IXCHEL
HEALING ARTS
by Cinzia Sarigu
Healing Journey Retreat
Due to unforeseen circumstances the retreat has been postponed until 2025 when we aim to offer the retreat as a residential, all inclusive.
Read the retreat info below and watch this space for future dates or contact us if you want us to keep you informed.
Real Food Alchemy & Shamanic Healing
Autumn Equinox
16-22 September 2024
Alet Les-Bains, France
with Cinzia Sarigu and Josefina Gimenez
Guest teacher Alema Morelli
Rest, laugh, nurture !
What would it be like to unplug from the world of thinking and indulge in self love, pampered by delicious nourishing food, restorative time in nature and healing practices? What would it be like to give yourself time to relax, learn, meditate and laugh?
Healing Journey retreat is a pause to tend to your innocent heart, a sacred space for the inner child, for the dreamer and the creative in you.
A time to unwind, enjoy yourself and feel deeply loved and nurtured. An invitation to treat yourself to a week of wonders in the sacred land of Magdalene with slow food wizardry and shamanic healing at your command.
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At the turn of the autumn equinox nature begins her descent into the place of rest and deep restoration. At this time we gather under the loving gaze of Magdalene to replenish our reservoirs of physical, mental and emotional energy and dance to the rhythm of our heart.
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The retreat is open to both men and women of all ages from 18* to 99 !
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*Young people from 16 years old can attend if accompanied by an adult.
"A retreat for the heart and the taste buds"
Why Southern France ?
Southern France is renowned for its rich history and its association with the legacy of Mary Magdalene.
But there is more. Beyond the history and the mystery, the Occitane region is an area of outstanding natural beauty crowned by sacred mountains, carpeted by enchanted forests, blessed with thermal baths and clear healing waters. Fertile and kissed by good weather, the land is gentle and nurturing, the nature spirits abound and the food is but a dream.
Join us to immerse yourself in the beauty of nature, following the whispers of the forest fairies and the flowing rivers to rekindle a sense of magic and wonder that spans cultures and timelines.
The sanctuary
Our retreat sanctuary will be Villa Florence only minutes away from the village of Alet-les-Bains in the Cathar region of Occitane in Southern France. Villa Florence is discretely nestled away on the ridgeway of the village, its elevated position gives it wonderful views over one of the prettiest medieval villages in France. This dreamy, timeless village and mountain views can be enjoyed from the veranda, kitchen, lounge and garden.
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The villa will provide all the space we need for our workshops, shamanic circles, meals, social and relaxation time.
Please note that Villa Florence has limited number of rooms which will be allocated on a first come- first served basis.
We can provide a list of places to stay within the ancient walls of the village, which is only a few minutes walk from the retreat venue.
If you decide to stay farther afield and you don't have a car, we can arrange for pick up and drop off within 15 minutes of the retreat venue.
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Get in touch to find out about staying at Villa Florence and for recommendations about other places to stay in the area.
"How to put into words my experience On the Footsteps of the Goddess. All I am left with is a feeling. The feeling of completeness and wholeness within my heart. All of my worries and fears have gone away, I feel confident and at peace in my body, all the time, not just in certain moments. I have an unbreakable certainty within my entire being. Cinzia is a gentle, confident guide whose wisdom and connection to spirit allows for a truly Divine experience. Her knowledge of the areas that we explored offered an aspect of ease because she can speak the languages and she knows the territory well. The women that gathered for this experience, from all parts of the world were in complete harmony from the start. We only spent 5 days together but it feels like we have known one another for a lifetime.There are not enough words I can say to describe how positive my experience was. I just feel immense gratitude, appreciation and honour to have experienced the magic of the land with Cinzia and our group. If you are drawn to spiritual retreats, gathering in sisterhood, healing and rebirth, shamanic practices for modern humans, or having a life changing experience, then the retreats and experiences that Ixchel Healing Arts creates are for you." Marie, USA
The Flow
The retreat starts in the afternoon on September 16th. We meet at Toulouse airport and travel together to Alet-les-Bains where you will have time to check in, rest and join the rest of the group for dinner. After dinner we'll have our opening circle.
