Ritual Space Creation

I recently dreamed I had just 20 minutes to prepare a long group ritual for 20 living people and far more deceased folks. I brought myself to center in the campground bathroom. I called my ancestors while I washed my hands. I quickly found a field big enough to hold the circle. It was uneven and not as private as I would have liked, but it was good enough. I placed an object in the middle, the participants gathered and with a few words we were off and away doing the work. In the dream it was all wildly effective.

So much of ritual is creating the space for SOMETHING to happen within. Transformation, acknowledgement, release, amplification, connection… so many changes can occur in ritual, but what makes a functional space so that these changes can occur easily? What makes some rituals more effective than others?

You might have 20 minutes to prepare or 2 years. Whatever amount of time I have to get ready for a ritual, these are the landscapes I like to attend to first to create the space:

✦ My human body and mind

✦ The physical location where the ritual will occur (because this is an embodied art form)

✦ The spirit world

The magic of ritual starts with the preparation, well before you step into the ritual space for the change you want to make. As you prepare in the personal, physical/land, and spirit spheres, your intentions get reiterated, refined, and woven through the worlds.

I’m taking a 6 month break from 1:1 clients this year. This newsletter will continue coming your way during this time. The client break is an intentional creative space: I’m in my second year of my MSC in the Psychology of Coercive Control and it’s thesis time. My research is around helping people who have been harmed in spiritual contexts (cults, abusive gurus, punishing doctrines, etc) to re-engage and re-invent their spiritual lives as well as helping spiritual teachers learn to work with this population differently. Research is a creative love for me, closely linked to my other art practices of quilt, writing, and dance.

After my ‘rapid prep to help a lot of dead people ritual dream’ I noticed the ways I’ve been crafting this sabbatical space, quietly and organically, as thought it is one long ritual. I’m carefully planning which mind and body supports are needed (dance, but not performance or too heavy on choreography, opportunities to sweat, time away for solitary retreats).

In my physical spaces I have been wrapping up house projects as swiftly as possible so I won’t be town between my research and whether or not to paint the dining room. I am switching out art in the house so my eyes are nourished by what they see countless a day, and the art becomes food for my creative process.

As for spirit space: Even on academic research I work with my ancestors. As I prepare for this dive I ask my guides - what do they need? Offerings? Quiet spaces where I listen to them more? I keep lending my attention and slowing down enough to listen.

During all this recent set up, It’s been a busy time of 1:1 work. For those of you wondering what a working ritualist gets up to in a day - here are some recent topics I had the honor of assisting with:

• Meeting a spirit guide for the first time

• Connecting with ancestors

• Healing from a cult

• Clearing foreign energy

• Discovering a personal experience of divinity after leaving religion

• Strengthening psychic boundaries

• Rooting soul in a new city

• Preparation for pregnancy

• Learning how to clear a home’s energy

• Moving through a creative block

• Recovering pathways to joy

One of the joys of working ritually with people is getting to witness the beauty of their souls and their unique constellations of ancestors and guides. I am always changed by this witnessing, and deeply grateful to be trusted to bring these older animist ways of working to everyday challenges.

My September schedule filled before I could announce my sabbatical here (sorry). I may offer occasional pop up groups or 1:1 sessions this winter and spring for people who are trying to find their own connection to spirit after being in an abusive or controlling spiritual setting OR for those wanting to deepen their ritual skills.

For folks with spiritual trauma, I offer spiritual care and animist healing and can refer to cult recovery counsellors if psychological care is also needed.

If this sounds like you and you would like to be on my pop up waitlist, please fill out this form:

Pop up waitlist

📅 When: January 30 – February 1, 2026
📍 Where: Bethlehem Centre, Nanaimo, BC
(Options to stay on-site or commute)

We approach the whole weekend as ritual explorers, not as writing experts or editors. We help folks find the roots and honey for their creative lives through a multi day ritual space traversing journey and land, story and spell.

This is not an online offering, because in these times, Brooke and I feel strongly about supporting the power of:

• gathering

• co-regulating with other humans and with land

• building community

• nurturing your authentic (non AI) voice

At our retreats, we have welcomed both professional writers and those who journal occasionally. Both have shared how revitalizing it was for them. If you are called to nurture your relationship to writing and creation this year, join us.

Registration and full retreat details will be up in October.

I want to spend a weekend with my muse

1. The Telepathy Tapes: A friend recommended this podcast and said ‘maybe nothing in here will blow your mind because it’s the world you live in’ - this is true…AND YET I loved it because it confirmed an experience I had with a non-speaking autistic boy I used to work with. Also, the episodes became so beautiful as they went on that eventually I was crying while listening and unloading the dishwasher. Scott came in and asked what was wrong. Answer: “The telepathy tapes are just so beautiful!”

2. This interview with Anna Breytenbach is a great introduction to animism and also includes some easy ways you can practice animal communication in your every day life. My cat and I are closer than we have been in years.

3. Terri Daniel getting to the nuance here around mass shootings and faith + how to reckon with the pain of being human and relate to gods and angels in a healthy way.

   

4. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo: A delightful kid’s book about gay marriage. It passes my four year old’s book test in all the following ways: she laughs out loud, yells ‘that’s not true!’ at the character who says boy bunnies can’t marry each other, she doesn’t like that its a library book and insists we buy it and keep it forever. That’s a 5 star review from a kid right there.

   

5. I really appreciated Starhawk’s reflections on her Jewish upbringing and Israel now.

6. Simple pleasures like Routine Natural Deodorant.

7. All the brave women who came forward for Be Scofield’s expose on Lama Tsultrim Allione and Tara Mandala Retreat Center. May the truth bring healing to all those who have suffered in silence.

8. A Plea for the Creatives: preserving the alchemy of art and spirit in the age of ai by Juniper Stokes

9. Mostly staying off social media.

For those in the northern hemisphere - a thousand blessings to you this autumn equinox. May this moment of equal light and dark make clear what you need as we prepare to descend into the earth’s dark part of the year. May you find the deep nourishment that keeps you truly alive.