The Rainmaker is the one who works with hidden forces and flows of nature to restore balance and harmony into the world. Through making beauty, through repair of damage on the earth, through subtle attunement, deep listening, careful allurement and humble propitiation, the important work of co-creating, healing and making new is done.
In African traditions, the Rainmaker would send people onto the land to create beauty, to paint tree stumps with ochre, to replant where the earth was exposed, to make offerings at the rivers and springs in gratitude for the rain. By making art in this way, even in damaged places, the earth would become so beautiful that the clouds could not help but be charmed and release their waters from the sky returning balance and healing to the land.
In this time of transformation and potential, a time when we need to repair damage, make beauty and allure the powers that bring the restoring rain, we invite you to summon the Rainmaker within. We invite you to step beyond the known, into the liminal spaces of spirit, ancestors and the creative force of nature herself, to make art, to create ephemeral installations, to craft words of magic and beauty to bring down the “rain”.
This is a retreat for artists of all kinds, for those who wish to make beauty on the earth – with no experience required. We will be exploring art-making as a way of restoring balance and creating beauty in order to call for harmony and healing. It will take place within an overall container of ritual and ceremony that will help us make ourselves more permeable to the place and the forces and flows that run through it.
What to Expect
During our time together we will be working alone and together to create ephemeral art, within an overall container of ritual and ceremony. Our process is collaborative and emergent, created in relationship with the places within which we work.
Is this for you?
This is a deep exploration and place-based retreat for art and beauty making for all artists regardless of your chosen medium or your level of experience. It is for those who wish to deepen into a conversation with the unseen forces of nature and creativity, and explore how those are expressed through making beauty, with the overall intention of restoration and healing.
We welcome those who have allured the rain with us before and those who are joining for the first time. Every rain-making circle on every piece of land will be very different and create healing and balance for those present and for the place itself.
This retreat will take place in a sacred and beautiful landscape in Loweswater the English Lake District, the home of the Romantic poets. We will have access to woods, fells, lake and waterfall, and be joined by, among others, owl, fox, rabbit and sheep.
The closest airport is Glasgow Airport in Scotland or Manchester in England . There is a direct train from Glasgow to Penrith train station. We will arrange a shuttle from the train station on the afternoon of July 4th and return on the afternoon of July 12th.
Fees
Shared Room: £1250
Camping (in your own tent): £850
These fees include food, accommodation and teaching.
They do not include flights and transfers.
Spaces are limited so please book swiftly if you would like to come.
We have a small number of bursary places allocated for those, particularly from Africa, who are not able to cover this fee. To apply for a bursary please fill in the application form.