Wild Wisdom 2022
Join a group of trailblazers, earth-mystics, beauty-makers, the good kind of trouble-makers, justice seekers, and truth-tellers, supporting you to live your most authentic life, with the earth under your feet, courage in your heart, and the river of life carrying you through the delight of your own unfolding. This deep and enriching 6-month immersion is open to 10 womxn-identified folx.
WILD WISDOM IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO…
reorient your arrow towards what has meaning and importance to you
let die what no longer serves you
nourish the seeds of your own inner wisdom
deepen your experience of Earth as teacher, resource and friend
re-fill your well-spring
...all so that you may contribute the best version of yourself in your relationships, work, and play. Discover ways to move through your life with clarity, focus, ease and grace, guided by earth-based ceremony and the power of personal intention. We believe that whole-heartedness emerges through cherished time in wild nature.
We have been born into an immense global initiation that is beckoning us to evolve our internal and external systems towards liberation for all. It is in these conditions that each of us are called to wake up to our greatest purpose and live in each moment with the courage, gentleness and tenacity it takes to contribute who we truly are to this world.
We humans are the youngest ones at the earth party. It is essential that we return to our more-than-human elders and ancestors: the birds, trees, waters, mushrooms, rock and soil, to re-member our most unfiltered truths and to be shown pathways of resilience in these times.
We invite you to give yourself the gift of slowing down and entering into earth-time with a small group of womxn to be witnessed, supported and celebrated as we cycle through the moons and seasons together. When we enter into conversation with gaia and align with earth-rhythms, the answers that we seek arrive in unexpected ways and new sacred questions emerge. The more that we delight in, honor, and willingly accept life’s invitations, the more that we can engage in a heart-centered dialogue with the soul of our true selves and the world. Each part of our personal awakening becomes a contribution to the wholeness and healing of all beings.
We honor, celebrate, and are enriched by the diversity of our group in age, gender, racial and ethnic identities. All ancestral backgrounds and womxn identified folks (including non-binary) are welcome and encouraged to join. All participants must have physical ability to carry 25-35 lb backpack for up to 7 miles over rugged terrain.
• ELEMENTS OF OUR TIME TOGETHER •
Ancestral Honoring and Relationship Building: Create and/or deepen your cords of connection with your personal ancestry.
Plant Connection: Connect with the spirit and medicine of the magic, beauty and sentience of the plant world. Connect deeper with one plant per season to build a lifelong friendship.
Animal Connection: Learn the basics of animal observation and tracking, connecting with the spirit of the wild ones who live amongst us. Let a local wild animal choose you to be your ally and study for our time together.
Earth Skills Building: Build a personal relationship with fire, including responsibly creating, tending and honoring fire. Prepare wild medicine and food. Weave a pine needle basket to hold your prayers and intentions…
Backpacking Skills: Become more confident in your ability to access wild spaces through expert guidance including what/how to pack, navigating, and living well in the backcountry.
Nature Solos: Relish in wild alone time. Deepen your connection practices and the personal intentions for your life, including a sacred 4-day solo over the summer solstice and full moon.
Grief Tending: When we allow ourselves to “ride the wild edge of sorrow” and be held in the grief of what has been lost or what has not come in its expected time, we can support one another to allow the tears to water the gardens of our lives.
Community Building: Grow deep, joyful, and powerful connections with the group of womxn taking this journey together. We all learn from and support each others’ journeys. We can’t do this life thing alone!
Song Sharing: When joining voices in community, we not only discover a pathway to communion and release, we cultivate wellness, mindfulness, empathy and joy.
Your Voice of Wild Wisdom: Increase contact and intimacy with your one true, unfiltered self, the place that holds the essence of your unique being, gifts, and imprint. As we embrace our true selves, our wisdom and confidence grow.
Support in Integrating Your Wild Wisdom into Your Life: Bring back what emerges in the wilds into your daily life through identifying small, achievable steps that support integration.
• THE JOURNEY •
Our in-person gatherings are intentionally placed on or close to the quarters and cross quarters that mark the passing of the solar year and seasons, beginning with the Spring Equinox. We will meet in wild and beautiful locations, exploring the diverse ecosystems of California. We will bookend our time together on either end of our journey with a day-long frolic to open and close our time together. Our longer trips will include car camping and the other one will be a 10-day backpacking trip over summer solstice. A keystone of our time together will be a 4-day wilderness solo over the summer solstice.
We will also have touch points at the new moons. We will be together in-person for some and for others we will either have a Zoom call or other form of digital check in and intention setting for that moon ~ using the lunar rhythms to feed our intentions and prayers.
