The Cave

With Angharad Wynne, Mac Macartney, Naomi Lewis and special guests

Facilitated by Rachel Fleming and Emma George

For thousands of years our ancestors passed on stories of the ‘otherworld’, gleaned from their deep listening in those places where the boundaries between worlds were thin … the liminal spaces, the altars and sacred places of the natural world, the walls of The Cave.

Is it still possible to hear those voices, those stories, that medicine for the present and visions for the future? How do we approach the otherworld, how should we behave when we are there, and what can it teach us about the world and the times we live in?

Perhaps the best thing we can do is to stop and listen.

Perhaps what we hear will guide our way to a different future

Come with us to The Cave

This is a three-module residential programme that includes a ceremonial initiation and extended dreaming time in the darkness of The Cave.

In our first module we will be hearing stories of The Cave from different times and different traditions, sharing our own visions and dreams for a future world, and making preparations for our time in The Cave.

In our second module we will be undertaking together a ceremony, in the darkness of The Cave, that will include, as well as darkness, periods of silence and light fasting.

In our third module we will be integrating what we have seen and preparing to take it out into the light of day.

In addition to these residentials, you will receive 2 mentoring sessions from our facilitation team, online sharing circles, and the opportunity to be part of our virtual community of visioneers and dreamers.

Your residentials will be based in simple and shared yurt accommodation.

Residential 1 – Preparation
12 -17 May 2022
Arrival 2pm, departure 4pm

2 online sessions
15 June, 7 – 10pm
13 July, 7 – 10pm

Residential 2 – The Ceremony
22 – 27 September 2022
Arrival 2pm, departure 4pm

2 online sessions
16 November, 7 – 10pm
15 February, 7 – 10pm

Residential 3 – Integration
16 – 21 March 2023
Arrival 2pm, departure 4pm

Online Festival of Visions
29 April 2023

Key information:

DATES:

Residential 1 – Preparation
12 -17 May 2022
Arrival 2pm, departure 4pm

2 online sessions
15 June, 7 – 10pm
13 July, 7 – 10pm

Residential 2 – The Ceremony
22 – 27 September 2022
Arrival 2pm, departure 4pm

2 online sessions
16 November, 7 – 10pm
15 February, 7 – 10pm

Residential 3 – Integration
16 – 21 March 2023
Arrival 2pm, departure 4pm

Online Festival of Visions
29 April 2023

LOCATION:
Based online and in Devon, at Embercombe

ACCOMODATION:
The Apprenticeship programme includes two residential components at Embercombe, which will be fully catered (plant-based menu) in shared accommodation, plus all teaching, online and mentoring sessions.

FEE:
Residential programme: £2415 (includes accommodation and food)
Limited bursary places for £1500 are available:  Apply here

Facilitators

Angharad Wynne

Angharad spent much of her youth exploring her Welsh homeland by foot and delving deeply into the western magic, healing and spiritual traditions in order to piece together the lost parts of her own indigenous culture. Connection and dialogue with with nature and landscape is central to her work as is the magic of everyday, the creation for meaningful ceremony for our lives today and sharing the spirituality and mythology of her homeland with others. A published author and poet, Angharad is also a storyteller who uses story as the starting point for deep enquiry and a source of timeless wisdom and healing. She regularly runs spiritual and creative retreats including the Return to Centre series for women, In the Footsteps of Ancestors, an annual pilgrimage following ‘Songlines’ across the sacred landscapes of Britain, and Dreaming the Land. She speaks widely about finding ‘the dreaming’ of place; of working with intuition, knowledge and landscape to draw together threads of spiritual practice which are connected and meaningful to and arise from specific geographical and cultural landscapes.

Naomi Lewis

Naomi is well known world-wide for her love of the dark depths and her understanding of these locations as holy places to be mined and explored for their hidden veins of gold. Her work with this secret architecture over the past 17 years has allowed thousands of students from across the world to access the invisible realms of the ‘other’ they come to explore, and to uncover a clear and compassionate pathway, to profound communion with the sacred.  Having worked as the Educational Director of The Sacred Trust for the last 17 years, Naomi also now works with writers, film directors and dancers to visit the ancient origins and practices of performance and re-imagine the telling of story for our contemporary times.

Mac Macartney

In 1999 Mac founded Embercombe. At which time he was also the founder and CEO of a leadership consultancy for corporate executives operating internationally between 1989-2005. Over a period of twenty years Mac was mentored and coached by a group of Native American teachers. During this training and ever since he has attempted to bring two worlds together – an ancient world view that emphasises relationship, interdependence, and reverence for life with the huge challenges and equally huge opportunities of the 21st Century. You can find out more about Mac’s work here.

Special Guests

Carla Stang

Carla pursued her Ph.D. in Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge.  She has held the positions of Associate Researcher at the University of Sydney and Visiting Scholar at Columbia University, and was awarded the Frank Bell Memorial Prize for Anthropology. Carla’s work explores events of consciousness in different cultures, in particular those of ‘ordinary’ reality, mysticism, ritual and the perception of landscape. She has an abiding interest in wisdom from other times and cultures, especially wisdom about the natural world. Much of this research has concerned the history of alchemy, the Tungus culture of Siberia, and the Mehinaku Indians of the Brazilian Amazon. Based on her fieldwork with the Mehinaku Carla wrote a book called “A Walk to the River in Amazonia”. Together with Martin Shaw and Rachel Fleming she co-created the MA in Mythology and Ecology at Schumacher College, and is the co-founder of the Imaginal Futures project with Emma George and Rachel Fleming.

Upcoming Dates & Booking

We aim for all of our courses to be as inclusive and accessible as possible – please pay the deposit to secure your place then contact us for information on paying in installments.

If you have any questions please call +44 (0) 1647 252 983 or email support@embercombe.org