Nourishing Kin
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a place to practice ritual & reconnection
Illuminating the pathways to reconnection with land, ancestors and community.
Nourishing Kin is an experiential collective for women and femmes of the Northwestern European diaspora. With a focus on education and embodiment, we explore culturally sensitive, non-appropriative approaches to ritual and reconnection. We are devoted to the restoration of reciprocal relationships with all our kin: land, ancestors, and community.
We care deeply for our
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Nourishing Kin embraces equitable relationship with land through animism - a framework which honors plants, animals, and other-than-human beings as conscious, ensouled, and alive. This animist reverence is essential to deconstruct the attitudes of extraction and entitlement endemic to the diaspora.
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Reconnection with ancestors and cultural heritage is a fundamental practice for folks of the European diaspora who seek authentic belonging and reciprocal relationships. Ancestral connection is complex, especially for folks with settler-colonialist heritage. Nourishing Kin affirms that ancestral stories, traditions, practices, and choices are both worthy of celebration and grief. We facilitate knowledgeable, compassionate, and thoughtful reconnection with the stories of the people who made us who we are.
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Relationship is not something which can be done in isolation. We honor the human need for connection and recognize that it is through relationship that we find growth and a sense of belonging. However, we are keenly aware that as members of the NW European diaspora we may often lack the skills necessary to participate in communities in healthy and sustainable ways. We seek to build a space where those who are ready to practice healthy relationship can build a skillset of resilience, repair, and reciprocity.
We facilitate meaningful connections through
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Education
Our facilitators are dedicated to sharing an abundance of research and lived experience in anti-appropriative, embodied, and ancestral practices. We intentionally utilize multiple backgrounds of experience and skillsets to facilitate reconnection with land, ancestors, and community. Nourishing Kin tends to the gaps in knowledge and experience regarding culture, belonging, and reciprocity for women & femmes of the NW European diaspora.
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Experimentation
We acknowledge the challenges of building a truly healthy community as we simultaneously unlearn our role in systems of white supremacy, colonization, and anthropocentrism. This is why we do not only teach skills for connection, but view our gatherings as opportunities to practice them. Nourishing Kin is a space to support the process of education. We want members to ask questions, make mistakes, and deepen their learning through trial and accountability.
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Embodiment
Ritual and reconnection are multi-sensory experiences with dual purpose. Not only do rituals comfort the mind and body, but they also inspire growth and change in heart and psyche. We engage with ritual to galvanize the skills and frameworks of connection learned during our gatherings. We intend to cultivate confident community members who embrace the roles and responsibilities of humble students of land, ancestors, and community.
We follow the rhythm of the modern pagan Wheel of the Year to meet every six weeks in northern Utah to mark the passage of time, engage in seasonal ritual, and practice new ways of building and maintaining relationships.