Cultivating personal, cultural, and planetary stories for a new era
“If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.” ~ Barry Lopez
A new story is emerging in our culture. Out of the ashes of separation and exploitation, a new way of being is taking shape. People everywhere are waking up to our interdependence, our prodigious powers of imagination, our compassion.When we are mired in the failing stories of domination and disconnection, we can miss the quiet whispers in our ears and hearts.
The purpose of this retreat is to explore the new messages that are germinating deep in our individual and collective consciousness. This program helps participants prepare the soil to cultivate new stories. It is a joyful, inspiring romp in mythic story structures, poetry, dreams, movement and the wild imagination. We will tell old stories and practice listening for new ones.
“Can we begin to restore the health and integrity of the local earth? Not without restorying the local earth.” ~ David Abram, “Becoming Animal”
Retreats are held in the Mid-Atlantic and South: at a 2,000 acre wilderness near Charles Town, WV, stretching between the Appalachian Trail and the Shenandoah River; at a 200-acre land trust retreat center hidden away in the heart of Germantown, MD; and at a suburban Permaculture farm outside Atlanta, GA.
The magic of the Restorying experience
“I often feel isolated in my thoughts, but found many kindred spirits in the group,” T.R.
“The poetry you brought and the questions you posed to get us thinking about our lives was so valuable,” B.R.
Upcoming retreats
December 1-3, 2017: The Gift of Story. A retreat for Advent and the Winter Solstice. Sometimes, the deepest gift we can give and receive are is gift for story, ritual, and ceremony: our personal and collective narratives, our music, our dances, our poetry and contemplation, our simple gestures and wordless prayers. Location: Rolling Ridge Study Retreat, Harper’s Ferry, WV. Details and registration.
January 19-21, 2018: Winter Light: Returning Home to a Place of Deep Belonging. Wander slowly among the frozen grasses and the trees, listening for winter’s strange wild songs, for the story the land is telling, for the dream it carries. Gather around the warm glow of the hearth fire, immerse in the old stories, the ancient myths that help us shed our illusions of separation and awaken us to the deeper belonging that has always been there. Location: Wellspring Retreat Center, Germantown, MD. Details and registration.
“A world made of story is an earth permeated by dreams, a terrain filled with imagination. Yet this is not so much our imagination, but rather the world’s imagination, in which our own actions are participant. As players within an expansive, ever-unfolding story, our lives are embedded within a psyche that is not primarily ours, but is rather the earth’s.” ~ from “Becoming Animal” by David Abram
Past retreats
June 2-4, 2017: Restorying the Heroine’s Journey. Location: Rolling Ridge, Harper’s Ferry, WV. See below for an idea of what we do at these women-only gatherings.
May 19-21, 2017: Writing from the Soul. Come together with fellow lovers of writing in an impromptu community that includes ceremony, journaling, freewriting, sharing, solo wanders on the land, active listening, storytelling, nourishing meals, and other soulful activities. Location: Still Point Mountain Retreat, Harper’s Ferry, WV.
December 2 – 4, 2016: A Gift of Story: a Retreat for Advent and the Winter Solstice. At Rolling Ridge in Harper’s Ferry, WV.
October 21 – 23, 2016: Thriving on the Threshold: Becoming a Community of the New Story. At Still Point Mountain Retreat, Harper’s Ferry, WV.
April 29 – May 1, 2016: Restorying the Heroine’s Journey: Sacred Circles and Wild Wanders. With special guest faculty, Lisa Bardack leading Sacred Circle dance. And drumming with Katy Gaughan.
October 8 – 11, 2015: Between the Body and the Breathing Earth: A ReStorying Retreat with David Abram, at Still Point Mountain Retreat, Harper’s Ferry, WV.
May 29 – 31, 2015: Restorying the Heroine’s Journey at Rolling Ridge, Harper’s Ferry, WV. With special guest faculty, Lisa Bardack, leading Sacred Circle dance.
April 17 – 19, 2015: Breaking Through: a Spring Equinox retreat at Wellspring Conference Center in Germantown, MD. Yoga taught by Vivian Campagna of Baltimore Yoga Village.
December 5 – 7, 2014: The Gift of Story at Rolling Ridge in Harper’s Ferry, WV.
September 12 – 14, 2014: Still Point Mountain Retreat, Harper’s Ferry, WV. With 9/15 as an optional add-on day.
March 28 – 30, 2014: The Heroine’s Journey: a retreat of story and discovery, at Rolling Ridge, Harper’s Ferry, WV.
February 21 – 22, 2014: Turning to the Light: Yoga + Restorying at Baltimore Yoga Village.
December 6 – 8, 2013: Advent Retreat celebrating story at Rolling Ridge in Harper’s Ferry, WV
September 27 – 29, 2013: Still Point Mountain Retreat, Harper’s Ferry, WV
Schedule a Restorying retreat
This workshop can be designed as a half-day, full day, or weekend experience. Please contact us to inquire about booking for your organization’s retreat or company off-site meeting.
You will
- Gain in awareness of the need for new stories
- Feel a profound sense of belonging and welcome from the greater community of Life
- Summon and receive mythic stories
- Practice listening for stories, guidance and encouragement, personal, cultural, and planetary
- Experience your own ability to be a conduit for new stories
- Let stories do their work on you
- Share ways of living in this time between stories
“I am still steeping in the afterglow. I feel so deeply nourished, re-inspired, abundant and in touch with my true nature.” ~ V.C.
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