After two years traveling solo around the world, I now live nomadically in a school bus turned tiny house.

That bus, Freyja, hauls my solar-powered smithing studio, Brigid. 

The little girl who filled her pockets with shells and rocks and moss grew up to be a stone whisperer, a smith, an alchemist.

But my life wasn't always this wild.

Everything changed in 2014 when my doctor turned her chair to face me, lab reports in hand.

She placed her hand on her throat. "Your body is attacking itself. You have Hashimoto's. There’s a very strong chance you’ll also develop other autoimmune diseases."

I'd never heard of the disease; but I knew instantly was that my body was shutting down to get my attention.

My body shut down because I wasn't speaking my truth. I was obsessed with being The Good Girl, doing everything as prescribed, and doing it perfectly. I was so misaligned from my wild soul that it made me physically ill. My diagnosis was a tectonic shift.

From that moment on, I unapologetically called my power back to me.

One year after my diagnosis, I sold everything I owned. Condo, car, clothes, everything. I left my 15-year career in higher education and parlayed my teaching and curriculum design experience into an online coaching business. Laptop in hand, I booked a one-way ticket to Bali and began my healing journey.

I traveled solo around the world for more than two years. I reinvented myself a thousand times over until I felt like home.

I lived off-grid in Latvia and learned that hauling buckets of well water through the woods is a version of heaven. I finally owned that I’m a Witch while camping in the fjords of Norway. Iceland taught me I’m happiest when I’m windswept and red cheeked. I booked plane tickets based on epic Instagram photos or recommendations from a friend of a friend.

I followed the ancient trade winds. I had conversations with the moon. I slept when I was tired. I woke up when my body wanted to. I swam when I needed to cleanse it all.

I healed lifetimes of unhealthy programming.

I also came to deeply understand my life's work.

I help women have their own ancient, wild remembering. 

Once I returned to the states, I experienced another tectonic shift. I desperately needed to get my hands dirty. I remembered my months spent in Iceland, living in a Subaru Forester, and I knew I needed to once again get out of my head and into my body.

I needed to integrate all the esoteric work I’d pursued for years upon years into something more holistic and embodied. I needed create something tangible.

I needed to empower you with physical reminders of your inherent magic. I needed to create ways for you adorn yourself with your intentions.

So I went back to school full-time at age 37 to learn the art and trade of metalsmithing and jewelry design. I sold my first piece of jewelry on my first night of class in 2018, a Botswana Agate ring that I’ll never forget. I was hooked. The rest, as they say, is history.

Thank you so much for being here and for supporting my work as an independent artist. It means the world to me.

Stay wild,

Gail Jessen
Smith + Witch