I adore leading people on spiritual retreat to experience a life transformation. It is a worthy use of life.

Of course, you don’t need to go on a retreat to find yourself_, but after reading this, you may decide that you want to.

The creative act as each one of us, will set us all free.

Creative expression goes unseen by anti-life forces. It’s like divine invisibility that provides the bridge to lead us to higher evolution. Human beings are creators, empathic, feeling and powerful architects.

I KNOW, we each were created in unique perfection. There is only one of you in the entire Omniverse. Feel into that!

We are being called into the remembrance that the most significant perspective is actually our own.

My gift is to guide you back into what is your greater HOME and to witness you as SOURCE, itself.

I’m making music now and at 64, I have the privilege of rewriting the reality I live in. We are all powerful creators and our life is appearing to us according to what we have ordered from the menu. This is informed by the moments we have collected to form our story and identity and it is in fact only an illusion.

No life form is preferred by creation. The sun is shining on all life without cessation, edit or analysis.

What if you could rewrite your story?

I’ve been facilitating retreats for over 24 years. I’ve led groups of 50 for a week in the Italian countryside. Smaller, mastery experiences on the island of Gozo provided a more intensive initiation. Pilgrimages to Egypt with yoga on the nile and desert bedouin fires under the full moon, are my jam. Leading on retreat is the format where I can offer all of me through music, yoga, teachings, fire, ritual, food, nature and expansion through breath work alone.

Working with me is often deep. As one who seeks to create beauty as a spiritual offering, the tactile experience is sensual, delicious and filled with layers of meaning that extend into the ethereal.

Everything that I share with you is on my daily calendar. It’s all the things that I do daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly that have assisted me for decades in becoming more of who I am.

I walk my walk and I love living my life on the daily as training for the realization of my creative expression. It’s the repeated return to the vows you’ve made with yourself that present the life mirrored back to you.

“Julie, you are so merged with divine Mother, that some people find you a little overly creative.” A swami spoke this truth and I laughed out loud at it’s accuracy.

I am NOT creatively blocked. I never have been and I never will be. Connected to the fountain of infinite source, it allows me to shape my desires into form.

Making music is at the center of my Universe, and I have never been happier-not ever. This code is what I want to share with you.

One could call me a modern day “Elder” verified by 64 years of life on Earth. It’s true that some feel me as a loving mother who holds a radical perspective for your evolution with unconditional love and an expectation for you to take your own responsibility and step up.

But no matter what you care to call me, there certainly isn’t any situation you could throw at me that I wouldn’t be able to relate to, witness with great awareness and then offer some guidance to take you into a new possibility through reframing a new reality.

Turning poison into wine. I’m pretty adept at that.

The energetic container, the land, the sanctuary, the practice, the music, the incense, the oils, the fire, the food, and the unconditional love for who you are as a child of God in presence- all of this is beautiful.

I have been creating deeply meaningful beauty throughout lifetimes and it is my organic signature and design to share it with you.

In the presence of this temple space, my own home, only your consent is required, to present yourself with raw abandon, and to accept the charge to step up to hold yourself as your most precious relationship.

I act as a divine witness to what you already are. The shift begins as soon as you decide.

There is a powerful energy field here on the land, created by many powers that are my unseen teams working with the highest evolution of all who come here. We honor sovereignty and your place as your own Universal creator. We assist as a guiding Cosmic energy to give you the courage to be yourself.

All of us are of God.

Consider that possibly some of us had a pact to meet in this timeline to activate what we have always known.

I will lead you through sensory experiences using only the breath regulated by you, without attachment or interference to what you experience. It belongs to you and is orchestrated by you at a higher level of awareness.

The exchange is clean and clear and precise. No siphoning, no attachment, no promises to fulfill or debt to pay from an external force.

Dimensions are accessed, lifetimes resolved, and what is timidly beautiful in you revealed and encouraged forward.

Your journey to Self Realization will be unique to you and you alone. You are the one you’ve been waiting for.

If you feel called to join me as I share my lived experience with you, the dates are September 24- September 27-where 3 and a half days will blend into NO TIME as we travel together into deeper layers of life where our joy is awaiting us.

Here is the link to sign up. Spaces are limited.

Sign Up Here

Entirely substance free

It is written in the Vedic texts that dance is the highest gift one can offer to God. I never dreamed that life would offer such a treasure to me.

“SriMati, I would like to choreograph a piece to one of your songs. It would be my honor to create something of India to take home with you as a collaborative offering of artistic expression.”

