Benedicaria Retreat
Regular price
$497.00
Sale
August 8-10, 2025
This three day event is open exclusively to graduates and current students of the Benedicaria Training as well as those who have read Gail's book, Benedicaria; The Blessing Way of Southern Italian Folk Medicine, and is designed to be a review as well as a deepening of the work we've begun together.
Sud Italian Pharmacopeia – specifics of medicine making for treating physical illness as well as ways to employ plants for energetic/spiritual healing, clearing and magic. We’ll have access to all the plants and trees here and this work will be entirely experiential in nature. We will make medicines and magic in co-creation with the herbs. We’ll cover making tinctures, oils, teas and will fire up the copper alembic and distill a very special Benedicaria hydrosol.
Prayers and Healing Rituals – We’ll practice the rosary prayers in Italian – I’ll teach you the call and response method, the traditional way the communal rosary is said in my village, and most likely in yours too. We’ll also practice a number of the healing prayer rituals in original dialetto. I’ll teach you a number of symbols for writing on parchment or skin as talismans for healing and protection. We’ll prepare and make offerings and create a protective amulet. We will have a special full moon ritual on Saturday night – we’ll include our precious, ancient tribal prayer, Santa Luna.
Dream Temple – Our entire three-day experience will be a Healing Dream Temple container and there will be two nights for dreaming. We’ll enter the inner chamber after a cleansing/clearing ceremony on Friday evening, and again on Saturday. We’ll make time to discuss our dreams and receive their direction the following mornings.
Rhythm, Song and Dance – Bring a tambourine/tamburello if you have one. I have several we can share. I’m no expert, but I bet between all of us we can strike up a few traditional Sud Italian beats and dance steps. Perhaps we could even learn a Napoletan song to sing together, like Santa Lucia.
Blessings/Cleanding – Fumigazione, Sfumaggio, Spazzatura, Limpio…we’ll practice it all.
We’ll schedule in plenty of time for grounding and gathering in the gardens and wild areas on the farm, walk the Medicine Trail to the stream to meet the local water nymphs and do a water healing ceremony. We will employ Intentional Creativity techniques to process what we are learning and use air dried clay to shape an offering.
Sud Italian Pharmacopeia – specifics of medicine making for treating physical illness as well as ways to employ plants for energetic/spiritual healing, clearing and magic. We’ll have access to all the plants and trees here and this work will be entirely experiential in nature. We will make medicines and magic in co-creation with the herbs. We’ll cover making tinctures, oils, teas and will fire up the copper alembic and distill a very special Benedicaria hydrosol.
Prayers and Healing Rituals – We’ll practice the rosary prayers in Italian – I’ll teach you the call and response method, the traditional way the communal rosary is said in my village, and most likely in yours too. We’ll also practice a number of the healing prayer rituals in original dialetto. I’ll teach you a number of symbols for writing on parchment or skin as talismans for healing and protection. We’ll prepare and make offerings and create a protective amulet. We will have a special full moon ritual on Saturday night – we’ll include our precious, ancient tribal prayer, Santa Luna.
Dream Temple – Our entire three-day experience will be a Healing Dream Temple container and there will be two nights for dreaming. We’ll enter the inner chamber after a cleansing/clearing ceremony on Friday evening, and again on Saturday. We’ll make time to discuss our dreams and receive their direction the following mornings.
Rhythm, Song and Dance – Bring a tambourine/tamburello if you have one. I have several we can share. I’m no expert, but I bet between all of us we can strike up a few traditional Sud Italian beats and dance steps. Perhaps we could even learn a Napoletan song to sing together, like Santa Lucia.
Blessings/Cleanding – Fumigazione, Sfumaggio, Spazzatura, Limpio…we’ll practice it all.
We’ll schedule in plenty of time for grounding and gathering in the gardens and wild areas on the farm, walk the Medicine Trail to the stream to meet the local water nymphs and do a water healing ceremony. We will employ Intentional Creativity techniques to process what we are learning and use air dried clay to shape an offering.
You’ll be served delicious, fresh and locally sourced, primarily organic, traditional Sud Italian meals. Our kitchen crew will prepare and serve our meals all three days. Trust me, you’ll be raving about how well you ate here and how graciously your meals were presented and you’ll want to come back next year because, well, those meals!!!
What to bring: If camping on the land, you’ll need a tent and camping supplies. Flashlight. Water bottle. Sun hat. We have several couches and a day bed available in the School House, and a couple of beds in the Casita…let me know if you want to reserve one. There is also nice clean floor space in the drying room. You need to bring your own sleeping pad, pillow, blanket, etc., for either of these options. We'll have an immaculate portapotty and wash stand outside and a bathroom inside. We have an outdoor shower with hot and cold water.
Notebook, pen suitable for writing and drawing. A tamborine or shaker, other musical instruments. Comfortable shoes and clothing. Toiletries. An item for our altar. Anything special you want to include in a brevi bag. (I have lots of scraps of leather.) Red ribbons, beads, string for wrapping smudge sticks.
We'll have a few other teachers and they will be announced well before next August.