Sanctuary

an online monthly gathering of

animistic soul-foodnature-based ritualrestcommunity

 

 

photo by Jason Rojas

Have you heard the tale of the selkie woman?

A woman who, with her seal pelt intact, has the power to move between the realms - the mysterious and elemental depths of the sea and the hearth of land?

 
 

Her story actually begins with a lonely fisherman, a domesticated man. One who had lost touch with the wild and numinous until, one night coming back with his boat, he sees the selkie woman and her sisters, women of unnatural and untamed beauty, dancing naked in the light of the full moon.

You can probably imagine what he felt in that moment, because you’ve probably felt it, too, when you encounter something you want for yourself, something you’re missing and hungry for deep inside. And perhaps you can relate to our lonely, domesticated fisherman, too, when he doesn’t know how to soothe that hunger other than trying to possess it and make it more like him. Oh, the things we do when we’re scared to let life change us and instead try to make it fit us!

So, bewitched and filled with his own soul’s longing, he snatches up her seal pelt and when the time comes to return to the sea, she cannot.

He begs, cajoles, refuses to give it back, demands pity as only one who doesn’t know their own power can, until she - for whatever reason (perhaps fear, curiosity, compassion, an impulse towards deeper experience and wisdom no matter the price?) - agrees to marry him and stay with him for seven years.

Within a few, there is a child, a son. And as the child grows, no matter how much the selkie woman loves him, no matter how much she adapts to her new life of hearth and home, her body and spirit begin to dry out and fade. She is living a half life and a part of her goes unnourished. She is meant to swim the depths and cannot survive a life confined to the surface.

One night, after overhearing a fight between his mother and father with the father refusing to give her her pelt back, even though more than seven years have passed; the son begins to hear an unearthly voice calling to him. He follows the voice only to find the seal pelt his father had hidden away. He takes it back to his mother and she is once again able to go back to depths and be nourished by her people, the water, the mystery; and to instruct her half-human, half-selkie child on how to be a world-bridger.

**version written by Kate Powell

 
 
 

We are these world-bridgers.

In fact, we are each all of these characters. Male, female, somewhere in between, or somewhere outside… doesn’t matter.

We’re meant to be able to move between the surface and the depths.

photo by dominik hofbauer

We all need to have two homes to feel whole: one for our lonely, longing human hearts with a warm hearth and a soft bed; and an elemental one for our pelted selves, our wild souls.

photo by Thomas Bonometti

Our deepest work in these times is to bring these selves back into right relationship within us so we can be the change we want to see in the world.

 
 

Perhaps you loved going to church until you felt like there wasn’t room there for your untamed nature?

Or perhaps you’ve been setting your needs aside while raising the children and loving your kin and you’re feeling dry and parched yourself?

Perhaps you’re moving into a different life season, your relationship to work and home are changing, and there’s a deeper sense of urgency to live a purpose which feels beyond the smallness of our soul-starved culture?

Or maybe you find it hard to keep living from your heart in a world designed to pull you to your head and you want some accountability and support navigating that?

 
 

Whatever the case, you’ve probably felt your pelt come back at least once, or something close to it (*note: if you are new to this type of work and experiencing your first awakening to your wild self, please consider starting with 1:1 work and joining the group later. This is not designed to hold people in the middle of an acute initiation process)

and you’re hungry for a place to go beneath the surface and nourish your deeper soul; a place of no demands where you can belong with others, to the world, and to and by yourself.

photo by Kate Powell

‘Sanctuary’ is a monthly gathering to offer you that space.

photo by natalie parham

Designed based off of the best of what church can offer - but for wild souls and witchy humans - there will be

  • ancestrally-rooted myths and stories told as medicine,

  • deep conversation,

  • quiet contemplation or creation,

  • sharing and being witnessed

On gatherings near the nature-based holidays of the Celtic year, we’ll find ritual ways to honor that.

Part learning space, part lived experiment, part place to come to and feel our innate enoughness, this is revolution and weaving new culture in action.

 

A little bit about what you can expect the Sanctuary vibe to be.

 
 

photo by david edelstein

The gatherings will not be recorded, so I ask you do your best to attend live.

Due to the tender nature of the space, I’m setting a minimum six-month commitment so we can really build and grow together.

In return, my promise to you is groups will be kept intimate. As our community continues to grow, more times will be offered, rather than larger groups.


Currently, we gather on final Tuesdays of the month

7-9pm ET

Registration for the next cohort is expected to open in August 2024

 

Because any true Sanctuary should have a certain level of accessibility and community care woven into it, I’ve opted to offer…

Tiered community pricing options:

Supported - for those who need a little community Support to relax into this space.

Basic - for those who can cover their own fee in a relaxed manner.

Sustainer - for community members with the abundance to cover their own fee, plus enjoy supporting others.

All three rates are available to Pay-In-Full (PIF) or pay Monthly by setting up a subscription - all for the six-month commitment.

 

Supported

Basic

Sustainer

photo by Sean Stratton

Monthly: $20/ month

Pay In Full: $120

photo by Joeri Römer

Monthly: $35/ month

Pay In Full: $210

photo by Kalen Emsley

Monthly: $50/ month

Pay In Full: $300

** As you choose your rate, I ask you to remember this work is often undervalued and difficult to make a sustainable living doing. I trust you’re here because you find value working with me and I will not be policing anyone’s choices because I also trust you to know what your resource levels are and to make the best choice you can- in integrity with yourself and your family/ in-person community, me, and our Sanctuary community.

While money is often a loaded issue, stirring up all kinds of questions around worth, value, abundance, scarcity, comparison, etc I trust that somewhere between over-responsibility/ martyrdom and the insidious urge to “get as much as we can for as little as we can give”, there’s a comfortable spot for each of us where we can all thrive.

 

Your host and guide:

Hi! I’m Kate (pronouns: she/ they) - an intuitive, medicine woman, ceremonialist, story weaver, and soul-revival guide.

My super power is helping you deepen into the truth, heart, and essential wholeness of who YOU are, whether in moments of great joy or when you need your feet held to the fire of your own journey.

I believe rupture is inevitable but so is wholeness, and through: 

  • a somatic, shamanic, animistic approach to trauma repair and meaningful embodiment; 

  • myths, stories, and archetypes

  • ceremony

  • rooted, ancestral cultural practices

  • and kinship with nature;

we can tend our personal hurts, our collective nervous system, and the bigger question: in dehumanizing and soul-starved times, how do we be more human?

Welcome to our village fire.

I’m glad you’re here.