Summer Solstice at Spirit Canoe Lodge

As I head off to my annual journey to Arizona for our Sundance ceremony, I invite you to consider what needs to be danced out in your life to have better balance and stay focused on your personal priorities and the evolution of your dreams?  We all seem to be in a bubble of survival that pushes us to the edge of what we think we can hold.  While we are in this bubble we often miss connecting with others who are also in their bubble and many miscommunications can happen along the way.  This Summer Solstice, reach out to others and consider that we are all doing the best we can...even when it does not seem that way.  There are many lessons we must learn the hard way before there is a shift of awareness.  Use heart-to-heart communication to clear muddy communications.  Let go of the need to be right...in order to get it right (Brene Brown).  The collective awakening that we need each other more than ever IS happening!  We are offering a variety of in-person events this summer to empower you. There is a ceremony for you if you're ready to jump… and jump we must for personal and collective change.

Upcoming SCL events!

  • July 17-20 Vision Quest weekend

  • July 20 Community Purification Lodge

  • July 26 Enchanted Whisks: Crafting Homemade Brooms Workshop

  • July 27 Bound by Bristle: Crafting Magical Hearth & Kitchen Brooms Workshop

  • August 9 Full Moon Spirit Dance

  • August 10 Full Moon Community Purification Lodge

July 17-20 Vision Quest Weekend

A full day of ceremony and overnight vision quest to identify and confront your fears in each of the 8 directions, to accept change as your greatest teacher, to know that you have nothing to fear except fear itself, and to align with your natural self and experience your oneness with the Everything. This first gateway ceremony is an intensive day and you will be taken to the edge of what you “think” you can hold. It is part of the process. You will be fasting for 24 hours, drinking only water. REGISTER

July 20 @ 1PM Community Purification Lodge

This sacred ceremony is open to all men and women that desire to connect with the elements, the worlds of Grandmother Earth, to pray (for self, life and others), to purify (emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually), and who choose to grow and evolve as humans.  The alchemy of this ceremony creates a safe space for us to let go of what no longer serves us and connect with Spirit to receive guidance and healing.  Come join us in a circle of reflections that we can make a jump in our evolution on a personal and collective level.  There will be a potluck after the ceremony.  There is no charge for the ceremony. Donations or an energy exchange for lodge maintenance are appreciated. RSVP

July 26 & 27 Enchanted Handmade Brooms and Whisk Workshop

We are excited to welcome Nam Joti Kaur Khalsa to SCL for this special broom making retreat. She specializes in both functional sweepers as well as symbolic and ceremonial pieces. Gather 'round for a charming and hands-on journey into the world of broom craft. In this magical workshop, you'll learn to weave your very own whisk or full broom by hand, using natural broom corn, twine, and traditional techniques passed down through generations. Perfect for beginners, dabblers, and curious makers alike, this workshop invites you to slow down, weave with intention, and leave with a completed whisk broom (or two) and the skills to make more. All materials are included. Come as you are! Bring your own lunch or a dish to pass for potluck. Choose a one or two day class. REGISTER

August 9 Full Moon Spirit Dance

Our ecstatic dance will be under a full moon of August.  The dance is meant to be a prayerful, internal connection with ourselves and nature to gain greater insight and harmony.  As we develop a closer and caring relationship with nature, we find the solutions we seek are all around us in support!  In a world seemingly gone mad there is one thing we can do that will make a difference now….DANCE!  Matt Wasson will be our DJ for the dance.  Costumes Encouraged:  Please wear regalia with a nature theme! Donate what you can. RSVP

August 10 Full Moon Purification Lodge

This event follows the Full Moon Spirit Dance event. RSVP for on or both. Sister Moon is an integral part of our life on Grandmother Earth.  The moon rotates around the earth.  Her face is lit by Grandfather Sun.  The earth’s shadow creates the moon phases in this magical rotation.  You could say she sees everything and knows everything as she witnesses our daily rotation.  Humanity is deeply impacted from this relationship.  Women’s fertility cycles align with her, optimal planting times have historically been practiced, and our planet’s water masses ebb and recede with her gravitational pull.  The full moon is the peak energy of the last 28/29 days of our life.  A lot has happened, a lot has been exposed, and as we look ahead…there is much to plan for.  Bring to our gathering what has been exposed within you this past month, this past season, and the willingness to continue on into the unknown with hope, faith, and trust. There will be a potluck after the ceremony.  

