Marking Change: Using Nature, Creativity, and Ritual to Navigate Life's Transitions
February 21–23, 2025 with Day Schildkret
As life changes, we also must change — yet this isn’t guaranteed. Too many of us get stuck at our thresholds. Nature, creativity, and ritual can help us cross them gracefully, helping us ground, listen, and orient to what is changing.
Join us for a transformative workshop designed to provide the skills and understanding needed to create your own modern rituals, with a special focus on the healing modality of Morning Altars. By working with nature and the incredible power of the land at Esalen, we will reawaken our creativity, open to possibility, and witness what is changing in our lives.
Guided by award-winning author, artist, teacher, and ritualist Day Schildkret, you are invited to:
Learn the ins and outs of this ancient technology to expertly navigate change.
Learn the power of “symbolic action” to align your psycho-spiritual experience.
Craft your own modern ritual to mark your personal threshold and rediscover yourself.
Discover the 7-step Morning Altars practice, using nature, art, and ritual for understanding and meaning.
Experience the support and witness of others who are also experiencing loss, celebrations, and change.
Create custom “Threshold Altars” that provide reflection, refinement, and direction.
Discover the meaning-making skills needed to traverse your life thresholds with renewed grace and purpose.
This workshop is designed for anyone in a life transition who wants to learn creative ways to ritualize it. Crafted with great care, this experience welcomes all genders, races, identities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Threshold moments are meant to be crossed together. Join us if you feel your transition has become protracted or need greater support and attention to skillfully move to your next chapter.
Recommended Reading: Hello, Goodbye: 75 Rituals for Times of Loss, Celebration, and Change and Morning Altars: A 7-Step Practice to Nourish Your Spirit through Nature, Art, and Ritual by Day Schildkret
This workshop includes a $30 material fee.
Renewing Purpose: Modern Rituals to Navigate Life Transitions
Create your own modern rituals to reflect, reimagine, and recommit to living your best life as you navigate change with grace and equanimity.
Change is the only constant in life. But just because life is always changing, that doesn’t mean we’re always ready to change along with it.
Too many of us get stuck at the threshold, reluctant to let go of our attachment to a life that no longer exists and cross through into an unknown future.
We fear change because modern society hasn’t equipped us with the skills to make sense of our transitions and understand how and why they matter.
The good news is, these skills are something we can develop – and rituals are a powerful tool to help with this.
Rituals mark the important endings and beginnings of our lives and make it easier for us to embrace the insight, energy, and liberation that transitions can bring. They can help you make better sense of your life and develop the resilience and clear-sighted optimism you need to thrive no matter what unexpected developments arise on your journey.
In this Navigating Transitions workshop co-facilitated with award-winning author, artist, teacher, and ritualist Day Schildkret, you’ll learn how to incorporate simple modern rituals into your life that will help you honor and sanctify the important thresholds you will experience in your life – and uncover the powerful lessons they have to teach you.
By the end of your five days with Day and the MEA faculty, you will feel rejuvenated and energized and will be excited to dive back into your life and embrace your next exciting chapter.
You will have powerful new rituals you can use to give your life meaning and structure during times of transition and will feel greater peace and clarity around the changes you’re dealing with – as well as a deeper sense of meaning and connection to the world around you.
Renewing Purpose: Modern Rituals to Navigate Life Transitions
As life changes, we also must change; yet this isn't guaranteed. Too many of us get stuck at our thresholds. We need ritual to help us cultivate discernment, recognize gains and losses, and conjure possibility. Join us for a transformative workshop designed to give you real skills and deep understanding to create your own modern rituals to reflect, reimagine and renew the purpose of your life’s next chapter. Guided by award-winning author, artist, teacher, and ritualist Day Schildkret, you will:
Learn the ins and outs of this ancient technology to expertly navigate change.
Learn the power of "symbolic action" to align your psycho-spiritual experience.
Craft your own modern ritual to mark your personal threshold and rediscover yourself.
Discover the 7-step Morning Altars practice to use nature, art and ritual for understanding and meaning.
Experience the support and witness of others also renewing their life's purpose.
Create custom "Threshold Wonderings" that provide reflection, refinement and direction.
This workshop will provide you with the meaning-making skills to step into your life thresholds with renewed grace and purpose.
Morning Altars Workshops at Lakewood Cemetery
Join Lakewood for this hands-on workshop led by internationally recognized earth artist Day Schildkret (Morning Altars). In this class, Day will guide us through the 7 step Morning Altars process, learning how we can make beauty from grief by creating unique mandalas out of natural, foraged materials. Throughout this reflective experience we will explore Lakewood’s grounds to gather leaves, flowers, stones, and more to use as materials, and we will use the earth as our canvas – creating one-of-a-kind mandalas dedicated to someone or something that is loved and missed.