I gasped. A gift for me? You want to choreograph a dance to one of MANGER’S songs? I was floored. “How is this my life?

This majestic, radiant woman wrapped in gilded sari emanated divine grace right in front of me and I felt her presence deeply. She could not have known that only very recently I had experienced an intimate reconnection into the field of dance. Not as me, “Julie”, but through a memory of another me in another time.

We all have felt the familiar ring when meeting someone we may have never seen before. Dr. Manjusha holds the frequency of memory for me.

She felt it too. “It’s strange, that I feel so immediately close to you. I don’t know why. Our connection feels so familiar.” I held back what I had recently remembered.

Then, a wave of energy came over us. We both looked down presenting our arms to each other as all the hairs stood on end. We laughed out loud at the visceral verification.

Dr. Manjusha Saurakhia is an acclaimed choreographer, dedicated mentor and PHD in Indian Kathak dance. ( yes, you can earn a doctorate in dance in India).

Manjusha is one of the rare dancers who transcends time when she communes with the divine through her gestures and movements. She is also one of the rare practitioners capable of performing Thali Nritya, an extraordinary traditional practice in which the dancer performs upon broken glass.

To witness such a performance is to encounter something that seems to exist beyond ordinary physical experience.

Some relationships cannot be explained relative to a certain fixed point in time. They are carried within us and sometimes return to the surface by life itself when the timing is right for their rediscovery.

And perhaps, like Kathak itself, the deeper meaning reveals itself slowly—one gesture, one rhythm, one breath, and one step at a time.

Read more

I had just finished the construction on my house- risked everything to build it, advised by men in suits to get a safe condo in town after my divorce. I didn’t know how I would pay for it, but SHE was calling me to build this temple as an offering to her.

I was getting married to a newly sober man and another baby was already on the way.  The current mortgage seemed overwhelming. But I was mandated to trust.

I walked the 3 acre land that held my JAI House, the architectural sanctuary designed by icon and treasured friend, Lorcan O’Herlihy. JAI was seeded with devotional offerings and ritual alchemy intentionally placed into every concrete pour. I was overcome with love for this land and creative process. It consumed my being.

As I reached the far southwest corner of this sacred Earth, a hawk flew overhead and dropped a single walnut at my feet, a physical sign that I would be provided for. It was clearly demonstrated by the prasad of a falcon offered to me, that there is a force unseen orchestrating events in sequence and pattern.

The Falcon is the one who sees the big vista. It is evident, we are always guided and blessed if we are open to receive the signs.

This offering of sacred walnut found its way to the base of a medicine staff of wormwood winding in pregnant forms, with my third Coachella bracelet wrapped at the top.

This staff is connected to the aboriginal peoples and the part of us that lives raw and primitive.  And it was dedicated to the music.

I have lit many ceremonial fires as a sign to the beyond worlds to let our future selves find us at the right time.  I open the space with the medecine staff and it wields a potent field.

Now, The moment in time for that predestined meeting is upon us.  We are stepping into our mastery and that means all of us.

I’ll be lighting a fire at my in person retreat June 25-28.  There are still a few spaces left. If you feel called Join Here

We are the ones we’ve been awaiting,

With deep love and recognition your mastery, just as you are.

Julie Blue

SriMati

Balenottera Azzurra

Malibu, California

June 25-28

I’m hosting a 4 day experience where I’ll be teaching Golden Voice yoga and  life tools and techniques to assist us in living in the current uncertain landscape with greater ease. With a shift in frequency and perspectives, we can meet the field, even in intensity, expanding our creative opportunities for evolution.

For over 24 years, I’ve guided many people through transformational life shifting experiences on many retreats. I teach from my own direct life experiences as a Mystic, seeker, mother, lover, artist, entrepreneur, and human.  The teachings are an offering for you to deepen your own sovereign embodiment- free of isms, dogma, guru or “experts”

This retreat is something I previously only offered to my private Water Tiger community.  Now is the time to expand that reach. All are welcome.

Rediscover what you already know and stand in your mastery. Only one of you in the entire universe and this is your moment to shine.

You are needed, you are valued and you are loved.   We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

This experience is substance free.

join here

I love you.”

The text came in around 1:40.  I was .sleeping so I didn’t get it until 4:44.

Predawn; the time when I wake from my sleep state and begin retrieving all parts of me that have been traveling into other places in the vast night. I wonder where I’ve been. I call all of my energies back into my body and into this identity. 