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During the week you are welcome to join all the workshops or you can also follow your own rhythm and join when it's right for you.
Every morning before breakfast you can join Alema for 30 minutes of gentle movement to prepare body and soul for the day ahead.
The shamanic workshops and circles will take place outside in nature and also in the villa, in the morning and late in the afternoon. Cinzia's work will flow organically with what's unfolding in the circle and by fine tuning into the spirit guidance of the moment.
Mealtime is a sacred part of the retreat as we'll be preparing our meals together under the expert guidance of Josefina. The food will be seasonal, local, fresh, healthy and delicious, and always suitable for vegans, GF and other dietary requirements. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be available. Late morning it's the time for the real food workshops with Josefina which will lead into preparing lunch. Dinner will be prepared and served by us but you're always welcome to join in if you wish to be part of the ritual and learn more along the way.
On some days we'll be visiting nature and sacred sites in the area and we'll either bring a picnic or eat at a traditional local restaurant.
A detailed timetable will be provided nearer the time. Please bear in mind that the order of some activities may be subject to change because of weather conditions and other factors out of our control.
Shamanic Healing
At Healing Journey Retreat we connect to the spirit of the land and the healing waters to facilitate the gentle unfolding of the healing that your heart seeks.
The retreat is an invitation to gather on sacred ground, to slow down and listen to the heart beating in our chest, held by the gentleness of nature to experience a renewed sense of self.
The spirit of Magdalene will be our muse, our guide and our teacher on our journey together.
Through storytelling, shamanic journeys, nature walks and healing practices, you will be guided to open your senses and rekindle your intimate relationship with nature, beyond the mind and straight from the heart. We will communicate with nature spirits, sing around the fire, receive guidance from Magdalene and weave magic through our night dreams and daily rituals.
Working with water as a sacred healing tool, using ancient practices, sound, oracle readings, and more, you craft your way into the legacy of Magdalene.
We will visit places where Magdalene is remembered to have walked many moons ago and listen to her whispers in the wind and the ancient stones. You will discover how the distant roots of shamanism are relevant today and can help you understand the past, appreciate the present and embrace the future with wisdom and trust. There will be time to share and time to be alone while you indulge in beauty and self love.
Playfulness will be our daily bread so you can expect to lay back and relax, enjoy yourself and have good belly laughs while gaining practical and esoteric knowledge.
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Following the legacy of Magdalene we seek to give back to the land which will be hosting us, feeding us and showering with love and beauty. During the week we will prepare our offerings and prayers for the equinox ceremony that will take place at Montsegur to facilitate the joyful opening of the heart for personal and collective healing and to invite peace, grace and beauty to take root onto the land and in our life.
" Cinzia is a wonderful example of a true, live healer. She has a tremendous amount of working knowledge and is very highly tuned to intuitively following the flow of what is needed in the moment. Cinzia found her way in to my life exactly when was necessary. They say when the student is ready the teacher appears- that is exactly what happened with Cinzia. I love the diversity of programs that she offers and am very much drawn to her ways of gracefully following her heart and her spiritual guides. You are truly in for a treat, regardless of what you are searching for in your life, Cinzia will help you see the path." Olesya, USA
Real food
With Josefina
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Connect with the bounty of nature and the rhythm of the earth through food and the plant kingdom.
During the Healing Journey retreat we cook lunch together while I guide you to prepare simple, nourishing, and delicious food with local, seasonal produce from the surrounding hills of Southern France. From crunchy salads to steaming pots and healthy baking, we relish the fun of nourishing our bodies and souls.
Through the playful exploration of the rhythms of nature, ancient grains and zero waste principles, you will be empowered to make a positive impact on your life and in the world. The interconnectedness of food and our role in nature is at the core of my work and I will guide you to discover easy and practical ways to eat more sustainably and healthy.