Eagle Dance! May 23-25

May Day in the Fairy Garden was enchanting. The faeries were visible to the naked eye, dancing around the May pole and celebrating cross-quarter day, the mid-point between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Fertility rites were part of the celebration. Flowers and tiny clothes were strewn about the trilliums and ferns. What happens in the garden stays in the garden :) Legend has it that the Little People were here first, preparing the earth for the arrival of humanity. Probably a really good thing seeing as how humans can be a surprising hot mess, and lately human behavior has gotten even nuttier as the shifts are happening. I can see clearly the elementals, faeries, gnomes, and hobbits ringing the bells of our arrival. This parallel world of the Little People help maintain balance in the natural world and offset some of humanity’s impact on our planet. Basically they clean up after us, and teach us not to be “oh so serious”. Their mischief includes creating confusion, hiding our keys, and generally use us as an entertainment streaming channel that is totally free! There is a human drama channel, a mystery channel, action channel, comedy channel, Brit Box, and Oscar award winning channel. Take the time to remember them by leaving a plate of food for them each full moon in a special place outdoors. Be sure to include all 5 food groups + dessert + libation +coffee. They love all the same stuff we do! When you are in nature take the time to tune into them, lighten up, and lighten our world! Please join us for the upcoming Eagle Dance weekend! A great opportunity to heal old wounds and dance your dreams awake or be of service! See the info below.

Eagle Dance participant’s shields

May 23-25 is our 4th Annual Eagle Dance!  Humanity is calling for us to dance for change!We dance our personal and collective prayers to the center tree.  The “tree of life” acts as an antenna to spirit as we pray for guidance from the Universe in the coming year.  Drummer singers maintain the heartbeat on a pow-wow drum during the entire dance and maintain the energy for us as we dance back and forth to the center tree.  The drum does not stop until we are complete! We will be fasting and dancing during the day until the energy loads and bursts up the tree and into the collective with our prayers. Drinking water is recommended.  The dance is a meditative/trance experience.  Dancing keeps us in our bodies and out of our head so we can receive “with care and with clarity” messages from spirit. The Dance brings healing to those in need and amplifies your intent. towards manifestation.Seriously, what you pray for happens:) We also pray to bring our beauty and purpose into the world around us. The people of Grandmother Earth need our prayers.  We have chosen to be alive in this special time and humanity is calling us to participate as we bridge the old world into the new one currently emerging.

Eagle Dance is a one day Sweet Medicine SunDance ceremony. The dance is an irreplaceable experience that can reboot your life. Sunday we will have a purification lodge to integrate our ceremony. Dancers and service people are welcomed to participate.

There are many preparations for the dance. If you feel called to dance, make the commitment, don’t be swayed by the preparations, they are doable! We will host a few craft days or connect you with an experienced dancer to guide you in the preparations of learning to make a shield and find the special regalia you need for the dance. RSVP to reserve a space and receive the prep list. Register by May 5th to receive the discount. Cost 125$ lodging extra. See details and registration page here

Garden Expansion & Fence Project We are well underway with the expansion of our food and herbal garden. Locust posts and T-Posts are installed and we are ready for pulling the fence. We need volunteers to help complete the fencing. Come as you are available. Scheduled work days are May 9, 10, 16, 17. Our desire:  The creation of a community garden in which all those in need and lend a hand will share in our abundance.  Our interdependence is part of what makes us stronger and knowing we can truly rely on one another when needed enables us to live within mutual benefit and welfare.  Let me know if you can lend a hand. I’ll be offering a meal and lodging for all who volunteer. RSVP Kelly for more info or directions here. 

