UK 2022 Information for Attendees
I have been gathering magic and am celebrating our goddess circle — all of our rooms are filled and we are 20 women traveling!
I am excited to share this retreat time with each of you and am busy planning some exciting new experiences for our journey!
We return to Avalon to touch sacred earth with the soles/souls of our feet. You will walk the pathways of the ancient ones, feeling the energy of the hollow hills, sacred groves, deep waters, gardens of delight and speaking stones, that wait for you.
You will see with eyes that move far beyond time and space, as you listen to the winds that whisper your name. You are journeying to meet the deep mythic river that runs through the land and through your life, returning to Avalon, the realm of the goddess and a place of deep history.
A prayer for the Goddess from Glastonbury, Avalon of Olde, Isle of Apples:
She is you. She is each one of you who braves the known and unknown alike. She is you who sees in the darkness and is not afraid because it is She who created the night. It is She who wombed the ecstasy of light from that deepest portal, the way in, the way through. That road once opened is now you. Each of you, who brave the known and unknown alike. She is each of you who see in the darkness and is not afraid. And continue to birth worlds of magic and the extraordinary.
May you each Know Yourself as She who Knows, She who Creates. She who Loves.
-JJ Levine
Practical Magic for our travels…
- Have you booked your flights yet? The pricing for all major airlines to London has remained fairly stable though out the last two months (East and West Coast), with less than hundred dollar fluctuation at best and some fantastic rates. Pricing will start to creep up in early spring so best to secure these soon and Linda, the travel agent listed in the welcome can assist.
- Check your Passport now – does it expire in 6 months? Check to see if you need to renew or replace it now!
- Retreat is Sept. 20-28, 2022 (We ask that you arrive in London on September 19th and stay overnight)
- Private Bus Travel from Heathrow Hotel to Glastonbury and back, is included this year in your reservation.
- The Hotel where pick up and drop off is offered, is Hyatt Place London Heathrow Airport The Grove, Bath Road West Drayton, UB7 0DG England (United Kingdom). This is a very easy hotel for arriving and staying overnight, if you plan to stay longer, explore staying in London before or afterwards.
- The driver going back to Heathrow Area from our “home” in Glastonbury (3 hrs drive) will drop off to Airport first then to hotel – you can take the fast underground subway train “the tube” from the airport (5 minutes from hotel) into London or taxi. You can also stay in central London before retreat and then take a cab to the hotel for 9:45 am pick up.
- Plan to be in hotel lobby to meet our “retreat staff” Darcy will be the assistant greeter, at 9:30 am on September 20th, 2022.
- September 28th flights for return to the US should be scheduled to leave Heathrow at 2:00pm or later, the bus will depart Glastonbury at 9am or thereabouts (3 hr. drive). Dropping off at Heathrow terminals first and Hotel second allows for those getting on flights to be on time and those staying longer to relax.
I need this right away – an easy online fill in form:
**Please complete this fill in form right away, press submit to send!
In Late July, by August 1st, you will receive the:
- Retreat Schedule
- Form to choose/book spa + treatment options
- Emergency/Travel/Mobility & Wellness Form.
*Turn in within 2 weeks.
Common Care: Joint issues and creaky knees happen, and we all know how to take care of ourselves or ask for what we need. Having traveled with mature amazing goddess women for many years please do think ahead and ask me any questions about travel needs in advance. I do suggest good shoes and bring a collapsable waking stick if you think you might need it. Remember you get to choose what to partake in, you can take a rest or “steal” a creative day in our beautiful space, take a cab into the village instead of an outing, or sit somewhere nice if you don’t want to walk a hill, and there will always be other ways to play.
General Wellness: You are responsible to know flight requirements for travel, including Covid precautions and more – double check your travel agreement with me and choose your travel insurance needs.
Packing Requests – don’t overpack, weather is always going to include rain and sun (its an island), generally mild temps (low to mid 60’s is average), a jacket and scarf for nights is a must, easy casual and comfortable travel clothes, swimsuit for pool (hot tub optional), bring one flowing goddess garb — outfit, cape, scarf, skirt or such. All creative materials are provided! Your room has towels, hairdryer and houses have a washing machine and dryer to use, but only suggest it if needed. Washclothes are not a thing in the UK, so if you love a face cloth, maybe bring one! UK conversion plugs are easy to get and important for charging things, can be purchased in town, if forgotten.
Cell phones are a great asset when traveling but complicated to set up with a European SIM card. I recommend setting up a travel plan with your carrier. Just make sure you can call home with no extra fees or just plan to text, facetime and email – even better.
