What a week this was.

We all emerged transformed, in our own ways.

Paths to listening to our deepest Pussy Magic carved

and strengthened

Igniting our inner flames through fire dancing.

all photos by Erin Grimm, unless noted

To explain how we got here, let’s go back to the beginning.

In conception, the Ignite Your Pussy Magic Retreat was a new thing entirely - borne of a desire to unite fire & burlesque I had been musing upon for years now, mixed with a deep renewal in how we host the Ignite Fire Keeper retreats. Kiki and I were planning on hosting Ignite Your Inner Flame in new ways this year before our 2022 retreat ended. It kept shifting and changing as we evolved through some deep intrapersonal and inter-community shifts that were both incredibly hard & ecstatically illuminating, which unveiled themselves over a full year and continue on still. The thru-line was the deep relationship Kiki & I have borne on radically honest communication, an ability to shift towards every changing alignment in our lives, and intense creativity in how we bring all this forth.

Kiki desired to step more into the role of Mistress/Hostess at her Villa Larimar, holding space & offering new (and fewer) classes. I, Gaea, desired to bring through my Pussy Magic flow-losophies deeper into the Er0tic, with a new container (not a 7 month program this time) where we could build daily and explore all these concepts with fire and burlesque, both.

I was thinking about it. Kiki named it. And so it was.

We had been having a hard time integrating our support teams in easeful ways the past year. And we also chose to scale back & return to smaller retreats that the two of us could hold and host (almost) together - of course it takes a village and so SO many stepped up to help us create this experience… (thanks to LD, Sierra, Diann, Chris, Regal, and so many more). And still, Kiki and I were able to work as a team together, following our own geniuses and taking the lead individually more and more.

I believe the ease in shifting towards alignment with this new retreat allowed us to hold both ourselves and our participants in a new way, more easeful and transformative than ever before.

Each retreat experience is a different constellation of humans - the magnetism of the curriculum, themes, place, timing, and life flow weaves our soul stars together to create deep connections during a timespace portal.

The Ignite Your Pussy Magic 2023 constellation held so many varied humans from all walks of life, backgrounds, and geographies. United by our desires both spoken & silent, we dove in together for a revolution.

This musing will flow day by day, class by class, below. Our schedules are always carefully curated towards a building flow, which perhaps you will be able to feel in the words and images. <3 If you’d like to experience the classes, you can join Gaea’s Patreon for virtual monthly workshops + archives, including recordings of some of our retreat classes.

Or, come to our next retreat experience. :) It’s always better in person, the investment will flow back to you multi-fold. We promise.

DAY 0+ 1 : GROUND & CENTER

Recently, we have been encouraging participants to arrive a full day early to settle past jetlag & travel fatigue, and enjoy a leisure day at Larimar before anything begins. The flights arrive in the evening, and the travel can be quite long if you’re coming from far away. We were so glad that most everyone chose to spend a day, or more, getting to know the island and unwinding before the depth of the retreat began.

What’s more, many of the Pussy Magicians (alumni from Gaea’s 7-month Pussy Magic program) and Ignite Fire Keeper alumni were in attendance, knowing the type of containers we create & steeped in the lifestyles of living artfully and intentionally, upholding guidelines of collaboration, respect, consent, and radical creative expression.

So, when our opening dinner and circle drew near, we were collectively settled and ready to hold the container. Those who flew in that evening were able to be grounded and held by the group’s energy, allowing our ritual Inner Flame ignition opening circle & dance to go deep and vast from the get go.

The word “family” was thrown out that night, and it impacted how close we were all about to get, again.

DAY 2 : Embody Our Pussy Magic

I opened our morning with “Flexibility Flows & Grounded Strength” - a class focused on unwinding our bodies and preparing them for the intense amount of movement ahead. Uniting breath, mindbody, and nature, the intention was to align with my own personal intention of re-framing my life and movement to move from deep core strength and integrity. And so we did.

PS : it is also KIKI’S BIRTHDAY THIS DAY!

A silent & scrumptious breakfast by the one and only Diann Love nourished us to “Embody Our Pussy Magic” - a 3 hour workshop that laid the groundwork for what was to come. I opened a discussion of what Pussy Magic is, and Kiki flowed into Fire as A Healing Artform, and we united intentions by reading aloud our Community Agreements - a set of devotions towards self-accountability, consent, expression, and personal growth that we hope can help sculpt radically experimental and supportive community if we all strive towards alignment with these agreements and ourselves.

