St. Ottilien, Germany (West of Munich)
& Contemporary Magic Retreat
- Translation into German will be Provided -
March 4-8, 2024
Emily Blefeld & Dan Cohen
Antonia Stessl & Rotger Heilmeier
Lisa Murphy
Grow your inner wisdom, release the effects of inherited family trauma, and embody rhythmic flow in this 5-day deep-dive Seeing with Your Heart residential retreat. Led by an internationally renowned training faculty, we call together a diverse circle of consciousness evolutionaries prepared to free themselves from inherited entanglements patterns, soul restrictions, and hidden family dynamics.
In the images of our dreams, in our intrusive thoughts, in the darkest places in our hearts live the parts of us that cannot find peace or truly come to rest. Through Alchemical Family Constellations, Soul Constellations, and Sacred Sound Healing facilitated by Dan Cohen, Emily Blefeld, Lisa Murphy, Antonia Stessl, and Rotger Heilmeier the terrible fates that befell and were carried out by our fathers and mothers, grandparents, and older generations will be revealed and given their proper acknowledgement. When we honor our ancestors’ losses and see ourselves through their eyes, their pain in our bodies alchemizes into healing love.
The five facilitators for this retreat have refined embodied processes of sacred sound healing, oral transmission, alchemy, the Knowing Field, and shamanic journeying to empower you to use your body as brilliant sensing instruments of infinite wisdom. As you attune to these frequencies of non-local consciousness, you receive insights and realizations that are specific to your life and soul’s purpose. Receiving these resources will shift your perspective, open your capacity for self-expression, and enhance your vibrancy and well-being.
Answering the call to be in this circle, at this time, in this place, with these participants and facilitators, will nourish your soul, expand your heart, and shift the trajectory of your life. When you come, you bring with you all the prior footsteps in your life’s journey, your entire family history with nothing excluded and no one left out, your cultural values, and core beliefs.
The St. Ottilien Archabbey was thoughtfully chosen for this workshop, as the land itself and its history will be an important contribution to the whole. The hillside upon which St. Ottilien was built rises out of undulating Bavarian farmland near the village of Eresing, Germany. For 8,000 years, the area was populated by magical peoples who drank from the wellspring of paganism, witchcraft, and Druidry. These folk worshipped their ancestors, and co-existed with jötnar, dwarfs, elves, and dragons.
Evangelizing Augustine monks arrived in the 7th century, beginning their centuries long mission to share the Good Word of Christ with the Germanic tribes. The place was named after Saint Ottilia, the patroness of good eyesight. The St. Ottilien archabbey itself was founded by Benedictines in 1887. During the second World War, the Gestapo expelled the elder monks, conscripted the younger ones, and confiscated the site to construct a new military hospital. Immediately after the Nazi regime collapsed, Jewish physicians – Holocaust survivors themselves – took over the hospital and it became both a critical care facility and maternity center for Jewish survivors. Today, St. Ottilien is home to a vibrant monastic community, including a modernized guesthouse hosting workshops and retreats.
For this retreat, each facilitator is steeped in modern Judeo-Christian traditions and trained in more than one of the older ways, which include Kabballah, Shamanism, Tantra, Yoga, neo-paganism, alchemy, and witchery.
Antonia Stessl, PhD in Systemic Theory, and Rotger Heilmeier, psychologist and German Heilpraktiker, are a married German couple trained in Classic Constellations, Bert Hellinger’s clear, simple, close to the ground approach for reconciling all the ancestors whether they be perpetrators or their victims. They themselves have worked through the entanglements of these dynamics being Nazi descendants and thus know in their bones and soul the challenging steps on this journey. Both have reached through time, remembering and reconnecting ancient wisdom traditions to their work such as homeopathy, shamanism, curse-unraveling, witchcraft and druidry, and facilitate a connection with wisdom traditions so that they can be adapted in the present to enrich individuals, families and communities in contemporary times. Together they offer trainings and workshops worldwide.
