About Mitlé
Walking the Ancient Path in a Modern World
Welcome
I’m Mitlé (she/her); mother of River, daughter of Sally-Ann, granddaughter of Clare and Mitlé, great-granddaughter of Margaretta and Jesse, and Ellen and Anne.
My family lineage runs through English, Welsh, Irish and Scottish lines with an abiding connection to the British Isles.
After 12-years in Australia, I returned to England in 2018 with the intention of re-rooting myself in, and introducing River to, the landscapes of our ancestors.
On the edge of Dartmoor, I am being claimed by the deep and complex culture of the lands that I stand on, drawing on the richness of our ancient Western wisdom traditions.
I am being guided by the incredible wealth of our native mythology and folktales, the sacred sites, stone circles and caves, and our ancient Goddesses whilst learning how to belong to the land and the waterways.
I seek to bring the mythic women of our past, the practices of our ancient traditions and the stories of our ancestors into the spaces that I hold and facilitate, whilst reimagining how we gather in these times of collective uncertainty and transition.
What do I do?
Through sitting in Circle I have witnessed the significant disconnection from self, body and story that those marginalised by their gender and identities have gone through. Continually ignored, and written out of history, it is my desire to bring us back to our stories, myths and ritual practices, and to create new ones, through Sharing Circles.
I believe that we can do that by exploring our lineage and connecting with the land we are on, bringing ritual and ceremony into our daily lives, cherishing each other’s stories and working with myth and folktales, learning herstory*, deepening our capacity to hold space for ourselves and others.
I am exploring questions such as:
What does it mean to be a Circle Holder in these (r)evolutionary times?
How can Circles offer spaces of sanctuary and rebellion?
How can our Circles offer collective care and be a form of sacred activism?
I have dedicated the last 10 years to exploring and understanding the architecture, the magic and the power of gathering in Circle. And for the past 5-years I’ve been guiding well-being practitioners, creatives and community organisers to become skilled Circle Holders by drawing on my:
- professional experience as a litigation and compliance lawyer
- training and working experience as a Food Coach, Culinary Nutrition Expert, Intuitive Guide and Inspired EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) Practitioner
- lived experience as a small business owner (both bricks & mortar and online)
- journey with mental health, chronic pain and menopause
- animist and embodied intuitive practices
- ongoing studies and adventures in celtic mythology, folk and fairytales, druidry, facilitation skills, sacred hestory*, diversity, equity and inclusion, feminism, philosophy and more!
I am devoted to co-creating a movement of Women’s Circles and community gatherings which are rooted in the Circle Holder’s ancestral wisdom traditions and cultural heritage, and grounded in social justice, equity and intersectional feminism**
*I use the term “herstory” to signify a feminist perspective that includes the role of women in our past, whilst recognising the need for a term that includes all who have been marginalised or forgotten by the history books.
**The term intersectionality was coined by Black feminist scholar Kimberle Crenshaw in 1989 and she describes intersectional feminism as “a prism for seeing the way in which various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other”.
My BIO
Mitlé is a Circle Holder walking the ancient path whilst contributing to a modern movement. The founder of Circle School, she teaches internationally and has facilitated circles, retreats and courses since 2016. She believes in the power of connection, community and circle to provide a path of integrity back to ourselves, and authentic relationship with the more than human world. As a woman of British heritage, Mitle’s circles and courses are deeply rooted in the old Western wisdom traditions and British native mythology. As a former lawyer now learning the old ways, she is seeking ways to fracture the current systems that uphold oppression and is committed to increasing her capacity to hold diverse, inclusive and safer spaces for those marginalised by those systems. When not in Circle, she is home-educating River, playing in the woods or attempting wild swimming, usually with a cup of tea in one hand and a book in the other.
An Invocation
I call on all those who will sit in Circle after me and ask you to accept my circle work as an offering to our beautiful world.
With Gratitude
-I am grateful for all those who have sat in Circle before me, including my ancient ancestors and the living cultures who continue to gather in circle.
I offer my love and gratitude to Sarah Hannah Martin who invited me to join a community project to build a Red Tent, in which I attended my first Circle whilst I was pregnant.
I am honoured to stand beside Circle Holders around the globe and to now offer Circle School as my contribution to the modern-day circle movement.
I am deeply grateful for the work of Sharon Blackie, Danielle Dulsky and The Hag School and the Heart Math Institute and the contribution their courses and books have made to how I see the world and the body of work I am creating.
I have learnt from the wisdom shared by the many authors who line my bookshelves. You can find my recommended reading lists here.
I thank the guest teachers who have contributed to the courses and experiences that I have offered, with special thanks to Eva Glamaris, Louise O’Reilly and Elle Steele for their teachings on inclusion and accessibility.
Modalities and Trainings
I am a perpetual student; these trainings have contributed to my work:
Bardic Grade, Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids
Celtic Studies: Myth, Tradition & Spirituality, with Sharon Blackie
Sacred Inclusion, with Eva Glamaris
Inspired Emotional Freedom Technique, Mindfulness & Sub-conscious Repatterning Level 3 Practitioner, trained with Melinda Deans-Draper
Culinary Nutrition Expert, Academy of Culinary Nutrition
Certified Practitioner in Intuitive Intelligence Method and Intuitive Intelligence Teacher, Institute for Intuitive Intelligence
Reiki, Level 1, International Institute for Reiki Training
Post-Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice, Commendation (University of Law)
LLB, with Honours (University of Manchester)