We carry the sparks of Ancestral fires.
The wild ones, the ancestors, the future ones call us,
on behalf of life, to Remember and Find our Way with our Sacred fire.
River's Bend Retreat Center
Anderson Valley, Mendocino County on the Navarro River
We look forward to this time with you!
The wild ones, the ancestors, the future ones call us,
on behalf of life, to Remember and Find our Way with our Sacred fire.
River's Bend Retreat Center
Anderson Valley, Mendocino County on the Navarro River
We look forward to this time with you!
In relationship with our deep imagination and the natural world,we will feel the pulse of our life and wholeness and invite deeper connection with human and other than human ancestors who have shaped us over the generations.
Rooted in the creative soul gifts and dedication of Annie Bloom and Peter Scanlan, the work of Soulcraft and Animas Valley Institute, among many lineages and teachers, we will integrate council, deep imagery, ceremony and dream work, along with poetry, our own stories, movements and images, to sing the songs of these ancestral rivers longing to live in and be alive through us. There will be plenty of time to wander the land as our relationship to land is a powerful way to connect us to our particular ancestral lineages.
In this time, we might come to know stories that have been forgotten or were never told. We might re-member gifts and qualities from our ancestral heritage that feed our soul's flame. We might come to understand more deeply neglected wounds and how these wounds contain gift seeds that might be transformed in our own soul fire to bring life.
We might feel a newfound sense of support to deepen own life path, relations clarified, as we find a way to be in honorable relationship with others as we long to find our way home, now.
This work can be a beautiful and powerful complement to other pathways to honoring ancestral realms, but no previous experience or knowledge of your specific ancestry is necessary.
From Carol Kortsch, Participant and leader at eldersoul.org
"I knew my soul was calling me to attend “SoulFires with the Ancestors” in 2022, yet I had no idea how deeply this retreat intensive would influence my life and work in the world. Over a year later, that wisdom and direction still enlivens me. My familial and traditional ancestors came alive through their old stories as Mystery wove strands of magic in hours of solitude and wandering, and in our carefully tended circle. Peter and Laurie are graced with the gift of creating safe and challenging circles for the soul to show up, honoring each of our unique places as nature-beings. We were threaded together in community in a profound healing intimacy as we listened to our hearts speak.
My old soul came alive, flowing with wildness on the Navarro River and resting, dancing, in the mighty groves of redwood giants. I sipped cups of celestial tea in the perennial garden, tended by the matriarchs long gone from this visible world. This days-long threshold experience became a confluence of the river of time – the past, the present and the future all bearing witness to the communal fire that is me, that is We.
Are the Ancestors calling you to pay attention to the shadowy ways your life is threaded through with their loving presence? Believe me - you won’t regret it, and it might just turn your world inside-out!"
This land in the Navarro River Watershed carries traces of many ancestral experiences, including the many bands of Indigenous peoples, Coastal Pomo, who have tended Oaks and Salmon in this place for centuries, and whose displacement, as well as their contemporary lives in this region, are interwoven with the stories of settlers who have been drawn to live here, create and find their own way into relationship with home and land.
From Helga Alessio:
"Surrounded by the sacred land and supported by Peter's and Laurie's gentle guidance, my dreams and images started to emerge with a richness never experienced before, and still vivid today! Now that I dipped my toes in the ancient river of life, the presence of our ancestors is clearly evident to me - a gift I cherish. The workshop fostered a deep healing within me, even the relationship with my brother has mended. In passing my home altar, I tend to nod at my ancestors' pictures and the newly forged relations never fail to bring a smile to my face."
Rooted in the creative soul gifts and dedication of Annie Bloom and Peter Scanlan, the work of Soulcraft and Animas Valley Institute, among many lineages and teachers, we will integrate council, deep imagery, ceremony and dream work, along with poetry, our own stories, movements and images, to sing the songs of these ancestral rivers longing to live in and be alive through us. There will be plenty of time to wander the land as our relationship to land is a powerful way to connect us to our particular ancestral lineages.
