Kirsten is wearing a short-sleeved black sweater, sitting cross-legged on a tan leather couch, smiling softly. She is surrounded by plants and behind her is a yellow and green print that reads Morris and Museum.

Photo Credit: Mallory MacDonald

About Kirsten

I’m Kirsten. I hold space as a spiritual director, writer, and collage artist in Vashon, Washington.

The more I live, the less I know, conventionally.

Lately, I have been contemplating the interplay of two postures: TO BEAR and TO RESOUND. One of the fruits of the inquiry has been softening into the beauty of contradictions. This space is full of them. I hope you’ll follow along, anyway.

May something robust be born in us in the dissonance.

Book a session with Kirsten
Collage of hearts over a black night-sky background with white dots as stars. Hearts contain fire, stormy water, pink flower drawing, red legos, red, white, gold sprinkles. Synringe filled with red and pink hearts. Reads "How to Love without a plan."

Context

  • Formed in Cynthia Bougeault’s lineage , I embrace a non-dual posture: Wisdom arises from a common Source, yet takes a distinct form in each tradition.

    On the way to becoming a spiritual director, I encountered a residue of pain within me that I didn’t know was there. This arose as an extreme overreaction in my body to a perceived threat.

    When a wise mentor named my experience “trauma,” new self-compassion emerged. This experience beckoned me toward a field of study that I now see as an investment in liberation—freedom to be loved and to love.

    This compassionate orientation gives me the courage to turn toward my pain with love and kindness, to deepen fluency in my body’s intelligence, and to strengthen my capacity to be present.

    I completed an Apprenticeship in a Trauma-Informed Spiritual Direction with Rev. Dr. Shannon Michael Pater to deepen my scope of practice.

    Read about my Trauma-Informed Wisdom approach here.

    I’m a member of Spiritual Directors International and am committed to their Guidelines for Ethical Conduct.

    I am unabashedly LGBTQIA+ celebrating.

    • The path that was paved for us is cracking underneath our feet. I am living into this wager: the ground underneath the path is fertile.

    • Our actions matter deeply, and much of the spiritual life is learning to relax our eyes.

    • We have choices to make, but they are not conventional choices, and that can be scary.

    • Life is hard and beautiful. The Universe is vast and loving. We cannot comprehend these truths with the mind alone.

    • There are no formulas for living, and there is wisdom to guide us.

    • All of our notions of moving toward a destination are illusions, yet what we do is essential and upholds the planet.

    • Connection is vital. Presence, space, and the transformative flow of relating are fertile conditions for becoming.

Projects

  • Take a peek at what’s cooking with my newest project.

    The name arrived as if from the future. I recognized it immediately, and it felt like LOVE.

    “Our words are just little containers…that catch a little from the waterfall…[and] don't contain the whole of it…the mystery is a totality, it is always more.”

    —Father Bruno Barnhart

  • I’ve been creating over on Substack since late 2024. There is some overlap with Soulspace, but also some differences. I’m beginning to see a body of work take shape.

  • A conversation series with my friend Bernard on YouTube.

A Glimpse

Sometimes it helps to see someone on video before booking a session. Here are some recent clips. You can also listen to audio on the blog.

Work with Kirsten

On a more personal note

  • I live on an island in the PNW with Scott, my husband of 29 years, and our grand-dog Nitro. I am Mom to a handful of young adults. These relational fields are places of nourishment that calls forth becoming. Their love gives me the courage to keep turning toward tender places. I can now bear witness to painful experiences, more often, from a place of safety instead of threat. This is miraculous.

    Tending and propagating houseplants, creating playlists and collages, and opening to Beauty in my everyday life are some of the practices that keep me close to my center.

    Complexities and contradictions have led me to a more spacious, embodied, dynamic, practice-oriented faith.

    I spent most of my life in Southern California. Our family has also lived in the Midwest & the South (Roll Tide!). We are in the Pacific Northwest now, and it is feels like home.

    P.S. We have a grand-dog named Nitro, an American bully. Our cairn terrier Polly has recently passed on, but her feisty spirit still accompanies us.

Collaging Signals From a Loving Universe

Collage featuring a person on a ladder, holding a basket, one arm reaching to the sky. Cut-out text reading 'Deeply Connected', background of clouds, starry sky, and natural scenery, with additional text about seeing the world through a new lens.
Collage of a woman in a red bandana holding a crystal with a clock face and large golden rays in the background.
Close-up of a circular pin with a drawn or printed image of a woman in denim shirt, sitting on rocks with a sunset in the background.
Collage background is a rough midnight blue ocean with whitecaps. Woman stands focused in a tan tent. From her hands spring to the right 3 blue tiles, beyond are three clear blue bricks that appear 3D.

The cosmos is not treacherous or a trickster, not punitive, but giving and forgiving. It does not set up tests and traps. It does not delight in our failure but gently encourages us onward, to risk and offer everything at even greater depths.

—Cynthia Bourgeault