Cameron's Staff Pick
Partnering with Compassionate Spirits: An Introduction to Your Medicine Council
Cortes Island, Strathcona, BC, Canada
May 3 - 7, 2025
Retreat Highlights
- Explore the invisible dimensions of reality that coexist with our physical world, where you connect with your helping spirits
- Open the subtle pathways of perception that enable you to sense, see, hear, touch, smell, taste, and feel while journeying throughout the invisible realms
- Use those subtle pathways of perception to cultivate a shared language with your helping spirits that generates mutual understanding and clarity
- Refine the inquiries you present to your helping spirits in order to optimize the guidance you receive
- Journey to receive accurate guidance and potent healing for yourself and on behalf of others
- Practice the art of telling a healing story, relaying guidance to others when you journey on their behalf
- Meet the benevolent helping spirits who co-exist alongside you in the place where you live and learn how to create harmony together
- Learn how to navigate safely, purposefully, and effectively in the invisible spectrums of reality
About this Retreat
Julie Kramer was introduced to the practice of shamanic journeying in 2000 while attending a workshop at Hollyhock, which enabled her to begin cultivating direct relationships with compassionate helping spirits. While continuing to receive training as a shamanic practitioner and facilitator, Julie began leading workshops in 2003 in order to teach others how to journey into the invisible dimensions of reality and partner with benevolent helping spirits using natural trance states.
Beginning in 2011, Julie expanded her offerings to include long-term trainings with the creation of The Sacred Call of the Healer, a yearlong immersion for healers across disciplines to amplify their medicine by collaborating with the unseen world. In 2012, Julie developed The Art and Practice of Shamanic Healing: A Three-Year Professional Training and Initiation, a comprehensive training for cultivating the skillset, proficiency, and capacity needed to provide professional spiritual healing for clients.
To date, Julie is honored to have facilitated over 70 stand-alone workshops; three cohorts of the Sacred Call of the Healer; and to have trained nearly 100 shamanic practitioners by way of three cohorts of The Art and Practice of Shamanic Healing: A Three-Year Professional Training and Initiation.
Julie is passionate about training committed practitioners as a way to contribute to the restoration of spiritual healing to its rightful place alongside Western and Eastern Medicine; Energy Medicine; psychiatry and psychotherapy; and hands-on healing. What distinguishes Julie’s orientation is her emphasis on spiritual healing as a catalyst for personal and collective evolution. Correspondingly, participants in Julie’s transformative circles appreciate them for their safety, depth, potency, and instructiveness.
Julie is based in the Pacific Northwest where she divides her time between Vancouver and Cortes Island, British Columbia, Canada.
juliemkramer.com
Details of this retreat
For millennia, people worldwide have used singing, dancing, drumming, whistling and rattling to generate natural trance states in order to journey into the invisible realms and form alliances with benevolent helping spirits.
Whether we’re aware of them or not, we all have compassionate helping spirits who are devoted to our well-being, potentiation, and evolution. The practice of journeying enables us to initiate contact with our spirit guides in order to receive their immediate support whenever we’re in need of wise council, helpful insights, and powerful healing.
Program Highlights
During this experiential immersion, we will embark upon a series of journeys that will enable you to:
Explore the invisible dimensions of reality that coexist with our physical world, where you connect with your helping spirits
Open the subtle pathways of perception that enable you to sense, see, hear, touch, smell, taste, and feel while journeying throughout the invisible realms
Use those subtle pathways of perception to cultivate a shared language with your helping spirits that generates mutual understanding and clarity
Refine the inquiries you present to your helping spirits in order to optimize the guidance you receive
Journey to receive accurate guidance and potent healing for yourself and on behalf of others
Practice the art of telling a healing story, relaying guidance to others when you journey on their behalf
Meet the benevolent helping spirits who co-exist alongside you in the place where you live and learn how to create harmony together
Learn how to navigate safely, purposefully, and effectively in the invisible spectrums of reality
Each of us has a cohort of specific spirit guides who are dedicated to helping us uncover, amplify, and hone the unique medicine that we carry. This is your Medicine Council. Your singular, inimitable medicine includes your innate gifts, qualities, and capacities, all of which you are meant to share with the world in order to fulfill your soul’s purpose.
By the end of this workshop, you will have met the members of your Medicine Council and your council will be well established. Our time together will culminate with a personalized ritual prescribed by your Medicine Council—and undertaken in collaboration with them—to ignite your medicine in the service of your soul’s purpose.
