The Playground
Three days of creativity, magic & community!
Friday, April 11 - Sunday, April 13 | Austin, Texas
The Workshop | 300 Allen St.
As spring arrives, we recommit and reconnect with the power of our creative practice, the sacred nature of beauty, and the expansiveness of magic.
This is a weekend where you have full permission (not that you need it!) to make art, connect with yourself and kindred spirits, commune with the cards, and enjoy dedicated time and space to open creative channels, fall into THE FLOW, reflect on where you are and where you’re going, and bring clarity and definition to your visions for the future.
The full weekend offers a rich array of creative self-reflection, art-making, visioning, intuitive strategy, learning, and time to connect with others. But you can also attend just one or two days, if that works best for you!
💖 I hope you’ll come out and play! 💖
Friday, April 11
Venus’ Day: beauty & self-tending
9:30 — Arrival & Settling In
10am-12pm — Sand Tray Visions w/ Cecily
Enjoy a guided meditation & Tarot card pull exploring your personal visions of beauty & being.
We’ll then creatively interpret these visions through 3D sand-tray assemblage, drawing from the hundreds of fascinating objects in The Workshop’s collection. This is a practice meant to help you connect with your intuition and practice self-expression through tactile artistic play.
12:30-1:30pm — Lunch Break
2-4pm — Sound Bath & Journey w/ Yoga Therapist Sam Pullen
Relax & reconnect w/ Self & Spirit in a guided vision quest & sound journey w/ singing bowls.
Bring your yoga mat, blankets & pillows so you can get comfy.
(If you’re traveling from out of town, we’ve got you covered.
4-5pm — Tea Time, Journaling & Integration
If folks are interested, perhaps we’ll venture to Casa de Luz for an early dinner, followed by an evening swim at Barton Springs Pool. We’ll see how everyone’s feeling, and who’s up for it.
Saturday, April 12
Saturn’s Day: frameworks, role models & supportive structures
9:30 — Arrival & Settling In
10am-12pm — Spiritual Activism w/ Becky Bullard of Democrasexy
Pull a card from the Our Tarot deck to connect with a femme activist / artist from history.
Create a prayer candle in honor of your iconic activist guide. (Supplies provided!)
Followed by community conversation & exploration on living our values in politically fraught times.
(Activism here = direct action, art making, building community & more!)
12:30-1:30pm — Lunch Break
2-4pm — Enacting, Supporting & Sustaining Creative Visions w/ Cecily
A guided exploration to clarify creative & personal visions & aspirations…
With time & attention toward boundaries, practices, and personal principles that support your work ahead, whether that’s artistic, related to your career or business, or rooted in collaboration.
We’ll pull cards, journal, map & discuss the frameworks needed to bring our visions to life.
4-5pm — Free Time
Continue your planning work, brew some tea & chat with a new friend, enjoy the space while you work on other projects, catch up on emails, or make some art!
sunday, April 13
The sun’s Day (+ Full moon in libra!): celebrating & shining
9:30 — Arrival & Settling In
10am-12pm — Self Portraits & Personal Archetypes w/ Cecily
We’ll create weird, wild, gorgeous portraits of ourselves as archetypal figures.
You’ll select a photo of yourself that reflects your beauty, power, joy, radiance, playfulness, aspirations — you get to choose, or assemble, collage, draw, or paint a self-portrait! We’ll craft these portraits as images reminiscent of Tarot cards, creating visual spells for our BE-coming. Art supplies provided!
12:30-1:30pm — Lunch Break
2-3:30pm — Free Time
Work on a writing or artistic project, continue visioning with sand tray play, take a little field trip, journal, pull cards, or swap skills with a fellow Playgrounder.
3:30-5pm — Shine & Swagger
We’ll start with a gallery walk of our magical portrait museum, then spend time sitting with our own image to conjure a poem, spell, declaration, prayer, or manifesto that will “ignite” our archetype and keep us grounded in our visions for the days, weeks, and months ahead. Then we’ll share (you get to choose what and how!), multiplying the magic with collective inspiration, witnessing, and celebration.
One-card Tarot reading for anyone who desires to close out our circle!
If folks are interested afterwards, we can gather at Sour Duck Market for a parting dinner.
Exchange
You can attend one, two, or three days of The Playground, as you like, and as space is available.
When you register, you’ll be able to indicate which days you’d like to attend.
Attend 1 day of your choosing - $150
Attend 2 days of your choosing - $285
Attend all 3 days - $420
Snacks, tea, coffee, and drinks will be provided at The Workshop, but you are responsible for your own breakfasts and lunches. There is a kitchen and fridge at The Workshop, so you can bring a lunch, keep it in the fridge, and warm it up. Or run out to eat for lunch. Or order in.
We may decide to gather for dinner at the end of each day, depending on how people feel. But this would be optional, and also pay your own way.
Where We’ll Be…
Our creative headquarters for the weekend is
The Workshop @ 300 Allen Street in East Austin
Owned by local couple Heather and Marshall Lyles, The Workshop offers space for creative refuge and play. Marshall is a long-time therapist who trains other mental health professionals in various modalities, including sand-tray therapy. The Workshop is Marshall’s teaching space but also a community space for other practitioners. The Workshop is spacious, open, and bright, with different areas to convene and connect — a classroom space, lounging area, a small kitchen, and a creative space filled with art supplies and sand tray materials.
Have a look!
Traveling from out of town?
The hotels listed below are within 10 minutes’ drive of The Workshop, and some are closer. Air BnBs or Vrbo listings in East Austin (not included here) may offer more affordable accommodations. I’m also offering my home in South Austin, which is 15-20 minutes’ drive from The Workshop, has two bedrooms and one bathroom, a backyard, front and back deck, and can accommodate two to four people (if two couples are each sharing a room). Total cost for the house is $250 / night, with a two-night minimum + a $50 cleaning fee. Email me if you’re interested. I’ll be able to provide photos shortly!
The Frances Modern Inn (higher-end boutique hotel)
The LINE Hotel (higher-end boutique hotel)
Heywood Hotel (higher-end boutique hotel)
Other popular downtown spots include The Driskill and Stephen F. Austin Hotel, Hotel Van Zandt, The Fairmont, but there’s also a Hyatt, Marriott, Omni, Hilton, Aloft, and Downright Austin (Renaissance).
Refunds
Your registration fee (minus a $40 processing fee) is refundable if you cancel before April 1. Cancellations between April 1 and April 5 will receive a 50% refund. Cancellations on April 6 or later are nonrefundable.
If I need to cancel The Playground for some reason (pandemic, severe weather event, or personal crisis), all payments, minus $40 will be returned to you.
Have Questions?
Email me at cecily@typewritertarot.com.