Their colleague, Dan Cohen, first trained in Constellations directly with Bert Hellinger. Dan’s father, Henry was a Jewish American Army soldier in the War who witnessed the horrors at Dachau firsthand. In 1946, he became Director of the UN Displaced Persons Camp at Föhrenwald, just 40km from St. Ottilien. His partner and Co-Founder of Seeing with Your Heart, Emily Blefeld, is an American, whose ancestral roots include Jewish, German, and Irish sources. She is internationally known as a trainer, Systemic Family Constellations facilitator, and licensed psychotherapist who has over 2 decades of experience in facilitating evidence-based and esoteric modalities. Dan and Emily are two of the United States’ most skilled innovators in merging advanced consciousness and spiritual principles into therapeutic practice. Scientists by background and Mystics by practice, they offer the most advanced, high-flying spiritual and alchemical way of working with Systemic Constellations imaginable.
Lisa Murphy, of Celtic ancestry, is the founder and director of the Fairhaven Healing Arts Center and Sva Ha Academy for Alchemical Studies and Energy Medicine. She offers 30 years of service and experience as an international teacher, speaker, Transformational Body Worker, Sacred Sound Healer, Reiki Master, Folkloric Herbalist, Spiritual Mediator, Yoga Teacher, Past Life Trainer, Published Author, and Shamanic Practitioner of Tibetan Bon, Inca and Native American traditions.
We are looking forward to meeting you!
The Retreat Space Where the Synergy of Sound, Alchemy of Inherited Imprints, and Contemporary Magic Happens
Join Us at the St. Ottilien Archabbey to the west of Munich, Germany
St. Ottilien is located just outside of Munich on a beautiful hilltop which has long been a destination for pilgrims, seekers, and travelers from around the world.
It is an active monastery of the Benedictines, who also operate a boarding school and their own farm, which provides most of the meals. You will feel immediate connection with the deep beauty of the land when you arrive. It is such a special place that some people register for any random workshop just to have a reason to be there.
Before dawn each day, just as the birds wake with their songs, you might feel called to join the monks for their 5:00 am prayers in the abbey. This is completely voluntary of course, but through this monastic ritual you may perceive yourself and the day to follow with different eyes.
During the day, the landscape surrounding the monastery is ideal for running, walks or hiking, or simply to rest and reconnect to nature. In the evening, when the sky dims and the lamps around the abbey are switched on, you may find yourself wondering which century you are in – the place resembles a scene of earlier times and the soothing impression of the monastery invites you to gain shelter and rest.
St. Ottilien‘s Facilities Include:
- Single and double rooms with private bathroom
- Single rooms with shared bathrooms
- A farmer’s market shop
- A meditation sanctuary
- A book shop with many spiritual and philosophical items
- A little café and a Bavarian restaurant
- Nature Trails, including a trail resembling our solar system with all planets
Your registration fee includes lodging, three meals each day, coffee/tea and home-made cakes in the afternoons. St. Ottilien’s meals are as fresh as the they come, featuring organic dishes straight from their gardens.
Transportation:
The closest airport is Munich International Airport. There is a train station “St. Ottilien” on the premises with trains coming from Munich main station (one change of trains necessary). We will guide you through your travel from the airport once you have signed up. You can reach St. Ottilien from the airport and all major cities in Germany by public transportation, which is the cheapest option. We will also try to connect you to fellow participants, if you would like to share a cab/uber. (Cab is about EUR 200 from the airport, and EUR 120 from Munich main station and Uber is about half the price).
The address is: St. Ottilien, 86941 Eresing, Germany.
