Vibrissae

 

Vibrissae
A Collection of Cats, Facts, and Whiskers

Inspired by the Santa Cruz Museum of Art And History's exhibit on local collectors, this book was a collaboration between a mother and daughter. Kayla Rose, a crazy cat lady at heart, has collected over a hundred cat whiskers that she found around the house over two decades from a medley of family pets. She wrote the poem to honor all the past, present, and future cats who bring joy into their lives. 

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty and Perceptive.

Kayla and Amber Rose are wise in the ways of cats. No subtlety escapes their eyes. Full of humor and insight, this small book reveals much in its short pages. Well worth the time.

Dream Box Joins the MAH’s New Permanent Exhibition: HERstory

I am thrilled to announce that my art piece, Dream Box, has been inaugurated in the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History's new permanent display, HERstory, A Celebration of the Important Women of Santa Cruz County—Past, Present, and Future, which highlights the important contributions that women and female-identifying individuals have made globally and locally. From Yaquenonsat to Angela Davis, Santa Cruz has long been a stronghold of women’s activism, creativity, and courage.

Inspired by the MAH’s beloved annual HERstory event, this addition to the MAH’s History Gallery features significant moments in women’s history through the lens of important Santa Cruz women and events. This interactive exhibition will include features on important women, such as:

• Yaquenonsat, a Native woman who in 1812 led the local indigenous resilience to colonization
• Heather Edney, who founded one of the earliest harm reduction programs in the United States in 1990
• Dr. Rebecca Hernandez (Mescalero/Warm Spring Apache and Mexican American), the first nominee and recipient of the annual HERstory Award in 2024, for her work as a Community Archivist and previous Director of the American Indian Resource Center at UC Santa Cruz.
• Bettina Aptheker, founder of UCSC’s Feminist Studies Program
• Madeline Aliah, a local trans femme teen poet. 

See all honorees and learn more about HERstory here!

I first started making shadow boxes after picking up some old spice racks at the flea market in the early nineties and wondering what to do with what I like to call my spiritual smegma - pebbles, crystals, special buttons, miniatures, all the collected minutiae of friends and relationships past. 

These curiosities became the foundation for my 2005 art show Sacred Spaces in Small Places: Shadow Boxes, Spirit Shelves, and Altar-Egos, which spoke to the need to incorporate the spiritual in both our daily lives and in the mundane world by transforming everyday items into altars for meditation, reflection, and rejuvenation. Throughout history and across various religious beliefs, altars have served as a means to focus intentions, honor ancestors, affirm values, and reaffirm our connection to the divine.

I made a dozen or so over the years, some with themes such as the story of Amateratsu and Uzume, some were specific for Love Magic, and the Dream Box was mostly comprised of the eclectic snippets, tokens, and ephemera that once decorated the register on at Herland. Most of them I gifted away, notably to Melissa Bernstein, who later gifted it to the MAH, where it was first a part of the Infinite Other exhibit in 2018-2019, and in Then & Now: LGBTQ+ Gathering Spaces in 2023.

What do I love most about the Dream Box? The incredible amount of detail and how salient it is for the time. Inluding:

• Political buttons ("My Goddess Can beat Up Your God") 
• Magazine cutouts ("Americans are ALTARING Their Lives" is my favorite)
• Fortune cookie fortunes - ("Your Mind is Your Greatest Asset") Herland was neighbors with the Mongolian Barbeque, and every day I would sweep up fortunes
• Objet-trouve: lost marbles, single earrings, orphaned keys, a lucky wooden nickel from Lovedog Tattoo

Inside this 3-D collage live Asian drag kings and radiant black queens, butches and femmes, Aztec goddesses and Feng Shui cures, Zen tarot cards, babes on unicyles, and an abundance of body positivism. Condom references in a time when safer sex was being fully embraced during the AIDS crisis. Stickers promoting same-sex marriage.

And the symbols! Pink triangles, labryses, Venus and double Venus, cowrie shells, salamanders, butterflies, hearts, cats, marijuana leaves, and rainbows aplenty. All of the tarot - chalice, blade, pentagram, flame, plus the wheel... A chorus of affirmations: "Double happiness"  and my personal favorite from G9 - "I will never underestimate my body's capacity for pleasure." Michelle Tea even sneaks in a cameo.

