SMOKE & MIRRORS:
An Initiation into Un-defining Perceptual Reality
We welcome all parts of you
to this in the flesh, all genders,
Liminal Arts Immersion
new dates
August 31st - September 5th, 2025
in Santa Fe, NM
We Retreat to see clearly and become porously present.
Six days to reflect. Five nights to dream deeply. This time out of time.
We gather to carve forays into reality with the Absurd.
We expand to be with What Is and make room for unimaginable possibility.
Welcome to Smoke & Mirrors, a courageous body of work that extends beyond personal transformation and initiates participants to move through personal transmutation and into intrapersonal transfiguration.
In our unfurling, we move off the map and wind our way through the Hall of Mirrors - piercing through illusion, releasing fixation, dropping masks, moving into and with the Void, finding camaraderie with the undefinable, the more than human, revealing, releasing, rebuilding without walls.
Smoke & Mirrors is an immersive residency that explores transformation and interpersonal transfiguration and seeks to shift worldview and seed culture through art, ritual, and invitation to ecological listening. Rooted in pan-cultural animistic practices and spiritual ecology, this gathering invites participants to transcend self and societally-imposed boundaries, reconnect with the more-than-human world, and engage in embodied acts of creation and connection.
Through social art and community ritual, Smoke & Mirrors culminates in an immersive exhibition at a local gallery that will invite transcendent experience. The explorations and works created in our residency will invite the community at large to reimagine how we relate to the world and to step beyond the veil of material reality as a pathway to shift cultural paradigms and rebuild a deeper sense of interconnection.
The arc of our immersion is a Vision Quest
through the Hall of Mirrors…
Societal reflection, the human mirror, Nature as mirror, the clear mirror, Black Mirror, dream mirror, the inverted disco ball of self reflection,
and back out again.
We come together to heal disparate parts of our selves,
fractures in our worldviews, divisions in our ways.
We come together to break open, break free, and rebuild.
This immersion is for those who wish to not just dance with change,
but become change itself.
It will push your edges and catch you in the most unexpected ways.
No experience required. All genders welcome. This is a radically inclusive environment.
Smoke & Mirrors asks us to meet this work as sinuous, sensate, immersive to the depths of dissolving orientation so that we might become the spinning top, the whirling dervish, that knows nothing but God and ground, Earth and Guidance, the stillness in the Chaos and the wild movement between All form. We beckon Life forth from these synapses of the Great Unraveling. We become the Big Bang of uproarious laughter as new whirled Worlds unfurl.
Some of the ways we will play, find and seek:
Meditation, Somatic Explorations and Liminal Arts practice
Spiritual Ecology & Land Listening
Movement Work & Embodiment Practices
Exploration of Internal Archetypes
Inviting in the absurd as guide
Unsanctifying the Sacred so that it moves freely in the All that Is
Mask making & Acting techniques to expand into the full range of human emotion and expression
Nervous System Tending
Animistic Practice, Shamanic Seership & Oracular Work
Dream Ritual and Reflection
Cleansing Rituals
Breathwork
Group Ritual
Initiation Ceremony
Immersive Theater & Social Art for the broader community
Deep nourishment, play, laughter and REST.
“Trouble - derives from a thirteenth-century French verb meaning “to stir up,” “to make cloudy,” “to disturb.” We—all of us on Terra—live in disturbing times, mixed-up times, troubling and turbid times. The task is to become capable, with each other in all of our bumptious kinds, of response. Mixed-up times are overflowing with both pain and joy—with vastly unjust patterns of pain and joy, with unnecessary killing of ongoingness but also with necessary resurgence. The task is to make kin in lines of inventive connection as a practice of learning to live and die well with each other in a thick present. Our task is to make trouble, to stir up potent response to devastating events, as well as to settle troubled waters and rebuild quiet places. In urgent times, many of us are tempted to address trouble in terms of making an imagined future safe, of stopping something from happening that looms in the future, of clearing away the present and the past in order to make futures for coming generations. Staying with the trouble does not require such a relationship to times called the future. In fact, staying with the trouble requires learning to be truly present, not as a vanishing pivot between awful or edenic pasts and apocalyptic or salvific futures, but as mortal critters entwined in myriad unfinished configurations of places, times, matters, meanings”.
