Wild Earth Solo – ONE LAST PLACE – 11th to 15th of August 2022

For thousands of years, indigenous peoples of most cultures around the world have provided meaningful ways of marking transitions, the passage from one life stage to another. In times when our contemporary Western culture suffers from a meaning crisis, remembering and reappropriating these rites has great potential to reclaim meaning and mark our deepest transitions and roles as humans on earth.

Spending solo time on the land enables us to reflect where we are in our lives, who we are, who we want to become and more broadly connect to the sacredness of being a human and a member of this wider Earth community.

The Earth Solo is a shorter and contemporary version of such a rite of passage or vision quest. It can be done at any given time in your life. It is the best preparation for a longer solo, and also great if you want to mark a life transition , step into a new role, face a challenge or get more clarity on a topic. It aims to facilitate personal growth and transformation. Throughout the whole journey, the mirror of nature will be your guide towards more self understanding and clarity. To dwell on the land alone in reverence is a beautiful remembering of our profound humanness.

Our need for connection with the natural world lies in our genes. A time-out on the land can be an immense relief for our mind, body and soul. The sounds of the forest take over, we open our perception, tune in with our senses and start discovering- with wonder and awe – the sheer beauty around us.

What to expect during the Wild Earth Solo

During the Solo you will spend 24 hours alone on the land, without distractions.

On the first day, we will arrive, get to know each other and start with some grounding contemplative practices as well as some singing around the campfire.

On the second day we will start with a morning meditation and then go out to meet the land. We will learn about the four Shields of Human Nature model and take ample time to share our intentions with each other. The evening might bring a storytelling circle around the fire.

On the third day, you will be prepared for your solo time in basecamp. You will cross the threshold, stepping into ceremony. You will spend an afternoon, night and morning alone in the forest, without food and only the bare essentials of gear. It will be a time to become intimately receptive to life and experience both the challenge and the beauty of taking our place amongst the other beings living on this Earth. You will be guided in and out of the ceremony.

On the fourth day, we will welcome you back in basecamp with a blessing. You will have time to rest and integrate before we move on into Story Council.

Our final evening and morning together will be devoted to incorporation. We will share the stories of our threshold time in Circle and explore its gifts for the life we return to. We will have our stories mirrored back by the guides and the community. This can be one of the most touching and heartfelt aspects of our time together: being witnessed and affirmed by those around you.

The whole process will be guided by experienced vision quest guides and coaches Sophie Vandenkerchove and Carolin Goethel. As a community practice, we will also be cooking together. All meals will be yummy vegetarian/ vegan recipes made from local, seasonal and organic ingredients.

Overview of the days

Day 1: Arriving. Arrival in the afternoon. Embodiment practice for landing. Council circle with the community. Campfire after dinner.
Day 2: Severance. Morning Meditation, Practice to Meet the Land, Introduction to the 4 Shields Model, Intention Sharing, Storytelling.
Day 3: Threshold. Solo Day: Preparation in basecamp. Ceremonial threshold crossing. 24h Solo.
Day 4: Integration. Festive welcome back at basecamp. Return home, free time to rest and chill. Story Council
Day 5: Departure. Second half of Story Council. Embodiment Journey. Integration & Departure.

Registration

The standard price for the Wild Earth Solo is 480€ (VAT incl.). Prices include accommodation in shared rooms, meals and guidance throughout the days. If you cannot afford the standard price but would still very much like to participate, please send an email with your situation to chamaicentre@gmail.com. We will then get back to you to see what could be possible.  If you want to make a participation possible for someone who cannot pay the standard price, you could support by paying the Supporter price of 540€ (VAT incl.).Registration is possible through chamaicentre@gmail.com. You are registered when you have paid a deposit of 250 euro on the following bank account: BE12 7340 4886 7292 (Sophie Vandenkerchove). The remaining amount has to be paid at least 2 weeks before the start of the course.With the following payment reference: “participation Earth Solo 2021 – your name”.

Facilitation team

Carolin Goethel

Carolin is a community weaver and facilitator, living in the city of Berlin, Germany. Drawing on her anthropological studies, her work in leadership education and her passion for deep ecology, she’s developed a varied toolbox to build cultures of interbeing.

The profound experience of her own vision quest sparked her desire to guide others on this journey. She has since then been studying eco-soul centric philosophies and practices with the Animas Valley Institute. With the Wild Minds Collective, she has been guiding participants of the four week online programme ‘Deep Dive into Nature and Self’ on their Solo journeys.

Carolin places her work at the intersection of inner change and wider systems change. She works with other projects such as CitizensLab and Circles UBI Basic Income to empower citizens to build a life-sustaining future and new economy.

She has always been inspired by indigenous ways of being and seeks to infuse her work with the values of interconnectedness and reciprocity. She likes to facilitate in playful, embodied ways and use the power of ritual to imbue life with meaning. She currently also co-hosts the “Church of Interbeing”, a non religious Sunday ceremony.

Sophie Vandenkerchove

Sophie is a lover of the Wild Soul, within and without. She has followed training as a Wilderness Rites of passage Guide at the School of Lost Borders in California. She has also been a long time practitioner of Zen meditation in the Korean tradition and follows a 4 year long apprenticeship into Druidry and Celtic Shamanism.

Her experience of  growing up in the forests of the Belgian Ardennes, brought her a strong connection to the land of her ancestors already as a child. After roaming wild places in the cities, she moved back to her village with the strong dedication to offer her life to the well-being and healing of the land. Out of this, Chamai came into existence: a nature-based learning centre in Belgium, where she offers residential workshops and experiential journeys with Nature.

In her work, she always interweaves the power of ceremony with her deep love for nature and people. She is passionate about pilgrimages, solo time in nature, silent retreats and  experiences that bring together a good balance of adventure, presence and gentleness.

www.chamai.be – www.facebook.com/chamaicentre