Crossing The Threshold

What lies on the other side of the threshold you’ve been standing before? What might you discover if you paused to truly listen? Risk remembering your name and claim the life that longs to be lived through you. 

A powerful and grounded ceremony for anyone who is ready to meet themselves in the space between what is known and what is not known. To enter into a deeper conversation with themselves, the land and Mystery. 

This is a 5 day intensive that offers an opportunity to dive into a nature-based map of the psyche to support healing and wholing and connect with a more soul-led approach to life.

Either you will
go through this door
or you will not go through
If you go through
there is always the risk
of remembering your name.
~ Adrienne Rich

What to Expect

Over the course of our time together we will explore the Wild Mind Map and the archetypes of wholeness, cultivating practices that support self-healing as a way to work with the threshold and to connect to the power of nature. 

You will be guided through the map to explore different aspects of yourself. Through this you will receive guidance for self generated ceremony in order to cross the threshold into your solo land ceremony. 

Time in the threshold is spent listening, fasting, offering yourself to the land and mystery to see what wants to be revealed.

On your return you will be invited to share your story and have it mirrored to support you to deepen your experience.

We will do this through:

Council 
Guided imagery
Self designed ceremony
Time with the land 
Embodiment practices 
Support to shift consciousness
Cross-species communication
Healing and wholing practices
Bespoke invitations

A note: This weekend is a deep nature immersion with very basic amenities which is intentional to support leaving behind the conditioning of modern society. This will mean participants will be sleeping in tents,  there are compost loos but no hot showers (river bathing is encouraged) and we will have some sheltered space but will still be working in all weathers so waterproofs will be essential. 

The Significance of Thresholds

Crossing a threshold can be many different things to many different people.  For some, they find themselves at a particular transition moment in their lives and need support to fully move into the next phase.  Others may feel ready to say ‘yes’ to something different but don’t know what it is yet.

Often we humans find we get stuck and can’t find a way to move forward into a way of living that is more authentic, a way that we may long to live.  Something is getting in the way.  This is a part of us that wants us to stay ‘safe’. 

When we enter into a threshold crossing ceremony we are entering into the powerful possibility of a shift happening inside us.  The importance of preparing for the crossing cannot be overlooked since most of us have been conditioned to living with unhelpful patterns, or aspects of psyche, or parts, such that they would never let us cross the threshold.  

The program container and the guidance you receive within it provides the support needed to be ready to make the crossing.  What happens at the threshold is up to Mystery. What happens on your return is also up to Mystery, and you of course.

The Benefits of this work:

• Find ways to resource from accessing the facets of wholeness
• Become familiar with the different facets of yourself
• Understanding your protective patterns and how to work with them effectively
• Creating the foundations for living a more soul-led life
• Come into deeper relationship with the land and the other-than -human realm
• Reveal more authentic behaviours that lead to a more authentic life

What is a solo land ceremony? 

You will be without the company of other humans but you will have the company of many other-than-humans - a rare thing in this world.  You will cross a threshold - physically and psycho-spiritually - and enter into a ceremonial space having prepared and been invited to enact your own ceremony in context with the raw material presenting itself.  

You will be invited to go without food and drink only water for the 24 hours across the threshold.  You are being invited to mark something and make it true for you through a self-generated ceremony. 

Each person has their own spot which is where you’ll spend most of your time and with only very simple shelter and sleeping materials. A kit list is provided in the confirmation email and safety protocol will be in place.
 

A few Important Things to Note

1. This program is for women only at this time, this includes trans women and those that have lived experiences of being women and identify as non-binary. If you would like to see a program like this being offered for all genders then please reach out and let us know.
2. While this work may have therapeutic benefits, this is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. If you are seeking therapy then we encourage you to seek 1-1 support from a qualified psychotherapist. If you are experiencing significant mental health challenges please contact us in advance so that we can have a conversation about whether this program is right for you at this time. 
3. The food will be simple and mainly vegan and gluten free with some cheese and egg options. Tea and coffee will be available.
4. There is very little phone reception at the venue and we encourage you to take the opportunity to disconnect from the outside world, and to fully immerse yourself in nature. Please plan to be offline for the whole of our time together and make sure you tell loved one's that you will be out of communication for the weekend.
5. You will need your own camping kit for this event - this includes tent, sleeping bag, ground mat etc.  A full list is provided on booking of what you'll need for the weekend.
6. Places are extremely limited on this programme with a maximum of 6 participants so book early to avoid disappointment. We will close registration on the 7th of May.

Venue

Our venue lies literally at the heart of Dartmoor and is surrounded by open moorland, forest, river and meadows. It is a stunning area that is in the process of being rewilded and restored by those who care for it with the hopes to increase biodiversity and ecosystem complexity. 

With this in mind it is important as participants and guests that we take very good care of the land as there are many ecological sensitive and vulnerable habitats. 

Further information will be sent upon ticket confirmation but please be aware in advance that our agreement with being on the land is one of Leave No Trace - this includes making sure toothpaste and soap we use is biodegradable. 