- Donna Haraway, Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene
About your guides:
Nico, Sara, and Carlisle are liminal artists, ceremonialists, seeresses, healing practitioners, Earth lovers, social artists, and ritualists who have been dreaming, scheming, and creating together across years and realms.
Sara and Nico first met on a course in England called Serpent Fool, and they’ve been up to no good together ever since. For over two years, they’ve been tending to the spirit of Smoke & Mirrors — and are giddy to see it finally taking shape in the wilds of New Mexico.
Last year, after a rupture in their extended community, Sara introduced Nico to Carlisle. What began as a call for support and truth-telling quickly deepened into kinship and creative collaboration. The three have since offered ceremonial work together — including a powerful installation in Santa Fe with the Temple of the Black Mirror, where they sat as oracles for the community.
They now meet regularly to stir their distinct medicines into the strange brew that is Smoke & Mirrors — cackling (not so quietly) at the brilliance, beauty, and sheer transformational power of what’s to come.
(Read more about them via the drop down beneath their photos)
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(Lead facilitator)
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 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.
More info: nicogoldenwolf.com
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Sara Rothwell is a multifaceted artist, lover of the liminal, explorer of cracks and fissures and shaper of the formless. Sara materializes spirit and spiritualizes matter. She is a Canadian-born, Londoner, daughter of Margaret and Frank, mother to Roman, sister, friend, beekeeper, guide and big believer in a different way of existing within the human and more than human world.
For the last two decades, Sara has delved into various fields, including permaculture, Nonviolent communication and conflict resolution, Classical Shamanism, and Shamanic practices inspired by the wisdom of the serpent and the honeybee which involves traversing the seen and unseen worlds, dream and oracular work, as well as various healing modalities. She is also a facilitator of women’s circles, sweat lodges and other ceremonial gatherings.
Her exploration of Western esoteric practices, animism, and alchemy further enriches her unique perspective and creative endeavors. She is also a jewelry designer, creatrix and adorner of talismanic, and totemic pieces. Sara has long understood the symbolic connection between the alchemical journey of jewelry and the slippery mercurial human journey on our way to becoming golden. Her work involves dreaming modern artifacts into being in union with her clients to create meaningful and powerful adornments and more that affect and change lives of the wearer for the better, by bringing co-created aspects of their life into ritualized forms of allyship, enhancement and ornamentation.
Sara's work is a reflection of her connection to nature, spirituality, and the mystical realms, offering a glimpse into her rich tapestry of knowledge, experiences and wisdom.
More info: sararothwell.com
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Carlisle Vandervoort has been a publicist, artist, beekeeper, and film maker. As an artist, she focused on the challenge of shifting viewers out of the mundane and into the sublime. She discovered that beekeeping was a new route to that goal. As she shared honey harvesting with non-beekeepers, the hum of the bees and the energy of the honey and pollen found their way to hearts of the guests and boom, lift off occurred. Her artistic practice and Houston roots made her the ideal producer for “Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins,” a documentary about the maverick Texas political columnist who spoke truth to power—with a jaded eye and thick southern drawl—through her humorous but sharply-insightful syndicated columns, books, and speeches. The film screened at both the Sundance and SXSW film festivals to sold out audiences in 2019 and went on to receive national distribution, screening in 42 states. Currently living in Houston, Carlisle continues to be in service to the upliftment of humans so that we may all be in better service to all living beings through the creation of sacred tools such as headdresses and brooms for personal transformation.
