Wilderness Retreat Mentoring
Some day, if you are lucky,
you’ll return from a thunderous journey
trailing snake scales, wing fragments
and the musk of Earth and moon.
Geneen Marie Haugen
—Half day, 1 or 2 day personal retreats
Conversation with Other than Humans—taking our Place in the web of all things
This is the Conversation that we have as we consciously take our place in the web of all things. When we enter into the wild landscape as just one player in a richly diverse system, we find ourselves entering into conversations with the many other beings present. Plants, minerals, animals, birds all have things to say to us if we take care to listen. As we move into the wild world, we begin to tap into a different way of conversing—a conversation that is kinesthetic, sensory, emotional, imaginal. The appearance of a face in root ball of a tree can be at once evocative and provocative, offering a perspective that can take the conversation into directions previously unimagined.
I offer mentoring for half-day, 1-day and 2-day retreats on our wild land in the inland hills of Mendocino County.
Typically, we will start with deep listening to the stories that are working you. Using the language of dreams, of poems, of nature, of beautiful art, of active imagination/journeywork, of symbol and myth, we start courting all the different parts within, stalking them ardently. Out of this Soul Conversation, I will offer mirroring and gentle suggestions of intentions for your wanders in the wild backcountry of the land. When you return with leaves in your hair and stories of encounters with the land, I will be there to greet you and to tend those stories with respect and glee, mirroring them back to you so that you can hear them with new ears.
To set up a retreat that feeds your soul,
Call Ellen at 707-391-9901 or
Email me at ellen@stonecottagecircles.com