Spiral Path: Seasonal Ceremonies

presented by Silvae Spiritus and Sisu Nordic Sauna

A four-part series:
Spring: Sunday, May 3, 2026 – 12 noon – 6pm
Summer: Sunday, August 2, 2026 – 12 noon – 6pm
Autumn: Sunday, November 1, 2026 – 12 noon – 6pm
Winter: Sunday, January 31, 2027 – 12 noon – 6pm
Ages 18+
$750

@ Silvae Spiritus Northwoods Nature Retreat
68441 Rhine Lake Rd Finlayson, MN 55735

About Spiral Path: Seasonal Ceremonies:

Our vitality and interconnectedness with all of life is an inherent gift – one we’re all born with – and yet our Western culture often dismisses it, or worse, actively suppresses it.  

Spiral Path: Seasonal Ceremonies, co-created by Silvae Spiritus and Sisu Nordic Sauna, is a four-part wellness series reflecting and honoring the natural rhythms of an entire year.  Each session building upon the last, each season meeting us where we authentically are.   Through sauna, cold plunge, and the mind, body, and spirit-tending Latvian thermic ritual of pirtis; deeply connective Forest Bathing and mytho-poetic herbcraft through the lens of animism; meditative and intuitive journaling; and the practice of community connection via The Way of the Circle, each gathering will focus on the profound wisdom and expansive teachings of a season and those most connected to it.

Inspired by the Celtic Wheel of the Year’s cross-quarter days between the Solstices and Equinoxes, we step together into a calendar of moons and ancient traditions.  One where time is told by blossom and harvest, darkness and light.  Join us on the Spiral Path – a yearlong exploration of ritual, tenderness, connection, and reflection.

Facilitators:

Rachael Drumsta

Step into the sauna with Rachael and discover a ritual that is more than steam and heat. Her path led her to Latvia, where she learned the ancient Baltic tradition of Pirtis—a practice that weaves together nature, spirit, and renewal.

With nearly 20 years devoted to public health and wellness, Rachael carries both wisdom and warmth into each gathering. She is a certified yoga instructor, a mental health first aider, and trained through the PirtsSpirit program in Baltic bathing traditions.

Rachael invites you to experience the sauna as a ceremony: the hiss of water on stone, the scent of birch, the quiet turning inward. Each session becomes a gentle space for healing, self‑awareness, and connection—an invitation to restore body and spirit.

Leigha Horton

Leigha Horton is the Silvae Spiritus co-founder, an ANFT-Certified Forest Therapy Guide since 2018, an Usui Reiki Master Teacher, an herbcraft practitioner in folk medicine ways, sauna enthusiast, Certified Morning Altars Teacher™, and a communicator by training and by trade. Leigha has spent over 24 years as a professional voiceover actor – voicing and producing national television and radio commercials, museum exhibits, documentaries, video games, training films, educational games, animation, and audio books – and has contributed to several medical research grants by conceiving, facilitating, and producing audio-guided Forest Bathing walks for study participants. With nearly 15 years experience in the museum field – developing and delivering programming about science, history, and arts to tens of thousands of visitors at several esteemed institutions, Leigha now continues her passion for guiding and teaching via nature-connected modalities through an animist lens – Forest Bathing, Usui Reiki, Herbcraft, Morning Altars, and Woodland Sauna – on behalf of Silvae Spiritus Northwoods Nature Retreat, co-created with her husband, Travis Norman.   

🔊 click here to listen

Travis Norman

A.K.A. Travis Norman, is a co-founder of Silvae Spiritus, as well as a musician, DJ, and sound explorer committed to staying ever curious. Passionate about helping others deepen their relationship with our living world, Travis is a certified Nature & Forest Therapy Guide & purveyor of ways in which vibration, frequency, and resonance shape our shared reality and can help welcome us into the home we call the present moment. Whether letting loose on a dancefloor or relaxing in a sound immersion, he hopes you’ll join in on this journey of rewilding, reconnecting, and remembering.

🔊 Click here for original music releases or here for DJ mixes || instagram.com/dendrotic

Registration:

All are welcome (ages 18+)

Registration required no less than 7 days prior to event start

Cancellation Policy: Tickets are transferable to another person, but non-refundable. Our booking platform, Peek, offers “Peek Protect” – an optional ticket insurance for an additional 8.5% fee that can be added to your reservation during check-out.

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ABOUT EVENTS AT SILVAE SPIRITUS

We focus on the wisdom at the center of the circle:

At Silvae Spiritus, we embrace a philosophy of personal awakening and development within a context of “progress, not perfection” – an attempt to meet people wherever they are on their journey, and an acknowledgement that each step along that path is necessary and can be offered spaciousness.

Our events give participants an opportunity to slow down, shift from your everyday routine, and re-focus your attention toward yourself in relation to community. In contrast to the vast majority of wellness events, ours are a more interactive experience: rather than solely absorbing what we and our guest facilitators offer, participants are invited to contribute their own insights and unique gifts, thereby co-creating a more richly nuanced and memorable experience for everyone.

One of our foundational beliefs is that when we come together to immerse ourselves in shared authenticity, a deep wisdom may be accessed; one which emanates not from any particular individual, but arises from the center of the circle: the point of intersection which joins each perspective and coalesces into something greater than, and more true than, any individual would be capable of on our own. We don’t come with any answers or prescriptions for how to best navigate these complicated times, but we are honored to hold space for the conversation to unfold.

We believe effective ecology starts with love:

One of the most simple and accurate definitions of the word “love” is the expansion of self to include another. Within the context of deep ecology, the term “ecological self” describes how a natural maturation of the human is toward ever-widening fields of relevance and caring, as your self-interest expands from being just what affects you (constrained by long embedded notions of yourself as a discrete and isolated entity) to encompass your family or community or country, to eventually include what happens to Earth.

People protect what they love.

The levels of energy, buoyancy, optimism, and compassion available to a person actively enraptured in the process of falling in love are unequaled in the vast scope of human experience. This abundance is just what we will need to meet the challenges ahead. Join us at an Interbeing Event as we remember how to fall in love with Earth.

We encourage nourishment for body + mind:

All events at Silvae Spiritus include Nature as an active participant, not just a setting. Whether Forest Bathing, thermic cycling through the practice of Sauna + Cold Plunge, Star-gazing, Bonfire-sitting, or immersing in an ambient sound exploration, we believe an embodied interaction with the community of flora and fauna are what supports full, grounded wellness.

What to expect when you arrive at a Silvae Spiritus event:

Whether you’re new to the practices and modalities on offer, or an experienced enthusiast, and whether the totality of your experience with nature is a houseplant or you’re a lifelong wilderness backpacker, we believe that nature is for everyone and all are welcome here.

Upon arrival you will be greeted, checked-in, and given an agenda and an overview of the land and available facilities. Coffee, tea, water, and healthy snacks are always provided.

We’ll fully communicate with you to ensure you arrive prepared and have anything you might need to comfortably participate.

Questions? Contact us anytime.

“We are all bound by a covenant of reciprocity: plant breath for animal breath, winter and summer, predator and prey, grass and fire, night and day, living and dying. Water knows this, clouds know this. Soil and rocks know they are dancing in a continuous giveaway of making, unmaking, and making again the earth. Our elders say that ceremony is the way we can remember to remember.” 

— Robin Wall Kimmerer