Feeling the threads of me returning, in layers flying back, in frequency and tones, I start returning into this field.

 As the energy gathers and coalesces into this “me”, I rise, and then immediately bow, touching my head to the floor.

I KNOW. I walk by the grace of HER.

In the dark, I draw a hot bath into the Italian Agape ovum tub that held my babies and me through cleansings and nourishments. Purifying and healing waters infused with essences of Indian rose and sandalwood connect me to MOTHER.  As ritual, I wash my feet, my face, (touching water to my lips, eyes, nostrils, ears,) and my hands in preparation to meet HER.

Mindfully drying my body temple and slipping into clean white threads, I stay with my breath in anticipation of singing to my muse. Bowing again, I enter the space in silence and darkness to sit with myself.  Using my breath and visualization, I create a field of color and form that defines my sanctuary well.  Continuing to ring the bell, and calling all parts of me home, I am filled with more and more of a weighted presence.  Heavy like stone when soon, I realize I have become the Mountain.

I sing my morning prayer, lyrics to my next song.

“lover

I am here

I am here

speak my name

the one that has yet

to be named

press your lips to mine

let me take you in

your sweetest kiss is mine

echoed by whispers of time “

Living as a 38 year old woman in a 64 year old body, with an ancient wisdom that is timeless, I feel myself as if for the first time and say my birth name.

Julie , Julie, Julie…Saying this name never felt like me until this moment.

My daughter’s text returns a universal meaning as I say to myself in a pregnant, raw and sacred whisper

“HOME.   I love you.”

May you feel your own sacred whispers moving through you and calling you to rise through this timeless song and historic imagery…You are valued, you are needed and you are loved.

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

MANGER“500 Miles”

Directed by Jacob Butler,

AD TrapperPiatt, Filmed at The Dan,

Camera Jacob Butler,

Special appearance by Tristan Le Beau

Lyrics & music by Hedy West

Vocals:Julie Piatt, Trapper Piatt, Tyler Piatt, Eric Jackowitz

Drums :Trapper Piatt

Guitars :Tyler Piatt

Bass:Brian Lang

Keys :Cary Frank

Produced by Eric Jackowitz

I was born in 1962-the same year that everybody’s favorite folk band, “Peter Paul and Mary”, made the song, “500 miles” a break away hit with their legendary version of this Hedy West tune.

In my young and tender childhood years, I sang the songs of Peter, Paul  and Mary.  “Puff The Magic Dragon” and “If I Had a Hammer”, were hits at my first grade talent show at Ralston Elementary.  I struggled to strum a guitar as big as I was, and dropped my pick mid performance.  Soon after, I settled in with a ukulele my parents bought for me that fit me a bit better. Later in my life while creating music with my sons, Tyler and Trapper, we worked out our own version of this nostalgic tune as a three part harmony that showcased our family blend.

We have sung “500 Miles”  over many many years and while hosting retreats in the Italian countryside.   We also sang it at my parents celebration of life,  in an Athabascan ceremonial hut that my father helped build surrounded by treasured friends and family.

It feels like a tender embrace to release “500 Miles” on the 64th anniversary of Peter, Paul and Mary’s May 1962 release.   This song has been a meaningful part of our own families history over many years  as it likely may have been in yours. 

 May you find your roots and deep meaning in our version of this transcendent song during these tender times of profound change.

“500 Miles” covered by MANGER  Drops on 5/22. Streaming everywhere….Thank you for listening, sharing and supporting our music !

Music & Lyrics by Julie Piatt + Tyler Piatt

@tylerpiatt @fathertrapper @careyfrankmusic @visitorcoffeela 

Produced by @ericjackowitz 

LYRICS

you’ve been run­ning but you walk in place

float­ing aim­less, lost in space

ain’t it time

you called it a night

pieces of you spin­ning round

are we just wait­ing til they hit the ground

ain’t it time

you called it a night

we can choose to be

in love

we can choose to be

in love

all that’s left to see

meet me when you need

to be in love

so many miles on the jour­ney home

can we keep play­ing the same old song

meet me in the dy­ing light

take my hand let’s be­gin again

to find the beau­ty in the cracks with­in

my love it’s time

we can choose to be

in love

we can choose to be

in love

all that’s left to see

meet me when you need

to be in love

all that’s left to see

meet me when you need 

to be in love

Filmed by @_jacob_butler ⁠at @dynamicartsnorth

#mangertheband #mangermusician #americana #ToBeInLove #pierrecardindress1969

I am so thrilled to announce the release of Manger’s music video for our song Set Us Free !