And at the heart of it all, nestled quietly among the glitter and the grit: a single pet rock, painted with one word—Hope.

Troll Bridge

 

The Backpack

It was a cool fall day as I crunched along the red and gold leaves. It was not that I was lost, but more at a loss. I knew where I had come from, but up ahead were the crossroads, and I’d need to make a decision. Wearily, I shrugged off my backpack and sank into the little wooden bench on the side of the pathway. Time to do inventory.

It was a dark blue Janson backpack, which had belonged to my daughter in high school. The zippers felt sticky as I began rummaging through, discovering all that I had been secretly carrying for years.

In the outside pocket was the little pack of white lies, crumpled Kleenex already pre-stained with crocodile tears.

In the side pocket were all the things that I had lost or pawned for drug money - my dad's little gold travel alarm clock, encased in green leather; my mom’s platinum wedding ring, both of my grandmother’s sets of pearls, countless single earrings.

The other side contained all the locked diaries, stale letters, and old emails that I should not have read, but felt compelled to know, much to bitter regret.

I reached into a center pocket, but sliced my fingers on the sharp blades of blame, those barbed shurikins flung out in anger. They were protecting tiny packages of grief, each beautifully wrapped and tied with silk ribbons; no need to get into them just yet.

As big as it was, the medical scale - the kind you hate stepping on when you go to the doctors, the nurse pushing the weight more and more to your growing dismay, no matter what the numbers actually say - came out easily with a resounding thud.

Then the snarled ball of jealousy, a sickening chartreuse, not worth untangling the infidelities, the betrayals, the love triangles, the ins and outs of nonmonogamy, all the bad breakups despite good intentions.

So much shame came tumbling out, as acrid as yellowed cat piss, while I tipped the backpack upside down. Memories of shoplifting the gold and jade pin in elementary school, stealing rolls of quarters from Sunshine Farms for laundry money when in college, and all the times of driving drunk.

I scraped out the mouldy helplessness, the ineffective thoughts and prayers, the absolute despair at the news each day, whether it be Ukraine, Gaza, or L.A.

Now, for the main large pocket - I lifted out the gilded crown of thorns, studded with blood-red rubies, and noticed how easily guilt lay on my head, keeping me frozen in victimhood or too busy being a martyr. Too busy feeling guilty to do anything of consequence.

By now, the trash can by the bench was overflowing, as I dumped asthma inhalers and Sudafed, vestiges of allergies and illness, as well as the albatross of a failed business that kept haunting my dreams. I let go of each of my masks, the fake mustaches and the clown shoes, all the props of feeling the imposter.

The blue canvas backpack felt light, filled now only with stories of survival, a few bad puns, and those precious packages of grief. With a sigh of relief, I unfolded my astrology chart as a new map, checked my moral compass, and knew that I was headed in the right direction.

The Adventures of Baby Moon

 

The Adventures of Baby Moon
Written and Illustrated by Nona Kayla

Join Claire de la Lune in the Adventures of Baby Moon. A charming illustrated children's book filled with pleasing watercolors, perfect for reading at storytime, bedtime, or any time. Claire discovers the seasons, connects with family and friends, and yes, even helps to save the day.

5.0 out of 5 stars Charming Story and Illustrations

Kayla Rose has crafted a charming little story-poem for young children, richly illustrated in her unique style. Fun to read and share.

Journey with the Goddess

 

Come and journey with the Goddess to learn poetry, mythology, and rituals for personal enrichment, transformation, and growth through 3 sessions of guided meditations. Choose from:

The Triple Goddesses of Love:

• Aphrodite: Goddess of Beauty, Self Love, and Self Care
• Freya: Goddess of Sexuality, Sensuality, and Integrity
• Amaterasu: Goddess of Happiness, Self-Esteem, and Joy

The Triple Goddesses of Abundance:

• Lakshmi: Goddess of Plenty, Prosperity, Opening to Flow
• Shakti: Goddess of Energy, Recharging, and Balancing
• Kuan Yin: Goddess of Compassion, Deep Listening, Release

The Triple Goddesses of Health:

• Isis: Goddess of Mothering, Birthing, and Nurturing 
• Baba Yaga: The Wild Woman, Creativity, Vitality
• Changing Woman: Celebration of Cycles and Transitions

The Triple Goddesses of Empowerment

• Innana: Embracing the Shadow, Reclaiming Wholeness
• Durga: Goddess of Good Boundaries, Respect, Sacred Circle of Self
• Pele: Goddess of Awakening, Awareness, Transforming Anger

The Buddy System Works!

