The Wild Woman's Way: A Week Initiation On Dartmoor

An initiation into the sacred arts of the feminine

This rite of passage will challenge you to hunt down your shadows, and then make love to them, as you shake free the shackles that keep you small, and step into your full radiance.

If you are longing to connect more deeply with your innate power, the wisdom of nature, and feel the full support of other women, this is for you.

What You Get…

Reclaiming your cycles and your blood as sacred

Saying NO and setting your boundaries

Soothing your inner child

Saying F*ck YES to your pleasure and sexuality

Juicy cacao ecstatic dance

Creating deep and lasting sisterhood friendships

Releasing deep seated shame

Creating a healthy relationship with rage

Breaking out of negative thought patterns and beliefs

Connecting to the earth and her cycles

Powerful rituals to connect with the elements, earth, fire, air, water and spirit

Tantric practices for intimacy

Sex magic manifestation

Owning your desires and dedicating yourself to your soul purpose

Welcoming and honouring grief

Potent Kundalini practices to activate each archetype

Expect lots of nature, dancing, singing, laughter, tears, ritual, music, releasing, playing and praying.

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Working With Archetypes

The Mythopoetic Language of the Soul

Archetypes represent different facets of our psyche. They are a personification of certain qualities and behaviours that can be recognised in the human experience throughout all time, and across all cultures. We see this manifested in the similarities between the deities, and myths around the world.

Each archetype contains light and shadow qualities, healthy and unhealthy expressions. It is likely you will resonate strongly with some archetypes, and others may feel underdeveloped or even estranged.

This work is about deep self enquiry to understand our way of being in the world, so that we can notice where our shadows are playing out, and bring awareness to how we need to grow, in order to become whole.

Archetypes work together. They become your allies. When we can identify a shadow pattern or behaviour, we can call upon another archetype to support us in stepping out of the unhelpful behaviour, and into a more empowering story.

Check out my free lecture on the archetypes to get a deeper understanding of this work.

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The Journey

At A Glance

​
​Day 1: Arrival and Opening Ceremony
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​Day 2: Maiden:
Early Morning: Kundalini to Awaken the Maiden​
Morning: ​Enquiry and Menstrual Magic
​Afternoon: Inner Child Work
​Evening: Ecstatic Dance
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​Day 3: Warrior
​Early Morning: Kundalini to Awaken the Warrior
Morning: ​Enquiry and Communication and Boundary Setting
​Afternoon: Rage Release
​Evening: Rest and Restore
​
​Day 4: Lover
Early Morning: Kundalini to Awaken the Lover
Morning: ​Enquiry and Tantric Techniques for Intimacy
​​Afternoon: Shame Ritual
​Evening: Self Pleasure Ritual
​
​Day 5: Queen
​Early Morning: Kundalini to Awaken the Queen
Morning: ​Enquiry and Shadow Work
​Afternoon: Hike to the Tor
​Evening: Fire Ceremony and Soul Purpose Vows
​
​Day 6: Priestess
​Early Morning: Kundalini to Awaken the Priestess
Morning: ​Enquiry and Wheel of The Year
​Afternoon: Grief Ritual
​Evening: Llamas Ceremony
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​Day 7: Integration
​Morning: Free time for rest and reflection
​Afternoon: Free time for rest and reflection
​Evening: Closing Ceremony
​
​Day 8: Departure
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Maiden - She who Bleeds

Youth, energy, new beginnings, innocence, joy, surrender, blossoming. 

We begin our journey with an initiation into maidenhood, the threshold moment from child to woman, first blood, and learning to honour and live in accordance with our cycles.

We’ll rewrite the stories of our younger selves that were so desperately in need of initiation, to reclaim our blood as primal and sacred.

We’ll also explore ‘parts work’ where we make contact with our inner child, and learn how to work with her, and soothe her so that we can find our autonomy and get back into the driving seat of our lives. 

Warrior - She who Battles

Boundaries, healthy expression of anger, will power, clear communication, justice. 

In day 3 we will explore how to tune in to our YES and our NO. How to get what we do want, and how to communicate what we don't want. We'll look at what happens when our boundaries are crossed, and what blocks us from feeling empowered to express ourselves. This will be done with lots of partner work, charging up our solar plexus and unblocking our throat chakras.

In order to fully connect with our NO we have to tune in to our anger, something that many of us have kept suppressed for a loooong time, which either turns inward into depression or leaks out in damaging ways. 

Learning to express anger is an essential component of being able to trust yourself to set clear and firm boundaries.

Lover - She who Blossoms

Pleasure, sensuality, beauty, creativity, alchemy, ecstasy, playfulness, and surrender.

