Process

morning time. take basket and go on walk.
stay alert. watchful. forage. 
hike to hill or creek bed. 
clear space.
be quiet and listen. 
build altar: feathers, leaves, berries, bones. 
pray. offer it. 
watch it alter. 

CV

Bio

Day Schildkret is an author, artist, teacher, and founder of Morning Altars, an international movement bringing together nature, creativity, and ritual to help people find meaning, deepen belonging, and meet a changing world with wonder.

He is the author of Morning Altars: A 7-Step Practice to Nourish Your Spirit through Nature, Art, and Ritual (The Countryman Press/W. W. Norton) and Hello, Goodbye: 75 Rituals for Times of Loss, Celebration, and Change (Simon Element/Simon & Schuster). Hello, Goodbye reached #1 on Amazon in three categories and features a foreword by Elena Brower. Esther Perel describes his work as “a beautiful commentary on nature and ritual.”

Morning Altars has grown to more than 100,000 followers across Instagram and Facebook and 25,000 newsletter subscribers. For nearly two decades, Day has guided individuals, communities, and organizations in practices that honor life’s thresholds—from everyday transitions to profound loss and new beginnings.

He is the founder and lead instructor of the Morning Altars Teacher Training, a 7-month certification program entering its sixth year. Now in its ninth cohort, the program has certified more than 500 graduates in 13 countries, whose work has reached tens of thousands of students, therapy clients, grieving families, elementary school students, memory care residents, and others.

Day has taught and created installations at Google, the 9/11 Memorial Plaza, California Academy of Sciences, Esalen, and Modern Elder Academy. His work has been featured on NBC, CBS, Fox and CBC, and in publications including Vice, Well+Good, and Spirituality & Health. Morning Altars is also on permanent exhibition at the California Museum of Oakland.

At the heart of Day’s work is an invitation to reconnect with the living world, transforming pain and grief into beauty, and practice meeting change with creativity and care.