Bring a friend for FREE to any Journey with the Goddess Lesson!

“I have had the pleasure of working with Kayla for over a year. I highly recommend her for all of the services she offers. She is extremely effective, professional, and intelligent. Her creative and compassionate style makes you feel comfortable and well taken care of.” -Beth Dorsey, L.Ac, Soquel, CA

Saint Pati - The Nice

 

I'm so sad to say that my dear friend, Pati Parodi, passed away earlier in October. 

I first met Pati in 1990, when she roomed with Mikey and was in hairdressing school. Now, thirty-five years later, I'm honored to say that Pati was a good friend, my confidant, therapist, and yes, she made my hair look great.

Her death comes as a shock, as she had won the battles of both epilepsy and kidney cancer. I hope she died peacefully, doing what she loved - playing Wordle and being with Charlie, the goodest doggo.

I will miss her deeply.

Journey Through the Tarot

 

Journey Through the Tarot
An Integrated System for Holistic Healing

A comparison of traditional Tarot cards to modern-day decks demonstrates how the Tarot is an integrated tool for holistic health that offers insights for personal growth and transformation through the use of symbols, archetypes, and allegories.

"This book is a true gem for both experienced tarot readers and beginners. Unlike a standard guide to tarot card meanings, this small and very readable volume adds a lot of context to tarot as a historical divination tool that adapts itself to modern-day readers. A delightful and informative book!" - Lana Tyehimba Touched by Tarot

Journey Through the Tarot is a gem for anyone looking to delve into the world of Tarot, and as a tarot-loving woman, I can't recommend it enough. This book goes beyond the basics and takes you on a deep exploration of the Tarot's power for holistic health and personal growth.

What sets this book apart is its thoughtful comparison of the traditional Rider-Waite deck to modern decks. It beautifully illustrates how the Tarot can be a versatile tool, using archetypes, symbols, and allegories to offer insights into various aspects of our lives.

As someone relatively new to Tarot, I appreciated the simplicity with which the author explains the system. It's not just about fortune-telling; it's about tapping into wisdom for healing on multiple levels - physical, emotional, energetic, intellectual, and spiritual.

The historical context and the insights into how to gain information from the cards make this book an excellent resource for both beginners and more experienced readers. The in-depth examination of the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana, considering elements, numerology, and their potential for holistic healing, was truly eye-opening.

If you're looking to embark on a meaningful journey of self-discovery and holistic healing through the Tarot, this book is a fantastic guide. It's well-written, insightful, and has become a valuable addition to my Tarot collection. Thank you, Kayla!

Beware!

Creative Abundance - 10 Weeks to Greater Prosperity

 

Creative Abundance - 
10 Weeks to Greater Prosperity

Engage both your right brain and your left brain in an interactive 10-session program with Kayla Garnet Rose, Ph.D., Certified Hypnotherapist, designed to activate greater abundance and prosperity in your life. Includes:

• Vision Boards
• Money Meditations
• Helpful People Boxes
• Paths to Abundance

and other tools to continue to generate money, support, energy, love and all that you need to create abundance in your being.

This class is awesome! I took it last year and went on a 23-day vacation (to Brazil and Antarctica) this year! It works! - Lisa Carter, Santa Cruz, CA

The Buddy System Works!

Bring a friend for FREE to any Creative Abundance Lesson!

A Culinary Uprising: The Story of Bloodroot

 

Join me for a screening of A Culinary Uprising: The Story of Bloodroot as a part of the 25th Santa Cruz Film Festival. I will be emceeing the event, reading from my book, Laphrodite's Guide to Mindful Menopause, and moderating a Q and A with the film's director, Annie Laurie Medonis!

In the 1970s and '80s, there were over 230 feminist restaurants, cafés, and coffeehouses across the United States and Canada. Bloodroot, located in Bridgeport, Connecticut, is now the oldest and longest-running of these spaces, operating continuously for over 46 years. 'A Culinary Uprising: The Story of Bloodroot' is a short documentary that explores this feminist, queer, vegan restaurant and bookstore, highlighting the legacy of its pioneering proprietors, Selma Miriam and Noel Furie. The film offers an intimate look at their 46-year working partnership and how they navigate sexism, homophobia, and the realities of aging. Despite challenges, Bloodroot has endured as a beloved space for generations of feminists, vegans, and queer people who continue to return. Please Join Us After for a Q&A with Director Annie Laurie Medonis!

