Touching Grief, Touching Earth
A Solstice Retreat
with
Jaime Howell & Margaret Mccallum
Wangapeka Study & Retreat Centre
We are entering a time of descent. These are times marked by gravity, extremes, and polarisation. We are being invited into conversations that include loss, grief, death, uncertainty, vulnerability — and possibility. This time on Earth can be understood as an initiation into a more mature way of being human.
Francis Weller, alongside others, names this time the Long Dark. From the perspective of soul, down is holy ground. Down runs counter to the assumptions of progress — getting ahead, climbing ladders, accumulating success. Hidden within those habits is the painful illusion that we are separate from the Earth and from the living systems that sustain us.
So how do we meet these unpredictable times with courage, steadiness, and trust? We enter the still time of the Winter Solstice and slow down together as a community, resting into silence, deep listening, and simple presence.
This five-day retreat is an exploration of the apprenticeship of grief — learning how to turn towards what is difficult, rather than away from it; learning how to be shaped by not-knowing, restraint and humility as acts of reverence.
We will explore the resources and support available to us in Earth, in the Ancestors, and in the Benevolence of Life itself. Through an embodied refuge practice taught by Thich Nhat Hanh, shaped by Tarchin Hearn, and woven into an Open Floor movement practice by Jaime, we will be helped to remember that we are Earth. Body, feelings and mind together assist this ecological awakening.
The role of mature humans — true adults — is to honour our place within the unbroken ecology of life by tending rituals of gratitude and renewal that sustain our relationships with the living, breathing world. This retreat is one such tending.
There will be solo time in the varied natural landscape of the Wangapeka Retreat Centre, alongside shared time for meals, song, movement, silence, conversation, and play.
Jaime is a trained Wilderness Rites of Passage guide, Work That Reconnects facilitator and experienced teacher of Open Floor movement practice. He is the founder of the Centre for the Great Turning, a movement inspired by Joanna Macy, Bill Plotkin, Tarchin Hearn and many more.
Jaime is passionate to develop maps and inquiries that support the flowering of human creativity, wisdom and care for the generations of all life to come. He supports humans to awaken their ecological self, the innate sense of belonging to the natural world. Jaime has a Masters Degree in Education, he is a wild poet, a student of mythology and holds a mean blues guitar. He lives in the knowing of what it takes to live in a community aspiring to wake up. A friend to shadow, bruised and bumped with a heart still open. A recent new father and peaceful warrior to bring the right kind of trouble to a world waking up.
Margaret’s life journey has been one of learning to face into the many ‘little deaths’ (not always so little) that have come her way, allowing all the associated emotions and questions their place, and coming to rest in the newness that in time ensues.
This has honed in her a capacity to walk alongside others, whatever their sorrows, calamities or uncertainties, holding a steady and gentle space.
Her books, Hello, Little Death:welcoming ‘dying’ to allow a fuller life, and Soul Midwife’s Journal: stories of honouring death, offer food for thought and new perspectives, and have become the basis of many transformative group explorations.
Margaret thrives in the community-creating and generative environments that retreats and workshops offer.
She finds replenishment in being anywhere nature is found – walking, lying, gardening and swimming.
Room or Hut
Member $560
Non-member $610
Camping
Member $455
Non-member $470
The Wangapeka Retreat Experience
Whenua Land
The retreat takes place on the beautiful Wangapeka whenua nestled in stunning native forests with expansive views down the Wangapeka valley. The land itself provides a healing sanctuary surrounded by mature trees and offering the perfect environment for reflection and reconnection with nature.
Kainga Accommodation
Accommodation is included in the price of the retreat, with all rooms being comfortable and well-appointed with single beds and electric heating. Shared bathroom facilities are conveniently located close to all rooms.
Kai Food
All meals are included in this retreat to support the your well-being and focus. Our kitchen team prepares nourishing vegetarian food to sustain and delight you throughout your stay. Specific dietary requirements can be accommodated and self-catering is also possible if you prefer to bring and prepare your own food.
Whare Wānanga Teaching Space
This teaching room is beautifully crafted and has been used for a wide variety of teaching for over 20 years. It has a wooden parquet floor and a pot belly stove to keep away winter chills. Set amongst beautiful mature trees, it offers a charming view looking down the Wangapeka valley, creating an inspiring environment for movement and meditation practices.
Whare kai Main Hall
The original building at Wangapeka, the Main Hall serves as the heart of community life with its combined living and dining room, library, and welcoming wood burner. Tea, coffee, and snacks are freely available here throughout your stay. Whether you choose to relax in the cosy interior or step out onto the porch to enjoy the expansive views, this space invites connection and contemplation. The hall also houses the kitchen, bathroom facilities, and laundry for your convenience.
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