July 26 & 27 Enchanted Handmade Brooms and Whisk Workshop We are excited to welcome Nam Joti Kaur Khalsa to SCL for this special broom making retreat. She specializes in both functional sweepers as well as symbolic and ceremonial pieces. Gather 'round for a charming and hands-on journey into the world of broom craft. In this magical workshop, you'll learn to weave your very own whisk or full broom by hand, using natural broom corn, twine, and traditional techniques passed down through generations.

Whether you're drawn to the humble beauty of handmade tools, the lore of old-world crafts, or simply the delight of creating something both functional and enchanting, this class offers a little something special. Each whisk broom you make will carry the mark of your hands—and maybe a bit of magic, too.

Perfect for beginners, dabblers, and curious makers alike, this workshop invites you to slow down, weave with intention, and leave with a completed whisk broom (or two) and the skills to make more. All materials are included. Come as you are! Bring your own lunch or a dish to pass for potluck.Choose a one or two day class.

Nam Joti Kaur Khalsa has been a weaver since 2016. While she is primarily trained in traditional Appalachian broom making, Nam Joti has also developed her own unique style over the years. Nam Joti is passionate about bridging the gap between Old World traditions and modern day living. Her work is a form of Functional Folk Art, rooted in practical application and ancient spirituality. She is not only a weaver of brooms, but also of

Visit Nam Joti Kaur Khalsa website to learn more: https://www.broomsandbaskets.com/

Register here: https://spiritcanoelodge.org/calendar/2025/7/25/broom-making-workshop

Spring gatherings @ SCL

Spring Greetings! Happy All Fools Day! No joking here, just gratitude.... After the destruction of Helene and a colder winter, spring reminds us that the circle of life continues no matter what. Blood root is one of my favorite spring harbingers, along with violets, and the sheer excitement of spotting your first morel camouflaged in leaf litter. With our much needed rain and warming soil it is time to start looking! Our garden sanctuary is starting to show signs of life too. The ramps are up, the goldenseal buds popping out, trilliums shooting up, the purple tips of blue cohosh, and solomon’s seal teasing the deer with their delicate tips. If you’d like to lend a hand this season in our medicinal gardens please let me know! We have a couple of events coming up this month including a volunteer day to expand our community gardens, read on below or see our calendar here for more information.

Our new Purification Lodge! Our rebuild weekend was amazing. We had 15+ wonderful humans show up over the weekend, including a few that had never been here before and took the jump! We shared hard work, meals, and a whole lot of laughter. Just as the sun was setting the lodge was completed. Many thanks to Olivia, Josh and Jack for bringing in willow! Thank you Carol Anne, Amanda, Nicole, Alex, Tia, Elin, Dale, Jimena, Kat, Jenny Jean, Taylor, Holly, Sybil, Emily, and Andrew. The lodge holds the heart space for healing here at SCL and your contribution of time to rebuild this womb space benefits all who attend ceremony over the next few years.

April 5th Honoring of an Elder This day we celebrate Dianne Vetter with her 60 year Rite of Passage. Dianne is on SCL Board of Directors, long time friend, teacher, women’s advocate, and bringer of fun and laughter. If any of you have gotten to know and appreciate her contributions to the lodge contact me to be involved or send a personal story of how Dianne has influenced your life!

April 12 - Full Moon Lodge Spring is the time of transformative change not merely because of the changing seasons, but because of the stability the earth provides. We might see springtime as the time to think about our hidden beauty. We are just like the beautiful flowering tree that births a stream of continuous beauty despite feeling perhaps we do not. We marvel at the beauty of our friends and those around us, yet often cannot see our beauty, our magic. At this Full Moon Purification Lodge, we will reconnect with our inner strength, our beauty, through ceremony, a process of balancing, to help us create the abundance we seek.

