a year of exploring and expressing your Self through writing
all online
enrollment opens Oct 1, 2024
Get started by filling out this “self-selection” application.
Writer’s Resdicency 2025
A residency is period of time in which one devotes focus and energy toward improving an art or skillset.
What if you could give your writing-self, your curious-self, and your expressive-self a year with The Darkwood archetypes?
How would your ability to express and understand yourself improve?
How would your creative nature benefit from regular support and encouragement?
Imagine the clarity you’d have about your personal process and aptitudes if you explored them one season at a time.
The Writer’s Residency uses The Darkwood Archetypes and the Wheel of the Year to support, inspire, and align you with your creative nature and true self.
In the Writer’s Residency you’ll:
- maintain a regular writing practice
- stay aligned with the seasons
- explore your wisdom
- get reflection and support from me and your cohort
- learn to Magic Mind
- create a body of work that represents your evolution throughout a year
- gain lifelong clarity about who you are and how you do things
you’ll get
- a one-on-one Advisory Call with me each season
- three 2-hour live Zoom classes each season
- the Year Ahead Spread class
- Workbooks:
- The Materia Mystica PDF
- Writer’s Group Prompts PDF
- The Darkwood Beat for each season
- The 2025 Darkwood Almanac
Testimonials
Being in one of KV’s writers groups is like opening a book about yourself. She can hold space and time like no other to give a totally immersive experience every time we are together, be it on screens or in person. I have grown and learned so much about my magical nature, the seasons, and archetypes I now walk the wheel with. I am forever grateful for these offerings. They have opened my heart to more nectar from life. ✨
-CS, 2024
Katie has a way of mirroring your thoughts back to you, helping you find parts of yourself that you maybe didn’t acknowledge before. She’s a guide for inviting ritual into our daily lives as a most beautiful form of self-care. The writer’s groups are for the student of the soul.
-LG, 2024
Katie’s writing group is a great space to practice writing and explore the deep mysteries within yourself. I love how her prompts help me dive deeper into the hidden parts of myself and bring them to the surface to be seen and valued. Thank you, Katie Vie, for being such a powerful guide to us writers!
-Jenn, 2024
details & FAQ’s
what if I’m not a “writer”?
But you are! All you need for this class is pen and paper, and enthusiasm. We will gather in an atmosphere of support, encouragement, and a strong sense of curiosity for what our subconscious mind holds. Through ritual, conversation, and writing prompts, you will experience the joy of expression, and your writing nature will emerge and strengthen.
This class does not focus on the craft of writing, nor improving your ability to write. Instead, it uses writing as a tool for excavating wisdom hiding in plain sight.
By the end of our year together, you will have a strong sense of how you write, uniquely, and what your writing can offer you in the form of clarity, guidance, and intimacy with the Self. Through devotion and simple showing-up, your “writing muscles” will tone, transforming you into someone who can express and communicate with strength, agility, and confidence.
why is this a yearlong program?
There’s a lot of benefit to rhythm and consistency. After teaching classes in this specific way (three 2-hour classes per season) for the last several years, I see the value in doing something regularly for an extended period. It gets the practice of self-inquiry, expression, and wisdom-seeking into your bones; it becomes part of your self-care rhythm. Meeting regularly for a year builds community, too.
There’s also a benefit to having devotion and discipline around something — showing up “when you don’t feel like it” and “when you’re not in the mood” aligns you with The Priestess energy of commitment, and The Warrior’s energy of self-worth. Showing up for yourself teaches you to show up for yourself. I’ve been guiding groups like this for the last 4 years, and the personal evolution that comes from showing up for yourself for a year is unmatched.
And lastly, this is a school. Schools tend to meet regularly and for an extended period.
why is this called a “residency”? Especially if we don’t meet in person?
A lot like a medical or artist residency, this program gives you the opportunity to immerse. By agreeing to meet for a total of 22 writer’s groups between January – December, you will immerse into a regular writing practice, a regular seasonal practice, regular noticing, and regular ritual.
Again, much like a medical or artist residency, this regularity will help you build a skill set and foster ingenuity that only a devoted focus can. This writer’s group will feel like time away from your normal life, at first. And then like any residency, it will become your normal life — regular noticing, writing, clarity, and wisdom-gleaning will be part of your days.
Classes are all online (Zoom) to accommodate various locations and so that students can be resourced with their pets, plants, and regular habitat. All classes will be recorded for the class of 2025’s student library.
how is the Writer’s Residency different from Darkwood 101?
The Writer’s Residency is a creative pursuit, while Darkwood 101 is didactic, specifically designed to teach you the “Darkwood language”.
The Writer’s Group is a creative atmosphere. It is an opportunity to explore your creative nature and your own rhythms using the unique pedagogy of The Darkwood School — archetypes, anointing oils & synesthesia, the Wheel of the Year, and writing. You can participate in writer’s groups year after year, enjoying the rituals, community, and creative atmosphere, and using it to inspire their own healing and Work in the world.
Darkwood 101 is more scholastic. Students are generally on track to deepen their study with Darkwood 201, continuing to build upon their knowledge of archetypal symbolism. Darkwood 101 includes more school supplies than the Writer’s Residency, like the full kit of anointing oils, a certificate of completion, eligibility for the grad programs, more class time, and the Student Library (a fantastic resource).
what are the classes like?
classes are all online on Zoom
We call the classes “writer’s groups”. We’ll spend 2 hours in writer’s group three times per season, about every other week.
At each writer’s group we’ll settle in with an opening ritual and warm-up writing exercise. Then, I’ll introduce the day’s topic, always based upon the current season and archetype. After that we’ll do 1-2 guided writing exercises. We generally finish the class by reading what we’ve written aloud and creating a Magic Mind for each other. A Magic Mind is a short poem based on the collective consciousness.
