Founder
Host/Facilitator
Guide
“Together, The Sorceress and The Scientist taught me a vital truth: healing demands change, and change requires both courage and action, intuition and research, faith and follow-through. Sometimes the soul calls us to leap, and wisdom asks us to measure the ground beneath our feet.”
I’m Mary, founder of Star Fusion Ranch and host of Wisdom Weekends. Before this chapter of my life, I spent 15 years in computer support — succeeding on the outside, but quietly longing for something deeper. Though I was grateful for everything I had, life felt repetitious and devoid of meaning. I carried a persistent emptiness, aching creative impulses, and a body crying out through fatigue, pain, and unexplained symptoms. As a mother of three energetic sons, I pushed through daily life while something inside me whispered that I was meant for something else… something more?
In 2007, I dared to follow that whisper — and my fascination with everything supernatural — into the realm of spirituality. Joining ghost hunts in Colorado Springs convinced me that something of us continues after the physical body dies. During a painful divorce the following year, I dove into Tarot and dreamwork, eventually teaching both through the Colorado Springs Metaphysics Meetup.
Yet I constantly felt caught between two inner forces: The Sorceress, who sensed the unseen, and The Scientist, who demanded proof. When frustration and disillusionment set in, I stepped away from my spiritual community and practices, wiped my slate of beliefs clean, and began striving to change my life in ways that were more material and concrete.
Returning to my home state of California in 2013 accelerated my growth. I was now firmly on the path of change and the process was messy, but nonetheless beautiful. In 2016, I discovered sailing, a blissful communion with wind, water, and intuition. My deep love for the ocean emboldened me to leave the familiar harbor of my IT career and follow what truly lit me up. Beginning in 2017, my work at Modern Sailing School & Club in Sausalito progressed from customer service to digital marketing. This was a chapter that revealed my resilience, creativity, and the reliability of my inner compass. I learned to fiercely protect my new-found peace and to trust myself.
Along the way, I realized The Sorceress had never failed me — I had simply had to learn how to hear her more clearly. The Scientist kept me moving forward while learning from my stumbles and surges. Together, The Sorceress and The Scientist taught me a vital truth: healing demands change, and change requires both courage and action, intuition and research, faith and follow-through. Sometimes the soul calls us to leap, and wisdom asks us to measure the ground beneath our feet.
In 2023, aboard a Modern Sailing catamaran named Vela Maré, I met my now-husband, Chris Stolz, a pragmatic scientist near to completing a long career in optical engineering for laser fusion technology, and a self-proclaimed Darwinist — who (surprisingly!) honors The Sorceress within me. Our relationship unfolded into a partnership filled with adventure, depth, and the sacred safety of being truly seen. With his steady love, my nervous system began find equilibrium. I also received some helpful advice from good doctors who helped me to solve the puzzle. My sleep, energy, and digestion began to improve. My body finally followed where my mind and spirit had already journeyed: toward healing.
Together, Chris and I found our first (and probably last) home and named it Star Fusion Ranch — a symbol of our shared alchemy between spirit and science. When I felt called to create a sanctuary for women’s restoration and spiritual growth, he never once cast doubt. Instead, he poured his hands, heart, and resources into the land and into this vision.
Ironically, it was The Scientist in me who ultimately led me to reengage The Sorceress. Modern research now affirms what ancient wisdom always knew: breathwork, yoga, meditation, dreamwork, active imagination, and intuitive arts hold real, measurable benefits for mind, body, and spirit. This bridge between science and the sacred is where I now live, learn, and serve.
I’m still a student — I will be exploring many of the practices we teach at Wisdom Weekends alongside our guests. My calling is to create a sanctuary where women — myself included — can connect with a supportive community, reconnect with inner wisdom, and remember that we already carry everything we need to heal within ourselves.
And aboard this peaceful vessel named Star Fusion Ranch, I’m finally poised to honor the creative impulses I once silenced — to write, to make art, and to let passion and inspiration be the wind that fills my sails.
