Join us for a five-week creative coven with weekly gatherings, rituals, prompts, folklore, and stories about the spring witches, their potent plants, and the poison path. Explore the crossroads, the realm of these stories, the liminal where magic is made.
Welcome to The Spring Crossroads
Under the spring moon, the storytellers gathered…at the Spring Crossroads magic is made. During this five-week series and program, Kristin and Kate hold space with you at the creative cauldron of spring. Gathering by the hearth, the lit candle, and the Hawthorn tree, we explore and tell the tales of the Spring Witches, potent plants, folklore, and myth.
These stories are fodder for your creative work. They are rituals to hold you in the shifting of the season and the potent fertile earth. They are seeds to sow in the earth as the wheel turns. The Spring Crossroads is about gathering from our corners of the world to hold coven around these stories and support the telling of your own.
To the burgeoning and blossoming of spring, to setting intentions, to spring’s magick, and the Spring and Beltane Witches, enter the Faerie ring, and step through the tree’s portal. Spring has arrived, and so have you.
Our Schedule
Wednesday, March 27th, 7:00-8:30 pm EST, The Sacred Blood: Aphrodite & The Red Rose
Wednesday, April 3rd, 7:00-8:30 pm EST, The Webs We Weave: Arachne & Winding Ivy
Wednesday, April 10th, 7:00-8:30pm EST, The Flowering: Flora & Foxglove
Wednesday, April 17th, 7:00-8:30pm EST, The Hinge: Cardea & The Hawthorn
Wednesday, April 24th, 7:00-8:30 pm EST, The Return: Persephone, Pomegranates, & Grain
Week #1: The Sacred Blood: aphrodite & The Red Rose
In our first meeting at the crossroads, we meet Aphrodite, Adonis, and the Goddess’s red rose. The rose is dazzling, seductive, even, but what makes this flower so alluring is not the velvety petals or their heavenly scent, but the thorns, delicate and deadly…From the seafoam of the sacred ocean, Aphrodite was born. A warrior in her own right, this Goddess is connected to archetypes and symbols of love, lust, and beauty. Aphrodite is no stranger to desire. This week, we’ll meet Aphrodite at the watery crossroads of spring, the same water from which new life emerges. In her arms, Aphrodite carries a bouquet of roses. Both thorned and blossoming, these blooms are not unlike this ancient Goddess. And they arrive to draw blood, to cultivate lust—Aphrodite’s rose garden, where sacred sensuality is tended to, like soil.
Week #2: The Webs We Weave: Arachne & Winding Ivy
In week two, Arachne shows us how to loop, knot, and spin her silk threads and, in doing so, sew our stories into life’s winding tapestry. While the uninitiated see a simple web, Arachne teaches us to see any number of things – a labyrinth, the moon, or the Wheel of Fate. This week, this 8-legged fairy steers our chariot into the stars. She untangles forgotten spirals and spins new tales crowned with Ivy. Arachne’s words, needle-sharp, thread us into the memories of ancient Greece. There, we find a maiden with nimble hands that rival those of Athena. After a contest gone awry, Arachne, the young weaver, is transformed. Relabeled a trickster, a hag, an immortal fairy bound to the Goddess, tonight, Arachne fills her pockets with silver thread and sets her sights on the crossroads. She arrives at dusk, when day gives way to night, spiders stir and fairies take flight.
Week #3: The Flowering: Flora & Foxglove
This week, we voyage to the Islands of the Blessed, where the Elysium fields bloom and Flora, the Flourishing One, hands us her magickal wand. In the spring, as the flowers awaken, so does the Goddess Flora. A figure of flowers, fertility, and pleasure, wherever she walks, the stories of the flowers follow her. Step lightly to the crossroads and the garden of this Goddess, for with the spring winds, the festival of Floralia arrives. This week we’ll ask Flora for the secrets of these sacred blooms, and she might just share a tale of the potent plant, Foxglove, and the birth of Mars.
Week #4: The Hinge: Cardea & The Hawthorn
Week four arrives and Cardea shows us how to open what is closed and close what is opened. As a Doorkeeper of the Earth, Cardea pivots and persuades. Even though this Goddess lives on the fringe, her boundaries are firm and unyielding. Goddess of the hinge, the door, the threshold, and the changing seasons. Cardea appears at the crossroads with boughs of Hawthorn in her arms, as the protector. Her name translating literally to “door pivot” Cardea knows what it means to unfurl and open. The crossroads of this Goddess appears in the grove of these ancient trees, and Hawthorn is known for its association with sacred thorns, their berries, their blossoms, and the heart.
