The Growth
Every life begins as a seed in the dark. Scroll, and watch it reach for the light.
The branches spread toward many paths. The leaves are the work they bear.
The Path
The Path
I've always felt most at home where the pavement ends and the trees close in overhead. I also spend a lot of my days in a studio, behind a microphone and a screen full of software. For years that felt like two separate lives. These days I see one life that keeps moving back and forth.
That back and forth shows up everywhere for me. In my work, it's nature and technology, and I'm still finding the balance between them. In how I think, it's holding two views at once without rushing to pick one. It keeps me flexible, and I've stopped seeing it as indecision.
And spiritually, it's the green path, the middle way. I walk it as Merlin the Green. I'm not fully of the physical world or the spiritual one, and I travel between them whether I plan to or not. Some of that can only be lived, so I won't try too hard to explain it here.
What you'll find on this site is a record of that journey, shared in case some of it helps on your own.
- Curiosity
- Craft
- Balance
- Attention
- Wonder
- Rooted
Rooted
The Woods
Remember
The woods remember. Every ring in a trunk is a year, laid down slowly. When I stand among old maples, I notice how fast everything else is moving.
I go to the forest to listen. I learn from its seasons, from the way it grows, from the way light moves through it. Druidry taught me a lot about listening like that. So did Taoism, Buddhism, the old Celtic and Welsh ways, and a lifelong love of myths and legends. I've come to believe there's truth to be found in every faith, and that no one faith holds all of it.
The Work
The Work
Five kinds of work. They all grow from the same place.
The InstrumentVoiceNarration, meditation and the spoken word. It's where everything started, and it's the part of my work people point to most.Explore
The ThreadStoryHelping people find the thread running through their work or their life, and then say it plainly.Explore
The MakingCreative WorkVideo, audio, courses and live events, made through Maple Grove Studio.Explore
The PathSpiritual ExplorationThe green path, shared through writing, guided meditations and long conversations about life. Never doctrine.Explore
The BridgeBusiness & TechnologyBringing the same balance of nature and technology to business. The full story lives at Your Expert Voice.Explore
The Voice
The Voice
My voice is the oldest tool I have. For a long time I didn't count it among my strengths, but the people who know me keep pointing back to it, so I've learned to listen. Here are some of the guided meditations I've recorded.
Meet Mat
Meet
Mat
I share what I've lived and leave you to take whatever fits. I don't hand out advice nobody asked for, and I won't only tell you what you want to hear. If you ask what I think, you'll get an honest answer, said with care. Under all of it, in my own life and in my work, I'm trying to help people shine their brightest.
I'm a blend of everyone I've ever known, with a little of me sprinkled in. Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, Alan Watts, Ram Dass and Wayne Dyer all shaped how I see things. Friends who had the nerve to step away from the system and go their own way shaped me even more.
- Speaking
- Storytelling
- Walking the green path
- Making
- Exploring
The Work Behind the Journey
Mat's Worlds
Projects that grew out of all this. Each one has its own home.
Holistic Business DevelopmentYour Expert VoicePeople come to me for a website, and five minutes in, we realize they need a business. I help build both. It started as a podcast idea: sitting down with the people around me, because everyone is an expert in something.Visit Your Expert Voice
Production StudioMaple Grove StudioThe production studio behind all of my projects: video, audio, meditations, and the ongoing balance between nature and technology.Visit Maple Grove Studio
Outdoor AdventuresROAMA regional outdoor adventures membership: weekly nature hikes and expeditions, and a community built around them.Visit ROAM
Vintage & AntiquesAURA GiftsA shop for antiques, relics and vintage collectibles from before the 2000s.Visit AURA Gifts
A World in ProgressÆTHERA world that keeps growing, and I don't expect to ever finish it. Its Merlin the Green is me, or the part of me that lives more in spirit than on earth. It blends real life and fiction, dreams and experience. I build worlds with clients, friends, family and anyone else willing to use their imagination, and ÆTHER is one of those worlds.
The Path Continues
Let's Talk
If something here speaks to you, write to me. It might be a story, a project, or a question you're carrying around. I'd be glad to hear it.
🙏🏻💖✨