Divine Feminine Awakening: Women's Spiritual and Creative Healing Retreat Italy
Set in the quiet hills of Umbria, this five-day retreat is an invitation into Somatic Mythwork™: a process that brings together storytelling, creativity, movement, and nervous system-informed practices to support personal and spiritual transformation. Drawing on local stories of historical women as a source of inspiration and reflection, you will be supported to gently unravel limiting beliefs and embodied patterns, and to reconnect with your own inner authority – translating insight into meaningful, lasting change in how you live, relate, and create.
Led by Dr Ellie Chadwick (PhD), academic, somatic therapist, and specialist in creativity for wellbeing, this retreat blends Jungian-informed archetypal work, trauma-aware somatics, and narrative practice to support deep integration and sustainable change.
A 5 Day Retreat PLUS ongoing somatic coaching, for 6 months
Your retreat experience doesn’t end in Umbria. Every participant also receives 6 months of ongoing group somatic coaching and support through the Wanderess Circle. Monthly sessions and a library of resources/tools help you integrate what you’ve learned: translating insight into action, and sustaining transformation across all areas of your life.
Place, story, and the body
This retreat is inspired by the stories of the female Mystics of the region. Umbria is a land marked by the lives of women such as Clare of Assisi, Angela of Foligno, Rita of Cascia, and Angelina of Marsciano: figures whose stories reflect devotion, resistance, creativity, grief, and courage within restrictive social and spiritual systems.
We engage with these women not as ideals to emulate, but as mirrors: exploring how themes of silence, devotion, rebellion, longing, and inner authority show up in our own bodies and life stories. Through guided storytelling meditations, embodied movement, creative expression, and group reflection, participants are invited to notice what is inherited, what is protective, and what is ready to shift. This is a grounded exploration of how history, culture, and personal experience live in the nervous system, and how new meaning can be created through conscious, embodied practice.
Rather than approaching mysticism as something abstract or idealised, this retreat explores how meaning, intuition, creativity, and resilience are lived and felt in the body. Through embodied practice and reflective inquiry, we work with the Mystic archetype as a psychological and cultural pattern: one that has shaped women’s lives across history, and continues to shape our inner worlds today.
For Women Who:
🌹 Are in a period of transition or change or creative reorientation.
🌹 Are seeking a grounded approach to spirituality that honours the body.
🌹 Feel called to heal trauma both personal and collective.
🌹 Seek deep connection and community, healing and growing together.
🌹 Desire to break free from expectations and reclaim inner strength and intuition.
🌹 Want to awaken their creative spirit and express their true untamed self.
🌹 Are curious about archetypes, myth and storytelling as tools for healing.
🌹 Are looking for depth without dogma, and soothing without bypassing.
What awaits you
What we will be doing...
💃 Archetypal Embodiment & Somatic Storytelling
Using somatic and polyvagal-informed practices, we explore archetypes such as the Maiden, Mystic, and Wild Woman as embodied neural patterns: parts of the self shaped by memory, experience, and survival responses. These sessions invite you to track your body’s implicit story, safely and gently process stored stress or trauma, and engage the social engagement system to re-pattern outdated internal narratives. This work fosters new, empowered pathways of self-identity, awakening soul memory and reconnection with the deeper self.
🌸 Rituals of Regulation & Restoration
Each day begins with grounding rituals: breathwork, gentle movement, and orienting practices designed to bring the vagus nerve online, shift the body into ventral vagal safety, and promote a felt sense of connection. These trauma-aware rituals help regulate physiological states, creating the internal conditions necessary for emotional processing, learning, and integration. Infused with sacred intention, these daily practices open portals to inner stillness and embodied presence.
🎨 Mindful Creativity as Neural Rewiring & Sacred Practice
Intentional creativity engages the prefrontal cortex while soothing the limbic system, supporting neuroplasticity and emotional regulation. Through mirror work, altar-building, intuitive writing, and symbolic art, you’ll safely access the imaginal realm: activating right-brain pathways essential for integrating subconscious material and rewriting internal scripts with agency and self-compassion. Creativity becomes a devotional act, reclaiming the sacred story of who you truly are.
🔥 Myths That Heal: Rewiring Through Story
Exploring the lives and legends of female mystics, rebels, and saints allows us to access archetypal maps of human experience. Storywork acts as a co-regulating and meaning-making tool, bridging individual narratives with collective wisdom and offering cognitive reframing. Through group reflection and embodied integration, participants gain access to new roles, inner guides, and spiritual archetypes that illuminate the path ahead.
🌿 Land & Lineage Practices
Silent walks, geothermal bathing, and land-based rituals offer sacred communion with nature, restoring ancestral memory and reminding the body of its place in the greater web of life. These practices activate parasympathetic repair, deepen interoceptive awareness, and strengthen your sense of belonging across self, lineage, and land.