Received in a dream, this deep mystical narrative explores timelines and dimensions we are traveling through.

In the early days of the process, I was excited to use AI to achieve the more fantastical scenes of the dream. As I considered the imminent negative consequences of AI on our creative process , I was conflicted. My children all emphatically implored me NOT to use AI and I listened to them.

Celebrated photographer Magdalena Wozinska loved the music and rushed in to direct and film this project. She wanted to support me in getting this music out into the world. Magda’s pristine eye and infectious high vibe energy lifts everything and everyone higher. What a blessing she is in my life.

The result was a day I will cherish forever. We filmed and played and frolicked in a world of beauty together in service to this music. And for these hours, the harsh world disappeared and we were free. We were creating in community in love and laughter, the way that only living human beings can. I let go of my attachment to certain scenes and opened the field for beautiful, raw, human connection trusting we would get exactly what we needed in the end.

DREAM NARRATIVE

I pulled into the driveway in a black vintage Mercedes. It wasn’t meant for me. It was a gift for my friend Lucy and I was fashionably late to her birthday party. I shouldered the door heavy with dark carved veins to creak and finally crack open, revealing a red world swarming with demons, drugs and hungry ghosts that had possessed the best of us. Wait, weren’t they my friends? Sexy vampires dripping with desire, they sucked my blood and for a moment, I let them, It felt good in a way. Like a physical act that contained the way the world had rejected me. I fell under the spell and into their grasps. Pulling away , I ran up the stairs and into the next dimension. I was searching for love but not in the usual way. The lover inside of me started to stir. The masculine energy that is within. Awakened to my truest love, I never felt more complete. The ache of separation was salved and I existed, free and pure. The spiral took me up again to the upper level. Here a white dog was retrieving black dead birds and lining them up in rows in front of me. They looked like ravens but I knew they were black pigeons with a message. This dimension was in the open air, I realized I had never seen Lucy even once during this party. 

Directed by : Magdalena Wozinska,

Edited by : Eric Jackowtiz

Performance footage : Jacob Butler at THE DAN

Creative Director: Brian O’Hara

Stylist: Daniel King

Actors: June Kim, Ryan, Kane Borchart, Brian O’Hara, Daniel King, Pigeon

Set Us Free : streaming everywhere

Manger is Born

I woke up this morning and I finally feel like myself.  

After nearly six decades, the first single release “Set Us Free”  from my new band, “Manger” is out now ! Streaming on all platforms!

It has felt more like a six thousand year prophesy.  How could I be this old?

They say the wound is where the light gets in.  

The girl with st. Bernard big-dogged eyes and a wild colty mane is singing.   Her crooked bangs frame her mustard smeared innocent cheek, (she doesn’t know it’s there) punctuating the raw beauty of nascent vulnerable imperfection.  She is as every child.  Present, here and now.  Her leather stamped filigree cowboy boots peek their pointy tipped  noses out from under the flare of her denim bellbottoms eyelet laced with cross hatch strings which her mother has sewn for her.  Mother lets her stay home from school whenever she wants.  She sits near the window where she hums an original tune to the beat of the Singer sewing machine spitting out her stage wardrobe in staccato.

The devil tried to take her early in life.   It happened In a dream that wasn’t a dream.   A large winged goat landed on the stoop in front of the double red  temple doors that was the entrance to her childhood home; the manger.   Her dad hunted these creatures, but he wasn’t home right now, so he couldn’t protect her. It was clear, the beast had come for her.  He grabbed her cowboy boots with his cold stiff clumsy hooves. Her mother managed to slide her arms around her waist just in time and then held onto her with a determined fury. She would never let go of her baby.   Girl felt the tug of war over her body in quick jerky tensions of two’s.  Tug- Pull , wings flap, flap.   Tug-Pull, wings flap, flap .  Tug- Pull , wings flap, flap.   Suddenly her boots came off her feet freeing her from the beasts deathly grip.  She heard them crash onto the uneven stone hearth her father had made. The beast retreated , dropping them on the stony landing before flying away.   Relieved, she scrambled to retrieve  her boots and slipped them back on and standing up to exhale, she swept her hair off her face, surveying the sky and searching for any further imminent danger as she turned and slipped into safety through the large red doors.

My mother gave me life, then she saved my life.  And one other time, it felt like she nearly killed me.  