Some kind words from people we’ve worked with…
“Nico did a dreamwork session for my bandmate and me during the writing of our last album. It helped us unearth some of the imagery that wanted to be summoned in those songs. She was able to meet us where we were at and speak our language and it was a deep pleasure. Nico has a way of dropping into a very deep place almost casually, like ‘please pass the salt’. She does it with ease and humility and never a trace of pretense or judgment. She’s a guide in the truest sense, in that she makes the vast and incomprehensible land of the unconscious feel like a terrain that is safe to explore.” — Anaïs Mitchell (member of Bonny Light Horseman & Creator of the Broadway musical Hadestown)
“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, Poet, Activist
“Working with Nico opened a portal to a deep remembering. Nico’s ability to hold space for a group is like few I’ve seen. Her courses are for anyone seeking a stronger alignment with self, spirit, earth. I am eternally grateful to Nico and the teaching of this deep wisdom.”
- Sophia Calvi, Director of Programs, Franklin Environmental Center, Middlebury College
“Working with Nico feels like Being held. With grace, clarity and a great deal of wit, Nico brings to bear the magic and medicine of her own full lived and ever-honing intuitive knowing. I feel seen in my own power. I feel courted into the places of relatedness I do not know, with fierceness, honesty, and wild breathing imagination.”
- Hannah Abrams, student of Dance
“Nico has a gift for welcoming in all that is. Her approach is gentle and expansive, allowing the archetypes to enter the work and express themselves. In her workshops, everything belongs, each voice and image given its rightful place in the fold. ” — Kim Krans, artist & author of The Wild Unknown Tarot
Where we’ll stay:
We will gather in a beautiful classic, adobe home set amongst the arroyos and piñon hills in the outskirts of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The home features comfortable rooms, beauty filled common spaces and ample outdoor space with amenities including a swimming pool, hot tub and cedar wood sauna.
We’ll be 10 minute drive from historic, downtown Santa Fe. Should you choose to explore the area after or before our course, nearby day trips include Ojo Santa Fe natural hot springs (20 minute drive - we may even do a day trip with the group!), Bandelier National Monument (1 hour), Taos (1.5 hours), and Jemez hot springs (1.5 hours)
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. There is cheap and easy public transport from Albuquerque to Santa Fe and we’re happy to arrange carpools or pick ups from town. Please reach out if you need help making travel arrangements.
The Exchange:
For 5 nights of accommodations, 6 days of instruction and ritual, and three chef-prepared meals per day, the cost of this retreat is priced as follows:
Tier One: Camping (bring your own gear) or Locals (non-residential):
$1800 total (payment plan: deposit plus 4 payments of $325)Tier Two: Shared Room:
$2600 (payment plan: deposit plus 4 payments of $525)Tier Three: Private Room:
$3200 (payment plan: deposit plus 4 payments of $675) Note: If you’d like to share a private room with a partner or a friend, one participant in the pair can enter SHAREDPRIVATE at check out for 30% off the second retreat fee.
Enter the code EARLYBIRD200 by June 30th for $200 off your deposit.
If you’re feeling the call to join us, click here to apply and send in your deposit to secure your spot.
You’ll be asked for a $500 non-refundable deposit upon acceptance of your application. Alternative payment plans are available. Please read Terms & Conditions before signing up.
We are offering 2 partial work-trade scholarships;
inquire via your application.
Frequently Asked Questions
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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.
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The weather in Santa Fe in February ranges from 20-50 degrees. It can sometimes snow but usually melts by the afternoon as the sun is usually shining daily.
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Please note that by paying for your course or your first deposit, you are agreeing to the following terms and conditions.
First, it’s important to say that School of Liminal Arts is a small, family business and we are required to extend our finances and take risks when booking retreats as they always require a non-refundable deposit of us. Besides the financial aspect of planning, each of our retreats requires months of advance planning to ensure that we offer the most quality and held experience for each of our participants. We are committed to our work and we ask that you too take your commitment to joining our retreats seriously.
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NON-REFUNDABLE DEPOSITS
Please note that when paying for a retreat in full, $500 of your payment will serve as a non-refundable deposit and will not be returned under any circumstances after our the 48 hours free-cancellation window closes. When paying in 4 installments, your first payment is held as your non-refundable deposit.REFUND POLICY
While after 48 hours post booking there will be no refunds of the deposit, if you’ve paid in addition to the deposit, we will offer refunds for those additional payments in the following manner:If a guest cancels 6 weeks prior to the retreat, a full refund of the amount paid in addition to the non-refundable deposit upon will be given upon request.
