Soul Reset Button: Why Witches Keep Coming Back to This Magical Retreat
I met and interviewed these witches the first time they attended Anahata's Purpose, and am following up with them five years later.
We explore the transformative impact of Anahata's Purpose, and share how this spiritual gathering changed our lives and magical practices.
• Anahata's Purpose combines wellness festival, retreat, and festival elements with 150+ workshops and activities with facilitators from all over North America
• Attendees describe finding unexpected community and "soul family" connections
• Many experience profound personal growth through specialized workshops like "Healing Your Not Good Enoughness"
• The retreat serves as a yearly spiritual reset and opportunity for authentic connection
• Participants report increased confidence in their craft and deeper somatic connections
• Multiple witches transitioned from solitary practice to enjoying group ritual work
• First-timers are encouraged to attend alone to maximize connections with new people
• The alcohol-free environment creates space for genuine emotional processing
Join us at Anahata's Purpose this October 16-19 in Darlington, Maryland.
Get your tickets now at anahataspurpose.com.
Be sure to come by the Flora & Function and Crepuscular Conjurations tent to say hi! Be sure to visit The Hearth & Hedge and Theresa Mariesa too!
Grandpa: 0:04
Welcome back to Your Average Witch, where every other Tuesday we talk about witch life, witch stories, and sometimes a little witchcraft. This week's episode is brought to you by Anahata's Purpose. Anahata's Purpose is a unique fusion of a wellness festival, retreat and a lively festival, with a perfect blend of music, dance and creative workshops. This alcohol-free event has more than 150 diverse workshops and activities led by esteemed facilitators from across North America. This year it's in Darlington, Maryland, and is from October 16th to October 19th. Get your tickets now at anahatasaspurpose.com.
Grandpa: 0:44
This week, I am actually going to be talking to some of the first people I met and talked to at Anahata's Purpose in 2021. I asked them a list of questions that I'm going to answer myself, and then we will go into their answers after that. So let's start out. When did I first attend Anahata's Purpose? That was in 2021, immediately after the whole COVID thing cleared up enough to travel again sort of safely. We were still concerned, but we were able to do it. Masking was still a thing. How many times have I been since then? I have been there every year, and this will be my fifth year attending this October.
Grandpa: 1:32
How has my practice changed since then? Well, it wasn't just Anahata's Purpose that changed my practice, it was also this podcast and getting more involved in community. But Anahata's Purpose helped build that community and helped build this podcast. So it's gotten really deeper. I am doing a lot more. I meditate every morning now and do a card pull for my friends. A lot of those friends are people that I met through Anahata's Purpose, a lot of the Bees I met through Anahata's Purpose. I bully them into coming to Anahata's Purpose when they join Hive House, so that's part of it.
Grandpa: 2:21
One thing that has changed because of the purpose is my relationship with other witches, because I always thought, oh, I don't have a coven, I don't need a coven, I don't want a coven, I am a solitary witch, I'm a solitary practitioner, and that is perfect for me. This is what I want. But then I had the opportunity to participate in some group ritual and experience working with other witches in close contact, and I really enjoy it. I don't want to work with everyone all the time, I don't always want to work in a group, but Anahata's Purpose helped me find people with whom I am able to work well and I feel comfortable and safe enough to do so. So that is a really big change. Shout out to my Crow Sisters.
Grandpa: 3:18
Would I say that Anahata's Purpose has changed my life at all, and if so, how? Well, yeah, I now have become one of those people who go to a retreat every year, and that is why I never, ever thought that would happen. In fact, the first day I got to Anahata's, I heard people talking about how they, this is like their fourth time or something like that and I thought, “What? Who does that? Who travels across the country to go to a thing?” Like Burning man. I never understood Burning man or Wasteland or Dragon Con. I didn't get it. I get it now. So I do that every year. This is a thing I do every year now. I go to have this experience with these people and to meet new people. It's also made me more confident. I taught a class last year. I taught a class last year with people who I, most of them, I didn't know. It was, that was really surprising for me that I was able to do that. I did it twice!
Grandpa: 4:31
I taught two classes. It was the same class but I taught two different sessions of it. That was a wild thing to happen. So I've gained more confidence in myself, just as a person able to do human things. I've gained more confidence in myself as a speaker, as someone who knows things and is able to share those things, as a witch, as a magical practitioner. I am much more confident in those things. In a practical standpoint, I feel like it really has helped me figure out how to do better markets, because having to figure out how to get displays and product across the country and then be able to set up, set up and tear down quickly, that changed because I decided to vend at Anahata's and Rachel was gracious enough to let me do that and I'm going to do it again this year. So make sure you come by the Flora and Function and Crepuscular Conjuration tent when you're at Anahata's this year.
