Yearlong Initiatory Immersion
for Women+
Initiatory Container for Community Stewards & Space Holders: Threshold Tending, Earth-based Elemental Ritual, Nature Connection & Deep Listening Practices
The Journey February 2026 - January 2027
A yearlong immersive journey with an intimate learning cohort for those called to feed living culture by honing their skills in ritual threshold tending, deep listening and relationship to place through being with the cycles of seasons. This immersion is designed as a vessel for healing and transformation and meant to augment your work and ground you in the wisdom of nature and ritual, connection to mystery and community.
We come to certain passages in our lives when we are called to deepen, shed old ways of being, and draw together dispersed and forgotten parts of ourselves, in order to move with more authenticity in our communities and be of service to others.
Although each person’s journey is unique, together we open to an unfurling of experience that is more or less universal. We engage the natural cycles of change with invitations to deepen connection through experiential practices, including ritual, grounding, somatic inquiry, meditation, embodied movement, dreamtending and imaginal practice, writing and poetry, reflection, song and connecting with the holy. When we are connected, supported and witnessed within a community of care, and allow ourselves to grieve, then open to the well spring where dreams are sourced, we naturally move into a place of vision, possibility and aligned action. Together, we reweave the relational threads of belonging, remember the gifts of our soul’s purpose, and gain courage to take meaningful action in service to the whole.
This year’s journey is specifically open to all femme identified or female gendered adults across spectrums of race, sexuality and age.
What’s Included
4 seasonal in person 4 day retreats - Accommodations + dinners (Thur - Sun)
Fall 4 day retreat includes a 24-hour solo wilderness ceremony
2x monthly 2-hour zoom gathering (one check in with cohort, one with guest teacher)*
Monthly practice suggestions and invitations for home based practice
We convene an intimate cohort of 8-12 people for four in-person seasonal gatherings, regular monthly online sessions and home based practice in between. *During the months we meet in person, there is only one zoom call per month
On Land Retreats
Spring: March 25-29: Topa Institute Ojai, CA
Summer: June 3 - 7: Topa Institute, Ojai, CA
Fall: Sept 17 -20 or Oct 8-12: Quail Springs, Cuyama CA : DATES TO BE CONFIRMED
Winter: Dec 2 - 6: Topa Institute, Ojai, CA
Unfurling Cycle
SPRING: Preparing the Ground - Opening to the Call: Gratitude & Ground
Resourcing practices, relationship to place, sensory awareness
Ancestors & lineage stories - gifts and pain
Giveaway gratitude ritual - earth mandala
SUMMER: Severance - Shedding the Husk: Honoring Our Grief
Personal and Collective
Welcoming Exiles & Outcasts
Honorable reclaiming ritual
FALL: Threshold - Illuminated Darkness: Turning towards Mystery & Other Ways of Knowing
Intuition, Listening, Liminality, Dreamwork
Suspending Knowing Mind
Self generated/created ceremony to mark your life passage
WINTER: Integration - Embodied Engagement: Committing to Practices
Personal Ritual Practices
Relational Tending
Service in Community
(For those of you familiar with The Work That Reconnects, the Spiral is embedded within the Unfurling Cycle and curriculum).
Root Components
Emergent Ritual Fluency - learning and remembering this basic capacity of humans to create and receive ritual enactments to mark important life passages; elements, song, grief & praise
Community Accompaniment & Tending - A spiritual and relational home base, orienting towards our cohort with listening practices to build trust and accountability and ground in togetherness
Nature Intimacy & Kinship - solo and group time in nature connection practices and engaging the living world as animate relationships with deep listening and attunement
Thresholds & Liminality - we reweave the relational threads of belonging, remember the gifts of our soul’s purpose, and gain courage to take meaningful action in service to the whole.
Healing - recognizing and honoring our adaptive protector strategies and welcoming and integrating our dispersed and outcast energies, parts and expressions, in the context of our inherited oppressive systems of modernity
Co-liberation - deepening understanding of our context (modernity, colonialism, capitalism, patriarchy and white and human supremacy) and engaging a decolonial lens as it relates to healing and responsibility
If cost is prohibitive, please inquire. Discounted tuition spots available.
Contact and How to Apply
To apply, please complete the Application here.
Once your application is received, someone will reach out to schedule a 1:1 call with Alexis.
Feel free to reach out with any questions to: alexisslutzky@gmail.com.
The 2026/27 Yearlong Immersion is a fiscally sponsored project of the Topa Institute, a 501(c)3 nonprofit.
