What to Expect

Spirit Weavers Gathering began with a vision and a handful of women coming together to share skills from their various paths and traditions. It has been truly inspiring to learn just how many women are hearing the call to this work of remembering, and we have worked hard each year to increase our capacity to accommodate as many women as we can possibly hold within a safe and sacred container. Continuing in our tradition we are offering two different, back-to-back sessions to accommodate the growing community. These are the Sun Session and the Moon session.

The best way to get a ticket is to join our mailing list or follow the @spiritweavers Instagram account so that you are among the first to hear when registration opens.  In the past, Registration has filled within minutes so it is best to plan ahead and be prepared to purchase tickets at the time they go on sale.

IF TICKETS SELL OUT: To help facilitate the waitlist process, we set up  Mighty Networks page specifically for people to trade tickets if they are no longer able to join. We hope that if you do feel called to join us, you will be able to get a ticket in this way!

The organizers of Spirit Weavers are committed to making sure these these skills are accessible to those in need from all different walks of life. We offer tickets on a sliding-scale system, which provides flexible pricing, so you can pay according to your circumstances.  If you want to come, but can’t afford the ticket at all, there are opportunities for work trade.  We have over 200 work trade positions that you can apply for in March. We also offer payment plans for tickets with automatic monthly deductions to pay over several months. This year we are offering 19 scholarships which you can find out more about here.   You can also visit our blogpost on how to attend Spirit Weavers on a budget.

Spirit Weavers is a nine-month planning process which includes a paid staff.  All full-time teachers receive a travel stipend to attend the gathering.  Our main expense is the gathering land and its facilities. The second largest expense is the food and catering costs for daily meals for 700 women. With our two sessions spanning over a two week period this comes to a total of 15,000 meals! Additional costs include event rentals, supplies for all areas, and many other expenses that come up throughout the year.  Each year we donate a percentage of ticket sales to a handful of selected organizations which we will announce in the spring after ticket sales.  This is a small but valuable way to honour Indigenous Sovereignty and to help protect the land and water.

• A space to gather, share and learn together as one

• 5 days of camping in a beautiful serene forested and riverside setting

• A variety of campsites throughout the land with close access to showers and bathrooms

• 8 organic, local, delicious and nutritious vegan or vegetarian breakfasts and dinners. (Lunch not included)

• 3 full days of skill share classes (up to nine classes depending on your choices – some of these classes, such as leather shoe making, have an additional fee for materials)

• Daily morning practices – options include offerings such as: yoga, tea ceremony, and meditation

• Nightly evening activities, including star gazing, music around the fire and nighttime ceremonies.

• Always brewing and flowing hot tea in the Tea House

• Access to our Wellness Area, a free, fully stocked herbal apothecary staffed by expert clinical herbalists who can assist you with any ailments, and our on-call registered nurse

• A place to seek support and care for any kind of internal struggle or challenge that comes up through our Empowerment Center.

• A cozy and comforting place to gather around your moontime: Our Red Tent.

• Mama Bear Lodge where mamas and babies can relax and be supported by other mamas.

Rentals become available the day after ticket sales. This year they will be available on January 22nd, 2023.  Rental prices for a full weekend for Canvas tents, and yurts vary from $555-$999, depending on how many people they can accommodate.  If you are staying for both gatherings, you will be able to pay for the two full weekends at the time of purchase.  If you plan on renting shelter space, we ask that you consider those who are flying in from a distance.  If you are driving to the gathering, you may want to consider skipping out on a rental and bringing your own tent.

Class sign ups do not happen online, but rather onsite on the first day of the gathering immediately following Opening Ceremony at 3pm. It is very important to plan to be present at that time. We are continuing to refine and streamline our process for this each year. We believe it would be a disservice to allow sign up’s online before we have a chance to see/hear/feel the presence of the teacher, and that often hearing someone speak about their offering touches our heart in a way that often results in signing up for completely different classes than we thought we would have. In this way we allow ourselves to be guided to new experiences and new discoveries about who we are and who we are becoming.  You can read more about our class sign ups here.

While it is possible to bring your own food for lunches and attend only the free classes at the gathering, it is recommended that you bring at least $200 cash if you are able to. Classes involving materials can range from a few dollars for supplies such as yarn, to $50 or more for more intricate craft classes. Lunch is not included in your gathering ticket, but there are a limited number of food vendors on site at lunchtime with healthy meals and treats for purchase. In addition, we have our very own artisan Marketplace, Healing Village and Adornment Space where over 50 professional, sustainable crafters of our community come together to share the fruits of their labor.

Spirit Weavers is held outdoors in nature, on a private property with forested and grassy terrain. Most areas of the gathering are all within a 5 minute walk of each other, excluding the Tea Temple (8-10 minute walk), car camping area (8-10 minute walk) parking lot (10 minute walk), and Archery Range  (10-15 minute walk).

Terrain includes a semi-paved dirt road (gravel + packed dirt), grass meadows, and mostly flat ground. The more forested areas are still grass and dirt, with dirt walking paths connecting them.

The road from the main camp/ kitchen/bathrooms up to the camping area includes a small incline, which can accommodate manual wheelchairs with assistance, and electric chairs without assistance. There is also an incline leading up to the Healing Village area.

We reserve a designated accessibility camp in a central location, close to the main camp (3 minutes walk.) This includes a designated ADA accessible toilet. There are two shower facilities, each with one-two steps to access. There is one shower stall located on the outside wall of the Bath House facility which is flat ground and accessible by wheelchair.

There are two river access points. The Mermaid Rock access point is less accessible, with rocky terrain and a steeper hike down an incline. The Keiki Beach access point is more accessible, with a small hill leading to a wider pebble beach. River access can be accommodated for wheelchairs with assistance.

