February 13-18
Anderson Valley, California
THE WATERS ARE RISING AND FLOWING, CALLING FORTH OUR SACRED BLOOMS, ASKING US TO REMEMBER OUR MAGIC. COME GATHER IN THE wild hills of California, As the buds first open on the trees, TO LET THE GLISTENING GOLD OF THE HIVE AWAKEN YOUR SENSES, CALL FORTH YOUR HOLY WATERS, AND UNFURL YOUR SERPENTINE, SENSUOUS SELF.
From the serpentine currents of the telluric, to the nectarous drops of the stellar, we are creatures of eros, spirit, sea and flower.
We find our feet have chosen to tread this earth at a time of upheaval. A time when the voice of the earth-womb needs us to reweave, reclaim and retrieve our vital, wild, sensual, wise, innocent selves. While there are many roads to healing, and wholing, we seek to engage with the holiness that is cultivated when we nurture the sensate self: she who flows and flowers. In this way she becomes one who trusts her loving, her dreaming, her body, and her intuition.
You are invited to join us for 6 days and five nights at the turning of the season.
Together we will:
Awaken eros in the body.
Develop our oracular wisdom and intuition.
Move and Dance.
Seek to heal the places within us that have been stagnant and unable to flow.
Converse with nature.
Work directly with the womb as center for dreaming, healing, seeing, and creating.
Work with spirit guides and allies.
Where we will Stay, Dream, anD Be Nourished
Our retreat will be held at Whispertree, a pristine retreat center nestled in the palm of Northern California’s ancient oaks and evergreens.
Whisper Tree lies 2.5 hours north of San Francisco, in the heart of the resplendent countryside of Mendocino County near Anderson Valley, a region well known for it’s wine and biodynamic farming. Whisper Tree, (original tribal land of the Tabahtea people) spans 600 acres and offers six miles of hiking trails, a pond, and multiple indoor and outdoor gathering spaces. The property includes a large barn, yurt, amphitheater, hot tub, and access to the quiet of forested landscapes and meandering valley trails.
Whipsertree retreat is committed to regenerative land stewardship practice, including spiritual renewal and revival. The space has been carefully cultivated with an awareness of where humans and the land meet and can be mutually beneficial to one another.
The diversity and resilience on the land is palpable to observant visitors. As a sub-watershed feeding Soda Creek and the larger Navarro River Watershed, the land supports fir forests and towering old oaks. Each of the oak trees, in both savannah and forest settings, host over two thousand species of more-than-human life.
Imagine a day….
You will wake to the sounds of the land, making your way to a nourishing breakfast or having a quiet cup of tea in your own student kitchen. Perhaps you even venture out on a walk to hear the birdsong or converse with the spirits of the trees.
At mid-morning we gather as a hive in the temple space (a converted barn with doors that can open to the wilds) to dive into our days magic. The work will be both nurturing and spacious, deep, and bold.
In the afternoon we will enjoy lunch made with local, seasonal fare by our alchemist chef, Deva. Depending on the flow of each day, you will then have time to rest, hot tub, go for a walk, lay in the hammock, or connect with sisters.
Our afternoon session will be followed by a similar dinner break outdoors under heat lamps, unless there is a delicious storm, in which case we will cozy up in the barn. We will conclude most nights with an evening session, before turning in to our rooms for the night’s dreaming tasks.
Accommodation
Options for accommodation range from bell tents, to single beds in shared rooms, to a suite with your own private bathroom, to a tent cabin with a king bed.
Most of you will be housed in shared rooms to promote a hive community. You will have the opportunity to come together as a hive, living, dreaming, and sharing meals together.
We will have full use of the entire retreat center, which will mean every participant will have access to indoor and outdoor showers, a hot tub, bathrobes, kitchens, multiple gathering spaces, wood burning stoves, an outdoor fire pit, and plenty of indoor spaces to dance, rest, chat, and meditate.
See more on room choices at the bottom of the page.
What people are saying
The Food
Your nourishment will be lovingly and alchemically prepared by herbalist and chef Deva, of Well Catering. Deva Waring takes extra care in sourcing local, high quality foods, and our meals will be seriously delicious. Think farm to table meals, hand crafted herbal elixirs, warming broths, and more.
Meals will include animal protein. If you are vegetarian, vegan, or have other dietary needs (GF/DF/etc), we can accommodate you within reason.
