Ancient Magick
A Ceremonial Retreat of Earth, Spirit, and Remembering.
March 12th-17th, Guanacaste Costa Rica
There are moments when you can feel that something within you is ready to deepen.
You may sense that you are standing at a threshold and that a new way of seeing, creating, or relating to Spirit is beginning to emerge. But, you are not yet sure how to meet it.
Perhaps you have explored many spiritual practices and teachings, yet still find yourself asking:
What truly resonates with me?
How do I deepen my own channel and learn to trust what I receive?
How do I move from seeking wisdom outside of myself into a more direct relationship with it?
Maybe you are longing to feel closer to the Earth.
To understand the plants not only as remedies, but as living beings with whom we can enter into relationship.
To experience what happens when we slow down enough to listen to the land, work with ritual and sacred sites, pay attention to our dreams, and become more receptive to the subtle ways Spirit communicates with us.
This retreat was created for that kind of remembering.
The place where we will gather is an essential part of the experience.
Our retreat will be held at La Senda, nestled in the tropical dry forest of Guanacaste, Costa Rica — a place created around an extraordinary energetic landscape and home to what La Senda describes as the largest labyrinth in the world. The labyrinth stretches across more than 2.5 acres, with nearly three kilometers of pathway winding through more than 5,000 cacti. Its sacred-geometric design was created around two opposing energetic centers on the land, joining them through the form of the Vesica Piscis.
This is not simply where the retreat happens. It is a sacred gateway where the land itself becomes part of the work.
We will walk the labyrinth, spend time with the plants and natural world, and allow the unique energetic qualities of this place to become another doorway into listening, release, insight, and connection.
Sacred sites have long invited human beings to step outside the ordinary and become more receptive to what lies beneath the surface of everyday awareness. Here, we will intentionally work with place — noticing how the land, the labyrinth, ceremony, and our own bodies speak to one another.
Over several days together, we will step away from the noise and pace of ordinary life and enter into an intentional space of ceremony, nature, purification, divination, plant medicine, dreamwork, sound, rest, and integration.
You will be invited into a variety of sacred and experiential practices — not so that you leave with another system to follow, but so that you can begin to discover what genuinely opens something within you.
What helps you listen more deeply?
What strengthens your intuition?
What brings you into relationship with the Earth, the unseen, and your own innate wisdom?
Through Temazcal, the runes, medicinal plants and medicine-making, sacred anointing, dream practice, sound, labyrinth work, and time on the land, we will move between the visible and invisible worlds — allowing each experience to reveal something different.
Some practices may challenge you.
Some may soften you.
Some may awaken a recognition that feels strangely familiar.
At the heart of this retreat is an invitation to move beyond simply learning about sacred practices and begin experiencing relationship — with your body, with the natural world, with Spirit, with community, and with the deeper intelligence already alive within you.
You do not need to arrive with answers.
Only curiosity, openness, and a willingness to listen.
Perhaps what you are seeking is not another path to follow.
Perhaps it is a deeper relationship with the part of you that already knows.
Temazcal with Aya Natan
Sweat lodge
The word Temazcal comes from the Nahuatl language; temazcalli which means "house of steam".
An is an ancient ritual that takes its origin in prehispanic times of Mesoamerican cultures and North American indigenous traditions.
The sturcture of the temazcal represents the womb of Mother Earth in which sacred hot stones are introduced to generate steam.
When entering this sacred space, we go through a purification & liberation process to be reborn from the earth as new beings. This is a reconnection point with consciousness, mother earth & the universe.
The temazcal has many healing properties: It is good medicine for the skin, the respiratory system, the heart, the digestive system and much more.
THE RETREAT EXPERIENCE
Medicinal Plants Nature Walk with Aya
On this walk, we will discover the healing power of Indigenous plants, roots, barks, and flowers while exploring the rich biodiversity of the Costa Rican jungle. We will learn about their traditional uses in natural remedies and the ancient wisdom surrounding these plants, many of which have been cherished by local communities for generations. This immersive experience invites a deeper connection with the jungle and a greater appreciation for Costa Rica’s living botanical heritage.
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Wisdom of nature workshop with Aya
As we return from our nature walk through the beautiful jungle of La Senda, we’ll bring the plants we’ve gathered and the wisdom we’ve received into our medicine-making practice. Together, we’ll learn how to craft these plants into natural medicines.
