Closed for RSVP’s!
Interested in learning how to use dreams for guidance and healing? Join the Alchemical Dreamers’ Guild for a for a residential 4-day, 3-night immersion in ancient dream incubation practices in the lush, green mountains outside Asheville, North Carolina.
In a small group, we will invite dreams of healing & spiritual insight through ritual, storytelling, and dream incubation. Our days will include dream sharing, relational meditation practices, and group hikes to bask in nature… surrounded by sunshine, giant trees, the mountain landscape, and other inspiring people.
There will also be time for relaxation and joyful exploration–after a long year staring at screens, this is your chance to decompress, rejuvenate, and experience meaningful connection with other dreamers!
Where:
In the beautiful Appalachian Mountains with breathtaking scenery. Above a stream and surrounded by green hills, we will beinside the famous Earthaven Ecovillage near Black Mountain, NC, a go-to destination for off-the-grid ecotravelers.. Participants sensitive to energy and leyline can look forward to the incredible magic and power offered by the Blue Ridge mountain range.
This is primarily a camping retreat, with limited indoor sleeping arrangements with a real bed available for those who are unable to sleep on the ground.
Accessible to most vehicles (no 4WD required).
New to camping? With the right gear, camping can be a joyful and restful experience. Please call us if you’d like some help preparing–we’re glad to share what works. The land has composting toilets and a hot outdoor shower available.
Weather permitting, our sessions and meals will take place outdoors, inside one of two screened picnic tents. Beautiful indoor retreat center space available in case of rain.
When:
Summer: Thursday, July 27 – Sunday, July 30, 2023.
We will carpool from Durham on Thursday, July 27 and end our last group at 11am on Sunday, July 30. No late arrivals or early departures. There will be time in the schedule on at least two days to relax and enjoy the surroundings!
We encourage you to arrive at the retreat center between 3 and 4pm, giving you time to acclimate and be ready for our opening circle over dinner at 5:30pm.
If there is interest, one carpool may leave early (8am), so we can take a group hike along the way to Earthaven. Otherwise, you will need to leave Durham by 12:30pm in order to make it to our venue at the suggested time.
If you need a longer retreat, it is possible to schedule additional days with our venue–details provided upon registration.
Who:
A small group of avid dreamers associated with the Alchemical Dreamers’ Guild, with 2 facilitators. The retreat will be capped at 12 participants. Newcomers welcome! No past experience with dreams required!
Intention:
The intention of this retreat is to host a sacred space for dreams of healing, release & spiritual opening, in a community of dedicated dreamers. There is a secondary intent to celebrate the spectacular beauty of our surroundings and the joy of community through hikes, authentic relating, and shared meals.
The intention of camping is to ground and connect deeply with the earth, for rejuvenative sleep and increased dream recall. Disrupting usual sleep patterns is important on this type of retreat, to stimulate dreaming!
Preparation:
We invite you to take full advantage of this retreat by beginning to prepare 7 days prior, by purifying your mind and body. Please avoid alcohol, caffeine, and drugs for the week prior to the retreat if possible. Are there stressors you can avoid? Is there a way to eat healthier? Arriving at the retreat with your mind and body clear will allow you to deepen faster into the healing dreamwork practices we will be facilitating. We also invite you to keep a dream journal between now and then, to begin to prime the pump!
Context:
In ancient Greece, those seeking healing would flock to temples of the underworld god Asklepius. They would sleep in special temple dormitories among dogs and snakes, with the hope that the god Asklepius or his messengers would appear to them in a dream, healing them. The intent of this retreat is to offer space for ritual dream incubation reminiscent of the ancient Greek dream practices, but leaving out the temple snakes! We will engage in nighttime dream incubation practices, dream groups, restorative movement practices, and relational meditation (authentic relating) practices to invite the dreams of healing & spiritual opening that may come.
Registration:
$505
Registration includes delicious campfire-cooked meals (weather permitting), a spot for your tent with breathtaking views, and the 3-night, 4-day retreat!
100% Integration Package Option: Interested in the Healing Dreams Retreat plus six months of Personal Development Coaching with Benjamin? For those who would like the complete package (Private Coaching + Asklepian Healing Dreams Retreat), we’re offering a special package price of $1,950, a combined discount of $300! (See more details on the Sleep & Dream Mastery Coaching Program by clicking here.)
We prefer payment via Personal Check made out to Navigate Change, LLC. Please let us know you’re joining by text message or email and mail checks to:
Navigate Change, LLC
PO Box 21371
Durham, NC 27703
Online credit card payment is available by Clicking Here.
