by Megan Carlock, MA Candidate
Wild Goddess Retreat was a 3 day, experiential group learning process for female artists to co-create and receive transformative renewal through art-making, collective wisdom, contemplation and soul nurturing in nature. This Group Mentorship was transformative on a number of levels. Robbyn encouraged us to share our unique gifts. In this way, we supported and encourage each other's transformative experience. I enjoy contributing art and ritual to the group in the form of henna body art, playing didgeridoo, and creating sacred space. The group almost immediately created a safe and sacred container. This allowed me to share from a deep and potentially vulnerable place, which supported my own transformative experience. By the end of our first night, my shadow work was already emerging. While this retreat was only three days, this transformative shadow work continued on throughout the larger container of this quarter testament to the power of this retreat.
As a result of the stimulation this retreat provided me, some of my deepest fears have been challenged during this quarter. While this work has not been fun, it has been necessary to the transformation that has clarified my! authentic goals as an artist, woman, and facilitator of transformation. Perhaps as important as The Wild Goddess Retreat’s impact of my individual goals, this retreat may have helped create the on-going community learning environment and experience that I had been missing at JFKU, which is without a cohort model. This retreat was a shared learning and bonding experience offering a deep community support that I suspect our group will continue independently throughout my transformative experience in this program. I hope that the MATA program will incorporate this sort of ongoing community-based support as part of the program in the future.
Wild Goddess Retreat was a 3 day, experiential group learning process for female artists to co-create and receive transformative renewal through art-making, collective wisdom, contemplation and soul nurturing in nature. This Group Mentorship was transformative on a number of levels. Robbyn encouraged us to share our unique gifts. In this way, we supported and encourage each other's transformative experience. I enjoy contributing art and ritual to the group in the form of henna body art, playing didgeridoo, and creating sacred space. The group almost immediately created a safe and sacred container. This allowed me to share from a deep and potentially vulnerable place, which supported my own transformative experience. By the end of our first night, my shadow work was already emerging. While this retreat was only three days, this transformative shadow work continued on throughout the larger container of this quarter testament to the power of this retreat. 
As a result of the stimulation this retreat provided me, some of my deepest fears have been challenged during this quarter. While this work has not been fun, it has been necessary to the transformation that has clarified my! authentic goals as an artist, woman, and facilitator of transformation. Perhaps as important as The Wild Goddess Retreat’s impact of my individual goals, this retreat may have helped create the on-going community learning environment and experience that I had been missing at JFKU, which is without a cohort model. This retreat was a shared learning and bonding experience offering a deep community support that I suspect our group will continue independently throughout my transformative experience in this program. I hope that the MATA program will incorporate this sort of ongoing community-based support as part of the program in the future.
