KATE MORNINGSTAR BEDNARSKI MS, MLA
Shamanic Practitioner, Transpersonal Coach, Interfaith Spiritual Companion
Recognized as a catalytic transformer, I support those called to discover and awaken to their True Selves. I offer an array of tools to assist your evolution, expansion and emergence while you create greater meaning and fulfillment.
The Sanctuary Shed and Fire Circle
The 5 Stepping Stones Sanctuary serves as my sacred space and gathering place, located in the forested foothills of the coastal mountains north of Portland, OR.
MY STORY
Raised in Delaware, the second smallest of the United States, I grew up with dreams of becoming a doctor. Destiny would take me on alternate paths.
I enjoyed a diverse work history including 20+ years in corporations beginning as a sports biomechanist for Converse where I developed the first true women’s running shoe last (the form used to construct shoes on that most affects the fit of a shoe); a brand marketing executive transforming several successful brands including Keds, Walmart and Ryka, as its President.
As the Women's Global Business Director at Nike I led NIKE’s move from #3 to the top women’s athletic brand in the world while making NIKE "a more profitable and caring company” as noted by Judy Rosener in her book America’s Competitive Secret.
Nike Women’s Ads
"The rest is history, Bednarski's ads won numerous awards and were the talk of the advertising community. Today Nike is perceived as a firm that cares about women. If she hadn't argued for changing its corporate agenda, Nike might be less profitable today."
- Judy Rosener
I left the executive suite for good years ago and founded 5 Stepping Stones, both my company and a mystical path for discovering one’s True Self and right work. Complementing experience I gained as a business executive, I received an MS in Biomechanics @Northeastern University; an MLA in Creation Spirituality @Naropa University; a Certificate in Interfaith Spiritual Direction @ the Chaplaincy Institute Interfaith Seminary and a trained Fireside Project Psychedelic Support volunteer.
Interspersed within those years of education and work, I sought adventures to transform myself and grow towards a more conscious way of living. I made pilgrimages to sacred sites all over the world including the Holy Lands, Buddhist temples of Thailand, Europe and beyond. I served in hospitality ministry at Franciscan and Buddhist retreat centers; trained as a chef staging in top San Francisco restaurant kitchens and spent years apprenticing with shamans/curanderas in South America. All unplanned unknown gifts that came from following my heart and inner guidance.
I AM a queer, non-binary spiritual eclectic at once connected to the Earth and to the Divine/Creator/Source/God. Apprenticeships with teachers and initiations into their South American Quechuan, Taino, Mayan/Nagual and American Indian lineages coalesce with sacred plant medicine journeys, traveling the Red Road and Insight meditation practice to inform who and what I am and how I serve always with an open heart.