The School of Liminal Arts Presents

A Nature Retreat to Bridge Earth & Cosmos through Embodied Alchemical Practice

Click Here to Apply by 6/15 

This July 10th-14th, we come together to traverse the Liminal Landscape and marry Sky and Earth within. 

Four Nights, Five Days in the Red Earth High Deserts of Northern New Mexico

Join School of Liminal Arts facilitators, Nico Wolf, Jaye Marolla and Daje Aloh, as we embark on the work of
As Above, So Below: A Foundational Course in the Liminal Arts, Embodied Alchemical Healing and Animistic Practice.  

Along the intertwined road of Daoist and Western Alchemy, we’ll engage in embodied listening to the Animate Earth and releasing the anthropocentric lens as a way of finding our way home to the embrace of our more than human allies, ancestors, elements, and Earth Spirits.

Our explorations will be steeped in devotion, crafting sacred spaces where we can navigate the collective grief of our planet. Through this journey, we forge new pathways of connection, nurturing the potential to mend and reignite hope in future stories as they arise.

This course invites you through the sevenfold process of alchemical transmutation through which you will be taught Liminal Arts practices such as dreamwork, womb work, omen tracking, black mirror work, and other modes of developing oracular vision and finding vision in communion with the Living Earth and with the wise ones who offer their wisdom from beyond the veil. Through group qi gong and personalized body sigils, we embody these experiences, anchoring our journey in deep ritual and ceremonial initiation.


Themes of Exploration:

  • When we listen to the myriad of voices that make themselves known and heard within the context of quiet land and open skies, we open doorways to new conversations with the Spirits of the Living Earth and evoke the wisdom of the Ancients. We work through the sensorium of the body as the meeting place of communication, unlocking gnosis and right relationship with the animate world of Spirit and Form.

  • Through animistic practice and ceremonial invocation, we remember ourselves into the interconnected landscape found when we invite deeper relationship with the All that Is. We explore and embody the hive mind, the wild flock, the pack, the superorganism of humanity within the ecosystem of the Living Earth.

  • As within, so without. We come home to ourselves. We explore the innermost realms to understand that, regardless of physical location, we can know what it is to locate ourselves within Divine weave, where all belongs.

  • Through the physical practices of qi gong, walking meditation, embodiment practice and alchemical invocations, we find ourselves oriented on the thread of the as above and so below, we find the path of the heart in alignment with our Divine Countenance.

  • In these threshold times, we gaze upon the horizon as the unformed place of possibility. We evoke spells in the retelling of what comes next. We seed vision and steward change.

  • We release into the Unknown and befriend the Mystery as we are guided into the dance between what needs be release and what wants to be realized. We find new ways of relating and generative perspectives on which we can build anew.

All genders and levels of experience are welcome.

Your Guides…

  • Nico Wolf (Nicole Haciba Burke) is a healing practitioner, trans-disciplinary artist, writer, guide and facilitator of dreamwork, ceremony, embodiment practices, Earth wisdom ways and animistic-based healing work. Her work incites rebellion against the status quo and invites fellow humans toward endless curiosity, courageous authenticity, compassion, and connectivity.

    For 10 years, Nico and her husband Ryan stewarded Golden Well Sanctuary - a retreat and regenerative farm in central Vermont devoted to re-potentiating our relationship with the living Earth through cultivating deeper and more meaningful connections between Nature, Spirit, Self and Community. After selling their farm in 2021, the couple moved to the wilds of Brooklyn, NY for a year where they transitioned their work to School of Liminal Arts - a platform to house not only their offerings, but to expand into more creative collaborations. They explored Europe for a year and have recently returned to New Mexico where they plan to settle for a while.

    Born in Hong Kong to a Moroccan/Algerian mother and an Irish/Polish/American father, Nico’s work is influenced by a life of multiculturalism, travel, adventure and seeking new perspectives. In addition to nearly two decades in the healing arts, her experiences range from artist and fashion designer to beekeeper, organic farmer and ceremonialist. Nico has undertaken several formal apprenticeships in Japanese medicine and acupressure, Classical Shamanism, and Shamanic practice based on the wisdom of the serpent and the honeybee.

    Nico’s diverse background and multi-faceted worldview has inspired her to create spaces that elicit a deep sense of anything-goes-ness, belonging and freedom where the full palate of human expression and creative impulse comes to the surface. Through her group and private sessions, she ushers participants towards the transformation that can occur when finding oneself in unexpected and non-dual realities.

    ___________

    “Nico weaves the fabric of liminal realm with mastery. A powerful healer and enchantress, she carries connection between the many layers of life and mystery. As a mentor, she holds generous architecture around learning. Creates space for moving ceremony. A portal and a channel. Will carry you places and bring messages and medicine back. Dreamer and dream weaver. She watches over this world and midwifes it across change with entire devotion.” - Jaden, Student

Nico Wolf

Co-Founder of SoLA, Main Facilitator

Jaye Marolla

Embodiment, Qi Gong, Somatics

  • I am an educator, somatic practitioner and holistic bodyworker. I currently offer movement classes in Santa Fe and consult privately with groups, organizations and businesses offering somatic programs in person and online. My bodywork practice is here in Santa Fe, specializing in Thai Bodywork. My practices and outlook are deeply informed by living and traveling outside of the US. I spent significant years in Ghana, West Africa, China, Thailand, Central Asia, and England, studying and attuning to how other cultures express movement and approach their day to day lifestyle. In China and Thailand I began extensive study in healing and martial arts, and how the intertwining of the two branches originates from the same root. I became fascinated with lineage based practices and knowledge that travels tacitly through transmission and embodied nuance.

