Rhythm / Devotion is a series of interviews intended to illuminate the connection to ritual & rhythm in our daily lives. This series explores the intimacy of routine, the magic of the ordinary, & how these small acts of devotion set the stage for larger workings in the world ~
What is your name & where are you in the world?
My name is Zsuzsa Mitro - ‘Zs’ as in azure; pleasure; treasure.
My roots are from rural northeastern Hungary, but Home, in the truest sense of the word, is in one of the quietest parts of northern New England, in Corinth Vermont. Right now, foliage season is just past its peak; but the colors are still spectacular with deep golden oranges, flaming reds, golden yellows and the bronze of the Oaks which are the last trees to shed their leaves. The mornings are crippled and drenched in mist. When you catch "Beetlejuice 2" you will see my town—and what it looks like when Halloween is just around the corner…
How do you define yourself & your work?
I am an educator and a mentor to youth first, and an astrologer always.
In my professional life, I have worn many hats—the latest: being a baker of whole grain sourdough breads in our mom-and-pop shop with my husband John. After a decade in our business together, we closed two years ago. Recently, I have returned to the classroom at a local high school as a mentor and tutor to middle and high schoolers, and it’s been a wild adventure. My astrology practice remains a complementary vocation—and will keep me on the path of lifelong learning.
Will you walk us through what a day in your life looks like? Begin with how you greet the morning & how you close off the day in the eve ~
I greet the day with a smile on my face after I have opened my eyes, grateful for my body, and the first signs of life greeting me back, be it my husband, cat or birds on the bird feeder outside my window. Mindful of the first precious, quiet moments of stepping into a fresh new beginning, I pay attention to moving without haste. Part of this little embodied ritual of welcoming a new day next is: heartfelt gratitude for the first sips of water, waiting for me by my bedside, in a special cup reserved for water only.
This water is alive and structured — a practice that has become almost devotional for us. After being dedicated to bread, John and I have become quite the water nerds. Our relationship with water has been evolving; and there is so much to know and appreciate about the connection between water and health. I sip my morning first cup with joy and intention, slowly.
The day picks up tempo as I venture out to tend to farm chores, season permitting barefoot. We have a flock of chickens who need to be released, fed and watered. Our large animals: a draft mare, and mother cow with a brand new calf born in mid-July, and an almost 2year-old steer, also need attention—and I like to check in with them even when they’re mostly my husband John’s responsibility. If I can wing it, I go into the garden, and check in with my flowers and herbs, see who is coming in and on their way out; what creatures are showing themselves - could be Honeybee or Mountain Bluebird, Sparrow, Finch or Crow, Raven, Hawk, Robin, Eagle… —, and pause to greet the Sun.
I used to love the night. These days, I revel in the threshold moments of sunrise, and the energy of the early morning.
Our life that we live so close to nature is affected by seasonal changes. How my day goes after the morning entirely depends on where in the Great Wheel of the solar year we are. When you are reading this, 5 days a week I am at my day job at the Thetford Academy in Thetford, Vermont. I am part-time staff, so I start at 9 and am free by 2, unless I substitute teach or do something extra curricular.
Every other week, on Mondays, I have contact improv dance practice at a local dance studio. When my afternoons are free for me to design as I please, I love to be outside and landscape, garden, tend animal chores… The fall is an essential time to pay attention to our colony of Bees. Right around now, they need to be prepared for cooler weather setting in. I try to do most of my assessments by observation, in the spirit of Bee-centric tending. I prefer to avoid breaking propolis seals keeping supers together if I can by not intruding into the Honeybees’ nest.
I also have plenty to do inside our old farmhouse on a rainy day—all activities focused on what exactly is needed depending on the season. I have just completed a frenzy of repotting house plants, and helped John frame up an old doorway. I also journal, and take courses - right now: The Village Deathcare Citizen course, with Anne-Marie Keppel; and prepare for astrology readings in my cozy and cute office space. Two mousers like to keep me company in my studies, curled up nearby and keeping at least half an eye on me as they nap.
Baking demanded that we break the circadian rhythms of rising and setting with the Sun. These days, we have returned to this natural rhythm, and I cannot speak well enough about the benefits. Getting nutritious sleep and honoring our needs for rest at the end of the day finds us beginning to unwind right as soon as it gets dark, and farm chores are done. We keep the lights low in our house by using salt lamps. We have taken to the habit of disconnecting Wi-Fi before bedtime, ideally two hours prior. And we mindfully avoid any agitation of our mind by thinking of or discussing topics that might keep us awake unnecessarily. Whenever we can, we do a gentle yoga practice or have sauna together. John built us a sauna 3 years ago - a source of total bliss. And before I close my eyes, I say the Lady’s Prayer—and close the day in a spirit of gratitude.
You are an astrologer, tarologue, bee-tender, and a perfomer ~ how do you prepare yourself &/or your space to enter into these practices? What is the rhythm of your creative process?
