The Wisdom of Sacred Pilgrimage: Coming Home to Yourself

A conversation with Katie Duggan

Some places don't simply ask us to visit...

They ask us to remember.

In this beautiful conversation, Katie Duggan and I explore the magic of sacred pilgrimage, the mystery of Avalon, and why stepping into a sacred landscape has the power to awaken something ancient within us.

Together we explore why pilgrimage is so much more than travel.

It is an inner journey.

A remembering.

A return.

Whether Avalon has been whispering your name for years—or you've never heard of it before—I hope this conversation reminds you that the deepest pilgrimage always begins within.

In this episode we explore...

🌹 Why Avalon feels unlike anywhere else in the world

🌹 The difference between self-improvement and sacred remembering

🌹 How sacred landscapes awaken forgotten parts of ourselves

🌹 Why slowness is an essential spiritual practice

🌹 The healing power of feminine community and sisterhood

🌹 Following the quiet embodied pull before your mind understands why

🌹 Bringing the spirit of pilgrimage into everyday life

A few moments you'll want to savor...

"The ceremony starts after the ceremony."

"Nobody goes to Avalon and comes back the same."

"Your pilgrimage starts the moment you say yes."

A Venusian Reflection:

Where in your life do you feel an invitation...

...one that doesn't necessarily make logical sense...

...but continues to whisper anyway?

Rather than asking,
"Does this make sense?"

Perhaps ask,

"What can I play with here? Can I give this some space and just get curious? 

Sometimes the journey begins long before we ever pack a suitcase.

Connect with Katie:

✨ Katie’s Website: https://www.katieduggan.com/ 

✨ Learn more about her Avalon Pilgrimages: https://www.katieduggan.com/eventbrite-event/divine-feminine-avalon-pilgrimage/ 

✨ Follow Katie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wellness.with.katie.d/

✨ Follow Katie on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0iL48UkqX9t73LLGny_Ekg

If this conversation nourished you...

I'd love to invite you to subscribe to the podcast and share this episode with a sister who may be longing for a deeper connection to herself.

And if you're feeling called to explore these themes more deeply, I'd love to welcome you into the Vital Goddess Mastery Temple, where each week we gather to slow down, breathe, move, and remember the sacred wisdom of the feminine body. Learn more here.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:07

These are no ordinary times. And you, my friend, are no ordinary woman. The feminine is rising. And a new way of being human is emerging on the planet. It's time for a return to the body. Where truth lives, pleasure flows, and love leads the way. Hello, beautiful soul, and welcome to the Vital Goddess Podcast. This is a space for what I call the Venusian Revolution. A return to the body where truth lives, pleasure flows, and love leads the way. Here we explore what it means to live as a woman who is rooted in her truth, guided by her pleasure, and led by love. And for many women, midlife becomes a powerful threshold for this journey. A moment when something deeper begins to call her forward. The path of the feminine is rooted in the temple of the body. Here we root to rise. Embodiment is the reclamation. Welcome to the Venusian Revolution. I'm your host, Diane Shepard, and I'm so glad you're here. All right, well, welcome back to the Vital Goddess Podcast. If you've been here before, welcome back again. It's always such a pleasure to have you here. So appreciate you if you're tuning in again. And if you're brand new, maybe you just found the show and stumbled upon it and um are just checking this out for the very first time. Well, I'm so thrilled you're here. And I hope you find something here that you are looking for, something that inspires you. And uh, I have a feeling that today you definitely will. I have an amazing guest with me. I'm in conversation with Katie Dugan. She's an incredible woman, sister on the path. She's a Ricky Master, spiritual guide, a mentor, a kundalini teacher, a tantrika, a shamanic journey practitioner. So many things I could say about Katie, Sister on the Path for sure. And um, it brings me so much joy to invite Kitty into this conversation today. We're gonna be talking about the wisdom of sacred pilgrimage and returning home to yourself. And um, Katie has so much to share on this, and her her story is is really powerful. I believe she was in the wellness world for quite some time, but then after a life-altering car accident and the loss of her brother, she found solace and peace in going deeper into her own spiritual practice and journey. And uh quite quite often that happens, right? And when we go into uh a very difficult time, things open up. And um so Katie is now sharing her gifts and supporting so many and um everything that she's learned in her own journey. And now she's dedicated to helping others really find their peace, their freedom, and deep connection to themselves and to others. And um yeah, so she she does so many things, wears so many hats, and um again teaches workshops and retreats and online community, she does private mentorship. And today we are gonna really hone in on the pilgrimage that she leads women on to Avalon, these four-day pilgrimage um retreats that she's been running since 2024 to Avalon, Gloucesterbury, England. And um, so I am just so thrilled to have Katie Dugan with me here on the podcast. Welcome, Katie.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Hi, Diane. It's such a privilege to be here. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