In this time, we might come to know stories that have been forgotten or were never told. We might re-member gifts and qualities from our ancestral heritage that feed our soul's flame. We might come to understand more deeply neglected wounds and how these wounds contain gift seeds that might be transformed in our own soul fire to bring life.
We might feel a newfound sense of support to deepen own life path, relations clarified, as we find a way to be in honorable relationship with others as we long to find our way home, now.
This work can be a beautiful and powerful complement to other pathways to honoring ancestral realms, but no previous experience or knowledge of your specific ancestry is necessary.
From Carol Kortsch, Participant and leader at eldersoul.org
"I knew my soul was calling me to attend “SoulFires with the Ancestors” in 2022, yet I had no idea how deeply this retreat intensive would influence my life and work in the world. Over a year later, that wisdom and direction still enlivens me. My familial and traditional ancestors came alive through their old stories as Mystery wove strands of magic in hours of solitude and wandering, and in our carefully tended circle. Peter and Laurie are graced with the gift of creating safe and challenging circles for the soul to show up, honoring each of our unique places as nature-beings. We were threaded together in community in a profound healing intimacy as we listened to our hearts speak.
My old soul came alive, flowing with wildness on the Navarro River and resting, dancing, in the mighty groves of redwood giants. I sipped cups of celestial tea in the perennial garden, tended by the matriarchs long gone from this visible world. This days-long threshold experience became a confluence of the river of time – the past, the present and the future all bearing witness to the communal fire that is me, that is We.
Are the Ancestors calling you to pay attention to the shadowy ways your life is threaded through with their loving presence? Believe me - you won’t regret it, and it might just turn your world inside-out!"
This land in the Navarro River Watershed carries traces of many ancestral experiences, including the many bands of Indigenous peoples, Coastal Pomo, who have tended Oaks and Salmon in this place for centuries, and whose displacement, as well as their contemporary lives in this region, are interwoven with the stories of settlers who have been drawn to live here, create and find their own way into relationship with home and land.
From Helga Alessio:
"Surrounded by the sacred land and supported by Peter's and Laurie's gentle guidance, my dreams and images started to emerge with a richness never experienced before, and still vivid today! Now that I dipped my toes in the ancient river of life, the presence of our ancestors is clearly evident to me - a gift I cherish. The workshop fostered a deep healing within me, even the relationship with my brother has mended. In passing my home altar, I tend to nod at my ancestors' pictures and the newly forged relations never fail to bring a smile to my face."
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Further Questions: [email protected]
Register By August 1st, 2023 COST: $980-800, sliding economic scale ($900 covers program costs. Please share from a place that feels generous to so that others can join who have fewer financial resources and, together, we can support accessibility and participate in the diverse richness of our lives.) Non-refundable deposit of $300 to register. Final payments due by August 7th, 2023 Program Cost includes camping, site and guides’ costs. Camping includes: Group exclusive use of most of River's Bend, including solar hot water showers, sinks, bathrooms, Full kitchen and gathering spaces. Add-On Option of Booking a Canvas Tent Cabin, Rustic Cabin or Vintage Cabin. To learn more, or see images of some of these options, email River’s Bend Retreat Center: [email protected] and visit thee Site: www. Riversbendretreat.org Meal cost: The most connecting and financially accessible way to share meals as a small group of 10-14 people is for food for breakfasts and dinners to be purchased by small groups of participants and prepared as part of the program experience in the River's Bend Kitchen. Participants will bring own lunches. Details to support easy meal planning and creation will be included in the prep materials. Food Costs are not included in the Total Program Cost listed above. |
Location: River’s Bend Retreat Center, along the Navarro River, Oak meadows, and the ancient Redwood groves of Hendy Woods State Park in Mendocino County, CA.
18450 Ray's Road, Philo, CA 95466 |