The Serpent and The Dove

The Serpent and The Dove Spirit in South Jersey The Serpent and The Dove

Providing the spiritual tools and supportive community you need to step into your true power.

Discover alternative practices, embrace your authenticity, and find alignment with your inner divinity. Your magic is waiting. Beth Barling & Stephanie Schafer

Ritual is not performance. It is presence.To seek the divine hidden in shadow.To receive the light as it breaks through....
09/04/2025

Ritual is not performance. It is presence.

To seek the divine hidden in shadow.
To receive the light as it breaks through.
To listen for the whispers of Spirit in wind and water.
To devote myself in prayer, in offering, in love.

This is the work of the season, and the turning of every season. To return, again and again, to the sacred.

Foundations of Ritual 101 starts September 24th ✨️








Sometimes obsession is really just a spirit’s way of luring you closer.I was obsessed with this creek… or a mischievous ...
09/03/2025

Sometimes obsession is really just a spirit’s way of luring you closer.

I was obsessed with this creek… or a mischievous lure from the water spirits themselves? Water spirits are tricky like that.

So I stayed.

Surrendering to the current.
Playing in the spirits’ trickery.
Listening to the quiet lessons whispered in the flow.
Embodying the meeting of fire and water, life and death.
And soaking in the last light before the Equinox turns us toward darkness










.

As the season begins to turn, we enter a time of both abundance and preparation. September asks us to honor what we’ve g...
09/01/2025

As the season begins to turn, we enter a time of both abundance and preparation. September asks us to honor what we’ve gathered, to release what is ready to fall away, and to prepare ourselves for the threshold of balance at the Equinox. This month at The Serpent and The Dove, we are gathering in ways that weave ritual, study, and community.

We hope to see you there ✨️

Hello September 🥳September greets us with balance and transition. The days grow shorter, the nights cooler, and we begin...
09/01/2025

Hello September 🥳

September greets us with balance and transition. The days grow shorter, the nights cooler, and we begin to feel the whisper of autumn approaching. This is the month of harvest, gratitude, and preparation—where Virgo’s discernment meets Libra’s scales, reminding us to honor both order and beauty.

In magical traditions, September marks the Harvest Moon and the Equinox, thresholds of abundance and balance. It is here that community gathers, offering freely from what they have, and receiving in turn. The harvest is never just for one. It is the weaving of many hands, hearts, and homes, ensuring that no one faces the winter alone.

Spiritually, this season calls us to get our house in order physically, emotionally, and spiritually. As we gather in what sustains us, we also prepare to meet the darker months with strength, hope, and balance.

Ask yourself:
What am I harvesting?

Where do I need balance?

How can I give and receive more openly within my community?

What can I let go of in order to sustain me through the coming season?

Welcome this month as a teacher of cycles, reminding us that every ending is also a beginning.

Queen Medb Speaks to the Shy Poet.I. In my time,the bardic kind commanded the rath of royalty.For fear of their sting,we...
08/19/2025

Queen Medb Speaks to the Shy Poet.

I. In my time,
the bardic kind commanded the rath of royalty.
For fear of their sting,
we gave them everything.
They ‘liked’ me,
shared my scéal*,
I was Eireann’s Kardashian Medb.

The monks’ day dawned
and Kings were drawn to the power of the quill.
The page had turned.
The Bardic way faded like old ink.

Clerics came,
they scripted my tale in “post truth”.
Two thousand years have passed,
yet pilgrims still climb Knocknarea with a stone for my cairn
wondering whether I lie there, or at Rathcroughan, my home.

II. Twenty first century banfhile**,
cooking, cleaning, rearing young.
You hold back your words for fear of their power,
twitter as you peer into your faceless world.

Grasp the quill in your hand banfhile**
but feel that bard in your blood,
share your words aloud.
Let the tale prevail,
yet script your celtic truth,
or sit there doing nothing,
and become a relic too.”

