The 2023 Wild Iona Journey is FULL.
Begin the journey into yourself as a revolutionary act of reclamation.
Make a transformative journey to the wild edges of sea and sky, where the powerful presence of revelatory elements, and ancient, spirited stories will awaken in you deep memories and divine inspiration to live forward renewed and reconnected to the primeval sacred story of creation. Together we will journey through the mythic wilderness, a landscape that resides within you and throughout the whole world. We will recover the mythic ground of our being as a way to reconnect to the mundis imaginalis, the soul of the world. The language of myth, one of the primary tongues of our soul, will be a narrative guide on a mythic and heroic journey, one that will demand we depart from the worlds we know and enter into the underbelly of the extraordinary world—the place where puffins speak, seals sanctify, stones tell stories, and our tears welcome our exiled ones home.
The Holy Island of Iona offers herself through the power of place. This wee island that exists at the edge of it all has also simultaneously been the historic hub of Celtic spirituality. Through this lens, we will experience what it means to experience a “thin place,” a place where the distinctions between this world and the other dissolve, practicing what Carl Jung meant when he said, “I am all for walking in two worlds at once since we are gifted with two legs.” The ancient Celts told many stories of the ways between worlds. The realms we separate as matter and spirit, mundane and mysterious, they experienced as intimately connected, even continuous.
Together we will draw from the wisdom of eco-mythology, which finds the redemptive function of stories as earth-myths through how they become vessels of imagination and inspiration, which can reveal and recover wisdom and open paths of individual and collective healing and renewal. We will follow the thread of story and myth as a portal to access our own wild imagination. Trailing such archetypal stories as The Selkie, Fox Woman Dreaming, and others, we will track the heroic journey-round, leaning into what deep truths about ourselves we uncover through the mythic tongue. The earth speaks in myth, a truth that mythologist Martin Shaw reminds us. From a Celtic worldview and an eco-theological perspective, the earth is the body of God. Can we then say that myth is the Divine dialect? Let’s find out together as we engage the collective and personal work of rewilding ourselves—re-membering ourselves, re-story-ing ourselves—bringing ourselves back into whole relationship with the Sacred Wild.
“The Earth speaks in myth.” ~Martin Shaw
Join your guides—spiritual ecologist and ecotheologian Mary DeJong, and the wildly creative Reverend Victoria Loorz— in this unique, soul-centric journey that will pursue themes related to the archetypal stages of the ancient heroic journey; engaging the imaginal realm of myth; the recovery of the rich heritage of Celtic spirituality; and remembering sacred rewilding practices as engagement with the wild text of creation. Through these traditions, praxis and lens, you will be invited into the wilds of your own story and the Sacred Wild that resides there and throughout this numinous Earth. You will be provided ample time to relentlessly seek and wander through the island's holy history and explore its wildest nooks and crannies while being guided to explore your own wild interior. Here you will rediscover a land of enchantment where wonder, reverence and delight are experienced in a place through the medium of your attentive presence. Here you will be inspired to return home transformed by the prayerful pace of this holy place. Here you will re-story your connection to your soul and this sacred earth.
This journey is for the seeker, the questioner, the yearner. It is for those with faith and those with doubts. It is for those who are ready to respond and return to, and be in relationship with, the wild and sacred source of life. While rooted in the Celtic Christian tradition, this pilgrimage is ecumenical by nature and accessible to all who are curious about the Muse, the Great Mystery, the Divine ground of being. All are welcome to seek the sacred together in our shared cathedral of creation and through the wild and sacred mythic stories we will encounter together.
Together we engage in critical interrelated elements of any transformational journey: long-distance walking; being in nature; community; spirituality; simplicity; challenge; and culture (art, history, story). Stories are our companions; myths our guides as we enter into the flow-like state that Iona calls us into.
Journey cost includes: communal lodging at a gold-rated Green Tourism facility, plentiful vegetarian meals, unique and historical island tours and hikes, and transformational, intimate group sessions held in the power of the Council circle. Daily rhythms are created with care and from experience, and include the Iona Abbey's morning and evening prayer times.
Wild Iona Journey
wild place | wild myth | wild faith
July 23-30, 2023
Regular Rate $2700.00 per person
limit: 12 individuals; this is a mixed-gender program
The 2023 Wild Iona Journey is FULL.
“I hope you will go out and let stories, that is life, happen to you, and that you will work with these stories... water them with your blood and tears and your laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom.”
What's Not Included in the Price?