We are stewards of the land. We wish to generate for the world more joy and benefit than harm through this offer. We are glad if you would arrange your journey / your air travel carbon neutral by bying carbon-offset for your flight eg. through www.atmosfair.de/en/offset/flight/
Retreat Facilitators
Dan Cohen, PhD, co-founder of Seeing with Your Heart, specializes in helping individuals, couples and families heal the effects of inherited trauma and fulfill their desires for having more love and deeper impact in their lives. Combining a near-encyclopedic knowledge of world history, mythology and culture with an uncanny psychic awareness, Dan offers clients profound and transformative healing while expanding understanding and restoring peace of mind. Prior to obtaining a PhD in psychology and training with Bert Hellinger as a Constellations facilitator, Dan was internationally known for his work in violence prevention and conflict resolution. Since 2000, he has become a leading voice for incorporating personal, ancestral and spirit consciousness into therapeutic practices. Dan holds a PhD in psychology from Saybrook University and an MBA from Boston University. He is author of I Carry Your Heart in My Heart: Family Constellations in Prison and numerous scholarly articles and book chapters. Dan has led Seeing with Your Heart workshops and training courses in 18 countries in Europe, Asia, Australia/New Zealand, South America and throughout the United States.
Emily Blefeld, LICSW, co-founder of Seeing with Your Heart, is internationally known as a trainer, Systemic Family Constellations facilitator, and psychotherapist. She specializes in supporting change-agents, visionaries and entrepreneurs to dismantle the old paradigms, outdated narratives, and ancient codes that hold them back and open to the full expression of their life’s purpose and soul’s path. Her intuitive gift of sight and knowledge of the hidden pathways of consciousness help clients trace inherited family and soul trauma through multiple generations or incarnations to release the burdens and blocks that interfere with living their truth, expressing their love, and embodying their passion.
Drawing from over two decades of experience and training, she combines expert psychotherapy, coaching and mentoring with Constellations and practical rituals to help free clients from the traps of limiting beliefs, patterns and habits. Emily holds a Masters of Social Work and is certified in multiple therapeutic modalities including Systemic Family Constellations, Compassionate Spirit Release, ADHD treatment, Core Energetics, Women’s Mystery Traditions, etc. In addition to her private practice, she regularly travels throughout the US and internationally, including presenting training and workshops in Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Hawaii, Hungary, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Brazil.
Antonia Stessl-Heilmeier, PhD, is internationally known as a systemic constellations facilitator, trainer, and shamanic practitioner. She is dedicated to making indigenous wisdom traditions accessible to people in modern societies. Combining refined intuitive perception with extensive training in the art and science of creating sacred spaces, Antonia brings clients through soul processes that bring peace to the past and provide positive resources for the future. She opens a sacred space in the field for spirit and intuition to come through, to remember resources with-in and with-out oneself.
Antonia holds a PhD in systems theory. She first trained in Germany in classic systemic family constellations in the tradition of Bert Hellinger, then received additional training from Francesca Mason Boring in combining them with ancient healing wisdom and rituals. Most recently, she studied with Emily Blefeld and Dan Cohen in how to integrate advanced consciousness and spiritual principles into therapeutic practice. She received additional training in shamanic traditions, curse and thoughtform unravelling, compassionate depossession, soul retrieval, and energy medicine.
Antonia is employed as a director at one of the world’s largest Big4 professional services firms. Her corporate and organizational background complements her interests in expanding the field for spirit and intuition. In addition, Antonia recently facilitated an anti-racism systemic program in a large intergovernmental organization.
www.shifting-worlds.org.
Rotger Heilmeier is a Registered Nurse, Psychologist (M.A.), nonmedical practitioner (German Heilpraktiker), Homeopath, Systemic and Family Constellation Facilitator and Trainer, and Shamanic Practitioner. He innovates new ways of working with homeopathy, shamanic practice, and constellations to connect with spirit, soul, and Mother Earth. Rotger is especially adept at connecting with sacred ground through spirit animals, sacred stones and medicinal plants in their natural and homeopathic form.
