Memento Mori
Lately I have been reflecting on the people in my life who have shaped me, who have been instrumental in helping me become the woman I am today. People who truly see me and love me, through it all.
One of those people was my brother-in-law David.
He passed away this summer, suddenly and without warning. He was one of my favourite people on this earth. One of my very first friends when I moved to Victoria. There was no one like him. I will forever be grateful that he fell in love with my sister, because it meant I got to have him woven into my life and our family for the past 25 years.
When someone we love dies, something shifts inside us. The world sharpens. The edges get clearer. We begin to feel the weight, and the gift, of our own mortality.
Memento mori: remember that you too must die.
Not as a threat, but as a teaching. A gentle hand on the heart reminding us that the next day of our life is not guaranteed. A stark reminder that all living beings move through the same cycle: birth, life, and death. Along the way, we experience many rebirths and symbolic deaths, but there is no escaping these three essential stages of life.
I have never been someone who thought much about dying. I wasn’t afraid of it, I just lived as though it were a distant thing. But his death cracked something open and shed a very honest light on reminding me of how I want to spend my time. It invited me to look at my life, not with fear, but with truth, with reverence and with that fragile and delicate awareness, that someday I will also take my last breath. And so will every single person I love.
As Mary Oliver so poignantly asks, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” I have had this quote with me for decades, and now I find myself returning to this question daily.
This doesn’t mean I expect to rise each morning with the enthusiasm of a newborn unicorn in a sunbeam, but it does mean I am committed to reflecting on how I can move through my days with more presence, more experience, more devotion to what my soul wants to express. Toward joy. Toward truth. Toward the things that scare me but also bring me alive.
Contemplating memento mori has, surprisingly, deepened my appreciation for living fully. It reminds me to hold the tension of a life that is both robust and heartbreakingly fragile. To honour the tremble and the beauty of being here to welcome it all. To remember that this one, precious life is asking to be lived, not someday, but right now.
So tell me, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
14th Annual Red Thread Winter Solstice Ceremony
What forces rise when a woman chooses to follow her instinct, her devotion, and the WILD call of her deeper life?
On the longest night of the year, we gather in a circle of women to sit at the bone-fire of story, drum, and the Red Thread. Together we will step into the old Norwegian tale East of the Sun, West of the Moon and travel with the North Wind as an archetype of fierce guidance, endurance, and passage into the mystery. The North Wind is often the wind we turn our backs to, the wind we fear the most. What if the North wind is the ally that rips through to the truth and ushers you to a new threshold?
This 3‑hour ceremony blends women’s circle, guided storytelling, Red Thread ritual, and drum journeying. You will be invited to:
- Listen to the tale as a living map of the feminine journey through darkness toward reclaimed love and sovereignty.
- Meet the North Wind as a liminal ally at Winter Solstice, carrying you toward what your soul is ready to remember.
- Work with the Red Thread as a symbol of blood, lineage, belonging, and the deep connection between women.
- A guided drum journey to your own “castle east of the sun, west of the moon” to retrieve a lost or waiting part of yourself.
- Share reflection in circle, witnessing and being witnessed in your emerging story for the year to come.
No experience with story, circle, or drum is required, only a willingness to be present, curious, and kind. Please wear comfortable clothing for sitting and light movement, and feel free to bring a small item for the altar (stone, branch, cloth, photo or symbol of your winter season). If you have a frame drum or rattle, you are welcome to bring it, though it is not required.
8 Spots left.
When: Sunday December 21, 2025
Where: Full Circle Movement Studios - Okotoks
Cost: $75 + GST
INTO THE WOODS:
A MYTHIC WINTER RETREAT
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 6 - SUNDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2026
Folk Tree Lodge, Bragg Creek AB
This winter, step into the living myth of Vasalisa the Beautiful, a timeless story that speaks to the wild feminine journey of intuition, resilience, and awakening inner fire. In this ancient tale, a young woman is sent into the deep forest to face Baba Yaga, the fierce wild hag, and must rely on the small wisdom doll given by her dying mother to guide her through the darkness. What she discovers is the power of listening to her instincts, discerning truth from falsehood, and carrying home the fire of her own knowing.
At this retreat, we will immerse ourselves in the themes of this myth: trusting inner guidance, navigating thresholds, and reclaiming the intuitive feminine that lives in us all. Held in the serene, snow-covered woods of Folk Tree Lodge in Bragg Creek, the retreat offers a sacred space to rest, restore, and remember your wild wisdom.
What to Expect:
2-nights in a beautiful log cabin nestled in the heart of Bragg Creek @ Folk Tree Lodge
Silent Forest Walks & Wild Winter Play. A quieting so that we may hear the whisper of our own intuition
Intuitive Doll Making Workshop. Create a hand made doll to take with you on your journey, a reminder of the deep wisdom that already lives inside you.
Gentle Yoga & Meditation practices
Storytelling around the fire. Women have been gathering with stories for generations. Stories become medicine in circles.
Red Thread Ceremony, a remembrance of our lineage, wisdom and the sacred connection between women.
Snacks, tea, coffee, and one vegan dinner with dessert are included. (You’ll be responsible for your other meals.)
There are 2 double rooms left.
Investment:
Single Occupancy: $599 + GST
Double Occupancy: $499 + GST $150 non-refundable deposit holds your spot.
Payment plans available.
Sacred Red Drums
Looking for a meaningful Christmas gift infused with story, ceremony, and feminine power?
I have two handmade Red Drums available. These drums were created in honour of the women who drum for healing, remembrance, and the awakening of the wild feminine. The Red Drum carries the lineage of the Red Thread, the heartbeat of the Mother, and the call to return to one’s own truth. This is a beautiful gift for a woman who longs to reconnect with her intuition, deepen her ritual practice, or step into her voice with courage and reverence. These drums are made of Elk hide and are hand dyed and assembled in ceremony by me.
If you feel the drum calling, or know someone who this drum belongs with, reach out, these two are ready to find their keeper.
Things to Come
WILD - March 2026
A 13 moon sacred pilgrimage to rediscover your fire, voice, and story through ceremony, ritual, and nature’s wisdom. This journey is a circle of women who witness and hold space for each other as you reconnect with your WILD and the Divine Feminine within.
INFO SESSION DECEMBER 4TH 7PM - COME LEARN MORE
WISDOM OF THE SEASONS
JANUARY 24TH
Wisdom of the Seasons is a one-day retreat that offers language, guidance, and compassion for what we’ve always known deep down: we are not meant to be linear. We move is spirals. When we learn to mirror the rhythm of Nature, we reconnect with our deep wisdom. We learn that to rest in the winter is to honour our life. We understand that the summer is a time for effort, a time to tend to the 'crops' of our life and fall offers us time to gather the bounty of what we have nourished in the balance of rest and effort. The cycle goes on and on.
This is a sacred way of living.
This gathering is a doorway back to natural cycles, trust, and alignment with the earth’s wisdom. If you’re feeling the pull to live in deeper rhythm this year, this is where we’ll begin.
5212 19TH AVE NW, CALGARY, AB T2B0T2
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