🍷 Celebration as Integration
We conclude each day with communal rituals of joy and connection. Sharing meals, sensory experiences, and cultural offerings stimulates the social nervous system, enhancing oxytocin release and emotional bonding. These moments of sacred celebration honour both the human and the divine within, anchoring transformation in reverence, pleasure, and relational safety.
Your healing deserves clarity and care. Reach out anytime to book a call, ask questions, and receive a complimentary nervous system analysis to see exactly where you are in your journey. 🫶
Awaken Your Inner Archetypes
The Somatic Mythwork™ Method, developed by Dr. Ellie Chadwick (PhD), combines cutting-edge somatic and trauma-informed practices with academic research in performance, memory, and history. This retreat offers you the opportunity to explore the archetypal stories that have shaped and constrained the feminine psyche across history. In Somatic Mythwork™, archetypes are not fixed identities but living patterns: felt experiences that can be explored, reshaped, and integrated.
Rooted in deep inquiry and embodied exploration, this journey will support you to reclaim your voice and agency, moving beyond the cultural scripts of the Virgin, Saint, Witch, and Maiden that continue to shape how women are seen, and see themselves.
We’ll draw inspiration from the real histories of Italian mystics and visionaries like St. Rita of Cascia, St. Angela of Foligno, and St. Clare of Assisi, alongside the figure of Mary Magdalene. These women’s lives will act as springboards into exploring our own internalised roles and the possibility of transformation. The Mystic archetype represents intuitive knowing, inner listening, and the capacity to make meaning beyond external authority.
This retreat supports you to:
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Explore how intuition and creativity live in your body
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Work gently with inherited patterns of suppression, self-doubt, or over-responsibility
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Reclaim personal authority through embodied awareness
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Use story and creative practice to re-author your relationship with yourself and the world
All practices are trauma-aware, choice-led, and grounded in nervous system safety.
Throughout the retreat, you’ll be invited into somatic storytelling practices that help you reconnect with the archetypes of the Sorceress, Priestess, and Mysticess, discovering how these energies can serve as tools for psychological integration and creative liberation. We will gently dismantle limiting beliefs tied to the pure, martyred or saintly feminine, using research-supported techniques from Polyvagal Theory and expressive arts therapies to regulate the nervous system and cultivate internal safety.
With a blend of historical inquiry, artistic expression, and somatic healing, this retreat becomes more than an escape: it’s a re-imagining of the self and a container for deep transformation.
Our Retreat Venue
Welcome to Siliano Alto – a breathtaking 200-year-old Tuscan farmhouse, nestled in the heart of the serene beauty of the Tuscan Umbrian hills. It sits within a secluded wilderness estate, with rolling hills and verdant woodlands.
The farmhouse, with its weathered stone walls and rustic charm, carries the spirit of centuries past, offering a warm embrace to all who step within. Surrounded by green fields and fragrant wildflowers, this beautiful place feels worlds away from the hustle and bustle of modern life, inviting relaxation and reflection.
Here, you will experience not only the peace and beauty of the land but also nourishing and delicious cuisine by Anna from Holistic Honey. Her offerings are designed to support well-being, with each meal bringing together the healing power of wholesome, locally sourced ingredients.
Your Hostesses
Dr Ellie Chadwick (PhD)
Lead Facilitator
Dr. Ellie Chadwick is an internationally experienced theatre practitioner, creative facilitator, and scholar working at the intersection of performance, storytelling, ritual, and somatic healing. With over 15 years of experience creating theatre shows, immersive experiences, and installations, her work has been commissioned by institutions including Tate Modern, Barbican Guildhall, National Trust, Plymouth Theatre Royal, and Bristol City Council. Ellie has been interviewed for The Stage magazine and for BBC Radio 4 on the subject of creative education and immersive arts.
Ellie holds a PhD and MFA in Theatre and is a published author with expertise in archetypes, collective memory, intercultural performance, and the role of the arts in collective wellbeing. Her academic work includes lecturing in performing arts and postdoctoral research in intercultural artistic practice, with creative collaborations across Europe, China, Indonesia, and the UK.
For nearly a decade, Ellie has led international retreats, workshops, and masterclasses, including recurring gatherings in Bali, blending ritual, art, and body-based practices. She is the creator of Historically-Responsive Theatre Practice, a method that integrates ancient and modern techniques, honouring the sacred roots of art-making across cultures, and Somatic Mythwork™.
