MaRiza Noyama-Zee

10/19/2026

Today feels like a huge day! Nine is the number of completion and today I begin the completion of a long creative journey.

I stepped officially onto this path exactly 9 years and 5 months ago. . . In 2017 I started working with my beloved friend Be Long, a tattoo artist from Phoenix, Arizona. She was living in Portland at the time and came highly recommended from a friend who is a connoisseur of tattoos.

My goal and my focus at that time was to allow my relationships with the elements and compass directions to become visible on my body. While, the three tattoos I already had at this point in my life were reminders to me of where I had come from and how to walk through life, with joy and with Grace, these tattoos felt like they were surfacing through my body and wanted to be seen.

I consulted with several tattoo artists before I found Be and in her have always found the artistic talent, intuition, wisdom, and deep trust to walk this journey of elemental expression. She did not balk at my request to set up an elemental altar in the tattoo parlor and she fully embraces the deep spiritual meaning that these tattoos have for me, helping to turn the tattoo experience into a true initiation ceremony.

We started with Air and my eagle tattoo, moved to Earth and my jaguars, then to Water with my my orca mama and baby, and finally 3 years ago I received my Fire phoenix and dragon. For the fire tattoo, I went all the way down to Phoenix, Arizona in the middle of August (where Be had moved back home) and went through my own Fire initiation to receive it!

All these years later I have been finally feeling ready for the finale! The stars have aligned to bring Be to me up here in my home in Silverton, Oregon!

My back has been eagerly awaiting the center of the compass, the tree of Life. This morning during my ancestor ritual, I felt the presence of all of the physical ancestors that moved through my body as well as my soul ancestors that move through my heart. Helping me to stretch my arms around the whole Earth as I endeavor to receive this Tree of Life.

Send good thoughts today and tomorrow as we devote many hours to the task!

09/30/2026

Read or listen to the full article at rizazee.substack.com, hyperlinked in my bio

09/29/2026

Japan during Sakura season! 🌸
It's been a million years since I've been on this platform, so this is a much belated share. We had the absolute honor of going on a much awaited trip to Japan this spring. This was the first time either of my older kids had been out of the country and what experience it was! Learning the customs, the culture through direct experience really helped to connect us to this origin point for my kids through their father. We built some great memories and made some new friends!

09/18/2026

I have rarely been able to share so deeply and personally my lived experience. Going through big life and death circumstances with the people that you love most makes it almost impossible to write about anything else. I hope that if you read this, you receive something that you can carry with you into life's most tender and glorious times. Maybe those times for you are right now.

06/18/2026

From my most recent substack post in honor of the pre-Solstice New Moon!

Chick it out: https://open.substack.com/pub/rizazee/p/making-this-body-real?r=2tdkie&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

02/20/2026

A New Moon Lunar New Year Reading

02/03/2026

As an act of whimsy right before hitting "publish" I decided to remove the paywall and offer the full monty to all. I hope you find something here that is helpful in these wild times of change!

A Full Moon Reading

01/24/2026

From our Substack New Moon article: https://rizazee.substack.com/

11/01/2025

A reindeer, two princesses, a death eater, the joker, Jason, and Among Us walk down main Street. . . And get candied. Hard. 😂. Happy Halloween, y'all! And if you're in Silverton Make sure to stop by the neighborhood ( ) where it's as fun as Halloween every day they're open! Tomorrow is their one year anniversary of being here and spreading their cool all around town. I'm so glad that Monica and Dave made this dream a reality!

09/13/2025

The great thing about coming down off the mountain is that now everyone wants to go hiking with me! I feel the most myself in the woods. I feel the most of myself on a mountain.