In day 4 we'll explore our relationship to sex and sensuality. 

In order to fully own our desires and our pleasure we must confront the biggest block - SHAME. This day sets us up for some potent work to unearth and release shame and guilt from our bodies.

By bringing these stories into the open, we realise we are not alone in our experiences. Shame cannot stand exposure, and once released into the open, it loosens its grip over us.

The evening will be a super yummy dive into exploring sacred sensuality with your own body by activating all the senses, slowing down, and re-sensitising yourself to what you ACTUALLY want. This is all about saying a big fat YES to yourself and your worthiness for full body pleasure, abundance and manifestation.

Queen - She who Believes

Sovereignty, responsibility, commitment, self-worth, self-belief and service.

The sacred task of the queen is to discover what and who she is in service to. This is an exploration of your soul purpose and breaking through fears that prevent you from owning and going for what your heart truly longs for, what it is that sets you on fire.

This archetype helps us to take full responsibility for our experiences, and challenges us to step up. Through self responsibility, comes sovereignty. Through sovereignty comes true freedom.

We'll also investigate the ‘Sister Wound’, which festers in our psyches as the part that feels jealous or threatened by other women. It is the Queen Bee energy that seeks to be above other women and creates competition and bitchiness. This will be a day of celebrating each other, and lifting each other up. In sisterhood we are SO MUCH STRONGER.

Priestess - She who Bows

Connection to spirit, honouring life, stillness, prayer, love, wisdom.

The priestess is the guide between the realms, she teaches us to tend to our inner flame, and find stillness and peace within.

We’ll explore what it means to hold deep ritual space which we will do through the sacred practice of grief tending. Learning to honour the wisdom of grief, and the magic that happens when we hold ourselves and each other in that place.

We’ll also learn about Celtic Mythology and the ancient traditions of this land. You’ll learn about 8 major celebrations of the year, and we’ll hold our own celebration as this Initiation falls on the sacred holiday of Llamas - the festival of first harvest.

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This is for you if…

You are ready to do deep shadow work, and reclaim your sovereignty

You want to feel more connected to your body and your pleasure

You want to learn tools for feeling and dealing with your emotions

You want to learn tools to deepen intimacy

You want to unlock your voice

You’re fed up of negative self talk and want to elevate your sense of self worth

You want more meaning and purpose in your life

You want to make friends with women who want to connect in authenticity and honesty.

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Please Note: While this work may have therapeutic benefits, this is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. If you are experiencing significant challenge or mental health challenges we highly encourage you to seek 1-1 support from a qualified therapist.

If you’re not sure if this is for you, please get in touch and we can arrange a chat over the phone or skype: gaia@psychedelicsociety.org.uk 

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Venue

Brimpts Farm lies in the heart of Dartmoor

It is surrounded by both farmland and wilderness, with ancient monuments and river spots on the doorstep. https://www.brimptsfarm.co.uk/

Travel

Arrival and Departure

Please arrive between 5-7pm on Friday 23rd July.

Departure is at 9am on Friday 30th July.

Public Transport

From London: Train or bus to Newton Abbot (closest 30 mins away) or Exeter, Totnes or Plymouth then taxi or arrange car share.

Limited pick ups and drop offs available from Princetown. You can get a bus there from Plymouth.

Driving

From London Go to Exeter, then follow directions.

From Exeter (40 minutes) take the A38 towards Plymouth:

Take 2nd Ashburton turn off onto the B3357 to Two Bridges/ Princetown. Follow the road for 7 miles, past Dartmeet, up the hill, we are the 1st drive on the right.

From Plymouth (40 minutes) take the A386 towards Tavistock:

Take B3212 at Yelverton to Two Bridges (via Princetown). At Two Bridges turn right onto the B3357 towards Dartmeet. Follow the road for 5 miles, turn left immediately after the Hexworthy turning.

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Investment

Your Booking Includes

7 nights accommodation

Breakfast, lunch, dinner + snacks

Three sessions per day with 2 lead facilitators

Morning Kundalini Yoga Classes

Access to hot tub and sauna

Access to wild nature in the heart of Dartmoor, Devon

Cacao

(Does not include travel to and from site)

Payment Options

All Rooms are en-suite

Single Room - You will have a room to yourself - £1500

Twin Room - You will be sharing with one other - £1200

Dorm Room - You will be sharing with three others - £900

*Low Income Scholarship Places - Outdoor Pods, shared bathroom facilities inside  - £500

You can apply for a reduced scholarship place here

Payment plans are available. Get in touch if you need support with your booking: gaia@psychedelicsociety.org.uk

*Scholarship Places

We have a handful of low cost scholarship places available via application.  These scholarship places are for Black, Indigenous and Women of Colour, (BIWOC*) LGBTQ+ folks and women from marginalised communities or challenging socio-economic backgrounds. 