We approach the generosity of the land with curiosity and reverence and connect with Southern France's artisanal foods and the culinary tradition of the region.
In the foraging walks, we identify wild edible and medicinal plants that grow around us. The ancient practice of foraging allows us to restore our connection with the natural landscape and helps us remember our place in the world.
We attune to the cycles of nature and we have fun creating our own potions and plant rituals.
"I love Josefina's soul nourishing food, she's an amazing chef who puts all her heart into each and every meal. Her professional knowledge of the ingredients she uses, the herbs and wines, combined with her creativity and passion for food, is a real treat for the senses. I also love Josefina's environmental ethos and to be honest, I can't wait to taste her delicious and nourishing food once again! "
Vicky, London
Movement
With Alema
My work focuses on the body to access its inner energies, wisdom and soul. Every morning we start with a heart-soul-body warm up combining simple and effective practices like Bioenergetics, Qiqong and gentle breathing techniques. I will guide you to shift blockages and old memories from the muscles and the skin, opening up your lungs, renewing your energy and welcoming another beautiful day into your heart. The 30 minutes sessions help you prepare for the day ahead and for the shamanic healing work that Cinzia will guide you through. Everything you learn in these gentle sessions will follow you home and provide great tools for maintaining a healthy and balanced body, mind and soul into the future.
"I attended Alema's workshop and it was eye opening. Afterwards I felt free, peaceful and open. Alema is professional and empathic, she is passionate and joyful in her work. With gentleness and intuition she guides you to reclaim yourself, your body and inner world. Highly recommended" Simona, Rome.
The Magdalene legacy
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The legacy of Magdalene is the relationship to the land and the care of all beings. A relationship that is intrinsically woven into our psyche, bones and spirit. We know deep inside that it is in sharing that we feel whole, fulfilled and holy. Yet society may encourage us to focus on the isolated, self sufficient I, promoting the tendency to grab as much as possible and deplete the earth's resources, creating imbalance in the planet's physical and spiritual bodies, dishonouring other life forms and too often causing entire peoples to go hungry. But our heart knows, our heart remembers that it's in sharing that we receive the most, it's in coming together that wee feel like we belong to the sacredness and bounty of life. The interconnectedness of all life is not a spiritual concept but a biological reality. Suffering affects us all, both materially and at deep psychological levels, and can make us feel powerless in the face of the world challenges. But solutions are more simple than we think, sometimes all it takes is changing perspective and aquiring the knowledge and the tools to live in harmony with all of creation.
Magdalene is bringing us together to honour the land, the seasons, the fruits of the earth, to create colourful, abundant meals and healing rituals, to share the merriment in celebration of the Great Mother, our beloved mother earth.
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Meet The Team
Cinzia Sarigu
Ceremonialist, healer and teacher.
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My name is Cinzia and I was born in Sardinia, moved to England in 1995 and since then I have trained in the UK, Canada, Mexico and Guatemala. I've been an activist and social justice advocate since I was in high school and over the years I've trained in the fields of permaculture, teaching and community building. Alongside my passion for social and environmental restoration, I cultivated a strong connection to Spirit. My shamanic practice evolved over the course of many years from direct experience, mostly with indigenous teachers in Mexico and Guatemala.
A a child I used to have prophetic dreams and see the spirit of the departed. I was also able to heal people by placing my hands on them although I had never seen it done. When I was in my 20s I studied massage and aromatherapy, became a Reiki master and travelled to Mexico where I began an intense training with Toltec teachers. I learned then that I was a dreamer and began to understand my experiences as a channeller. Nowadays I help others to establish a direct connection to their spirit guides and develop their healing gifts.