Grandpa: 5:50
Why do I go back? That's a big thing. That's the big thing. I go back because I need the connection, I need to be with my community. I don't actually take very many of the classes. This year there's only one class that I really plan on attending. What I really go for is the connection that I have with the people who go there. We are all there for the Purpose, and the Purpose is heart opening, learning, and being together. It's Anahata's Purpose. If you look up what the term anahata means, that's kind of what it is: heart opening. I go there for that. I go there to see my people and to deepen my relationship with my craft and with my people and to see friends and to have a good time. Yeah, I mean, a lot of it is that, but this is a spiritual retreat and I go there for fellowship and to improve myself and my practice. Why should other people come to Anahata’s Purpose? Well, if you are looking for in-person community or if you want to learn new techniques, if you want to learn different ways of grounding, there's the Ground Yo Shit class that Diane teaches. Last year, Jayne taught pendulum. If you want to learn how to use a pendulum, you can come for that. There's like somatic... I don't even know because I didn't go to the class.
Grandpa: 7:38
This year I'm going to a class called Healing your Not Good Enoughness, which, if you listen to the first episode about Anahata’s Purpose, everyone talked about that, so I'm going to it this year, even though I'm really afraid to. I'm going to do it. Go there to see interesting people. You know who is there this year? Laura Tempest Zakroff is there this year. So come there to be in her class and to watch her perform. I'm pretty sure she's performing on the stage this year.
Grandpa: 8:15
Come to be out in a cabin with a bunch of your friends, just for that. Come to sit around a campfire and listen to stories and tell stories and sing songs. Come for enlightenment. Come for learning. Come for fun, come for community. These are all reasons for you to come to Anahata's. I'm not even getting into the festival part because I don't really go there for that, but there is live music every night. The first night of last year we had a big… I don't even know what it's called because this was my first time seeing the movie, but Rocky Horror Picture Show. We did that. There are themed nights. I think one of them is cryptids, where you come dressed up as a cryptid. It's going to be fun and I'm going to be doing interviews again this year.
Grandpa: 9:17
I didn't do it last year. I'm hoping to find new people, like first-timers. I'm hoping to find new people like first timers to interview and see how they're doing with everything, what they think of it as a new person. I will talk to a few old timers because I want to know what they feel about the new location, because it did move from Spring City, Pennsylvania, to Darlington, Maryland, so I'm interested in seeing how the new place feels. But come see me. If nothing else, just come see me. Just come see me and say, hey, what's up, and we can just sit down, have a Tastykake and have a chat. And that's enough from me. Now let's hear from everybody else. Now let's get to the stories.
Diane: 10:12
Hi, Kim, it's good to talk to you again. Let me introduce myself. My name is Diane Boswell. I have taught Ground Yo Shit at Anahatas for the last two years. I will be teaching again this year, so very excited for that. Let me just jump straight into these questions.
Diane: 10:34
When did I first go to attend Anahata’s? So the first year that I was at Anahata’s was in the year 2021. And I went because I had a whole bunch of changes in my life and wanted to do something that I had never done, and I took a solo road trip to Anahata’s and that was my thing that I did. I have attended every year since then. So I've been four years, have attended every year since then. Two years as strictly an attendee, and then the last two years I attended and presented and have every intention of going back as many times as I can.
Diane: 11:21
So you asked how has my practice changed since attending Anahata’s? And I think the biggest difference for me is that I'm more comfortable in it, where before I had done lots of different things with a lot of different groups, tried alchemy and tarot and runes and group work. I worked with a group of Unitarian Universalist group, the CUUPS group and solitary and all kinds of things. But while I had done many, many things, I think the biggest difference is I was just more. I am more comfortable, I feel more grounded and seated in my own work, and it makes me really happy that I don't feel like I need to question everything, where before I always had to think things out, think things out, where now it's just more of a I've accepted myself, so I've been able to accept my practice more and feel very grounded within it. I think too, while there are things that I do more on a daily basis, I don't feel as much of a need to be very, very formal in what I do, what I do and how I do it. It's like feeding the cats and making breakfast. Right, it's just well now I do this, I put this candle on the altar or I do this thing, or I move these crystals around, I put them out for the moon. It's just going out and having a conversation with the moon or having a commune with the moon, instead of this giant ritual. So, while it feels more casual, it also feels more natural to me, and I think that might also be another really big change. Not big change, but like significant change. For me.
