Hosts Cynthia Varkevisser and Michelle Walters sit down with the inspiring Karie Lee Knoke, finalist of season nine of the survival show "Alone." Karie Lee shares her profound journey of connecting with nature, tapping into her intuition, and finding healing through her wilderness experiences. She recounts the pivotal dreams that shaped her outlook, from trusting in the land's guidance to embracing the wisdom of elderhood. As the founder of Sacred Cedars Wilderness School, Karie Lee discusses how she blends her skills in herbalism, energy medicine, and mindfulness to offer transformative wilderness immersions. Discover the powerful message of living a life where every action becomes a prayer and learn how Karie Lee's remarkable journey can inspire your own connection to nature, intuition, and sacred living.

Follow Karie Lee Knoke on Instagram and check out her school Sacred Cedars

Receive a free hypnosis track from Michelle! Request any product from her Etsy store for free. Get your recording here.

To learn more about Michelle, visit www.michellewalters.net

To learn more about Cinthia, visit www.cinthiavarkevisser.com

Cinthia Varkevisser 1:29

Hello, and welcome with Mind power. Michelle Walters and mystic me Cynthia Varkevisser. Today we had the absolute good fortune of chatting with Carrie leak gnocchi, season nine alone an amazing episode. She is here to tell us about all the things that she can in in our podcast about what it was like to connect with nature, her ingenuity, her creativity, about stepping into elderhood and next chapters. I'm really excited and so thrilled to have you on our show. Thank you miscarry Lee.

Karie Lee Knoke 2:12

Thank you, Cynthia. And Michelle, it's so nice to meet you and be here today.

Michelle Walters 2:17

We were so excited. I was so excited because I recently watched season nine of alone and followed you and all the other contestants through their journeys, wondering who's going to who's going to last a long time who's got the skills and throughout the, throughout the season, I was so rooting for you. I think because you're a woman who's roughly my age, and I love nature, and I was just so inspired by your, by your creativity and your thoughtfulness about what you were doing and nature and your kind of attitude of I shall overcome. And it was just absolutely beautiful to watch how you put your

you put your mind power, and how you connected in spirit to survive in the wilderness like 77 days in the winter in in Canada. Very impressive carry Lee.

Karie Lee Knoke 3:19

Thank you. Thank you.

Cinthia Varkevisser 3:22

Karie Lee Knoke 4:17

Cinthia Varkevisser 8:18

I think that's fantastic. You want to go ahead and give us some examples.

Karie Lee Knoke 8:22

Sure. On the show, they showed me moving into my shelter on day 14. That was not true. I actually didn't even start my shelter until day 14. I moved in on day 21. And it's just you know, the editing, they gotta get the storyline, but they do what they need to do. But I was a little perplexed, because I was in a wildfire bar, which is very, you're very exposed, and I would normally not build a shelter in the exposed area. But then the trees were super thick and wet and cold. And I didn't like being in the trees because I could not see out very claustrophobic dark. I couldn't see predators if they were in my neighborhood. And so I was a little perplexed, and I'm sitting in my makeshift tarp, ramshackle of a shelter for two weeks. Like I can start doing something and I'm not sure I love building shelters. And I just was not sure what to do and where to go. So I just sat there. I looked out at the land right before with the bed. I just kind of looked out at the land and read the landscape. And it was like the ancestors come to me on the head and said, Oh my gosh, this whole hillside is clay because I hadn't seen any rocks. It's all clay. And they told me there was kind of a ridge line there and they told me lift my skin. In other words you Peel off the top. So I lift up my skin, dig down, push the dirt, the clay aside, build your walls, put your roof on, and then put my skin back on top of you and I will keep you warm. Right? That's what the ancestors said to me like, oh, so that whole night I went to bed and I was in my sleeping bag, my mindset, TGT calculating and, and so I started the next day I had to cut the topsoil into bricks of dirt. It was a ball of roots. And I made 40 what I call bricks, 40 bricks of topsoil and set them aside, I started digging that clay all week long. And I did stop until I got to a point where it could at least move in. I wasn't complete, but at least I could move in and get out of my ramshackle shelter there. And I that was really strong for me. And I felt that the ancestors were there to take care of me and were holding me there. So will will keep you warm. And so that's what I did is that I have to just trust and follow that that's what I'm hearing. And that's what I'm here to do. Right. So first, and we're gonna do this and it's gonna work out.