In this hands-on, heart-led experience, we open the channel between you and plants. Together, we will explore:
• The art and spirit of natural medicine-making
• How to intuitively work with herbs for personal and collective healing
• How to create herbal extracts, infusions, tinctures, and tonics
• Deep knowledge of local, medicinal plants and their properties
Sacred Anointing & Dream Tea Ceremony
Nicole will offer a teaching on the ancient art of anointing and the ways aromatic oils have been used across cultures for blessing, consecration, prayer, healing, and preparation for sacred encounters. We will spend time with the plants held within the anointing oils, learning about their qualities, symbolism, and traditional uses. Nicole will guide an anointing practice and ritual.
Nicole will also hold a Dream Tea Ceremony, where you will learn how to ally with the plants to deepen your dream practice.
We will share a carefully prepared herbal tea blend chosen to support rest, receptivity, and dreaming. Nicole will introduce the plants in the tea, their properties, and the ways they have traditionally been worked with in relationship to sleep, dreams, intuition, and the inner world.
Together, we will explore a dream practice to carry into the night — setting an intention, listening for what wants to be revealed, and learning how to approach dreams with greater attention and reverence.
We will then close the evening quietly, sending you to rest with your tea, your intention, and an invitation to notice what arrives through the dream world.
This experience is an invitation to slow down, become receptive, and enter into relationship with the wisdom of the plants, the body, and the unseen.
You will be able to carry all of this knowledge home with you and use these powerful practices in your daily life.
The Wisdom of the Runes Workshop with Nicole Ford
The Elder Futhark runes are an ancient sacred alphabet that emerged among the Germanic peoples of Northern Europe nearly two thousand years ago. More than written characters, the runes came to carry layers of meaning connected with the forces of nature, human experience, fate, transformation, and the mysteries of life.
They are a powerful tool of divination and spiritual guidance — a symbolic language and set of portals through which we can listen more deeply to ourselves, to Spirit, and to the unseen movements shaping our lives. They are gateways to the Past, Present, and Future.
In this experiential workshop, Nicole will introduce the runes, sharing some of their history, mythology, symbolism, and the ways they can be approached as a living system of wisdom rather than simply a tool for predicting the future.
Together, we will explore how divination can help us step outside the familiar patterns of the thinking mind and become receptive to another kind of knowing.
Nicole will then open a collective rune reading and channeling for the group, allowing the symbols and intuitive guidance that emerge to speak to the shared field of the retreat. Together, we will listen for what is moving through the group as a whole — what is asking to be seen, remembered, released, or carried forward.
No previous experience with the runes or divination is needed.
The Land Is Part of the Ceremony
La Senda ✷ Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Our retreat will take place at La Senda, an extraordinary sacred site nestled within the tropical landscape of Guanacaste. Home to the largest labyrinth in the world, this land is alive with beauty, power, and potentiality. Here, the practices of Ancient Magick happen within a living landscape and powerful energetic portal.
The Labyrinth- the sacred gateway you will walk with Aya and Nicole
The Dome- we will be doing workshops and sound healing in this beautiful space overlooking the labyrinth
Beautiful one of a kind rooms and accommodations
Farm to Table meals from the on site bio-dynamic garden
This retreat is for you if:
✷ You feel called to reconnect with nature, ceremony, and the wisdom of the Earth
✷ You are seeking a deeper relationship with yourself and your inner guidance
✷ You are curious about medicinal plants, medicine making and wish to explore it through a respectful, grounded, and intentional lens
✷ You feel drawn to sweat lodge, ritual, and other embodied practices
✷ You are moving through a transition, threshold, or period of inner transformation
✷ You want to step away from the noise and pace of everyday life
✷ You are interested in Runes, channeling, or other pathways of self-discovery
✷ You long for a space where you can rest, listen, create, and be held in community
✷ You are ready to release old patterns and make space for something new
✷ You feel an inner invitation to remember who you are beneath the roles, expectations, and stories you have carried
✷ At the heart of this retreat is a simple invitation: to return to yourself, to the Earth, and to the wisdom that is already within you.
We are two women with a vision.
Our vision is rooted in nature—in the beauty and wisdom of our sacred Mother Earth
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We hold the awareness that, in this moment, the shadow has a strong hold on the consciousness of humanity. Our own remembrance birthed a vision; to Reawaken to the beauty of this world, we must engage with its beauty and the magic of the unseen realms. We walk as a living bridge between these worlds, and through our sacred practices, we open the way for others to meet them too.
Our desire is to reach beyond ourselves, to shine the light of the wisdom and knowledge we have gathered, and to let that spark grow into a flame within others—igniting a chain reaction of inspiration and permission.