Diane: 13:40
Anahata's changed my life significantly in a couple of different ways. It gave me a group of friends that I never expected. I did not expect to walk away from Anahata’s, when I went, with a group of women that I love like sisters. I would do anything for them and can count on them for anything. We laughingly call ourselves a coven, but we grew to know each other over the next couple of years and every time I see them it's like coming home and in a way that I don't know how to express, I have friends that I've had my entire life. I'm known since fifth grade or since early high school and we've been friends for decades and they get me. I didn't expect to go to Anahata's and come back away with people that I just met that got me just as much as these people that had known me my entire life. So that's one way.
Diane: 14:49
The other thing that I think the biggest thing coming back is each year I went to Anahata’s, as I came back with like a theme for the year, is that shadow work piece. It's like it set the tone of the things that I was going to learn or work on for the rest of the year. In a way that changed how I viewed myself, changed how I reacted to the rest of the world. So that first year I went and I went to a class called Healing Not Enoughness and the instructor was absolutely phenomenal, Ellen, and she gave me some tools to think about that. And I worked on that through the rest of that year journaling, doing some of my own work, right. And when I went back I thought, ha, I worked on that, I feel better about that, and then I realized that that not enoughness was what it was fueled by, and so it was like peeling that onion, so that next year was working on, feeling like I could disappear easily into the background and nobody would ever notice, and that idea of that, and worked through all of that. And that was my last year. And now I'm coming back this year. I'm like what's the next layer, what's the next piece of that onion, and how do I keep growing and learning? And that changed my life in a way that I've been able to accept myself so much better because of that.
Diane: 16:47
Why do I go back? I go back for all those friends that I have, that I met, that I miss when they're not here and when I'm not there with them, those hugs, and we can sit up until all hours of the night playing stupid silly games or sit by fires and tell silly stories or scary stories or stories that make you want to cry, but I go back for that. I also go back because it fills my soul. The friendship, but also just the community at large in general. You get to go and be 100% you and you don't have to mask and you don't have to worry about what everybody else is going to think, because it's all just you and it's okay to be just you and as vulnerable or as guarded or as open or as quiet as you need to be at that moment. And each year I go back, there are those lessons and I don't want to ever stop growing and and Anahata’s is one of those places that helps me keep that momentum. It's like my soul recharge, right, it's my soul reset. For the year I go back, I get to take like really good breaths, like deep breath, never feeling constricted or reserved or anything else, just able to just absolutely breathe for the first time in a year, and I feel like that's that reset that I need. I get a chance to see where I am in my lessons, see where I am on my journey, to breathe, and then to sit with friends and laugh until I can't breathe anymore, and it's like the recharge. It's how I keep going each year.
Diane: 18:59
Why should somebody go? There's so many reasons to go to Anahata’s. There's so many reasons to go to Anahata's. You'll make friends that you don't expect. You'll learn things that you are surprised by, about yourself, about other people. You will build confidence, you will build self-esteem and understanding and you will laugh until you cry and you will dance and you will do all of the things. It's its own sort of like adult sleepover camp and it's fantastic, fantastic, and I wouldn't give it up for anything. I'm constantly trying to get everybody in my life to go, because I think anybody would benefit from going at least once. But I think once you go once, you're never going to not want to go again. So, yeah, come to Anahata’s, have a wonderful time.
Diane: 20:11
And one final little plug. If you go “Oh, but I'm not sure, because I don't want to go by myself.” So many of us came by ourselves the first time. I know I did. I had never been on a trip by myself, I had never done any of these things by myself and I was like, should I do it? I don't know if I can. And I reached out to Rachel and said, hey, help me out. And she gave me a little. You go to this conference, this retreat, and changed my life, mighty Vivin. I won't say it saved my life, but it might have saved my sanity. So take the trip, do the thing, and you're going to have a lot of fun.
Jayne: 21:11
Hello, my name is Jayne and I first attended Anahata's Purpose in 2003?, no 2002. And have been back every year since. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend this year because my sister decided to have her wedding that weekend, which was rude but she didn't know. So unfortunately I won't be able to go this year, which makes me very sad. I love going to Anahata's. It's basically a family reunion when I go, where I get filled up and recharged and I'm a very… I like winter time, which I like the darker half of the year, and Anahata’s is usually just the kickoff for my whole magical dark time of the year.