I don’t really want to write this.  I love my mother.  I want to keep her rendered close in my heart in only her best moments.  The ones that gave me gifts so treasured that they could never be measured or defined. The passage that follows was her worst moment with me.  And it is true, that  it was soul crushing and horrifying and it broke me and informed my entire life.   A dark treasure.  A clue for me to unravel.  It’s important that I see it.  There is something for me in it.  

My mother’s generosity.

We shared a million other moments that were universes away from any thread of connection to this dark fractal that was my mother on that afternoon 58 years ago.

It happened at the red doors again.  The mouth of chi. The entrance to the temple. The threshold or liminal space between worlds.  This time it was real life and oh how I wished that it could have been a dream.  My mother was suffering from fear of a great threat to her family in Chile during a take over and communist occupation.  All of her focus was on her sister and her family, and maybe due to her guilt over leaving her home country,  she failed to consider her own children during this time.  And with no where to process the violence her family was experiencing, she became the very violence that she feared.  And on sunny afternoon, returning home from school feeling no presence of threat, my world came crashing down.  As I walked through the big red doors, my mother, the one who gave me life,  yanked me by my little 6 year old arm,  dragged me across the floor and into her room and beat me severely with a belt.  I was shocked to the core, trembling,  humiliated and utterly confused as to what I had done and why she had attacked me. I wished I would die.  And then later while taking refuge in my closet and guarded by my loyal pack of  stuffed animal dogs, I plotted my escape.  I would run away from her.  Far away where she would never find me again.

Earlier that morning, as I was walking out to catch the bus, she had stopped me, and holding my shoulders, looked into my innocent brown eyes and charged me with an important task.  “If anything happens today at school with your cousin, you call me! Do you hear me?” Her sister’s entire family had escaped and moved on with us. Together we were now eleven. Five English speaking and six Spanish speaking children all getting to know each other in this new configuration . Yes, mother, I understand .”  I had received her orders and I suddenly felt like maybe I mattered as she asked me to be her eyes.  I complied by calling her from the school office to report the offense, that my cousin was in fact  throwing snowballs on the playground which was “not allowed”.  I felt good about my accomplishment and knew she was pleased with my report.  On the phone, she had said, “Ok, Thank you.”

This severe attack affected my ability to use my own voice and informed me to be on guard at every moment in case of ambush.  I mean if my own mother could attack me.  Really anyone could. The threat of violence and mistrust of people followed me my entire life.  As a small child, I had to hold this and process this all on my own.  There were no discussions or therapists or apologies given.  

Of course much later, we talked about it.  “I’m so so sorry Julie, I don’t know how that happened. How could I hurt you? I was so wrong.  Please forgive me.”  And I did forgive her,  very easily because by that time, I had grown up and I understood the panic and fear she was feeling with her family in danger.  Of course I understood.  I had buried this trauma miles deep as it had literally broken me.  I had to in order to survive.  

Treasures in the trauma.  

And why must I sing? I asked the wind…

 Because, It’s your soul’s prayer for you.” She answered.

I love my mother.  I mean I LOVE her and I trust her and I enjoyed her in her life.  This one event and its effect eluded me my entire life.  I’m being called to recollect fragments of myself and transcend this nightmare I’ve been holding in secret. My therapist Hermas delicately guided me into it, to see it and face it.

This fracture was confusing and stayed  hidden as my mom and I were good for most of our lives together.  It was my father that I had the huge gap with.  I have done a lot of healing and reclamation with my father, but everything was always pretty easy with my mother.

She was supportive and loving and present for me almost always.  Both of us were independent and she never put her issues onto me. I didn’t need her for much either.  We never had big gaps in our contact and we could talk and share deeply.  We shared a love of fashion and large rings.  She wanted the moon for me- as she did for all of her children. She always told me, that I was a much better mother than she ever was. We both knew it was a true statement and we were fine that it was.   I was looking into her eyes as she left this world.  She gave me one last laugh, as right before she died, she deliberately shifted her eyes to clock my large ring, the one she always tried on and similar to all the big rings I brought to her from my world travels and even when she was confined to her bed.   It was as if she was saying “Last looks!” on the planet Earth set, and then her eyes returned to mine and she never took another breath. You did it Mom !  I was pleased for her sacred transition.  

I was truly happy for her life.  She felt she lived more adventures and received more blessings than she ever dreamed she would.  She was grateful and unafraid to die.    I feel immensely honored and blessed that she was my mom.  It was a good ride for us.   I often feel her with me, sitting with me and speaking through me and to me.  If I had to describe what my mother gave to me in my lifetime, I would say in a word, that she gave me  “generosity”.  And I mean that with every fibre of my being. I feel generous because of her.  And I am generous for her example and teaching.