    Growing up with two educators for parents I was tilted towards absorption and awe regarding many areas of life, my wheelhouse specifically, the magnificent complexity of the human body. As a collegiate athlete I spent hours alone in basketball gyms from the age of 12 onward, only in hindsight did I realize I was enveloped in a state of moving meditation. When I began to study Yoga, Martial Arts and Qigong I was enthralled with my first experiences of inner relationship to breath, body, and touch and the philosophical approaches that afford context to these pathways. Continued study in London working on a Masters in Complementary Medicine allowed me to formalize those dialogues.

    My passion and excitement is in teaching, not a particular form or modality, not so much a way of doing, but a way of being. For that has been my life's journey and intimate field of discovery. I approach movement as embodied artistry, and we are all artists. The craft of understanding the connections between how we move and how movement informs consciousness is an endless canvas to play on. Vitality consistently rises, vitality looks for expression, exploration and engagement, we just have to open, allow and surrender to the truth and myriad shades of our nature.

    ​In addition to engrossing myself (because that's kind've what I do) in the study of Jujutsu, Aikido, Iaido, Taiji, Qigong and Gongfu; Yoga and Contact Dance Improvisation rounded my movement pallet towards beautifully Somatic approaches. My bodywork study began in Thailand where I apprenticed with Pichest Boonthume, a master instructor of bodywork, humanness and Dharma. Learning an Eastern modality while immersed in the culture from which it originated allowed me to travel deeply into the cultural, medicinal, and historical roots of the practice.

    Here in Santa Fe I studied intensively for four years within the Post-Daoist & Mythopoetic frame of the philosophical & somatic teachings of Zhenevere Sophia Dao, the development gained from these years along with the myriad of study prior formulates my current offerings and perspective. I have had the pleasure and honor to work with a long list of phenomenal teachers, guides, peers and friends who greatly inform how I hold space and the deep care I have for the process of learning, living and empowering others through radical self acceptance and connection to their own innate generative resources.

    ——————

    “Jaye is an exceptional teacher. The learning process feels like a meditative experience in itself. Having come to class as a total newcomer and not really knowing what to expect, I’ve felt safe and held each entire class while being guided. Jaye's instructions and guidance are practical and useful, whilst also being imaginative and gentle in a way that dispels struggle and enables me to really connect with and within my body. I would readily recommend any movement-as-medicine course or class with Jaye.” - Shamira

Daje Aloh

Facilitator, Shadow and Story Work

  • As a Memphis-born, Appalachian-cured storyteller, story doula, and ecosomatic depth guide; Daje Aloh supports seekers, lovers, crafters, and kin in finding and singing the deep song of their lives. She does this in several domains: entrepreneurship, creative rites of passage, and musings on culturework and leadership in these times. She has founded Storywork Studio, The Creative Devotion Series, and Kinspirit Press and looks forward to many more projects to come.


    Daje Aloh is a writer, facilitator, and vision midwife / mentor for wild-hearted thresholdkeepers, seers, and creative entrepreneurs who are intent on shifting culture through their creations. Her offerings weave the wisdom of Earth and her cycles, the wisdom of the stars and their rhythms with the practical magic of narrative design for the sake of regenerating culture at the personal, virtual, and cultural levels.

    Learn more at www.thestorydoula.co

Practices we’ll engage with:

  • Somatic-based Alchemical Practice

  • Tracking Omens and Nature Divination

  • The Luminous Dark as a Healing Force

  • Oracular Seership Practices through Trance States

  • Black Mirror work

  • Ritual Dream Work and Yoga Nidra

  • Qi Gong and Daoist Philosophy

  • Star Gazing and Story Alchemy

  • Spirit Line meeting Flesh and Bone

  • Authentic Pan-Cultural Ritual Crafting for Modern Times

  • Integration Practices, Creating Context and World-making Discourse & Discussion

For those who seek nourishment, connection, and a remembrance of deep belonging to the All that Is.

This work is for those who feel called to usher forth the voice of the Earth and the Stars through the knowing of their flesh, within the constellation of community. For those who wish to do their part in the revival of animistic worldview and integrated practice. For those who are seeking to partake in the calling forth of possibility and futures that honor the more than human world. For those who know what it is to live feet on the Earth, head in the Sky, Heart forward and wish to carve out spaces for this as a way of life. For those who seek sanctuary to build the courage to show up in helping to rewrite future histories. For those who believe in the body’s ability to draw forth the mystical and the holy. For those who wish to alchemize the gifts available to and through us when engaging with Liminal landscapes that birth new forms. For those of all genders and levels of experience who come with curiosity and a sense of adventure and devotion.