You will make — and deconstruct — your own memory mandala, leaving the workshop with a mindful practice you can do every day, no matter where you are.
Two sessions available:
Morning Session: 10AM to1PM
Afternoon Session: 2PM to 5PM
Art and Ritual: An Evening with Day Schildkret
Join internationally renowned earth artist Day Schildkret for an intimate conversation about the intersections of art, ritual, and nature. We’ll gather together in the beauty of Lakewood’s historic chapel as Day discusses his 7-Step Morning Altars practice, what led him on this journey, and how this beautiful offering provides space for grief, remembrance, and reflection.
Following the talk, join Day in Lakewood’s new Welcome Center for a reception, book signing, and interactive mandala-making activity.
Renewing Purpose: Modern Rituals to Navigate Life Transitions at Esalen Institute
June 21–23, 2024 with Day Schildkret
As life changes, we also must change — yet this isn’t guaranteed. Too many of us get stuck at our thresholds. Ritual can help us cultivate discernment, recognize gains and losses, and conjure possibility. Join us for a transformative workshop designed to provide the skills and understanding needed to create your own modern rituals. Learn to reflect, reimagine, and renew the purpose of your life’s next chapter.
Guided by award-winning author, artist, teacher, and ritualist Day Schildkret, you are invited to:
Learn the ins and outs of this ancient technology to expertly navigate change.
Learn the power of “symbolic action” to align your psycho-spiritual experience.
Craft your own modern ritual to mark your personal threshold and rediscover yourself.
Discover the 7-step Morning Altars practice to use nature, art, and ritual for understanding and meaning.
Experience the support and witness of others also renewing their life’s purpose.
Create custom “Threshold Wonderings” that provide reflection, refinement, and direction.
Discover the meaning-making skills needed to step into your life thresholds with renewed grace and purpose.
This workshop is designed for anyone in a life transition who wants to renew their life’s purpose. Crafted with great care, we welcome all genders, races, identities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Threshold moments are meant to be crossed together. Join us if you feel your transition has become protracted or need greater support and attention to skillfully move to your next chapter.
Recommended Reading: Hello, Goodbye. By Day Schildkret
Renewing Purpose: Modern Rituals to Navigate Life Transitions
As life changes, we also must change; yet this isn't guaranteed. Too many of us get stuck at our thresholds. We need ritual to help us cultivate discernment, recognize gains and losses, and conjure possibility. Join us for a transformative workshop designed to give you real skills and deep understanding to create your own modern rituals to reflect, reimagine and renew the purpose of your life’s next chapter. Guided by award-winning author, artist, teacher, and ritualist Day Schildkret, you will:
Learn the ins and outs of this ancient technology to expertly navigate change.
Learn the power of "symbolic action" to align your psycho-spiritual experience.
Craft your own modern ritual to mark your personal threshold and rediscover yourself.
Discover the 7-step Morning Altars practice to use nature, art and ritual for understanding and meaning.
Experience the support and witness of others also renewing their life's purpose.
Create custom "Threshold Wonderings" that provide reflection, refinement and direction.
This workshop will provide you with the meaning-making skills to step into your life thresholds with renewed grace and purpose.
Altars Workshop with Day Schildkret | The Sacred Space | Santa Barbara, CA
Time & Location:
Oct 14, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Summerland, 2594 Lillie Ave, Summerland, CA 93067, USA
The Sacred Space is thrilled to host this transformative experience based in nature, art and ritual led by renowned artist and author Day Schildkret. Spend the day learning from Day and building your own altar on our grounds. Includes lunch by Field & Fort. $400 per person, limited to 14 guests.
Ritual Transitions: Honoring Life's Thresholds with author Day Schildkret at Paradise Found
Paradise Found | Morning Altars | Santa Barbara, CA
Date: October 13th, 2023
Time: 6:30PM-8:30PM
Cost: Free
Location: Paradise Found, 17 E Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes; each transition, whether it's the joy of a child's birth or the pain of a loved one's passing, demands acknowledgment. Day Schildkret, the renowned artist and teacher behind the international Morning Altars movement, introduces "Hello, Goodbye," a transformative guidebook filled with over seventy-five hands-on rituals crafted for life's most poignant milestones. Dive into the pages with Day and discover how to meaningfully embrace, sanctify, and navigate the inevitable ebbs and flows of life.
