The complex challenges of our world are born from extractive ways that have over centuries come to dominate most cultures. Creating a different world means changing our approach. We invite you to explore the feminine through other ways of being.
Facilitating the Feminine is a five-day retreat-based course, rooted in the Aura methodology.
To date, we have held four of these retreats in South Africa. 2026 sees the first of Aura’s Facilitating the Feminine in São Paulo, Brazil and Somerset, UK. This year’s editions of this retreat invites participants to simple ways of knowing and being differently, with the possibilities of influencing their contexts, holding their own women’s circles, and impacting their actions in the world.
Where women come to be, to see beyond the eyes
.png)
When:
Thursday 30th April - Monday 4th May 2026
4 night stay with all meals provided
Arrive 4pm on 30th April
Depart 11am on 4th May
Where:
42 Acres
Where the land does most of the work
Holt Road, Witham Friary, Frome BA11 5HL
Hosted by:
Eve Annecke
Together with amazing Aura network facilitators still to be confirmed.
.png)
Join us on this embodied journey if:
-
You are a mother, activist, artist, professional, community worker, unemployed, academic, consultant, journalist, teacher, volunteer, or anyone else who would love to explore ways of being that are nourishing, nurturing and regenerative.
-
You are someone who would like to change things in your life or your community.
-
You would like to start a women’s circle.
-
You’re a woman based in the UK.
-
You’re curious, and can’t quite put your finger on it.
The change we are
is the change we create
Through the ancient art and practice of women’s circles, Aura methodology embraces and enhances parts of ourselves that are too often suppressed. Our intention is for the Facilitating the Feminine retreat to empower participants to work differently, to host women’s circles of their own, and to offer Aura methodology to their families and communities to amplify and enhance feminine ways of being as pathways to radical transformation.
Many of us dream of a more beautiful world and seek to create that reality. With enthusiastic intention, we set about creating vision and mission statements, strategy, outcomes, evaluation plans, reports and management systems. All our imaginings, poetics and inspiring aesthetics are translated too hastily into ‘words everyone can understand’. We resort to conceptual descriptions and, without noticing, become unconsciously drawn into replicating the very systems we so fervently wish to change.
This neglect of the artistry and poetry innate within all of us often leads to deep burnout.
Exhaustion, martyrdom, and feeling hopelessly inadequate in the face of everything we are expected to be sullies even the simplest and purest of our efforts towards change.
In this mindset, we can never do nor be enough.
A path we walk together
Facilitating the Feminine explores ways of being that radically subvert the status quo, offering time and space to explore perception, and, in becoming different ourselves, to notice the world simultaneously responding differently towards us. Aura has been working with extraordinary women activists for the past five years and as seasoned activists ourselves who have made countless mistakes along the way, our intention is to accompany you on a journey that is co-created: an inner and collective exploration where the more-than-human landscape of 42 Acres becomes as much a teacher as the women with whom we journey.
Can the feminine, with its infinite mystery and wonder, ever truly be ‘facilitated’?
We make no grand claims. Only from experience, we do know that softening our hearts, gazing into feminine principles and attending to simple wellbeing practices can be counter-intuitive yet powerful pathways to change.
Within ourselves, and in our actions in the world.
Fall in love with the world again and again.
Create enchantment in everyday life.
Act in the world in flow, discernment and beauty.
Work with radical change, and modest effort.
Putting our analytical minds aside for a while, this is time to experience, to be present, and to rest.
.png)
Is Facilitating the Feminine for me?
Listen for that quiet voice within, that curious urge that won’t go away. That feeling might be all you need to know.
If you do feel drawn to this experience, follow that energetic pull you might feel in your body because in the end, that’s usually the real reason we sign up for something different.
Some words from our participants
“
There’s nothing to perform and nothing to rush. When we slow down enough to listen, parts of ourselves that have been waiting quietly begin to speak.
In feminine presence, the body remembers its own rhythm and with that remembering comes relief; not as release but as return.
― NOMABHUCWA MATIWANE
Facilitating the Feminine, 2025
“
You can choose any moment to start over and be reborn. Like the sun, you rise again and again. Radical self-love for who we are in all our moments of life unlocks our ability to be open to the universe’s communication. Your intuition will never make you feel small.
Through co-creation with the feminine that reflects in the circles we hold, the humanity we share births collective energy of gratitude, love, acceptance and forgiveness. Together, we become expansive.
― KEAMO RAKGOADI
Facilitating the Feminine, 2025
“
The fear of exploring our potential is something we’ve been conditioned to believe, but it’s incompatible with our revolutionary soul. As Margarida Alves, an inspiration for women’s movements in Brazil, said: “We feel fear, but we don’t use it.”
Whenever I feel afraid, I remind myself that while fear can help us understand ourselves better, it should never limit our potential.
― CLAUDELICE DOS SANTOS
Facilitating the Feminine, 2023
“
Focus on the body. Quiet the mind. Feel it on your skin, taste it on your tongue. Put your bare feet in the mud. Focus on your posture, on how your waist feels, on the tightness in your shoulders.
Hear your body. Switch off the cerebral: focus on your body's reactions to life.
― MUSA GWEBANI
Facilitating the Feminine, 2023
Participants will encounter...
Hover on the images below to discover more of the content
.png)
What does it cost?
_edited.jpg)
Our dream is to make all our retreat-based courses abundant, accessible and diverse. Our focus is on contributing to a replenishing and regenerative world. While this retreat is subsidised by Be The Earth, we do thus ask for a financial contribution to honour your commitment, and as a gift to other women unable to afford the full price of the experience.
We are often asked for guidance as to what might be an appropriate amount to contribute. While this is entirely your choice, here is a small guideline which we hope could be helpful:
The actual cost per participant is £550, including accommodation, all delicious meals, access to exquisite land, rewilding and sauna.
Below are approximate tiers of earning which we have used as a suggestion to guide your contribution.
We understand that personal circumstances vary greatly within these tiers, and we trust that you will make a donation that feels appropriate to you.
Each and every payment will go towards another woman being able to attend in the future.
We truly value each and every contribution, and we trust that you will pay what you can.
All women are welcome, and no woman will be turned away for lack of funds.
Earning: Suggested contribution:
-
£0 - £28000 Between £50 and £150
-
£28,000 - £45,000 Between £150 and £250
-
£45,000+ Between £300 and £500
Pay it forward option:
-
£550+
For those who feel called to give beyond their own place and support the presence of others in this retreat. Open to all income levels.
Please choose an option that best suits you.
Illustrations by Nomita Khatri