The workshop flowed on into dancing the “EsSensuals” as I call them - practices that have helped me to awaken my own Pussy Magic within my body and contextualize the cerebral understanding of what that is, feels like, and flows like. Together, we sculpt the class listening to each other, moving together, and celebrating our and each other’s bodies and we groove and dance on the mountain overlooking the Caribbean Sea.

After dancing, we reflect in our journals and share what is unfolding for us in our inner landscapes in pairs. This practice of internal to external, speaking what is alive for us right now, is paramount to unveiling everything. We are the creatrixes of our universes, and our dreams become our thoughts. Our thoughts become actions. Our actions become realities. Feeling our way to ease and grace is the flow of the lunar Pussy Magic, residing in the currents of the body & subconsciousness beneath the logical thinking solar mind.

Shares and tears, laughter and hugs brought closure to our session together.

Lunch, nourishing as always, brought us into our first excursion to Cane Bay for a beach, hike, snorkel, hang, and chill session next to the sea. Integrating more excursions as chances to get to know the island was one of our goals for this year, as it solidifies community within the context of space & place.

As night fell, we celebrated Kiki’s birthday with a special dinner for her!

And we flowed into a safety training unlike any other we’d held before - as everyone in attendance has spun fire or taken our safety training before. So, we framed the training within the 3 sacred roles of fire dancing : the Witness, Safety, and Dancer. This is the flow of our jams, our performances, and our lives - we extrapolate these out into the universe to support the threads of community deeply.

Our ritual flowed into a fire jam, playful and light hearted, easeful and flowing.

Day 3: Erotic as Healing & Sensuality

Friday dawned to “Breathwork Expansion & Feminine Strength” - a movement meditation class with Kiki incorporating hula hoops and partner work. WHAT FUN WE HAD.

Our 3 hour morning session dove into exploring “The Erotic As Healing: The Sensual Arts of Silk & Fire”. We began by listening and discussing the foundational text by Audre Lorde- a black, queer, feminist, activist with deep roots on the island of St Croix itself. Together we discussed how revolutionary it is from women of all sorts and types to FEEL and embrace their erotic power.

[listen or watch Audre Lorde read her critical essay here]

This is the foundation of pussy magic, at its core. Here, we reshape who we are by how we interact with the world by changing what we truly value within this life - not what we’re told to value or to prioritize but by discovering what truly turns us on and taps us into our own desires.

Pussy Magic can be experienced thus through MOVEMENT - not by talking or debating, but by moving, dancing, feeling, and experiencing the world around us. So we do. In a dance journey that integrates the weighted silk veils, focusing on feeling with our senses & activating our sensuality. A full song choreography gives the structure for us to express our own eroticism within, exploring what it feels like in our bodies to surrender to the flow of silk & movement while we are inspired by others around us.

We explore the depths of our capacity to feel, to create, to heal within our own beings and selves. We open using weighted silk veils to embrace our unique sensuality, and close exploring fire fleshing and eating as a relationship to our inner flames.

The second part of the workshop is diving into our relationship with fire through bringing it to our skin, into our mouths, and onto our bodies. This takes radical confidence, surrender, and a practical devotion to witnessing and listening to our own bodies' responses that help us define our personal & ever-changing boundaries.

Dividing into two groups, we prioritized safety as we encouraged each other into new openings with the fire… and fire eating & fleshing became an activation within this retreat to express our erotic simply and beautifully, without the needed practice and tech for some of the other more intricate props like poi or staves.

At its core, we ignite our inner flames with the fire

and

stoke our own erotic magic through our radical self-expression.

The afternoon nourished our fire mouths with a delicious lunch, then many of us departed for a Rainforest drive to Montpellier Domino Club & Frederiksted Clocktower, Pier, Freedom City area, Fort, and waterfront at sunset. Seeing the west side of town was beautiful, and full of laughter & history.

We returned to Larimar for a “Goddess Feast” - one of my signature favorite co-eating activities! Diann prepared us a beautiful spread, integrating black-eyed peas for vision & future good luck, vegan nori rolls, and perfectly massaged and dressed kale salad. We all adorned and dressed ourselves, sat around the big table in the kitchen, and prayed over our food with a meditation of gratitude. In acknowledging where the food comes from in its the journey from earth to table, we are able to integrate it’s bounty into our bloodstreams deeper.

By eating slowly, we remember to savor & chew. We feed each other, we eat with intention, and we converse about our dreams and desires over food.

In this space we digest better, eat less, integrate more nutrients, and listen to our bodies.

And it’s incredibly delicious.

After dinner we started a contact improvisation jam - exploring touch and community, giggles and laughter, and the hilarity of doing this in full costume (for some of us). The night slowly opened up into a fire jam, easeful and playful, as everyone felt it.

