“Any time a feeling of loss arises, there is an energy that demands ritual in order to allow reconciliation and the return to peace. Grief must be approached as a release of tension created by separation and disconnection from something that we love.” -Malidoma Somé

“All War is unmetabolized Grief” -Martin Prechtel

Come join us for a Three Day Grief Retreat on a beautiful 5 acre property in Sebastopol, CA along Purrington creek with old growth redwoods and places to camp.

We will be unpacking the layers of ecological, structural and political crisis we are in and tending to our grief collectively. We have been dreaming of offering a retreat for several years in the way that Sobonfu Some our teacher held them. Unpacking grief slowly over multiple days and keeping the grief shrine open to work with for most of our time together.

The retreat space is in conversation and collaboration with the local Southern Pomo tribe on tending practices, and how to conduct ritual in a respectful way on Southern Pomo unceded ancestral land .

Catered meals will be included by the amazing Chef Ruthie Praskins. Most dietary needs can be honored.

Accommodation will mostly be camping in a sheltered area with compost toilets and access to a bathroom and shower. If you need other lodging there are various rentals close by that we can point you towards. email us at communityritual@gmail.com.

To Register:
Pay by ticket here at Humanitix,

Once you register we will send you a site information document and itinerary of our time together and an intake form to help us attune to your needs over the weekend. As well as some practices to help you prepare for our time together.

Overview of the weekend:

July 4th, Arrival 10:30am

Landing and beginning to settle in, offerings to the land and building of altars.

Lunch with Ruthie

Practices to approach our Grief, including Somatic practices, song, writing practices, creation of the ancestor altar.

Rituals with each of the elementals, Fire, Mineral, Water, Nature, Earth invocation

Solo sits,

Dinner

Grief altar is opened and we begin to work with our grief in a slow way

July 5th

Breakfast

Movement practices

Grief Ritual Prep

Lunch

Grief Ritual

Dinner

July 6th

Breakfast

Movement practices and circle songs

Grief tending and final time to grieve and release

Lunch

Integration, and love ritual for calling in what we love

Closing and Calling out of the Ritual Elements, Goodbyes

Head home 4:30pm

This three-day ritual event will be held on a beautiful property 20 mins from Grandmother Ocean. The ritual will be held in the healing lineages taught to Coby and Madeleina by Sobonfu Somé, Malidoma Somé, and Martín Prechtel.

We are committed to offering a safe and open-hearted space for witnessing and letting the waves of grief express themselves as they need to, while tending to the collective community. This is a space that centers the experience and liberation of marginalized communities and those that are most deeply affected by the oppressive structures of racism, capitalism, imperialism, colonialism, the gender binary. We all need each other to do the collective work of metabolizing grief. This is a mixed identity and ancestral heritage space. If you are seeking a specific affinity space, BIPOC or Queer space we are happy to connect you to other circles.

We will mostly be expressing our grief somatically, letting the body lead us to what needs to move its way through so that we have a deeper ability to feel and to love. There will be many guided practices to help us approach our grief, songs and poems by our community members, writing practices, solo sits, ancestral practices,

The grief ritual technology is a tremendous gift from the Dagara to meet the insanity of our world and it comes from long lineages of intact cultures and shrines that know how to work with intergenerational grief and trauma. We always offer back to the source of this ritual magic and the indigenous communities that have taught us these tremendous gifts with 15% of proceeds from our rituals going back into these communities. For the Dagara community, we recently were able to fund a third well for fresh water in the village. It was created with the support and direction of Dagara elders and in collaboration with the Sonder Project. Thank you to all of you that have supported! We are continuing to fundraise for two more wells in Sobonfu’s village, Zinkoni, to the north of Dano.

Link to the project here. https://support.thesonderproject.org/fundraiser/4625276

A lot of ritual power and magic comes from being linked to Dagara shrines and councils. It is a tremendous gift to heal our ancestral lines and our world with this ritual technology!

Please confirm in an email to communityritual@gmail.com that you have watched/listened to the video and youtube links below as a pre-requisite to attending this Grief Ritual. We care deeply about honoring our teachers and their ways. Sharing their voices with you is both an offering of resources and an essential pre-requisite for attendance.

We ask that you please share with us any ways that we can support you during the grief ritual and if you feel you’re navigating a large grief, what type of current support you have in place. Please kindly let us know if you believe yourself to be in a mental health crisis. Grief Rituals are tremendously healing, but are not a replacement for therapeutic treatment. We care deeply that this is an appropriate choice for all who attend.

A confirmation and preparation email will be sent once payment and communication affirming the pre-requisite is received. Please register as soon as possible if you are planning to attend. We will not accept registration requests after June 20th. Scholarships and reduced rates are available for BIPOC and other marginalized communities.

Affinity groups will be available if requested. Please contact us directly for inquiries at communityritual@gmail.com.15% of the proceeds will go to Dagara Empowerment Water Project-

https://support.thesonderproject.org/fundraiser/4625276

Grieving Resources and Ritual pre-requisites:Sobonfu on Grieving:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtUqMwRXvhY

Sobonfu on community: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R56s7KymWTk

Malidoma on prayer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHbmbTk9-lY

Martín Prechtel on Grief
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUwewfPPSbE&t=22s

From the book 'The Smell of Rain on Dust, Grief and Praise' by Martín Prechtel: (available on Audible, highly suggested)