Touching the Earth at Solstice with Jaime Howell and Team
with
Jaime Howell, Jola Siezen & Margaret Mccallum
Wangapeka Study & Retreat Centre
Touching the Earth at Solstice
with Jaime Howell and Team
Thursday 19th to Wednesday 25th June 2025
“The most important thing for true societal change is that we have educational systems to help people ecologically awaken. When we have a large enough percentage everything will shift and we will start to embrace the world as all relatives.”
— Bill Plotkin
Touching the Earth is a practice to awaken your deep ecological self. It is a creative approach to (re)-claim the birth rite of belonging to the living earth. This is not an intellectual study, these are powerful embodied practices and rituals inspired by Joanna Macy, Bill Plotkin, Tarchin Hearn and Jaimes work as wilderness rites of passage guide.
This 6 day retreat is a time for you to pause, breathe and listen deeply for the wisdom that lives in the depths of all being. The retreat brings together open floor movement inquiries and nature based meditations. There will be times that nourish the heart of community, such as singing, conscious dance, circle sharing, poetry and myth. There will also be invitations and support to be alone and intimate with it all.
After 25 years contemplating and studying human growth and unfolding, we believe there is a need for a sane and truly functioning Self that can thrive in all the worlds. We speak of these world in three ways;
- A self that is mature enough to taste and navigate the upper worlds of wonder, spirit and non dual experience.
- A self that flourishes in the middle world of complex and potentially loving human and more than human relating.
- The self that is able for the conversation with the underworld of mystery, intuition what many teachers call Soul.
The retreat is offered and created to support humans on their path to discover (often through the wounding) their unique gift for the world. As Gerard Manley Hopkins poetically alludes, to be that for which you came.
…Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came.
From As Kingfishers Catch Fire by Gerard Manley Hopkins
The price includes a private room, a cook, all meals, all teaching resources. It does not include dana for the teacher.
Places are limited. Scholarships are available for young adults aged between 18-40 who are deeply motivated to be a part of the Great Turning.
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.
Jola is a life artist, a mover, a circus performer, acrobat, aerialist, dancer teacher, masseuse. Jola is a passionate barefoot walker, a tree lover, an optimist and a great believer in simplicity & all things to do with balance. A mother, a twin sister, a friend of all creatures & a lover of life. She is deeply passionate about creative expression through movement.
‘Life is delicious.. you just have to add the right ingredients!’ Good job she said that because Jola will be part of the cooking team for the retreat, a support person and be available for giving massages.
Margaret has felt drawn to eldering since reading Growing into Wisdom by Juliet Batten in her 40’s. Perhaps this early readiness to contemplate elderhood grew out of an equally early “soul initiation” when life was tipped upside-down in her later 20’s and early 30’s.
What ‘being elder’ means most of all to Margaret is a deep desire to share the wonder, challenge and lightness-of-being that arise from a life lived in connection with soul. Margaret has a long life enjoyment of nature, dance, of lying in rivers and seas, and of walking in wild places, she is reminded of, and grateful for, the good earth of which she is part, and which supports and sustains her aliveness. This aliveness makes all else possible as she chooses to offer her unique self to Life, encouraging others to do likewise.
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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