“I returned with a recognition of my belonging to the earth and a deep appreciation and love for who I am.” - R. Kaplan, MFT
• ITINERARY •
(Full, detailed itinerary sent upon registration and subject to change)
Wednesday, March 2nd @ 6pm: Initial Zoom Call to meet your guides and Elders
ROOTING
Dates: April 8th // Celebrating Spring, Sensory Immersion into the Heart of the Wild
EMERGING
Dates: May 9nd-14th // Beltane
Location: Sacred Grove, Gualala CA • Camping
BLOOMING
Dates: June 23 - July 2nd, Summer Solstice. Includes a multi day wilderness solo & optional fasting
Location: Trinities National Forest • Backpacking
FRUITING
Date: July 31st
Location: Ocean Location (TBD )
SEEDING AND CELEBRATING
Dates: Fall Equinox September 15 - 20, includes 24-hour solo
Location: Gualala River, CA • Car Camping
Full, detailed itinerary sent upon registration and subject to change
In addition to the above dates, we’ll have several Zoom calls around new moons in between retreats to touch-in
“Deep down you know the truth.
You must cross over the border.
You must take the step.
You must inherit your life.”
~ Steven Foster & Meredith Little
*Your main guides will be Sarai & Caitlin with guest guides throughout the season. In addition to the above dates, we’ll have several Zoom calls around new moons in between retreats to touch-in
• THE GROUNDS WE STAND ON •
We recognize that as we revitalize and experience the joy of our innate connections to this earth, we also face the complexities of the historical context we have been born into, both of our personal ancestries, and the ancestry of the lands on which we stand.
In the journey of reconnection to the earth we must also reconnect with our earth-connected and earth-disconnected ancestors. What traditions were or were not passed on? What animate and spiritually connected relationship did our predecessors have with land? What traditions might we unearth related to that connection? We also face the disconnection to ancestral lands in each of our lineages when our people were torn from ancestral homelands, or denied access to earth-connection because of systemic inequalities.
We are in the continued journey of learning how to best stand in solidarity with California first nations people in efforts towards rematriation - the return of indigenous knowledge, ceremony and pathways to the mother/land. The recent historical context of California, and the people of this land is complex, brutal, and riddled with painful stories of conquest and oppression. We recognize that the places we are forming new connections with have been tended, loved, and lived upon for generations by the original inhabitants of those lands. Towards the aim of rematriation, we intend to grow connection with local indigenous organizations and offer 5% of our proceeds to projects happening in the territories where we hold Wild Wisdom programs
• REGISTRATION & TUITION •
$4000 - $5500 sliding scale* // Early Bird Discount: $3500 ($500 off!) if you register by March 20th
(Payment plans available)
*It is our intention to make this experience affordable. This is a deeply immersive 6-month dive where you are held in a supportive group of womxn through a meaningful and mighty transformation. Please give generously according to your ability. No-one turned away for lack of funds. If you need support in funding this trip, please reach out.
What’s Included:
Two experienced guides, 2 elders & special guest teachers supporting you on every step of your journey
All permits, camping fees and land rentals
Food during backpacking trips (breakfasts & dinners provided, you provide your own lunches)
Covid-19: Once our group is formed, we will assess current conditions and decide as a group the best way to have a safe and sanitary time together. Staying safe may include tests before in-person gatherings, cooking your own food, and sanitizing often. We have successfully run trips with 12+ people in the backcountry during the pandemic without incident and with everyone feeling safe.
“The plant people have taught me to be generous and not be shy about blossoming, that it is our nature. I think when others see us, it can inspire them to open up and blossom too and we can be a field ablaze with dignity and beauty together” - Brenda Salgado
• MEET YOUR GUIDES •
Sarai Nicolina Shapiro and Caitlin Rose Wild
Sarai Nicolina Shapiro (she/her) is a personal and organizational coach, non-profit founder, artist, friend, and earth-lover. She has spent her adult years supporting the emergence of people of all ages, from youth through adulthood through initiatory experiences that invoke a heart-full connection to self, community, earth, and spirit. She was the youth programs director for Wilderness Torah and is the Founder and previous Executive Director of Gaia Passages. She utilizes modalities learned in her many studies from somatics, energy-psychology, nature connection, and coaching to support each individual in unique ways.
Caitlin Rose Wild (she/her)is the founder of Mountain Soul, an experienced wilderness guide, avid backpacker, eco-therapy practitioner, bridge builder, community organizer and sacred nature connection facilitator. For the last 10 years she has immersed herself in listening to the subtle (and not so subtle) whispers of the earth, taking direction from mystery and opening her heart to the full spectrum of life. She founded Mountain Sea Adventures and has a thriving EcoPsychology practice in Santa Cruz, CA. To learn more about her story and modalities, click here
…Special Guest Teachers: we extend our gratitude to our guest teachers listed here: Elder Guide Mutima Imani, Michelle Vesser, Meghan Wall-Murphy, Mikhel Nesta and more to come…
WE CAN’T WAIT TO MEET YOU!