Workshops
At Fertile Ground Gathering, we host a wide variety of workshops that are sure to inspire. From beginner to advanced offerings, there is something for everyone! Look for details in each listing to help you choose the workshops that are right for you. With a few exceptions, preregistration is not required for our workshops, so you'll be welcome to decide each day which ones you'd like to attend.
Below is the list of the workshops we have for 2025 so far, along with links to the presenter bios.
As we get closer to the Gathering, we will update the event schedule, and add the days and times for each workshop. You will then be able to find that information in each workshop listing below as well as on the individual day's schedules.
The Power of Story: Creating Space for Divine Guidance
The Power of Story: Creating Space for Divine Guidance is an interactive experience interweaving sound healing, theatre, sacred dance, storytelling, guided meditation, and group altar building. The audience for this class will be invited to participate in a series of experiences that guide them to set down the stories they carry that no longer serve them and rewrite their connection to the divine.
The 2-5pm workshop is now full!
Embodied Witchcraft: Energy, Enchantment, and Adornment
with Irene Glasse
Paganism and Witchcraft offer a unique spiritual form: a world-affirming spirituality that includes our bodies. When we truly approach our magical practice as a whole being, the innate wisdom deep within can speak more clearly. Learn how energy and spirituality move within the body, how to include your body in your magic and spiritual work, and ways to support a better relationship with your body.
The Voice of the Healer in Norse Tradition
with Jane Sibley
Certain chants, blessings, curses against disease, etc. were used in magical healing practice, both for man and beast, in Norwegian Tradition. Some of these have continued in use from Viking times into the 19th century and later. We will explore the various types and applications of a variety of them, as well as a few modern ones.
Runes: Elder and Anglo-Saxon futharks; Runes: the Younger
with Jane Sibley
This workshop will explore runes and their use in history. We will go into the pre-Viking period runes and their posited origin followed by runes used during the Viking into Medieval periods. Note that this is not New Age material and will include some codes.
The Amduat and the Shared Experience of Transformation
with Sophia Kelly Shultz
Each night, the Egyptian Sungod Re faces a great challenge as he travels through the hours of the night towards the sunrise: he must complete his transformation from death as an aged god, to his rebirth as Kheperi, a young god for a new day. Just as the Sungod descends to the Netherworld in order to undergo the transformation that will allow him to arise, renewed, in the morning, so does each of us, from time to time, descend to the dark places in which personal transformation occurs. Although the Amdaut (literally "what is in the Duat or netherworld") is part of the larger body of ancient Egyptian literature known as the Netherworld Books, its imagery can be interpreted to benefit the living. Those who travel with the Sungod in his "Barque of Millions" undergo the shared experience of individual transformation, often depending upon the support of others to reach their goal, so too can we travel the same path to transformation, not comparing and contrasting our feelings and experiences, but instead accepting that while no two of us is the same, and that some parts of our journey must be completed singly, we are never really alone.
The Voice of Intention: Speaking to the Universe
with Randy Meyer
How does one intend to do something? And how does that intent work with the manipulation of the energies around you. How does one pattern those energies to heal or manifest those things that you want in your life. I’ve spent the last 35 years developing my own take on those answers. And now is my opportunity to share what I’ve learned with you. This workshop will be a group discussion in which everyone is encouraged to share their perspectives. I’ll discuss my history and how my particular style of healing was developed. We’ll also discuss how you can adopt some or all of my process and integrate it into your practice.
Where the Wild Things Are
with Christa Hoeffler
Everywhere you go - from the middle of the city, to the depths of a forest - you are surrounded by the Spirits of Place. They go by many names. They can be benevolent or malicious, but most of the time, they just want to be treated with respect. Join Christa for a practical lesson in Spirit Etiquette, as we take a nighttime stroll around the park. Learn how to sense the presence of the Spirits of Place, how to distinguish between an actual spirit and your body's natural fight-or-flight instinct kicking into overdrive in the dark, and most importantly, how to foster a sense of mutual respect across the veil.
Introduction to Personal Energy Work
with Cael Jacobs
We all live (and participate) in a constant flow of energy, every single day. Energy flows into us and out of us, into and out of the people around us, into and out of our environment. It happens all the time, and many of us never even take the time to notice.
