The Verdant Collective Immersion
A 4-Month Experience in New World Women’s Culture
Fall 2024
Philadelphia, PA,
The Verdant Collective is a radical – and radically safe – place to remember (and failing that, to invent) what your free, embodied, deeply nourished, and sovereign female looks, sounds and feels like. It is a place to grieve and to celebrate, to replenish and to grow.
We are a collective of women who acknowledge that both women's bodies and the Earth body itself, are under grave assault.
And yet, our bodies are also the terrain of our most intimate and powerful activism.
We do not accept the definitions and expectations our culture (and even our mothers and grandmothers) have placed on us.
We believe our emotional expression, our size, our power, our eros, our sex, and our wildness should not conform to anyone's values or expectations other than our own.
At this particularly dark human time, we believe our wild female nature is a radical force for healing. And we prioritize its wellness in ourselves and our sisters.
“I stepped into the VC like a well-worn traveler, in need of care, nourishment, and rest. I kept hearing a voice calling me to this place, with the deep seeded notion that there was more. More to be had; of pleasure, of wellness, of wholeness, of community, and of my connection and relation to all that is about me, and so much more than me. The Verdant Collective is the oasis my soul needed…”
– Meagan M.
4-Month Immersion
Fall 2024
Philadelphia, PA
(Exact dates below)
If you are an alumna applying for another round of the Verdant Collective, please use this application.
If you would like to apply for a partial scholarship, please use this application.
There is a story that is told — perhaps you know it — of the Handless Maiden. We will not tell the entire story here, but we want to highlight a small but significant moment in the story: when the Handless Maiden finds herself in a community of women who have dedicated themselves to Life, who are steeped in belonging with the human and more than human worlds, and who tend to one another with grit and grace, a seemingly inexplicable thing occurs: her hands grow back.
We believe — and have experienced — that...
… When women come together with intention and purpose
… When we come together and tend to and nourish one another, ourselves, the land, our pleasure, and our bodies
… When we speak unapologetically, telling the truth to one another about our lives and what we see and feel
… When we bump up against one another, daring to not like one another, but staying in and holding each other with reverence and deep regard
When there is room for all of this, when we recognize that all of this – that all of each of us, our wisdom and our wound – is absolutely essential…
our limbs, the parts of us that were cut off for our survival in our families and our culture –– grow back.
Women, our world, our families, our partners, our communities, and more need us, limbs intact, ready to lean into the deeper truths and capacities that are available when we dare to put ourselves into cultures that foster our soulful, unapologetic wellness and our wholeness.
As women, our sexuality and our bodies have been and continue to be subjected to rules, legislation, and shame — perhaps more than any other aspect of human life. It wasn’t all that long ago that we were explicitly seen as property, belonging to men, valued only for our reproductive and homemaking capacities. While we are no longer considered property outright, this history reverberates in the gender roles and expectations we find ourselves bumping up against to this day. We are offered an understanding of our generative sexuality that was defined by men and remains distorted and hobbled by the western medical lens of pathology, illness, and disease; one that keeps us confined and cut off from the fullness of our selves, our expression, and our innate connection with The World.
The Verdant Collective is a place to identify this domestication, and then step out of it and into our erotic embodiment. We participate with our entire bodies, including our genitals, our arousal, our pleasure, and our orgasm. This does not happen as reciprocal sexual interplay. Instead, touch is one way, and we support each other’s individual relationship with arousal and pleasure. In doing this, we have an opportunity to not only talk about or hope for a different culture, but to actually step into — and further co-create — one, together.
“I would have described the Verdant Collective as otherworldly if I had not experienced its container and practices as surprisingly familiar, dare I say, native. After over a decade of trying to heal from physical and sexual trauma, in addition to the cultural trauma of isolation and disconnection, I now have the ingredients of healing – pleasure and community – stamped into my cells.”
– Olya M.
Together, we weave a culture that holds our bodies as precious, with an overt invitation for both our love for them, and our desire for them to be different.
A culture that supports our unique expressions and experiences of pleasure beyond peak experiences and performance.
A culture that holds our wounds with fierce care without allowing us to collapse into them, and celebrates the places where we are already abundantly well and intrinsically whole.
A culture that invites us into a belonging that includes our more-than-human connections with spirit, soul, and the Earth. This is a culture that can help us to unwind the patterns and heal the ruptures between ourselves and our bodies, nature, and pleasure.
This is a culture that isn’t predicated on fitting in,
but instead invites true belonging.
Ultimately, all of what we are about and all that we do is in service of our belonging. Not only our human belonging, but also our embeddedness in the more-than-human world. This belonging requires our participation and our willingness to both impact and be impacted. It includes our material and our numinous selves. This belonging invites us to recognize our unique place in the web of the world; the place that only we could possibly occupy and that requires that we betroth ourselves to it fully. When we belong in these ways, we grow the capacity to step into our right-sized voice and work in the world, offering a medicine that truly no one else can.