Since 2009, Rotger has been in private practice as a nonmedical practitioner offering homeopathy and psychological counseling. Through many years of experience in the medical profession, he has cultivated the ability to find simplicity in complex situations. A patient’s disease process may have crude and destructive symptoms, but he has found that underneath almost any disease there are good intentions. Finding that base line, stimulates awareness of the simplest truths that often reach through centuries. When these are identified, remedies and rituals may successfully redirect the disease out of the body.
He teaches nursing and homeopathy students, and offers consulting in health management to companies and organizations. Together with his wife Antonia he offers circles, workshops, and trainings for Systemic and Family Constellation facilitators internationally.
Rotger designs living, breathing, and joyful rituals for people, landscapes, and nature. He sees these practices as modern expressions of the ancient traditions of witchcraft which deserve honoring. www.jester-counseling.com
Lisa is the founder and director of the Fairhaven Healing Arts Center and Sva Ha Academy for Alchemical Studies and Energy Medicine. She offers 30 years of service and experience as Teacher, Transformational Body Worker, Sacred Sound Healer, Reiki Master, Spiritual Mediator, Yoga Teacher and Shamanic Practitioner of Tibetan Bon, Inca and Native American traditions.
Some of the teachers and mentors Lisa has worked with include, Tom Kenyon, Zacciah Blackburn, Dr. Mitch Nur, Two Horses Running, Jose Luis Herrera, Dr. Alberto Viloldo and Swami Satchidananda.
Lisa’s knowledge and wisdom allows her to weave together aspects of many modalities to assist you in your healing journey, allowing you to reach peace, joy, vibrant health harmony, happiness and a true sense of self. She will gently guide you embracing your shadow and transmuting it into light and aid you in attaining a balanced and joyful state of being. Learn more about Lisa at www.svahaacademy.com
Program Schedule
The schedule offers optional morning and evening Open Space sessions. Open Space is a time for the community to share their gifts and offerings with one another. Sound healing, yoga, breathwork, constellations, 5 rhythms, Tai Chi, Qigong, etc. All are welcome. We will set up a sign-up in the space for this!
Monday, March 4, 2024
2:00 – 3:30pm Opening Circle
3:30 – 4:30pm Check-in and Coffee/Tea & Cake
5:00 – 6:30pm Afternoon Circle
6:45 – 8:00pm Dinner
8:00 – 10:00pm Evening Circle
10:00 – 11:00pm Open Space Moonlight Circle (Optional)
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
7:00 – 8:00am Open Space Sunrise Circle (Optional)
8:00 – 9:00am Breakfast
9:00am – 12:30pm Morning Circle
12:30 – 3:00pm Lunch and Coffee/Tea and Cake from 2:30pm
3:00 – 6:30pm Afternoon Circle
6:45- 8:00pm Dinner
8:00 – 10:00pm Evening Circle
10:00 -11:00 Open Space Moonlight Circle (Optional)
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
7:00 – 8:00am Open Space Sunrise Circle (Optional)
8:00 – 9:00am Breakfast
9:00am – 12:30pm Morning Circle
12:30 – 3:00pm Lunch and Coffee/Tea and Cake from 2:30pm
3:00 – 6:30pm Afternoon Circle
6:45- 8:00pm Dinner
8:00 – 10:00pm Evening Circle
10:00 -11:00 Open Space Moonlight Circle (Optional)
Thursday, March 7, 2024
7:00 – 8:00am Open Space Sunrise Circle (Optional)
8:00 – 9:00am Breakfast
9:00am – 12:30pm Morning Circle
12:30 – 3:00pm Lunch and Coffee/Tea and Cake from 2:30pm
3:00 – 6:30pm Afternoon Circle
6:45- 8:00pm Dinner
8:00pm – Evening Party/Social Event
Friday, March 8, 2024
7:00-8:00am Open Space Sunrise Session (Optional)
8:00 – 9:00am Breakfast
9:00am – 12:30pm Closing Circle
12:30 – 1:30pm Lunch & Departure