Teas and snacks are available throughout the day.
Students will also have access to student kitchens should you want to bring any of your own teas or snacks.
Your Facilitators
Ariella Daly
Ariella is a beekeeper, writer, teacher and musician living in Northern California. Her work with the bee came through a lifelong interest in human connection with the non-human world. She has been a student to the bee and sacred bee animistic practices for over a decade, with a particular focus in healing, oracular and dream seership, embodiment work, and forms of shamanic flight. Her work is a fusion of her love for the natural world and embodied, womb-centric practices.
Ariella works as a bee-centric beekeeper in Northern California, as well as offering workshops and ceremonies in the United States and abroad. She has over 20 years experience leading earth-based ceremonies including seasonal observances and rites of passages such as blessing ways, entering elderhood, and entering marriage.
Ariella seeks to foster a deeper relationship between humans and the natural world through honey bees, seeing the bee as a bridge species between our domestic lives and the wild, both within and around us. She is a lover of wild places, liminal spaces and the song of the land. She teaches shamanic dreamwork, natural beekeeping, and women's retreats all guided by the honeyed wisdom of the serpent and the bee.
Gina DeBernardo
Gina is a woman devoted to helping all beings return to love and harmony in their bodies and lives. She has danced through her life as a lover of Earth and its people, practicing the embodiment of ecstasy in a pure and grounded form.
Gina is a skilled bodywork practitioner with over 20 years experience. Her work combines a unique blend of Biodynamic Cranial Touch, Massage, Sacred Anointment, Embodiment Practices and Shamanic Modalities.
Gina has worked in many arenas, from offering craniosacral therapy to differently abled adults and children, to providing healing touch to end-of-life patients within Hospice. For fun and to fulfill her love of speed, Gina travels internationally as a therapist for Porsche Motorsports and received her racing license in 2012.
Gina has spent years studying in England, learning from ancient pathways that draw on animism, deep spirit, and ancestral work. Within these ways, she uses traditional practices which hold the honey bee and the serpent as its central living symbols and healing medicine. She has assisted with many of the advanced programs offered within this body of work, including more recent work with men. Integrating shamanic methods with her own bodywork practices, she helps to awaken us to our divine Eros: our love, life force, creativity, will, and the power we have to ignite our dreams into reality.
What You will Receive
This workshop retreat is designed for women and womb-identifying people who wish to deepen their connection to their own body of wisdom and develop greater capacity to flow with eros, intuition, and creative energy. This workshop will include practices based in womb-shamanism, and is deeply informed by the honey bee and the serpent. It will also include bodywork informed by Craniosacral techniques, however it is not a Craniosacral training. We will be engaging in oracular and intuitive work. Oracular work is a form of seeing beyond the veil and receiving information from the Otherworld (spirit/the divine) and the Earth herself. It is done in relationship with the natural world and connects you to your own voice as a Voice of the Earth. As a result, this form of seership is healing to self, others, and the Earth.
Through shamanic practices we will seek to engage with the life force energy of nature as a source of eros, vitality, nourishment, and gnosis. This work will engage with the womb on both a physical and spiritual level. It is open to women and/or those who identify as women or are gender fluid, regardless of whether or not you have a physical womb.
You will Experience:
Lovingly crafted seasonal meals, snacks, fruit, tea, and coffee.
Access to a student kitchens
Freedom to roam pristine wild lands and trails
Accommodation in the Bunkhouse, Toll House, Converted Barn or Glamping tents.
Access to the entire retreat center, with hot tub, pond, trails, warm fires, and more.
Space to develop connection with the other women as hive sisters engaged in a deep body of work.
In depth oracular and intuitive experiences and ceremony.
Somatic practices to raise eros in the body, connect to your natural flow, and reawaken your feminine power.
The invitation to rest and be revitalized by the land.
::::::::: Space is limiteD ::::::::::::
ApplicationS & Reciprocity
Bunk house Hive
$2200
Single bed in 4 bed bunk.
Bathtub and shower.
Kitchen, living room, and patio.
Cabin Tent
$2400 - ONE SPOT LEFT
King Bed. Single occupancy.
Bath house nearby with on-demand hot showers.
Includes wifi and heating. Access to hive kitchen.
Toll House
$2600 - 1 room left
Queen bed, private bathroom and shower.