Currently training as a trauma-informed integrative somatic therapist, Ellie’s work draws on polyvagal theory, nervous system regulation, and archetypal exploration to guide transformational experiences rooted in story, embodiment, and emotional healing. Whether on stage, in retreat, or within coaching spaces, Ellie is devoted to helping others reclaim their voice, rewrite their story, and remember the body as a source of truth, power, and creative possibility.
Karma Tucker
Co-Facilitator
With over 25 years of international performance experience, Karma brings a unique blend of creative artistry and holistic expertise to the wellbeing space. Her diverse career includes performing Shakespeare in New York, musical theatre tours across the UK, tribute shows in Oman, and music performances in Belgium. Her work has received great reviews from The Stage magazine.
Karma holds multiple degree-level qualifications in the performing arts and education, including a Distinction in Performance and Events Management and a PGCE in Higher Education. For over 15 years, she has lectured in colleges, academies, and universities, specialising in acting, movement, and vocal performance. Her creative leadership has guided full-scale productions at renowned venues such as London’s West End (His Majesty’s and The Shaftesbury), Disneyland Paris, Berlin, and beyond. She has also vocal-coached youth performers featured with G4. One of her collaborative productions was attended by Prince Edward.
Her background in performance seamlessly integrates with her passion for wellbeing. Karma qualified as a yoga instructor in 2014 and has since trained new teachers herself. She is also a certified Reiki Master and Yoga Life Coach, continually expanding her knowledge in holistic and therapeutic practices. A seasoned workshop facilitator, Karma excels at creating safe, empowering spaces for growth and transformation—drawing on both her artistic and healing modalities. Her sessions are infused with creativity, energy, and compassion.
A passionate traveler and lifelong learner, Karma has explored over 35 countries, delving into ancient civilisations and traditional dance practices throughout Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Europe, Japan, Egypt, and California. This global perspective informs her approach to wellness, embodiment, and spiritual connection.
Anna Stasiuk
Chef & Hostess
Anna Stasiuk is the founder of Holistic Honey and is trained in Holistic Nutrition, Herbalism, Pranayama, Cyclical Living and Somatic Healing. She is a women’s health coach & retreat chef, offering guidance to reconnecting with the wisdom of Mother Earth and ancestral living.
Her role on our retreat is to ensure your utmost comfort and care, transforming the retreat space into a true home away from home. Through her expertise women’s health, each meal is crafted with your hormones in mind, balancing the mind, body and spirit for optimal energy levels throughout your stay. Expect deep nourishment, delightful flavours and feel-good ingredients to support you during your entire stay.
Testimonials
Words from our Wanderesses on previous events, retreats, and circles:
“A wonderful 2 weeks… Ellie made me feel safe and supported the whole time. The memories I made with her will stay with me forever.” – Amanda
“Memories I will carry with me forever. The course designed by Ellie was culturally informative but respectful to local community, driven by creativity and, most of, amazing fun. If you want a break from the day-to-day and time to nourish your creative side, join one of Ellie’s retreats.” – Morven
“An unforgettable journey of self-discovery. The blend of rituals, storytelling, and somatic healing was truly transformative.” – Sophie
“Absolutely life-changing! The workshops and activities helped me tap into parts of myself I didn’t even know existed. I left with a renewed sense of confidence and purpose.” – Dani
“The archetypes work is so powerful – blew my mind!” – Rose
A beautiful experience that opened my heart and mind. Ellie’s guidance through this retreat was deeply nurturing.” – Chloe
“Beautiful… emotionally rewarding and feel supported – a wonderful rush of love and acceptance” – Nita
“Very powerful! Especially liked the drumming and archetypes” – Ruth
Pricing
If cost is a barrier, we offer a small number of scholarships. Your healing matters! Get in touch to explore support options.
Up Front Payment
SAVE £300!- Pay in full to save £300 on the full price!
Payment Plan
5x payments of:- A handy payment plan to spread costs.
Save when you book with a friend!
Save £500 when you book with a friend! Share the magic of the retreat with your bestie. Contact us for the info.
What this includes:
Accommodation
A shared room (upgrades available) in our beautiful retreat venue, the Tuscan farmhouse Siliano Alto.
Empowering Workshops:
Transformative sessions designed to help you embody your inner Mysticess.
Wellness Treatments:
Relax and rejuvenate with curated treatments to nurture your body and spirit.
Delicious Meals:
Enjoy delicious, freshly prepared breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily, featuring authentic local cuisine.
Convenient Transfers:
Complimentary pick-up and drop-off to ensure a smooth arrival and departure.
Immersive Trips & Activities:
Explore Umbria’s rich culture and stunning landscapes with guided outings.
🌟 Plus! Our Special Retreats Bonus! 🌟
A 6-month complimentary membership to our online Wanderess Circle, a coaching container offering group somatic therapy, extending your journey of growth and connection long after the retreat ends.