EARTH MEDICINE 'Tending to our Grief': Ceremonial Psilocybin Retreat, Portugal Copy

A grief tending ceremonial psilocybin retreat within ancient coastal forest rooted in regenerative community life, in partnership with The Grief Space.

São Luís, Portugal

24 - 30 May 2023

Explore all of our gatherings at rootedhealing.org/gather

"The facilitators gentle and accepting presence supported me in shedding painful stories and oh so many tears. Their passion in supporting the group on their healing journeys was clear for all to see and feel. I have left the retreat feeling lighter, clearer, and more grateful for the life I live than I have done in years. The sense of connection and belonging I felt in the group was so powerful and the retreat provided me with so many personal insights that have already began to steer my life in a much more positive direction. The retreat was quite simply magical, every element of the Rooted Healing retreat was interwoven with so much love, knowledge, and careful consideration that day by day I felt my heart open and my body rest. I will be forever grateful for the spiritual awakening I have experienced." - Carys Mair

“My Earth Medicine retreat was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I have a newfound acceptance, peace and connection to nature and myself that I didn’t think was possible. This continues to evolve after returning home. Roni, Andrew, Lilia, and Hanna have the most beautiful voices, it was such a treat to hear ancient medicine music from the soul. Rooted Healing are a truly special, humble, passionate collective of experts who create magic. They really do make you feel safe, held and completely at ease. Thank you for all your hard work, love, expertise and passion and for being such wonderful beings. I feel truly blessed to have had this experience with you." - Laura Hodge

Rooted Healing and The Grief Space are offering retreats seeded in the medicine of grief tending, nature, psilocybin and ceremony.

This work is centred around the exploration and integration of grief, in all its forms, to cultivate healing and belonging, and to create a new relationship with both grief and life. This is a process of emerging, surrendering and remembering, where your true essence is enlivened and nourished.

Whether you are grieving a personal bereavement or loss, tending to the parts of you that never received love, feeling the collective sorrows of the world or longing for community where grief and love are welcomed as sisters, then you have arrived. Welcome.

OUR APPROACH

Our nature-led grief tending and psilocybin retreat offers insight into creating a new relationship with grief and cultivating healing and belonging by weaving yourself into deeper intimacy with life.

Transformational grief and psilocybin ceremonies are woven within a grounded programme of somatic and transpersonal psychology, deep ecology and homegrown nutrient dense nourishment amongst rare ancient coastal forest on 130 hectares of community tended wilderness and permaculture life in Portugal.

During ceremony, we carry the medicine of live ceremonial songs and sounds as a key ingredient to holding transformational journeys. You can expect heart-full immersive soundscapes as you delve into the depths of memory, consciousness and natural beauty.

The wisdom of nature and place guides our programmes and core philosophy. We see psilocybin as a catalyst for personal, social and ecological change, which is why we marry this work with regenerative living, where you can taste the beauty of life in balance.
We are a multidisciplinary team of grief tending facilitators and healing arts professionals with both traditional animistic (shamanic) understanding of ceremonial work, along with psychological expertise. Our approach ensures that you are equipped with tools and practices for your ongoing integrative healing. We understand that psychedelics are one of many other facets required for life-lasting healing and growth.

The marrying of psilocybin with grief tending arrises from the acknowledgement of the synonymous nature of these two pathways, recognising the alchemy with which we can allow our full humanness to unfold through new and ancient eyes.

We take great care in the intake process, as well as providing a thorough preparation and integration programme before and after the immersion. We also cultivate long-lasting community and peer to peer support.

We appreciate the leap of faith into an experience like this takes and are here to support you with your decision-making process, with awareness and integrity around the acknowledgement that this approach is not for everyone.

Why psilocybin?

Abundant in its nature, psilocybin exists all over the world making it an embedded thread within our collective ancestral heritage. Research reveals it to be one of the safest and most promising non-addictive psychedelics (entheogen), proving to support long-term neurogenesis, which is the formation of new neuronal cells in the brain.

With evidence suggesting its ritualistic use as early as 9,000 years ago, it has been shown to aid in healing multiple physical, emotional, mental and spiritually rooted health conditions. Science is also recognising its capacity to increase creativity, deepen nature connectedness and even reshape our relationship with death.

We see psilocybin as a catalyst for personal, collective and ecological change, showing us how to interrelate with compassion, creativity, intuition and curiosity.

Dive deeper in our resources + FAQs: rootedhealing.org/resources

Why ceremony?

We, as human beings upon this earth, have sat in ceremony since time immemorial. It is our birthright to cultivate time together to connect with our shared humanity and our relational dance within the web of existence. Ceremony offers us a healing containment to delve into the depths of our heart’s questions, sorrows, joys and dreams.

Ceremony brings us back into a state of belonging, which balms the losses of the modern era. It is an alchemy of intention, song, prayer and elemental relationship, through which our personal and collective voices of longing and creativity are extended to the unseen dimensions of life, beyond our conscious minds and into the realms of nature and spirit. This act is indigenous to the psyche, invoking a form of ‘direct knowing’, which is often ineffable but experienced through the fabric of our being.

Why grief tending?

Originating from the root word ‘tenderness’, grief tending invites us to bring compassion to our grief, as we would to a small child or a wild garden. Grief tending is the understanding that to be human is to know loss. It is the practice of welcoming grief so that we can keep our hearts open to life. It is coming home to the recognition that we all have grief, whether it’s for the losses in our lives, the unmet longings or the sorrows of the world.

Grief tending is the understanding that our earth needs us to grieve, just as it needs us to pay attention. It is the trust that when we grieve and allow ourselves to be vulnerable, we open ourselves to connection, authenticity and intimacy. As we remember the lost art of grief tending where all is welcomed, we restore our connection to each other, ourselves and the earth. We emerge with the capacity to hold it all; love and loss, grief and gratitude; life and death.

"My experience with Rooted Healing was truly wonderful. The ceremonies, the additional workshops, as well as the venue were profound. There was so much heart, care and attention put into absolutely everything, from the setting of the ceremonial space, the live sound and music, prayer and the utterly delicious food that was served all week. This was my first Psychedelic experience, I was very nervous but instantly felt safe and held by the amazing facilitators who clearly hold a huge amount of knowledge, experience and wisdom working with this sacred fungi medicine. What an invigorating and nourishing feeling this was, being so connected to everyone and everything. I couldn't recommend this enough to people who may be questioning whether to invest in this experience or not." - Georgie Tilbrook

"One of the best things I have done in my life! Although a little nervous before, I immediately felt in safe hands with Veronica, Andrew and Lilja, who i warmed to immediately. Every day was full, also space within it. I learned so much about myself through the workshops and ceremonies, and also through the other participants and their experiences. I felt held, loved and safe. The knowledge of Veronica, Andrew and Lilja was outstanding. And oh! The food by Hanna was amazing! Such a joy to be lovingly nourished in the mind body soul and stomach! I will feel the benefits of this week for the rest of my life. I feel calmer and able to deal with ALL what life has to offer with a new found wisdom and courage. I cant recommend this retreat and these people enough. And i say that with a warm heart and a smile." - Michael Chestnutt

“This week was one of the most transformational times of my life. I feel lighter, more expressive and more receptive to love. Everyone who organized or partnered with the retreat is the real deal. I knew none of these people beforehand, but feel like I left San Pancho with a new family.” - Jeff Pratt

LEARN MORE at rootedhealing.org/earth-medicine-grief-tending