Beneath The Veil:
A Samhain Retreat
October – November 2024 | Aldermarsh| Whidbey Island, WA
Let Us Look Beneath The Veil
October 30th – November 3rd 2024 | Whidbey Island, WA
For a while I have been dreaming in a ceremony for Samhain (the time around Halloween and the Day of the Dead) It is for the Northern European Indigenous traditions, a time when the visible and the invisible co-mingle and the portal of death and life is revered and honored.
I am holding a four-day retreat over Samhain, (Halloween) at Aldermarsh, on Whidbey Island, WA on October 30th-November 3rd.
Samhain, also known as Sawin in Scotland and Nos Galan Gaeaf in Wales translation: Summers End.
The ancient people of Britain and Western Europe (prior to Celtic appearances upon the land) divided their year into two halves, Winter and Summer. Samhain marked the tipping into the Winter. With the autumn harvest completed, there was a turning into the dark where all seeds go to ground and enter the caves of the dead. Fires were lit, a knowing that in this transition, the veil is thin, allowing the ancestors and the Sidhe (Fae) to wander about on the land. This thinning of the separation between the worlds was considered an entry point into the darkest part of the year and it was also associated with death to include those that have died having access at this time to visit this world for a night or two. They also knew that with the doorway open to other realms it also allowed marauding spirits to access this world.
As we move into a time where we are honing our understanding of appropriation, I am offering this gathering so that we may journey together into the ancient roots of this festival. Samhain is a part of the eight-quarter festivals that correspond to the cycle of the sun and moon honoured and celebrated throughout Western Europe. The origins are deeper than trick-or-treat, costumes, masks, and general revelry.
This gathering is about honouring death. There will be sweat ceremonies (evidence of sweat lodges are apparent in Scotland and Ireland) Storytelling, Journeying to meet Mananaan and Donn (the guardians of the portal to the Summerlands) and to meet with Enbha (the foam horse). We will learn about mushroom medicine and its connection to being a death ally and its use in ancient Europe and Britain. The death rites will be shared and full ceremony and celebration will occur.
What we will explore, learn and cover:
- Our connection to grief & death
- Healing in community
- Reciprocity and Right Order
- Plant allys & our relationship to them
- Strengthening our connection to self
- Meditation & Journeying
- Deepening your personal practices
- Grief & death rituals
- Live Music by Instrumentalist Anna-May
Overview of the week
- 4 days for learning, connecting, reflecting and healing
- 2 half days for arrival and departure
Arrival Day – Wednesday October 30th, 2024
We will begin with an opening circle and dinner together starting around 5pm
Departure Day – Sunday November 3rd, 2024
We will close after breakfast and a closing circle around 12pm
The retreat is intended for
- those who have worked with Sarah in the past.
- those who are looking to deepen and look at their relationship to grief & death.
- those who are interested in learning more about Samhain and its roots.
About the Facilitators
Joining Grandmother Sarah at the Samhain Retreat sharing workshops and ritual:
Akhila is a co-conspirator. She is trained as a transpersonal psychologist and spiritual guide and serves sacred relationship via many paths; psychotherapy, partnership coaching, individual and group ceremonies, constellation, prayer circles, and retreats, often for healing the healers. Through her emerging ecoministry, she is turning from vocation to service as a way to co-dream a future of radical access to love, care, and healing.
Anne Murphy will be serving life and honoring death through community-led after death care. Community-led after-death care occurs when the body of a loved one stays or is brought home after death to be cared for by their family and friends. Through storytelling, reflection, and hands-on practical care, you will be introduced to the basics of this ancient ritual.
As a ceremonialist, death educator, and home vigil guide, Anne offers a path toward remembering death as a natural and normal part of life through community conversations, nature-based ceremonies, and embodied practices, respecting and drawing upon individual cosmologies, cultural practices, and ancestral connections. With over a decade of experience, Anne‘s relational approach to death invites us all to remember and reclaim our natural ability to meet death and life with curiosity, compassion and care. athousandhands.com
Pricing and Accommodations:
Staying together creates an opportunity for deep intimacy in our “sudden community”. There is something magical that happens to the work when you have the opportunity to drop into community for the duration of the retreat and lean into the natural beauty of being on the land and sharing wisdom.
It is like you go underwater into a new reality of focused light with change percolating itself through your system. You witness more, love more, and get to soak up being in a world of insight and growth together.
We will be staying at Aldermarsh, a beautiful retreat center on Whidbey Island. You have your choice of:
- $3,200.00 Private room with Queen bed (1 spot)
- $2,700.00 Private room for couple (Queen Bed for 2)
- $2,600.00 Semi private loft with twin bed (1 spot)
- $2,350.00 shared room and bathroom (7 spots)
- $1,900.00 off-site lodging (all meals included)
We will have three catered meals a day together and have space in the evenings for optional practice groups or connection activities.
All meals will be included for those staying off-site. You will be responsible for transportation to and from the retreat venue each day.
Spots on-site are limited.
Sign-up by Oct 15th to secure your spot
The Beauty of Retreat
There is something magical that happens to the work when you drop into community for the duration of the retreat and lean back into natural beauty of being in the landscape and wisdom. It is like you go underwater into a new reality of focused light with change percolating itself through your system. You witness more, love more, and soak up being in a world of insight and growth even more. When we are held by the land, and nurtured with good food and water, witnessed without judgement from community, the conversation between us expands.
Weaving with trees, birds and plants, we move with the fabric of fields, ancestors, and healing potential into the evening. As we heal, the greater human field moves a little and we become closer to who we are, leaving opportunity for consciousness to also shift.
What greater work is there, I ask.
For any questions, email stevie@sarahmacleanbicknell.com
Photo taken by Brooke Porter, Katina Mercadante, and Bethany Gurrola