12:00 PM - 1:36 PM, Colligan Theater at the Tannery Arts Center.

Click here for tickets!

Ode to Soup

Ever since I was a little kid, I have associated soup with being sick. I remember having Campbell's Chicken Dumpling soup, those golden globs of goodness swimming in their pool of healing broth. Or slurping up Chicken and Noodle soup, the tiny specks of carrot and celery were hardly worth counting as vegetables. 

We moved to Europe when I was seven, and my aunt Silvana once took us to a dark restaurant in Milan late at night, where I was entranced by their chicken soup with stars. The white porcelain bowl was so inviting, as I dipped and redipped the silver spoon in the flickering candlelight.

I love a good French onion soup - gruyere cheese caramelizing on the sides of an ovenproof crock, crusty bread now mushy with dark brown ambrosia, the contrast of salt and thyme to the sweetness of onions. I confess I tend to only eat it in restaurants, as there’s a lot of clean-up.

Lentil soup is comfort food. The Saturn Cafe used to have the best lentil soup with vegetarian chili and brown rice, served with a sprouted, whole wheat bread smothered in butter. It was a rainy winter during my sophomore year at UCSC, and I spent many an afternoon curled up in one of their booths, with my book and brown bowl of comfort.

Butternut squash has taken my fancy lately, in its homogenized box from Trader Joe's, the orange liquid pouring out into the saucepan in serious gulps. I'll add black pepper and sage, often a dash of nutmeg, a trick I learned from my daughter’s spouse, Morgan. It’s the perfect mug soup, warming hands and belly.

I've never been fond of clam chowder, either red or white. They smell too fishy. I am also turned off by beef tongue and oxtail, from the days of going to the butcher with my Mom when we lived in Luxembourg, the slabs of organs neatly lined up in the steel chill. 

Mom used to make green soup. She would throw pretty much whatever was in the fridge into the Cuisineart - not quite sure what, could be lettuce, could be parsley - along with some chicken or beef bullion, garnished with a swirl of ubiquitous Parmesan cheese. We would sit at the white Formica kitchen table in Bethesda when I was in High School, watching the cardinals on the feeders outside the window.

Miso soup is a perennial favorite, but I stopped going to Mobo sushi because theirs tasted like dishwater the last few years. When I went out to the Nevada desert in my twenties to protest the atomic testing site at Mercury, I learned the benefits of miso and of studies in Japan of healing rates for those who drank miso after surviving Hiroshima or Nagasaki. I love chasing after the little white tofu cubes with my wooden chopsticks, the way the salty green seaweed clings to the side of the plastic red and black lacquer bowl, which always has a satisfying clink against my teeth.

Now I associate soup both with healing and enjoying staying healthy. Ever since COVID, we've been making bone broth from the rotisserie chickens from Costco, slow-cooking in the Crock-Pot for a good 24 hours, adding apple cider vinegar to leach the goodness from the marrow.  Then skimming out the fat and filtering out the bones, looking for the wishbone, of course. Last, adding potatoes, green onions, carrots, ginger, turmeric, paprika, and a full head of chopped garlic (for those medicinal benefits) and cooking until all is tender. This I will freeze in Chip’s favorite little Pyrex containers, for those stuffy winter nights to keep the colds away. 

Plant Meditation

Astrology Lessons

 

Astrology Lessons

 • Basic Astrology: 

90 minute session  devoted to the natal astrology chart with emphasis on Sun, Moon, and Rising Signs

• Beginners Astrology: 

10-session course is an introduction to learning how to read the birth chart. Topics include:
• The 12 signs of the Zodiac
• The Planet and Asteroids, Myths and  Meaning
• The Houses and their importance
• Understanding Aspects

• Advanced Astrology:

10-session course designed to delve further into the birth chart, as well as cover
• Transits and Forecasts
• Major Life Cycles
• Relationship and Synastry Charts

The Buddy System Works!

Bring a friend for FREE to any Astrology Lesson!