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Ixchel Healing Arts was born in the Yucatan, inspired by Ixchel, the mayan Goddess of healing, when I worked with mayan communities in the most remote areas in the region. Living with the Mayans helped me to merge my socio-environmental work with my spiritual practice, or as the Mayans say, to bring together the heart or the sky and the heart of the earth. At the time I opened a healing centre & permaculture hub in Tulum and some time later I was called to Guatemala to be initiated as a priestess in the Mayan tradition. In 2014 I travelled to Canada, invited by two extraordinary dreamers that I met in the Mexican desert. With them I learned more about dreamwork, communicating with the spirit of the land and the art of ceremony. In recent years I returned to my homeland of Sardinia and dived deep into the mythology and spiritual tradition of my ancestors. ​Nowadays I teach shamanic courses,
lead retreats and work with people one-on-one to facilitate healing, provide guidance and help create personalised practices for a deep connection to spirit, to nature and to their unique medicine path.​
Josefina Gimenez Burlo
Chef, sommelier, organic veg grower, and forager
I am Josefina and am in love with the relationship between the palate and the living world. Born in Argentina, I grew up cooking alongside my Spanish grandmother who taught me to “taste the love” in her dishes. Nose-to-tail, seasonality, zero-waste, and the utmost respect for nature were the fundamental values in cooking with which she was raised in her native Andalusian village; values that she transmitted to me in the stories she would tell me as a child. These are the values that inspired my journey.
While riding horses in the forests of my childhood, I learned to identify trees and plants and listen to the spirits of the forest. Although my connection with the living world has always been a compass, it was not until my early thirties when I was living in the UK that I could follow my calling.
After several years working in the wine industry in London and Paris and a successful career with the world's top wines and Michelin-starred chefs, I took a leap of faith and enrolled in organic veg growing studies, became a forager, and learned to make a living from my passion for cooking. I then trained at the kitchen garden-focused Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland where real food is at the core of their cooking - all imbued with Celtic lore. I was part of the slow-food kitchens at Chez Panisse in California and the Rome Sustainable Food Project in Italy and created an award-winning forest-to-table kitchen in Argentina.
My cooking is seasonal, simple, and comforting, yet exciting. Inspired by the ebb and flow of nature and the produce-centered Mediterranean cuisine, I explore ways to prepare beautiful vegetables at the peak of their season and make them shine. I love cooking with foraged ingredients, a wellspring of awe of nature that reminds me of its cyclic essence and therefore my own.
I am now based in the South of France where I coordinate two community kitchens and share the joys of simple, seasonal food with a larger public. I also teach workshops on sustainable cooking and natural wines.
Alema Morelli
Director, actress, acting coach, counselor, humans lover.
Alema Morelli was born in Rome, daughter of an Italian Sufi and a Chilean artist. Her deep love and interest for the human being pushes her to embark on a journey into the human depths through theatre: it’s on the stage of the “European Theatre Academy” that she falls in love with the incredible experience of descending into the depths of the psyche and emotions of the whole of humanity, the empathy that requires to don’t judge even the worst character, but instead learn how to comprehend every shade of humanity, and the courage to get in the darkest part of the soul.
Over the years, she has continued her journey in various theatre companies, with important masters in Italy and abroad, and with a preference for body work: from biomechanics to Feldenkrais, from contact dance to proprioceptive training for actors, from yoga to Russian body work for actors, everything that emphasizes body language and its intrinsic wisdom fascinates her immensely: "the body knows" said Jacques Lecoq (illustrious mime and French theatrical pedagogue)
She always knew that in the body all our memories are stored, even the most ancient that we can’t access with our conscious mind are there, this is way the body is so crucial in every process of healing.
Along with her passion for theatre and its expressive language, she has always cultivated the strong spiritual call she feel: from her Chilean roots to her deep contact with nature, that she has felt since she was a child, she loves to listen to dreams, synchronicities, and the natural empathy she feels in contact with every being: she cultivates her restless creativity in cooking, dancing, singing, writing, living in nature and practicing rituals.
In 2018 she won a scholarship at the prestigious Actor School in Los Angeles and then moved to London.
In Rome she attended and graduated successfully at the “Kyklos school of counseling and phytotherapy” where she deepened her knowledge of biomechanics, quantum physics, family constellations, the medical properties of plants and flowers, and above all her passion for the unique and fascinating mystery that is the human being, his psyche and his soul.