Airfare to/from Scotland
Ground travel to/from Iona, Scotland
Recommended overnight lodging in Oban, Scotland
Travel insurance
Alcoholic beverages
Personal expenditures
One dinner meal out at a restaurant on Iona
What's Included in the Price?
7 nights/8 days of communal lodging at the Green Shed, Iona's gold-rated Green Tourism facility, which is situated on the northern turquoise shores of the island surrounded by beautiful, black Hebedrian sheep. Participants are lodged together in comfortable bunk-bed rooms that boast of breathtaking vistas of the Iona Sea! We will have the WHOLE facility to ourselves which will offer spacious places for individual and group work.
Plentiful and delicious, vegetarian meals created together! This includes daily breakfast, seven lunches, and six dinners. In order to keep the costs of this pilgrimage as low as possible, we will cook our evening meals together with a pre-planned vegetarian menu based on the island's food availability. Buffet style lunch and breakfast will be available daily. Participants are invited to work together on a rotating basis to prep meals and clear dishes as a testament to the pilgrim-community! We ask that community meals be kept substance-free. Menus strive to be whole-food based with minimal processed items. Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate sever food allergies due to the nature of the communal cooking space.
One evening towards the end of our pilgrimage, we will dine out at a favorite local restaurant as a celebration of our collective and individual journeys. This meal will be a personal expense.
Unique tours that will deepen our sense of place and connection to this sacred, storied landscape. We will tour the Iona Abbey, Staffa Island, receive expert teaching on the island's geography, meet with local artisans, and discover the wildest nooks of the island! While considered a priceless value to the journey, all tours and walks are optional; however, do note that not all are ADA accessible and require a moderately active fitness level.
Daily Circle Sessions where together we will explore the archetypal themes of the heroic journey; deepen into applied mythology with a daily story that will track and trail your journey; rediscover the rich and wild heritage of Celtic spirituality; recover wisdom and a flourishing imagination through myth work; and remember our belonging through rewilding prayers, practices, rites and rituals. These sessions will be held in various places including the sacred space of The Byre, roofed walls containing stories, dreams, and laughter; the teal-tinted north beach; St. Oran's chapel; and other powerful places throughout the island. Ceremony and sacred space will be held and engaged together daily to engage the the work of the holy descent that is requisite within any transformational journey. We will also gather nightly for Council, an ancient way to bear witness to one another’s stories and make a welcome landing place for our wild and tentative souls to show up for ourselves, and to one another.
Personal Time will be held and honored every day, ensuring that your soul can be nourished by silence and the sacred presence of the sacred land and sea.
Reflections and resources to guide your journey planning and integration both before you leave home and upon your return. Upon securing your spot with your nonrefundable deposit, you will receive communications and materials that provide in-depth information on how best to travel to Iona as well as thoughtful writings and resources on the various stages of the journey.
“This is not a journey which takes place in our heads.
It is a journey which takes us out of our heads and weaves us back into the shimmering web of life—life, with all its beauty and all its chaos,its caresses and its stings,
its dangers and its blessings.”
DESCRIPTIONS & INTENTIONS
The Green Shed
“Does the road wind up-hill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend.
But is there for the night a resting-place?
A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.
May not the darkness hide it from my face?
You cannot miss that inn.
Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?
Those who have gone before.
Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?
They will not keep you standing at that door.
Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?
Of labour you shall find the sum.
Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
Yea, beds for all who come.”
The decision to lodge at the Green Shed, previously known as the Iona Hostel, is intentional and has been the primary location of the Waymarkers pilgrimages and retreats since 2004. Here we must walk to return to our island-home passing many a stranger on the only road on Iona. We not only are in close quarters with one another, but we may very well be sharing the community-oriented croft with other seekers. At the Iona Hostel we engage the ancient practice of hospitality and discover more about ourselves in the company of the other.
For this retreat we have reserved the entire facility for our group. Our intimate group of twelve journeyers will share these sleeping quarters in gender-specific rooms (i.e. all-women’s rooms and all-men’s rooms). There are two rooms that sleep four; and two rooms that sleep two. There are no en-suite facilities; all rooms share bathroom facilities. Essentially, we are The letting of this entire facility is in keeping with current Covid recommendations and restrictions.
The Green Shed is set up as a self-catering facility and as a group we manage the collective energy and upkeep of the place. The facilities are full of care and conscientious creativity. The Green Shed’s fully appointed kitchen is a joy in which to cook communally. The comfortable restroom facilities provide both poetry and prose to cultivate an ecological mindset. This location fully deserves its Green Tourism Gold award!
