Fruitful Darkness - Entering Autumn's Alchemy, day retreat

Fruitful Darkness – Entering Autumn’s Alchemy

Autumn’s cloak draws us inwards

Breathing softens and slows

We enter the cave of the dreaming

Finding rest and renewal

Dream-seeds incubate

Enfolded within the Celtic Wheel of the Year, an earth-wise, archaic, living map of wisdom and wellbeing are eight sabbats or sacred festivals. Each one an invitation to pause and an immersion into deeper relationship with the land, our bodies, the sacred and the seasons of our life.

The Cailleach, or Crone, midwife of winter appears with her blackthorn staff in autumn at Samhain. Guiding us through the fruitful darkness preparing our way for rebirth at spring.

For our retreat day we come together in sacred circle, remembering life’s cycles and our soul’s journey through the seasons of life. We bless Earth our home - our vaster body. Creating simple ceremony together, walking and listening to the land, drum journey to meet our animal spirit helpers, meditation in stillness and movement, we enter the doorway of the heart, our inner guidance and the Mystery that weaves the sacred web. Healing our sense of separation.

The cycle of the retreat unfolds inside the spacious hall and outside in our broader nature, under the vast sky in the weather of the day.

Ally has the joy of offering a year-long soul wise course for women guided by the Celtic Wheel of the Year called Woven. It also makes her heart sing to offer these single retreat days, both to people who are beginning to explore their relationship with the land, belonging and earth-based spiritualities, and to those who have been walking their soul path for many years.

Tickets are available at a range of prices to suit different pockets. Some are offered by donation/pay from the heart, for anyone who would otherwise be unable to attend.

Part of the proceeds from this retreat day will be given to Survival International.

To bring

Mat, blanket and cushion

Eye covering

Warm layers

Thick socks/slippers for inside the hall

Note book and pen

A candle, holder and lighter

Footwear suitable for uneven, muddy ground

Waterproofs

Warm layers

Something light to carry you can sit on outside

A time-piece other than your phone

Lunch, plus cutlery and crockery including a cup

Any snacks you need

A pocketful of natural offerings for the earth

I will provide tea and biscuits

Photo credits; images 1-4 below from retreat days, lower drawing by Terri Windling