Morning Altars: Creating Impermanent Art with Nature | Gardens of Golden Gate Park
Date: October 7th, 2023
Time: 10:00AM-1:00PM
Participant fee: $55
Location: Great Meadow at the SF Botanical Gardens
There’s just something about nature, art, and ritual. All good things on their own but when you mix them together you get something profoundly magical, deeply healing, genuinely connective, and incredibly restorative. It’s a secret recipe for feeling more connected and calm during these crazy times.
Join renowned author, artist, and teacher, Day Schildkret, as he leads you through the 7-step Morning Altars creative practice, popularized by his best-selling book, Morning Altars: A 7-Step Practice to Nourish Your Spirit through Nature, Art, and Ritual. Each step is a joyful journey to slow you down and guide you back into relationship with the living world and yourself.
In this workshop, we will wander and wonder through the Great Meadow, collecting nature's treasures, and then learn how to create devotional, impermanent art. Day's expert guidance will help you rediscover the gentle power of nature to heal and nurture your spirit. Depart with a renewed sense of well-being, a mindful connection to the world, and therapeutic rejuvenation that will bring you creative inspiration.
For more information and inspiration: morningaltars.com
*Gardens of Golden Gate Park Members also enjoy a 10% discount on this program and admission to all three gardens every day of the year, join today!
Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable.
The Muse presents: The Art Sanctuary - Creating Morning Altars with Day Schildkret
FREE with reservation
The United Palace becomes an art sanctuary Sunday, August 13 as a half-ton pile of dirt on the theatre’s stage is transformed with locally foraged natural materials into a work of impermanent nature art by internationally renowned artist, author & educator Day Schildkret.
The last 3 hours of Schildkret’s 9-hour altar building process will be open to the public, allowing guests to restore mind, body & spirit in individual and collective contemplation accompanied by live music. If inspired, guests can also create their own ephemeral altars inside the theatre.
The Art Sanctuary is the first public event offered by The Muse, the United Palace of Spiritual Arts’ new monthly program celebrating inspiration, the arts & community and challenging participants to reimagine what’s possible in art & in life.
Day Schildkret is the originator of Morning Altars, a seven-step practice embodying the healing powers of nature, art & ritual. The impermanent altars provide a meaningful place to gather, reflect, remember, wonder & celebrate art and nature.
Morning Altars has been featured on networks such as NBC, CBS & in publications such as Spirituality & Health Magazine, Buzzfeed, Vice & Well + Good. Schildkret’s works have been commissioned internationally by parks, museums, galleries, corporations, festivals, community centers, cemeteries, and weddings, including installations at Google, The Andy Warhol Foundation, Esalen, The 9/11 Memorial Plaza, The Hammerstein Ballroom & many others across the continent.
The daylong event will culminate with “Morning Altars as Muse,” including a talkback with Schildkret & a group ritual where all will be invited to join the artist on stage. Our intention is to gather as a new community of artists & art lovers as we discover & celebrate all the ways that inspiration, or as we like to fondly call her, The Muse, elevates our daily lives. Through our shared human experiences, creative expression & love of the arts, we can contemplate life’s biggest questions to find new meaning in the world around us.
The event is free with registration. Guests may arrive anytime from 3-6:00pm.
3:00-6:00pm ET Open House – Come for a quick visit or stay awhile &:
Immerse yourself in the healing energy of nature, art, ritual while Day creates an altar on stage.
Soak in the contemplative space with live music & allow yourself to slow down.
Be inspired to build your own mini altar on the floor of the theatre with flowers, leaves & various items from nature that will be provided at the event.
Watch, listen, contemplate, meditate & just be with what is.
6:00-7:00pm Morning Altars as Muse
Talkback with Day Schildkret
All are welcome to join us on stage for a closing ritual.
7:00pm Dessert in the foyer
Midsummer Memory Mandalas at Lakewood Cemetery
Join us for a weekend of art, nature, and reflection
Community Celebration is Free | Private Workshops are $45 (plus taxes and fees).
Join Lakewood as we welcome back internationally renowned earth artist Day Schildkret of Morning Altars for our fifth annual Midsummer Memory Mandalas. This two day event includes:
Community Celebration (Free) | Saturday, July 29 from 5:00pm – 7:30pm
Hands-on artist workshops (Ticketed) | Sunday, July 30 at 9:00am and 1:30pm
Explore the beauty that can be found through grief and loss as Day uses foraged natural materials like rocks, seeds, and flowers gathered from Lakewood’s sacred grounds to create a brilliant and bright one-of-a-kind artwork. Through the very impermanence of these natural materials, this earth-art beautifully mimics the impermanence of life as it slowly returns to the grounds from which it was sourced. This healing process allows us to reflect on life, loss, and the beauty that can be found throughout this journey.
