Call of the

earth

A five Night gathering in devotion to our earthly origins and mycelial mysteries.

Unfold . Reciprocate. Proliferate

A blank, textured, beige background.

Welcome friends,

Thank you for landing here. Calling of the Earth is an opportunity to commune with the roots of our earthly ancestry through the intelligence of our mycelial (mushroom) allies, craft, animistic wisdom, community and food.

While acting as a space of connection and creation this is also a powerful opportunity to tend to your nervous system, body and mind as a whole. During this retreat will be exploring the fullness of the healing arts. Healing, meaning to come into wholeness though the catalyst of ART and creation.

For those who have attended Alchemy of Clarity, this retreat will follow a similar structure providing plenty of time for rest, integration and communion with the land and each other.

Two ceremonies will anchor our time together and create the optimal conditions for the larger shifts we are needing in our life to take place.

Calling of the Earth will take place May 18-23 at the beautiful Val de Moses in the mountains of Serra de Estrella Portugal.

As always this will be an all inclusive experience and travel logistics will be made as simple as possible to ensure the most easeful experience possible. Please find more information below or reach out with questions.

A pale pink and cream-colored flower with elongated petals hanging downward and a dark background.
A small bat with brown fur and wings flying in black background.

A peak at our week

  • Opening and Closing Circles

  • Intuitive Movement

  • Somatic Meditation

  • Mycelial Ceremonies

  • Land Offerings

  • Multimedia Art Workshops

  • Psycho-Magic Practice

  • Storytelling

  • Rituals for Transformation Workshop

All of this is woven into a comprehensive program designed to help you develop your relationship with your earthly ancestry and the mycelial conciousness

*however unlikely, all activities are subject to change

Group of various small mushrooms with brown and tan caps growing together on the ground.

our central exploration

There was a time before time.

Our earthly ancestry

Come join us

$2,500

May 18 - 23 2026 in Serra da Estrella, Portugal

All Inclusive

Inclusions

  • 5 Nights of Magic at Val de Moses

  • All Workshops + Supplies

  • Two Ceremonies

  • Comfortable Private Accommodation

  • All Meals

  • Pre and Post Retreat Integration Program

    • Seeking to awaken new levels of creativity

    • Desiring connection to the Animate World

    • Interested in investing in magic and celebration

    • Interested in exploring dreams for a more beautiful world

    • Desiring community and connection

    • Who love adventure

    • Make sure you can comply with our preperation suggestions. Please reach out to us with questions.

    • Are able to traverse uneven ground and are comfortable walking around a property with hills.

    • Make sure you have a few days after the retreat to integrate the experience

    • Are open to expanding your comfort zone and exploring new ways of being and relating

The application process takes anywhere between 5-15 mins depending how much you choose to share with us. You will be asked to place a full deposit. If for any reason you are in need of a payment plan please email christiana@animatehealing.com. After securing your spot you will receive all additional information via email within a few days.

Welcome to the mountains

Vale de Moses is nestled in the foothills of the Serra da Estrela mountains in central Portugal, about 30 minutes from the historic town of Oleiros. Surrounded by pine and eucalyptus forests, terraced gardens, and tranquil streams, it is a healing haven for those seeking rest and renewal in nature. The retreat center spans a beautifully restored valley, where yoga shalas, stone cottages, and forest paths invite deep connection and stillness. Throughout the year, Vale de Moses hosts yoga retreats, meditation gatherings, and wellness immersions that draw an international community of travelers, healers, and teachers who share a love for nature, simplicity, and the transformative power of retreat life.

All accommodation will be in either a private farmhouse bedroom or belle tent.

You can learn more about the center Here.

  • Christiana Schelfhout

    Retreat Leader

    Christiana is a healing arts facilitator and songwriter raised between East Hampton, New York and Porches, Portugal to a German and Irish/American family. 

    The roots of her learnings are planted in the forests, fields and oceans of her homelands and have grown into the world of global animistic understandings and ceremony. She holds a deep passion for creativity through movement, sound, song, theater and the way art can us remember our truest self.  Through her travels and studies, herbalism and women’s wellbeing have become a central focus or her life.

  • Marta Lince

    Marta Lince is a poet, songwriter and storyteller, textile artist and weaver, caretaker to the art of ceremony and remembering of ritual. The woods of her native land of Portugal welcome her as wyrding woman.

