_edited.png)
The Handless Maiden:
A 4-day Mythopoetic Women's Retreat
initation in the underground forest
Gainesville, FL ​✹ April 10-13, 2025
storytelling ✹ mytho-/eco-somatics ✹ breathwork ✹ writing ✹ movement ✹ initiatory ritual
​​
Banner image by Sophie Fontaine
THEMES:
dismemberment & re-membering
calling back lost parts
​
healing sisterhood wounds
​
​feeding the interior creature
(with story, poetry, song, dance & ritual)
​
embodying the wild woman
​
bringing the feminine to consciousness
opening to receive​
​
re-inhabiting the one who feels-senses-knows
breaking curses & conjuring the sacred
play & celebration
A story of descent, feminine initiation, and re-membering, the Handless Maiden is a story for any woman who has ever gone to the underworld and lived to tell about it. In this old German wonder tale, we follow the moonlit path of a heroine who (like many of us) suffers psychic-dismemberment at the hands of the Old Father, and embarks on one of the most noble journeys ever known: of navigating the dark, recovering instinct, and re-membering herself whole again.
In this four day retreat we will journey to the edge of our imagination, and dwell in that threshold space that was the frequent residence of some of our oldest ancestors. Working with non-rational modes of perception (story-constellations, mytho-/eco-somatics, breath, song, poetry, writing, movement, and ceremonial ritual), we will court the story for its secrets, getting to live the story across four days as we, like the maiden, eat from a pear tree, receive help from the other-than-human world, party with the wood-sisters, and conjure back our own hands.
“This is our meditation practice as women, calling back the dead and dismembered aspects of ourselves, calling back the dead and dismembered aspects of life itself. Our work is to apprehend the timing of both: to allow what must die to die, and what must live to live." — Clarissa Pinkola Estés
A 4-day retreat in a rustic cabin home on 30 wooded acres, with a forested mile walk to the Santa Fe River.
(On Timucuan/Seminole territory known as Gainesville, FL)
Read our land acknowledgement statement.
This retreat is for women who want to:
​
-
break curses & conjure back lost parts
-
re-story your life: reimagine yourself and your personal
life story through with the power of myth
-
heal sisterhood wounds & play with women in the woods
-
recover your instinctual life
-
hear guidance from your own soul through non-rational modes of listening​ (story, movement, etc)
-
rehydrate your inner life: drink from the well of story, image, poetry, movement and ritual
-
experience the power of ritual to conjure wholeness and weave into the sacred
-
bond with the north florida landscape
-
shift from independence to interdependence, opening to receive from human and other-than-human
-
initiate an important shift in your life (ie. from hiding to sharing your gifts, from scraps to worth, etc.)
-
sing, move, drum, laugh, cry, play & pray - in sisterhood
“Within every woman there is a wild and natural creature — a powerful force, filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing.” - Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Tentative Schedule (subject to change):
thursday april 10, 6pm - sunday april 13th, 6pm
9am - 10pm most days, with breaks for lunch & dinner.
​​
Day 1:
dismemberment
arrival
storytelling
fire ritual
Day 3:
journey in the dark woods, party with the wood sisters
breathwork
storytelling & prep for ritual
river walk & ecosomatics
evening fire & full moon dance​
​
Day 2:
silver hands
other-than-human aid
​
story constellation
mythosomatics
evening fire
poetry, writing, song
Day 4:
growing back your hands,the sacred marriage
initiatory ritual
the wedding feast
closing ceremony
goodbyes
Across the four days we will get to live the Handless Maiden's tale, culminating in a ceremonial ritual where we will work with the symbol of the labyrinth to conjure back lost parts, break curses, ask important questions, or initiate life passages.
What's Included
​​​
-
3 night, 4-day stay in a rustic retreat home on 30 wooded acres
-
delicious home-cooked vegetarian lunches and dinners with simple self-serve breakfasts every morning
-
storytelling and mythopoetic processes to "live" the story: story constellations, mythosomatics, ecosomatics, group and 1:1 sharing, poetry, creative writing, movement/dance, and ritual
-
breathwork session
-
culminating ritual ceremony
-
time to connect with the land and each other
​ -
90-minute introductory call for getting to know each other and establishing the container before the retreat
​ -
​90-minute group integration call after the retreat
Your home away from home..
The Jacaru Hideaway
by the Santa Fe River
Located ​at the end of a private forested road in LaCrosse, FL, the Jacaru Hideaway is a beautiful, handcrafted home nestled amidst 30 wooded acres. Enjoy the feeling of being tucked in the forest, surrounded by the sounds of hawks, cardinals, wrens, and crows by day, and thousands of tiny frogs singing by the pond at night.
Adjacent to the property is spacious land for camping with a trail winding into the forest, and just a one mile walk away lies the Santa Fe river winding through 1,067 protected acres of moss-hung cypress, oak, birch, and palmetto forests. Enjoy the forest trails by day, or the moonlit forested road by night (it will be a full moon weekend).
Pricing & Lodging​​​​
early bird registration:
register before sunday, march 9th to save​ $200
​
(prices reflect discount)
​​​
Private Room, Queen Bed - 1 available
One person: $1050
Two friends: $775 each
Private Room, Futon - 1 available
$950
​​​
Triple Shared Bedroom - 6 available
$750
Camping* - 5-6 spaces available
$625
*Bring your own camping gear. All retreat participants are asked to sleep on site even if you live in Gainesville. ​
​
Places are limited, so book well in advance.
Earlybird discount lasts until March 9th at midnight. Payment plan available.
​​​​​
You'll be charged a 2.9% service fee upon checkout.
*2 Women of Service Scholarships (Camping)*
A 50% discount in exchange for your help with tasks before, during, and/or after the retreat. Apply here. Photographers wanted!
Meet the team...
Brielle Elise Martinez
Women's facilitator, scholar of myth (MA), and certified Professional Transformational Coach in private practice for nine years.
Weaving storytelling with transformational coaching, Brielle midwives women in the archetypal "Heroine's Journey" — their return to wholeness by healing the separation from the feminine (as body, feeling, instinct, earth, and soul) caused by a sun-blind, masculine-dominant culture. Using the power of story to tap into the wisdom of the unconscious, she curates experiential, mythopoetic journeys that help women recover their instinctual life, transform pain into meaning, and re-member the radical sufficiency, creational power, and bliss of their true nature. She draws from post-graduate study in the Poetics of Imagination under the supervision of mythologist Dr. Martin Shaw. Her work is a full-bodied prayer for advancing the "Big Story" of humanity — transforming crisis into our collective return to soul.
Rachel Shireman
Breathwork Facilitator, Transformative Coach
Rachel is a dedicated yoga teacher, Breathwork facilitator, and transformative life coach based in Gainesville, Florida. With a rich background in outdoor education and nature connection, Rachel's passion lies in connecting people to the natural world, demonstrating that we are not separate from nature. She believes that nurturing our relationship with the environment is essential for both our nervous system and soul. Rachel's work is a testament to the healing power of nature, guiding others to find balance and peace through a deeper connection with the world around us.