The community celebration is free and all are welcome to join. The private workshops are ticketed and $45/attendee. Tickets are available here.
The Art of Ritual Design for Life Transitions at Esalen Institute
June 2-5, 2023 with Day Schildkret
Life has many transitions: From the birth of a child, to the loss of a parent, from getting a new job to grieving a pet. We all experience these “hello or goodbye” moments of change but what do we do to mark them meaningfully? Could our lives be better, richer, and more resilient if we had real ways to honor, sanctify, and make sense of these important thresholds?
What we need is ritual.
Rituals are our most trusted guide during times of change. They give us a sense of stability in the face of uncertainty and offer us a tangible and time tested way to acknowledge that as life changes, we too must change.
Join internationally renowned author, artist, and ritual teacher Day Schildkret, the visionary behind the Morning Altars nature/art/ritual/movement, to understand ritual crafting.
Based on Day’s newest book, “Hello, Goodbye: 75 Rituals for Times of Loss, Celebration and Change,” (Simon Element) this transformative workshop will give you a basic foundation of what ritual is and isn’t. Together, we will explore the historical, sociological, and ancestral understandings of ritual, its functional relationship to thresholds, and how ritual provides stabilizing and integrating benefits such as understanding, meaning, and reflection.
This workshop will not only teach you the concepts and theories of ritual itself, but also the components of ritual design. You will cultivate a ritual toolkit in order to experiment and craft your own rituals that bring wholeness.
During the day we will focus on the importance of preparing ritual time and space, practice the art of bearing and being witness, as well as story-sharing and story-listening in pairs and triads. At night we will craft a collective creative ritual, offering the group an opportunity to practice and experience ritual design in action that allows for greater awareness, empathy, and deepening relationships.
During this workshop, you will practice:
Ritual and Meaning Making for sane-making, deeper understanding and wisdom
Creative Expression for finding fulfillment, facing fear and courageous living
Relating to Impermanence for skills of mindfulness, non attachment and resilience
Wonder for renewing a sense of awe, curiosity and aliveness.
Witnessing and Story-sharing for profound and generous acts of listening and presence.
You will come away from this workshop with the courage, resources and skills to ritualize your losses, celebrations and life changes to bring stability and resilience when life changes.
Recommended reading: Hello, Goodbye: 75 Rituals for Times of Loss, Celebration and Change, Schildkret (Simon Element).
Nature, Art and Ritual for Earth Day at San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden
Nature, Art and Ritual for Earth Day at San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden
Saturday, April 22, 2023
10:00 AM 1:30 PM
San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden
Earth Day is an opportunity to renew our love for the Earth and to root into her wisdom, healing and feel connected with all of life. Join internationally renowned author, artist and teacher Day Schildkret as he returns to the SLOBG to teach the transformative tools of nature, creativity, and ritual. In this three and a half hour workshop, the botanical gardens will be our collaborator as we are guided through Day's 7-step Morning Altars practice that lets us express wonder, play, belonging, gratitude, grief, creativity and possibility.
Join us to feel more alive on this Earth Day with nature, art and ritual.
This class is $100 for members and $120 for the general public.
We look forward to seeing you! Please bring baskets for collection and scissors if you have them!
For more information about this or other SLOBG programs, email Millie, millie@slobg.org, or call (805) 541 -1400 ext. 302.
A Spring Equinox Ritual: From Constriction to Freedom
A Spring Equinox Ritual: From Constriction to Freedom
Sunday, March 19, 2022
11am-2p PT / 2pm-5pm ET
Online / Zoom $108*
As we enter the spring equinox, it's essential we reflect on how we are feeling constricted and limited and where we are seeking more freedom and expression. The spring equinox presents an opportunity to shake off the stagnancy of winter and interrupt old patterns, narratives, and behaviors that have kept us safe but stuck.
Join renowned ritualist expert Day Schildkret, creator of Morning Altars, for a transformative spring equinox ritual. By using the 7-Step Morning Altars practice, Day will guide us to reconnect with nature and our hearts' desires, giving us a renewed sense of purpose, clarity, calm, and direction as we move into spring.
This workshop is perfect for individuals, couples, families, and children who want to embark on a meaningful and transformative journey. The cost of the workshop is $108, and no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
For any questions or concerns, please email help@morningaltars.com. Join us for a magical experience as we break free into new realms of growth, creativity, expression, relationships, and fresh starts this spring equinox.
