Retreat Leaders: Julie Gabrielli and Lindsay McLaughlin
Cost: $210 (scholarships available).
Much has been spoken about the hero's journey, but what of the heroine? Is she the one who waits, like Penelope, endlessly weaving and unweaving, for the hero to return? Is she merely the place that people are trying to get back to, or does she have a journey of her own? The answer, carried deep within the stories of women around the world, and throughout time, is a resounding yes.
This heroine's journey wends a profoundly different path: circular, growing, embracing, expanding, learning. Yet often as women we have been grabbed time and again by a hero's story that just doesn't fit us, and we wonder why something in our lives feels off.
This retreat is designed to help us turn away from the scenarios and paths that are not working and open to the new journey that awaits within us.
The first step in that journey is to cross the threshold that as women we are uniquely prepared to traverse and enter the world of nature and soul—a world filled with mystery, enchantment, wisdom, and romance. In this world we seek a rendezvous with the wild and tender One who awaits us in the forest, by the river, on the mountain. We will wander as each one led into that wild embrace and there we will listen to the stories that mountain and stream, squirrel and hawk, bluebell and maple tell us, these guardians and guides to the wildness and imagination of the earth. We will attend to the voices of poet and crone, maiden and maven, to ancient women and future ones, and to the whispers of our hearts. It will be a winding, spiraling journey into story, poetry, ritual and song, attending to night and waking dreams, with abundant time for quiet walks in the budding woods, journaling and gathered times of storytelling, dance and ceremony. Under that spell of imagination and mystery we may awaken to our heroine's journey, and discover that it is part of the larger journey that even now is unfolding across the planet—a journey woven of compassion, interdependence, and the prodigious power of imagination.
Lindsay McLaughlin is a writer, dancer, and member of Rolling Ridge Study Retreat Community and on the staff of Friends of Silence. Her experience includes leading numerous retreats exploring the gift of story and celebrating the sacred circles of community and connection.
Julie Gabrielli is an architect, teacher, filmmaker, and writer. She is interested in exploring ways to tell the new stories that are emerging in our culture. Her experience includes designing buildings and places from new/old paradigms; community engagement for sustainability, and cultivating joy, creativity, attention and reverence.
This retreat will be held at Still Point Mountain Retreat, a five-bedroom cabin in a secluded wilderness setting overlooking the Shenandoah River and valley. Still Point Mountain Retreat is accessible by car only. The retreat begins at 6pm on Friday (followed by supper at 7 pm) and concludes with lunch on Sunday. Fee for the retreat is $210 and includes lodging for two nights in shared accommodations, six meals and program. To reserve your place, email lindsay.rollingridge@gmail.com and request an application to be returned with a $50 deposit.
Retreat deposit can be made online or by check. Make out your check to Friends of Silence and send to Friends of Silence, c/o The Heroine's Journey, 120 Jubilee Lane, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425.