the Painted Body series would emerge for The Oracle of Initiation deck… When did this journey to the southwest really begin? As with most great …

Tribal epiphanies in graffiti tunnels

So back to the story of how The Oracle of Initiation divination deck was created...in 2008 I had  made the biggest geographic move of my life {other than a youthful jaunt in Italy} to New Mexico. This relocation occurred six-months before The Painted Body series emerged for the deck. I had been working on the …

How Hip Hop, Horses Dances and The Hopi inspired The Oracle of Initiation deck

"It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you, without a strong rhyme to step to. Think of how many weak shows you slept through, times up, I'm sorry I kept you." I Know YOU Got Soul by Eric B & Rakim How long has it been since you lived within a strong rhythm, …