*No one turned away for lack of funds.
Email help@morningaltars.com for any questions.
Morning Altars for the New Year // Make the New Year Meaningful with Nature, Art & Ritual
Workshop
Saturday, December 31, 2022
11am-1p PT / 2pm-4pm ET
Online
$88
What are your intentions for the New Year?
What do you want to change from the past year?
Cross over the New Year's threshold by crafting nature altars to reflect upon 2022 and dream into 2023. Altars are tools to focus our intentions, create meaning and connect with nature.
In this workshop, we will create a ritual container and be led through an altar making experience with internationally renowned ritualist, author, and artist, Day Schildkret of Morning Altars.
With Day's expert guidance, you will be taken through the Morning Altars practice to create beautiful nature altars that help you reflect upon this past year and set beautiful intentions for the new one.
A perfect New Years activity to do for yourself, with your partner or the entire family, especially appropriate for children or grandchildren.
*No one turned away for lack of funds.
Email help@morningaltars.com for any questions.
Star Maps and Ritual Magic: Astrology and Ceremony as Tools for Transformation at Esalen Institute
November 4, 2022 - November 7, 2022 with Day Schildkret and Heidi Rose Robbins.
Ritual brings astrology to life. Since ancient times, the power of the celestial bodies has always been best understood through embodiment practices and ceremony. When we work with archetypal energies, we can invoke their potency and alchemical power through meaning- and presence-making tools such as altars, guided meditation, nature connection, and movement.
Together, we will experience:
a nature connection for greater calm, grounding, and wonder.
creative rituals — both meaning-making and sane-making — to gain a deeper understanding of our life journeys.
embodiment of archetypal energies for a holistic presencing of our individual astrological maps.
creative expression for finding fulfillment, facing fear, and courageous living.
group counsel and witnessing to honor another’s journey as our own.
Join queer author, artist, and teacher Day Schildkret and astrologer and poet Heidi Rose Robbins as they expertly guide you into the heart of ritual crafting as a path into the spiritual potential within your astrological chart.
Each participant will receive a copy of their astrological chart and will learn about the three primary positions from a soul-centered perspective: the Sun, the Moon, and the Rising Sign. These three positions inform how we offer our gifts and overcome the inner and outer obstacles to our fullest radiance.
Midsummer Memory Mandalas at Lakewood Cemetery
Join us for a weekend of art, nature, and reflection
Join Lakewood as we welcome back internationally renowned earth artist Day Schildkret of Morning Altars for our third annual Midsummer Memory Mandalas community celebration and artist workshops on Saturday, July 16 and Sunday, July 17!
Explore the beauty that can be found through grief and loss as Day uses foraged natural materials like rocks, seeds, and flowers gathered from Lakewood’s sacred grounds to create a brilliant and bright one-of-a-kind artwork. Through the very impermanence of these natural materials, this earth-art beautifully mimics the impermanence of life as it slowly returns to the grounds from which it was sourced. This healing process allows us to reflect on life, loss, and the beauty that can be found throughout this journey.
Grief Into Beauty: Create Nature Altars to Transform & Heal at Omega Institute for Holistic Studies
Collaborate with nature, access creativity, and cultivate resilience in the face of change with artist and author Day Schildkret of Morning Altars.
Slow down, listen deeply, and conspire with the living world as you join author and artist Day Schildkret to learn how to use nature, art, and ritual to transform, heal, and connect more deeply with the inner and outer nature of existence.
Based on the practice conceived and popularized by Day’s first book, Morning Altars, this weekend retreat will guide you through his 7-step practice to help strengthen your skills of wonder, belonging, gratitude, creativity, wholeness, and non-attachment. You practice:
Nature connection for more calm, embodiment, and relatedness
Ritual and meaning-making for deeper understanding and wisdom
Creative expression for finding fulfillment, courageous living, and facing fear
Relating to impermanence for skills of mindfulness, nonattachment, and resilience
Wonder for renewing a sense of awe, curiosity, and aliveness
Hosted by Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, Rhinebeck, NY.
Recommended reading: Schildkret, Morning Altars: A 7-Step Practice to Nourish Your Spirit through Nature, Art and Ritual.
Morning Altars: Nature, Art and Ritual to Nourish Your Spirit at San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden
Creating impermanent art devoted to the nourishment of life.
”It’s like I’m plugged back into my heart, to nature, and to my true creative expression.” —Stacy, 38
“Hands-down, the best hands-on workshop for me and my children! We now have a practice we can continue to do that brings us together.” —Jessica, 31, Jordan, 10 and Dylan 8
”This practice is both fun and profound.” —Sarah, 57
Join internationally renowned author, teacher and artist, Day Schildkret of Morning Altars to learn how to use nature and art as a way to mark the special moments in our lives.