Oh, it's just so wonderful to hang with you anytime, anywhere. But um, I'm really excited about this conversation. So, where to begin, right? There's so much here we can dive into. I was just sharing before we hit record some of my experiences in Avalon myself, which have been incredibly powerful. But yeah, so Katie, um, for women who perhaps never been to Avalon or have hearing this for the very first time, how would you describe it?

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Oh, how would I describe Avalon? Um how would I describe it for me? It's like an adult's candy shop. It's like you get off the bus or you get off the taxi from the airport or wherever you're traveling from, and it's this magical place that you just enter into, like between the smells and the people and the energy, it's just a feast for the senses. And whether you're into spirituality or energy, um, it's undeniable what you feel there and what you experience there. And I've traveled all around the world to many sacred places, to many different sites, and Avalon Glastonberry is one that I keep being pulled back to time and time again because of its magic. And it really invokes that inner child within me, like that Alice in Wonderland or that Harry Potter sense of like there's something otherworldly is how I would describe Avalon.

SPEAKER_03 5:32

Oh man, yeah, agreed. It feels so different. I know exactly what you mean. I remember stepping off the bus with my big backpack and like wow, where am I? This is amazing. And yeah, just the magic kept unfolding. Um, yeah, and what else is there about it that's so different? I know you you travel a lot and you you're you're a bit of um uh a globetrotter whenever we connect, like quite often you're in an airport or somewhere else in Mexico or or um where else were you? Trinidad. And you know, where's Katie now? It's like a where's Waldo, where's Katie? Katie Dugan.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

I call myself Dora the Explorer.

SPEAKER_03 6:11

Yeah, I love that Dora the Explorer. Exactly. And you've yeah, I mean, you've been many places, some of them very sacred places. What do you think it is about Avalon that really draws you back again and again?

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Yeah, it's it's known as the heart chakra of the world. Um, so as we have the chakras in our bodies, there's also chakras across the world. Um, and it's such a emerging place of the feminine and the masculine. There's dragon energy there, there's sacred feminine, the goddesses revered and worshiped there. Um, and I just love the freedom that's there and like how people give themselves permission to express themselves. So you'll often see people barefoot or in costume or like with crazy hair and uh masks and like playing guitar and like creating art on the street, and there's something very inspirational about the place, and like that, it's contagious, it gives me permission to be fully myself, whatever expression of myself that I want to be in that day. Um, and it's like a second home. Like every time I go there, I just feel at home, and every time I leave, like I just cry the whole way from Glastonbury to Bristol on the bus because there's such an ache in my heart. Um, and maybe that's a Celtic thing, maybe it's a Magdalene thing, maybe it's um it's a soul thing. I don't really know. Um, but what I do know for sure that it is a very special place for me. And I've often heard people say like they feel at home in different places in the world, and Glastonbury, Avalon, like that's my home. That's my home that I just keep going back to. And it's Avalon isn't a place. Maybe it was a place, you know, a couple of thousand years ago, but it's it's an energy that, like, if you allow yourself and just peel back the mundane, it is there, and there's so much there to offer you in terms of healing, enlightenment, inspiration, um, and other worldly experiences that can't really be described in words, but can only be felt and experienced in the body. And that's what I love about it. It really brings me back to my body and brings me back to my senses and my inner child.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

Oh, that's so beautiful. I love that you bring in the inner child piece as well. That playfulness and the magic, and that that really opens up like so much, I think, for for many of us, right? Which is a great lead-in to what I wanted to ask you next. I I love how you often talk about use the word remembering about these pilgrimages. I love that word. Um, what what do you feel like that yourself and and women that you guide there member?

