Image: ‘The Cape’, by Andrea Kowch

My creative retreats are for women who are between stories; for women who see that the world is challenged, changing, and who are wondering about their place in it. During all these retreats we explore the ways in which we can bring into being our uniquely female wisdom, which so often remains unawakened or suppressed. We do this by working with wild myth and story, and by mapping and deepening our connections with place, and the natural world.

The emphasis on our creative retreats is primarily on writing as a mode of expression, but in exploring the archetypal imagery in individual stories, we will also work with other creative media and expressive arts. No experience of any particular craft is necessary! (Please note that these are not ‘how to write’ programmes, and we do not focus on technique or ‘workshop’ our writing.)

The retreats are also founded on our immersion in the Celtic lands in which they take place: lands whose ancient flesh and bones I know and love, and all of which I have lived in and am deeply connected to. This is not just an imaginal immersion, but a physical one too: we will be actively experiencing the land and its plants and creatures. My approach, then, is deeply grounded, rooted in embodied sensory experience as well as in creative imagination work. I aim to create a warm, supportive but creatively challenging and transformative atmosphere in which we spend time indoors and outdoors, exploring a unique combination of practices to deepen our connectedness, catalyse our own personal metamorphoses, and enrich our creative practice.

On all retreats, afternoons are free for private creative work, walking, and relaxation; some (but not all) evenings after dinner are devoted to conversation, readings, and to myth- and storytelling by the fire.

These retreats usually fill up well in advance, and participants travel from all over the world — America, Canada, Australia, Europe — so please book early if you are able. Because by design my retreats are intimate, and intensive, when you contact me to enquire about booking a place, please let me know a little bit about yourself, and what you hope to gain from the week.

You can sign up to our newsletter (bottom of the page) and/or follow our Facebook page to be kept up to date with future retreats; there are usually two per year. Please note that we do not keep separate mailing lists for retreats we haven’t announced yet, so we cannot book you in advance on, or add you to a list for, a retreat that doesn’t yet exist. The only way to book a retreat is to apply according to the instructions on the relevant page when they are announced – if they’re announced here they exist; if they’re not, we don’t know yet!

 

Dancing with the Cailleach, Argyll, Scotland

For more information about this retreat, please visit this page.

Dates:

Saturday 14 to Friday 20 April, 2018 (fully booked; waiting list closed).

 

Islands and Otherworlds, Connemara, Ireland

For more information about this retreat, please visit this page.

Dates:

Sunday 14 to Saturday 20 October, 2018 (fully booked, waiting list available).

 

Reclaiming the Wise Woman: dreaming ourselves awake, Beara Peninsula, Ireland

For more information about this retreat, please visit this page.

Dates:

Sunday May 5 to Saturday May 11, 2019 (fully booked, waiting list available).

 

In all cases, please check the ‘how to book’ information on the relevant page before enquiring. We only consider and reply to applications which contain the requested information.