Based on the practice conceived and popularized by Day’s first book, Morning Altars: A 7-Step Practice to Nourish Your Spirit through Nature, Art and Ritual, this workshop will guide you through Day’s unique seven-step practice and help you strengthen your skills of wonder, belonging, gratitude, creativity, wholeness and non-attachment. The first half of the workshop, we will be in the gardens -- opening our eyes, our senses, and hearts while practicing the first two steps. The second half of the workshop, we will be making nature altars and dedicating them to all the celebrations, losses and changes that happened this past year, using art to tell our stories. The workshop will conclude with an altar art tour, where we go around and witness each other’s hearts and art.
During the workshop we will practice:
· Nature Connection for more calm, embodiment and connection
· Ritual and Meaning Making for sane-making, deeper understanding and wisdom
· Creative Expression for finding fulfillment, facing fear and courageous living
· Relating to Impermanence for skills of mindfulness, non attachment and resilience
· Wonder for renewing a sense of awe, curiosity and aliveness
Recommended reading: Schildkret, Morning Altars: A 7-Step Practice to Nourish Your Spirit through Nature, Art and Ritual.
Grief Into Beauty: Creating Nature Altars to Transform and Heal from This Year
We’ve all been tested this year. Many of us have been isolated, lonely, and stretched far too thin. Waking up anxious and going to bed worried, many of our relationships have been strained from so much time together, too much time apart, and too much time indoors. We need simple, accessible, and even delightful ways to make sense of this chaos – not by increasing our use of high speed tech, but by slowing down, listening deeply, and collaborating with the living world.
Join internationally renowned author and artist Day Schildkret of Morning Altars to learn how to use nature, art, and ritual to transform, heal, and make meaning from this time. Nature will be our collaborator in accessing creativity and time-tested ways to practice mindfulness, and in cultivating a place-based resilience in the face of change.
Based on the practice conceived and popularized by Day’s first book, Morning Altars: A 7-Step Practice to Nourish Your Spirit through Nature, Art and Ritual, this workshop will guide you through Day’s unique seven-step practice and help you strengthen your skills of wonder, belonging, gratitude, creativity, wholeness and non-attachment. In the mornings we will be in nature, opening our eyes, our senses, and hearts while practicing the first two steps (Wander & Wonder and Place). In the afternoon, we will be making nature altars for all the losses, celebrations and changes that happened this past year, using pattern literacy and symbols to represent our stories. The workshop will conclude with an altar ritual, where we go around and witness each other’s hearts and art.
We will practice:
Nature Connection for more calm, embodiment and connection
Ritual and Meaning Making for sane-making, deeper understanding and wisdom
Creative Expression for finding fulfillment, facing fear and courageous living
Relating to Impermanence for skills of mindfulness, non attachment and resilience
Wonder for renewing a sense of awe, curiosity and aliveness
In this nourishing workshop, you will learn not only how to craft a nature altar, but also how and why they have been used for thousands of years in cultures all over the world as a resource to move through emotion, make meaning, celebrate life, and connect more deeply with the inner and outer nature of existence. The opportunity to change your life is here, in your grasp.
Students will be moving around the property, working outdoors, and should be prepared with layered clothing and appropriate footwear to offer them the greatest mobility.
Recommended reading: Schildkret, Morning Altars: A 7-Step Practice to Nourish Your Spirit through Nature, Art and Ritual.
Healing and Harvest Morning Altars Workshop
Saturday, October 23, 2021
11am - 1pm on Zoom
What needs healing before winter descends?
How do you mark this transition into autumn time?
What carries you through the grief and struggle of our times?
Do you need to remember the abundance in your life in this time of harvest?
This Healing and Harvest Morning Altars Workshop is devoted to the spirit of the Scorpio season — all things loss, rebirth, transformation, and depth.
In this two hour workshop, we will create a ritual container and be led through an altar making experience by internationally renowned ritualist, author, and artist, Day Schildkret of Morning Altars.
Altars are sacred places where we can ground, remember, grieve, and transform.
The ritual will center around creating and dedicating an altar to something you want to heal and something you want to harvest in your life. We will gather nature material directly from the earth, practice “pattern literacy” and create an offering to the season, to what is happening in our lives and to the spirit of transformation.
Space is limited.
*No one turned away for lack of funds.
Email help@morningaltars.com for any questions..