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Um, well, talking about the inner child, like um I just frolic through the fields in my long dresses and pick daisies and you know, sit and talk to the fairies. And this might sound, you know, coming from an a 37-year-old adult, it's like, oh my god, like, you know, what are you talking about? But like when you're a child, all of this is very real to you and very magical, and we forget it, and life becomes so serious and so boring and so mundane. But when you go to Avalon, like it opens up those places that you have forgotten and you remember, oh my god, there's a little girl inside of me that wants to play and that loves to dress up and loves to talk to the fairies and the trees and you know, make flower arrangements and things like that. So for me, it's it's that inner child, it's that giddiness, it's that playfulness. Um and then when the women come, you know, some of them are quite serious, you know, and they're working in corporate nine to five, they're have children, they're caring for their parents, um, they're in relationships and jobs they don't want to be in. And they reach out to me and be like, Katie, I don't know anything about this retreat, you know, I don't know why I'm drawn to it, but I really feel that I need to go. So mountains are moved, the the cash comes in, the calendar is cleared. Like if you are meant to go to Avalon, I always say she will part water and move mountains for you to be there. And somehow or another, the women are charioted in on magic carpets and you know, teleported there, and they're like, I never knew that I needed something so much. And the remembering that they receive it's like worthiness, this priestess energy, this goddess energy, and you begin to see them going from like this really, really tight, contracted bud into this blossoming over what seems like four years, and it's only four days, and they just begin to open. Some of them crack open, some of them gently unfold petal by petal. Um and the connections that are made between them and nature, them and their bodies, them and each other, it's it's so profound. At times I just have to sit back and I'm like, Am I in a movie or is this actually happening?

SPEAKER_03 11:26

Oh my gosh, I could totally relate to everything you said.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 11:31

Even from the journey there, like like I I was sharing with Katie, a friend of mine was really obsessed with going. I had no idea what I was getting into. And yeah, everything parted. Our our travel there was really kind of strangely chaotic, and yet everything worked out perfectly. We ended up having to take separate flights. It was so bizarre, coming from different places. But we ended up at the airport, like that morning, the next morning, we're like, oh, hi. We reunited, like we were like, This is not gonna work, but it worked anyway. The whole the whole time there just felt like that, like you're just being guided and ushered through, and um, the connection to the land. I felt so viscerally, you know, and yeah, something ancient there, like when you said the ancient goddess priestess energy for sure. And I had a real strong um experience with the sacred masculine energy there as well, and um a very kind of a Celtic flavor, which I thought was so interesting and so powerful. Um but yeah, it was it was interesting how things just um magically worked out. Yeah, that's our I feel like my intuition was heightened as well. It just felt like, yeah, you're just you're operating in a different, um, beautiful frequency, I think. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, it feels like so many of us, I uh myself included, we spend a lot of time and energy and have many years um in the transformational space, like you know, okay, I want to transform, I want to be my best self, and um and that's all beautiful, right? That's that's awesome. But it feels like pilgrimage, like what you what you offer here is is different from typical self-improvement. We kind of already touched on that, but I'd like want to give you space to maybe elaborate on that more. How is that different from like okay, like you said, some women have no idea why they're going, but they go and they're like, Oh, I didn't even know I needed that. Yes, you know, different from say here's our goals for this transformational process. I'm sure as you as you guys start the journey, you're like, we don't really know where this is going. Is that true?