Travel

We create a whatsapp group in advance so that you can arrange a lift share or taxi share with other women on the programme. The nearest train station is Newton Abbot, nearest town is Buckfastleigh. 

Timings

Participants are requested to arrive by 12pm latest on Wednesday the 4th, and the programme begins at 1.30pm that day. The program will finish at 16.00 on Sunday 8th. Please organise your travel so you leave enough time to land before we start. 

Investment

Your Booking Includes:

4 nights camping

5 days of being in a group program and receiving experienced guidance

Breakfast, lunch, dinner + snacks

Access to wild nature in the heart of Dartmoor, Devon

(Does not include travel to and from site or camping kit )

Payment Options

All tickets are camping - you must bring your own kit. 

Earlybird £750 - Limited Availability, Book before February 28th

Standard £850 

Bursary £600 - Please email alana@truenature.org.uk with a little bit about your situation if you would like to apply for one of these.

Payment Plan Deposit £200 - We can offer payment plans on all tickets. You can reserve your place with a £200 deposit. Once you have paid your deposit please email alana@truenature.org.uk and she will set you up a payment plan based on the number of months before the program. The payment plan will need to be completed before the start of the retreat so the earlier you book the more months there will be to spread the cost. 
 

Ticket Policy

• £200 of your ticket is a deposit and non-refundable deposit. This is to cover any admin costs if you choose to cancel and to support participants to be sure they can attend before purchasing a ticket.
• We do not offer the 10% membership discount on our retreats. This is because our overheads are so high, and a 10% discount on an event with a high ticket value has a huge affect on our overall budget.
• We cannot offer any refunds if you decide not to attend within 21 days of the retreat start date. With such short notice we are usually unable to fill your spot.
• Please be sure that you are able to attend the whole retreat before booking. We request that all participants join with the intention of staying until the end of the retreat.

Your Guide: Rebecca Card
 

Rebecca is based on the granite and mossed-laden land of Dartmoor where she works as a Nature-based Soul Guide, Human Development Mentor and Cultural Healing Practitioner. She supports people to find their authentic selves and to embody wholeness through the body of work developed by Bill Plotkin and the Animas Valley Institute cohort with whom she is apprenticing and training in Soul Initiation Guiding.

She guides anyone who is ready towards a soul-rooted life through Soul Quests and other practices of the wild by inviting people to journey to the underworld, to shift consciousness and follow the thread of their deepest longings, as if their place here matters.

She is also wilderness Rites of Passage Guide, a qualified and experienced Yoga teacher, meditation Instructor and somatic movement educator having trained with the School of Lost Borders and School for Body-Mind Centering.

https://naturewisdom.life/ 

“Transformational, she truly is an authentic wilderness guide. Rebecca facilitated the entire process in a strong but gentle way, helping shape our experience with subtlety, sensitivity, depth, balance, good humour, potency and a sure belief in the process which helped me surrender to it. I recommend Rebecca to be your guide, I could not imagine being in safer hands” - Oliver Bettany 

“The thing is, you sit before me – not in judgement but as fellow human who mirrors my truth back in a way that allows me to honour and celebrate the sacred gift of my wounded self and offer it back in service to my people. I am so deeply grateful for this.” ~ Lucy Ackroyd, Elder, Author, Earth Protector

“The most poignant thing has been to find my wholeness through what I have discovered is the blessing of my woundedness. Through the rehabilitation of everything I have outcast within myself, everything that is in shadow and the lifeforce that I have uncovered there. This has not only deepened my relationship with myself and all of life immensely but has taken me into direct relationship with the mysterious force at the heart of life. This has been a profound homecoming; to myself, other humans, the land, all of life and to the Mystery herself. I feel the immense blessing of what it is to have highly skilled and wise guides like you on this path and I’m very grateful for your presence in my life.” Quest Participant
 

Supported by: Alana Bloom

Alana Bloom is an artist, facilitator and nature connection guide stewarding eco-centric and animist ways of being that bring us back into connection with the natural world, each other and our deepest nature. Her work is focused on regeneration and cultural change through personal and collective healing, centred in our relationship with the earth. 

She has been guiding transformational experiences for people to explore unleashing their wild self for several years, working with hundreds of people and a variety of organisations on the frontiers of personal and planetary healing. Invested in her own personal development, she has devoted many years to her own enquiry and exploration of soulcraft, archetypes, ritual, creativity, rites of passage, cyclical living and nature based cultural healing which is embedded in her work, alongside her background in physical theatre, dance and embodiment. 

She is co-founder of True Nature, a women’s events platform focused on ecological awakening, self-healing and empowered relationships and also works in the realms of ecosystem restoration and community building. 

www.alanahydebloom.co.uk
 

About True Nature

A platform for feminine and ecological empowerment, True Nature guides women to rediscover their wild authenticity and deepen their connection with the Earth. Through transformative retreats, events, trainings and membership, they blend ritual, embodiment practices, authentic relating and nature immersion to inspire growth, healing, and community. Rooted in a vision of co-creating cultures of wholeness, one women at a time, True Nature nurtures a movement of women embracing their power and living in relationship with the more-than-human world. Discover more at True Nature.