It is our prayer that all our remembrance during this retreat weaves into one unified field. That we may rise and shine as individuals, as a collective, and that this light may ripple to every corner where light is needed, where love is needed. To all our relations.
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Two Women ✷ One Shared Vision
MEET YOUR GUIDES
Nicole Ford
Nicole Ford is a mother, psychospiritual practitioner, channel, and guide whose work weaves nearly two decades of trauma-healing experience with shamanic practice, ceremony, divination, ancestral work, plant-spirit medicine, and sacred anointing.
Originally trained as a clinical social worker and trauma therapist, Nicole spent many years supporting people through complex trauma, attachment wounds, and the process of returning to safety within the body. Over time, her work expanded as she listened for what was often missing from the healing process: the soul and our relationship with the larger living world.
Today, Nicole brings together the wisdom of the nervous system with the deeper movements of psyche, soul, and Spirit. Her work is rooted in the understanding that healing is not only about resolving the past, but about restoring relationship — with the body, our innate wisdom, our ancestors, the natural world, Spirit, and the unseen.
Through healing sessions, soul retrieval, journeying, divination, ceremony, and group spaces, she helps people slow down, listen deeply, and strengthen their own capacity for intuition, guidance, and their own channel.
Her relationship with plants and sacred oils is expressed through Mama Rosa Medicinals, her devotional line of plant medicines and anointing oils inspired by the ancient relationship between plants, fragrance, prayer, ritual, and remembrance.
Nicole holds space in a way that is grounded, intuitive, gentle, and reverent, inviting people to soften, reclaim what has been forgotten, and reconnect with the wisdom already alive within them.
Aya Natan
Aya Natan is a mother of three, the author of Golden Light, and the creator of Cura Sana—a unique line of natural medicines and skincare. She serves as a space holder for sweat lodges, workshops, and retreats, and works as a channel and medicine woman.
Aya is deeply devoted to the path of remembrance — to reconnecting with the wisdom of the Earth, the intelligence of the body, and the sacredness of life.
For many years, she has walked a path of deep communion with nature, plants, ceremony, and Spirit. Her journey is rooted in listening to the subtle language of the Earth and to the wisdom that emerges when we slow down enough to hear.
Her work is not simply something she does, but an expression of how she chooses to live: with reverence, intuition, presence, and devotion.
Aya holds space from a place of authenticity and deep connection, inviting others to soften, reconnect, and remember what already lives within them. Through her presence and the spaces she creates, she offers an opportunity to step away from the familiar and into a deeper relationship with oneself, with nature, and with the unseen.
DETAILS
March 12th-17th
La Senda, Guanacaste Costa Rica
Cost:
early bird (before November 11th) $1880
after November 11th $1990
Words from previous retreat guests
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I was unhappy with myself. I was unhappy with my life, the way I looked, and what I just went through. I had just finished chemotherapy in Sept 2024 after I started my battle with Osteosarcoma diagnosed in Feb 2024. My body, mind and spirit all suffered during and I was at a complete disconnect. I had just finished chemotherapy when a friend of mine (who went on the retreat with me) sent me the link for the Return to Love retreat with Nicole and Elodie. I had my discovery call with Nicole and immediately signed up. I knew this was meant for me. This retreat was absolutely life changing. I left Costa Rica that day with the tools and answers to my questions ready to take on the rest of my life. I’m returning to my everyday life loving myself. Loving my body mind and spirit. Being grateful for cancer and the visible and invisible scars it has left me with. I have Returned to Love.”
-Beth B.
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This past week is beyond description, undeniably the most beautiful thing I’ve ever experienced. A sisterhood written in the stars, forged within the sacred safety of creators maternal womb, pulsing & pulling to the drumbeat of the universe, traversing dimensions which know no bounds of time or space. The undeniable sensation of one’s soul being held by Pachamama, and taking the deepest breath I’ve ever known.
A re-emergence from the cocoon, rebirth, embracing deep intuitive knowing, signing a soul contract with self, an effortless, undeniable happiness, divinely guided, boundless ascension. I have found my way home and returned to love.”
— Brenda C.
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After working as a nurse through COVID, I was just feeling beat down. Shut down is more like it.
Every element was so beautifully curated.
This retreat was about 7 years of therapy in 7 days. I left with so much healing, insight and a plan for reintegration. Also of importance, feeling relaxed and refreshed.
I left not only feeling more connected to myself and the Universe, but also having found my tribe. I wish everyone was able to have this experience! Pure love.
- Jamie B.
Email us here to receive more information and sign up!
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