Our group will meet in the Byre for our morning and evening circle times. Here we have the private space to work with the weft and weave of stories, and have these ancient myths guide us deeper into our own inner soulscape. The daily circle we create in this salty and storied stable holds ceremony, courage, and a profound and precious kindness that is created when stories are told and heard with our hearts. Meditation materials and art-response supplies are provided in this space.
The Iona Hostel is a working croft that tends a wild and wooly flock of black Hebedrian sheep. Our group has the potential (and optional!) invitation to engage the exhilarating work of helping with herding the sheep for shearing day, a meaningful experience that resonates with participants in a powerful way. The land of Lagondorian is also an example of an ecological rewilding project, another fantastic reason to stay at this site as our group works at the wild edges of our stories and understanding of the Sacred Mystery as we journey together.
Wild Iona Journey Program Elements
“Myth is the poetry of religion.” -Alice O. Howell
The Waymarkers Wild Iona Journey aims to create unique space for you to engage Iona's wild and enchanting elements through its rich Hebedrian history, residence of ancient and contemporary creativity and imagination, and its particular location within the Celtic spiritual tradition. Over the course of our week together, you will be given the bones of a story, and it will be your personal work to flesh it out with the blood of your own experience. You will track and trail this mythic through line in your life, weaving it into the physical experience of the journey itself to the wild-edged place of Iona.
We will look at false myths we’ve been culturally given through a Western worldview, and reorient how we recover a sense of the Sacred’s guiding presence—not as a remote and transcendent energy—but as one that has feathers, fins, or fronds, and resides within the elements and speaks through the old stories. Applied Mythology will be our lens as we engage with ancient tales from around the world as a way-in to our own worn and storied souls.
We will seek the Sacred not only within the walls of the Iona Abbey and the Nunnery, but we expand our search amongst the ancient stones guided by a resident expert of Iona geology; we take to the sea to feel the enormity of the swells and to experience the awe and wonder of Staffa Island and its resident puffins; we experience the sacred and storied landscape through a deeply meaningful island pilgrimage; and meet with local artists whose ancestry and heritage link them deeply and directly to the creative pulse that thrums within this place. Time is set apart each day for personal solitude with one full day devoted to silence and contemplation. Through it all, your personal story and our collective myth work will be a thread that comes alongside our remembering that the sacred Earth speaks in a mythic tongue. Together these excursions and the lessons from this sacred land weave together a wonderful tapestry of the themes of sacred place, storied myth, and a wild faith that will leave one feeling deeply restored and reclaimed by the land herself. Tune your ear to the story that lives within you that is mirrored by the wild landscape of Iona.
“The great fantasies, myths and tales are indeed like dreams: they speak from the unconscious to the unconscious, in the language of the unconscious - symbol and archetype. Though they use words, they work the way music does: they short-circuit verbal reasoning and go straight to the thoughts that lie too deep to utter.”
“To survive, you must tell stories.”
Pilgrimage Fee & Registration Requirements
Early Bird Rate $2500.00 per person (register before December 31, 2022)
Regular Rate $2700.00 per person (register after December 31, 2022)
*General registration opens on September 1, 2022
The Fine Print
You reserve your spot on the 2023 Waymarkers Iona Pilrgrimage by registering with your $500 non-refundable/non-transferable deposit. By registering before December 31, 2022, you will secure the Early Bird rate of $2,500.00 and the payment balance of $2,000.00 will be due by March 1, 2023. If you register with your $500 nonrefundable deposit after December 31, 2022, you will secure the Regular registration rate of $2,700.00 and you will owe the payment balance of $2,200.00 by April 1, 2023. Trip balances will be paid by CHECK and sent by post to Waymarkers, LLC | 2809 S. Alaska Place | Seattle, Washington (US) | 98108. If you choose to pay electronically you will be expected to cover the additional electronic processing fees. Your nonrefundable/non-transferable deposit secures your spot on the Waymarkers Iona Pilgrimage and communicates your desire and willing participation in the personal and collective community-oriented journey of the soul-centric program experience. Any cancellation must be notified in writing by the person who made the booking. If you cancel your pilgrimage: More than 120 days prior to the start of the pilgrimage, you will only be charged your deposit; Between 120-90 days, you will be charged 50% of the pilgrimage payment balance in addition to the non-refundable deposit; *90 days or less before the start of the pilgrimage, or on or after the commencement of the pilgrimage, you are responsible for paying the full pilgrimage price. We appreciate that wholly unforeseen events may result in Waymarkers cancelling the program. In this case, Waymarkers reserves the rights to the non-refundable deposit, which covers the un-recoupable costs related to administrative costs, program fees, and site-related deposits. We therefore strongly advise you to take out travel insurance to protect yourself from losing money if you have to cancel, or if the trip is cancelled due to unforeseen events and circumstances beyond our control. You will be advised of the exact amount of any cancellation charge prior to the cancellation being finalised.