So I think it's really beautiful. And I love how much you trusted. The ancestors, any trusted, you know, every word of how they instructed you, so that you could take really good care of yourself. I don't camp at best ICAR camp, Michelle does much better than I do. But I wasn't really exposed to camping. And so it's, I won't say it creeps me out. But I'm still a little bit intimidated. So to hear that you trust is really, really lovely. Because my trust comes from a different path. Right? But I just love and I still self talk a lot. Which is why Michelle is like, amazing. Now, you said that there was another dream that helped you and changed your perspective. Are you ready to share that? I

when I like I said I could predict just watching the landscape and how the weather patterns I could also predict the weather has also felt very guided as to when to go fishing and the animals would tell me no, don't go hunting now or now. There's one squirrel that was really obnoxious. And if he wasn't TT TT TT Titi screaming all the time, then I knew that if he was tucked away, there was a storm coming in, none of the other animals would be out. I was like, Okay, we're not going to bother going hunting right now we're going to be something else. But yeah, I had a very, very profound dream. And it was on day 50, the night of day 52 I had been doing this day, every morning, we have to say, into the camera. Today's day number 37. And I started making up things about numbers like 37 as a prime number is my favorite number 38 Blah, blah, blah. And I just randomly made stuff up just to entertain myself. But day 52 is a special day. Because it is the completion of four years cycles. And excuse me four cycles of a 13 year pattern. So if you're a woman, you know the number of 1313 moons in the year 13 is a special number. And after 13 years, we've clean completed our childhood. The next 13 years 26 is young adulthood and there's so there's different four cycles. So day 52 Is when in many cultures, they celebrate your grandmother ceremony, which I had done when I was 52. But I'd cried the whole time because I'm like I'm too young. I'm not a grandmother, but I just wasn't ready. And now I'm out here at 57 at the time on the show, but day 52 And the evening I was talking about the rites of passage and out of that whole conversation I had talked about my miscarriage. Now on the show they showed that one little part about me talking about the miscarriages I suppose that makes me a mom I was being sarcastic. But that related to so many women as so many women reached out to me about that and tell their stories and gave me condolences and like I'm really okay, I've done my work around that and you know, my children are in the spirit All they let me know that they come see me, we were all good. But this whole rites of passage thing was going on. And I guess I was contemplating that stepping into elderhood at that time, that evening, we're in the middle of the night, I had this very profound dream. And it came at a time where I was getting down on myself because I was taking all these squirrel shots with my bow, and I would miss them. And before that, I have this thing in my head, like, every squirrel, every squirrel I shoot is another day I get to be here. And every grouse I get is two days I get to be here I had everything labeled. No, I get this, I get to be here that much longer. And I was starting to miss squirrel shots. And squirrels are hard to hit. But I was getting down on myself. It's not I'm not good enough. I'm not good enough hunters to be here. You know, getting down on myself. But my story became every squirrel I miss is another day I don't get to be here. So now my cup is half empty, right? And that's starting to wear down on on me, bringing my positivity down. And also my energy when you're, you're not positive, your energy goes down, and I need every ounce of energy I get. And so that night, I had this very profound dream. And it came in three chapters. It's a very long dream. So kind of just hit on the highlights. It starred Adam beech, who is a Native American actor, very handsome. He was the star of my movie. It's fun to watch.

Yeah, I decided to take a look at his picture.