DAY 4: Tease Techniques & Expression

The morning opened easefully - after days of movement a Soft Stretch was in order. We easefully explored our Hip Mobility with some of Gaea’s favorite exercises to lubricate the joints, open, soften, and to Strengthen for supple openness. We explored some pelvic floor activations, noticing the subtle changes in the musclular groupings of our root core webbing on the bottom of our torsos- intrinsically connected to pussy magic & our stability, but also how we contain and use our energy and sexual magic. Easefully, we breathe through each movement to unlock and dissolve anything holding there.

After a silent breakfast luxuriating in journalling and steeping in bird song & Caribbean winter winds blowing, we gathered in circle to ground ourselves in the herstories of burlesque. When we discuss herstories of burlesque, erotic, shake dance, and cultural origins in the tapestry of human existence we acknowledge that we stand on the shoulders of humans who fought dearly against the Patriarchy to allow us to gather and express ourselves today. And, nothing is created in vaccuum, everything we do builds upon other cultures, others, and creative ideas.

Getting up to dance, we dive into the movement portion of the “Pussy Magic Essensuals & Tease Techniques”. Here, we explore & refine traditional & neo burlesque movements with repetition. These are movements that have been impactful to Gaea throughout her movement life, ones that amplify self-confidence, explore tease, and exude self-love.

After a juicy combo, we don kneepads for a FLOORWORK COREWORK Workshop, building upon the open hips from this morning & our pelvic floor activations. Swirling with tease techniques, eroticism, sensuality, strength, power, flexibilty, personality, and so much more, we roll and cat all over the place - eventually integrating our props of choice into the mix to later weild with fire.

And, we STRUT towards the mirror, embodying our own flavors of Confidence and self love, celebrating each other in our fullest selves.

The afternoon excursion goes to Christiansted, where we explored the boardwalk by the harbor & the shops, restaurants, and ambience of the old Dutch colonial town. Steeped in history & build of coral block, the Caribbean town has been reclaimed, is being rebuilt, and is simultaneously being taken over by nature.

Upon returning, our evening Ritual Gathering & Fire Jam: Stripped Down & On Fire invites all to explore the mysteries of our own flesh and flame, together. Whether Improvised Fire striptease or exploring the erotic art of fire - stripping down the layers to where we are and only we feel comfortable… supporting each other along the way. There is no shame in wherever or however we are, clothes or not. We radically embody that there is no expectation to be any way other than you are, at this moment.

Watching each other artistically express themselves exactly as they desire, with fire or not, opened us all up to new levels of vulnerability within ourselves. For witnessing each other blossom encourages us to go deeper into ourselves. This kind of group support changes us from the inside out, rooting belonging deep within ourselves.

And of course, consent is mandatory.

DAY 5 : Confidence & Prayerformance

The day opened with a beautiful workshop led by Kiki, opening with a beautiful reading from the book “Belonging” by Toko-pah Turner, an author who speaks to our souls and is another foundational text of the Ignite Fire Keepers. Kiki led a laying-down meditation journey of belonging, of beloved, of being. Rolling over partway through to embrace our staves as the long linear powers within us, directive yet also soft and strong, we begin to move with these objects not simply as flow props but as dance partners, as beloveds, as extensions of our very selves.

Nourished by Diann Love’s breakfast once again, we silently contemplate and sweetly sit with ourselves over the morning break before embarking into Empowered Confidence.

Confidence is built upon trust, and trust is sculpted through repetition. To feel confident within ourselves, we must begin to have deep conversations with our mindbodies, over and over and over again. These communications with our inner-self, our bodies, our minds allow for us to greater understand how we react, respond, and where our boundaries and limits are. We feel into what YES feels like in our bodies, what NO feels like viscerally, and how MAYBE is the spectrum in between - infinite space and potential between the opening of yes and the hard close of no. For when we say no to something, we say yes to another thing, and vice versa. This is the path of life - and we get to decide how to respond based upon how we deeply listen to our innerselves.

We dance this with our eroticism and flair, finding mirrors all over the space within each other and within the folds of our own depths. Especially dancing in our heels (and kneepads!) we feel strong, free, and sexy.

And oh, there’s mirrors. Each of us, in pairs, struts and walks and dances into our own eyes, our own confidence, hugely. It’s epic. It’s sculpting confidence, it’s play, it is joy.

THEN.

Then!

Then.

To truly step through into our confidence, emblazoned in our bodies and minds, we do a feat of strength and resolve.