Micki Eagle Eyes – is pouring this full moon purification lodge. Micki is continuing her training and Kelly will be supporting her on fire crew. RSVP directly to Micki to attend by emailing mickikjpd@aol.com. We will gather on Saturday, April 12 at 1 pm, or noon if you are a new participant. RSVP for all the details and gifting protocols.

April 6 & 13 Community Garden Volunteer Days After Farmer Nathan created these beautiful growing beds with his expertise and a borrowed broad fork, we decided it will be worth the effort to expand the garden to feed ourselves and more of the SCL community (not the deer :) Our desire:  Is the creation of a community garden in which all who lend a hand will share in our abundance.  Our interdependence is part of what makes us stronger and knowing we can truly rely on one another when needed.  April 6 @ 10-4pm: We will be marking the space and digging post holes for the fencing. April 13 @ 10-4pm: We will be hanging the fence and gate. Let me know if you can lend a hand. I’ll be offering food to all on our work days. RSVP Kelly for more info or directions here. 

May 23-25 is our 4th Annual Eagle Dance!  Our personal and collective prayers are danced to the center tree.  The “tree of life” acts as an antenna to spirit as we pray for guidance from the Universe in the coming year.  Drummer singers maintain the heartbeat on a pow-wow drum during the entire dance and maintain the energy for us as we dance back and forth to the center tree.  The drum does not stop until we are complete! We will be fasting, and drinking water is optional and recommended.  The dance is a meditative/trance experience.  Dancing keeps us in our bodies and out of our head so we can receive “with care and with clarity” messages from spirit. The Dance allows prayers for manifesting a specific intent for self, the Collective, and others. We also pray to bring our beauty and purpose into the world around us. The people of Grandmother Earth need our prayers.  We have chosen to be alive in this special time and humanity is calling us to participate as we bridge the old world into the new one currently emerging.

Eagle Dance is a one day Sweet Medicine SunDance ceremony. The dance is an irreplaceable experience and well worth your careful preparation.  Our ceremonial land at Spirit Canoe Lodge has a lodge for teaching & cooking, communal lodging or camping, purification lodge, and Eagle Dance Arbor.   There are many preparations for the dance. We will host a few craft days or connect you with an experienced dancer to guide you in the preparations of learning to make a shield and find the special regalia you need for the dance. RSVP to reserve a space and receive the prep list. See details and registration page here

See our Calendar for more upcoming events

Lodge Rebuild March 21-23

Late Winter Greetings! Is anyone ready for spring? The fairies and gnomes are. The wood frogs have made their journey to the pond to mate and lay their eggs. Crocus are peeking out. Bluebell leaves are poking their leaf tips out. The trout lily tribe in the holler will march out in force very soon. The new fairy house (compliment of Carol Anne) was just delivered. Things are looking up :) Of course a winter backlash is to be expected through early May but signs of spring lighten the heart and inspire things to come. What will we plant, in the fertile spring ground and in ourselves?

Our Winter Women’s Retreat was amazing. Our theme of PRESENCE was just what everyone needed as we enter even deeper collective chaos. The outer world is a reflection of our inability to quiet the mind. When we stop talking and listen deeply, the power to diffuse a situation is present. When we are in reaction our ego is activated and feeds the flames of chaos. No matter our opinions and beliefs, learning how to hold neutral presence enables us to see reality as it is even when things are not as we wish. During our time together we learned just how difficult it is to simply be in the moment, listen objectively, and hold space for ourselves, others, and life itself. It’s a muscle we must train into if our outer reality is to be the loving peaceful home we desire.

