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Taking place at Rising Moon Meadows in Bellingham WA - on the traditional lands of Coast Salish People and more specifically Lummi territory. Facilitated by Laurence Cole + Alexandra Blakely. Click here to learn more about the grief retreats.

What to Expect:
This is a two night, two day ritual. We will be on ritual time, meaning time is left at the door once you enter.

Our time together will be a combination of singing, poetry, movement, practice in sacred listening, witnessing and being witnessed and sharing with the whole group and in smaller groups.

This ceremony is informed by many tributaries of teachers, including Joanna Macy, the professional mourning women of Greece & Italy, the keeners of Ireland and Scotland, the Mikonenet from the Jewish lineage, the late Sobonfu and Malidoma Somé, Francis Weller, Martin Prechtel, Stephen Jenkinson, the immense ammount of compounded grief of our times, Whales & so many more.

This space is an opportunity to share what is moving through us in whatever shape or form it comes in - perhaps numbness, shame, rage, trembling, stillness, wailing or something else.

Our work is also inspired by the five gates of grief from Francis Weller: Everything we love we will lose, the places that have not known love, the sorrows of the world, the things we cannot even name that we ache for, and intergenerational or ancestral grief. Together, we will lean into the vulnerability, trust, and surrender needed to remember how to grieve together as a community.


Saturday
9:00am: Arrival and settle in
9:30am: Official ritual opening
lunch - bring your own sack lunch
dinner - bring your own sack dinner (make it a light dinner - our deeper grief/shrine work arrives after dinner)
Please bring snacks for the snack table to share with the community throughout the day

Sunday
9:00am: Arrival and settle in
9:30am: ritual
lunch - bring your own sack lunch
closing circle by 5pm and then a shared potluck.
Please bring snacks for the snack table to share with the community throughout the day


Covid protocols:
This is an indoor/outdoor event weather depending.
34 people max
We encourage participants to take an at home test each morning before joining the retreat center. You must provide these for yourself.
Once gathered, each participant will be at choice as to what feels good for them in terms of masking, distancing, contact, etc. Beyond the testing prior to arrival, we will not be making specific requests of individuals, regardless of vaccination status.


Accessibility: 
The studio space at Rising Moon Meadows is ground level access with a gravel parking lot.

The bathroom is ground level as well.


Fee:
- Retreat fee is sliding scale:
$350 tier 1 covers retreat's baseline minimum
$450 tier 2 contributes equity for those who might need access to tier 4
$550 tier 3 contributes equity for those who might need access to tier 4
$250 tier 4 is our community supported tier

- Invitation to utilize this tool to determine sliding scale eligibility. 
- We are committed to economic class transparency (to increase awareness of class impacts) and redistributing funds to move towards reparations for People of the Global Majority.
As a team of self-employed white facilitators we are holding the complexity of supporting our families with our work and recognizing our economic privilege within the structures of capitalism.
We fundshift 10% from our facilitation fees to the Sonder Project.


Scholarships: Limited Scholarships available (prioritizing PGM, Queer, Trans, Activists on the frontlines and Working Class people). Please fill out this form to request a scholarship.


Refund Policy: There are no refunds. This policy helps to hold us all accountable and creates some protection for us as facilitators and organizers. If you are not able to attend for whatever reason after registering, you may find someone else to take your spot. We do not track a waitlist. The person that replaces you must also register and needs to be connected with our registration team at least 7 days prior to the retreat. In the 7 days leading up to the retreat our attention shifts away from managerial tasks and screen time to prepping for our in person time.


Lodging: Each person is responsible for their own accommodations. There are airbnbs and hotels near by. We will also provide a self organized spreadsheet for attendees to perhaps find roommates or find housing with locals.

Facilitated by Laurence Cole & Alexandra (ahlay) Blakely
(intergenerational colleagues of European descent)

Email: [email protected]