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Yeah, like Avalon has a weird and wonderful way of I don't like to use the word trigger, but kind of you know, press some buttons. Um, and this is to wherever you have resistance to connecting with parts of yourself, like with that word that I use, remembering, like we have this resistance of pushing down our gifts and pushing down our power because we're afraid, we're afraid of our ourselves because maybe we'll be judged or fear what other people will think, or like that it might uh change the relationships that we have or change our lives, because that's how powerful our gifts and are. So we push them down. So before we even go to Avalon, um, the pilgrim starts online um and we meet in sacred circle, and you know, I explain about Avalon and its power and how important it is to be intentional of like why you're going there, like plant one seed, like make sure that there's some sort of thread or or reasoning why you go there, and that can change and evolve um over the time towards the pilgrimage, um, and getting to meet the sisters and hearing their stories, and you know, so everyone can soften into like, oh wow, these group of women are pretty cool. I I like this vibe. So the the coven already begins to create itself before we go, and it's interesting for me as well to see what kind of uh common theme is there with these women because they will all be very different, but there will always be something that kind of weaves them together, um, like that seed. Um, and I explain to them how important it is that we stick together because Avalon, the energy is chaotic at times, you know, and it's people are very free and like, you know, very elaborate. So, you know, I explain how important it is to stay together and be together. Um, so there's that sense of safety and containment even before we go. And a lot of the women say to me, you know, like magical things start to happen, like dreams, like they start to pull out old clothes and dresses and lipsticks or jewellery that they would have never worn, and suddenly things start to come online that they have previously denied. Um, and then often a lot of them would come from Ireland, so um, they meet in the airport and they travel and pilgrim together and they have the chats and the laugh, and they're like, God, I never had so much fun, you know, or I never had deep conversations like this before. So they're already beginning to open. Um, and then the other part of that as well, the pilgrim, is leaving behind the responsibilities. So saying yes to themselves and saying, You can take care of the dinner and the kids, like I'm taking this time for me, I am unavailable. And some women haven't said or done that in over 40 years, haven't put themselves first. It's a real Irish thing where it's like women put everybody else before them, and there's very little in the tank for themselves at the end of the day or ever. So for them to say yes to four days to themselves is massive, it's huge, right? And that in itself catapults them into this place of like, I want more of this. Yeah, like I deserve this. Like, who was I that I didn't think that I could allow myself? So you see them already begin to stand up straighter and like treat themselves to the cake or treat themselves to the nice dinner, treat themselves to the beautiful dress in Glastonbury, and they're like, I haven't done this ever for myself. Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:23

That is so beautiful, and that was my experience as well.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

It must be just an avalanche.

SPEAKER_03 17:31

Just come with me on this journey. I'm like, really? I've never, you know, I was raising my kids at that time too. And um, but it was the uh catalyst for many other adventures to come. For sure. Once you start really, I could actually do this. And when I give myself, it was very permission-giving. And once I, you know, dip my baby toe in there, and I was like, oh yeah, I need to, you know, dive deeper into these things that interest me, you know, like sacred sexuality and sensuality and pleasure. And it was like this, I think this avalan journey for me was a big part of the the kickstart of a lot of things that that unfolded. Yeah. Uh it was at midlife, you know, just on going through menopause, and it was just the perfect time for me to to do that. And um, around 40 something, I don't know, early 40s, but it was beautiful. Yeah, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

And that is the age of the women that would mostly come. Well, like anything from early 20s right up into late 60s, like that's kind of my my range. Yeah, yeah. Um, so to have like the the maiden mother and crones all together, that in itself is a pilgrimage, like for the the crones, the sages to learn from the maidens and the maidens to see the mothers and the crones, like the dynamic is just so diverse and so deep and so juicy, and age becomes irrelevant. Wow, you know, it's yeah, it's magic.

SPEAKER_03 19:06

It's gorgeous, having that common ground to dance to dance on together, right? It's like wow, that's so beautiful. Wow, yeah, and we kind of touched on this already, but I'm sure you have more to say. Um, what happens when we like actually place our bodies in sacred landscapes? And I think all the all the earth is sacred, but there are, like you said, the heart chakra um connection with Avalon. I'd love to hear you talk more about that.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

Oh, even thinking about it now, I'm like, ooh.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

Um, so yes, it's it's not only the heart chakra of the world, but there's the Magdalene uh or the Mary and Michael line that traverses through uh Glastonbury and also to Greece and um to many sacred sites all around the world. Um so by walking the land and by sitting on these ley lines and sitting in in these different places, um, there's codes in in these ley lines that have been planted there five, six thousand years ago for us to remember and for it to be a transmission through our bodies and come back online, it's like, why am I having these dreams? Why am I having these thoughts? Why does this feel so good and so real that I've never experienced it before? But it feels like I have experienced it before. So when we begin to walk and have ceremonies and meditations and things, like even with women that have barely meditated or aren't into this kind of thing, they turn around to me and say, Katie, my tailbone is vibrating. What is happening? And I'm like, Welcome, welcome to Avalon. She's like, No, my now my whole body is vibrating. I'm like, Is it does it feel okay? She's like, I'm turning and enjoying it, but it's a little bit strange. So we we always say, I love that the biggest critics come and they become the big, biggest uh converts. Like they're just in four days, they're like, Okay, that's undeniable. What I felt, what I seen in my visions, my dreams, and they they have the biggest transformations, you know.

