A Sacred Wild Life

In this Dog Walk Dispatch, I muse about the full Moon, the Moon of Revelation in the Avalonian Tradition, and how it brought up thoughts around my ‘circle back’ life, toxic people, situations and even not so helpful parts of ourselves that hinder us on our path.

I completely butcher the names in the myth of Blodeuwedd, Lleu and Gronw Pebyr (who I mistakenly call Cynfael- which is the name of the river in the story!) My apologies in advance.

I also reference this short piece called Some Memories Aren’t Nostalgia, They’re Instructions. Here it is:

Spring has me thinking about seeds and cycles.

And how certain memories from earlier chapters of my life carry an imprint of a life that feels like a fuller expression of who I am.

These seeds aren’t coming from outside of me.

Not from some idealized version I see on a screen.

Not from trying to keep up with the Joneses.

They come from memory.

Deep, embodied moments of peace, ease, creativity… rightness.

Instead of asking Who am I becoming?

the question shifts to:

What is actually right for me?

The places I’ve loved.

The kind of work that feels natural.

Rhythms of life that just fit.

Creative impulses that won’t go away.

Do you have a memory of “rightness”?

Something you touched briefly but then lost the conditions for.

But for a moment you tasted what it felt like to be in the right place in your own life.

A real, lived expression of your values — not the ones you inherited.

A rhythm of life where your soul felt alive.

Where life moved in sync within and without.

I hold that imprint like a seed in my heart, nestled in the dark soil of my soul.

I encountered something that fits me.

Then I lost the conditions for it while pursuing other things.

Now I’m seeing it with new awareness.

This wasn’t random.

This is where I feel most alive.

Where do you feel most alive? When? What are you doing? What does your day look like?

I’ve been having more moments like this - memories of rightness- that are guiding me and it’s not what I was expecting. But it feels right. A rhythm of life where my soul feels alive, indeed.

Enjoy the Walk and Talk. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts or reactions, musings that come up.

with love,

Annie

A Sacred Wild Life by Annie Alcorn is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In this short episode, I share my thoughts on The Three Pillars of Adult Friendship, a short video of Mel Robbins talking about these pillars. What she shared stayed with me, and I recorded this “podcast” while walking my dogs exploring what it stirred in me. If you listen, and you hear me randomly say ‘car’, it’s just me communicating with my dogs to get over for a car coming on the road!

Here’s a link to the YouTube Short. I couldn’t figure out how to embed it here!

https://youtube.com/shorts/TWFIHFmdmAs?si=cWkm9_y5FZGqVtQb

I’d love to hear what comes up for you. Do these pillars ring true in your experience?

For me, a key takeaway is this: the hurt and grief I’ve felt from friendships ending can stand on their own, without it meaning that something is wrong with me.

with love,

Annie

A Sacred Wild Life by Annie Alcorn is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Spring has me thinking about seeds and cycles.

And how certain memories from earlier chapters of my life carry an imprint of a life that feels like a fuller expression of who I am.

These seeds aren’t coming from outside of me.

Not from some idealized version I see on a screen.

Not from trying to keep up with the Joneses.

They come from memory.

Deep, embodied moments of peace, ease, creativity… rightness.

Instead of asking Who am I becoming?

the question shifts to:

What is actually right for me?

The places I’ve loved.

The kind of work that feels natural.

Rhythms of life that just fit.

Creative impulses that won’t go away.

Do you have a memory of “rightness”?

Something you touched briefly but then lost the conditions for.

But for a moment you tasted what it felt like to be in the right place in your own life.

A real, lived expression of your values — not the ones you inherited.

A rhythm of life where your soul felt alive.

Where life moved in sync within and without.

I hold that imprint like a seed in my heart, nestled in the dark soil of my soul.

I encountered something that fits me.

Then I lost the conditions for it while pursuing other things.

Now I’m seeing it with new awareness.

This wasn’t random.

This is where I feel most alive.

Where do you feel most alive? When? What are you doing? What does your day look like?

💗

Hey there,

This podcast isn’t quite a podcast in the traditional sense. I’m sharing a guided immram — a shamanic-style journey — to support you in exploring the dynamics and themes of The Moon of Reconciliation. The purpose of this journey is to receive wisdom and guidance from your innermost self.

In this episode, I offer a brief introduction with some background on the journey, guidance on how and when to listen (not while driving!), and suggestions for what to do afterward to integrate the experience. From there, I’ll guide you through the journey for this cycle, inspired by The Mythic Moons of Avalon by Jhenah Telyndru.

What draws me most to the Avalonian Tradition are three core principles:

* Avalon as Inner Temple

Avalon isn’t seen as a literal island, but as a mystical realm of consciousness within — accessed through devotion, meditation, and the mists of transformation.

