Winter is Coming : announcing our Winter Solstice Immersion Dec 22 at Orlagh House, Dublin Mountains

“In the depths of winter I finally learned that within me lay an invincible summer”

Albert Camus

Dear Blazers of Trails

Winter is coming....

And we are delighted to announce our next SOLSTICE experience. This heart warming winter mountain retreat takes place at Orlagh Estate on Sunday Dec 22.

Solstice is a one-day nourishing experience for men and women to celebrate this special turning point of the wheel of the year. Following our sold out summer Solstice gathering in June, our winter immersion is a cosy wellbeing retreat that is all about Yule. The winter Solstice marks the still point of the sun. As the earth sleeps and the animals hibernate we will gather to welcome the return of new light in the same tradition as our ancestors throughout the ages.

Take a peak at our Summer Solstice Rewilding immersion below.

Solstice is a collective experience set at Orlagh House on a beautiful country estate with panoramic views across the Dublin Mountains and the Irish Sea. In the darkest part of the year when the days are shortest, Nature asks us humans to pause, draw inward and connect with our own still point. Amidst acres of winter wonderland we intend to unwind and attune to the rhythms of the natural world. We will be nourished by delicious warming foods, hot spiced drinks, candlelight rituals and blazing fires under the roof of our favourite rambling Georgian mansion.

Solstice weaves human connection with nature, conversation, movement, music, food, meditation, ritual, ceremony and other creative experiences. Our intention is to invite people together to share a sense of belonging and participation with our wild selves and the wild world that nourishes us. Winter Solstice (also known as Saturnalia) has been celebrated for thousands of years, and many of the traditions now associated with Christmas had their roots in winter solstice celebrations – including Yule logs, mistletoe and Christmas trees. The Druids – the priests of the ancient Celts – used evergreen trees, holly and mistletoe as symbols of everlasting life during winter solstice rituals. We have gathered some of Ireland’s leading blazers of trails to guide us through these Solstice celebrations. As ancestors-in-training we will honour some of the ancient indigenous practices in our native tradition with a contemporary twist. We will learn from the land through foraging and wildcrafting. There will be fireside talks with some of our own wisdom keepers and keepers of the flame. Expect some choral adventures and live music performance from I have a Tribe.

“This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year's threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath.”
Margaret Atwood

Other adventures in store include experiential practices like dance, meditation, breathwork, visualisation, yoga nidra, sound baths, fire ceremony, ritual and a communal sit down winter Solstice feast with delicious food from our friend Natasha at The Vegan Kitchen. Our informal faculty includes Anna Mieke {Musician & Songwriter}, Carol McInerney {Movement therapist & Dance Teacher}, Chloe McHugh {Sonas Sound Therapy}, Diarmuid Lyng {Father, Hurler, Campaigner), Laura Murphy {Artist & Creator of IMBAS}, Patrick O'Laoghaire {Artist & Musician} Siobhan de Paor {Poet, Activist & Performance Artist}

If you are feeling a call to adventure to celebrate the winter Solstice and reclaim your wild soul then this is for you….

Some Winter Solstice Experiences in store for you…..

· Wilderness Workshops

· Earth Medicine Practices

· Conversation + Storysharing

· Movement Sessions

· Sound Baths

· Yoga Nidra

· Healing Visualisations

· Live Music Performance

· Fire Ceremony Ritual

· Acoustic Meditation