When you register for the Waymarkers Wild Iona Journey, you are committing to the following requirements:
You are 18 years of age.
You will need a passport to travel to Scotland. U.S. citizens can visit for up to six months on an automatic travel visa. EU citizens can enter visa-free. You are responsible for checking with your local Scottish embassy for requirements.
You will need to be physically healthy, without a fever, and without virus-related symptoms. If you are symptomatic, you must stay home.
You will commit to global health recommendations for safe travel, which could look like wearing a mask at all times while outside or on public transit; increased hand sanitation; limited touch of face with hands; and dining outside primarily.
You will commit to global health recommendations for limiting transmission while on Iona. This could look like wearing a mask at all times while outside or when six feet of distance cannot be maintained; increased hand sanitation; limited touch of face with hands; and preparing food with gloves and masks on.
While there is one taxi on the island of Iona, walking is our primary mode of transportation. We will be walking to/from the Iona Hostel for most of our excursions and experiences. This pilgrimage will also require some hiking and walking over rough and muddy ground. You will need to be able to walk 3-4 miles comfortably over very uneven terrain and be able to climb stairs and over things. The day of the Iona Island Pilgrimage will require being able to walk eight miles over the course of the day.
While there is intentional programming and effort to ensure that everyone has independent time and reflective solitude, much of this journey is taken within the company of others. Please be ready to graciously share sleeping quarters, meals (including prep and cleanup), and one another's hearts and stories.
This journey invites a profound presencing and self-awareness, both of which are invited into growth as we engage the pilgrimage circuit. Your registration indicates that you are of sound mind and body, able to engage in both physical activity and soulful circle times that support the collective of our group experience.
Your Guides
Mary DeJong
Influenced by the lives of Celtic saints, the mythic journey, and the emerging field of ecopyschology, Mary facilitates rewilding retreats and pilgrimages in the Pacific Northwest and in Iona, Scotland, that strengthen the unique and mystical interconnection of participants, the sacred, and the natural world. She has studied and practiced within the Celtic Christian spiritual tradition, her own maternal line heritage, for over twenty years, receiving mentoring and vocational guidance from Vivienne Hull, co-founder of the Chinook Learning center and the Whidbey Institute and the director of the Iona Retreat Programs. Mary is also a graduate scholar of the School of Celtic Consciousness, a learning program founded and taught by John Philip Newell. She has been leading groups to Iona, Scotland since 2004, delighting in the pilgrimage process of recovering the sacred within, and throughout the cosmos and creation.
With a Masters in Theology & Culture and a focus in eco-theology from The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology; post-graduate certificates in Ecology & Religion from Yale University, and Ecopsychology and Applied Mythology from Pacifica Graduate Institute; and intensive trainings with Animas Valley Institute, Mary competently guides conversations and connections towards a renewed communion with the natural world. Mary's book, Waymarkers (2011), is heralded by pilgrims globally who long to journey to Iona with intention and purpose.
Rev. Victoria Loorz, MDiv
Victoria feels most alive when collaborating with Mystery and kindred spirits like Mary DeJong to create opportunities for people to re-member themselves back into intimate, sacred relationship with the rest of the living world. In 2015, she launched the first Church of the Wild, in Ojai CA and now leads Echoes Wild Church in Bellingham, Washington. As she met others with the same sense of call to leave building and expand the Beloved Community beyond our own species, she established and provides leadership for the ecumenical Wild Church Network. Victoria is co-founder and director of Seminary of the Wild, which is focused on a deep-dive yearlong eco-ministry certificate program.
Her Eco-Spiritual Direction program, in collaboration with Stillpoint, trains spiritual directors to include the natural world as co-companions on the spiritual journey. Victoria’s book, Church of the Wild, is scheduled to be released Fall 2021 through GreenLeaf, Fortress Press. Her young adult children, Alec and Olivia, are wise, creative, tender souls, dedicated to creating a more inclusive, compassionate, and just world.
Fireside Chat with co-guides Mary and Victoria
Enjoy listening into this conversation between Mary and Victoria about the Wild Iona Journey and consider yourself warmly invited!