* Self-Sovereignty

The ability to rule one’s inner realm with integrity, wisdom, and compassion. It’s about reclaiming the power of choice, authenticity, and sacred alignment.

* The Ninefold Goddess

Not seen as beings to worship, but mirrors of initiatory stages of growth and self knowledge.

I’ve found that when we stop reaching outward for power or belonging, we begin to remember the sacred that already lives within us. For me, the path is not about worshiping goddesses or priestesses as powers outside ourselves, but recognizing their qualities as archetypal energies that exist within each of us.

This perspective may set me apart- but it also roots me more deeply in my own integrity and lived experience. It’s the difference between chasing light and becoming luminous from within.

You can listen to the guided journey below — and I’d love to hear what you experience or discover.

Here are some reflection questions to support you in integrating the wisdom you receive:

*What symbols did you receive and what do these symbols mean to you?

*What shadow or wound was revealed to you?

*In what ways is this shadow or wound manifesting in your current life?

*What can you do to release the pain of this wound so that it no longer affects your life?

*What might your life be like, who you might be, when you release what holds you back, what keeps you stagnant and living in fear. Be as descriptive as you can with this part, really exploring and creating a rich picture of this reality.

What three things do you see to do now, this month, this cycle to take the wisdom you’ve received and put it into action?

With love,

Annie

Hi there,

In this episode, join me on a walk with my dogs, Hank and George, as I reflect on realizations and answers that have been percolating for months around the question, ‘what would you do if there were no constraints?’ and for me that’s Rites of Passage.

Overview

This episode explores the concept of the "labyrinth path"—the personal journey inward to connect with wisdom, mystery, and guidance, then bringing that back into everyday life. We dive into the pitfalls of seeking external validation (certificates, gurus, workshops) and the beauty of rites of passage that nurture self-discovery at your own pace.

Key Themes

🌀 The Labyrinth Path: A metaphor for returning to yourself, dancing with the mystery, and integrating insights into daily life—whether in sacred moments or walking the dogs.

✨ Beyond Validation: Reflecting on the need for certificates or lineages, and how true transformation comes from within, not from external markers.

🦋 Rites of Passage: Moving away from "fast-food" threshold experiences (like quick workshops) toward a nourishing, farm-to-table approach—time to prepare, release, cross thresholds, and digest.

🌿 Community & Creativity: A vision for holding space for others through community and ebooks that weave nature, cooking, the body, senses, and inner work.

Reflections & Questions

- How do you integrate insights from threshold experiences into your daily routine?

- What does a "farm-to-table" approach to personal growth look like for you?

Share your thoughts or experiences with me—in the comments, in a DM or join the Hearth Circle to share in our private community.

Stay tuned for upcoming Rites of Passage that weave creativity, nature, and inner work.

Thanks for joining me on this walk & talk!

With love,

Annie

Links & Resources

- Website: asacredwildlife.com

- Instagram - @asacredwildlife

Join the Hearth Circle

The Hearth Circle is about leaning into embodiment over performance. If this resonates with you, I’d love to welcome you into The Hearth Circle—a private space where we explore these themes deeply through contemplation, creativity, and real-life practice.

✨Seasonal Wisdom and Creative Practice- Wheel of the Year explorations, mandala art, and nature based projects.

🔥 Nourishment for Body & Spirit- Recipes, herbal insights, and reflective journal prompts to align with the rhythms of nature.

🌿 Community & Deep Connection- Monthly Live Calls, occasional exclusive podcast episodes, and a private space to share, reflect and grow.

The Hearth Circle is more than a space- it’s a gathering, a return, a remembering. Join us here, and step into a rhythm of truth, creativity and sacred living. To join, send me a message or simply choose to become a paid subscriber for $15/month.

This isn’t about another journey of endless seeking. This is about coming home.

Hello!

In this rant or episode I share my reflections in response to a picture of me popping up on my phone from 5 years ago.

I share what was happening for me on the day of this picture and how it feels looking back, knowing I was actually on the verge of beginning a journey and rite of passage over the last 5 years.

Have you heard the song, “i have been a thousand different women” by Emory Hall and Trevor Hall? I’ve shared it below. This song, when I first heard it, really made me notice where I had been embarrassed by or frustrated by different versions of myself- how I’ve done the opposite of honoring the women I have been.

When I saw this photo of me pop up on my phone, it just struck me in a new way, a way more in alignment with this song. What I share in this rant is simply the reflections and thoughts that flowed out of me in response to it.

I hope you’ll give it a listen- both my rant and the song below. I’d love to hear what it evokes in you- what is your relationship with past versions of yourself?

with love,

Annie

Join the Hearth Circle

The Hearth Circle is about leaning into embodiment over performance. If this resonates with you, I’d love to welcome you into The Hearth Circle—a private space where we explore these themes deeply through contemplation, creativity, and real-life practice.

