I'm Kelley Harrell
and I KNOW we can do betterI knew two truths about myself as a child.
One was that I bore an incurable lust for the written word before I’d even learned an alphabet. Given that, I assumed a path in writing could sate and I managed a thorough education in penning my soul’s art, the culmination of which I’d planned to be traveling the world and exploring cultures. It didn’t work out that way, though. When the time came to pack my bags the impetus was to stay put, a wordless mystery that took me a long while to unravel.
As my initiatory wounds demanded closure I came back to my other childhood truth, which was that I could interact vividly in the unseen world. I felt a little silly then. I’d finally realized all those elegant letters of my naïve youth were really spelling, “Don’t write about the past. Listen to its story. Live better.”
From that point on my writing took on a rather different life. I began weaving tales of souls consciously steering through the wreckage of colonization, chronic illness, unquiet dead, eldering well, and tending Ancestors–all passionate, sacred pursuits.
And I wasn’t allowed to keep it to myself. To that end, I mentor others in soul tending, rooting into their land-based identities, and rune studies.
We all share…
the calling to be fit, embodied elders, who upon death become wise, capable Ancestors. To fulfill that calling, we must respond at a soul level. Through everyday animism and the Elder Futhark runes, I teach others to revive their land-based identity, to engage their well Ancestors and unique spiritual paths, in support of their unquiet dead, fellow humans, and spirits of place.
I’m an animist, author, deathwalker, and death doula, held and tended by Tuscarora, Woccon, and Sissipihaw land. A portion of my income is donated to support these indigenous communities who have stewardarded this land for thousands of years. For the last 25 years, through Soul Intent Arts I’ve helped others ethically build thriving spiritual paths. My work is Nature-based, and centers soul tending through the Elder Futhark runes, animism, ancestral tending, and deathwork. My personal path blends seidr and druidry.
My books are Runic Book of Days, Teen Spirit Guide to Modern Shamanism, Real Wyrd, Life Betwixt, and Gift of the Dreamtime, and I host the podcast, What in the Wyrd. I also write The Weekly Rune as a celebration of the Elder Futhark in season.
We don't heal in isolation
but in communityGift of the Dreamtime Reader's Companion
~S. Kelley Harrell
Elder Well
To bear your unique gift to the world.
Die Well
To leave the planet better than you found it.
Ancestor Well
So that your descendants never elder alone.