March 21-23 Rebuilding our Purification Lodge & Spring Equinox celebration: The Purification Lodge ceremonies have been the foundation of our community here, and attracts those who are seeking healing, growth, and other like minded humans. Every 2 years our lodge needs to be rebuilt. It’s a community endeavor to remove the old structure, cut new saplings, dig holes for the lodge poles, re-paint the stepping stones, and prepare the tobacco ties. On Sunday we have a consecration purification lodge ceremony for the community that has helped in it’s rebuilding. All those lending a hand over the weekend are welcome to stay over at no cost! RSVP Kelly

Shamanic Purification Lodges are a sacred ceremony that is open to all men and women that desire to connect with the elements, the worlds of Grandmother Earth, to pray (for self, life and others), to purify (emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually), and who choose to grow and evolve as humans. The alchemy of this ceremony creates a safe space for us to let go of what no longer serves us and connect with Spirit to receive guidance and healing.

There is no charge for the ceremony. Donations or an energy exchange for lodge maintenance are appreciated. *If you are new to the Sweet Medicine SunDance path purification lodge, you must RSVP to receive the protocols about how to prepare for this ceremony.

May 23-25 is our 4th Annual Eagle Dance!  Our personal and collective prayers are danced to the center tree.  The “tree of life” acts as an antenna to spirit as we pray for guidance from the Universe in the coming year.  Drummer singers maintain the heartbeat on a pow-wow drum during the entire dance and maintain the energy for us as we dance back and forth to the center tree.  The drum does not stop until we are complete! We will be fasting, and drinking water is optional and recommended.  The dance is a meditative/trance experience.  Dancing keeps us in our bodies and out of our head so we can receive “with care and with clarity” messages from spirit. The Dance allows prayers for manifesting a specific intent for self, the Collective, and others. We also pray to bring our beauty and purpose into the world around us. The people of Grandmother Earth need our prayers.  We have chosen to be alive in this special time and humanity is calling us to participate as we bridge the old world into the new one currently emerging.

Eagle Dance is a one day Sweet Medicine SunDance ceremony. The dance is an irreplaceable experience and well worth your careful preparation.  Our ceremonial land at Spirit Canoe Lodge has a lodge for teaching & cooking, communal lodging or camping, purification lodge, and Eagle Dance Arbor.   There are many preparations for the dance. We will host a few craft days or connect you with an experienced dancer to guide you in the preparations of learning to make a shield and find the special regalia you need for the dance. RSVP to reserve a space and receive the prep list. See details and registration page here

See our Calendar for more upcoming events

Chinese NY Feast & Winter Women's Retreat

Winter Salutations! I love this picture of the snow covered arbor.  The spontaneity of someone creating a snow heart emoji, and the way the sun suddenly bursts through the clouds to create an upside down shadow image of the people and the center tree.   The as above, so below image is a beautiful message from nature. The light of awareness shines with clarity, changing our perception enough to feel the hidden hope within the shadow.  So it goes…our human experience. 

Our winter deep freeze has been intense.  Many of us have had emotions surface so they can be felt and released.  Personally it’s been a time of atonement and finding peace with the many parts of my life that are waiting for resolution in a mysterious timing only the Universe knows. Perhaps, you can relate? I was fortunate to stay close to home with others during the deep snow.  Sharing meals, playing Rummikub, and finding quiet kinship amidst the turmoil of our external world was the best New Year’s gift ever.   

Here are a few upcoming events I’d like to invite you to!  February 1st is our second annual Asian feast celebrating the Chinese New Year.  February 21-24 is our yearly Winter Women’s Retreat.  March 21-23 we will rebuild the purification lodge and celebrate the Spring Equinox.  See our full calendar here.

February 1 @ 2pm Celebrate the Chinese New Year and the year of the Snake with us! Bring your best Asian dish to share! Gather with community for an afternoon of fun and good fortune! If you’ve never been to the Lodge this is your chance to visit. Kelly will be offering her basket of silly fortunes! Come celebrate new beginnings! BYOB RSVP for directions to the lodge. If the weather is challenging, or you are traveling from afar, you may book a bed or a room in the lodge and stay overnight.