Upstairs in the main house.
Living room, deck, hive kitchen.
Bell Tent
$1950-$2200 - ONE SPOT LEFT
Single bed. Solo or double occupancy.
Bath house nearby with on-demand hot showers.
Includes wifi and heating. Access to hive kitchen.
The Barn Hive
$2200-$2300
Varied: includes a single bed in shared room, a single bunk bed in shared room, a single loft bed in shared room, or queen bed in solo room.
Shared shower + 3 half bath, access to outdoor shower. Hive kitchen, wood stove, lounge.
HOW TO GET HERE
Whispertree is located in Boonville, within the beloved wine region of Anderson Valley. It is just over an hour northwest of Santa Rosa, CA, and 2.5 north of San Francisco.
Airports to fly into include Sonoma County Airport (STS) in Santa Rosa, Oakland International Airport (OAK), and San Francisco International (SFO). From Oakland and San Francisco airports there is an Airport Express shuttle service to Santa Rosa city and airport.
Mendocino Insider Tours offers a group shuttle service from all three airports.
We will be gathering group travel plans to help connect people who want to either carpool, car rental share, or share the cost of the shuttle.
COmmon Questions
What time is arrival and departure?
Arrival will be between 4 and 6pm on Feb 13, with dinner at 6:30.
Departure will be by 3pm on the 18th, unless you choose an extension.
For those who choose an extension (cost TBD), departure will be by 11am on Feb 19th.
What about COVID/illness?
February can be a month of illness for many. We ask that you be extra thoughtful in the 2-3 weeks leading up to the retreat and your travel. Covid is still present and the venue does require a negative test within 48 hours of the retreat. We will contact you if the retreat has to be canceled due to covid, in which case you will receive a full refund
What is your cancellation policy?
Refunds for cancellation depend on when the cancellation is made. We charge a $250 USD cancellation fee if you cancel more than 6 weeks before the retreat date (before Jan 1). If you cancel between 6 and 2 weeks of the retreat date (after Jan 1) you will receive a refund, minus a $500 fee. Finally, under no circumstance will there be any refunds given for cancellation requests made within 2 weeks of the retreat date.
How do payment plans work?
You are invited to let us know what kind of installments you would like. We can do 2 installments, 3 installments, or monthly installments. Unless arrangements are made for special circumstances we ask that all fees be paid by the start of the retreat.
Is this a beekeeping retreat? Do I need to have beekeeping experience?
No, this is not a beekeeping retreat, and you do not need any experience with bees to participate. Our work is predominately informed by the bees and bee animism as it is taught by the Lyceum in England.
What do you mean by women’s retreat? I’m non-binary, can i still participate?
Yes, absolutely. However, our work is gynocentric and placed tremendous import on the healing and intuitive powers of the womb. Everything taught is body based and asks us to continued to deepen into a more embodied state. We will be doing meditations and exercises connected to your womb as a vessel of wisdom. However, if for whatever reason you do not have a womb, but still identify as woman or are non-binary and don’t identify with the physical womb, then you would work with the idea of a spiritual womb center or the great cosmic womb as a reference point. This is also true for anyone who may have had a hysterectomy. The womb can be experienced as a spiritual center within the body, even if there is no physical womb space. It is up to you and your comfort level in regards to how you would like to explore this work.
You say bee animism, but I thought this was shamanism, can you explain?
In the past Ari has referred to the lineage she has learned many of her modalities from as European Bee Shamanism. It comes from women teaching this work in the UK, who were informed by a small group of practitioners from England, Wales, and Lithuania. The origins of this work are currently being investigated and you can read more about it here. We are making efforts to become more aware and sensitive to the cultural appropriation of the term shaman, and are electing to weave in the term animism where possible to refer to a way on interaction with the natural world and world of spirit. Animism is a term that supports the understanding that everything is conscious and imbued with spirit.
I walked in to a cool retreat. I walked out of a ancient portal.
I walked in as a woman wanting to learn. I walked out as part of the mystery.
…..
This retreat focuses on the arc of embodiment of new teachings (that are actually as old as time). Whereas so much "learning" happens in the mind nowadays, this experience is designed for the whole self. 6 months later, new parts of myself are awakening that are shifting decades old perceptions.
-Elyna Paizis, Bloom Lucid, California (Part of France retreat 2023)