Threads of the Ancient Feminine

An ancestral retreat on the island of Naxos
May 2026 · 7 nights / 8 days · 7 women only

In late spring, I will be hosting a small group of women on the Cycladic island of Naxos, where I’ve lived for the last three years but have drifted in and out of for over a decade.

My vision for this gathering is of remembrance; of where we come from, and of the lineages carried in our bones. This retreat is shaped by the slow, seasonal ways our grandmothers once knew—tending what’s in front of us, listening to the land, and letting the earth teach us how to belong.

To connect us with our deeper ancestry, each woman will receive a small wooden loom and a selection of yarn. We’ll begin by warping our looms together during the opening circle, setting the foundation for the threads we’ll carry with us throughout the week. Over the days to come, each woman will weave her own ancestral altar cloth from handspun natural yarn—something simple and beautiful, rooted in the land and in the old ways, and not that different from tapestries that women in our bloodlines would’ve had a hundred or even a thousand years ago.

Our home base will be a traditional guesthouse in the old town, nestled among narrow backstreets with sleepy cats and pots of bougainvillea, and walking distance to the sea.

Our days will move with the rhythm of the island: quiet mornings, sea air, warm stone underfoot, and evenings spent gathered around a shared table.

We’ll visit the Temple of Demeter, where priestesses once walked in procession to honor the grain. We’ll hike to an ancient cave in the mountains where it’s said Zeus was raised—and feel the pulse of our earliest cave mothers. We’ll swim in the crystal clear Aegean, the same waters that carried the stories of Ariadne, Dionysus, and Apollo across these islands. We’ll share meals in village tavernas, where grandmothers still stir the pots and old men sit out front watching the cats stretch in the shade.

We’ll gather in circle when it feels right. Sit on blankets with olive-stained fingers. Let the rituals arise naturally—from what the land offers, and what we carry in. Two circles will anchor the week—space to speak, to listen, and to honor the threads of ancestry that brought us here.

And in between, there will be saltwater, soft laughter, wild herbs, golden sunsets, and a bit of magic—some named, some hidden. And if we’re lucky, a donkey to greet on the path.

This gathering is not about performing the sacred. We all see enough of that already. It’s about returning to something quieter and more real—the sacredness that lives in the everyday. And while we will light candles and sing in our linen scarves, we might also laugh late into the night in sweaty sundresses while drinking village wine from a recycled water bottle.

If that speaks to something in you, you’re welcome here.

How to Join

This retreat is intentionally small, with just 7 women gathering.