On a lovely evening in May at JTH Tucson we gathered under the waning moon for a Spirit Pot Mini Retreat with Shazieh of Agave Pantry & Jess of Spiritual Abode.
Read on for a recap of the event, and if you missed it don’t worry—we’re planning more soon!
Our afternoon started by enjoying some of Shazieh’s specialty Persian love cake with tea in our olive grove surrounded by the smell of blooming jasmine. After snacks it was time to get to work. Shazieh had thrown, stamped with cholla branches, and bisque fired her signature spirit pots for each participant prior to the event, so they were all ready for us to decorate and fire.
After learning about her process, we got to choose copper & botanicals to wrap around our pots. We used a mix of dried botanicals that Shazieh brought along, and plants we foraged from around the grounds. After the pots were lovingly decorated, we wrote affirmations on slips of birch bark and slipped them inside. Then we wrapped them in tin foil and placed them into the can to be fired.
After placing our pots into the pit can, we created mandala of herbs and spices on the top of the can. Then we we brought the can out to a clearing, and left it to fire overnight while we crossed our fingers with excitement to see what would come out the next day!
While we waited, we kept our minds and bellies occupied with a beautiful Southwestern family-style meal on the rooftop prepared by Private Chef Mike. With our dessert, we sampled our house-made prickly pear wine and Mertails, a non-alcoholic cocktail made with juniper foraged in Joshua Tree. After dinner, we headed out onto the rooftop for a sound bath under the stars with Jess. During the sound bath mother nature treated to us to a show—we could hear a pack of coyotes howling out in the desert, while overhead a rare atmospheric aurora displayed.
Upon unloading our pots the next morning, we were pleasantly surprised. We discovered that a lot of them picked a beautiful pink hue—a happy occurrence that Shazieh has never experienced before! Each of our spirit pots is unique and one of a kind, and each time one of our guests use their pot, we hope they will have happy memories of their time here creating it.
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Learn more about workshops at JTH Tucson here. If you have a full inn rental booked, you can add-on a Spirit Pot Workshop to your stay here.
