There are places that seem to hold a memory deeper than history.
Places where the sacred has been sought, carried, imagined, prayed to, walked toward and descended into for centuries.
Chartres is one of those places.
In April 2027, I will gather a small group of women here for a seven-day journey into the feminine mysteries — a pilgrimage through land, symbol, archetype, body and soul.
This retreat will bring together many strands of my work into one deep, immersive experience: archetypal psychology, mythology, feminine spirituality, ritual, astrology, sacred sexuality, ancestral wisdom, embodiment and psychospiritual exploration.
Chartres will transform something in us all.
We will work with Chartres as a living symbolic landscape.
The cathedral.
The crypt.
The labyrinth.
The Black Madonna.
Mother Mary.
The ancient stories of the land.
The body as temple.
The woman as sacred vessel.
Rather than approaching these only as religious, historical or external symbols, we will enter them inwardly.
What does the Black Madonna awaken in a woman?
What does it mean to descend beneath the surface of ourselves?
What does Mary reveal when we understand her as the perpetually birthing feminine the Druids spoke of before the cathedral— the part of us always carrying, gestating and bringing something into form?
What happens when the labyrinth becomes a mirror for the path of our own lives?
What changes when the cathedral is no longer only something we enter, but something we recognise within the body itself?
This retreat is an invitation into those questions.
The week may unfold something like this:
Day One — The Pilgrim
We begin by crossing the threshold together, setting the sacred container for the retreat and naming what we seek to transform, deepen, release or call into our lives.
Day Two — The Land Mother
We meet Chartres itself as teacher, attuning to the land, its stories, its ancient layers and the ways place can awaken memory, belonging and spiritual connection.
Day Three — The Black Madonna
We descend into the hidden feminine, exploring mystery, instinct, shadow, depth and the parts of ourselves that have been forgotten, silenced or pushed beneath the surface.
Day Four — Mother Mary: The Perpetually Birthing Feminine
We explore the feminine as vessel, creator and sacred womb, asking what is gestating within us, what is longing to be born, and how we become more receptive to life moving through us.
Day Five — The Labyrinth
We enter the initiatory path, working with the labyrinth as a symbol of surrender, trust, inner guidance and the deeper pattern of our own lives.
Day Six — The Body as Cathedral
We return sacredness to the body through embodiment, sensuality, presence, voice and the recognition that the temple we seek is also the one we inhabit.
Day Seven — The Sacred Woman Returns
We gather the wisdom of the week and prepare to return. Each woman will choose the archetype she feels called to carry home — Priestess, Wise Woman, Sophia, Elder, Sovereign, Sacred Woman, or another name that is entirely her own.
Each day will weave together movement, ritual, ceremony, meditation, archetypal work, psychospiritual exploration, women’s circling, shared reflection and periods of silence and contemplation.
Some of our work will take place in our own private teaching space in Chartres, where we can go deeply into the inner material of the retreat. On other days, Chartres itself will become our classroom.
We will move into the cathedral, the labyrinth, the crypt, the old streets and the sacred geography of the city, allowing the teachings to be experienced rather than only discussed.
This will be a retreat of movement between inner and outer worlds.
is not a residential retreat, which gives you the freedom to choose the accommodation that best suits your needs and budget.
I will provide a carefully curated accommodation guide with a range of options, from simple and affordable places to stay through to more luxurious hotels.
We will have our own dedicated meeting space in Chartres for the days that require deeper teaching, circles, embodiment and ritual, while other parts of the retreat will take place out in the city, the cathedral and the landscape itself.
This allows the week to feel spacious, alive and varied rather than being confined to one room or one venue.
Limited spaces available. The waiting list will receive the full dates, retreat details, pricing and booking information first. If you feel the pull toward Chartres, toward the Mother, toward pilgrimage, descent, rebirth and the deeper feminine, you are warmly invited to place your name on the waiting list. Chartres 2027 The Womb of the World April 2027