Circling the Well

We gather together to remember ourselves as part of the land and our ancestral peoples. Reweaving severed cultural folkways, plant kin relationships, and connection to our own bodies, we welcome in support so that we may play our part in unspelling empire.

 

Friday Oct 30 - Sunday Nov 1, 2026 | Bent Birch Retreat Center | Leyden, MA

 

The vision - A weekend in-person retreat for European descended settlers supporting connecting to ancestral culture & devotional relationship with land

We come together to reweave cultural lineage, reckon with our ancestral legacies, and reconnect with the sacred to support us in meeting this political moment firmly rooted in who we are and who we want to be.

We will engage in creative, ritual & somatic practices to cultivate relationships with land, plant kin, ancestors, and each other. Throughout the weekend, we will be in the practice of deep, deep listening, devotion, being with what emerges from within, and collectively dreaming toward the world to come.

As with all of the work I facilitate, this offering is made in service to a world beyond whiteness and movements for justice & healing.

Join us in circle as we gather with likeminded community to be held, challenged and transformed through deepening with land, ancestors and lineage.

Logistics

Friday Oct 30 - Sunday Nov 1, 2026

Bent Birch Retreat Center | Leyden, MA

We begin together on Friday; arrival is between 4-6pm ET, and we begin together at 6pm. We end our time together at 4pm on Sunday afternoon.

Meals included: dinner friday, breakfast lunch dinner & snacks Sat, and breakfast, lunch and snacks on Sunday. All food with be vegan and gluten free.

 

More details:

• Space will be limited for intimacy - approximately 10 people per retreat
• COST: Price will be on a sliding scale as usual. The rate for this weekend based on retreat rental and food costs is $550 – $950, including all meals and shared-room accomodations. Payment plans available.
• Participants will be asked to attend the entire weekend
• We will spend time indoors and outdoors, so please bring warm gear and other things like chairs, blankets etc and anything else that will support your comfort and participation.
• There are ticks here! Bring long pants and socks, and anything you might want to tend tick bites.
• Feel free to bring additional snacks or food to meet your dietary needs on top of what is provided by our amazing cooks.

 

• For DJ and health of the group: (your facilitator is disabled with long c, as are some of the participants; please weave this care in your decision making!)
  • Participants will be asked to covid test twice in the week prior before coming
  • In preparation for our time together, you will be asked to mask in all public spaces the week of our retrreat (grocery stores, etc) and limit exposures
  • You will be asked to stay home if they test positive or otherwise are sick, and will be issued credit to participate in the next season's retreat.
  • On site, we will have air purifiers running in all indoor spaces. Masks indoors are always welcome.

Notes About the Space

Bent Birch sits on roughly 20 acres in Leyden, Massachusetts. The indoor life of the
center moves between three buildings, the Main House, the Dojo, and the Treehouse. 

We are excited to welcome you to our beautiful, community supported retreat center. Bent Birch (BB) facilities are a work in progress which means things may be incomplete or less than ideal. As our stewardship body and capacity grows, we continuously make an effort to improve and adapt as best we can with the time and financial resources available.

Facilities: Bent Birch comprises three hill-top (3) shared-use buildings and three (3) gravel driveways, including parking for guests. The main gathering space used for BB programming is ADA compliant and wheelchair accessible through compacted gravel driveway and a wooden ramp. Sleeping spaces are down a set of stairs in this building. Accessible parking is available immediately adjacent to this building. The majority of sleeping spaces are in the Main House, which has three steps up from the path to get into the door. This Main House also holds the kitchen, dining room, bathrooms, and bathrooms upstairs in the sleeping spaces as well. All sleeping spaces are shared with twin beds. Camping is also an option! There are two additional sleeping spaces with bathrooms that are accessible via a ramp.

The hosts estimate that there is approx 200ft between Dojo (where we will be meeting) and the main house (sleeping, food, etc).

There are lawns for gathering and lounging, as well as a fire pit, accessed via an approximately 400 foot gradually sloping grassy field or gravel driveway and approximately 100 foot grassy field and 20 foot grassy incline. In total, these facilities cover approximately 5 acres.

Terrain: The full 19 acres of the property, include two (2) large fields, dense forested areas to the north and south of the fields and seasonal creeks. The majority of this area is on sloped, uneven and often muddy ground.

Thanks your interest in participating in Circling the Well.

Complete your registration by paying - either paying in full or making your deposit. The payment page will pop up on the next page when you click submit. Note: if you do not pay within 48 hours of filling out this survey, you are not registered! 

 

I'm so excited to do this work together this Samhain season, in person, bodies together in space with land and plants. Feel free to email me with any questions - and you can expect to hear from me with a welcome email in early October. 

 

Please pay on the next page to complete your registration & confirm your place.

 

Warmly,

rowan

 

of hawthorn and yew