✨Seasonal Wisdom and Creative Practice- Wheel of the Year explorations, mandala art, and nature based projects.

🔥 Nourishment for Body & Spirit- Recipes, herbal insights, and reflective journal prompts to align with the rhythms of nature.

🌿 Community & Deep Connection- Monthly Live Calls, occasional exclusive podcast episodes, and a private space to share, reflect and grow.

The Hearth Circle is more than a space- it’s a gathering, a return, a remembering. Join us here, and step into a rhythm of truth, creativity and sacred living. To join, send me a message or simply choose to become a paid subscriber for $15/month.

This isn’t about another journey of endless seeking. This is about coming home.

Before I get to the podcast, I want to share this- sometimes acknowledging simply where we are allows energy, life to move again.

The Queen of Swords stands at a threshold, the blade in one hand, the old story in the other. She invites you to step beyond the addiction to doing, fixing, or being needed.

This encapsulates what I feel today.

I think I just need to be quiet and create and sing.

Have you ever had one of those days where you just feel overwhelmed with information?

Like you can't even feel what's inside, or hear what's inside?

Because it's all just this jumbled mess.

You feel hollowed out and too full at the same time.

That's how I feel today.

All these things I wanted to do, all this pressure to write and share and speak and create. And yet I feel incapable of really having a clear thought. I just feel so cloudy in my head.

And so a walk in the woods to see two colors, green and blue, with some brown.

Simple.

To feel the breeze. Hear the birds. A deep exhale. And moving out of that cloudy head into the body.

Feeling the cool morning on my skin.

The sun peeking through the trees.

My breath moving in and out of my body.

The smell of the woods, of the trees, of life.

Oh, it's all reminding me of what happens when I get stuck in the head.

Feeling almost severed from my body. Disconnected from life.

I get lost in the clouds of the mind.

It feels good to put my feet on the ground.

And sometimes our plans change. Away from content creation to life creation.

Processing strawberries to freeze. With music on I can sing to. Feeding sourdough. Eating sourdough. Making refried beans for later. Cleaning the house.

Clearing away the cobwebs from both the house and my mind.

My spirit restored.

My cave tended to.

Giving myself what I really need.

A gap.

Sacred time to integrate and rest.

Process. Be. Feel.

Tap into who I am and who I want to be. By being that in the moment.

Right now.

and now… The Podcast :)

In this short and sweet episode, I share a stream of consciousness rant I recorded when I was driving last weekend. In it I weave and explore energies of this new moon in Taurus, the ogham tree Willow, the 24th Gene Key and how all of this comes together to support us living more deeply in alignment with our soul.

It is a little ‘outdated’ as I meant to share it last week but my days were caught up in helping my cat, Mabel, who was giving birth and had some complications- if you’re interested in that story- I shared a couple notes on the Substack app and IG about the experience.

After this morning and what I shared above, I realized this short and sweet episode still feels relevant and valuable.

We will explore how addiction to thinking makes us almost mechanistic and how creating gaps in our day through sacred self time, we invite the visionary, creative mind to come forth.

I hope you find this episode inspires you to find some time this week to notice habitual thoughts looping and invite in a pause to see if you are nurturing the pathways that lead you where you want to go.

With love,

Annie

Join the Hearth Circle

The Hearth Circle is for those longing for embodiment over performance. If this resonates with you, I’d love to welcome you into The Hearth Circle—where we explore themes and ideas I share in my articles and podcasts deeply through in a private space for community, contemplation, creativity, and real-life practice.

🌿 Community & Deep Connection- Monthly Live Calls, exclusive podcast episodes, and a private space to share, reflect and grow.

When you answer the call to the Hearth Circle, you are answering the call of belonging that doesn’t require that you shape-shift. Called into a relationship with yourself that’s rooted, alive, and true.

Join us here, and step into a rhythm of truth, creativity and sacred living. To join, send me a message or simply choose to become a paid subscriber for $15/month.

This isn’t about another journey of endless seeking. This is about coming home.

In this episode, In and Through the Body; Our Feelings Carry Messages, I share about the natural sense of attraction, a sense that we share with all of nature. This is a sense we can practice and build capacity for which has implications for us to live aligned with our soul, our true self.

You can read the article here if you’d prefer.

In this episode, we explore:

*The natural sense of attraction and the work of Michael Cohen.

*Mind led and Body Led feelings, how they differ and how we can tell the difference between them.

*4 activities to explore and deepen your awareness of your body led feelings and your sense of attraction within nature.

*Stories of my own experiences with this practice.

I hope this episode is inspires you to build your awareness around your feelings and get out in nature to tune into these frequencies that surround us.