Week #5: The Return: Persephone, Pomegranates & Grain
In our final gathering at the Spring Crossroads, Persephone rises from her wintery slumber, arms heavy with fruiting plants seeded with story. In spring, Persephone returns from her initiation, both Queen of the Underworld and beholder of Spring. She is cthonic and blooming. Persephone teaches a lesson of self-possession and ascent during this season. At the crossroads, she asks you to lean in closer to hear a tale of the great mysteries, whispering about personal mythology, about what it means to return differently, and the lessons of darkness, made different in a fertile field surrounded by pomegranates and grain.
Exchange:
$330
The cost of $330 for the five-week program includes five 90 minutes class, with recordings downloadable, five downloadable PDFs with rituals and prompts for extended study, a Slack Community & Coven to connect with other Spring Witches around the tales, potent plants, magic, astrology, ritual, and storytelling (including Kristin & Kate). We prioritize making my offerings accessible. If you require assistance, please write us a message to explain your situation and we can work together to find a solution.
FAQ:
DO I NEED TO ATTEND ALL WORKSHOPS LIVE?
No! This program is intended to support any schedule. Workshops can be listened to via recording. And you can tune into these workshops from any place as long as you have internet.
DO I HAVE ACCESS TO ALL MATERIALS FOREVER?
The Slack and recordings from the workshop will end with the program, however, the prompts, exercises, and PDFs from workshops are yours to keep forever.
WHAT EXPERIENCE DO I NEED TO HAVE BEFORE JOINING?
No experience needed! Just a love of stories and plant magic required.
Testimonials from Previous Crossroads Classes
I loved the Spring Crossroads immensely. Every part was my favorite part. I loved the Goddesses and the plants, the stories, the journeys, and the writing. It was the best celebration of Spring I ever had. The Crossroads series is unique and I doubt anyone else does anything like this. It is so special. I would do this again in a heartbeat. Thank you. - V.
After a few months of not writing a single word, The Crossroads reinvigorated my joy in writing. I came to The Crossroads to reconnect with my own voice and with the goddess archetypes that make up this inner voice. I left feeling optimistic and grateful about my writing, art, and life in general. Thank you for being so thoughtful and caring when creating this sacred, creative space for us! - A.
This course was a little bit of everything, and I cannot recommend it enough if you’re looking to connect with your creativity and the spirit of the changing seasons! There were beautifully told stories, primers on medicinal herbs, structured writing prompts that made the blank page far less daunting, a little bit of magic, and a really supportive community. I am walking away from this 5 week course with prompts and rituals that I can revisit anytime I want, some really powerful personal reflections & poems, and a fresh, creative spark. I can’t wait to sign up for the next one! - S.
Kate and Kristin use their incredible gifts of storytelling and wisdom to build a safe and loving container for beautiful things to be made and shared at the crossroads. The experience energized my creative life. Each week I felt inspired to create something as I integrated what I’d learned through writing and other art forms. Members of the online community were welcoming and supportive. There was just enough structure to the program to be organized and allow for creative expression. As someone who understands deities as metaphors only, I felt welcome to understand the characters being presented in the way that works for me without any pressure to see them in any other way. Highly recommend this experience! - D.
The way that Kate and Kristin wove elements of writing, magick, myth and herbalism into a sinuous experience was on a level all of its own; it was refreshing and definitely fuel for that creative flow we all need to keep life spicy and enjoyable. I am thrilled at the prospect of attending another. - T.
Your Guides:
Kristin Lisenby
Kristin Lisenby is a Storyteller and Word Witch living in the Azores Islands. Inspired by the moon and the garden, Kristin writes seasonal stories and reimagined fairy tales for the magically minded. She is the author of the Little Witch Series, Little Witch Tales, and co-founder of Pointy Hat Press, an independent publishing house exploring Witchcraft and Paganism through a modern lens. She is also the co-host of Magick & Alchemy, a podcast by Tamed Wild. Kristin has a BA in Modern Language & Literature from Cal Poly and has also studied at the University of Valladolid in Spain. A devotee of plants, nearly-forgotten folklore, and Magical Realism, when she’s not writing, Kristin can be found digging in her lunar garden, caring for her beloved goats, and working alongside her partner to infuse new life into their century-old farmhouse.
Kate Belew
Kate Belew is a Brooklyn-based writer, poet, storyteller, and Witch from Michigan. Her work spans genres and spaces: poetry, nonprofits, immersive theatre, health and wellness, herbalism, witchcraft, and the psychedelic. She co-hosts Magick & Alchemy, a Tamed Wild podcast about mythology and witchcraft. Kate facilitates and teaches writing workshops and has an MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College. Her writing can be found in a variety of publications, both digital and print. Kate has studied herbalism with Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine online, Kathryn Solie’s Poisonous Plants Series, and in an apprenticeship with Green Witch Robin Rose Bennett, in addition to her life experience and self-study, in tandem with her love of books. Kate is a lifelong student of the plants, stars, and poetry.