Our home for the week will be…

An Oasis in the Desert

We’ll be spending our days in an exquisite oasis nestled in the wild and beautiful nature of the Valdez foothills. The adobe style home where we’ll be dreaming is spacious and light filled and the land we’ll be communing with is alive with birdsong, giant willow trees and a meandering river with a swim spot.

We’ll be 15-20 minutes from Taos Ski Valley, 20 minutes to the Taos Plaza and 8 minutes to the hidden eclectic town of Arroyo Seco where you’ll find a great coffee shop, natural grocery store, restaurants and artisan boutiques. Should you choose to explore the area after or before our course, nearby day trips include Ojo Caliente Spa and natural hot springs (1 hour 15 minutes), Big Arsenic Trail down a winding canyon (1 hour drive), and the state capital of Santa Fe (1 hour 45 minutes).

The closest airports are Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Denver, CO. It tends to be cheapest to fly into ABQ and Denver than to Santa Fe. Please reach out if you need help making travel arrangements.

Investment

For 4 nights of accommodations, 5 days of instruction and ritual, and three chef-prepared meals per day, the cost of this retreat is priced in 3 Tiers as follows:

  • Tier One: Camping (bring your own gear): $1600 Total (payment plan: deposit plus 3 payments of $400)

  • Tier Two: Bed in a Shared Room: $2200 Total (payment plan: deposit plus 3 payments of $600)

  • Tier Three: Private Room: $2600 Total (payment plan: deposit plus 3 payments of $734)

You’ll be asked for a $400 non-refundable deposit upon acceptance of your application. Please inquire on your application if you’ll be needing a payment plan.

We are offering 2 partial work trade scholarships; note your interest on your application to inquire.

Enrollment is open now until 6/15

If you’re feeling the call to join us, click here to apply and send in your deposit to secure your spot.

Still have questions? Book a free discovery call to discuss.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • The closest airport is in Santa Fe, NM which is about 1.5 hours away by car. Cheaper flights can be found into Albuquerque (2.5 hour drive) or Denver (4.5 hour drive). There are many campsites and hotsprings to visit along the way from each airport in case you’d like to make a stop. We are also happy to help you make travel plans including arranging carpools from airports. Just reach out.

  • The weather in Valdez, NM typically ranges from 50-80 degrees in July. The sun is hot, but well nestled in a river valley with a swim spot and plenty of shade in the trees. Nights are also pleasantly cool.

  • Besides putting lots of love, time and energy in organizing our retreats, we also have to make non-refundable deposits of our own in advance to make these events happen.

    Please note that your deposit is non-refundable. The balance of your payment is due within 30 days of the retreat. If that is not paid on time, we reserve the right to open your spot up to another participant.

    If you cancel up to 60 days prior to the retreat start, you will receive a full refund for anything paid beyond your deposit. If you cancel up to 31 days prior to the start of the retreat, you will not receive a refund but instead will receive full credit, towards any other program School of Liminal Arts is hosting in the same calendar year.

    No refunds or credits will be given within 30 days of the retreat or if you do not show up for any reason or choose to leave early for any reason.

    In the unlikely even that we cancel an event, you’ll be refunded in full. We are not responsible for travel costs.

    We highly recommend purchasing travel insurance.

  • • Warm and cool clothing options that are easy to move in

    • Walking shoes and/or hiking shoes with good ankle support if you plan to hike

    • Flashlight

    • Toiletries

    • Notebook and pen

    • Insect repellent and sunscreen

    • Bathing suit , river shoes and swimming towel if you wish to dip in the river

    • Slippers or indoor shoes if you need them (no shoes are allowed in most meeting spaces)

  • If you’re coming from lower altitude, expect a couple of days to adjust to being at high altitude - meaning you might be a bit tired when you first arrive. Valdez is at 7,400 feet above sea level. There are things you can do to prepare and help your body adjust including using chlorophyll extract. Check with a trusted naturopath for tips and dosage. Drinking plenty of water and being sure you have a good mineral balance is also helpful.

  • We’ll have a blend of active participation, time to socialize and time to rest. We’ll be spending a lot of time outdoors as well. Our days will start at 9am and go as late as 9pm with midday breaks to replenish.

  • We’ve hired a local chef to prepare vegetarian food with options available for gluten and dairy intolerance. If you have special dietary needs beyond this, please reach out. You’re welcome to bring what you need to be nourished but we cannot accommodate all dietary restrictions.

  • No problem, we got you and will meet you where you’re at.

  • Nope. We’ll be entering into altered states through breath, movement, sound and liminal arts practices. We will reserve the right to ask you to leave should you breach this policy.

  • We suggest you plan an extra day or two before or after the retreat to check out local hot springs. There are several natural ones close proximity to the retreat. We may even decide to go as a group one of the days we’ll be gathering. TBD.

  • We have 2 partial, work trade scholarships available, first come first serve. Email Nico to ask. We’re also offering payment plans in addition to Afterpay.

  • There are loads of airbnbs and hotels in the surrounding area. If you’d like to be connected with other attendees to play car shares and shared accommodations or side trips before or after the retreat, reach out, we’ll connect you.

Join us. Apply here.