*Scéal = story.
**Banfhile = poetess.
✍️Trish Bennet

The Serpent and the Dove retreat stop in Rathcroghan, Ireland, August 2024, where would be kings and warriors had to first, and forever, answer to the warrior Queen Medb 🌱🏞️and the Phantom Queen, The Morrigan 🖤🐦‍⬛

☀️ A gentle reminder of your power as we shift into Morrigan season🍁
serpent.and.the.dove ‘s 2026 journeys to Sedona and New Orleans are in early bird registration now! Your journey awaits 🧚🏻‍♀️

Boscastle,🇬🇧, we miss your sweet face. And the caves… We can’t believe this magical journey was over a year ago 🥹 tell u...
08/16/2025

Boscastle,🇬🇧, we miss your sweet face. And the caves… We can’t believe this magical journey was over a year ago 🥹

tell us your favorite UK and Ireland retreat memory 👯‍♀️

Stephanie and I attending a retreat, hosted, in part, by our magical goddess photographer and sister-priestess 🖤 Castin...
08/15/2025

Stephanie and I attending a retreat, hosted, in part, by our magical goddess photographer and sister-priestess 🖤

Casting the container of a retreat is incredibly demanding, not just during the retreat but from the moment we accept our role as both leaders and devoted servants of humanity. During the retreat, holding the climax of this energetic initiative, demands impeccable self-care, the balance of great vulnerable and external expression and the internal nurture and bodily self-mastery to operate at such a high frequency. For me, what masquerades as “noble” is often perpetuating self-deprecating slave culture. Energetically, without impeccable self-care I am not the frequency I need to be in order to command spiritual retreat leadership.

Steph and I were so grateful for this moment away, to pause, reflect, and meet ourselves in a new way.

We are so excited to shift our gaze towards our 2026 Sedona and New Orleans retreats. Reach out if you’re coming with us to either. Early bird registration open now

"Bring only what you need to survive." 🫣 Last minute packing for retreat 🥳
08/08/2025

"Bring only what you need to survive." 🫣 Last minute packing for retreat 🥳

Just a few priestesses packing up for a weekend in the poconos at a hosted retreat! I hope the poconos are ready 🧜🏻‍♀️🦄
08/07/2025

Just a few priestesses packing up for a weekend in the poconos at a hosted retreat! I hope the poconos are ready 🧜🏻‍♀️🦄

At a point of total overwhelm, I stopped.The to-do list didn’t matter anymore. The filming, the tech, the emails, the pr...
07/22/2025

At a point of total overwhelm, I stopped.

The to-do list didn’t matter anymore. The filming, the tech, the emails, the pressure of being productive, the continuous onslaught of one horrible headline after another. All of it collapsed under the weight of heartbreak.

So I went outside.

Into the garden with my youngest. We picked vegetables in the sun. We sliced them together in the kitchen. We made Ratatouille. And somehow, in that quiet moment of nourishment, I remembered something important:

In a world unraveling, choosing to create is an act of resistance.

I felt rage. Guilt. The unbearable weight of privilege as I served food to my children while images of babies with nothing flooded my mind.
And still, I chose to cook. I chose to feed them beauty. To cry over oregano. To sit in grief and still love.

This is not heartless. This is heart-full. This is the sacred paradox of being alive right now.

Self care isn't an escape.

It's how we stay human.
It’s how we remember what all of this is for.
It's how we carry on with hearts breaking from grief, and choosing life anyway.

Harvesting Joy.It’s hard to celebrate when the world feels like it’s burning.But celebration isn’t denial—it’s devotion....
06/20/2025

Harvesting Joy.

It’s hard to celebrate when the world feels like it’s burning.
But celebration isn’t denial—it’s devotion. It’s fuel.

The Summer Solstice, Litha, invites us to feel the joy of what we’ve cultivated.
To honor what has grown through the pain—if we choose to let the light in.

Now is the time to bask.
To pause.
To let ourselves fill with light, the way the fields do,
knowing this warmth will carry us into the first harvest at Lammas—
and hold our hearts steady through winter.

Joy doesn’t ask us to forget what hurts.
It asks us to remember what’s still sacred.
This is soul-tending.
This is how we stay alive to what matters.

The Solstice is near.
How will you honor the longest day?

If you're called to gather in sacred community, a few spaces remain for our Summer Solstice Day Retreat on Saturday, June 21st, from 9 AM to 4 PM at the Landenberg Loft in Landenberg, PA.

Details and registration:
serpentandthedove.com/summer-solstice-retreat-2025

If you can’t join us for Litha, we’ll gather again for Lammas, Mabon, Samhain, and Yule—right here in New Jersey.

Your seat in the circle is waiting.
https://serpentandthedove.com/sabbat-curriculum-and-celebration/

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1428 Kings Highway Ste 201
Swedesboro, NJ
08085

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