Jesse and Ginny brought their community together for a weekend they called An Animist Winter Dream. Hosted at Beyul Retreat in Aspen, CO, every part of the gathering leaned into their shared belief that the world is alive with forces that move through people, land and ritual.

They set the date in January, both a practical and symbolic choice. “We decided to fully embrace the winter, choosing a high mountain location guaranteed to be blanketed in snow”, Ginny told us. “Winter belongs to the direction of the North on the medicine wheel of the indigenous traditions we have both studied. It is the direction of the ancestors and the place where all dreaming begins. We envisioned the whole ceremony as a dream we got to weave, together with our community, our ancestors and the land.”

Guests were asked not only to dress warmly, but to embody their connection with the natural world through their outfits. Guests wore fur, bone, feathers, and plants. Hand warmers, sheepskin-covered benches and fire pits made the snow-filled grove bearable, but the point was never comfort. It was the kind of temporary discomfort that becomes a memory worth carrying.

“Our processional was inspired by a dream I had one night, in which I envisioned everyone walking into the ceremony grove, singing together”, the bride continued. “Our talented friend Stevie helped realise the vision by writing a custom song, The Eye of the Rose. She taught it to everyone the night before. Before the ceremony, all the men in attendance met at the edge of the property, while the women gathered around me as I got dressed in a cabin closer to the ceremony location. The men began the procession by walking across the field, singing and drumming together, toward the women waiting to join in. I emerged from the cabin and met Jesse at the head of the procession, and then everyone walked down a snowy path through the woods into a grove of aspens and evergreens, singing together. It was magical”

Their ceremony attire was, of course, thoughtfully chosen. Ginny’s intention was to walk with the energy of the rose, and her custom-made dress included a rich red velvet skirt dripping in roses. She also had roses in her hair for softness, earrings made of bone for strength, and a vintage fox-fur coat that brought in one of her closest animal allies. Jesse wore a giant sheepskin cape made by hand in Romania and braids in his hair, evoking his Viking essence.

The ceremony was outside in a circular-shaped grove. They set up bench seating in a spiral around a centre altar so that they were held by their community on all sides. Everyone passed under a gorgeously-adorned archway to enter the ceremony space, which was flanked in fire pits for warmth and also the transformational properties of fire.

“We designed our ceremony ourselves with the leadership of our two incredible officiants, both friends and gifted ceremonialists. It included blessings delivered to each of us from dear friends, to remind us of who we are as individuals. It included communal howls. It pulled elements from our ancestral traditions, including a blood oath (cutting each other’s thumbs with a special blade and pressing them together to seal our vows) as well as a binding of the hands with a leather cord by two friends who have a marriage we admire. We wrote our vows ourselves. When we exchanged rings, we spoke the words: ‘With this ring, I devote myself to our union. With this ring, I set you free.’ The ceremony completed with a multidimensional blessing from our friend and teacher Kelly, then we kissed and processed out of the spiral, the whole community singing our custom song.”

The celebration stretched beyond just one evening. Guests stayed in cabins, ate together, joined in sauna and cold plunges, circled around fires and took part in rituals led by Jesse and Ginny. It was intentionally immersive, a way of removing everyone from the pace of everyday life.

Instead of cake, there was a gourmet s’mores bar by the fire. Instead of a wedding party, everyone was invited to show up in their own chosen expression. In the barn tent, long tables were covered in candles, roses, greenery and sheepskins. Food was served family style, echoing the feeling of an ancestral feast. Speeches and toasts became their own performances. People read poems, sang, drummed and told stories that had everyone laughing, crying or both.

Looking back, Ginny said, “We still had to remind ourselves again and again to make decisions that centered our true desires, and not what we felt other people might expect. That’s the advice I’ve passed on to other couples since – do it FOR you, AS you, UNIQUE to you… and your guests will love it because they love you.”