Click here for the 2022 Wild Women Retreat
We will be gathering on the weekend of August 13 – 15th, 2021
for the 6th annual Wild Women Retreat.
Registration is due 7/31 and there is a maximum of 40 people.
A magical relaxing weekend of sister time, ritual and play awaits!
Our mission is to provide a place for like-minded women to be in community with each other, and include/support young women who have experienced their menarche. We seek to honor the divine feminine in each of us: sometimes in quiet, contemplative ways, sometimes in loud, expressive, creative ways, and sometimes somewhere in between.
We have a beautiful space outside of Hartwick, NY with woods and fields and a swimming pond… a covered pavilion and room for camping… It is quite lovely and it’s secluded and perfect for our gathering. We come together to celebrate and honor ourselves, our sisters, our connection with nature and the cycles of life. We share food and co-create the magic of the weekend with our creative offerings.
We are fortunate to be at the point following the pandemic that we feel safe gathering again! With that being said, we ask that everyone please be mindful when considering attending. If you or anyone that you have come in contact with has had any COVID-like symptoms in the two weeks leading up to the event, please stay home. This event is outdoors, but we will be in close proximity to each other under the pavilion. If you are no vaccinated, wearing a mask would be appreciated when social distancing is not possible. Hand sanitizer will be provided at different locations on site.
This event is for female self-identified people. Saturday during the day, pre-teen girls and infants are welcome as well.
To register:
1) please click “Add to cart” below and pay the $35 registration fee (per family).
2) follow this link to fill out the registration form
Additional details:
In keeping with the collaborative beauty of sisterhood, we will each contribute in a few ways:
FOOD
Meals are done potluck style. Chelsea will be coordinating food this year. Once registration has closed and we have a full head count for the weekend, she will contact you with your meal assignment. You can then sign up for whichever part of that meal that suits you. Meals will be arranged to provide a spectrum of dishes to accommodate various dietary restrictions (i.e vegetarian, vegan, paleo, etc). Any mothers of picky eaters who will be joining us on Saturday are encouraged to come prepared with a sack lunch or snacks in the event your little one finds our menu unpalatable.
OFFERINGS
We are a community of women expressing our divine feminine in all of its aspects. We offer activities to help us reflect, explore, and celebrate our identities as women.
What does being a wild woman means to you. What does it feel like in your body? What activities, thoughts, movements are wild? From this place of wildness, what wisdom can you share with other women that you’ve gathered over your life? Perhaps there’s an activity or a practice of yours you’d like to share. Or maybe there is a topic you’re curious about and you’d like us to explore it together and pool our wisdom. Saturday is the time to share these offerings.
Past offerings have included weaving with natural objects sourced from the land, sounding the chakras, crystal cleansing, braiding each others hair, a discussion on the anthropological and archaeological evidence of the divine feminine, creating nature crowns, poetry reading in a rain storm, body painting, children’s games and more.
SCHEDULE
Friday afternoon we set up the space, share dinner and at dusk, there will be a opening ritual to celebrate and honor the young women among us who recently completed the WillowGrove coming of age program.
Saturday is our family day, so babies and young girls are welcome to join us during the day to frolic in the woods. It is a time to share gifts, skills, knowledge, workshops, whatever we bring with us and create from the earth.
Activities will be generated by attendees that volunteer at registration, to be coordinated by Sydney. Annelise will coordinate children’s activities. Activities will flow according to weather, energy and mood of the group. Everyone is invited to contribute; everyone is invited to learn.
Entry to the retreat space will be closed during the Saturday morning opening circle ritual (9:45-11:00). You are requested to enter between 9am – 9:45am or after 11am.
Saturday night is the Bonfire, so bring your howls, your veils, your magic, drums and bells. This is indeed a Circle of the Circles and our monthly magic is magnified, so come prepared to let it all go and embrace the wild. This time is both sacred and wild.
Sunday we share breakfast, relax a final time by the pond and break up camp.
NOTE: Silence will be observed during certain times in designated areas of the retreat space during the weekend. Anyone may choose to practice silence at any other time as well, and anyone may choose to not practice silence at any time.
“Whether you are possessed of a simple heart or the ambitions of an Amazon, whether you are trying to make it to the top or just make it through tomorrow, whether you are spicy or somber, regal or roughshod – the Wild Woman belongs to you. She belongs to all women.
To find her, it is necessary for women to return to their instinctive lives, their deepest knowing. So, let us push on now, and remember ourselves back to the wild soul. Let us sing her flesh back onto our bones. Shed any false coats we have been given. Don the true coat of powerful instinct and knowing. Infiltrate the psychic lands that once belonged to us. Unfurl the bandages, ready the medicine.
Let us return now, wild women howling, laughing, singing up The One who loves us so. For us the issue is simple. Without us, Wild Woman dies. Without Wild Woman, we die. Para Vida, for true life, both must live.”
– Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves