Wednesday evening, August 20 to Sunday, Aug 24
In-person on South Whidbey Island, WA
Three-tier fee: $425 • $595 • $795
(includes tuition, venue fees and all meals)
with Sheila Bélanger and Anne Hayden
Program full, click here to get on the waiting list
We are living in enormously turbulent times, where systemic oppression, authoritarianism, climate crisis, political division, and unhealed collective trauma are surfacing in profoundly harmful ways we can no longer ignore. Systemic change is not just necessary—it is inevitable and necessary. To meet this moment, we need elders—not just by age, but by presence.
We need wisdom-keepers who can stand at the threshold of change and navigate uncertainty with courage, clarity, and deep soul knowing. This program offers a sacred space to root deeply in the soil of your soul so you can show up more fully for the revitalization of our communities, culture, and planet.
We invite you to awaken your radical, inner elder in community with others—
the mycelium between us will exponentially grow wisdom, resilience, and vision for committed service to the greater whole.
You don’t have to be of a “certain age” to answer this call. Anyone longing to step into their phase of elder-hood with the corresponding responsibilities belongs here.
Patterned on the wisdom of nature, this program offers support from a larger field than your individual self or the wisdom of the human guides. We engage with reciprocal relationship with the other-than-human world to profoundly support the cultivation of radical elder-hood.
Over four days, immersed in the natural world, you will:
🌿 Engage in consciousness-shifting practices that go beyond books and theories
🌿 Explore elder-hood as an embodied journey, not a destination
🌿 Develop your capacity for equity and deep democracy
🌿 Track and tend intergenerational trauma through embodied practices
🌿 Work with dreams for guidance
🌿 Align with the strengths and gifts of your Ancestors
🌿 Commit to your authentic expression as a radical elder
The design is experiential, drawing from Process Work, Soulcraft™ practices, Authentic Movement, depth psychology, and anti-oppression frameworks. It calls on earth-based wisdom, poetic traditions, and ancient initiatory rites to guide you.
This program is for people who are seasoned with personal growth work, have addressed the multi-layers of trauma they may have experienced with self-awareness and healing, and are ready to dive compassionately into the embodiment of their radical elder.
PROGRAM DETAILS
LOCATION: This program takes place at a private home/retreat space on South Whidbey Island, with camping spaces available in the cedar forest nearby. You will need a tent and sleeping bag and minimal camping equipment. Contact us if you are not able to camp or need to borrow equipment.
MEALS: Locally sourced, fresh meals provided. We can accommodate vegetarian, vegan, gluten free and dairy free diets. You may need to supplement for other specific food needs. Please specify any dietary restrictions or needs when you register.
SCHEDULE: Program begins on Wednesday evening at 7:00 pm. Check-in available starting at 4:00 pm, with a light dinner provided. Program ends at 1:00 pm on Sunday. Due to the erratic nature of the ferries to our island, please allow for ample travel time both coming and going. We recommend that you do not make commitments on Sunday after the program.
FEES: For this camping program, we offer a 3-tier fee structure: $425 • $595 • $795. We acknowledge the challenges of economic inequity in our culture and purposely set a wide fee structure. We invite participants who have the financial means to pay on the upper end of the 3 tiers, in support of others who need to pay on the lower end. Reparation rates available for BIPOC and other people with marginalized identities. Please contact us.
REGISTRATION: Program is full. Click here to get on our wait list.
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Contact us for more information:
(360) 320-5343 • nwsoulquest@gmail.com
“When you really see the truth of things,
you realize life is a net
where all forms of life are connected.
This net is the only thing that is important.
Indigenous people always feel and express gratitude
for being part of this net of life.”
~Manari Ushigua
leader of the Sápara Nation
We honor the people and Nations––past, present and future––
of the Coast Salish Tribes,
including the Snohomish, the Lower Skagit, Swinomish, and Samish Peoples,
upon whose traditional lands and shores we live and work.