Jayne: 22:18
My practice has changed a lot since I started going. I've gotten way more confident in who I am as a witch and what I do I do and what I know. I used to be very timid and if you've listened to my episode, I didn't know what my thing was and I was really concerned about that, like knowing what kind of witch I was and what my thing was. And, largely thanks to Anahata's, I have discovered that I don't care what my thing is. My thing is that I work with water and wind and pendulums and I do what feels right to me. It also has given me a lot of confidence, because last year I taught a pendulum class, which was an amazing opportunity. I was scared to death the whole time I was talking, but it was an amazing opportunity and it helped me realize, like, just how much I know and how much I have to contribute to the witchy community as a whole, which was amazing. And Anahata’s like… not only has it changed my practice, but it's also helped change my life. First of all, it is the one time of year that I get to see all of my favorite people, and those people specifically have helped me become this confident adult who doesn't worry as much about what other people think, and I have grown within in so many ways. My life and my viewpoints have expanded. It gives me an opportunity to. It gives me an opportunity to meet people from different walks of life from all over the country and some of them from outside of the country, and it's just been. My life has completely changed pretty much since the first time I went.
Jayne: 24:53
Also, I incorporate more of my magic into like little everyday things. I'm definitely more of a folk practitioner than like super big into rituals. That also could be because I have ADHD. So I like I like quick things that I can do while I'm thinking about it, and Kim not to embarrass you, but Kim taught a class last year about using things intuitively for spell work like I found this I think it was some kind of walnut or something, but it still had the fleshy part on it. I don't know what it was, it was hard. It was... I don't know what it was, but it was… it came from a tree, so it made me think of growth and protecting ourselves while we grew. And then I found a like little burr thing and I was like you know, if I were to use this, yeah, you could use it for protection, for a protection spell. That would totally make sense.
Jayne: 26:18
But when you get these little burrs, you are usually walking through somewhere and they stick to you and I think of anahatas, like that, like you're walking through this retreat and it's amazing and it's wonderful and you meet friends that just stick to you and you carry them with you for the whole rest of the year until you see them again and hopefully throughout your whole life, hopefully throughout your whole life. So, yeah, you can definitely say that Anahatas has changed my life. I go back every year because it's that recharging that we all need and it's that time where I can be 1000% me and I don't feel like I have to be a different like. I don't feel like I have to shut off any sides of myself. When I'm there. I can be the carefree, happy fairy that flutters around from person to person and I can be the student who gets to go and learn from all of these different people. And even sometimes I get to like I can bring out my mom side and take care of people and make sure they're drinking water and feeding themselves and that they have all of the toiletries and things that they need. So it's like it's just something that my heart needs. It's definitely something that my heart needs.
Jayne: 28:11
And why should others come to Anahata’s? I can't words sometimes. Why other people should come to Anahatas. Because it's amazing and it will change your life and you will meet the family you didn't know you didn't have. That's the easiest way I can sum up my experience is you have to experience it for yourself. It's like no place else in the world, so much like love and work and protection and magic goes into the event. That you go and you feel safe is probably the best way to say it and then you can learn from so many different people. I met people last year that were like quote unquote famous in the witchy community that I had never heard of. Well, I had, I just didn't realize it. And I got to talk to them one-on-one, face-to-face, and it was mind-blowing and also completely comfortable. So, yeah, I definitely think everybody should come and visit Anahata's and hopefully I will see you all there next year.
Theresa: 29:40
Hello everybody, Theresa Mariesa here from Mystical Misfits podcast and your cosmic guide, Theresa Mariesa. Thank you so much, Kim, for having me back on Your Average Witch. Always a pleasure to be here and always a pleasure to talk about Anahata's Purpose. The first time I attended Anahata's Purpose was in 2021. I had just lost my father. In January of that year, I had just been through a pretty upsetting friendship breakup and I heard Charlye and Macy talking about it on the Witch Bitch Amateur Hour and I decided that I thought it would be something that would be really therapeutic, really healing for me and also give me an opportunity to be a part of a community that I really enjoyed. So I went in 2021. And since then I've been back in 2022, 2023, 2024. And, of course, I will be back again in 2025.
Theresa: 30:47
Each year after the first year, I have facilitated or done a live podcast at Anahata's Purpose and it's just been such an amazing experience to go from an attendee to a facilitator, to a podcast host and to really experience all the different levels and things that Anahata's Purpose has to offer. Since then, my practice has definitely changed in the way that I am a lot more aware of my feelings, my emotions and what they actually mean. Also, the way that I communicate with people, the way that I am received, things of that nature. I really feel like I do my best to put myself out there in a way that allows people to feel safe, but also I don't compromise my own safety either when it comes to my emotions. My actual witchcraft practice has definitely changed too, from the things that I have learned, not only from all of the amazing facilitators there, but also just the people that I've come in contact with, the friendships that I've made, and just learning and seeing how we are all a part of this beautiful large community. But some of us may do things the same and some of us may do things very differently, and it's always fun to learn how other people do things, and it's always fun to learn how other people do things.
