I am Faith Carol Newton M.A. — an artist, witch, alchemist, dancer, star lover, poet, mystic, and researcher. It is my life's intention to help dismantle systemic and relational oppression and liberate all peoples through spiritual techniques. I do so by facilitating new ways of relating to our bodies, the cosmos, and all peoples human and otherwise.

I am a neurodivergent, chronically ill, and disabled European descended queer femme. My ancestors come primarily from the Gallic, Celtic, and Anglo-Saxon traditions, as well as Frank and Germanic. Many of my ancestors participated in the initial colonization of Turtle Island, now the United States, and have been here for hundreds of years. I honor my ancestors and am grateful for the life they’ve given me, while recognizing the great harms they have inflicted on this land and its peoples. 

I was raised on Lenape territory in the lower Hudson mid-Atlantic watershed, outside of what is now New York City. There I fell deeply in love with trees, stars, ghosts, magic, and myths, and began a journey of healing at a very young age through exploring spirituality, magic, philosophy, and psychology. I spent much of my childhood sick in bed, and have always been an artist, a writer, and a dreamer. My path to healing has been the dream path. Driven by nightmares, illness and sleep paralysis, as well as deep mystical experiences with nature, I began to seek transformation from the patterns of physical and mental illness which plagued me and my family.

After a decade of severe psychological suffering, I began to seriously study animist ritual, and found a shamanic training community in the lineage of Michael Harner. Though I am grateful to the way the teachings I received transformed my life, I have been called to question the often ignored shadow of colonizers utilizing indigenous techniques in inequitable ways. It is my goal to utilize animist healing techniques to liberate individuals from oppression, instead of perpetuating it. This is an enormous task, and one that can only be done in community. I am constantly doing my own work around internalized white supremacy, and try to approach this work as humbly as I can. I recognize that my shamanic training was an epistemic injustice, I was able to engage in and benefit deeply from knowledge which was acquired inequitably. I honor the indigenous peoples worldwide whose traditions have been stolen and used by the modern neo-shamanic community. I only claim to represent my own ancestral traditions, spirit guides, and personal experiences in my animist ritual practice.

I have a masters degree in Depth Psychology with an emphasis in Somatic Studies from Pacifica Graduate Institute. I began studying Carl G. Jung as a middle schooler, and have obsessed over myths since I could first read (after all, myth books were often the biggest books available to elementary schoolers in the 90s!). My work is deeply informed by a depth perspective, but I also acknowledge the white supremacist and colonial roots of this way of thinking. It is my goal to integrate it with systems thinking, liberation psychology, and animism, so as to better support liberation of the collective. The expression of my attempts is found in my astrological work, which integrates James Hillmans archetypal psychology, new animism, alchemy, and my training as a ritualist. More on my education and trainings is below. 

I am a highly sensitive person (HSP), meaning I have Sensory Processing Sensitivity. This is an evolutionary adaptable quality found in an average of 20% of mammals, and it causes the brain and nervous system to pick up on massive amounts of information and deeply process it, which in our fast moving society, can cause burnout and overwhelm quite quickly. These can then be expressed as depression, anxiety, and other more extreme forms of physical and mental illness. For years my neurodivergency was incorrectly diagnosed as mental illness, and expressed through overwhelming physical and psychic pain. I am someone whose body needs to go slow, despite my fast moving mind. I love supporting other folks with sensory processing divergence to honor their differences, and find ways of navigating the world that allow them to thrive through honoring instead of denying their innate way of being.

I have several exciting projects I am developing at the moment. Currently, I am writing a book about the energetics of intimate violence, with tools and spells for personal and community liberation. I am also working on a novel. Okay 3 novels. In addition, I am building up images for a divination deck which will help folks deepen their relationship with celestial allies (stars, moons, planets, etc).

I live and work in Te Jop, known to settlers as Madison, Wisconsin, on the stolen land of the Ho-Chunk peoples with my incredible partner Geoffrey Adelsberg (link), and a lot of plants. I am grateful to the Oak Savannah which has grounded me over the last 5 years, the sacred springs which remind me that Spring always comes, and the ancestors of this place, whose stewardship still is imprinted into the land. My Sun is in Leo conjunct Mercury, opposed Pallas Athena, and Squared Pluto (conjunct my DSC). My moon is in Aquarius trined Venus, and my Ascendent is in Taurus, with Sedna rising. I am an INFJ and an enneagram 4w5. I love heavy dark music (thanks to lots of Mars, Neptune and Pluto in my chart), deep feelings, terrifyingly strong femmes, all fantasy, Apocalypse stories, and anything about witches beating up demons and other jerks. I have a low tolerance for violence, but a high tolerance for darkness. I am a witch after all. I spend my free time constantly learning, watching lots of movies, crafting, puzzling, reading fantasy and murder mysteries, talking to trees, and getting excited about every animal I see. 

Education

Thinking like a Plague with Siv Watkins 2021

Transit Astrology with Travis and Jessica DiRuzza 2021

Deepen your Astrological Practice with Jessica Diruzza 2020

Initiation to Archetypal Astrology with Jessica Diruzza 2020

Masters in Depth Psychology with an Emphasis in Somatic Studies Pacifica Graduate Institute 2019

British Druid Order Bard Training 2018- Current

Institute for Somatics and Social Justice- Summer 2018 (60 hours) Philadelphia, PA

Reiki 1 & 2 with Colleen Bennelli in Gresham OR, 2016

Compassionate Spirit Release with Jan Engels-Smith Gresham Or, 2016

Curse Unraveling with Jan Engels-Smith Gresham OR, 2016

Soul Retrieval with Jan Engels-Smith Gresham OR 2015

Levels 1-3 of Lightsong School of 21st century Shamanism and Energy Healing with Jan Engels-Smith and Karen Hefner 2012-16

Herbalism, self taught 2012-current

Bachelors in Arts, from Eugene Lang, The New School 2010. Majored in ‘Arts in Context’, a self made major integrating visual art and philosophy, looking at the way artistic practices used in community can liberate women from patriarchy, 

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago 2006-08, Writing Major, specializing in Textiles and Performance

I am grateful to the community, teachers, and ancestors who have formed and shaped my work especially Rae Johnson, Kesha Fikes, Raina Imig, the Lightsong community, Marion Woodman, Paul Kottman, Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen, Sylvia Brinton-Perrera, Geoff Adelsberg, James Hillman, Pema Chodron, Marguerite Duras, Emma Restall Orr, Joanna Macy, Aurora Levins Morales, Bell Hooks, Vine Deloria, Carl G. Jung, Alejandro Jodorowsky, David Abram, RJ.Stewart, Helene and Margeret Counihan, Steven Forrest, Dane Rudhyar, Steven Arroyo, Liz Greene, Jessica DiRuzza, Rick Tarnas, Alice Sparkly Kat, Catherine MacCoun, N.K. Jemisin, Patricia Mckillip, Eli Clare and Daniel J. Foor. Some I know well, most I’ve met only in books. Thank you

I am grateful to the sacred lands of Valhalla, NY (Lenape), Portland, Or (Cowlitz, Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Tumwater, Tualatin Kalapuya, Wasco, Molalla, and Watlala bands of the Chinook), and Santa Barbara (Chumash, Shmuwich). I thank Mt. Hood, the mountains of France, the Irish Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Atlantic, the Pacific, Lake Michigan, Lake Monona, Lake Mendota, Lake Wingra, the Mississippi, the Hudson, the Willamette, and the Columbia rivers. I thank the many trees I have loved, and the spirits of land, water and earth who dwell in the places which have formed and transformed me. We are all connected.