It’s been just a few short weeks since I returned from my second priestess training in Ibiza, Spain. When I signed up (in June), I knew that by the middle of November I would likely have just made or been on the cusp of a shift with my career. And now, at the end of November, this is true. As of this week, I am embarking fully on my second career - in the hands of Idylwild Retreats.
I’d like to offer some insight of how I got here, on this path of becoming a guide in this way. (You can look back at previous blogs that give insight on the land and our stewardship of Idylwild.)
In March 2023, I got the call from the divine to facilitate others on a deeper, personal level. I had been on my own, deep spiritual journey for almost 4 years and yet didn’t expect this. I didn’t want to hear it, I wasn’t ready to hear it. (I also realize that this was the first time that Pluto entered into Aquarius before landing there for good in November 2024, the same month that I changed careers…)
The divine was patient with my reluctance, and in the meantime gave me a lot of inspiration for what our retreat center would look like at Idylwild, The divine let me slowly and methodically work through the initial fear and doubt that I would hold space for more than myself. And every other month or so, I was given another nudge until priestess training was put in front of me in the summer of 2023. My whole body vibrated in the truth that I needed to go to this five-day in-person training. So I signed up, with the expansive support of family and friends to allow me to make this first journey to Ibiza, during my daughter’s freshman year of high school in a new school district.
Over the course of 2023, I considered what type of work I would facilitate. How would I birth myself into this new path? I felt that women’s moon circles were my entry point in, and my dear friend let me take a baby step in by closing a workshop that she was facilitating in October. (Thank you, Andrea of Catalyst Movement Arts!)
Then came the five-day immersive training in Ibiza, held by ReWilding for Women. The energy of Ibiza, clearing out of traumas from this life and before, activation of new energies within my body, the support of my husband, and the people that I interfaced with in this training changed me to my core in a way that I could barely name at that time. Over the following months, I saw that my capacity to invite in and move energy and grace through me had catapulted into a new level of being and how I was able to serve others.
2024 has been my teacher in service. In Chicagoland, I held monthly women’s circles and embodiment workshops at the Treehouse, co-facilitated two day-long retreats with friends, and was able to hold my first retreat at Idylwild in Lawrenceburg, TN.
In November of 2024, I again returned to Ibiza for another priestess training with the support of my family at home. I ground into this more familiar land, hiking along its cliffs and waters edge, amongst rocks, watching the sunrise at dawn while I did yoga outside, smelling and tasting the earthy, humid air that embraced us. Ibiza and the priestess training were a homecoming, a deepening to what has become more familiar but always is evolving. I cleared out more rubble in the ancestral line, welcomed in more grace and expanded my capacity to serve others, and saw more glimmers of what is unfolding for me and my service in the years ahead.
In our final practice, I received the following message:
I am devoted to knowing and serving with my gifts.
That is why I am here.
To activate, to purify, to witness and see glimpses of my gifts.
So that I may expand, explore, refine and serve with them all.
To start my new work in the world from zero point.
To pour grace through my whole body, into who I am and who I am becoming.
I will not be afraid to be my true self.
And so it is. Graced by a new
moon, today marks my first day in this new career through Idylwild Retreats. Thank you for your support. It means so very much to me.
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