If that doesn’t work or you need to send a different amount for a bed, we can also receive your payment via PayPal: http://paypal.me/benjaminwhitehurst
Questions & FAQ:
Questions? Please contact us at (303) 847-5263 or send us a message here for more details.
The site is hilly and has outdoor composting toilets and a hot outdoor shower.
We will provide a list of items to bring to all who register. Important items include:
Tent, sleeping bag, flashlight, solar shower (if desired), bathing suit, hiking shoes, and your dream journal!
Someone in the community may be able to lend you a tent if you need it. Post a message to the discussion board for this and other needs.
Our dream sessions will take place either around the campfire, or outdoors in one of our two 8-person day tents (see picture). These tents keep the bugs away 🙂
Our venue has a gorgeous indoor yoga retreat space reserved for our sessions if it rains (see picture).
The best airports nearby are: Raleigh-Durham (carpool with us); Asheville (the closest one) or Greenville, SC (2 hours away). Plan your flights into Asheville to land before 1pm, to avoid running late. Flying into Raleigh-Durham, please consider arriving the day before.
Or set up a 1-on-1 Info Session with Benji to ask any questions you may have!
Facilitators:
Benjamin Whitehurst, M.A., is founder of the Alchemical Dreamers’ Guild (DreamCircling.Com) and NC Regional Representative for the International Association for the Study of Dreams.
Benjamin holds a clinical Masters of Transpersonal Counseling Psychology from Naropa University along with four years of training in Brazilian Spiritist Energy Healing through the Caritas Center (Boulder, CO). Benjamin studied Gestalt Dreamwork with Betty Cannon, Jungian Dreamwork with Nancy Ortenberg, Projective Dreamwork with Rev. Jeremy Taylor.
An experienced guide, Benjamin has been helping people explore their dreams for over 10 years. Personally, Benjamin has explored thousands of his own dreams since beginning to keep a dream journal in high school–including lucid dreams, precognitive dreams, out-of-body experiences, and healing experiences, over a period of 20 years.
Link Freedom is the creator of Healcyon (healcyon.com), and a Healing Arts Professional with over 10 years of experience. Link has extensive training in Neuromuscular Massage, Freedom Bodywork, Core Shamanism, Clinical Qi Gong, Bazi, Western Astrology, Tarot Reading, and holds a degree in Philosophy with a minor in Japan Studies. He enjoys synthesizing many perspectives and paths into his teachings.
Link has been facilitating, teaching, and co-creating magical containers of depth since 2018. His main passion is in working with the Elements and nature to catalyze transformative experiences. After creating a Continuing Education class for LMBTs, he has gone on to become the Lead Instructor of Massage Therapy at Durham Tech.
An active member of the Alchemical Dreamers’ Guild, Link received his Level 1 Certification in Alchemical Dreamwork with the Alchemical Dreamer’s Guild in 2018, and has co-facilitated 2 retreats and numerous classes with the Guild. In collaboration with Armonia Health LLC, he has also co-facilitated 2 restorative retreats aligned with the Solstices.
Notes & Disclaimers: This event does not involve professional advice, psychotherapy or any other form of medical healing intent. All events with the Alchemical Dreamers’ Guild are based on principles of 100% self-responsibility–you are in charge of ensuring your own physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Participation is at your own risk, and by attending you willingly agree to be self-responsible all risks of attending this retreat in a mountainous, rocky, off-grid location in Earthaven and other nearby hiking trails. Please be aware that dreamwork can be emotionally intense or trigger unwanted experiences for some people–check with your doctor or therapist before participating. You are fully responsible for any psychotherapy or medical attention necessary to process or integrate what may come up while sharing your dreams with us.
The intent of this retreat is educational and spiritual, and healing is defined as spiritual healing (as described, for example, in A Course in Miracles). Within this educational and spiritual intent, we offer you an opportunity to explore dream symbolism and dream incubation through dream enactment rituals, nighttime meditations, sharing dreams with each other, telling one’s story, and receiving feedback from the community on potential dream meanings. Imagine 1,000 years ago when communities would share dreams together when a crisis was afoot–they would sit in a circle and share the dreams they had been having. It was both a means of staying connected, and a means of processing & gaining insight into what was happening. May this event be in service of the well-being of our community. This event is a professional offering organized through the Alchemical Dreamers’ Guild / Navigate Change, LLC.
Art Credit: “Restorative Retreat” by B. Whitehurst. Figure in image collaged from Le Minh Phuong, Unsplash license.
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