"Grief and love are sisters, woven together from the beginning. Their kinship reminds us that there is no love that does not contain loss and no loss that is not a reminder of the love we carry for what we once held close."
Francis Weller
The Five Gates of Grief
We invite you
to step out of linear time and gather with other compassionate souls on beautiful land to explore the layers of our human experience at this time on planet Earth.
Together we will nourish our deep selves by giving our grief, rage and love a space to be free and restoring our sense of wonder, aliveness & gratitude for this miraculously complex life.
We are living in
unprecedented times where loss and grief is pervasive to the human experience. Unprocessed grief can manifest in many ways such as a heaviness, anxiety, sadness, anger or a longing to feel more alive and connected.
At this ceremony, we rekindle the power of moving through the many shades of grief so that we may deepen our capacity for resiliency and aliveness.
You have radical permission to move through any feelings that arise including: numbness, apathy, sadness, rage, confusion, despair, frustration, joy, gratitude and anything else that is alive for you.
The medicine
of communal grief is not only to allow ourselves to release emotions that keep us from feeling fully alive, but to also learn how to hold space for others and awaken deep empathy, compassion and a sense of shared humanity that is essential in these times. True community comes with vulnerability.
You are welcome in this space as you are, whether you are actively grieving or not. For some of us, we may not understand why we feel called to grief tending and community ceremonies, yet we trust that the medicine we need will be revealed.
Our practices include
The way of council
Movement & meditation
Wailing and rage ritual
Song & rhythm
Who this is for
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Women identified people of all ages, identities + backgrounds (trans and queer women are welcome)
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Any woman and is longing for a communal space to connect more deeply with their grief
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You do not have to be actively grieving to come...sometimes grief shows up in many ways including apathy, numbness, anger or disconnection
What you receive
Two days of ceremony with embodiment practices, wailing ritual, singing & more
A healthy, nourishing lunch and dinner on Saturday, and brunch on Sunday prepared by a wonderful local chef
Soulful connection with other women on this journey with you
Integration support so you can carry the gifts of grief & praise into your life
The shoulders we stand on...
We are grateful to the wisdom keepers and elders who have paved the way for communal grief work including:
Malidoma Patrice Somé
Sobonfu Somé
Joanna Macy - The Work That Reconnects
Francis Weller - The Five Gates of Grief
Laurence Cole
Therese Chavet
Nala Walla
ahlay blakely
+ more
We give thanks to our grief literate ancestors who are guiding us in each ceremony, and the sacred lands who inform us how to connect with them in a reciprocal way.
Reciprocity
Please self-select your payment tier based on your personal/family financial access:
$450 = higher income
(comfortable meeting basic needs, own or rent higher end housing, have access to expendable income, savings, healthcare)
$350 = middle income
(might stress about meeting basic needs but are able to, employed with access to healthcare, have some expendable income, might have access to savings)
$250 = low income
(qualify for government assistance, no access to savings, unstable housing or rent lower end properties)
Payment plans are available.
We may have a work trade position available. Please inquire with registration.
We invite you to add a donation to support the Dagara tribe in West Africa who have generously blessed the west by sharing their grief rituals here: wisdomspring.org
About Erin
Erin Quies Wild experienced her first grief ceremony with Sobonfu Some in 2002 after her dad died suddenly and she has been tending to her personal grief as well as collective and planetary grief ever since. She is committed to walking with others in their depths as a regenerative grief guide.
She has studied extensively with Joanna Macy, Francis Weller and is currently in a grief tending mentorship with elders Laurence Cole & Therese Charvet as well as studying to be an end of life doula.
She is a forever student, mother, massage therapist, birth doula and a midwife of life transitions & rites of passages. Erin has lived on Orcas Island since 2004 where she has had a private healing practice since 2008 and has been facilitating retreats around the PNW for the past 20 years.
About Hayley
Hayley Shannon is a somatic healing arts practitioner and dancer who is devoted to a path of embodiment and healing. She has been guiding Dance Healing for eight years where she supports others to connect with their body's authentic wisdom, oftentimes processing grief that leads into more resiliency and wholeness. Her own grief path deepened while studying somatic expressive arts therapy at Tamalpa Institute in California, as she connected with the stories in her own body. This path deepened as she participated in grief and gratitude ceremonies with her friend Ahlay Blakely and mentor Nala Walla.
As it became clear that grief tending was a part of her path, she began coordinating grief ceremonies for her community on Orcas Island and eventually stepping into facilitating. She's studied the Five Gates of Grief with Francis Weller and continues to be humbled by the lessons that emerge when we commune with nature and others in an honest and embodied way.
“It felt like it has awoken a deep bond of sisterhood and understanding. I felt like it was not my first time but it definitely was. I am learning to sit with grief and express it healthily while having more focus on gratitude for what I do have. It was magical, primal, ancient, type 2 awesome fun!”
- Participant in 2023 Women's Retreat with Hayley & Erin
"The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe."
Joanna Macy
The Work That Reconnects