“My pleasure was not only welcome, it was honored and held as an integral part of the wellness of the container and of my place and service to the world. Who knew that the way through trauma to the other side, to true healing, could be found in pleasure?”
– Amanda M.
The terrain of our sex, our belonging, our pleasure, and our bodies is often rife with rupture and trauma. The Verdant Collective is a trauma-informed program and our faculty have advanced trauma training in evidence-based methods that take into account the complexity and unique nature of each woman’s nervous system. We also include teachings about the autonomic nervous system (where trauma gets stored in our bodies) to help you learn to appreciate and navigate your unique wiring. We have designed this program to engage and strengthen the social nervous system, moving you out of trauma and vigilance and into resource, possibility, connection and wellness.
While we are trained to work with trauma, the purpose of this course is not for you to work individually with your trauma, but rather to orient you to, and hold you within, a web of wellness that allows you to shift your orientation to anchor yourself in something greater than your trauma. Like the Handless Maiden finding herself in a community of well women and watching her hands (seemingly) spontaneously grow back, this can go a long way to helping you resolve and integrate your trauma.
This immersion is for you if:
You have known for a long time that there is so much more your body is capable of; more arousal, more depth, more transcendence, more aliveness, more joy, more ferocity and more passion...and yet, the ‘how’ remains elusive
You are seeking deeper access to your own knowing and voice and the power to bring it more vibrantly into the world
You are hungry to heal your relationship with women and the feminine – to feel cared for, safe (enough) with, and witnessed by other women
You have begun exploring the nature of your erotic self – you’ve caught the scent, and you want more
You are the one who holds space for everyone else, you are the one who ends up ‘in charge’ and you hunger for a place to be held, a place where you can be (responsibly) irresponsible ;)
You are longing for a rooted, embodied relationship with the numinous and material realms of Earth, Spirit and Soul
You see the world is on fire, unraveling, and you are longing to take your specific and important place in this Great Turning
This 4-Month Immersion will offer you:
From-the-ground-up practical and magickal facts about female anatomy and arousal; the information we never got and the truth about the inaccurate and damaging information we did get
Practices that weave together safety, pleasure, desire, and your autonomic nervous system to generate unapologetic wellness
An opportunity to expand your erotic map and find new ways to experience sensation and pleasure
An intelligent women’s community that requires our differences and conflicts without expecting that we like each other all of the time
Reflection and feedback that will allow you to further understand and occupy your unique place in the world
The opportunity to learn how to use your arousal and the neurobiology of your pleasure to attend to the deepest layers of your trauma, by feeding your wellness
Nesting layers of ritual and ceremony including guidance, support, and space to enact your self-designed ceremony
The chance to decouple your pleasure and arousal from the erroneous and harmful message that your sexuality and erotic intelligence should look a particular way or belong to anyone but you
The space to experience your body, your arousal, sensation, and pleasure outside of the expectations of partnered sex
An invitation to recognize, put your attention on, and cultivate that which is, and has always been, abundantly and undeniably well within you
The opportunity to form relationships with women that are predicated on truth, respect, compassion, and ferocious advocacy
What’s expected of you:
A working understanding of, and language around your shadow, your wounding, and your trauma, and an ability to stay in relationship with yourself and with us when these inevitably come up
The capacity to take responsibility for your own experience and respect the experiences of others, even in those moments when you don’t necessarily like everyone
A willingness to lean in with curiosity and regard towards yourself and others when you are activated, feel challenged, or disagree
Reliable access to internal and external resources and support
4-Month Immersion Dates:
September 12th – 15th
October 17th – 20th
November 14th – 17th
December 12th – 15th
Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays: 10 am - 5 pm
Sundays: 10 am - 1 pm
Community Calls
September 4th, 6 – 8 pm Eastern Time
September 25th, 6 – 8 pm Eastern Time
October 30th, 6 – 8pm Eastern Time
November 20th, 6 – 8 pm Eastern Time
January 8th, 6 – 8pm Eastern Time
Investment:
Early Registration (through May 31st)
$5000* (or $350 deposit + 8 monthly payments of $638)
Regular Registration (the deadline to apply is July 31st)
$5400* (or $350 deposit + 8 monthly payments of $688)
*$350 deposit due upon acceptance into The Collective
Application Process:
After receiving your application, we will reach out to schedule an enrollment conversation with you. This conversation is a time for us to get to know one another, to ask questions that we are curious about based on your application, and for you to ask us. The Verdant Collective Immersion is an advanced program and as such it is not a fit for every woman. This enrollment conversation is an opportunity for us to explore if the Immersion is the right program for you at this time in your life.
If you are accepted into the Collective we’ll ask you to pay a $350 deposit to hold your spot. Once we receive that, you are in.
Enrollment is limited to 12 participants.
“The teachings and practices were so well thought out and introduced and opened me to such new ways of being. The container was solid and held with such depth, integrity, wisdom and grace. The women this program attracted were amazing women I will forever love and feel in my heart.”
– Denise K.
The Specifics:
We gather in-person once per month for four days at a time. We stay in intimate contact with each other throughout the four months, from wherever we call home.
During our 4-day immersions, we practice the erotic arts, including hands-on genital touch, communal self-pleasure, and tending to one another’s arousal, pleasure, and orgasm. We do not have sex with one another, but participate in practices of one-way touch that support participants' relationship with their arousal and pleasure.
During our gatherings, you’ll receive plenty of support and care from our guides, with an abundant guide to participant ratio of 1:4.
Throughout our four months, we incorporate layers of support and connection so that you are held in a web of care: you will be assigned to a pod of 3 to 4 women held by a faculty member, and also a ‘Verdant sister’ with whom you will develop a deeper relationship of accountability, care, witnessing and tracking. You will meet with your pod and your sister during our immersions, and for at least 1 call between our 4-day immersion weekends.
In between our monthly immersions, we gather for a 2-hour Community Call to build on the concepts, skills, and wellness we are weaving together. These calls will help you refine and integrate the practices and processes you are weaving during the 4-day immersions.
All weekends will include movement and embodiment, deep imagery journeys, nudity, council, touch, teaching, and ceremony.
How much — or how little — you participate is completely up to you. You get to choose how much you participate in all the parts of our time together, but especially anything that includes nudity and touch. There is no expectation for how your participation will look. Your boundaries are essential for the wellness of our communal container and will be not merely welcomed but encouraged.
The arc of our journey will include a gentle weaving together of and deepening into our bodies, our experiences, and our community.
Immersion 1: We will welcome one another in and create a solid, safe (enough) container that lays the foundations for the possibility of hands-on work and includes embodied teachings about the autonomic nervous system and consent.
Immersion 2: We will step into the terrain of our anatomy of arousal, bringing our isolation and shame, curiosity and wonder into community and connection as we tend to and witness one another in our bodies, with our touch, in our pleasure, our play, and in the depths of our longing, rage, fear, disappointment, and disagreement.
Immersion 3: We will explore the arc of our arousal and our deeper curiosities around our anatomy and sensation, while naming to one another and ourselves the wellness that lives in and flows from each of us.
Immersion 4: In our final four days together, we will step into ceremonies of our own design to call in, let go, claim, grieve, and dream. We will turn our attention toward integration and what’s next as we share our gratitude and love for one another.
Faculty:
Christiane Pelmas
Alyssa Morin
Chris Muse
4-Month Immersion
Fall 2024
Philadelpia, PA
(Exact Dates to Above)
If you are an alumna applying for another round of the Verdant Collective, please use this application.
FAQs
-
We recognize that gender is a spectrum, not a binary, and that biological sex and gender are not the same thing. We also recognize that sex is very real and measurable, and that it has an impact on our experience in the world, and the ways that the world treats us. Everyone needs spaces to unfold and explore their unique experiences with other people of the same background, as well as spaces to hear about and connect with the experiences of people who are different. We have designed this program to be an affinity space for biological females who identify as women to explore their unique experience of embodiment in the world.
-
The Verdant Collective is a community of women who prioritize care and respect for each others’ personal choices. We will not be facilitating conversations about vaccination status, nor do we require vaccines for participation in our programs. If your sense of safety and wellbeing requires that you only participate in programs that mandate vaccination, sadly, The Verdant Collective is not the place for you at this time. What we do require is self-responsibility and care for the collective. We are each responsible for tending to ourselves, which includes our physical health and wellbeing and care for the ecosystem we are all a part of. If you are sick in any way, it is heartbreaking but critical that you do not join us. You can read more details here.
-
We offer a 50% refund up to 6 weeks before the start of the program. After that, no refunds or transfers will be granted.
-
The Verdant Collective is a sober program. As your facilitators and guides, we are responsible for supporting you, which includes your capacity to get the most out of our programs. We can only do that if we are informed about all substances you’re currently taking (including prescription medications as well as ones that are self-prescribed, i.e., microdosing or medical marijuana). While we are not at all against medications, herbs, or plant medicines including microdosing or medical marijuana, using substances of any kind – even in small dosages – can have an impact on pleasure, arousal, and your autonomic nervous system and we need to be empowered to help track your experience well.
-
Attendance for the entirety of the program is required for participation.
-
This means that we include teachings about the autonomic nervous system (where trauma gets stored in our bodies) to help you learn to navigate your nervous system. We have also designed this program to engage and strengthen the social nervous system, moving you out of trauma and into resource and wellness. That being said, The Verdant Collective is not a training in trauma work, nor is it the space to do your trauma work. By this we mean, if we find that you are having experiences that warrant individualized care, we will help you to find a practitioner to work with one-on-one.
-
You will have many opportunities to participate in experiential practices that will invite you to take your clothing off, and to engage in guided, one-way touch, both giving and receiving. How much — or how little — you participate is completely up to you. You get to choose how much you participate in all the parts of our time together, but especially anything that includes nudity and touch. There is no expectation for how your participation will look. Your boundaries are essential for the wellness of our communal container and will be not merely welcomed but encouraged.