This is a stand-alone workshop that also serves as the prerequisite for the year-long training Becoming a Spiritual Healer Level I: The Essentials.
Testimonials
"I walked into Julie's introductory workshop not knowing anything about shamanism or journeying. I remember feeling uncertain in the beginning because it was so different from anything I'd experienced. Julie taught with deep intention and humor, which created a transformational experience for me. From my very first journey that she facilitated, I was hooked. She helped me find a new path of spirituality and self-development that felt so vibrant and alive that I couldn't wait to apply to her practitioner training." - Tiffany Skidmore
"Julie is a natural and gifted teacher. Attending her introductory workshop is like stepping into a portal of divine possibility, providence, and wonder. Whether you decide on a whim to tag along with a friend or are traversing your own dark night of the soul, this workshop is relevant, nourishing, and empowering. Participants become initiates into the infinite well of connection and possibility that lies within us all." – A. Annesley
Julie Kramer + Hollyhock
To read about the origins of this exciting collaboration, and for more information about upcoming workshops and trainings with Julie, please read here.
Daily Schedule
A detailed schedule will be emailed to you about 30 days prior to your program. Click here to view a sample program schedule.
Accommodation
A variety of accommodations are located throughout our lush campus, ranging in price to suit most budgets. Choose from private, beachfront or ocean facing rooms, dorm-style lodging or cabins that nestle in the quiet seclusion of the forest. Our beautiful campsites are also available, with a cedar bath house conveniently located for your use.
Room fees include all Hollyhock basics, like stimulating presenter evenings, delicious, organic meals, morning yoga/meditation classes, guided naturalist walks and tours of the garden, as well as luxurious soaks in our ocean-view hot-tubs. Telephones and wireless Internet are centrally located.
Room Options Include:
Single: 1 Person
Twin: Couple or Friends, 2 beds.
Couple: Couples or Friends sharing 1 bed.
Family/Friends: 3 or more adult friends or family /2 beds
Dorm: Up to 6 people/bunk beds
Tenting with full-service bath house (bring your own tent and bedding)
Roommates can be assigned, upon request, in twin and dorm rooms only.
Private Cabin Oceanfront
This prized cabin includes one queen bedroom, a common area with fireplace and couch, mini-kitchen, private bathroom, and deck overlooking the ocean. Located on our water's edge with a stunning panoramic view of the surrounding Desolation Sound.
We have property wide complimentary WiFi.
Single w/ensuite Oceanfront
Located on our water's edge with a stunning panoramic view of the surrounding Desolation Sound. These rooms include a queen bed and your own private bathroom. The building has a shared kitchen and living space, with a large deck on the ocean side.
We have property wide complimentary WiFi, the signal varies from room to room.
Single w/ensuite
Spacious rooms with a queen bed and private bathroom. Enjoy your own space immersed in nature and the surrounding views.
We have property wide complimentary WiFi, the signal varies from room to room.
Single w/shared bathroom
These cozy private rooms have a shared bathroom, and some rooms have a small desk.
We have property wide complimentary WiFi, the signal varies from room to room.
Couple w/ensuite Oceanfront
Located on our water’s edge with a stunning panoramic view of the surrounding Desolation Sound. These luxurious rooms include your own private bathroom. The building has a shared kitchen and living space, with a large deck on the ocean side.
We have property wide complimentary WiFi, the signal varies from room to room.
*For couples attending separate programs, please advise in the comment section. Your reservation will be adjusted and you will receive an updated confirmation.
Couple w/ensuite
These spacious rooms have a queen bed with a private bathroom. Enjoy your own space immersed in nature and the surrounding views.
We have property wide complimentary WiFi, the signal varies from room to room.
*For couples attending separate programs, please advise in the comment section. Your reservation will be adjusted and you will receive an updated confirmation.
Couple w/shared bathroom
These cozy private rooms have a queen or double bed and a shared bathroom. Some rooms have a small desk.
We have property wide complimentary WiFi, the signal varies from room to room.
*For couples attending separate programs, please advise in the comment section. Your reservation will be adjusted and you will receive an updated confirmation.
Twin w/ensuite oceanfront
This room has two double beds and will be shared by two people. Your room mate will be chosen at random based on gender, or you can request to share with someone you know. The room is located on our water’s edge with a stunning panoramic view of the surrounding Desolation Sound, and includes a private bathroom. The building has access to a kitchen and living space with a large deck on the ocean side.
We have property wide complimentary WiFi, the signal varies from room to room.
