Harvest Women’s Weekend:
Giving Thanks and Blessing the Seeds in Sisterhood
Friday Oct 16th 3 pm through Sunday Oct 18th 3pm
We invite you to join us for a women’s weekend of ceremony, connection, and renewal on the land with Nan Heddi Gonzalez-Neale at Deer Mountain Sanctuary north of Mt Shasta, CA.
This time together offers space to step away from the pace of daily life and return to the rhythms of nature, community, and self. As women, we gather to support one another, share from the heart, and be held by Mother Earth and the Grandmother Lodge so that we can source ourselves and return renewed as pillars of our homes and communities.
Over the course of the weekend, we will:
Gather in circle and shared meals
Prepare and enter the purification (sweat) lodge
Connect to the sacred fire
Offer prayers with water and the land
Rest, reflect, and connect in sisterhood
The Mayan day of Waqxaqui (8) Q’anil is a sacred day in the Mayan calendar associated with seeds, fertility, and the potential for new growth. On this day the seeds are blessed before being planted — an acknowledgment that what we place into the Earth, and into our lives, carries intention, prayer, and responsibility.
Seeds remind us that growth unfolds through relationship: with the land, with time, and with the elements. Coming into collective prayer as women on this day offers a chance to reflect on what we are ready to nurture and what qualities we want to help grow.
Time at the creek, moments of quiet, and simple acts of preparing food together are all part of the medicine of the weekend — weaving relationship with one another and with the natural world.
Participants will arrive Friday afternoon to settle into camp and begin our time together in circle. Early Saturday morning we will travel to the ceremonial grounds to prepare the fire and lodge, followed by the purification ceremony and time for rest and integration.
On Sunday, we will gather at sunrise for prayer and offerings, and close our time together in a spirit of gratitude and connection.
Weekend Schedule
Friday, Oct 16th (7 Kiej)
Arrive between 3–5 PM to set up camp
5 PM: Orientation & welcoming circle
6:30 PM: Potluck dinner
After dinner connecting time
Saturday, Oct 17th (8 Q’anil)
8 am travel to ceremony grounds to light fire at 9 am and dress lodge (we will have some breakfast things to help yourself to as needed at the ceremony grounds)
Sweat lodge ceremony when stones are ready
Meal and gratitude circle after the lodge at the creek
Creek time
4-5 pm: Return to Bear Paw Cabin to prepare dinner together
Sunday, Oct 18th (9 Toj)
7 am - Sunrise Ceremony at Bear Paw Meadow: Pipe ceremony + sacred fire
Bring spring or sacred water from your home for offering
Prepare brunch together at Bear Paw Cabin
Optional: Travel down Klamath River to share offerings with the river (possibly the salmon will be spawning at this time!)
Others may pack and leave at this time if desired.
Complete by 3 PM (You are welcome to stay the night Sunday and depart Monday morning, we will just need to know to make dinner plans that evening).
(subject to change, weather can be a factor)
Logistics
Lodging & Location
We’ll be camping at Bear Paw Meadow where we have solar electricity, wifi, a full kitchen, outhouses, and hot showers. If anyone wants to stay in the yurt, you are welcome to do so, knowing that it is a shared communal space - just bring your sleeping gear (comfortably fits up to 8 women). We will be providing food, but preparing our meals together.
Contribution: $300 for the weekend.
Your contribution supports the full circle of this experience — including food, facilities, care for the land, ceremonial materials, and the time and energy of those holding the space.
If you feel called to attend and the cost is a barrier, we invite you to reach out to explore work exchange or limited scholarship support.
We ask that those who are able to contribute at the full rate do so, helping make this work accessible to others.
For those who feel resourced and inspired to give more, additional contributions are welcomed in support of the land, this work, and increased access for others…
For questions, please contact Heddi@earthpeoplesunited.org