"It is without hesitation that I recommend Kayla Rose in any of her professional capacities and with complete confidence that she is an asset to all of her clients... that seek her expertise.”- Andrea Duncan, Santa Cruz

Grandma's Got Tattoos

 

Grandma's Got Tattoos

Written and Illustrated by Nona Kayla

Ernesto has been bullied for having a large birthmark on his face. He goes to Grandma for some comfort and words of calm advice. Grandma tells him a story of her own adventures about being different. She sets off on an adventure one day, with her faithful companion, June E. Purr. They overcome storms, blockages, and unusual encounters. Along the way, she meets a helpful pant, a special animal, and a personal guide who all help to build feelings of confidence, resourcefulness, and self-esteem.

Wonderful absolutely wonderful. Historically time and patterns repeat like the ancient art of storytelling, sitting around the campfire or the evening fireplace with full bellies and listening to the storyteller ( the elders), it’s a love message of I believe in you and I unconditionally love you too... The receding pandemic has highlighted these truths of connection. This delightful book should be read to not only children, teens, and young adults but also middle-aged adults too who want to remember dear loved ones or want to find a heart grandmother or grandfather, remember to seek and you shall receive ... Mother Earth is plentiful.. thank you Kayla Nona - Janice Carr

This is a wonderful book for young and old alike. I thoroughly loved the message and the uplifting storyline. Great book. - Justice

What Punctuation Mark are You Today?

Today I am an ellipsis… Continuation, a curiosity, an invitation to go further… Those three little dots have always fascinated me, have peppered my poetry and filled spaces whenever my mind or my pen had trialed off, or simply as an invitation to the reader to invoke their own imagination, to insert their personal imagery into the verse or paragraph…

Sometimes I am more of a dash–connecting, condensing–before going off on yet another tangent, a way to make a long story longer.

Sometimes I am the slash, cutting along boundaries, creating new meanings, awareness - wo/man, fe/male, his/story…

Often, I find it difficult to add punctuation to my poetry. They are an afterthought, scanning backwards from the end of the poem, inserting the stops and pauses, wondering about the appropriateness of an apostrophe and the correct use of a contraction.

I used to live my life like a parenthesis, almost a second thought, a side note ( not quite the star like the asterisks or accountable like the footnotes) lost in the back pages, but easily searchable with an index or table of contents.

For a long time. I was a question mark, doubting everything. Was I doing enough? Was I enough? When is enough, enough?

Now I'm more at peace, more patient, more willing to take my time to discover what is around the next bend…

Path Meditation

Wholeness

 

I am whole unto myself - Shekhinah Mountainwater

No longer 

Putting my eggs 

In one basket 

Let alone many

I am empty

Containing the wholeness

of a life well-lived

No longer shedding my blood

This new moon

Let alone any

I am full

Containing the stories

Of a woman well loved

Spiral in

Spiral out

Tarot Lessons

 

Journey Through The Tarot

Want to know just what's in the cards for you or your friends? Whether a complete beginner or already an experienced reader, come to a series of refreshing classes to learn the tarot at your own pace.

 Beginning Tarot Lessons: 10-session course

• Basic numerology
• The five elements
• Major and Minor Arcana 

Advanced Tarot Lessons: 10-session course

• Relationship readings
• Intuition and storytelling
• A variety of card layouts

Refresher Tarot Lessons: 1-3 session courses, hone your skills and refine your focus.

Apprenticeship Program: a year-long commitment geared towards women who want to do professional tarot readings. It consists of weekly sessions that include learning the tarot, giving and receiving readings, and marketing your practice.

The Buddy System Works!

Bring a friend for FREE to any Tarot Lesson!

"I really got a lot out of Kayla's class, 'Journey Through the Tarot.' I learned a lot about the tarot, numerology, and even some astrology. I highly recommend Kayla as a teacher; she's engaging, funny, and very knowledgeable. I looked forward to my class every week! I'm now more than capable of doing tarot readings, and I'm really enjoying it. Thanks so much, Kayla!" - Lanee Bucholz, Santa Cruz

Mercury Retrograde

I have arrived.
I am here
I have let go of letting go
Let alone any fear


Left it all tidy
Everything in its place
Everything is taken care of
Because I love my space


I have completion
Enjoyed tying up loose ends
Feel the closure
And I welcome in new friends