Ritual and ceremony have moored me as I’ve navigated the tumultuous waters of transformation. Like many, I grapple with self-betrayal, hypervigilance, people-pleasing, upper-limit problems, receiving, boundaries, trauma, being a scapegoat, success, abundance, navigating systems of oppression, and existence. During the overwhelm of deep work and truth-feeling, I yearned for groundedness and the medicine of surrender.
Words Are The Spells I Cast
Casting my words as spells, I’ve found that the pure act of expression married with ritual creates space for wisdom to settle into my bones. This has become an invitation to surface my intuition with sweetness, inspect the shadows with curiosity, rekindle creativity and play, seek true surrender, and build a temple of inner spirit.
Words are the spells you cast, and ritual is your mooring.
Spellcast is a song of adventure. Like the voice of a lyrebird, let this song mimic the forgotten chambers of our hearts and sing tunes anew and with awakenings. Let us crumble the houses of sand we’ve built and create a bedrock of self-worth, stone by stone, until we belong again to ourselves first.
Spellcast is a song of integration. Invite the sediment of wisdom to settle and tend to the precious stones of our foundation with care and curiosity. Buff and admire them until we know the rains and winds cannot dismantle the self-worth that is now our nature.
Spellcast is a song of belonging. When we belong again to ourselves, may we see the light between cracks, shimmers, bands of color, and golden flecks in the stones around us. As stones influence the color and flow of water, with a new bedrock comes a new of being together.
Ritual Pairing
Each Spellcast post will pair musings with rituals. Rituals guide the settling and integration of wisdom. My rituals are suggestions—please tailor them to your heart’s desire. Stay tuned for a definition of ritual.
RSVP: H*ll Yes
I follow Karna Liv Nau’s Unfolding. Her journey is inspiring to witness: as she puts it all out there, I see her self-worth blossom—and I love her all the more for it. It is raw, truthful, and packed with relatable and experiential wisdom. What I felt as an observer has led to gentle permission to peek behind closed doors inside.
If my words make you think more deeply, amazing. If my words piss you off, that’s cool. If you desire heartfelt discourse, reach out. If Spellcast encourages you to start writing and publishing, f*ck yes—I’m here for it.
If this all inspires you to throw down, hex the patriarchy, plant a garden, jump career ships, or go on sabbatical, then invite me to the party because I will RSVP h*ll yes in spirit.
If you think my experiences are not worth expression and your reflex is to gaslight me, move along (and look inside). Or, I’ll move your digital reader body along for you.
Hi, I’m Kendra
I’m a content strategist and the founder of House of Sand. I help people take up space online with blog strategy, website copywriting, creative expression, storytelling, and SEO content. I can see your brilliance, encourage you to express yourself, and guide you on creating and publishing content all day, but doing that for myself has been f*cking hard. So, here I am, showing up. Thanks for joining me in the digital ether and bearing witness.
Since I was little, I have loved all aspects of creativity: the flow of ideas, building, dreaming, imagining, destroying, falling apart, and trying again. I am intuitive and feel deeply, and always have. I am curious about intuition, ancestral healing and communication, magic, mysticism, and dreams.
I’m a third-culture kid. I’ve lived in Virginia, Antigua, Trinidad, Australia, China, Monterey, San Francisco, Seattle, and Boulder/Denver. I love traveling—adventure through travel is a joy I feel on a molecular level. I am a momma, wife, and proud participant in therapy for 6+ years. I’m also a cat person, though I don’t have an Earthside familiar right now.
Anything else you want to know? Just ask.
Spellcast: Sit Around The Fire
For this ritual, listen and be. We are all of the spirit. Life is an opportunity to embark on the deep work of the heart and a path of healing—to fan the ember in the ash and build your inner connection.
Let’s enter the inner temple. I can’t wait to sit around the fire with you.
Let these words, spoken by Ram Dass in John Hopkin’s song “Sit Around the Fire,” settle into your bones:
As if in each of us There once was a fire And for some of us There seem as if there are only ashes now But when we dig in the ashes We find one ember And very gently we fan that ember Blow on it It gets brighter And from that ember we rebuild the fire Only thing that's important is that ember That's what you and I are here to celebrate That though we've lived our life totally involved in the world We know We know that we're of the spirit The ember gets stronger Flame starts to flicker a bit And pretty soon you realize That all we're going to do for eternity Is sit around the fire
—Ram Dass
I learned so much about ritual from you! 💞
Ritual is a way of life. From even the most mundane chores, I ask the magick to guide me. And this whole album of Jon Hopkin's! Brings me right into the sacred.