May 25-31
The spring waters are rising and flowing, calling forth our sacred blooms, asking us to remember our magic. Come gather in the south of France, a land imbued with the mysteries of the sacred feminine, to let the glistening gold of the hive awaken your senses, call forth your holy waters, and unfurl your serpentine, sensuous self.
Join us for 6 days and 5 nights in the lush french countryside, receiving embodied, womb-based teachings through engaging with nature, eros and feminine ways of seeing in the dark.
The divine feminine is rising. Pushing us to meet ourselves in the fullness of who and what we are. The old ways of knowing are coming back to our embodied selves and we are answering the call. To go deeper. To soften. To roar. To draw upon our nectar. To dance with night. To sip the sun. To awaken the voice of the womb.
With honey bee, our most ancient ally, we turn toward the hum of vitality seeking expression within us. We gather our storied wisdoms in dewy pearls. We move with the ecstasy of the living earth. We become.
Apis Sophia Exstasis Workshop will focus on oracular (intuitive) seeing, understanding that such intuitive seership comes from connecting with your own body's wisdom. Each women will be guided through a series of shamanic practices based in methods from the Lyceum (formerly the Path of Pollen). Each woman will make and awaken her own personal scrying mirror, an ancient feminine tool for intuitive wisdom.
The workshop seeks to drop women deeply into their own body of knowing through engaging with the erotic life force energies of nature. We will work with movement, sacred anointment, sound and embodiment practices to awaken the voice of the womb and the heart.
Where we’ll Stay, Dream, anD Be Nourished
The workshop will be held at the beautiful Sol Henge Retreat Center.
Sol Henge Retreat can be found in the heart of the unspoilt countryside of the Aquitaine region of France, surrounded by rolling hills filled with sunflowers, vines and maize. The valley is totally secluded, with 15 acres of private woodland and stunning views. This is a place of unsurpassed and timeless beauty.
Accommodation
Students will be housed in shared bedrooms with single beds.
You will have access to shared bathrooms equipped with both tub and shower.
Accommodations are in a large, rustic French country house on a quiet property about 15 minutes from the nearest village. Sol Henge is not a hotel. A stay a Sol Henge is more like living in a home, with beautiful, old French country house architecture, quaint village life and the peace and tranquility of the countryside.
A student car will be available onsite to rent for a fee, should you need to travel to the local villages for supplies.
Bed and Breakfast
Bed and self service Breakfast is offered to every retreat guest for one night before and one night after every the retreat stay. The retreat will end at 4pm on September 7. Accommodation is not included for this night.
Optional Bed and Breakfast per night €50
Optional in House Supper on first B and B night €25
meals
Meals consist of local, freshly sourced, seasonal, healthy vegetarian food (often from Sol Henge’s own vegetable patch and fruit trees). We do our very best to attend to your dietary needs. Vegan food is offered on advance request.
At SolHenge we always dine alfresco-style. We enjoy the views and fresh air.
Fruit, teas, and refreshments and snacks are available throughout the day.
Students will also have access to a student kitchen for breakfast and snacks. The student kitchen is located in the outdoor covered barn.
Sarita, our hostess extraordinary, makes a bread and pastries run daily, bringing us fresh yummies from the village boulangerie!
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 is a graduate of the Lyceum, a European shamanic tradition with the bee and the serpent as its central motifs. Within this tradition, she is trained in the healing and seership modality known as the Pollen Method. Her work is a fusion of her love for the natural world and embodied, womb-centric practices.
Ariella works as a natural beekeeping consultant in Northern California, as well as offering workshops and ceremonies in the United States and abroad. She has over 16 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 engaged in advanced teachings within the Lyceum, a European shamanic tradition which holds the honey bee as its central living symbol. She has assisted with many of the advanced programs offered within the Lyceum, including more recent work with men. Integrating shamanic methods with her own bodywork practices, Gina 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.
WHO THIS workshop IS FOR:
This course is designed for women who wish to deepen their connection to their own body of wisdom and develop greater skill and capacity in oracular sight and speaking. Oracular work is a form of seeing beyond the veil and receiving information from the Otherworld and the Earth herself. It is done concert with nature and connects the women to her own voice, as a voice for 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 vital 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 or and those who identify as women or are gender fluid, regardless of whether or not you have a physical womb.
“The Apis Sophia course was an incredible and beautiful life changing experience. This course opened up doors that I didn’t know existed inside of me. I felt truly held during this great transition, as I learned more about myself and the world around me.
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Pricing
(TBA for 2023)
Secure your spot with a deposit of $250
Payments accepted via PayPal, Stripe or Venmo.
Deposit is non-refundable.
Fee includes lodging, all meals, workshop, and personal scrying mirror.
Airfare and transportation to Sol Henge not included.
Cancellation:
Cancellations made before August 1 receive full refund of money paid after non-refundable deposit.
Cancellations after August 1 will receive no refund and all money paid will be forfeit.
Payment plans available: please contact ariella@honeybeewild.com for details.
Travel
Participants are responsible for their own airfare and travel costs.
The closest airports are Bordeaux and Bergerac. Sol Henge offers an airport transfer for a reduced rate of €50 (cheaper than a taxi).
Ariella recommends also looking into Paris flights and taking the fast TGV train down to Bordeaux, then hopping on a regional train to La Réole where we will pick you up!
Participants are also welcome to rent a car and come directly to Sol Henge.
Ariella will be guiding an optional Paris component. If you are interested in finding out more, click on link below.
Join Me in Paris After the Retreat!
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Do you have more questions?
PLEASE NOTE, ONLY A SMALL NUMBER OF APPLICANTS WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR THIS COURSE AND APPLICATIONS WILL BE ASSESSED ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE BASIS.