What to Expect:

We are offering a two day grief ritual in Spokane, WA  This is an opportunity to gather and support each other in community to release grief, feel support and connection and heal our tender hearts. There are so few places in this culture where we can bring our strong emotions. Many of us yearn to unburden ourselves with others, but find ourselves alone with our grief all too often. This is a place where your tears and heart-ache are welcome. The retreat includes talking circles, singing, poetry, movement, practice in sacred listening, witnessing and being witnessed, ceremony, sharing food and quiet time in the woods. The heart of the retreat is a ceremony inspired by Sobonfu Some.

Our work is also inspired by the Five Gates of Grief from Francis Weller: 

• Everything we love we will lose, 
• the places that have not known love, 
• the sorrows of the world, 
• the things we cannot even name that we ache for, and 
• intergenerational or ancestral grief.  

We will lean in together and trust, surrender and open to vulnerability as we remember how to grieve in community.

Spiritual Framework

The spiritual framework for this ritual includes time-honored and earth based modalities, utilizing the power of drumming and chanting, the belief that the natural world is a rich place of inter-connection with “all our relations,” and the importance of working with the unseen realms, including our ancestors.

EXCHANGE:  Ritual early bird fee is $250 USD

We don’t believe in barriers to healing spaces.  The cost of this ritual should not be a barrier to you if this space is calling to your soul.  That being said, the cost of this ritual is so that facilitators and organizers may be resourced.  We are committed to making this work accessible to a wide variety of communities; especially cash poor and working class people who are on the front lines of social movements and community work.  Limited sliding scale slots and two work trade options are available.

Refund Policy:

• A full refund will be given if our COVID precautions do not feel stringent enough for you or if you feel sick at the time of the ritual.  (Please stay home)
• If you cancel anytime before 1 week prior to the retreat for other reasons, we retain $50 as a “handling fee.”
• If you cancel less than a week prior to the retreat, we cannot guarantee a refund due to the low likelihood of someone from the waitlist being able to fill your spot.  If we are able to fill your spot, we will offer a 50% refund minus the $50 handling fee.  This policy helps to hold us all accountable and creates some protection for us as the facilitators and organizers.

COVID Protocol:

We are holding this ritual indoors and are in the process of considering what precautions we will take so this event feels safe-enough in this time of pandemic.  Stay tuned for more details as we sort through the latest recommendations and make our plan.

13 participants minimum and 28 participants max

Once gathered, each participant will be at choice as to what feels good to them in terms of masking, distancing, contact, etc.  Beyond testing 24 hours prior to the event, we will not be making specific requests of participants.  If you are showing symptoms on the days of the ritual, please stay home.

To Register: click here. 

Questions? Please email Mary (pacifichealingcircles@gmail.com).