Twin w/ensuite
These rooms have two beds and will be shared by two people. You can share with someone you know or your room mate will be chosen at random based on gender. They are spacious and modern with a queen bed, twin bed, or sofa pull out, and include a private bathroom.
We have property wide complimentary WiFi, the signal varies from room to room.
Twin w/shared bathroom
These rooms have two beds and will be shared by two people. You can share with someone you know or your room mate will be chosen at random based on gender. Nested in ferns and blackberry bushes, these cozy and rustic rooms have a shared bathroom. Please be advised some have an external bathhouse.
We have property wide complimentary WiFi, the signal varies from room to room.
Three-share w/shared bathroom
These rooms have three beds and will be shared by three people. Your room mates will be chosen at random based on gender, or you can request to share with someone you know.
This comfortable room surrounded by lush green forest has one double bed and two twin beds. A small kitchenette with a small fridge is available. The bathroom is shared with another room.
We have property wide complimentary WiFi, the signal varies from room to room.
Women Dorm
Rustic and cozy, our dorms are our most economical room option. This dorm can accommodate up to 6 people and has its own washroom. This option is for female-identified people only.
We have property wide complimentary WiFi, the signal varies from room to room.
All dorm beds are assigned, please ask the reception desk first if you would like to switch beds.
In consideration of other participants in your dorm, if you require an alarm clock, please bring a battery-powered one with no audible noise.
If sound may keep you awake, we recommend bringing ear-plugs with you to ensure a good-night’s rest. If you are a loud snorer, the dorms may not be suitable for you.
Male Dorm
Rustic and cozy, our dorms are our most economical room option. This dorm can accommodate up to 4 people and has its own washroom. This option is for male-identified people only.
We have property wide complimentary WiFi, the signal varies from room to room.
All dorm beds are assigned, please ask the reception desk first if you would like to switch beds.
In consideration of other participants in your dorm, if you require an alarm clock, please bring a battery-powered one with no audible noise.
If sound may keep you awake, we recommend bringing ear-plugs with you to ensure a good-night’s rest. If you are a loud snorer, the dorms may not be suitable for you.
Mixed Dorm
Open to all! Rustic and cozy, our dorms are our most economical room option. This dorm can accommodate up to 6 people and has its own washroom.
We have property wide complimentary WiFi, the signal varies from room to room.
All dorm beds are assigned, please ask the reception desk first if you would like to switch beds.
In consideration of other participants in your dorm, if you require an alarm clock, please bring a battery-powered one with no audible noise.
If sound may keep you awake, we recommend bringing ear-plugs with you to ensure a good-night’s rest. If you are a loud snorer, the dorms may not be suitable for you.
Tent Site Single
For nature lovers, set up your tent near cedars and reconnect with nature.
Bathhouse nearby with showers and toilets. Bring your own tent, towels, and all appropriate camping gear. Due to fire safety, cooking on campsites is not permitted. Three meals a day from the Hollyhock kitchen are included in your total cost.
Please be aware that this area is accessed by walking paths only. There may be uneven terrain in the forest.
Stoves, campfires, and recreational vehicles are not allowed on campus.
Tent Site Couple
For nature lovers, set up your tent near cedars and reconnect with nature.
Bathhouse nearby with showers and toilets. Bring your own tent, towels, and all appropriate camping gear. Due to fire safety, cooking on campsites is not permitted. Three meals a day from the Hollyhock kitchen are included in your total cost.
Please be aware that this area is accessed by walking paths only. There may be uneven terrain in the forest.
Stoves, campfires, and recreational vehicles are not allowed on campus.
*For couples attending separate programs, please advise in the comment section. Your reservation will be adjusted and you will receive an updated confirmation.
Commuter
Staying off-site. Includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and unlimited use of the property’s facilities. If you prefer to have no breakfast or only lunch, please check the appropriate box in your registration form under the commuter question. Lunch is $31 and Dinner is $63 per day, plus tax. Your package and pricing will be updated manually and you will get a second confirmation when we have updated your package. Please call us if you have any questions or would like a different meal arrangement: 1.800.933.6339
Cameron's Staff Pick
A/C in Rooms
Free Wifi
Spa
Sauna
Pool
Towels
Free Parking
Kitchen
Tour Assistance
Hot Tub
Coffee/Tea
Cafe
Restaurant
Fitness Center
Yoga Studio
Housekeeping
Bicycles For Rent
Vegan
Vegetarian
Pescetarian
Ayurvedic
Includes Meat
Organic
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Nut Free
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