Seating is mostly ground seating for classes/ morning announcements, and attendees are expected to bring their own seating as needed. There are some picnic benches spread out throughout the land, and plastic folding chairs with backs can be provided by request.

Sign language interpreters will be provided by Spirit Weavers Gathering as needed.

For specific accessibility questions please email info@spiritweaversgathering.com

Open camping is included for all in attendance at the Gathering.  The Cedar Bloom Land is an expansive forest property that has ample room to set up camp where and how you’d like. The rental accommodations are set up village style, with a “yurt village” and a “stout tent village.” If you rented accommodation, it will be ready for you when you arrive.  If you bring your own camping gear, it’s first come first serve, so arriving on the earlier side will afford you the most options when choosing where to set up your tent.  Arriving early is also suggested so that you can acclimate and familiarize yourself with the land and it’s facilities.

We ask that you arrive on time and stay the full length of the gathering. We also ask that you camp on the land with everyone else in the designated camping zones, and not seek outside housing or camp out of bounds.  If you don’t have camping equipment, you may want to think about borrowing some from a friend, renting or purchasing some.  As a safety concern and respect for the container, we ask that there is no coming and going, on and off the land aside from the lunch breaks. Please think of this as a sacred ceremony and commit yourself to being fully present the entire time.

For those who prefer a more relaxed pace for arriving, grounding, and setting up, gates will open as early as 9am on the first day. The gathering will not officially begin until 3pm for opening Ceremony, and the first community meal will not be served until 7pm that evening. We ask that both Sun and Moon Session attendees who are not official gathering staff be prepared to disembark on their return journey home by noon Monday.

In addition to an on-call Nurse, we also are proud of our fully stocked apothecary with a rotating staff of trained clinical herbalists making sure that all of your minor aches and pains are cared for with the abundant medicine mother nature provides.  Read more about the Wellness Area here.

We have officially filled our instructor lineup for the 2023 Gathering. We welcome all ages and all walks of life to come and share with us each year. When choosing instructors and workshop offerings, we go through an extensive application process, calling in instructors and facilitators who are committed to their wisdom path/lineage and have permission to share their craft with integrity in a good way. It’s important to us that we are offering a range of different workshops and teachings that all encourage and uplift our lives and souls. From hands-on craft workshops, to ceremonial and empowerment offerings, each class is chosen in hopes it will serve our community in a good way.

We are no longer accepting applications for the 2023 gathering. You can see all workshops and instructors under the “Weavers and Skillshare” tab.

Our main vision for classes offered at the gathering are Earth Based Skills, Environmental Education, Women’s Empowerment, Sustainability, Homesteading and Herbalism.  We look for those who have cultivated their spirit, practice, and a passion to share their wisdom and teachings. These inspiring beings have begun to grow their own roots through years of studies with various teachers and/or mentors and are now open to pass along their craft or skill. We receive hundreds of applications and often many of them are multiple offers of a similar class. We have officially filled our instructor lineup for the 2023 Gathering.  You can see all workshops and instructors under the “Weavers and Skillshare” tab. 

We have a limited amount of vending spaces open in our Marketplace. Applications for the Marketplace will open in March of 2023.

It takes a village to run a village. Spirit Weavers Gathering is staffed by a handful of different groups with varying levels of responsibility that come together in a coordinated way to make our village life flow as smoothly and beautifully as possible.

In the beginning, Spirit Weavers started small with just 75 women gathered on family land in southern California.  Mea organized the first gathering on her own with guidance from her elders, experiences at other Ancestral skills gatherings, and through prayer.  Into the second year, several sisters stepped forward to assist in all the planning, communication, registration, promotion, food service, and rentals. This was a huge undertaking and we quickly learned that if the gathering were to expand to include more of us, we would definitely need more support. Each year we open a “Call for Community” in which women can step forth into the behind the scenes work of the gathering.

Spirit Weavers is an embrace of the feminine heart. The Gathering recognizes and honors the divine nature and essential human dignity of all beings. We have come together as a community who feels the need to more deeply explore the invitation that being on this earth during this most precious time represents.

As such, participation is open to all who wish to embrace the feminine heart. This includes any and all women, womxn, cis, femme, non-binary, trans, or female identifying beings regardless of their race, ethnic origin, age, sexual orientation, religion, disability, economic circumstance, physical appearance, or body size.  Spirit Weavers is committed to continuously working to provide an inclusive environment for all of our community members.

When engaging in many days of deep inner work, it is natural that emotions can come up to be acknowledged and integrated. In an unfamiliar environment without many of our identity pieces and creature comforts, sometimes processing can feel intense. We offer a Healing Village of practitioners who have professional experience helping our bodies, minds, and hearts to integrate all of our new experiences.

In addition, the Empowerment Center is freely available for all in attendance. The Empowerment Center offers the support of trained counselors and professional psychologists ready to hold space for those needing serious emotional or acute psychological support throughout our time together.

Seva means “selfless service”.

Sevā (“say-va”, also transcribed as sewa), in Hinduism and Sikhism, is the concept of selfless service that is performed without any expectation of result or award for performing it. Such services can be performed to benefit other human beings or society.

Our Seva are dedicated and hard working volunteers who make this gathering possible through the service of their hearts in exchange for a gathering ticket.   We offer over 200 positions for a work exchange opportunity.  Applications for our Seva Work Trade Program become available in March.

The magic of the gathering is that we are cocreating it together! What makes Spirit Weavers different from just a retreat is everyone’s participation and sharing. It takes a village to run a village! We welcome everyone to share and get involved, and there are a few ways to do that at the gathering:

-Volunteer to serve a meal! We will call for meal servers each morning and this is a great and fun opportunity to help and give back.

-Volunteer to wash dishes after meals

-Help in the Mama Bear Lodge

-Check in at the info booth