Hi! I'm Kate - an intuitive, medicine woman, and guide for embodied Presence
Are you a compassion warrior, culture worker, and rebel who cares deeply about humanity;
who's tired of doing all the “right things” and still getting what you’re trying to avoid;
and who feels trapped between burning it all down or dying but would rather be wildly, and sacredly alive?
I'm an animist and ancestral wisdom guide; ceremonialist, and empath. And I love guiding other humans who want to use their burnout and purpose anxiety as a jumping-off point to journey into their shadows and the shadows of modern society in order to de-armor their hearts; remember a deeper, wilder sense of belonging to the world; and reclaim the rich and sacred spark of their aliveness.
This newsletter contains wisdom nuggets, podcast episodes, and invitations to paid and free offerings from my business. All in support of remembering a more animist and land-based culture; holding firm to our humanity in a dehumanizing world; and living with compassion, vulnerability, and reverence.
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August: taking stock
Published 26 days ago • 7 min read
Welcome to August, dear ones -
Here’s our beginning-of-the-month update!
The Wheel of the Year:
a field I pass on my daily walks here in the Northeast of Scotland
In terms of the solar and lunar holidays marking the turning of the Wheel of the Year (solstices, equinoxes, and cross quarter days), we’re in the moment of Lughnasadh or Lammas.
It’s a first harvest celebration, marking the beginning of the harvest of grains and berries and connected in the Celtic lands with the God and mythic ancestor, Lugh.
Here’s a snippet of what I shared over on Substack about this moment in the year and what it might have meant for our ancestors:
“To give thanks now is to do so knowing that lean times can always find us. That when things are abundant is when we practice storing goodwill in the bonds of community, and in the rituals and ceremonies that nourish kinship with the beyond-human world. […] In truth, there is more than one way to store abundance. Yes - it looks like setting something aside for the lean days. But it might also look like feeding others now so there are more of us around, more stronger bodies and stronger bonds, for when we’re not sure what the future holds and how we’ll continue. Time and time again, we find evidence that the dignity of giving and receiving, of knowing someone cares and having people to care about, too, is vital to life. People without dignity, care, and meaning wither. So the relationships we tend and feed now just might help ensure that goodness finds its way back to us. Our physical hunger is not the only form of hunger; bodies are not the only things that need to be fed.”
And then yesterday was the Sun, Moon, Fire, Soul: Lughnasadh gathering.
I've been offering this series of gatherings since Spring Equinox as a way to develop a living relationship with the turning of the seasons and ancestral and animist wisdom found in seasonal stories and ritual.
About a week ahead of our gathering, I send a PDF with prompts organized around the four steps to developing living relationship with the season(Pay Attention; Investigate/ Deepen; Integrate; Embody). Then, the gathering itself is delivered as an oral culture transmission - a re-imagining of how our ancestors might have gathered in the round house to mark the turning of the year.
Like ceremony, these are not gatherings that are about “leaving with a certain outcome” or “feeling a certain way”. These are portals into ancestral remembering and a different way of relating to ourselves and the world around us - they're encounters with the Great Mystery. We start with the hunger we feel to connect more deeply, to belong, to know where we came from. We find breadcrumbs left for us. Then we open ourselves to meeting what is waiting to meet us.
I’ll be honest, this offering isn't really catching on with people. Some of it’s probably that, as a newer offering, I’m still figuring out exactly what it is and how to talk about it. Some of it’s that I probably haven’t shared about it enough. But there might also be something else going on that’s in a blind spot… so, if it’s something you’ve had your eye on but haven’t joined us yet, I’d love to hear why (if you’re willing to share).
And if you missed yesterday’s but would like the PDF and recording sent to you, let me know. I’ll send you an invoice and then make sure you get the materials.
The Moon:
We just passed the waxing quarter and will arrive at the full moon towards the end of the week - this is the time when any seeds you planted, any intentions you set during the new moon are building in momentum, in potency.
where have you noticed the archetype of The Seer showing up in your life?
are you seeing anything more clearly?
are there obstacles (anti-Seer-ness) coming up anywhere and what might help you move around or past them?
is there a skill you’ve been wanting to develop that you’ve taken small steps towards? if so, what small wins can you celebrate?
if you took a more personalized message from the card yourself: how has your understanding deepened? where do you need more support or focus to help bring any insights, intentions, and/or next steps home?
Other opportunities for some support from me:
Our monthly Sanctuary gathering is coming up next Monday, August 11 at 12pm ET.
This is for when your cup feels empty, when your inner flame is flickering close to out; for when you want or need a buddy system to ensure you actually rest.