February 21-23 (24th optional) Winter Women’s Retreat Fully enter into the WOMB of WINTER by giving yourself a “special winter time-out”...This gathering is intended to hold sacred space for each other - to pay attention to the serious inner work we are longing to do but often resist. We are asking that everyone attending join us by Friday evening in time to open the Circle at 7pm - to create the matrix that will hold an atmosphere of intimacy where nothing is held back. There are 4 open beds remaining. Register here.

An optional Sisterhood Purification Lodge will be part of our weekend to release unnecessary resentments and patterns in order to free up our energy and be open to attracting our present desires. Many women have a personal vision they are seeding in coming together...so perhaps this is an intent we each share. Women that come together with focused intent create magic!

Meal teams and food sharing will keep the cost affordable.

March 21-23 Rebuilding our Purification Lodge & Spring Equinox celebration: The Purification Lodge ceremonies have been the foundation of our community here, and attracts those who are seeking healing, growth, and like minded humans. Every 2 years our lodge needs to be rebuilt. It’s a community endeavor to remove the old structure, cut new saplings, dig holes for the lodge poles, re-paint the stepping stones, and prepare the tobacco ties. On Sunday we have a consecration ceremony/sweat for the community that has helped in it’s rebuilding. All those lending a hand over the weekend are welcome to stay over at no cost! RSVP Kelly

Shamanic Purification Lodges are a sacred ceremony that is open to all men and women that desire to connect with the elements, the worlds of Grandmother Earth, to pray (for self, life and others), to purify (emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually), and who choose to grow and evolve as humans. The alchemy of this ceremony creates a safe space for us to let go of what no longer serves us and connect with Spirit to receive guidance and healing.

There is no charge for the ceremony. Donations or an energy exchange for lodge maintenance are appreciated. *If you are new to the Sweet Medicine SunDance path purification lodge, you must RSVP to receive the protocols about how to prepare for this ceremony.

Solstice Lodge December 21 @ 1PM

The starkness of winter can be a beautiful time. Bare branched skeletons on the mountain ridge holding their own against cold relentless wind. The wind makes them stronger as roots grip firmly to their rocky home. A clear indigo sky hosts shimmering jewels holding presence, mystery, and seeds of hope. Cozy in my bed, the howling wind is my night time meditation. A sliver of moon moves west across my window pane down through branches on the horizon and into another’s view a continent away from me. Bearing the seasons of life is full of surrender and quiet joys. Join us for the last gathering of 2024 with other like minded souls.

Solstice Purification Lodge, December 21 @ 1PM Join us for the last gathering of 2024. Bring a wrapped gift to exchange and a potluck dish for sharing. Newcomers arrive at Noon for a full orientation. RSVP Kelly

Winter Solstice is a special time to align with the season of Winter. This year's ceremony falls on the exact day this year! The shortest day of the year is a message to begin slowing down. I can hear many of you snickering inside "slow down? right..." in this world that only seems to be speeding up. However, when we slow down we actually increase our presence and ability to see more accurately the world as it objectively exists. With greater presence we see more clearly the choices that serve our higher good rather than moving so fast that we act in haste. The deep dark dreaming space of winter lets us gestate our desires without yet taking action. Spring encourages those dreams to awaken.

Shamanic Purification Lodges are a sacred ceremony that is open to all men and women that desire to connect with the elements, the worlds of Grandmother Earth, to pray (for self, life and others), to purify (emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually), and who choose to grow and evolve as humans. The alchemy of this ceremony creates a safe space for us to let go of what no longer serves us and connect with Spirit to receive guidance and healing. Come join us in a circle of reflections that we can make a jump in our evolution on a personal and collective level. There will be a potluck after the ceremony.

There is no charge for the ceremony. Donations or an energy exchange for lodge maintenance are appreciated. *If you are new to the Sweet Medicine SunDance path purification lodge, you must RSVP to receive the protocols about how to prepare for this ceremony.