In this class, we will discuss, first of all, what that energy is. Then we will learn and practice techniques to become consciously aware of the flows into and out of and around us. We will learn to identify and become familiar with our own energetic centers, the places within us from which our personal power radiates. We will practice connecting ourselves to a stable place in the earth in order to ensure that we remain steady even when the energy flows we find ourselves in are powerful or even overwhelming. And we will work to develop a way to shield ourselves from the flow of unwanted energies; energies from outside that we do not wish to reach us, and energies from within that we do not wish to share.
World Shaping Through Power Words
with Cael Jacobs
When we think of magic or of spells, we often think of the tools that we would use in doing a working. We might have an altar, with a wand or athame; we might have runes or bones or candles or crystals or herbs or any of a number of other things that we would employ as part of our work. But what do we do when we need a Working, and we are out and about and cannot use those tools? In this class, we will be exploring the use of a tool that all of us carry with us, all the time: our voice. We will discuss the use of the voice as a focus of power in existing practices, and we will learn to shape our will and focus our magic using no tools other than the spoken word. This class presumes some knowledge of and familiarity with basic Energy Work, so if you do not have that experience, the instructor strongly recommends that you attend his Introduction to Energy Work class before attending this one.
Exploring the Ur-Myth
with Cael Jacobs
We use words to express our thoughts to others, and even to ourselves. Without language, reason is limited, and we cannot think about things that we cannot talk about. And just as our thoughts shape the words we use, the words we choose to use can shape our thoughts as well. In this class, we will discuss the concept of the Ur-myth, the story that lives inside of us that shapes our thoughts and our perception of the universe and everything in it. We will explore and talk about our individual ur-myths, how they shape our respective views of the world, and how we can take conscious control of our own ur-myths in order to reshape them in ways that better serve us. Please come prepared for deep introspection and discussion, not only of what you think, but also of why you think it. This will be an interactive and participatory class, so all those who attend will be encouraged to share their thoughts with the rest. Please bring writing materials, there will be some short in-class writing exercises.
Energy Hygiene
with Lisa Meyer
In many Pagan circles, you will hear frequently of grounding and shielding, and the idea of protecting ourselves from outside energies that may stick to us. We learn various ways of removing these outside energies - for example, visualizing cleansing light to burn off negative energy, or stomping, wiping, or shaking our bodies at the doorway to prevent those clingy external energies from entering our space. What we don’t hear quite as often is how to manage and take responsibility for our own energy and where it goes. How to ensure that our spiritual ‘pits are clean. We will begin this class with a brief overview of energetic concepts: what energy is, how it moves within and around us, and how we participate in that flow. We will then dive into managing our personal energy patterns with intention, applying spiritual deodorant, if you will. Our primary focus will be identifying ways our energy might bleed onto others, and then learning how we can keep our personal energetic boundaries intact.
Listening to the Voice of Mother Nature
with Lacey Ballow
The voice of Mother Nature is speaking to us all the time. Do we know how to listen to Her? She whispers through the plants all around us: this is food; this is medicine; this will harm you, it is not for you. Join Lacey for a foraging hike though the woods around the Fertile Ground Gathering site to learn how to listen and identify the abundance Mother Nature provides. Learn how the subtle archetypes of nature can become allies within you and all around you, awakening your creativity and passion for the great mystery of life. This workshop includes a "make and take" item for every participant.
There is a $15 materials fee for this workshop. If you would like to attend, please fill out the form below and submit your payment to reserve your spot.
Finding Your Rhythmic Voice
with Mark Sawasky
Introduction/Part One—Instruments and Techniques:
Drummers will gather and learn about different kinds of hand drums and percussion instruments that can be used in a drum circle. Hand drums may include the Middle Eastern doumbek and tambourine called, riq; the Southeast Asian gatham; and different frame drums including North African tar, Persian daf, Uzbeki doira. Percussion instruments include African log drum, claves, and shakere, and other metallic shakers and rattles.
Percussion instruments will be demonstrated so everyone can have a chance to try them out. Mark provides an array of hand drums and percussion instruments for your use, but please bring your own drum if you have one.
Basic techniques will be taught on the most popular drums that are played with two hands (such as the doumbek, djembe and frame drums) Intermediate and advanced drumming techniques will be taught for those who are ready.
Part Two—Rhythms and Circle Dynamics:
Next, we will learn rhythm patterns from different parts of the world and even some hybrid rhythms that combine different cultures. Mark will work with each person on drumming technique and how to find their own voice within the circle’s rhythms. Together, these are the fundamentals of drum circle dynamics. By learning instrument techniques, how to vary simple rhythms, and how to listen to each other, workshop participants will be prepared to get the most out of their drum circle experiences.