I’d love to hear any thoughts, questions and experiences you have with this.

with love,

Annie

Join the Hearth Circle

The Hearth Circle is about leaning into embodiment over performance. I am tending to holding this space for women to remember the sacred that has never left us. If this resonates with you, I’d love to welcome you into The Hearth Circle—a private space where we explore these themes deeply through contemplation, creativity, and real-life practice.

✨Seasonal Wisdom and Creative Practice- Guided Wheel of the Year explorations, mandala art, and nature based projects.

🔥 Nourishment for Body & Spirit- Recipes, herbal insights, and reflective journal prompts to align with the rhythms of nature.

🌿 Community & Deep Connection- Monthly Live Calls, exclusive podcast episodes, and a private space to share, reflect and grow.

The Hearth Circle is more than a space- it’s a gathering, a return, a remembering. Join us here, and step into a rhythm of truth, creativity and sacred living. To join, send me a message or simply choose to become a paid subscriber for $15/month.

This isn’t about another journey of endless seeking. This is about coming home.

What if you recalibrated to trust your inner compass—letting your own wisdom guide you forward, even amidst chaos?

In this episode, I dive into steadiness—how to find it, feel it, and live it through small acts of devotion that anchor you to your truth. Steadiness isn’t about being unaffected by the world, but about staying grounded in your own wisdom when everything feels uncertain.

Ready to trust your inner compass? Listen to the full episode to discover how steadiness can bring clarity and ease to your life.

Prefer to read? You can do that here.

Enjoy,

Annie

Join the Hearth Circle

The Hearth Circle is about leaning into embodiment over performance. I am tending to holding this space for women to remember the sacred that has never left us. If this resonates with you, I’d love to welcome you into The Hearth Circle—a private space where we explore these themes deeply through contemplation, creativity, and real-life practice.

✨Seasonal Wisdom and Creative Practice- Guided Wheel of the Year explorations, mandala art, and nature based projects.

🔥 Nourishment for Body & Spirit- Recipes, herbal insights, and reflective journal prompts to align with the rhythms of nature.

🌿 Community & Deep Connection- Monthly Live Calls, exclusive podcast episodes, and a private space to share, reflect and grow.

The Hearth Circle is more than a space- it’s a gathering, a return, a remembering. Join us here, and step into a rhythm of truth, creativity and sacred living. To join, send me a message or simply choose to become a paid subscriber for $15/month.

This isn’t about another journey of endless seeking. This is about coming home.

We’ve all heard the wisdom: “What you seek is seeking you.” But what happens when the seeking feels like a black hole, when what you long for seems to run away rather than toward you? In this episode, we explore the deeper wisdom in that experience.

What if the very act of seeking something that doesn’t seek you is revealing something important? True alignment isn’t about forcing something into being or becoming someone new to attract it—it’s about recognizing where life is already flowing and meeting it as your whole self.

We dive into:

• How to discern between alignment and misalignment

• Signs you may be pouring energy into something that’s not meant for you

• The shift from striving and proving to being and receiving

• How spring’s emergence reflects our own return home

Key Takeaways:

✨ True alignment nourishes rather than drains you

✨ Seeking out of scarcity keeps us stuck—alignment flows from self-trust

✨ Closed doors can be gifts, redirecting us to what’s truly meant for us

✨ Spring teaches us to shed, to step forward with clarity, and to trust where life is already moving

Want to Read Instead?

If you’d rather read this episode, you can do that here.

Join the Conversation:

What are you noticing in your own life? Where is life already flowing for you? Share your reflections in the comments or connect with me on Instagram or Substack.

If this episode resonated with you, share it with a friend who needs to hear it. And if you haven’t already, make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Let’s stop chasing what was never ours and start aligning with what’s been waiting for us all along.

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asacredwildlife/

Substack: https://anniealcorn.substack.com

With love,

Annie

Join the Hearth Circle

The Hearth Circle is about leaning into embodiment over performance. I am tending to holding this space for women to remember the sacred that has never left us. If this resonates with you, I’d love to welcome you into The Hearth Circle—a private space where we explore these themes deeply through contemplation, creativity, and real-life practice.

✨Seasonal Wisdom and Creative Practice- Guided Wheel of the Year explorations, mandala art, and nature based projects.

🔥 Nourishment for Body & Spirit- Recipes, herbal insights, and reflective journal prompts to align with the rhythms of nature.

🌿 Community & Deep Connection- Monthly Live Calls, exclusive podcast episodes, and a private space to share, reflect and grow.

The Hearth Circle is more than a space- it’s a gathering, a return, a remembering. Join us here, and step into a rhythm of truth, creativity and sacred living. To join, send me a message or simply choose to become a paid subscriber for $15/month.

This isn’t about another journey of endless seeking. This is about coming home.