And now I find myself asking,  what of this horrible violent episode that my 6 year old chid endured at her hand is in fact, generous?

According to my google search, “the red doors signify fire which is associated with fame, recognition and vitality.  It transforms “the mouth of chi” or entryway.   They represent a powerful, auspicious, and highly energetic entrance that welcomes prosperity, good luck and joy into the home.”

At a soul level, it certainly is a treasured missing piece for me.  Writing provides an opening to ruminate and consider,  to discover this red treasure.  Certainly, It is directly connected to my voice.

Both experiences occurred at the threshold of danger and safety.  Dream and waking, Evil and Good, Devil and God.  The one who gave me life, the Mother both saved me and silenced me. The voice of innocence at age 6, guarded until I am 64, walking between worlds, where I finally will be seen.

I always knew that I was a singer in spite of the fact that I wasn’t able to sing as well as my brothers and sisters.  Clearly, I was not the one with the musical talent.   My brother Stuart would prove this over the years as he evolved from a seven year old strumming out “I’m leaving on a Jet Plane”  and never ever putting his guitar down (even for a pretty girl), to the rockstar of our home town.  In  Anchorage, Alaska, Stuart was ripping guitar solos and renditions of “Freebird” into a sea of lighters punctuated by cocaine dusted flaring nostrils as the fans emotively sang along.  Anchorage was a drug port to Asia, so everybody was high with their arms were raised in worship.   He was a fucking rock god!

Adored by his public, Stuart always drew a massive crowd.  Even as a grade schooler, he would lead a pack of fifty kids running after him on the playground as he twisted a fake rubber snake in his hands.  A practical joker and instigator,  he was the pied piper of sorts.  Stuart is musically talented, easy rolling, kind, and funny.  He was beloved and given status in our family for being worthy of receiving love throughout his entire life.  The fact is that he was adored and easy to love.  

Seventeen months apart, I grew up with guitar solos wafting through the thin wall that separated our bedrooms.  Tortured by the relentless steel string wine,  “Dee diddly diddly diddly diddly, diddly, wahhhhh …” All fucking day and night. And banging on the wall, “Stu, could you please just play an entire song!  I can’t take it anymore!”

I made a decision that I would differentiate from “the rockstar” in order to make myself stand out and finally be worthy of receiving love from a family that I was lost in.

We are a family of musicians that have incarnated into one soul group.  Literally, every single member of the “Mathis” family is a natural musician.  As are our kids.  Or any of us could have been. It’s a thing we all have. My uncle, Paul Mathis, played in the Glen Miller band twice as trumpeter and pianist.  But of my generation, it was Stuart who locked onto his chosen path, and never wavered.  He was willing to starve for his love of guitar.  He was a vrai musician who wasn’t much interested in doing anything else.  After some very trying years, tests of his faith, and evidence of his staying power,  the universe finally met his relentless and constant dedication to music, with a legit gig as a member of a band called “Life House”.

Stuart would eventually become a member of the Wallflowers and for a seven year period, play lead guitar and sing along side Jacob Dylan- their voices blending seamlessly.  After years and countless gigs, playing with and then opening for Jewel, Lee Ann Rimes, Chris Isaac, Five For Fighting, Lisa Marie Presley, and appearing one year as many as 11 times on the Tonight Show with various artists, he landed in the queen of Americana and song writing royalty, Lucinda William’s band.  His time with Lucinda would end up being his final gig and tour that lasted for over 12 years.  Along the way and playing on stages all over the world, he would meet most all of his idols, Tom Petty, Carlos Santana, Robert Plant, Steven Tyler, Dave Grohl, any many others.   Stuart is a formidable guitarist and also such a great addition to the tour vibe. Everyone loves Stu.   And the fact that his journey had been so difficult made his rise to success that much more inspiring and beautiful to witness.

My path of calculated differentiation began when we were small kids, the multi focus life journey which has defined my life. It is true I have lived five human lives inside of one circling around the one thing that has been waiting for my attention, my time, and my love; music.

Predominantly artistic and process driven.  I always fell in love with the creative process in any medium and literally everyone I ever collaborated with.  If I could have snapped my fingers and achieved the thing I dreamed about and just have it now,  I would totally lose interest.  No, I wanted the journey, the becoming.  As artists, it’s the process that drives us to create. This process was my life as I created in fashion, interiors, building, screenwriting, film making, writing, sculpting, painting, food innovation, yoga retreat experiences, mystical and ceremonial spiritual life guidance and exploration, entrepreneurial endeavors, mothering, love and music.