SPEAKER_03 21:22

That is so cool. Yes, and I really resonate with what you're saying too, with um the vibrating tailbone. There was one afternoon we we took a nap on the tour, like it was a beautiful sunny day, and the sheep were coming and kissing our toes and stuff like that. But it was so interesting, and the dreams as well. Like we both, my girlfriend and I both fell asleep. We both had these profound dreams, like life-changing dreams. And it felt like just again, this beautiful, juicy, sensual energy and tailbone, sacrum, spine. And um, so yeah, it just felt like wow, there's something to the land here.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

that is yeah like you said codes or something that's really speaking to me in in my body and in my my soul so that's so cool I love that the the ones who are the most skeptical end up being the Avalon ambassadors right like they're the ones like when are you going again like I want to go back there like let's explore more of this um because these are portals these are portals and dimensions in which you can only experience through the body like we can have this conversation and like you know tell people about our experience but unless you've actually experienced it's like ah okay now I get it because I've read lots of books and like I went there because of um Rebecca Campbell's book Rise Sister Rise and I remember going to the Magdalene Chapel and I sat there and it was during COVID so like I literally had the whole of Glastonbury to myself like there wasn't a sinner around the place like it was like I was there was nobody absolutely nobody so I was sitting in the Magdalene chapel and I I'm not religious at all and I would never ever go to churches but I was like no I really want to go to this chapel like it's so beautiful it's quaint it's tiny and I remember sitting there with my eyelids closed and like a thousand voices just kept coming like like I was like wow like where is this coming from so I sat there and it was like you are a Magdalene you are a Magdalene you're a Magdalene I'm like like what is this like and I I didn't really know anything about Mary Magdalene or the goddess or priestesses or anything like that. But like that for me was the initiation I was like I cannot deny that like you know that was just so profound. And it's not because I'm chosen or special but we are all Magdalene's like Magdalene was a woman you know two thousand years two and a half thousand years ago but she was just a walking expression of the divine feminine that it's like if she can do it and achieve it and be it so can we. So Magdalene is we're all Magdalene's we are all connected by the red thread and the more we remember that and allow that to come forward the more we can do this work and bring forth our sacred gifts and change the world because you know it's the the Dalai Lama said you know it's women that are going to change the world the divine feminine that's what we need. We need more women to remember and to awaken to their gifts and to this energy like it's like oh it's just so powerful and it's so profound. It's like I just hope and wish for every woman that they just get a little taste of it and then they get hungry for more and you know keep searching and keep keep remembering because it's all inside it's all in our bodies.

SPEAKER_03 24:44

I love that I love that you highlight that because yeah it does feel like a remembrance doesn't it you know yeah whether you're doing breath work or jade practice or doing a pilgrimage it's like it's like oh yeah we remember the Magdalene part of us starts to stir awake and she's she's right she's right there. Yeah right there beneath the surface which ignored it I love it I love that you you know you you hold such beautiful permission giving space for women to have those experiences and um I I find that to be so true and women it's like what we really need more than anything is space and permission right to have that and then boom there there she is it's amazing you take them out of the environment that's causing all of the contraction like the responsibility the you know putting everyone before themselves and you put them into a new environment that is super supportive to that awakening it's like ah in four days in one day you know there's oh suddenly she's a rose suddenly she's just blossomed open right you know it's incredible to see I'm just yeah I feel so blessed to to be able to witness amazing transformations yeah well that's a beautiful segue into um I love that you describe moving slowly through Avalon. I think that just really caught my eye I was like yeah so I would love to hear you speak about why slowness is such a part of the important part of of the journey yeah um it's something that I have to remind myself every day.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

