The Way of Council
& The Art of Mirroring
DATE & TIME DETAILS :
July 3rd- July 7th 2024
Start time 1:00pm— End time: 12:00pm
LOCATION:
Villa Pajon Eco-Lodge, Valle Nuevo National Park, Dominican Republic
WHAT TO BRING:
All breakfasts and dinners will be provided starting with dinner on the first day, and ending with brunch on the last day. Participants are responsible for providing their own snacks and lunches.
Participants are also responsible for personal transportation to and from the program. Producer will share suggestions.
You will be staying in cabins in the eco-lodge, each person will have their own bed and will be sharing bathrooms with 2-3 other people.
A list of more specific “what to bring” will be sent in prep letter after registering.
PRICE:
(Sliding Scale) $850 - $1250 — you are free to select any price within this range. (Payment plans available)
Sometimes
if you move carefully
through the forest,
breathing
like the ones
in the old stories,
who could cross
a shimmering bed of leaves
without a sound,
you come to a place
whose only task
is to trouble you
with tiny
but frightening requests,
conceived out of nowhere
but in this place
beginning to lead everywhere.
Requests to stop what
you are doing right now,
and
to stop what you
are becoming.
while you do it,
questions
that can make
or unmake
a life,
questions
that have patiently
waited for you,
questions
that have no right
to go away.
SOMETIMES
by David Whyte
The Way of Council and the Art of Mirroring are invaluable practices on the descent to soul. Although much of the descent is solitary, gathering with others in council can make all the difference in finding our way. In the mirror of another, our eyes are opened to aspects of both our gifts and our challenges that we might not have seen otherwise. We are encouraged and inspired to drop into realms that are scary, edgy, darkly alluring, mysterious, and ecstatic — dangerous, yes, but keenly aligned with our deepest longings. During council and through mirroring, we serve as consorts for each other’s mysteries. We are supported to track threads of our soul story that, during the intensive or later, can be amplified as we wander on the land or surrender ourselves to movement or dance, or expressed through poetry or other arts. Council and mirroring can crack us open to irrefutable truths about our core nature and our connection to the Others, the larger field in which our councils occur. During council, we track synchronies with the other-than-human world that surrounds us (animal appearances, for example, or weather shifts, or the quality of the light). And we unearth common archetypal themes that appear within our own human circle. All this helps us better perceive the threads of our individual soul stories and our unique ways of belonging to the world.
There is an art to hearing a story as well as telling one. Mirroring is a collection of skills employed in receiving, embracing, and honoring each others’ stories. In mirroring, we neither project nor interpret but rather celebrate the magic of the story and the gifts of the One Who Bears the Tale. We help the storyteller glean-harvest-reap the jewels, the dark ones as well as those that sparkle.
Through the Art of Mirroring, we learn to listen as if our lives depend on it (they do). We hone our ability to detect the magnificence and mythic qualities in our own and others’ stories. We listen for unique soul threads that might appear in a repeated theme, a tone, aspects of sacred woundings, dreams, unique imagery, archetypal dimensions of the journey, or tracks of shadow material.
A circle of fellow pilgrims, witnessing and mirroring us, helps us understand where we are on the journey to soul and supports us to take our next steps — from our initial preparation for the descent, to the leaving of “home” and the courageous abandonment of our old story, to our hazardous and ecstatic encounters with numinous mysteries, to the gathering up of mysterious treasures, and, finally, the return to our communities with a vision to perform in service to the larger web of life
Our Guides
Laura Gunion
Laura believes that humans have tremendous potential, much of it hidden and unconscious. As a mentor, wilderness guide and naturalist, it is both her privilege and responsibility to support others as they encounter their true nature. She feels it’s essential that we grow, not only for ourselves, but also to create cultures that will benefit future generations. She insists on bringing the soulful and sacred into daily living. Her curiosity, acute listening, and precise questioning support people in living boldly and courageously. Laura has been a mentor at Wilderness Awareness School since 2002, and continues to love instructing at their 9-month adult program, Anake Outdoor School. She lives in the woods above Duvall , WA, where she shares land with Bewick’s Wren, black bear, and many other wild ones.
Valle Nuevo
We will be held by the sacred lands of the mountains of Dominican Republic, 6800 ft above sea level, where the clouds and the pines meet, where the silence is so profound you will have no other choice but to listen, really listen to what she has to say, & where the darkest of nights gift us the brightness of the stars.
You will be staying at the beautiful Villa Pajón. Villa Pajon is the only eco-lodge within Valle Nuevo National Park and within it are miles and miles of hikes within many diverse ecosystems. It consists of 7 cabins, all with different capacities from a 2-person, to a 10-person lodge. All cabins have several bathrooms, a chimney, living room and kitchen.
The eco-lodge also has a main kitchen and dining area where we will all be gathering for our meals together and other activities.
Villa Pajon is solely solar-powered, and we encourage the preservation of this energy to all guests.