The Rainmaker
Art, Animism and Restorative Practice
Online Nov 16, 23, 30, Dec 7, 14, 21, Jan 2026 11, 18
Sundays, 4pm UK/6pm SA – 6.30pm UK/8.30pm SA
Online Place: £575
We have a number of lower cost places set aside for people from South Africa. To apply for a lower cost place please fill in the application form.
We invite you to join our online circle as together we explore the cultivation of deep connection with the natural world through the combination of ancient ritual and the practice of making.
Land artist Hanien Conradie and ritualist Colin Campbell will be guiding a process for artists and non-artists that looks at how we can return art and making to its place as a healing and restorative practice for the land, and how artists and healers can once again be united within the same person to serve their community.
In African traditional practice, the Rainmaker works on behalf of their village to restore balance and harmony by making beauty, repairing damage and offering gifts at the rivers and springs in gratitude for the rain. By painting tree stumps with ochre, by replanting where the earth is exposed, by making exquisite arrangements of the natural materials of place, the clouds themselves cannot help but be allured to release their waters from the sky.
During our time together we will be cultivating this deep and subtle attunement that allows us to work with the creative forces and flows of nature. We will be awakening the Rainmaker within, and we will step together, in a circle across the world, into the potent, liminal space of spirit, ancestors and nature herself, as we hone our practice of artist and healer for the benefit of the human and other-than-human communities we serve.
Says Hanien:
“Early in my practice as an earth-artist I learnt that finding intimate relationship with the natural world is one of the key aspects of healing our contemporary world. One of the most powerful ways to create a sustainable future for humanity on our Earth is if we could restore our internal integrated conception of ourselves as part of a larger community of beings, all belonging to the same planet. And so, when we say community, we mean humans and all other-than-human beings.
I soon discovered that cultivating deep connection within community is not that simple and that it requires an exploration of alternative ways of relating to myself, to others and to the natural world.
When we met, Colin had a desire to integrate his artist-self into his healing practice and I had a longing to tap back into my spiritual healer-self and give her a place in my creative practice. Over the years we have explored and discovered ways of cultivating deep connection with the natural world by combining our knowledge of ancient ritual and the practice of making. Located within this place of deep relationship between healer and artist, we bring you our offering called The Rainmaker. “
Our time together will include:
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Ceremonial and ritual practice
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Talk: of those who call the rain
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Land-based ephemeral art and making
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The response of nature
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Talk: the voice of water
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Talk: prayers from the desert
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Silent pilgrimage
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Talk: the meditative mark, repetition as chant
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Making beauty to heal
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Making the invisible visible
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Summoning the spirit of creative flow
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Authentic way, meaning & making
Our sessions together will include ritual, teaching, discussion and group sharing. There will be tasks set each week for you to work with your own making in your own places, the amount of time spent on these being at your own discretion.