I fully understand that It takes a life to become but I never realized my becoming into relationship with music would take most of my life!  I KNEW I was a singer at age 6.  And my vision saw me in that identity by the time I was in my late 20’s, early 30’s at the latest. But as is often the case, there was huge gap between  my vision and actual reality.

My life apparently was written so I would become a musician alongside my two sons in my 40’s.  Playing music with my sons, Tyler and Trapper, was an experience  worthy of taking a body for.  Later and during a very intense life dismantling, I would be drawn into a mystical shapeshifting experience of swimming and toning becoming as a whale being, the singers of the codes on Earth and beyond.

The whales called to me with a spontaneous command in the middle of the night which drew me to lower myself into the freezing lap pool that intersects my own Jai House.  They had a message for me.  The money system was made up.  I was so raw and flayed out from a nine year financial collapse and challenge of surviving with four children, that I was available to receive the call and follow the guidance so I could receive their message that I so desperately needed.

A decade later, another even more significant alliance with the whales and my voice was presented when I was asked to take the name of blue whale by the Italian spiritual community of Damanhur.  “Balenottera Azzurra” would merge with my energetic field and I would continue to sing and tone under water for many many years.  I feel as if the whales are singing through me during my ritual swims in my pool.

I have sung into the countless ceremonial fires I light to commune with forces from the beyond at specific planetary alignments when I am called.  I have announced my presence and dedication to those life affirming forces that are unseen.   The creative force appears in the fire in a multitude of life expressions confirming the vast life forms representing the eternal ONE.

In essence, I have offered my voice in devotion.

And on a Tennessee highway, somewhere between Nashville and Memphis, “Manger” was unexpectedly whispered in my ear.  I interrupted my friend Brian from one of his hilarious impersonations to announce,  “Manger!,”  “What? Why are you yelling at me?”, he joked.

  “Manger!  That’s the name of the band!”

After innovating the pristine formulation of plant based artisanal cheese excellence that was SriMu, The New Evolution of Cheese, and dedicating over 10 years of my life to it’s creation and presence in the market, I was delivered the soul crushing mandate to shut it down due to impossible financial constraints of competing in the food space.  The verdict was unexpected and swift. One moment I was scaling, and the next I was finished.

My body was in shock as I held fast to the expansion of the company while I was raising money and forging strategy.   I had innovated something entirely next level with pure ingredients and a frequency of love that was felt and experienced. Even europeans congratulated me. It was just so good and legit.   I never realized that it could fail.   I never even considered its demise or allowed the possibility into my SriMu reality.  

I was crushed, in shock and had a hard time keeping my thoughts straight between my tears and heartbreak.  I was disoriented and untethered. I had lost my footing in what I knew was true.  How could this be the result of a decade of my efforts and innovation?

Tyler and Trapper rallied around me and agreed to support me in recording my songs.  Their best friend, Eric Jackowitz had heard some early demos of mine and had been actively encouraging me to get into the studio.  “Julie, when are we recording your music?” , he asked me, frequently and really every time I ever saw him when he came over to hang with the boys.  Measured, I held back as honestly, I had designs on finding a great 70’s producer in Memphis, Tennessee the land of Johnny Cash and Elvis, and where I had moved SriMu’s production.  

I never met this group of musicians I had imagined were waiting for me in the hometown state of my grandfather, Morton Graham Mathis.  The age old wise spiritual teaching spoke to me one lonely morning.   “What is the best producer for you?  The one sitting in your living room!”  We’ve all heard stories of searching for God outside of ourselves only to discover that what we were looking for was right in front of us all along.  

Eric and his love, Tess brought me a gift.  I was taken by happy surprise and as I pulled back the tissue, a small iron whale was revealed.  I received the gift as a “sign” and placed it on my altar.  Shortly after,  I was able to let go of my preconceived ideas of the ideal producer, and embrace this beautiful musician who was present and right here  for me.  Tyler and Trapper both agreed, Eric would be a great producer.  I called him.  “Hey Eric, let’s make a record!”

We met in our garage where the boys and I had played together for 2 decades.  Only now we had to move my daughter,Mathis sculptures and paintings and an abandoned SriMu refrigerated cart aside.  My youngest daughter Jaya, created a playlist for inspiration with songs she felt fit my voice.  