Theresa: 32:15
I would absolutely say that Anahata's Purpose has changed my life for the reasons that I would even call more than friends, my soul, family, that we have met and connected and that I talk to every day. And I think that Anahata's Purpose has changed my life from the lessons that I've learned there, the workshops that I've taken. It's taught me how to be a better facilitator, how to really speak to a large group of people to show them or to teach them or to connect with them. You know, I think that there are a lot of things that Anahata's Purpose has changed my life with, but I would say that the biggest thing that it has given me is self acceptance, showing me, not that Anahata's Purpose has shown me my worthiness, but through the connections that I've made, through the workshops that I've taken, I've learned a lot more about myself. So it gave me “me” back in a way that has allowed me to make hard decisions and put myself first, which is something that I've never really done in my life before, and that's also why I continue to go back.
Theresa: 33:47
It's a place that is created and curated to help you go through the hard things while still having fun connecting, dancing, singing, creating art, while also examining your inner child, examining your soul, examining your thought processes and just truly tapping into who you are. And others should come to Anahata's Purpose to discover themselves. It really is like a make your own adventure experience. There are so many different things and opportunities and it's just a beautiful space filled with lots of love, lots of care, lots of connection and, if you're open to it, a lot of healing. So definitely come to Anahata's Purpose this year. I look forward to meeting you there.
Amberleigh: 34:46
Hello, my name is Amberleigh. I am the owner and host of the Hearth and Hedge, which is a business and a podcast. So I first attended Anahata's Purpose in 2021. We were just on the tail end of the pandemic and I really needed something to make me feel… I don't know. Something. I mean, you all know how the pandemic was and what it did for everybody, but I was listening to WBAH for a while. I had binged pretty much the entire show during the pandemic and they were always talking about this event Anahata's Purpose.
Amberleigh: 35:39
And I decided that I would go because, you know, I was a mom and I really never did anything just for myself. So, I packed up my tent and I'm so glad I did, and funny thing is, I almost didn't go. I kept trying to talk myself out of it, but I'm so glad I did go because it absolutely changed my life. And I've been back every year since this year will be my fifth year and I'm actually facilitating this year. I'm going to be facilitating the quilting bee. We're going to do a charity quilt and I'm going to talk about using quilting as a magical practice, and then everybody's going to be able to make a square and I will sew them all together and then we will auction off the quilt at the end of the week.
Amberleigh: 36:37
So how has my practice changed? Oof, I mean, it's changed a lot and I feel like it's constantly changing, and I think this question actually goes well with the next question, because they actually go hand in hand. The next one is did Anahata's Purpose change my life? And absolutely Because of Anahata's Purpose and really you, Kim, you giving me a kick in the ass. I started my podcast and that was just absolutely life altering because I started getting books sent to me from occult publishers and meeting a bunch of really amazing witches and just amazing people in general and learning about so many different practices and traditions that my practice really is an ever morphing thing. As I learn and absorb new techniques, my practice just changes like almost every day. Sometimes my practice is only in the kitchen, sometimes I only do breath work and other days I'm only in my sewing room, but it is just an ever changing thing. Even though I did stop my podcast at 99 episodes, it does still have a really profound effect on me because of how much I learned. Who knows, maybe someday I'll pick it back up again, we'll see.
Amberleigh: 38:10
Also, because of Anahata’s, I met some of the most really amazing people, like Kim, like Macy and Charlye. I'm not going to name all of them because that would take forever. Many of them are sharing this episode with me, but there are a handful that have become absolutely integral in my life. They know who they are and I don't know if they would want to be named, but they are my beautiful camp coven and my green wild sisters, which brings me to one of the biggest changes of all of them. I did end up attending pagan ministry school and receiving my Bachelor's of Divinity. I'm now a High Priestess of the Greenwild tradition and I am ordained through the United Brotherhood movement and I can now support my local pagan community with pastoral services and that is really super amazing. And it's one of the most fulfilling changes in my life and I honestly can say that that was brought about by Anahata’s.
Amberleigh: 39:22
So why should others come? They should come to find something new. No matter what, I mean, you will definitely have an existential experience somewhere at the event. It might be finding your people, finding yourself, forgiving yourself. You might find a new path that leads you to a completely new place in life, which is absolutely what happened to me. If you had told me 10 years ago that I was going to be a pagan minister, I would have laughed in your face. You might find something that you never even fathomed could be in your future. The possibilities really are just truly endless, but I am going to warn you you're going to cry. It's just part of the process. You will so be prepared, and I hope to see everybody's beautiful faces at Anahata's.