Right. But he was 13 years old. And he they were in a mission school and his friends were coming out of school and some, you know, white cowboy dudes have surrounded them and wrapped their wrists a rope around their wrist and then drugged them through a lake. They were trying to drown them on accidentally, quote, unquote, accidentally drowned these boys. And as he was being drugged under the water, a spirit came up, he's holding his breath, because he knows if he breathes, he's gonna die. And the Spirit came way from under the water. And she came up to him and she said, Relax, it's okay, there's oxygen in the water. And you can breathe the water. You have gills behind your ears. And you have to trust, trust and relax and you can breathe the water. So she coached them and said gasping for air. Because that's going to kill you. Right? He slowly let the water come in, because we're made of water. And by doing it slowly, the oxygen is able to assimilate and, and he lived. So this kind of went on he got drugged three times and they're like, Oh, he's alive. And but it was gave this message of this kind of like this death rebirth thing. You have to die to. To die in a good way is to live in a good way. You needed to die in a good way so that your life can be good was Henry versal way of how we think about death that was the first message of this death and rebirth of dying so that we could live. So then the the gym moves on. And his he gets married as a son, he teaches his son he passes the message on to his son. Life goes on. And towards the end of the dream. The him and his wife are at a fair like a county fairgrounds. And there's they decide to go for a walk. And they go up to Chief and he's very tall, stoic crowd. And he was wearing this bright bright turquoise ribbon shirt with golden threads woven into it very beautiful, very like to say loud. I was just very bright. And you could tell by looking at him that he was proud of who he was and proud of what he'd done so far. And practicing the art of humility, but it was he wasn't arrogant. It was his shirt, his shirt just set it all and he was just there. And again, you know he's getting the evil eye from these cowboy days in the background. You know And Adam and him are talking and, and Adam just kind of nudges his head over, like, you know, are being watched, you know? And the chief just like, Yeah, let's go get some frybread and they walked off. Like didn't give the perceived enemy didn't give them even any bit of recognition. Right and you didn't feed them any energy whatsoever. So there was no nothing that just killed the energy right there just walked up to get some frybread and then I woke up and I'm like, wow, that's a crazy dream. so profound. And I actually turned on the camera and I recorded it because I can't I don't have journals, right? I recorded it for myself at that while just record it. So I remember and I'll delete it later, which we're not allowed to do. And then in the morning, I recorded it again, I processed the dream. But then what I did in the morning, is I'm a shamanic practitioner, energy medicine practitioner. And I tend not to use the word shaman or shamanism, because I in respect with the Native American culture much involved with and I just most respect for that. So I say shamanic tools. So I used my shamanic tools, and I, I got my normal clothes on. And then stepped out. Side and I before I turned on the camera, I just closed my eyes and I energetically took that turquoise shirt, and I put it on. And I just said to myself, I am proud of who I am. I am proud of who what I've done. So far. I'm practicing the art of humility. And there was a fourth part, have incredible I've done so far. I'm humble about it, and practicing the art of humility. And that shifted my whole perspective. So now I go out and shoot a squirrel and I miss. And I'm like, oh, yeah, I'll get you next time. And it was funny. And I had black teeth, and I could laugh at myself now. And that just made all the difference in the world. Because now I laugh at myself, which is gonna boost my energy. I didn't care if I had black team up to that point, I was devastated. Like, oh my god, I'm on national TV and my teeth are turning gray and black. This is horrible. And now it is like, you laugh at my back teeth and you can pay for my dentist's bill. Everything turned around. At that point of time, Hadamard just tapped and so there was just the three of us lab. Course I don't know that. But that was really a crucial time to keep me going. And just on that note, on the stream, that water spirit that came up from the deep from the water to give him that message about the death and rebirth part. I recognized her. I knew who she was when she came up. And I told my eyes like, oh my gosh, stay in the dream. I want to hear her message. You know, say don't wake up don't stay in the dream. And after I came home, I was talking to a friend and telling her my experiences and she's like, Yeah, it was really interesting. Her name is yellow. Yellow was really worried about you. She said, she said you are having trouble getting dressed. And I was just laughing It's like yep, yes, she said she was gonna go help you. Oh, she did. She came into my dream. She helped me put that turquoise. She brought me that turquoise.

Or Sherry, that is an absolutely beautiful story. And thank you so much for sharing it with us. We wanted to remind all of our listeners that they are listening to mind power meets mystic with Cynthia Varkevisser mystic and me Michelle Walters, the mind power. Today we are talking to Carrie Lee karaoke, who's one of the finalists on season nine of alone. What a profound dream. Cynthia and I are both very into dreams. We think dreams are really, really important and do so much to convey kind of what's going on in the subconscious or the greater mind or the spiritual word or whatever, whatever people want to want to call it. And one of the things we wanted to talk to you about is okay, alone was great. What is the next chapter look like for you? We think you're such an inspiration being a woman of our generation and coming home. It's gotta have been a massive transition to go from living in your little hut in the snow to Being back at at home in a in a in a house or even a yurt and so we wanted to know kind of how are you how are you taking both your alone experience as well as all that life experience that came prior to alone and and helped you to actually get there into what you are doing today?

