Hello, dear ones -

Happy Samhain! May you be protected in this time when the wheel is turning, and we shift from the light half of the year into the dark depths. In Old Ireland and Scotland, where Samhain was first celebrated, this marks when all the cows and sheep have been brought back from summer pastures, the last of the harvest has been brought in, and the hunkering down begins.

Long before Christianity overlayed the idea of Ancestor and Saint worship on top of and alongside Samhain, it was thought that the transition of the light made the world more porous - and restless spirits could roam more freely among us. You stayed close to your fire and tried to avoid travel as best you could… otherwise you might end up somewhere you didn’t mean to be!

I’ve been lighting candles and checking in with my oracle and tarot cards daily. These are also times for divination. Times when we might be able to see or sense Otherworldly things more clearly.

Yesterday, we had our Samhain round house gathering - a beautiful time to pause and tune into the season. I shared some about the origins and practices of the holiday and a couple of stories about both the protection offered by rowan branches and the Good Neighbors (the faeries); and about the origins of Jack O’Lanterns. The discussion which followed ranged from dragons and where the sun goes in winter, to lateral relationships and gift economies, to the difference between gratitude and appreciation. It was a lovely afternoon.

The day before, I spent the day at an online OracleFest Podium event talking about stories, rites of passage/ initiations, and transformation. It was a deep event and the live readings section at the end where folks could ask questions and get guidance or insight from some of us guest speakers was electrifying. It was an incredible example of how potent doing this work in community can be. Each of us answering questions has a slightly different take/ insight and every answer was applicable to so many more people than just the person asking the question. You could see deep shifts and healing (changing perceptions and recalibrating to fresh perspectives) happen in real time. An honor to get to be a part of it.

Another big thing that happened this last week was I shifted the pricing structure for the upcoming land and fire ceremony in Front Royal, VA to something that feels a little more alive, expansive, and experimental.

Long before we had predatory capitalism, we had more relational commerce. Commerce that prioritize relationships over efficiency and profit margins. Commerce that sought to nourish and sustain everyone. It’s always been my desire to have every aspect of my business align with what I’m about - including the systems and structures of my business.

When I first conceived of the ceremony, my instinct was to ask for a “deposit” to help hold a spot and to cover the costs of putting on an event like this; then invite the exchange for the event itself, the content and experience of the event, to be PWYC. I was encouraged to do a flat rate instead. And there are a lot of valid and good reasons for that. So, I did.

But then I noticed the energy dropped out of the offering.

See, these ceremonies are energetic presences of their own. Each one is different. My role as facilitator isn’t to make ceremony happen - it’s to listen in to where ceremony is wanting to happen and to, like a conductor or weaver, orchestrate or weave together all the various threads that show up into something beautiful. (The image that often comes to me is the Mickey Mouse sorcerer/ conductor in Fantasia.)

So this whole process of tending the energy of the offer starts weeks before the ceremony gathering itself, and continues to build in intensity as we draw nearer. And I’m listening to and engaging with the energy of it the whole time.

When the energy around the ceremony froze, I knew something was off. I listened more deeply and one thing that came forward was that I had ignored what Spirit was telling me about the pricing. The flat rate was rendering this offer transactional, rather than relational. And ceremony is, by nature, a community endeavor.

So last week, with the blessing of Stephanie, our gracious and generous host, I changed the pricing structure to an initial “deposit” and then additional PWYC after the ceremony. Within minutes, four people had signed up and the energy was moving again. Perhaps that's the lesson. Perhaps the lesson is yet to be revealed. Perhaps this experiment will look like it's working, but won't and I'll have to change again in the future. Don't know. Doesn't matter right now. What matters is following the path appearing beneath our feet and holding true to our devotional commitment to what matters to us as we do.

So we have enough people to go ahead with the ceremony this weekend! Yay! And, with immense appreciation for those who signed up so we would know we have enough, we’re deciding to extend the registration a few more days. We will be closing registration on Wednesday night (Nov 5th) so we have Thursday and Friday to really get ready for you all. Ceremony needs some spaciousness around it and it doesn’t serve any of us to feel rushed and scrambling at the last minute.

I can feel the energy of this ceremony has a building potency and fire to it, but also a sweetness and lightness as well. I’m looking forward to seeing how it unfolds. If you’re feeling the call, these next few days are your last chance to join us.

If you want to check out the ceremony, join us, or just read up on how I view PWYC pricing structures (hint - it's not about just "making it cheaper"): https://www.wildsacredjourney.com/ceremonies

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And for those who aren’t local: we have a final seasonal round house gathering for the year, online, in December. I’m also hoping to be touring my workshops and ceremony next year in the Spring, so perhaps I’ll come to somewhere near you then. Plus, lots of good things coming up in the next few months and early into next year (Insight 2026 will be back; Cauldron of Knowledge, a collaborative "story as medicine and teacher" offering with Scottish storyteller Eileen Budd is coming up; and the round houses will be back but with some big tweaks - more to come on that later. Plus, a couple of workbooks and self-paced support are being created in the background)

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Stay tuned, stay safe, stay creature, stay courageous.

With Love,

Kate

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P.S. Back in early September, one week after I returned to the States from overseas, I recorded a conversation with Kate Graham, host and founder of OracleFest. Turns out, it’s been up on Youtube for a bit… I just didn’t know hahaha. In case you’d like to check it out, Kate G and I always have a beautiful flow of deep conversation and lots of giggles (though watching it back, I can see the wisps of jetlag still hovering in my eyes).

As described in the video caption: “[in this conversation we] unravel the deeper meanings behind Cinderella, the rites of passage modern culture has forgotten, and the real beauty that emerges when we confront shadow, longing, and becoming. This is a conversation for oracles reclaiming the path of embodied myth, cyclical wisdom, and archetypal remembrance.”

If you give it a listen, I'd welcome hearing what you think. <3

And if you're sad you missed the podium event, they have another happening in December (I won't be guesting there) and then the big OracleFest event in late-Jan/ early Feb (I will be offering something here).