    Her (re)search focuses on the intersection between art, ritual and magic and is co-created with land and elemental forces, silence and the invisible, symbol and myth, in devotion to mystery and animistic memory, for the re-membering of ancestral knowing and reciprocity with the sentient body of the Earth.

    Committed to cultivating a return to living reverence through caring, tending and mending, and guided by the simple yet profound practices of listening and intuitive attunement, she shapes spaces for the creative integration and expression of our relationship with the unseen and its teachings.

    She engages poetry/prayer, story/song and textile art & traditional crafts as magical tools and eco-somatic practices for restituting relationship between the human and more-than-human body, evoking and invoking the very fabric of presence and belonging, towards ecological, psychic, somatic and spiritual preservation and regeneration.

    // Marta understands words to be powerful magic, the aliveness of the wind speaking through us, a co-creation weaving breath into matter.

    She aspires to be a vessel for the voice of the Earth and to plant words like seeds for the blossoming of a beautiful reverent life. //

Healing forces take on many forms.

Sometimes, they arrive serious and austere—
Office-bound expressions, certified and diplomatic.

Sometimes, they are sterile and extractive—
Surgical, clinical, driven by the intellectual mind.

And sometimes… they are magical.

They re-entangle us with mystery.
They alchemize our pain into potions of power,
Helping us build dream homes on the solid foundation of rock bottom.

They stir us—
Like a cauldron of centuries-old broth, simmering to heal ancestral maladies.

They court us—
Teasing and coaxing until we are ripe for creation.

They devour us—
Digesting what was, what has been, what might have been, and what never was.

And then,
They birth us—
Into something wiser, more beautiful, and ready to play.

Cluster of mushrooms viewed from below, isolated on a transparent background.

Animate HEALING RETREAT testamonials

I had such a rewarding, powerful, insightful and very positive time... I didn't go with specific trauma that needed to be resolved or any specific goals to achieve. I wanted to arrive and stay open to the experience, to feel that I was in a safe space and was well looked after, so that I could fully experience however the journey unfolded.- Andrew W

After being on an inner quest to heal over the past few years, I really wanted to delve deeper into really creating a cellular change in who I was because I knew there was a deeper level of peace that I was destined to feel…My intention was to deepen my self love and self acceptance, to make peace with my body and to find a new way of existing with ease in my life time. The gifts not only from the medicine but from the facilitators has been life changing. - Tori G.

My intention with the retreat was to connect with myself, nature and other people. To take some days to just reconnect, put my phone and job aside and be present in the moment. I feel really blessed and grateful for coming to this retreat. It gave me so much clarity and comfort to my journey in life, and I would love to come again sometime! - Hilda

Who is this for?

If you’ve visited rock bottom and know how to shine down your light,
If you long to plant seeds in the fertile soil of your psyche,
If you are ready to make art from difficult memories,
If you desire to express beauty from forgotten parts of yourself...

You are ready.

To awaken the muses.
To polish the channels of inspiration.
You are ready to grow.

Come.
Immerse yourself in the mysterious forces animating our lives, inspiring creativity, and birthing brilliance.

I am calling the muses.

Please join me.

F A Q

  • We can accomodate most needs. Please make us aware of any requirements or allergies in the application.

    We will be serving a blend of local veggies, frutis, grains and meats, including locally made sourdough breads, ferments and cheeses.

  • Not at all. All are welcome to come and explore their innate artistry.

  • We will be helping arrange transportation and will provide more details upon signup.

  • Yes. Mindo, Ecuador is a safe and quiet town only two hrs away from Quito. The recent unrest took place Guayaquil, a city located on the other side of the country. Ecuador is a country filled with friendly, helpful people and is easy to travel in.

  • We will be discussing the details regarding the medicine ceremony during your intake. We will be working with local plant medicines served by deeply experienced and initiated facilitators.

  • Thai Massage

    Abdominal Therapy

    Additional Energetic Cleansings

    One-on-one Psilocybin Therapy

    Ayahuasca Ceremonies

    Kambo

    Some sessions will be available during the retreat. Such as, body work, extra cleansings and one kambo session. Additional services may only be available before or after.

  • Yes! Please let us know upon signing up. We charge $75 per night per person. Breakfast is included. Lunch and dinner will be self serve.

    If you plan on attending the extra Ayahuasca ceremony please include and extra night in your stay so you have somewhere to rest after ceremony.

    Choosing to stay before or after also gives you the option to sign up for psilocybin therapy, body work, kambo and more. It also allows for ample integration and rest, something we highly suggest.