Online Playshop: Kiddos + Families / Sunday, June 7th (3+ hours)
WHO: Kiddos + Families (all ages)
WHAT: We’re going to make nature altars together. We’ll first meet on Zoom and I will teach you the 7-steps of how-to. Then we’ll leave the screens and go out to our own backyards, parks, stoops (or if you can’t go outside, stay in) and collect leaves, berries, bark or flowers. Once we have our palette of treasures we will get lost in the creative process!! At the end, we’ll come back together on Zoom and do an art tour of all the amazing pieces we made from all over the world AND devote them to someone or something that needs our prayers.
WHEN: Sunday, June 7th from 10am to about 1:pm-ish PST
WHERE: Zoom and in your own places
WHY: Making art from nature is the PERFECT activity for kids and families who are sheltering in place! Aside from being amazingly fun to make, they help calm our minds, pique our curiosity, connect us with nature, activate our creativity, and use our hands to make something meaningful. Plus, they are educational and effortlessly teach kids subjects such as math/geometry, botany, mindfulness, art and self-expression.
HOW MUCH: Sliding scale $18-$54+ for the 3+ hour workshop
MORE: Once you sign up, I will send you a document of the itinerary for the day as well as things to prepare. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me directly at day@morningaltars.com
Online Playshop: Kids + Families / Sunday, May 3rd (3+ hours)
WHO: Kids + Families (all ages)
WHAT: We’re going to make nature altars together. We’ll first meet on Zoom and I will teach you the 7-steps of how-to. Then we’ll leave the screens and go out to our own backyards, parks, stoops (or if you can’t go outside, stay in) and collect leaves, berries, bark or flowers. Once we have our palette of treasures we will get lost in the creative process!! At the end, we’ll come back together on Zoom and do an art tour of all the amazing pieces we made from all over the world AND devote them to someone or something that needs our prayers.
WHEN: Sunday, May 3rd from 10am to about 1:30pm PST
WHERE: Zoom and in your own places
WHY: Making art from nature is the PERFECT activity for kids and families who are sheltering in place! Aside from being amazingly fun to make, they help calm our minds, pique our curiosity, connect us with nature, activate our creativity, and use our hands to make something meaningful. Plus, they are educational and effortlessly teach kids subjects such as math/geometry, botany, mindfulness, art and self-expression.
HOW MUCH: Sliding scale $18-$54+ for the 3+ hour workshop
MORE: Once you sign up, I will send you a document of the itinerary for the day as well as things to prepare. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me directly at day@morningaltars.com
Morning Altars Online Playshop: For Earth Day / Sunday, April 26th (3+ hours)
WHO: As a Gift of Gratitude on Earth Day
WHAT: We’re going to make nature altars together as an offering of our love, our dedication, our grief, our gratitude for our home planet and all her inhabitants. We’ll first meet on Zoom and I will teach you the 7-steps of how-to. Then we’ll leave the screens and go out to our own backyards, parks, stoops (or if you can’t go outside, stay in) and collect leaves, berries, bark or flowers (or anything from your home). Once we have our palette of treasures we will get focused in on the creative process!! At the end, we’ll come back together on Zoom and do an art + ritual tour of all the amazing altars we made from all over the world AND dedicate them to the spirit of place and Earth.
WHEN: Sunday, April 26th from 10am to about 1:30pm PST
WHERE: Zoom and in your own places
WHY: It’s not enough to only sustain, defend, protect and fight for our Earth. We need to love her too, Making art from nature is a way back into that love. It helps speak the language of nature which is wonder. Additionally, it helps us use all our senses, make order out of chaos, calm our minds, pique our curiosity, activate our creativity, and use our hands to make something meaningful — all in devotion to our Earth.
HOW MUCH: Sliding scale $18-$54 for the 3+ hour workshop
MORE: Once you sign up, I will send you a document of the itinerary for the day as well as things to prepare. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me directly at day@morningaltars.com
Morning Altars Workshop ONLINE -- for Those Grieving
WHO: For Those Grieving
WHAT: We’re going to make nature altars together and turn our grief into beauty. We’ll first meet on Zoom and I will teach you the 7-steps of how-to. Then we’ll leave the screens and go out to our own backyards, parks, stoops (or if you can’t go outside, stay in) and collect leaves, berries, bark or flowers. Once we have our palette of treasures we will get lost in the creative process!! At the end, we’ll come back together on Zoom and do an art tour of all the amazing altars we made from all over the world AND devote them to all those we are grieving.