Sarah: 40:23
Hello, my name is Sarah Piper. I am on the internet as Flora and Function, one of the potters who's around the Beans and I've been vending at Anahata's for the past couple of years, so you might have seen me around there. I first attended Anahata's in I believe it was 2022, and have been back two more times so the past three years Gonna go again this year and this will be my third year vending at Anahata's, which has been a really fun experience. It really like changes things when you're actually like working in some way there. So it's always fun to see how things change, whether it's for me it's been taking less classes and more getting to know a bunch of the different people there and just interacting with everybody and getting to hear more people's stories, because I know for me I'm more comfortable when I'm like set up somewhere and people come to me and I can talk about my work and then that gets somehow. That gets other people to open up, which is a really fun experience. So it's been neat to get to like station myself somewhere and let people kind of come to me and like get to know them through that sort of space. But that first year that I attended Anahata’s was a really stressful, pivotal time in my life. I really… I needed something to slap me in the face and kind of be like no, you have to take care of yourself. You have to get yourself out of this bad situation and into somewhere where you can actually thrive and take care of yourself and grow as a witch, as a person, as a business owner, as a potter, as an artist. So that first, Anahata’s has really changed my life by just giving me that confidence and that community to kind of fall back on and to ask questions and I don't know like that, that community where you can bounce things off of people and be like am I the crazy one here? And actually have people give you like straight answers of like “Maybe you're being a bit dramatic right now,” or most of the time it was “No, that's nuts, like that shouldn't be happening.” But having that community and having that space where you've been so vulnerable and such an intense time, and then being able to know that you have those people to go back to and rely on time and time again, that's the biggest thing that Anahata’s has changed with me is giving me that witching community that I know I can talk to, where people aren't gonna think that I'm nuts. That's the biggest thing. That's how it's changed my life in general is just giving me that confidence to move into my own space and allow myself to.
Sarah: 43:24
Well, I mean, the class that I took that first year was the Healing Not Good Enoughness, and I feel like that was. I mean, that's something that I'm, that you know you don't just do one thing and that's healed and then it's done. That's a constant work, but I feel like that sparked that change and that accepting that I'm worth it and I can do things just because I think they're a good idea and I want to do them. So that's what's changed my life. What's changed my practice is also kind of that community, just like having those people to bounce those ideas and those thoughts and any experiences off of. And also a huge way that it's changed my practice is the acceptance of rest and the acceptance of just because you're not doing something witchy every day, just because you don't have a daily routine that's super strict and you do all of these different ritual things, your daily rituals that you already do, can become spellcraft, can become part of your spiritual journey. So yeah, being able to go into times of rest where I don't feel like, oh my gosh, I'm not a witch, being able to just accept that it's like the cycles of nature. There are just times when you got to focus on your roots and you have to grow yourself and strengthen yourself to be able to handle the really hot summers or the really cold winters, whatever you know you flourish in. You got to support yourself in those in-between rest times. That's been huge, I guess also in my regular life, although I've accepted it more in my practice than in my regular life.
Sarah: 45:26
I go back again and again because now it's a good check-in and it's a family reunion. It's a place where my witchy friends can all come together and can grow. I feel like every year I even if it's somebody who's been there while I've been there before I feel like I'm getting to know people better and growing my circle of people that I know and trust and can rely on, and so just getting to grow that every year is incredible. I think other people should come to Anahata's Purpose for a lot of those same reasons. For the chance to go to a class and have a moment that snaps you into yourself, for the chance to dance with friends that you've been crying at a class with before. Oh yeah, I think. I think that the community is the most important part, and the community is the thing that brings me back again and again and again, and is the reason why I think y'all should come join us too. Come say hi, come give me a hug and tell me about the crazy thing you just experienced in your class. I can't wait to hear about it. All right, Kim, that's it for me. I love you. I love you, Crow Sister, my coven mate, my love. All right, you get to choose whether you leave that in. Okay, bye, bye.
Debra: 47:15
I first attended Anahata's Purpose in 2021. It was a really rough year for me. My mother had been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in October of 2020. And she died in April of 2021. And during those last few weeks when I was with her, I was her primary caregiver. I was listening to the Witch Bitch Amateur Hour and they had been talking about this retreat, Anahata’s Purpose that they were going to go to. Little did I know the episode I was listening to actually was like a year old and they were talking about the AP that they were going to go to. That ended up being canceled or they ended up not going to, I don't know, but it still ended up existing and it was great.
