by Sylvia Somerville
Back to In The News ~ Jean Shinoda Bolen Retreat

When Jean Shinoda Bolen published Goddesses in Every Woman 20 years ago, she empowered a whole generation of women to look within to find guidance and meaning in their lives. “We recognized what we ourselves had experienced, felt trust because of that truth and then were taken one step further,” said Gloria Steinem. It is this spirit of revelation, of honoring the sacred feminine and guiding hundreds of women through transition periods in their lives, that has made Bolen a leader in the women’s spirituality movement. 

Bolen, an internationally known Jungian analyst, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California in San Francisco, a feminist, former board member for the Ms. Foundation for Women and a celebrated author, is making a rare appearance in the Verde Valley, offering her four decades of analytical insight in an intimate retreat setting. She will facilitate a women’s-only retreat June 11 through June 13 called “Women’s Wisdom and the Sacred Feminine.” The retreat will be in the quiet sanctuary of Angel Valley, where time seems to have stopped, and nature fills one’s eyes and ears. 

Bolen is known to open up inner worlds where creative juices are stirred by feelings, dreams and images deep within the psyche. “Every woman has the leading role in her unfolding life story,” says Bolen, and every story has a mythic dimension. When that myth is interpreted or intuitively grasped, it provides extraordinary insight into character patterns and unlocks creative possibility for expression and change. Women may find that what matters to them is not what they were led to believe by others. 

This will be a customized retreat, and as Bolen explained, “one of the smaller opportunities to be with me as I do this sort of work.” With no more than 60 women attending, there will be ample one-on-one attention. There will also be built-in time for solitude, quiet reflection and introspection and opportunity to enjoy the camaraderie of other women, who will come together in smaller circles to share something of their own journey. 

“To come into a retreat is to enter a different time. It is more like a dreamscape than a nuts and bolts reality,” says Bolen. If you are a woman at a crossroads, at a transition period when something new is growing or something old has passed or simply yearning to live a more authentic life, take note. Bolen can provide a sense of where you have come from, what choices you have and which direction you might choose to take. 

The content of the retreat will be dictated in part by the women who arrive and the phase of life they are in. “People come to my retreats assuming that I will give wisdom. But what I do is to stimulate the wisdom that is already there. I access what is in a woman’s psyche if she only has time to listen. I stir things up. I am a storyteller that evokes “ahas” by giving words and images to what’s in the psyche,” says Bolen. 

Indeed it is this philosophy of uncovering the truth within that is the guiding principle of all retreats sponsored by A Woman’s Way. “Our mission is to provide a sacred space and sponsor a process that encourages women to find their vision and their voice,” says cofounder Karen Ely, “to discover that they already are the women they aspire to become. In the words of Joseph Campbell, ‘The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.’”

For more information about the retreat with Jean Shinoda Bolen, click here or call (928) 254-1897.

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Jean Shinoda Bolen Retreat