ritual + story + play = transformation
Welcome to RUNA—a teaching and learning community dedicated to ritual, story, and play for the sake of transformation and liberation.
My name is Zoë, and I am a ritual facilitator, storyteller, and founder of RUNA. I have guided the art and design of rituals and care networks since 2020, and now steward transformative rituals, games, and an emerging care network between the U.S. and Brazil. I am guided by a commitment to collective health and well-being through the eradication of internal and external oppression. I live in Curitiba, Brazil, on the original land of the Guarani, Kaingang, and Xetá people.
RUNA brings together people from diverse and diasporic cultural, spiritual, and religious backgrounds. These shared values help us create a foundation for our community where differences and uniqueness are honored, not flattened into a single story.
We build reciprocal relationships rooted in finding a dynamic balance of giving and receiving
We practice and encourage autonomy, sovereignty, and agency with ourselves and each other
We honor a multiplicity of worldviews and ways of knowing
We activate our individual and shared imagination as tools for transformation
We intentionally mark the end of cycles to honor what was and support the next phases to unfold
We support integration and coherence across inner and outer worlds in ways that feel authentic and accessible for each of us
A bit more about me: With a fiction writer and science writer as parents, I grew up steeped in language, play, and stories. As an undergraduate at UNC–Chapel Hill, I studied English Literature and Creative Writing, diving into various narrative forms — fiction, memoir, creative nonfiction, oral history, and even grammar sketch comedy.
I later earned a Master’s in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University, where I designed community-based child care programs and participatory adult learning projects. At Tufts, I focused on how communities that have experienced racism and disinvestment from the state are reclaiming agency through collective planning and building networks of care.
RUNA weaves together my interest in collective change while living with personal grief and great uncertainty. My most life-changing experience has been being a sister to Nelle and a companion on her extremely nonlinear, iterative, and often overwhelming journey with chronic illness. I have found meaningful support as a sibling to a person facing chronic illness in many places, and most powerfully, in Lara Irene Vesta’s teachings. From 2020 to 2024, I studied with Lara in 9 and 13-month classes, immersing myself in ritual arts, land connection, ancestral research, disability justice, and rites of passage.
Through RUNA, I seek to create a living and evolving home base for those seeking lives full of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being. My time in Curitiba, Brazil, so far, is helping me bring this vision to life through the art and craft of building ceremony, games, and building webs of care across the U.S. and Brazil.
Relevant Training and Background:
M.A. in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University (2017–2020) — M.A. thesis explored relationality, power, and participatory education strategies for adults organizing for housing, labor, and environmental justice. Research published in 2021, 2022, and forthcoming in 2025.
B.A. in English Literature and Minor in Creative Writing (2014) from UNC-Chapel Hill
Dark Goddess Year of Ceremony with Lara Irene Vesta (2022), a 13-month rite of passage rooted in myth, embodiment, and spiritual practice
Wild Soul Runes Gnosis Class with Lara Irene Vesta (2021–2022), a 33-week immersion in ancestral connection, symbols, and mythology
Trauma- and Grief-Informed Facilitation Training with Shauna Janz, a four-month cohort (2023) and two-day intensive (2024)
Embodied Ancestral Inquiry with Marika Heinrichs (2023), a 6-month course on body-based healing, ancestral reconnection, and unlearning whiteness
Visionary Alchemy with Gabriela de Golia (2024) introduced me to a transformative and embodied four-month ritual container
Theater of the Oppressed, NYC (2021) & Big Blue Door Character Development Workshop (2024) — trainings in liberatory theater practices and character development through improvisation
1:1 mentorship with Lara Irene Vesta and Shauna Janz, as well as ongoing peer mentorship with Blair Mikaela Franklin, Gabriela de Golia, Elijah Moray, Megan Quinn, and Bevelyn Afor Ukah
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The Mycelial Care Atlas is RUNA’s Substack, featuring art, writing, classes, and events that explore ritual, play, and collective care. Your privacy matters—personal information is never shared without your consent.