Debra: 48:07
So I impulsively got online and I looked at the website, which was very different than the website is now. The website was very minimal and it looked like I might get to just like spend a couple of days four days hula hooping in the grass and listening to music and maybe take a workshop or two, and that's really what I was looking for. I just knew I needed some kind of decompression after such an intense time with my mom, and so I was like cool, I'll just go spend a couple days in this really nice property in the grass chilling. And boy, howdy. Little did I know that that's not what Anahata's was at all. So I went basically with no expectations, right, and I got there… blew me out of the water. Most phenomenal four days I had probably ever had, and I think my biggest takeaway from that first year- oh, I'm getting emotional. My biggest takeaway from that first year was that I learned how to give myself permission to cry, and I hadn't done that in years.
Debra: 49:32
Like it's really hard for me to cry for myself. I'll cry for everyone else the drop of a hat, but my own feelings, what are feelings? I don't have those. And it was. It was just remarkable. It was a remarkable time and I got to really tap into what it was to feel and what it was to be supported while I felt, and what it was to be surrounded by people who were there to do the same thing I was doing, which was doing the work, really looking inside of themselves and really really examining who am I, what am I? What am I not looking at in a safe space, a safe space.
Debra: 50:41
I could honestly go on and on, and on, and on, and on and on and on about the first year I went to Anahata's Purpose, but I don't want to take up all of your podcast time. Yeah. So the next question: how many times have you been since then? So this year 2025 will be my fourth year, even though it should be my wait fifth year? Hang on, nevermind, it is mathing. Yeah, so this will be my fourth year at Anahata’s Purpose, and I would have gone last year, but instead I decided to switch up my life and I drove from Oregon to Alaska instead and just couldn't make it work. So this is my fourth year and I will go to Anahata's every single year that it is available, that it is being put on.
Debra: 51:38
I can't imagine my life, honestly, without Anahata’s. I didn't go last year. And what was I fine? Yes, I was fine. The world goes on. You know what I mean, but, like my heart, not so much. Actually, my heart was great. I got married, it was a good time, but it's, I look at Anahata’s as my personal yearly reset.
Debra: 52:02
Anahata’s became my new year. It's where I look at the year. Oh God, why can't I stop crying? I'm going to re, I'm going to rerecord this. Nevermind, no, I'm not. We're here for authenticity and I'm a scattered Cancer rising and you guys can just deal with it. Yeah, but Anahata's became my personal year, new year, and to not have it last year made a noticeable difference. Taking those four days just to disconnect from my everyday life is really… it's a really profound practice and personal piece of wellness that really brings so much value to my life that I never want to miss again, which really that leads us into the next question, pretty nicely. That next question is how has my practice changed since my first time at Anahata’s?
Debra: 53:09
I would say my practice has changed in profound ways. I, because of Anahata’s, have learned that it is okay to feel, it is okay to take the time to drop out of my head and sink into my body and my body is where it's, where we feel right. Our body knows so much, our body holds on to so much and we don't, I can't say we, I can't speak for everyone else, but I struggle to spend time in my body. I, because when I drop down, I I feel all of the things, and it's scary to feel all of the things, but Anahata’s has allowed me to, not allowed me, right, I allowed me, but Anahata’s was supportive in me discovering what it is to sink into my body and how much power comes with sinking into my body, how much power there is to be found in feeling where things are stuck in your body and how to move them out through movement, through sound, through touch, through energy, work, through so much, through just acknowledging, just acknowledging and being willing to acknowledge and to look and through that, my practice, my personal witchcraft practice, has become so much more somatic.
Debra: 54:53
I've always loved dance. I've always loved dance. Movement has always been part of my practice, but since Anahata's that's really deepened, because it's more than just moving Now it's moving in ways that maybe I wouldn't have let myself move before because I was too busy judging myself, which is stupid, because it's like I'm already in my little room getting weird as fuck with snake skin and wasps nests and rubbing oil all over my body and lighting candles. Like who cares if I shake in a weird way, right? But no, Anahata’s really helps my practice grow from something cerebral into something somatic, and I really have found a lot of value in that. We walk around in these meat suits every day, all day, every day, and so to sink into these meat suits is an honor and a blessing and something that I think everyone could benefit from. And, that being said, I'm not perfect. I spend probably 5% of my life in my meat suit, but we're trying right 1% more for every year. That's fine. That's fine, okay.
Debra: 56:14
Would you say that Anahata's Purpose changed your life at all? If so, how? I'm talking in circles. I feel like I feel like I've answered all of these questions, with all of my long, rambling answers, but I'm going to answer them all because I'm sure more will come out. Yeah, absolutely, Anahata’s has changed my life. Anahata's. There it is. That's the answer.