Writer’s groups are very participatory. There’s no “sitting in the back”. You always have the option to pass and not read your work, but in general writer’s groups are attended by folks enthusiastic about participating.
when do the writer’s groups meet?
Writer’s groups meet from 6:30 – 8:30 pm EST on Zoom on the following Thursdays:
- Priestess| Jan 30, Feb 13, Feb 27
- Girl Child| Mar 13, Mar 27, April 10
- Tantrika | April 24, May 8, May 22
- Queen | June 12, June 26, July 10
- Warrior | July 24, Aug 7, Aug 21
- Mermaid | Sept 18, Oct 2, Oct 16
- Wisdom Keeper | Oct 23, Nov 6, Nov 20
- Dreaming | Dec 11
While many people find that their energy wanes in the evening, meeting then allows us to write by candlelight in the Dark half of the year. And throughout the year, this timing prepares our subconscious, rich in wisdom, for a night of potent work dreaming.
why is there only 1 writer’s group for the Dreaming season?
The nature of The Dreaming season, or Winter Solstice, is about letting go and releasing into the dreamtime of the year. It’s a season of rest and softness, of drifting and dissolving. At Winter Solstice we release the year, and so we also release our cohort.
will this be a closed group, or will other students join us?
That depends. I like to hold writer’s groups for 6-7 people, so if that number of people enroll in the Writer’s Residency, it will be a closed group. If not, I will open the group up each season for others to enroll.
People who enroll in one-off writer’s group will not receive a one-on-one Advisory call, an Archetype alignment call, the Year-Ahead Spread Zoom class, The Materia Mystica pdf, or the 2025 Darkwood Almanac.
what’s the attendance policy?
Participation is important. Writer’s groups are designed as interdependent experiences that reply upon collective contribution.
You can miss up to 1 writer’s group per season. If you miss more than that, we’ll have a chat about whether or not the program is a good fit for you. If you are dismissed for non-participation, you will still be obligated for the full tuition, including monthly payments.
do I get one-on-one time with you?
Yes!
To help you individualize your experience, you will have a 30-minute Advisory Call with me per season (excluding the Dreaming Season); seven in total.
During Advisory Calls I’ll listen deeply to the ways you are applying the season’s teachings and then offer potent reflection and guidance. These calls will help you understand how you’re aligning with and benefitting from the season and archetypes. We’ll also discuss your year-long archetype and how it’s contributing.
what is the “Year Ahead Spread”?
Using the oracle deck of your choice, together we’ll create a layout that will help you understand the “wisdom upgrade” for each 2025 season. Using a specific set of prompts, you’ll pull 1 or 2 cards for each season, then log this information for easy access and reference all year. You’ll learn how to look for patterns, circuits, and deep meaning in this spread, and most importantly to allow it to unfurl rather than predict the future.
who participates in the Writing Residency?
This program is open to 6 or 7 women or femmes, often graduates of Darkwood 101 (aka The Mystical Year).
Participants are all interested in showing up to write, explore, and express, applying the course material with devotion and organization. Writer’s Residency participants are punctual, attend class with regularity and with enthusiasm, and have a natural aptitude for archetypal symbolism, noticing, and self-inquiry.
is there a pre-requisite class?
No. Completion of the Darkwood 101 program (aka The Mystical Year) is strongly recommended but not required. Writer’s Residency participants will be responsible for reading the supplied Materia Mystica for each season and coming to writer’s groups with a thorough understanding of the season and archetype we’re studying.
can I do the Writer’s Residency and another grad program, like Rest & Ritual, at the same time?
Yes! And! If you sign up for the Writer’s Residency and another program, you’ll get your tuition reduced by $150 per program.
The tuition reduction is in honor of your commitment, and also to compensate for the Archetype Walk call and seasonal Advisory calls that won’t be doubled up on. If you enroll in multiple programs, you will get 1 Archetype Walk call, and 1 Advisory Call per season.
are there requirements for attendance and other things?
Attendance: students can miss no more than 1 writer’s group per season. If a student exceeds this, we will consider dismissal with no refund.
Advisory calls: students can “no-show” or cancel without notice only once.
Tuition: students on the monthly payment plan will be invoiced and must pay on time, with a penalty fee for missed and late payments. Students who are dismissed for non-payment, late payment, or poor attendance are still responsible for making their monthly payments.
Intellectual Property: students will enroll with a clear understanding that this Writer’s Residency is not a teacher training, and that participating in the program is not permission or preparation to teach or practice this material. In fact, the Writer’s Residency positions you to create your own pedagogy, techniques, and methods that are unique to you.
Student Contract: before acceptance into the Writer’s Residency, all students will sign a contract clearly outlining requirements, rules, and agreements.
why so many rules?
In short, to help you show up for your Self.
Sadly, we live in a culture that encourages women to blow off plans with themselves when work, family, and/or romantic partners “need us”. Women have been trained to consider self-care and self-betterment “low priority” our whole lives; plans with our Self often reads as “no plans” and get easily replaced.
I know this because I’ve done it. A lot.
These rules are in place to help you stick to the plans you made for your Self and prioritize the relationship with “her” (you). They are here to support your commitment to self-awareness and personal growth. These rules are hearty incentives to show the fuck up for your beautiful, unique, miraculous Self.
I will be showing up for you for a year. I want you to show up “for you”, too.
Tuition & enrollment
tuition:
- In full: $3,400 by Dec 19, 2024
- Monthly: $300 for 12 months, beginning December 1, 2024
Enrollment opens October 1, 2024
Start by completing this “self-selection” application. We will never read it; it’s for your benefit only.