I spent last summer turning myself into a seed. Under the hot sun that I laid under, my skin turned to a baked brown shell, and inside me the tiniest beginnings of a new sprout began to form. I had no idea that there was something so big growing inside of me. I stepped onto the plane for France last fall as a ripened seed, just waiting for the right seasoning of soil and water to send my green arms shooting into the sky.

One night, not long after I arrived, I remember lying on a lawn chair behind one of my host family�s houses, watching the stars and the twinkling lights of the city shining so very far away. I remember staring up in wonder, as I always do, at the vastness of the universe I inhabit. I always seek the stars for guidance. Whenever I need help I turn my eyes up to the sky and lose my mind, but find my heart, in space. That night the stars talked to me. Just one word came down into me, and it resonated through my body.

Live.

At first I didn�t know what it meant. I was living, or at least as best as I could. For the longest time I really didn�t have a clear idea of what the message the stars were trying to give me that night was.

It is spring now, and I am living vibrantly. I�m writing on a high level, I�m setting goals of keeping my body in shape and meeting them, I�m even living my religion every day. I�m loving everyone around me, and letting them know it. I feel like my life is vibrating with just that. Life. Just yesterday I was running along the river and I figured it out. When the stars spoke to me, that night so long ago now, they were calling to my inner seed. They were trying to tell me that it was time to shoot down my roots and send my branches up to the sky. It was time to come alive and be the person I�ve always dreamed of being. Slowly, throughout the year, I did just that. First I started my online zine to share my writing with the world, and then I found my strength in Wicca. I moved in with third host family and started shouting my love out to the universe, and finally, I�ve started to treat my body like the temple that it is. In short, I�m following my dreams to their fullest without letting anyone hold me back. The seed that I was broke forth into life, just as the stars told me it would.

Just what is living? I hear so many people ask that question these days. In my opinion living, really living each day to its fullest potential, (and trust me, each day is so bursting with potential you can hardly even imagine it), means following the dreams that are in your heart. Nobody�s dreams are the same, even though the mass media today would try to convince you otherwise. These are the dreams that overwhelm you, that keep you from sleeping at night, and occupy you so much that you would follow them whether you got paid for it or not. Dreams like these can�t be put down by a fickle society or disapproving friends and family. Just a few of my personal dreams that I�ve found throughout my life, and especially this year, are writing, staying healthy, Wicca, being with loving friends and family, producing music, yoga, reading, getting up early, being with nature, and countless others. Its like I said in my very first issue of Pumpkin, we all have things that make us so fired up that it seems we could power every single major city in the world with all of the energy that we get just from doing them. It is the ultimate goal in life to find out what these things are and to do them. Let them carry us into bliss.

I�m not just listening to the stars anymore, I�m reaching up towards them with my fresh green branches, and symphonies of joy are singing around me in the wind. It can happen to anyone, just chase a dream without abandon and watch as the universe bows down to you.

Just last night, as I laid on my yoga mat, I had a vision of the most powerful forces in the universe. They looked at me straight in the eyes and said one word.

Grow.

Life is such a dance of joy. When I opened my eyes and stretched out my arms I could only smile. I had done it. I am no longer a dormant seed. I am alive just as the stars told me to be, and now they have a new message. Spread out those beautiful new branches as far as you can reach them. Lift your trunk up the heavens. Stand and become real. I am a child of the stars, born into greatness. We all are. Lift up your arms and realize your power. Wake up to this world of wonder that we live in.

I see so many dormant seeds these days as I walk through life, and I always want to run up to them and spread a little water of love, and a little sunlight of passion. Break through your shells and smile into the fresh blue skies. Find your muse, be it the stars or the ocean or anything in between. This is my call out to the entire world. Lift up your arms to the sky and feel the power.

Awaken. Arise. Become alive, and above all else, grow!