Welcome to The Alchemist’s Circle
A private library of journaling prompts + storytelling tools
This is your quiet corner of the internet—a slow, spacious place where story meets soul. Here live the journaling prompts, storycraft tools, and gentle invitations designed to help you listen deeper to your own experience.
You don’t need to be a writer, a healer, or a “creative” to be here. You just need to be human—with all the beautiful complexity, fragility, and strength that entails.
Return here as often as you need. Use these tools softly, generously, and without pressure. This is a container held by care, honesty, and curiosity.
Thank you for being part of this circle.
You don’t need to be a writer, a healer, or a “creative” to be here. You just need to be human—with all the beautiful complexity, fragility, and strength that entails.
Return here as often as you need. Use these tools softly, generously, and without pressure. This is a container held by care, honesty, and curiosity.
Thank you for being part of this circle.
A place for unfinished truths
✏️ Fragment Notebook
Not all stories are ready to be told—but they still want to be heard.
The Fragment Notebook is where you catch what comes through before it disappears. A sentence. A sensation. A color. A memory. You don’t need to know where it goes or what it means yet.
Use this framework to gently document story fragments over time. No pressure to “figure it out.” Just listen and let it land.
The Fragment Notebook is where you catch what comes through before it disappears. A sentence. A sensation. A color. A memory. You don’t need to know where it goes or what it means yet.
Use this framework to gently document story fragments over time. No pressure to “figure it out.” Just listen and let it land.
Use the following structure when you journal your fragments:
🌀 Monthly Ritual:
Once a month, revisit your fragments. Which ones are starting to take shape?
Which ones are still whispering? Choose one to gently expand—or just honor it and leave it where it is.
This notebook isn’t for solving. It’s for remembering.
- Fragment:
- Felt Sense:
- Timeframe:
- Voice:
🌀 Monthly Ritual:
Once a month, revisit your fragments. Which ones are starting to take shape?
Which ones are still whispering? Choose one to gently expand—or just honor it and leave it where it is.
This notebook isn’t for solving. It’s for remembering.
Uncover what’s been buried
🪨 Story Excavation Prompts
There are stories we don’t tell because we haven’t found a container soft enough.
These prompts are here to hold what surfaces—without rushing you to name it, resolve it, or explain it. Just write what comes.
You don’t have to do them all at once. Choose the one that meets you where you are.
These prompts are here to hold what surfaces—without rushing you to name it, resolve it, or explain it. Just write what comes.
You don’t have to do them all at once. Choose the one that meets you where you are.
The Prompts:
✍🏽 Write gently. You don’t have to finish anything. This is about presence, not productivity.
- What’s a moment you haven’t told anyone about, but still carry?
- What’s the cost of silence in your life right now?
- If your story had a texture or temperature, what would it feel like?
- Write the story you’re scared someone else might tell first.
- What memory keeps knocking at the door when you’re alone?
- What belief are you ready to outgrow—but not ready to release?
- What would your story sound like if you were safe enough to say it?
✍🏽 Write gently. You don’t have to finish anything. This is about presence, not productivity.
Track what’s true, without trying to change it
🧠 Emotional Mapping Prompts
Before we can tell our stories, we have to feel them.
Emotional mapping is a way of noticing what’s happening inside—without rushing to understand or explain. It helps you name your inner weather, hold it gently, and recognize your patterns over time.
You can do this daily, weekly, or just when something feels off or uncertain.
Emotional mapping is a way of noticing what’s happening inside—without rushing to understand or explain. It helps you name your inner weather, hold it gently, and recognize your patterns over time.
You can do this daily, weekly, or just when something feels off or uncertain.
Use these 5 questions to map your emotional landscape:
💡 Tip: Create a ritual around this. Light a candle. Do it before bed. Or keep a digital file where each week becomes its own weather report.
- What are you feeling right now—without justification?
- Where do you feel it in your body?
- What triggered this feeling, if anything?
- What do you need right now (not want)?
- If this feeling could speak, what would it say?
💡 Tip: Create a ritual around this. Light a candle. Do it before bed. Or keep a digital file where each week becomes its own weather report.
For what needs tending—not fixing
🌊 Healing Integration Prompts
Healing isn’t about becoming perfect. It’s about making space for honesty, softness, and reconnection.
These prompts help you notice what’s been numbed, name what still hurts, and allow some movement around what you’ve survived.
Use them slowly. Use them kindly. You don’t need a breakthrough—just breath.
These prompts help you notice what’s been numbed, name what still hurts, and allow some movement around what you’ve survived.
Use them slowly. Use them kindly. You don’t need a breakthrough—just breath.
Start wherever you feel most drawn:
✍🏽 Write like no one is grading it. Because no one is.
These questions aren’t for performance. They’re for presence.
- What part of you is exhausted from pretending you’re fine?
- Where have you been soft—and mistaken it for weakness?
- What’s one thing you’ve forgiven yourself for—partially?
- What still hurts that you’ve stopped naming out loud?
- What would repair (not perfection) look like in one relationship you care about?
✍🏽 Write like no one is grading it. Because no one is.
These questions aren’t for performance. They’re for presence.
Thank you for tending your story with such tenderness.
Remember: healing isn’t a race. Storytelling isn’t a performance.
This is a practice in presence—showing up for yourself in the smallest and largest ways.
If something opens for you here—clarity, softness, courage—I’d love to hear about it.
Reply to any Substack email or reach out directly anytime.
May your stories be held with kindness. May your voice find its way.
With gratitude,
J.D.
This is a practice in presence—showing up for yourself in the smallest and largest ways.
If something opens for you here—clarity, softness, courage—I’d love to hear about it.
Reply to any Substack email or reach out directly anytime.
May your stories be held with kindness. May your voice find its way.
With gratitude,
J.D.
🌿 Gentle Suggestion:
Work With Me
Work With Me
This page is a quiet starting place. But some stories ask for more than solo reflection.
If you're feeling stuck, curious, or ready to go deeper—you're not alone.
If you're feeling stuck, curious, or ready to go deeper—you're not alone.
✨ Storytelling Alchemy
A guided 1:1 journey into the heart of your story.
Together, we’ll explore the fragment you’ve been carrying, the voice that’s gone quiet, or the memory that still hums beneath the surface. This isn’t coaching or therapy. It’s a sacred container for story-as-healing.
Each journey includes:
Four or six weekly 1:1 calls (gentle, exploratory, story-centered)
Personalized prompts and tools to help shape your narrative
A soft, supportive space to be witnessed and reflected
You don’t need to know your story before you start. You just need to be willing to listen to what’s ready to surface.
→ Learn more about Storytelling Alchemy
We’ll find the pace and path that fits.
Take the Choose Your Pace Quiz A guided 1:1 journey into the heart of your story.
Together, we’ll explore the fragment you’ve been carrying, the voice that’s gone quiet, or the memory that still hums beneath the surface. This isn’t coaching or therapy. It’s a sacred container for story-as-healing.
Each journey includes:
Four or six weekly 1:1 calls (gentle, exploratory, story-centered)
Personalized prompts and tools to help shape your narrative
A soft, supportive space to be witnessed and reflected
You don’t need to know your story before you start. You just need to be willing to listen to what’s ready to surface.
→ Learn more about Storytelling Alchemy
We’ll find the pace and path that fits.
Sometimes the deepest part of your story only emerges when someone else is truly listening. If you’re ready—I’m here.