It’s a space to untangle yourself from outside distractions and tugs for your attention, to return to your body-breath-heart, and then to fill your cup, at least a little bit.
As with all my offerings, it’s done in an oral culture-style transmission - so there will always be an element of the co-created within it. It’s responsive to who is there and what guides and support from the Otherworld show up. It’s not about “achieving results” in the capitalist sense, but rather about finding our rhythm aliveness and coming into coherence. We work with what’s present-moment-true, not “in spite of” or “superior to”.
And keep an eye out in the next few weeks - we should have the sales page up for what we’re currently calling: Cauldron of Knowledge.
It’s a collaborative offer with friend and Scottish storyteller Eileen Budd. We’ll be deepening our relationship with our animist ancestors and the Seen and Unseen worlds through Scottish Faerie stories, folk wisdom, and shamanic rituals and practices in the lead up to Samhain.
I’ll have more to share on that when we’re ready to officially invite you in, but if you have an interest in the land, stories, and folk traditions of Scotland; or if you’re just more generally interested in how ancestral folk culture might serve as an antidote to modern amnesia, disconnect, and cultural malnourishment… ceud mìle fàilte (a thousand welcomes), we’d love to have you join us.
One final thing:
August 8th (8/8) is often honored as the Lion’s Gate portal. There’s some controversy around whether this is a “legitimate” thing or simply a new-agey construct… and then there’s always the possibility of it being both. I, personally, do find the energy to be heightened around that date and lots of lessons and transformations seem to come pouring in. So perhaps, pay attention to what seems to come up in the few days leading up to 8/8 and for a few days after, too.
This year, on 8/8, I’ll be joining in on the Coaching Industry Global Strike & Day of Action - joining with other witchy coaches, healers, creatives, etc who align with my views that humanitarian crises are symptoms of our collective unwellness and acting to disrupt empire and harm wherever we find them is part of our healing.
They write about this call-to-action: “The people of Palestine need our attention & fierce devotion now. This is an inclusive Global Strike & Day of Action for anyone who is ready to say enough is enough – THE GENOCIDE MUST STOP. This is NOT about dehumanizing ANYONE. This is about insisting that none of us are free until ALL of us are free. This is about doing whatever we can, collectively, to partner with divine will and END THIS GENOCIDE. End the forced starvation. End the bombing & destruction. End the erasure & ethnic cleansing of Palestine & its people.”
In this season of harvest festivals - of giving thanks for abundance and the community that will get us through the dark times - perhaps one of the most potent rituals we can do is feed those who are hungry. <3
with Love and blessings for a glowing golden, lion-hearted August,
Kate
P.S. In yesterday's Sun, Moon, Fire, & Soil gathering, I got so caught up in talking about Lugh and what about his story deepens our sense of connecting to this season, that the story part of our gathering felt complete... without me telling the story I had planned to tell. But I do love this little story and wanted to share it anyway, so I recorded it and sent it out with the recording of our gathering. I'll share it here with you all, too.
I first heard this story from Scottish storyteller Dan Serridge at the Scottish Storytelling Festival back in October 2024 and it stuck with me. He didn't say where he had gotten it from, and a google search seems to be turning up an old Chinese story called The Emperor's Seed. So it's possible Dan's version was based on this old Chinese story. It's also possible that, like many other stories, a similar story spontaneously arose in different parts of the world. It's a beautiful story, with a sweet lesson.
As you settle in to listen to the story, see if you can just let it wash over you. Notice what you're drawn to, what you're repulsed by, what images stay with you, or if you get stuck anywhere in it. These old stories often have several layers. Beyond the more obvious message, can you hear anything in the story that connects it with this season? Can you hear words or moments in the story which feel ripe with some deeper meaning, cultural memory, or instructions, just below the surface and just out of reach of clear understanding?
Hi! I'm Kate - an intuitive, medicine woman, and guide for embodied Presence
Are you a compassion warrior, culture worker, and rebel who cares deeply about humanity;
who's tired of doing all the “right things” and still getting what you’re trying to avoid;
and who feels trapped between burning it all down or dying but would rather be wildly, and sacredly alive?
I'm an animist and ancestral wisdom guide; ceremonialist, and empath. And I love guiding other humans who want to use their burnout and purpose anxiety as a jumping-off point to journey into their shadows and the shadows of modern society in order to de-armor their hearts; remember a deeper, wilder sense of belonging to the world; and reclaim the rich and sacred spark of their aliveness.
This newsletter contains wisdom nuggets, podcast episodes, and invitations to paid and free offerings from my business. All in support of remembering a more animist and land-based culture; holding firm to our humanity in a dehumanizing world; and living with compassion, vulnerability, and reverence.
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