We break arrows.

On our throats. Hearts. Solar Plexus. Foreheads.

One by one, Kiki coaches us through. We step into our power, breaking an arrow while our community chants aloud what we’re breaking through into. Self-love. Releasing Shame. Confidence. Enoughness. Oneness. Freedom. Self-worth. We are all mirrors of each other, creating this powerful reality.

With the poignant energy of our own power, we pick up staves and learn the Ignite Fire Keeper staff choreography, one of wild woman prowess. Our strength and flair is woven into the steps as we dance together in unison, melding our intentions and confidence with repetition.

A short break ensues, and we gather round for a discussion on what Creating Intentional Prayerformance means to each of us as we prepare for the Pussy Magic Prayerformance Cabaret to take place that evening.

We encourage ourselves and each other to bring our whole selves to the stage - no more & no less. Many of us are improvising, some are flowing with choreography set with vibes layered over. As we talk about it in the large group, then the small group, we surrender to the flow and know whatever we offer tonight will be enough.

After all this, we rest.

Whoa.

As sunset hits, the polaroid cameras come out. Beautiful sunset shoots around larimar ensue, with laughter and life and light bringing about each of our magic.

Then dinner (thanks Diann, as always!) and the Prayerformance Cabaret. You can’t watch it, because we embrace displaying our bodies in our own confidence and the internet just can’t have that. You’ll have to come in person to see, next time. ;) Trust that it was EPIC. and beautiful. Poignant. Real. Raw. Wild. and amazing.

there’s few images here, because many of our participants got down to our raw selves, and that just isn’t on the internet for free.

Oh, and the afterparty was just incredible, too :)

DAY 6: Rest & Integrate

It’s rest day !!!

We sleep in, and Kiki & Gaea host a luxurious 90min sound bath with all the singing bowls, bells, drums, chimes, and tuning forks any goddess could ask for.

Most of us lay about Larimar, swimming and floating, enjoying each other’s company deeply, and some of us head out to Rustopf Twist, a local sugarmill and old plantation, to learn more about St Croix history & bask in the beauty of the island.

The evening takes us to the Buccaneer, one of the oldest resorts & hotels, and a place where the PuraFire dance troupe has a weekly Monday night residence. Kiki, Gaea, LD, and Sierra dance for everyone in the retreat & at the resort, as a prayerformance offered freely.

Then, under the light of the full moon on the Mermaid Beach, we open to a full fire jam in and on the banks of the Caribbean Sea. It’s absolute magic, to see the moon, chat and light up, swim, and integrate all our burning desires.

DAY 7 : Share your Flame with the World

Our last day begins before dawn. We awake early early early. Why? To spin fire before the sun rises at the easternmost point of the United States. Point Udall is 40 minutes drive from Larimar, so we pack breakfast, all the fire gear, veils, and hiking + snorkeling gear…

It’s very dark out. It’s 430am.

As we drive across the island, sleepy, we know this is the last time we’ll all spin fire together.

And we know that it’s not the last time, for these relationships have forged some strong magic that will reverberate through space and time, deeply, forever.

Set up and safety ready, Kiki leads the fire prayer around the 4 pointed monument, everyone sending our prayers into the universe. We move into a fire jam, playing and praying, jamming and flowing as the sky around us begins to lighten and change.

As the sun peeks over the ridge, we greet it with hugs and tears, with friendship and belonging. This is what the revolution feels like.

As the light comes, ever onwards, we grab our veils and dance in the intense wind on the birm, gazing out onto the sea as it glitters golden with the rising sun.

Diann has brought her famous buffalo cauliflower and popcorn for breakfast, and we eat ravenously.

Here, we break away into our multiple cars - one group on a Kiki famous storytelling adventure, one group on a hiking adventure to nude snorkel at Jack & Isaac’s Bay, and another back to Larimar. Every option is perfectly magical.

Back at Larimar, we have lingerie brunch. Diann has prepared brunch, Sierra brought mimosas, and we all don our own expressions of little tiny daytime lingerie things. Eating and drinking, laughing, telling stories, and taking more polaroids, we enjoy the day thoroughly in all the ways. Some pack to prepare to leave, some are staying for a few days more, and regardless, we all soak in each moment together.

Over the next few days, we all trickle off island to our own homes, next adventures, and lives. However, our Pussy Magics have been ignited. We are not the same. We are forever forged in the fires of community, steeped in the magic of listening to our most authentic selves, and in tune with our erotic natures like never before.

Here, we know we are the revolution. We are the ones we are waiting for. And we are lit and ready for the future.