So the best way to live it is to teach us. Yeah absolutely so I'm like oh what would I say to my clients or students slow down because we miss so much when we're on our phones and multitasking and doing a hundred things at once and you know just trying to get to the end of the day. So an important part of the the pilgrimage preparation is I say to them now is the time to start telling yourself that that to take your time to do things slowly to like really relish in every moment and who you are right now before you go to the pilgrimage because the four days go by so quickly and there's so much to harvest from each and every single moment. So when we arrive together it's just really about embodiment and teaching the nervous system that's like ah okay we're just going to go minute by minute and who cares what we're gonna do in two hours time now let's just digest this part and this part. So we're like slowly chipping away at like that needing to speed up and we're sipping cacao blue lotus we're creating sacred incense together in the Magdalene chapel with a pestle and mortar like everything we do is really just about one thing one breath one movement we're walking barefoot in the grass feeling each step and all of the people that have pilgrimaged all of the women that have sat in ceremony before us and really connecting in and back with our ancient roots and the only way to do that is to slow down and to really feel and a lot of women are rushing and racing because they don't want to feel or they're afraid to feel so to see them actually stop and process and digest and feel the pain and feel the pleasure and feel the excitement and feel the sadness like they really get back to what it is to fully being alive and that can only happen when you slow down wow so well said Katie that's beautiful I could just feel the the energy created by these women just by simply slowing down and how how healing and how magnetic that is like oh my goodness that's that's absolutely gorgeous.

SPEAKER_03 28:54

And I don't know if you're probably well familiar with um this meditation of Tandava the sacred dance of the the masculine and feminine yeah I haven't participated but no of it yeah yeah yeah we we do that in the the retreat and that is probably my favorite thing to teach and to witness to see them dance and to surrender and just to move into that it's like they're just swimming in the cosmos and they come back and they're like I'm gonna do this with my grandson I'm gonna do this with my husband my boyfriend my girlfriend it's just like they have learned this art of of surrender in into the slowness and that for me is just so beautiful to witness it always brings me to tears yeah yeah it's bringing me to tears right now and it's so true isn't it in our modern life it's almost hard to even grasp that concept of that the power that's available to us when we when we surrender you know and then once you taste it it's like oh yeah I'm I'm gonna align with that I need more of that I'm gonna live my life like that. Yeah this is my new frequency exactly because yeah the power of that is incredible and it's been you know really um lost for the for many and hidden deliberately hidden yeah the power and you know it requires safety and slowing down as as you said and but having that safety of you guiding being in sisterhood slowing down and then having that structure of a dance too to to really guide women in that that is just incredible. Yeah so I'm sure you you you already spoke to this a bit but the women um must leave with like lifelong sisters I can imagine the conversations after the pilgrimage that continue as well.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

Such beautiful sister who is created afterwards like the first two pilgrimages that I had were the same group that went back and they're all still very close like the WhatsApp is very much alive they break off into different branches and meet up and really are supporting each other through life um and it just it's that's what I love doing is creating community and connecting people together because it's something that I longed for for so long like as you know the spiritual path and becoming who you are meant to become and living your dharma it can be lonely you know it can be lonely when you're transitioning. So I was calling out for sacred sisterhood for so long I was like I just need to create my own I need to create my own common and it was true retreats and um you know pilgrimages and things like that where you have women together for a longer period of time that those relationships can build and sustain afterwards. So yeah there's such I see them now with each other you know on different places and going for coffee and going to different things it's it's so special. So special wow and do you think that experience you had during COVID of having that whole space to yourself and hearing those voices like was that like the time you were like oh yeah I need to to start bringing women here was that yeah so the second the second time I went back um went home digested my experience and went back I started to have all these visions of um me and these women frolicking through the long grass in our dresses and like sitting in ceremonies sitting at the end of the tour like going up to the tour in Chalicewell Garden lying on our back and it was like you need to bring women here and I'm like who am I to bring women here like I I can't guide women here I don't know anything and then it kept coming it's like you need to bring these women here you need to offer this you need to be the bridge and yeah I think this is my sixth definitely my fifth retreat amazing four out six usually do one in the one in the spring one in the fall right yes from the northern hemisphere perspective oh my gosh yeah and each and every time these women are like when are you going like I need to go I need to know about this place like I hear Avalon in my dreams it's like you know but they're a lot of women are afraid to go by themselves.

