EVENTS

PRAISE will take place along the shores of the sparkling, crystalline Lake Crescent in the tradtional lands of the S’Klallam and Makah, aka Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.

PRAISE will take place during the season of “Thanksgiving,” offer us the opportunity so many are seeking to repattern how we offer gratitudes during this time of the year.

PRAISE will welcome participants to bring their partners and children, in honor of this traditional time of family gathering. In addition to the main timberframe Lodge, there is smaller Lodge which can house youth and family activities. We envision primitive skills, & drum & rattle making as part of the programming.  If you have some youth activities to lead, please let us know.

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If PRAISE is calling to you, please SAVE THE DATE, and please sign the waitlist to keep informed about details as they become available, and to share what you might be able to offer to this creative dreaming.

With hopes of gathering in the Fall, I wish you all a glorious Summer
—>>>Nala Walla

Women’s Grief & Gratitude Lodge

WOMEN’S GRIEF LODGE, FEBRUARY 2023
WHEN:  February 10th – 12th, Friday – Sunday
FACILITATORS:  Grief Doula Nala Walla, Storyteller Harvest Moon, Song Leader Ahlay Blakely.
LOCATION:  Fred Lewis Cabin, in Port Townsend, WA
REGISTRATION: Email us to get on the waitlist for this event.  griefandgratitude@gmail.com

DESCRIPTION:

In days of old (but not so long ago), women have traditionally come together to weep and wail for this world. Our tears are holy food for spirit, and our sacred snot is a potent lubricant for change.

We are overdue for some juicy women’s wailing, during these times of deep crisis and confusion. Creating space to honor our grief in community is a critically important form of cultural activism. And since grief and gratitude go hand in hand, our full-hearted grieving paradoxically restores our access to joy.

For this special Weekend Lodge, we will welcome the women of our community into ritual space together in the ways that women have always done–by weaving stories with our hands, our voices, and our bodies.. Quinalt Elder Harvest Moon, will combine her skills as master basket-maker and storyteller to help us braid together deepest grief with deepest gratitude. And grief songstress Ahlay Blakely will weave us in song throughout the Lodge. Grief Doula Nala Walla will offer somatic practices to connect us with the ancestral wisdom in our lineages.

Our ritual will involve the simple technologies of drum, song, deep listening in small groups, and space for movement and expression, which includes good old-fashioned drumming, wailing and heartful dancing! Let us gather now to cry out together for healing, for justice, and peace to return to our world.

STORYTELLING PREMIER BY HARVEST MOON
Family Stories & Legends of the Pacific Northwest

Harvest Moon is a renowned Quinault weaver, storyteller and honored cultural Historian. All her tales portray vivid images of spirituality, morality, and rich, rich culture. This evening will celebrate the idea that nothing is more powerful than water, and the words of women. Harvest will bring listeners on a journey to hear how women of the past influence our paths through the collective unconscious, and will include her personal life-changing experiences with grief ceremony.

HYEE! as ancutti tillicum! *translation* “Long ago friends” Harvest sold her weavings on the sidewalks of Port Townsend during the wooden boat festival. Now Harvest is gracing our shores again, this time as a revered elder of the Women’s Grief and Gratitude Lodge. While she is here, she is excited to offer a public premier her new telling of family legends and stories of the Olympics.

For all ages, By Donation
$10 – $35 suggested, NOTA
All proceeds go directly to Elder Harvest Moon

Thursday, February 9th, 2023
6-8 pm, Unity Church
3918 San Juan Ave • Port Townsend • WA

Beware: you will experience a gifted storyteller, inheriting her trade from a long line of tellers.

SPONSORED BY: The Well – Cultivating the Wisdom of Grief
Patreon.com/WellWisdom | BWellNow.org | Port Townsend, WA

Grief & Gratitude Orcas Island – July 23/24, 2022

The Grief and Gratitude Lodge is place to cultivate a deepening of our capacity to grieve, and thus, to live more fully and gratefully. Our larger cultural climate of mandatory cheerfulness and open contempt for expressions of powerful emotions such as sorrow, despair, and rage ultimately deadens our ability to feel, and erodes our connections with community. Practicing the skill of grieving in the presence of our neighbors, friends and allies allows us to rekindle relationship with our own bodies, our fellow humans, our ancestors, and with the greater Earthly body. 

A heart-centered weekend includes drumming, movement, singing/chanting and of course – grieving. You’re invited to stay for a potluck, fireside song circle and camping if you desire. Sunday is an opportunity to integrate and nourish ourselves with gratitude and community connection

WHEN: July 23 & 24th, 2022:  Saturday 10-6pm + optional potluck and fireside song circle Sunday 10-1pm
LOCATION: Ravensong: 961 Pinneo Rd, Eastsound, WA 98245. Camping available.
FACILITATOR: Nala Walla, grief doula, culture-builder, and tender of the old medicine ways. Learn more about Nala here: https://bwellnow.org/about/
SUGGESTED CONTRIBUTION: $150-350 sliding scale (work-trade available upon request)
EMAIL TO REGISTER: hayley@hayleyshannon.com

Day-long Grief Tending – Bainbridge – Sat 16 July 2022

Since 2002, Sacred Groves has offered the opportunity to gather and support each other in community to release grief, feel support and connection, heal our tender hearts. This is a place where your tears and heart-ache will be held in a sacred container with support and witnessing. The retreat includes talking circles, singing, ceremony, sharing food and quiet time in the woods. The heart of the retreat is an evening ceremony inspired by Sobonfu Some.

The spiritual framework for this ritual includes time-honored and earth based modalities, utilizing the power of drumming and chanting, and the belief that the natural world is a rich place of inter-connection with the unseen realms, including our ancestors.

WHEN: July 16th,  2022:  10am-10pm 
LOCATION: Sacred Groves Meadow
FACILITATOR: Therese and Tere of Sacred Groves, Laurence Cole & Nala Walla
SUGGESTED CONTRIBUTION: $175  

Ancestral Lineage Healing Series

Developing relationships with our ancestors, and helping to heal the intergenerational wounds of our lineages is a rich and rewarding journey, a journey to which many of us feel called, especially during these chaotic and uncertain times.  This series offers a group format to share our questions, yearnings, and experiences, with skilled guidance from experienced Lineage Healing practitioner, Nala Walla.

This series is for folks who already have experience with Ancestral Lineage Healing, and who are looking for ongoing witnessing and accompaniment available in a group.  Number of participants will be kept intentionally small to create a space for individualized attention and deepening of group intimacy.

Griefwalker:  Roundtable Discussion Group

BWELL INTEGRATIVE WELLNESS has teamed up with the Unity Fellowship of Port Townsend to present a unique discussion group, focusing on the works of Stephen Jenkinson, Martin Prechtel, Francis Weller and other notables in the field of Grief, Death and Dying.

We will use the Griefwalker documentary, along with writings in the field of Grief, Death, and Dying as a springboard for discussions about things we rarely have the opportunity to speak upon in public setting. How does our culture view death? How do we consider grief? This discussion is intended to let some fresh air into topics that have been stifled by mandatory cheerfulness, and cultural contempt for vulnerability.

Each week, we will take home selected readings, and return to discuss them in an open and respectful space, facilitated by Nala Walla of BWell Integrative Wellness.

We ask that people committ to all 8 sessions, and pay in advance. Weekly payments can be arranged where necessary. Thanks for your interest!

IN PERSON CLASSES CURRENTLY ON-HOLD DURING PANDEMIC.  JOIN OUR MAILING LIST TO BE INFORMED WHEN WE OPEN REGISTRATION AGAIN