If a guest cancels between 6 and 3 weeks prior to the retreat, full credit (of the amount paid in addition to the non-refundable deposit) will be offered upon request to use on another retreat or any School of Liminal Arts offerings (this includes services with Ryan and Nico Wolf).
If a guest cancels less than 3 weeks prior to retreat, no refunds will be given under any circumstances. At this point, we’ve already paid the chef, for your spot, worked the curriculum around your being there, purchased supplies, etc and your forfeited spot will likely not be filled so close to the retreat date.
TRAVEL & HEALTH INSURANCE
All guests must carry travel insurance that covers COVID and any other illness related cancellations as well as global emergency health coverage. All participants are responsible for their own health and wellbeing and agree to only participate at a level appropriate for their individual levels of physical and mental ability.NO EXCEPTIONS
Due to our own non-recoverable expenses that must be paid as we secure and prepare for the retreat, exceptions to our policies cannot be made for any reason, including positively tested to COVID-19 or other health conditions, family or work emergencies, bad weather, or change of mind. If you cannot reach the retreat due to unforeseen circumstances such as strikes, weather circumstances, and missed, delayed or canceled flights, the retreat fees remain non-refundable. If you arrive late or need to leave your retreat early, you will not receive any refund on the remaining time of your scheduled stay.COVID POLICY
We take the health of our guests and facilitators very seriously. We ask everyone to be as mindful as possible in the days leading up to the retreat to ensure a healthy, safe space for everyone. If we deem the number of incidents around the time our retreat is high, we have the right to ask guests to perform a self-test before entering the retreat area.
MEDIA USE
In general, we ask that you stay off your phone and devices as much as possible. This is time for inner work and we prefer you stay present with what’s moving and with the people you’re on retreat with. Please also respect the privacy of other guests and do not photograph any other guests unless they have given consent. Phone calls are not allowed in the house, please go to a remote area where you are sure not to disturb anyone. Please do not use photographs from our retreat for self promotion or product placement.
IN CASE WE CANCEL
If we can not host a retreat and we must cancel, we will notify you as soon as possible and you will receive a 100% refund. However School of Liminal Arts is not responsible for your expenses incurred in preparation for the retreat, such as airline tickets, loss of work, visas fees and/or other costs associated with preparation for your trip.
OUR RIGHTS
School of Liminal Arts reserves the right to remove a participant from the retreat if their behavior is harmful or disruptive, no refunds given.
We reserve the right to keep a guest liable if they damage the property or anyone else’s belongings.
We reserve the right the change the program, teachers or team members at all times.
Thank you for understanding and respecting our terms and conditions. Please email with any questions. -
• 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
• Sunscreen
• Bathing suit and swimming towel
• Slippers or indoor shoes if you need them (no shoes are allowed in most meeting spaces)
Be on the look out for joining instructions with a full list of what to bring.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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No problem, we got you and will meet you where you’re at.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
“Only those who attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible.” - MC Esher
Reach out with questions here or book a free consult to discuss whether this immersion is right for you.
A Retreat to see clearly. This time out of time.
Six days to reflect. Five nights to dream deeply.
A time to set down the weight that lays heavy
upon the shoulders and hearts of the masses.
A shared roof that’s caving -
torn apart by the polarities of these times.
Can we just set it all down?
Come back to our foundation?
Remember the human-animal-holy beings we are?
We humans who stand between Heaven and Earth,
How can we live upright when the structures that have held us
(and we have upheld) are collapsing?
To remember the Creative Force and how it wants to move…
Between Heaven and Earth
The fertility in difference rather than separation.
The celebratory coming together (not through indifference, but in difference)
Forgetting not who we are
Forgetting not that we are the masses
Rebuilding the meeting place
Rebuilding the structures -
first within, then throughout.
The work before us is in the witness of what’s dying,
And, in the wake of this global shake down,
In courting, holding and upholding the ever-emergent shared Vision.