Yes thank you for asking. Paying I have been living off grid in my yard for 25 years out in the woods and doing my thing hunting from our food gathering making medicines, all of that what I've done right before they called and asked me to come on the show I had just purchased some land and I've always wanted to do a wilderness school I've been teaching for many years but didn't have my own land to do that the school on and two weeks after purchase land so we have a show so everything was kind of on pause and I was like oh what do I do? Is this gonna work out and so now I'm on the new land and the school is called sacred cedars wilderness school the I really working with the land and again letting the land tell me how to just taking my time but listening to the land to know how Where do I put the house where I put this and, and designing the school around the landscape. And the cedars, there's huge grove with a huge 150 200 year cedar trees. And I actually sat with the trees when it's buying the land because it's right when COVID ended and the market still is really crazy in this cash buyers and I just can't afford to compete. And I sat with the trees and ask them. Like, if you want me to attend to this land. I need help from the financial gods above to make this happen. And it was miracle miracle miracle after another after another that I was able to get this land. No one No one did on this land. As a beautiful piece of property. It's like you have to actually come here to realize what what's here. And the MLS listing was totally wrong, specific. Perfect. So obviously I'm meant to be that attended land. And so I named the school after the cedar trees, the sacred cedars bonus school. I moved my year that I've been living in for 25 years onto the new land. And it is now the indoor classroom. So I'm not moving into my yard set up it's a 30 foot year is a huge crafting area. So I'm super stoked about that. I need more crafting area. At this point, I built the campground and there's an outdoor kitchen set up I'm in the process of raising funds to complete a actual structure for the kitchen and storage shed for all the gear and right now I'm camping in my camp in a camper. So I've given up my home for the school. And so part of the money I'm raising is to put in a well and bring in just a small solar system that's all I've ever had as a small solar system and hopefully to have enough to build something for me to live in. You know, I can build a shelter and be fine with that for a while. But I am 59 now and I would like to have my real forced very enchanted house just a little one. I totally get it. The as far as the school is up and running. I have classes going on and courses and starting Friday this Friday. Show my already air before before we start, but we're doing a week long excursion called is the summer sacred living wilderness immersion. So I'll be taking I'll be offering this many times there's another one coming up in the fall. And we'll be offering it at least once every season, because every season has something different to offer. And that's where we get the experience of working with the primitive wilderness skills, how to make a friction, fire, shelter, building all of those basic stuff you see in the show. By adding the layer of connecting to the land, the art of sacred living, making your offerings whether it's a song or just some of your hair or herbs or whatever. But coming into that practice of listening and being attuned to nature, trusting your your senses and allowing for the intuition to flow through you and be guided just like I was on the show. So I'm trying to share that with people on these week long excursions,

we'll make sure to put them in. Yeah, we'll make sure to put that in the show notes, because that's such important work. And it's so beautiful, so grateful. I do have one last question for you. So you have many, many talents. You are, you know, you work with herbs, and you do even energy medicine and you're a Reiki practitioner, I would love to know how is all that blended all into your life, my philosophy is your 100% of who you are 100% of where you go, right 100% of the time. So all these other beautiful skills that you have? How do you use them in your modality? Or is it much more subtle.

I'm a person, I'm kind of a bridge Walker, a person that likes our culture likes to put things in categories like right, Reiki project practitioner, we're in these all these little boxes. To me, it's all one. And I combined it all as one. And it becomes a walking meditation, like, using the awareness skills and the mindful awareness. You, you use that in whatever you do. And an elder once said, back in Standing Rock, one of the elders native elders said, your work is your prayer. And that hit me is like, oh, so we don't have to be in prayer and ceremony all the time. Sitting on our butts, our actions, everything we do is our prayer, that sort of walk. And that was that. Yeah. And I that really resonated with me is like, be mindful of what you do every day and everything that you do.

Love it. Love it. And how are you liking that? The elder, elder hood? There's, you know, there's

exceptions. As I was walking out, that was my rites of passage, I had my walking my fishing pole became my walking stick on my staff. That was my ceremony walking back to that helicopter

into elderhood. And I'm still active elderhood doesn't mean you sit in a rocking chair all day?

No, no. And that's the that's the thing that I really love about you is that you remind everyone I mean, there are other there are others out there. But you're such great as a great example that elderhood does has nothing to do with physical energy, it has to do with the wisdom, right, that you get to be called Ron, and can that you have much to impart as well as is to continue learning. So that's, that's that was my takeaway.

Yeah, so there's olders. And there's elders so we can sit and get old. And being an elder is where you step into place of being a service to others by sharing your wisdom and what you've learned over the many years. So that's the difference. Yeah.

Karie Lee, we are just so honored and thrilled to have had you on our show today. We we've talked to quite a few people on our show. And I think you just embody so much of the perspective that we want to share with the world. So I really, really appreciate your coming on to our show and and sharing your wisdom, your experience your perspective with our listeners today. Thank you so so much.

Thank you, Michelle. And Cynthia, so nice to meet you. And thank you for listening to it. I have to say that's what I'm here to do is to share so thank you so much for having me.

Thank you. You've been listening to my power knees mystic