Beneath the Noise:
Solace
A Summer Solstice Retreat
June 24th -28th, 2026
Goldendale, Washington
“We were made for these times”
~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes
What if you let yourself be still?
Allowed your animal body to take over for a while?
Found out what your wildish self longs for?
This summer solstice we come together
to share intentions,
to ask, with gratitude,
to be met by community
that stretches
across time and space.
We will connect to self, each other, and ancestors
through our collective longing to be in sacred relationship with land
and we will go out,
together
alone
for two full days,
to listen,
and dream.
We will be welcomed back to share the harvests of our journey
To gift each other what wisdom is ours to share
And to consecrate what we hold most precious inside.
We need only reach out…
I invite you to reach out if this retreat calls to you.
“Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over again announcing your place in the family of things”
~ Mary Oliver
Quest:
To take time to be in nature to listen,
return to natural rhythms,
seek guidance
Homecoming:
To return to right relationship
with self, community, and
the world
Quest
Quest is a time for silent contemplation with the land. In many cultures and most religions throughout time, humans have practiced taking time in silence, away from the village, to be with nature and seek guidance.
In our modern world, the noise of machines, screens, intense news, busyness, extroversion, and land exploitation, this practice has become rare and difficult to achieve. The opportunity to meet on land stewarded for this purpose, supported by others who have studied this practice, is rarer still.
This retreat will offer the opportunity for a gentle, customized, trauma-informed introduction to the practice. Ceremony and communal sharing will consecrate our practice and we will share intentions with each other and the land. Participants will spend two days of solo, silent time on the land, followed by a gentle return to community celebration, integration, and land service.
The Rain Maker
In Kiaochou came a great drought so that men and animals died in the hundreds. In despair, the citizens called for an old rainmaker who lived in the mountains nearby. Richard Wilhelm saw how the rainmaker was brought into town in a sedan chair, a tiny little graybearded man. He asked to be left alone outside the town in a little hut, and after three days it rained, and even snowed! Richard Wilhelm succeeded in being allowed to interview the old man and asked him how he made the rain. But he answered, “I haven’t made the rain, of course not.” And then, after a pause, he added, “You see it was like this—throughout the drought the whole of nature and all the men and women here were deeply disturbed. They were no longer in Tao. When I arrived here I became also disturbed. It was so bad that it took me three days to bring myself again into order.” And then he added, with a smile, “Then naturally it rained.”
Logistics
Accomodations:
Bring your own van, tent, sleeping bag, hammock - we will be sleeping on the land. Equipment may be available to borrow or rent if needed
Location:
Private land near the Columbia River Gorge, approximately 2 hours from Portland.
Meals:
Thursday ~Potluck dinner
Friday ~ Breakfast and snacks provided
Saturday ~ Snacks and dinner provided
Sunday ~ Breakfast provided
Cost:
$450 - $650 Sliding Scale
Potential Flow:
Thursday:
Poluck dinner and meet and greet, select and set up camps
Opening ceremony, orientation to Quest and Seven Homecomings Practice
Friday:
9am breakfast
Morning meditation, intention setting, and altar making
Seven Homecomings practice
1pm ~ Quest begins
*** On your own ***
Saturday:
Optional silent dinner and community Seven Homecomings practice
Sunday:
9am Welcome back ceremony
Breakfast and sharing circle
Land Service
Closing ceremony
Depart by 2pm
HOW TO REGAIN YOUR SOUL
Come down to Canyon Creek on a summer afternoon
that one place where the valley floor opens out
You will see
the white butterflies. Because of the way shadows
come off those vertical rocks in the west, there are
shafts of sunlight hitting the river and a deep long purple gorge stright ahead. Put down your pack.
Above, air sighs the pines. It was this way when Rome was clanging, when Troy was being built,
when campfires lighted caves. The white butterflies dance
by the thousands in the still sunshine. Suddenly anything
could happen to you. Your soul pulls toward the canyon
and then shines back through the white wings to be you again.
- William Stafford