SPEAKER_03 33:31

Sure and they they want that community they want that sisterhood they want that guidance and they're handheld and like it's okay like we'll show you we'll take you there so there's so much beauty in that in community and sisterhood and it's a beautiful experience to have together because if you try and have this conversation with someone who hasn't experienced it they're looking at you going are you okay really you weren't substances or what are you taking right yeah I'm like no no it's it's it's legit you know but you have to feel it to believe it you know for sure oh my gosh yeah so that's the next question really is like um yeah I guess if and I love it because I'm gonna get weird here too my weird is my wonderful is like I love that my weird is my wonderful exactly if Avalon the spirit of Avalon herself right could speak to the women listening today who are like what are these two on um what are they what are they what what do you think Avalon would say oh what would Avalon say it is your birthright to be happy yeah and happiness isn't found in any specific place in the world it's found inside of yourself but sometimes going to these places can help to awaken that so yeah come and I'll awaken you awaken you to whatever it is that you need in that moment that's beautiful yeah and it feels like that continuum of um the journey right and the not just integration of let me just digest that but who am I now you know not just like oh that was something that I did it's over there now it seems like something like this is you know um integrates into your life in so many ways you don't even anticipate like that that was a case for me it's as well um yeah and I I would imagine and you guys I'm sure as as a group talk about this a lot when you go home um keeping that spirit alive and that cultivation as a continuum. Yeah which can be challenging right when you're in the daily of the kids and everybody's like wants something from you and yeah just having that gift of four days where nobody really wants something from you you get to just sink in like yeah I'm sure it just it's a it's um it's a practice though isn't it what whether you go to um a pilgrimage or not it's like can we cultivate that spirit of pilgrimage in our everyday lives like in our own backyards.

SPEAKER_01 36:23

Yeah yeah well the ceremony starts after the ceremony you know the real work starts when you leave the healing session or when you leave the retreat it's like how how can you take just a little piece of that and put it into your life and like I always have my my Magdalene incense and that for me it's like every time I feel like I'm losing myself or losing that connection I just come back to the incense that we made in the the chapel and remember like how we spent hours like grinding the resins and pouring in the essential oils and singing and you know connecting with the the Magdalene energy and it's like oh I'm back I'm back and it's like nobody goes to Avalon and comes back the same like you are guaranteed a transformation um yeah I'm never the same and I've been going there since 2022 probably two times a year and I'm I've something always shifts and transforms and I'm never the same when I come home in the most beautiful way. And then I'm like okay how can I how can I ride this wave? How can I continue this frequency and of course it dwindles but it's like something sticks. Yeah for sure something sticks and it's like you just have to keep bringing yourself back to what you wanted to change and what you wanted to continue. And it's just about being devoted to that and that's what going to Avalon over the years has taught me is to be devotional to your path and to yourself and everybody benefits from that. The more you fill up your cup the more you have to give yeah that's so true.