WHEN: Sunday, April 12th from 10am to 1:30pm PST
WHERE: Zoom and in your own places
WHY: Making art from nature is balm for our tender hearts ! They help us make order out of chaos, calm our minds, pique our curiosity, connect us with nature, activate our creativity, and use our hands to make something meaningful. All good things for grief.
HOW MUCH: Sliding scale $18-$54 for the 3.5 hour workshop
MORE: Once you sign up, I will send you a document of the itinerary for the day as well as things to prepare. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me directly at day@morningaltars.com
Morning Altars Playshop ONLINE: For Elders 60+
WHO: For Elders 60+
WHAT: We’re going to make nature altars together. We’ll first meet on Zoom and I will teach you the 7-steps of how-to. Then we’ll leave the screens and go out to our own backyards, parks, stoops (or if you can’t go outside, stay in) and collect leaves, berries, bark or flowers. Once we have our palette of treasures we will get lost in the creative process!! At the end, we’ll come back together on Zoom and do an art tour of all the amazing pieces we made from all over the world AND devote them to someone or something that needs our prayers.
WHEN: Sunday, April 5 from 10am to 1pm PST
WHERE: Zoom and in your own places
WHY: Making art from nature is the PERFECT activity for elders in quarantine! Aside from being amazingly fun to make, they help calm our minds, pique our curiosity, connect us with nature, activate our creativity, and use our hands to make something meaningful.
HOW MUCH: Sliding scale $18-$54 for the 3 hour workshop
MORE: Once you sign up, I will send you a document of the itinerary for the day as well as things to prepare. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me directly at day@morningaltars.com
Morning Altars Workshop ONLINE: For Kids + Families
WHO: For families and kids (ages 5-12)
WHAT: We’re going to make nature altars together. We’ll first meet on Zoom and I will teach you the 7-steps of how-to. Then we’ll leave the screens and go out to our own backyards, parks, stoops (or if you can’t go outside, stay in) and collect leaves, berries, bark or flowers. Once we have our palette of treasures we will get lost in the creative process!! At the end, we’ll come back together on Zoom and do an art tour of all the amazing pieces we made from all over the world AND devote them to someone or something that needs our prayers.
WHEN: Sunday, March 29 from 10am to 1pm PST
WHERE: Zoom and in your own places
WHY: Making art from nature is the PERFECT activity for kids and families in quarantine! Aside from being amazingly fun to make, they help calm our minds, pique our curiosity, connect us with nature, activate our creativity, and use our hands to make something meaningful.
HOW MUCH: Sliding scale $18-$54 for the 3 hour workshop
MORE: Once you sign up, I will send you a document of the itinerary for the day as well as things to prepare. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me directly at day@morningaltars.com
Grief To Beauty: Creating Earth Altars to Honor our Lives and Death
Day Schildkret of Morning Altars will offer a special workshop for Hope Gives, a daylong community event exploring conversations about end of life.
12:30pm - 4:30pm WORKSHOP
Fee: $30 per person, limited to 40 participants
Advanced registration is required.
Turning Grief into Beauty @ Mountain View Cemetery / Oakland, CA
Nature and art can metabolize our grief.
Come learn the 7-step Morning Altars practice and build impermanent earth altars to remember those we've lost and make beauty from our grief at the Mountain View Cemetery in Piedmont, California.
Grief is another way loving what has been lost and love is another way of grieving what hasn't left us yet. In our modern culture, we have become grief-illiterate and death-phobic, yet in many cultures all around the world, nature, art and ritual have been helping people transform grief into beauty to feed life again.
On November 2nd, we will meet at the Mountain View cemetery in Oakland to make earth altars for of our family and friends who have died on our watch and/or ancestors we want to remember. These altars will carry the story, symbols, and meaning of our loved ones that we carry in our hearts.
During this hands-on workshop, participants will learn a 7-step process which includes foraging, wandering, and creating earth art that inspires a meaningful collaboration with nature. The practice of building Morning Altars also lets us strengthen our relationship to impermanence and learn to let go of our resistance to change.
To learn more about the practice of making earth altars, pick up a copy of "Morning Altars: A 7-Step Practice to Nourish Your Spirit through Nature, Art and Ritual" on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, the author's website or at your local bookstore.
Morning Altars @ Science and Non-duality Conference
Morning Altars will be creating a large-scale interactive earth altar installation and ritual at the SANDS conference from Oct 23 - 27th in San Jose, CA.
Morning Altars at Lab/Shul's Yom Kippur Ritual in NYC
Morning Altars has been selected as the Artist-In-Residence for the Lab/Shul's Jewish High Holiday rituals. A large-scale interactive earth altar will be built at the heart of both the Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur service in the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC.