What makes this retreat truly unique is that the Grail Gates are explored not only within the body, but also through a living dialogue with the sacred landscape of the Cathar lands.

Throughout the week, we journey to ancient springs, forests, mountains and sacred sites such as Rennes-les-Bains, Rennes-le-Château, Pech Cardou and Bugarach. These are not simply beautiful places to visit. They become companions in the work—mirrors that invite reflection, silence and deeper listening.

As we explore each Grail Gate, the landscape offers its own wisdom. Time and again, participants discover that insights arise naturally, emotions soften, and something begins to move that could never have been planned.

This is the essence of pilgrimage: allowing the outer journey to illuminate the inner one.

The land becomes your mirror.

Your body becomes your compass.

And every step becomes part of the healing.

Mary Magdalene represents a spirituality that is not separate from the body, but lived through it.

A path where love and truth are inseparable.

Where devotion does not ask us to reject our humanity, but to embrace it more fully.

Throughout the retreat, Mary Magdalene accompanies us as a guide and companion on the Grail path. Not because we seek to imitate her, but because her story continues to invite us into a deeper relationship with ourselves, with the Earth, and with the mystery of life.

In the legendary Cathar lands of Southern France, her memory is woven into the landscape itself. Springs, caves, mountains and ancient chapels carry stories that have drawn pilgrims for generations. 

As we walk these ancient paths, Mary Magdalene becomes more than a figure from the past.

She becomes a living invitation.

To reclaim the wisdom of the body.

To honour love as a path of transformation.

To unite strength with tenderness.

To remember that the Grail is not something we seek outside ourselves, but something we awaken within.

This retreat may speak to you if you long to…

• feel fully alive in your body again
• reconnect with your womb or hara
• heal your relationship with intimacy and sexuality
• deepen your spiritual path through embodiment
• explore the wisdom of Mary Magdalene and the Grail tradition
• experience sacred sites in an intimate and meaningful way
• reconnect with Nature as a living intelligence
• remember that your body is not an obstacle to spirituality…

…it is one of its greatest teachers.

• are not comfortable sharing in a vulnerable, honest way
• do not like guided meditations, shamanic journeys and inner process work
• do not want to step out of your comfort zone and meet your resistance as a portal to healing
• project your challenges onto others
• expect a ‘masculine’ type of leadership that emphasizes external authority and structure
• are looking for a tantra approach
• if your physical condition does not allow moderate walks

Hello, I’m Mieke Anthuenis.

For over twenty years, I have devoted my life to exploring the meeting place between body, spirit and the living Earth. My work brings together womb and hara wisdom, shamanic healing, embodiment, and the ancient traditions that remind us we are part of a greater web of life.

My path has been deeply shaped by years of study with Indigenous teachers in Peru and Colombia, as well as training in Core Shamanism (in the lineage of Michael Harner), Womb Shamanism, Moon Mother® work, vaginal steam therapy and Eastern bodywork. These teachings have shown me that healing is never simply about the individual—it is about restoring relationship: with our bodies, with Nature, with one another, and with the sacred.

Since 2022, I have been walking and listening to the sacred landscape of the Cathar lands in Southern France. Places such as Rennes-les-Bains, Rennes-le-Château, Pech Cardou and Bugarach have become living teachers and trusted companions in my own journey. Guiding pilgrimages through these lands is one of the greatest privileges of my work.

I am deeply honoured to walk this pilgrimage alongside you.

For much of my life, I have been fascinated by the mystery of what lies beneath the surface—our stories, our emotions, our longings, and the wisdom that quietly lives within the body. My own journey has been one of learning to listen more deeply: to myself, to others, and to the subtle movements of life that invite us into healing and wholeness.

In my work as a counsellor, I support people in exploring their inner worlds with greater awareness, compassion, and authenticity.  Over the years, I have been drawn to practices that bring us out of the mind and into direct experience, where healing can arise naturally from connection, presence, and embodied awareness.

At this retreat, I will be supporting the space through Family and Systemic Constellations and Movement Medicine. These are practices that I love deeply because they help us access what words alone cannot reach. Through movement, we can hear the voice of the body. Through constellations, we can begin to see the larger stories, patterns, and relationships that shape our lives. Together, they offer a gentle yet powerful invitation to reconnect with ourselves, our lineage, our essence, and the wisdom we already carry within.

What matters most to me is creating a space where people feel safe to be exactly as they are. A space where there is no pressure to perform, heal, or become anything different. A space where curiosity is welcomed, where tears and laughter are equally honoured, and where each person’s journey unfolds in its own unique way. I believe that healing happens when we feel deeply met—by ourselves, by others, and by the wisdom that emerges when we slow down enough to listen and to remember who we have always been beneath the layers of conditioning, expectation, and protection. 

It is a privilege to hold space for that remembering and to share this journey with you.

During the Journey Through the Grail Gates Retreat, Tom Indekeu will guide early morning Qi Gong sessions focusing on the hara — the lower dan tien, center of grounding, vitality, and inner strength.

A priceless complement to the deep work with the womb and hara, these practices awaken presence in the body and attune the masculine and feminine currents within.

Beginning each day in stillness and movement — rooted, centered, alive.

Tom Indekeu is also the owner of the marvellous venue where we will stay!