Debra: 56:43
So, the space that Anahata's allows me each year, those four days of camp, right? Those four days of workshops, if you decide to do workshops, those four ways that I don't have time for in the day to day. I don't have time to sit for four days and really think about are these things that I'm doing really in alignment with who I am as a person? Am I living my truest version of myself, and is it okay to change? If that's not, we don't have time to consider, we don't have time to recognize, to really like, confirm and validate these, like moments, these glimpses of like spark, right? These glimmers that are calling us in these other directions, because we're busy too in our day to day. We're going to work, we're taking care of our children, we're feeding our family, we're taking care of our pets, we're driving to the store, and then we get home and we're tired as fuck and we go to bed and we wake up and we do the same thing over and over and over again. Anahata’s, those four days at camp, those four days, Anahata's allows us to break out of the monotony and be surrounded by literally the collective consciousness of everyone else, like what 250, 300 people that are there examining their life.
Debra: 58:37
It's very similar to when you think about those studies where they do worldwide meditation and the crime rates drop for an hour and a half. That, really, and that disconnection from the mundane, monotonous, like repetitive version of our world. And those, those four days, have given me the opportunity to recognize what changes I need to make, the things that I've been lying to myself about, the things that I've been avoiding, the things that I know I need to look at but I sweep under the rug because, holy fuck, I can't change my life in that way. Specifically, the third year of Anahata is my third year. The first day I had whoa. That first day was a doozy and it, it, literally it changed me to my core, to the point where, because I was able to examine and release and I just came to some really, really clear moments of clarity, I got home and my partner at the time you know he's been with me he had seen me go through all of these Anahata’s you know it's my third time, so it's not that many but I came home and within 25 minutes he was like, oh, you're different, something's different. And I was and that was honestly long story story. I was different and I made some really huge life decisions that I think were very much needed. Well, I know they were very much needed and it was. I don't know, it was beautiful. It was hard, because the work is always hard, but it was beautiful. So, yeah, Anahata’s changes my life every single time that I go, sometimes in ways that feel really profound, like that third year, and sometimes in ways that seem like, oh, maybe nothing really happened, it was just a good time.
Debra: 1:00:35
But then I go home and I'm just like radiating right, I have this new, shinier sense of self because I've grown, I've looked at something important over those last four days. Oh my God, Kim, I'm so sorry that I ramble so much. I hope that you can do something with these 20 minutes of podcast time that I'm sending you. Okay, why do I go back?
Debra: 1:01:20
I go back because I love it. I go back because every single person that I met there and that I meet there and that I will continue to meet there has this spark inside of them that's so inspiring. And the connections you make and the universe like we are not but the universe observing itself, right, and what a beautiful space to observe yourself in the form of the mirrors that are other people I value. That pretty much sums it up, right? And then just the connection and the love and the joy and the play and the fact that I get to go and I get to be off my phone for four days and just connect with humans in this like really raw, authentic way, where we skip past the fluff of oh my God, who are you, how are you, how's the weather, and it's just like instantly you're into these, like deep conversations of substance and, as a verbal processor, those substantial conversations, I thrive on those substantial conversations. Like, let's talk about real shit, right, yeah? So I go back for the people, I go back for the dancing, I go back for the playing, I go back for the self-reflection. I go back because it helps me go forward.
Debra: 1:02:54
And why should others go to Anahata's Purpose? You know, why not? I think that's the most important answer. That's not the most important answer. Every answer to that question is important. But really, why not? Like why not? Why not take some time for yourself? Why not go, try something new? Why not go somewhere where you can learn something and you can be surrounded by people who literally don't feel judgmental at all? Why not go somewhere where you can challenge yourself? Why not go somewhere where you can be held and supported and you can be your wildest, weirdest, witchiest self, without the metaphorical pat on the head? Yeah, why should others come to Anahata's Purpose? Why not? It'll be worth it, I promise.
Debra: 1:03:58
And don't go with any expectations. I tell everybody this every single time. Don't go with any expectations. Listen to everything I said and let it just go right out the other ear, right? Go with an open heart. Go with an open mind. Go alone, go alone. I think that's my biggest. Oh God, I'm such an advocate for going alone. When you're alone, you're going to meet people. When you're alone, you're going to talk to strangers. You're not going to like, get sucked into your little bubble. Yeah, just go, just go, it'll be fun, it'll be great, I promise.
Grandpa: 1:04:34
Thanks for listening to this episode of Your Average Witch. You can find us all around the internet on Instagram, @youraveragewitchpodcast, facebook.com/groups/hivehouse, at www.youraveragewitch.com, and at your favorite podcast service. If you'd like to recommend someone for the podcast, like to be on it yourself, or if you'd like to advertise on the podcast, send an email to youraveragewitchpodcast at gmail.com. Thanks for listening and I'll see you next Tuesday.