SPEAKER_03 38:07

Yeah and I love how you brought it into such a like a simple powerful thing like the sense of smell you know like how that can just be such a remembrance in and of itself yeah it's amazing I just have to know though like what kind of resins did you guys work with oh so many so many okay copal borax um what other ones myrrh yeah yeah um oh I have a whole I think you're like like 22 that's which is the Magdalene number actually is tomorrow's Magdalene feast day oh my gosh I just really sat down obviously it is obviously it is right of course tomorrow it's Magdalene because 22 is her number 22 yeah so we're recording on the 21st everybody in July yeah so this could probably go live on the 22nd yeah amazing yeah I'm gonna definitely set up my space for that that's beautiful yeah yeah I love that that um those simple reminders you know that that it's it's true like once you have an experience like that you can bring yourself back beautiful and these things are so simple like that's what I love to teach in my retreats and um workshops is the simplicity of ceremony the simplicity of pilgrimage you can have a pilgrimage from the minute you wake up in the morning to the minute you wake up you go to bed yeah like every day for me is a pilgrimage yeah yeah a journey and it's like how can I make this magical how can I make this devotional and see where it takes me I love that so much. I'm I'm big with my my morning coffee devotion you know like because we forget that we can actually set the tone quite not a in a controlling way at all but like you know set your frequency and it's amazing I love to watch like when I do and when I don't you know what I mean you're just like oh I just you know hopped right on my phone this morning. Oh no I could feel that at 5 p.m you know what I mean kind of thing yeah I didn't do that today but like when I've done that and you feel so different like when you just take that little bit of devotional time in the morning and even in the busiest say if you're in that process of of raising family which you know I've been um just taking that little time for yourself it's amazing how powerful that can be um to to just connect to that energy so good well I could talk to you all day but I would love to end with um if a woman's feeling that pull and it's definitely an embodiment pull isn't it like some women get goosebumps and I tend to get like champagne bubbles in my heart that's like my telltale um somatic signaling um but if you're feeling a little stir that pull um and you this is this is key you don't even know why this is where we we don't want to lose our logical mind absolutely but we are so trained to let the logical mind override those sensations.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

I would love to hear you speak to that like if you're feeling that ooh you know I think there's something here for me maybe not even this time around but there's definitely something there I what would you like her to know um yeah if you're feeling that butterfly in your your belly are like those champagne bubbles in your heart it's like tune into that ask that part of you what do you want me to know like what what are you trying to tell me and you know just just start the process like you don't have to commit to anything you don't have to get on a plane you don't have to like you know invest in anything but it's like just inform yourself it's like well what am I curious about why am I curious about this and just like have that childlike wonder and oh it's like well what if I always say to myself like well what if I did bring these women to to Avalon what if we did have beautiful ceremonies underneath the tour and in the chalice well like what if and it's like just feel it in your body and then see it in your mind and one day you will be standing there like literally it happens it happens like that you know yes but just allow yourself your pilgrimage starts right there your pilgrimage starts right there right with the yeah oh and so often we can shut that down you know absolutely yeah yeah so just give yourself permission to feel it play with it I love the playfulness and the curiosity of that and daydream you know right how would it feel to frolic through the fields barefoot with the grass tiggling your your ankles and like sitting back and just looking at the clouds and it's like yeah just allowing the land to hold you and to yeah get into your bones and your cells and to awaken those ancient parts of you that have been so forgotten and again you don't even have to go there to experience it.

SPEAKER_03 43:22

You can just invite Avalon in and she will come in so many different ways people might mention oh my daughter's name is Avalon and you're like what or you know yeah or like you know I'm obsessed with roses are you you know and all of these synchronicities and symbols will start flooding in it's like well maybe it's time to look into this place or see what it's about or buy a book on it and begin your pilgrimage from within yeah that is gorgeous oh I love that so much well Katie it's been such a pleasure to be in conversation with you on this um I just love how you followed your own curiosity uh around this and we all know that voice in our head that's who am I to do that right and I love how you challenged it with curiosity and playfulness and now look at look at what you've created from amazing. So celebrating that so massively and um yeah guys there's so many ways you can find Kitty she has an incredible Instagram account if you're on Instagram her website is gorgeous and you can just learn more about her offerings there. And yeah is there anything else you wanted to share we'll make sure we link everything in the show notes of course um oh thank you so much and my pleasure yeah I'm just just be open to sisterhood to connection to opportunities because you never know where one conversation or opportunity will lead and when you open yourself up and say yes to these punches these tingles these olive branches like they can lead you to so many incredible opportunities so just say yes be open um stay connected to your heart and just believe that anything is possible wow that is such a golden nugget right there thank you so much Katie it was thank you for having me Deanne yeah okay well everybody everything about Katie's in the show notes well not everything but you can find more about Katie in the show notes and all of her beautiful offerings to the planet and thank you so much for being on the planet at this time and and doing your thing and it's just really such a beautiful thing. So thank you Katie thank you so much okay thank you guys and until next time take super good care of your fine self and um that's all for this episode. Thank you my love for joining me in today's episode and if something true stirred within you that's the wisdom of your feminine speaking lean into that trust that and until next time soften breathe and let love lead