Ceremonial containers are a facilitated creative ritual practice. While they can complement therapy or coaching, they’re distinct in that I show up as a peer mentor, not a clinician or expert. I’ll offer a toolkit of ritual and ceremonial practices drawn from my own lived experience, along with stories to spark inspiration and reflection.

This space is rooted in mutual exploration. It’s not about diagnosing or fixing anything—it’s about being in honest relationship with ourselves, our processes, and devotionally sharing what emerges over a season or longer time frame.

Throughout my personal, academic, and spiritual journey, I have been fortunate to learn from a constellation of teachers and peer mentors—each a portal into worlds of knowledge, practice, and relationship.

These individuals named below are people with whom I maintain direct and ongoing connections, places I turn to for guidance, support, and reflection when questions or challenges arise. Their work and presence have profoundly shaped my understanding of ritual, justice, healing, and collective transformation.

Nelle Ackerman and Lara Irene Vesta have guided me in exploring Northern European folk practices, runes, and ancestral animism, with a grounding in chronic illness, disability justice, and embodied ancestral research.

Blair Mikaela Franklin, Gabriela de Golia, Megan Quinn, and Bevelyn Afor Ukah have and continue to help me navigate and understand personal alchemical processes of initiation, and connect with syncretic ritual practices across diasporic traditions.

I’ve also been deeply influenced by those working at the intersection of community and ecology—specifically through mentorship and support from Elijah Moray and the late Steve Wing, whose work in environmental and climate justice in North Carolina connects research, advocacy, and art towards radical visions for liberation.

My engagement with time-keeping, song, and jewish earth-based ritual has been enriched by Taya Mâ Shere, and Shauna Janz has offered grounding in trauma-informed grief work. Thanks to Marika Heinrichs’s introduction to the process of Embodied Ancestral Inquiry, I am now in ongoing connection with my sweet pod around running small businesses and practicing body-based ancestral connection.

The the Tufts Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning M.A. program, Penn Loh, Sarah Jimenez, Laurie Goldman, and my cohort deepened my understanding of community organizing, community-based care networks, solidarity economies, and popular education.

Finally, scholars like Arturo Escobar and Maria DeGuzmán, along with the UNC-Chapel Hill community, have been pivotal in shaping my approach to decolonial theory and understanding more about diasporic, queer, and feminist worldviews.

Each of these relationships has expanded my ability to engage with the world through a lens of connection, creativity, and collective care.

There is no single path to becoming a ritual facilitator and artist. This openness creates both opportunities and challenges. On one hand, it allows for expansive, lifelong learning and the development of deeply personal practices. On the other, it can mean a lack of clear ethical guidelines and systems of accountability within the field.

As I continue to explore how to participate in networks of ritual practitioners who are accountable, ethical, and grounded, I recognize the importance of three kinds of relationships: mentorship from teachers, peer mentorship, and education and training, and community-building. These areas offer guidance, reflection, and spaces for accountability.

Mentorship from Teachers

These are teachers with whom I have (or have had) direct, sustained relationships, and who offer me grounding, inspiration, and guidance:

• Taya Mâ Shere– Ongoing mentorship in earth-based ritual practice and ancestral connection

• Lara Irene Vesta – Guidance in Northern European folk practices, runes, and ancestral animism, all rooted in chronic illness, disability justice, and embodied ancestral research.

• Shauna Janz – Foundations in trauma-informed grief work and ritual facilitation.

Peer Mentorship

Peer relationships support my understanding of ritual as a dynamic, emergent practice. These ongoing connections help me navigate personal processes of initiation and engage with syncretic ritual traditions across diasporic lineages. I am in active peer mentorship with:

• Blair Mikaela Franklin

• Gabriela de Golia

• Elijah Moray

• Megan Quinn

• Bevelyn Afor Ukah

Education, Research, and Training

My formal education has shaped both my approach to facilitation, storytelling, and how to build strong care networks:

• M.A. in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning – Tufts University (2017–2020)
  Mentored by Penn Loh, Laurie Goldman, and Sarah Jimenez

  • Learned anti-oppressive pedagogies for adult education

  • Gained skills in designing and evaluating community-based care networks

• B.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing from UNC-Chapel Hill

  • Anthropology, women’s studies, diasporic literature, and queer theory—disciplines that continue to inform my worldview and approach to ritual

Additional training and education (where I was not awarded a certification) has also deeply shaped both my approach to offering ritual, grief, storytelling, and embodied practice:

• Dark Goddess Year of Ceremony – With Lara Vesta (2022)

  • A 13-month rite of passage rooted in myth, embodiment, and spiritual practice

• Wild Soul Runes Gnosis Group (2021–2022)

  • A 33-week immersion in ancestral connection through the runes

• Trauma- and Grief-Informed Facilitation Training – With Shauna Janz

  • 4-month cohort (2023) and 2-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)

  • Training in liberatory theater practices and character development through improvisation

Community-Building

My experiences building community and shared governance structures in the following contexts deeply inform my approach to ritual work as well:

• Resource Generation, Boston chapter member and Connecticut chapter founding member (2019-2022)

• Families Organizing to Resource Movements Leadership Team (2021-2022)

• New Haven Tenant Outreach Team (2021-2022)

• Showing Up for Racial Justice active member (2017-2020)

Each ceremony is shaped around you—your needs, rhythms, and intentions. From the beginning and throughout our time together, we’ll co-create and adjust practices so they genuinely support your life and deepen your sense of meaning and fulfillment.

For U.S.-based participants:
The rate is $150 USD per month, which includes:

• A monthly printable Ritual Kit, with practices customized for you

• A 75-minute live session (asynchronous or synchronous) each month

• As-needed support via WhatsApp or Signal between sessions

Skill Exchange Option (U.S. only):
If you have a skill that fits a current need in my business, I’m offering a limited number of exchange spots. In this model, you contribute:

• $85 USD per month, plus 1 hour of skill exchange, where you offer your skills to build a part of our collective project. Before we begin, we would determine what kind of exchange makes sense for both of us.

For participants in Brazil with previous ritual practice experience, I would deeply value the chance to practice both language and ritual together! This would be a peer to peer exchange rather than a peer mentorship one, so there is no financial cost. If we don’t already know each other, I’d want to meet briefly to ensure we have enough shared language for effective communication.

Yes! I am currently able to create ritual containers for 1 or 2 participants.