We are in an ongoing iterative process of learning and unlearning how to make our space equitable, diverse and inclusive of the multitudes of experiences of women. Creating scholarship and bursary places for those who might struggle to access or participate in an event like this is part of our approach. 

However we recognise that this can only be one part of our approach to inclusivity and requires us to be in a continued learning process around the themes of trauma, class, race, gender and so much more. Another part of our approach is that we have a number of structures of care in place for the retreat itself and various feedback systems both in person and anonymous that we welcome. 

Places are via application and offered to those who best meet the criteria specified above. Deadline for applications will be 2nd of July, roughly three weeks before the retreat so that we can offer spaces with enough time for participants to prepare and make travel arrangements.

*We recognise this term is less than ideal and can often erase the experiences of many different racial identities and backgrounds. 

Who is this immersion for?
 

After listening and learning, taking the time to reflect on our own skills, this work, and receiving advice from others who work in this field, we have decided to make this space specifically for those with yoni’s (vaginas) only or AFAB people (assigned female at birth) which may include non-binary or genderfluid folk.
 

We have arrived at this decision for two reasons. Firstly some of the content will be relevant specifically to the female anatomy. Secondly this decision comes from the humility to recognise that we do not feel that we have the experience required to safely hold a space beyond this. We want our spaces to feel as safe as possible for everyone who attends, and recognising our limitations as facilitators is part of that process, and responsibility.
 

We hold the intention to continue our learning and unlearning journey as facilitators deeply committed to creating transformative experiences for all women and want to be able to continue to offer work that is inclusive. However we recognise that in order to be able to do this we need to slow down and allow space for deeper learning and integration.

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Your Facilitators

Lead Facilitator - Gaia Harvey Jackson

Gaia is a workshop facilitator and artist creating spaces for deep transformation and specialising in women's empowerment. She runs the courses, retreats and training programmes for women.

Gaia is passionate about the revival of ritual and works with communities to co-create ceremonies around the world, helping people to mark significant moments, move through challenges, and celebrate life. Her work combines elements of theatre games, voice work, meditation, dance and ritual, creating safe and playful environments where people can authentically connect and release.

“Gaia always holds a safe and loving space to explore the depths of our souls. It's one of the only places I have in my life to truly be myself - no expectations, limitations or judgement.”

www.gaiaharveyjackson.com

Co-Facilitator - Alana Bloom

Alana is an artist, facilitator, performer, ritualist and activist committed to expressing life to its fullest capacity through creativity and facilitation. More recently she has been exploring what it means to become a doula to systems change through the intersections of ritual, community, spirituality, learning and creativity. She weaves embodiment, cyclical wisdom, pleasure, grief and artistry into the spaces she holds, drawing on her lifelong curiosity in leading groups. Since 2016 she has run an array of creative retreats including The Warren where she creates experiences for people to explore their creative gifts through community, connection and many practices inspired by theatre & dance.

‘Alana’s facilitation is brave and instinctive, rounded and direct, and speaks to both a deep knowledge of her craft (and embodiment more generally) and a level of self-belief.’

‘Her mixture of skill, authentic expression, intuition and pure feminine power as a facilitator, ritualist and artist have empowered, inspired and catalysed my own authentic creative expression.’

www.regeneratingrhythms.org 

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What to Bring

Towel for river bathing

Ceremonial clothes (Including white, black and red outfits)

Clothes that are comfortable and easy to move in

Altar items (could be flowers, special stones, bones, pictures etc)

A few extra snacks

Warm and waterproof clothes

Walking boots or wellies

Eye mask and ear plugs

Sheepskins/ cushions and a blanket

Suncream and hat

Instruments (drums, rattles, etc)

A journal

REFUNDS POLICY: Please note, we do not arrange refunds or exchanges. When possible we encourage reselling on Ticketswap.

ACCESS:  We do our best to include everyone in our events, regardless of health circumstances. If you have access requirements please email the event organiser directly to discuss. Many facilitators are able to offer reduced ticket prices for those truly unable to afford the ticket price. If this applies to you, do please get in touch with the event organiser.

For PSYCHEDELIC KNOWLEDGE AND RESOURCES please check out the Psychedelic Society website. 

Our facilitators have agreed to our code of conduct. Learn about our procedure for raising concerns

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