I have an altar set up in a special space in our home where I sit for meditation. Entering into energy work, and showing up to provide counsel does bind me to clean up beforehand. For astrology and Tarot, I might do just a simple routine of lighting a tea light, and holding a gemstone—or taking a few drops of a flower essence. For Bee tending, I might do simple breath work; and check in: have I eaten; have I taken care of proper hydration; have I taken *my Vitamin C ... If I’m lucky, I get to sit enough so I go through the twenty-minute max hive check step-by-step before I light the smoker. And for performance — light a tea light - drop in - sit with - visualize —- and smile. Imagine it all going well.
*I learned about the importance of being thusly prepared before a hive visit when 4 years ago
starved, dehydrated, and probably low on Vitamin C, I went near a hive and got chased away and eventually stung by a guard bee, and promptly went into anaphylactic shock—I rode it out okay but lost my immunity to bee venom. This year, I am getting it back with the help of a local apitherapst.
What do you do/not do if you are feeling stuck around your work?
This might just be my simplest and shortest answer yet: I drop everything and go to our animals - or the garden. Or I may go and talk to a tree; especially one special Hawthorn on the Land where we live.
Do you have a movement practice?
Yes. Years ago, based on my chart, an astrologer suggested the benefits of Hatha yoga for me. I found a thirty minute routine online and have kept practice this up, still doing it every other day. I also like to start my day with a short morning yoga flow; and close with yin yoga.
Since the fall of 2022, I have been a member of a movement collective at a beautiful dance studio in my town, The Barn in Corinth. We play and experiment, do contact improv, and in the summer - perform. I absolutely love this and am getting more involved in the dance community.
What does structure mean to you, or what is your philosophy around ritual/routine?
I appreciate this question so much…
I grew up in an authoritarian system - my formative years spent in Hungary in the 1970s-80s in Hungary, behind the Iron Curtain. Structure was everywhere and in everything: rigid, steely, demanding, forced.
After the Velvet Revolutions and the burst of the 1990s, with globalization, boundless freedom, and effervescent creativity, we all had a brief honeymoon without; only to realize it’s worthy place in life.
I have had structureless periods when I was drifting; and periods when I have been integrating. Currently, structure and routine are back in my life, and I so welcome it. And all of this is in perfect alignment with the placement of the planet Saturn in the tropical vibration in Pisces the Fishes - a boundless realm of possibilities, artistic sensitivities, and dreams. Saturn here helps with setting some boundaries, and building a solid foundation to rely upon; and I for one have been feeling the benefits.
What are you listening to, reading, or watching these days?
I have been listening to Alana Fairchild’s White Light Frequencies a lot; the Vitamin String Quartet, Entheo—and The Triple Flame app, which offers journeys by Richard Rudd, creator of the Gene Keys; and meditative music that I find inspiring, soothing. I am also using their Pause meditations—check it out, it’s really a lovely app.
I am just about to start Alua Arthur’s briefly perfectly human, and finished Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation. Richard Rudd’s books, and specifically The Gene Keys, and The 64 Ways, are constant sources of daily contemplations.
I have been watching lots and lots of animal videos on YouTube—and watching "Another Self" on Netflix, which is a spiffy testimony to Family Constellation therapy work, in disguise. After "Bridgerton," which was a lot of fun, "Another Self" is yummy awesomeness.
Any last words of wisdom?
I have been ingesting this one daily: these words — see how you like it:
The secret of living well and longer is: eat half, walk double, laugh triple, and love without measure.
— Tibetan proverb.
How can we find your work?
Zsuzsa Mellquist on Facebook
@astraballad on IG
@trukenbrodteam on IG
Thank you so much, Zsuzsa, for your inspiring work in this world and for sharing your rhythm devotion with us ~
.✧
I connect the essence of Mountain Laurel as a companion to Zsuazsa Mitro, her rhythm/devotion, and the spirit she brings to the world.
I made my Mountain Laurel & Moss (Kalmia latifolia) at the end of Peaceable Street in Redding, CT on a sun-laden afternoon in June 2020.
For those who need to know, need to be certain, Mountain Laurel has other plans! This is a nice essence for those who tend to get stuck in expectation or anticipation of what will come next, Mountain Laurel invites us to simplify, lean back, open, release the clutch we may have on ourselves.
This essence softens us out of our heads, into our bodies, reminding us that there is nothing to know, rather it directs that desire to be curious, to explore. When we allow ourselves to simply "be" we can more easily open and feel/sense. Thus, Mountain Laurel takes our minds for a walk--it shows us that what we think we know is just the beginning--there is a deeper, more open place to go still.
This essence brings a calm questioning, curiousness to the spirit and mind vs. a searching quality. It promises us that when we are not searching there is: arrival, wonder, more. Nothing to figure out, always deeper to go, allowing for things to be unveiled in their own time.
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