We do have fairly good Wi-Fi in our properties, but it is in the country, so you may use email web-browse as needed but streaming is not recommended.
Retreat Schedule is being finalized – for general sense of what you will get to explore (I believe in offering space to wander, not overly directed touring) we will be going to Glastonbury several times for visits to the town and sites that include the Tor, Abbey, Brides Hill, Chalice Well Gardens, White Spring, lots to see, and plenty of places to linger, shop and sit! Plus visits to Avebury, Stonehenge, Stourhead, Wells and Lacock (low Cotswolds) are planned! There are free days planned and always options…if you need them.
Expect comfort and connection, lots of materials, creative play, fun, movement, food and our own sacred spaces to get away – this is a space of natural beauty, views and landscape – with spa treatments, private pool, gym and hot tubes, nearby walks, etc.
This land, like a mirror, turns you inward.
– Gwendolyn MacEwen
From The Mist-Filled Path by Frank MacEowen:
“The landscape is a mirror.
It is a splendid revealer of things not often seen with the eyes of every day life. When walking out on a land it is good to invite the Eyes of the Seer and the Eyes of the Poet [Artist] to be present. These are eyes that see the true shape of things. Poets and Seers see things differently. When we relax the literal thinking mind and enter landscape with more fluid perceptions (a soft gaze) we soon find that we become changed. We are then able to connect with our primal, preliterate selves. This preliterate, or perhaps postliterate state, of consciousness opens us to the Great Mirror of Nature.
The Celtic tradition of divination and seership is rooted in an understanding that clarity of thought and vision can be found in nature. It is no accident, for instance, that many Celtics seers, ancient and modern, have been shepherds, drovers and crofters. These individuals are often out on the land hillwalking. Their souls are customarily deep in the consciousness required to receive vision, spiritual insight and prophecy. This thread of the Celtic tradition understands well William Butler Yeats notion of “the condition of quiet that is the condition of vision.”
The shepherds and seers are not some elite cast of human beings. The practice and refinement, these skills of vision and seership, are accessible to everyone. The difference is that modernity fosters atrophy of the senses, while the natural, rustic and rural spirit facilitates a healing of the senses. Family bloodlines genetically predisposed to seership, or living the entirety of our lives in a rural setting, are not requirements for cultivating these abilities. Removing ourselves, with some frequency from an urban setting and communing with the Great Mirror of Nature is. Through the Celtic practice of merging the human soul with the whole soul of nature and the soul of place, a deep healing occurs. A profoundly sacred education awaits us all.
The Celtic path of working with the beauty of creation is one of dialogue. It is not a one-way conversation. This work is about allowing ourselves to become one third of the sacred dialogue. We open ourselves to the inherent intelligence of the earth, and the earth leans towards us in response and the third thing is created; a true human be-ing. Those who follow the Celtic mystical paths have always perceived nature as sacred. There is an unspoken understanding that natural acts as a reflective mirror shining bake on our own soul’s essence and sometimes even prophetic information. The Great Mirror reminds us of our truest self. For this reason any spiritual work with the natural world whether prayer, pilgrimage, hillwalking, fasting, [art-making, mythwalking, art as ritual] or purification practices, is an invitation to return to the primal the original essence of who we really are.”
[additions – cc]
A personal, final note:
Lovely women, we are Circling and preparing our way!
I am seeding our ‘experience-to-come’, thoughtfully sharing what I think is most relevant with you in this message!
Be thoughtful about over-researching the upcoming trip, leave space to dream, muse and take it in through the six senses. Create with some themes of this Retreat or perhaps a Pilgrimage…explore the essence of the Celtic Goddesses that speak to you and through you. Find them in image before you fix their purpose, seek their names and stories through your inner wisdom…
Explore the symbols of herb, sacred grove and lore, dip into poetry and Quest(ions), in your art and life. Whisper the ancient names: Aquae Sulis, Avalon, Stonehenge, The Lady, White Spring, Summerland, Chalice Well, Hollow Hills, Isle of Apples, The Tor, Otherworld.
This is a Brief History for Avalon + UK Retreat that I have compiled for the journey, we will be visiting both local and regional sacred sites during our stay! There are many novels that offer connections to this place, these include original Arthurian Myths, The Mists of Avalon and the The Forest House (Bradley), The Bones of Avalon (Rickman), Grave Goods (Franklin) and one of my past travelers recommended the Maeve Chronicles (Cunningham). You may enjoy the Caitlin and John Matthews books of Celtic stories and mythic topics
In Vision, Cat