Tyler and I cowrote “Set Us Free” and “To Be In Love” in just three casual sessions.  We didn’t really have any idea or concept, we came together in the space and allowed it to flow.   Of course we share perspectives on many things as we share life experiences, so we already had a familiar language to draw upon.  

We worked out the arrangements for the new songs along with a cover we had been singing in three part harmony for many years, “500 Miles” by Hedy West and covered by Peter Paul and Mary in my birth year of 1962.  We included “Into Black”, a song that I had co-written with artist/pianist Juliana Smaltz from the early demos.  She wrote a beautiful melody on the piano and I wrote the lyrics.   Tyler rearranged the song on guitar to fit the Manger sound.  

Eric felt great about the material.  His comedy band  “Wolves of Glendale” has been receiving accolades and building a strong and dedicated following.  He’s  a gifted session drummer and film maker with his latest film; a genius Italian film parody “The Seeing Eye Dog Who Saw Too Much” currently screening at SXSW.  Eric  had the secret sauce and connective buddha tissue that smoothed out any family lethargy.   He heard the magic and the family blend in the songs right away.  

We recorded  at Lucy’s Meat Market in Highland Park with legendary Pete Min.  It was an analogue dream and an effortless experience.  We all knew what to do.   It was easy and harmonious.  I was supported by amazing musicians.  Tyler’s guitars are some of my all time favorites and Trapper’s drums are insane and next level.  Eric brought in his childhood posse- session players, Brian Lang and Carey Frank- both from his home state of Florida.  Brian’s bass always lands in the best way.  Carey jammed some dynamic and vibey takes on all the songs.   We added dustings of sitar honoring my love of the  Eastern Indian lineage that has been the backdrop of my life. Guruji Suman Laha played Vina on Into Black.

And just like that, the music was born-  Manger, the band.

Stuart came to visit recently. He’s retired from the road after 30 years of touring.  

He’s in a being state of presence and spending time with him recently has been some of the most precious moments of our lives.  I asked him if he has thoughts in his head as I usually don’t carry around a lot of information in mine,   He said, “No, because it’s just NOW.”  I agreed.

Stuart listened to the final mixes, taking them in fully and completely.  “These sound great Julie!   I’m done with touring, and  I’m not traveling any more.  I’m enjoying my family and walking through the forest near my house. But, you’re going to do it now.  Listen, I know my shit, and hearing the songs, that right there is a thing.  When they hear that, it’s all over.  You’re a family band and that’s all there is.”

I ruminated on the cycle of life.  The choices we had made as souls for our individual life paths and how we would travel in phases though various experiences.  Time is a funny thing.  Many times, I open my mouth to call Tyler or Trapper and the name Stuart comes out.  The time overlaps and I am not sure if I am with Stuart or my sons.

It means a lot to me that Stuart heard something special in our tracks. It was a special moment for us to share.  A journey of a brother and a sister.  A rite of passage after so many years.  We jammed on guitars later that afternoon,  and  we felt connected through playing music, just the two of us, in the living room.

Mangers first single, Set Us Free, drops today, March 9, 2026

The world is on fire.  Wars are escalating, human migration is increasing, Epstein files are naming many, rampant pedophilia is being unveiled, satanic rites and human trafficking seem to be everywhere , disclosures of all varieties are being  revealed, clones, ET contact, AI take overs and an uncharted course of human evolution.  

And while there certainly is an argument that this may not be the best time to release music, I feel that actually, it is the best time for all of us to step into expressions that truly reflect our hearts deepest chords in whatever medium is calling to you.

We are alive and We are HUMAN BEINGS.  This is our moment and why we took a body at all and this is our time!   Let that sink in.

I feel as if I am walking thorough a portal that has been waiting for me all my life. It’s the beginning of a new era.

We’re teasing out 4 singles over the next 4 months and we’re already writing the next 4 and getting ready to record, with plans for a 12 track vinyl release before Christmas.

I am playing and writing every day, returning to the timeline of big red doors retrieving the fragments of my voice waiting to be integrated.   Entering into my heart, I drop into the liminal space between worlds, letting go of what and who I think I am, releasing all tension to disappear in the empty space,  so that I can allow the purest tone, voice, word to flow through me.

I seek this communion.

It is an intimacy that I crave.  To press my lips against the veil until the separation disappears.  This is the grand generosity of God and spirit.  And a deeper reflection of the generosity that my mother gave to me.  To be at One with what is animating us.  

I love you Mom and thank you for listening…

Julie