Ancestors & Archetypes: A Journey Through the Expressive Arts (Pacific Northwest, U.S.)
with Betsey Beckman and Kayce Stevens Hughlett
Monday, April 21 – Friday, April 25, 2025
Program Description
Do you long to deepen your connection to those who have gone before us? Learn more about who your ancestors truly are? Understand what it means to call upon archetypal energies as a resource for the times? Expand your own Divine Story?
Symbol & Spirit. Archetypes & Ancestors. Signs & Soul Guides. The Great Mystery supplies us with abundant clues to navigate our personal lives and connect us with the unseen worlds. Our mission (should we choose to accept it!) is the ongoing practice of listening for personal messages and excavating the deeper wisdom offered to us by the Universe/God/Spirit/ Collective Unconscious.
Join master facilitators, Betsey Beckman and Kayce Stevens Hughlett, as we embark on an inquisitive and soul-filled journey through the Expressive Arts to explore how Archetypes & Ancestors enhance our Spiritual lives. Similar to our sister retreat, Awakening the Creative Spirit, we are invited to step into community to pause, learn, and listen … to cross over ancient and new thresholds that offer humility, gratitude, grace, awe, and wonder.
Some questions to ponder: How do we invoke the archetypes to guide and empower us? How can we call upon our wise & well ancestors (both literal and spiritual) to accompany and inspire? How might the heavenly realms help us to heal our lineage and fulfill our own earthly journeys? Through the gifts of the expressive arts, we will engage movement, song & storytelling; signs, symbology, poem & paint to open the doors of our intuitive awareness to the subtle realms of energy, mystery and beauty. Individually, we will have a chance to dive into our own unique stirrings; and together as a group, we shall lean into community to celebrate our collective discoveries and connections.
This four-day, in-person experiential retreat is designed for those who are ready to explore the arts, ancestors, and archetypes for yourself, for your work with others, for the world. This retreat is meant as a playful dive into the Expressive Arts, moving from one modality to another to explore our connection to energetic allies. Some familiarity with the arts and/or InterPlay might be helpful for participants, (or previous attendance at the Awakening the Creative Spirit retreat/training.) However, willingness to explore is our main pre-requisite! If you wonder whether this program is a fit for you, please contact us with your questions and inquiries.
Our home for the week is the wonderful St. Andrews House on Hood Canal in beautiful Washington State. A private room awaits you, along with lovingly prepared meals, acres of wooded property, and the spirit of the Coastal Peoples. Enjoy 4 days and nights filled with guided experiences, artmaking and movement, journaling, SoulCollage®, Interplay, solo time and wild wandering.
Limited to 12 participants.
Session Overview
Our time together includes both community and solo time as we will be covering topics that will benefit from integration time on your own.
Day 1 – Check in between 4-6 p.m., arrival by 6:00 p.m. with dinner, opening session from 7-9 p.m.
Days 2-4 (Subject to slight changes to best accommodate group activities) – 8:00 a.m. for breakfast, morning session from 9-noon, lunch and an afternoon break from 12-3:30, afternoon session from 3:30-5:30, dinner from 6-7, and evening session from 7-9.
Day 5 – Closing session is 9 a.m. – noon, then lunch and departure by 1:00 p.m.
We always encourage you to listen to the needs of your own body and spirit.
Your Guides for the Journey
Betsey Beckman
Betsey Beckman, MM, is nationally acclaimed as a spirited dancer, storyteller, teacher of SpiritPlay and dancing Spiritual Director. With her extensive repertory of sacred storydances, she is regularly featured as artist/presenter at national conventions as well as local churches. She earned her Masters in Ministry degree from Seattle University, her certificate in Movement Therapy from the Institute for Transformational Movement, and is a certified InterPlay leader. As dancer, choreographer, author, mother, wife, teacher and spiritual director, she is passionate about living life fully and fostering creativity in all those with whom she shares life and ministry. Betsey’s publications include books, recordings, and The Dancing Word series of DVDs on embodied prayer. She offers the gift of playful improvisation whenever possible! Find out more about her work at her website: The Dancing Word.
Kayce Stevens Hughlett
Kayce Stevens Hughlett, MA LMHC is a soulful and spirited woman. In her roles as ponderer extraordinaire, spiritual director, life muse, author, creative coach, and speaker, she invites us to playfully and fearlessly cross the thresholds toward authentic living. A strong proponent of compassionate care in the world, Kayce’s live and online work focuses on the principle that we must live it to give it.
Kayce’s official titles include: Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Spiritual Director, Life Coach, Speaker/Facilitator, and co-creator of SoulStrolling® ~ a movement for mindfulness in motion, at home or abroad. She is the author of three books, including her body-mind-spirit travel memoir, SoulStroller: experiencing the weight, whispers, & wings of the world. Kayce is a member of Abbey of the Arts Wisdom Council and co-leader of Awakening the Creative Spirit.
Retreat Fee
$1445
Single Room
Included
- 4 nights lodging in a single room
- Shared bathroom arranged for privacy and ease of use for multiple participants.
- All meals
- All art materials, and instruction
Balance of Payment Due Dates
Total program fee: $1445
NONREFUNDABLE & NONTRANSFERABLE DEPOSIT: $300 (reserves your space)
Balance Due March 1, 2025
Your program fee includes 4 nights lodging in a single room with shared bathrooms, meals, all art materials, and instruction.
Please consider purchasing travel insurance to protect yourself in the event of illness or other cancellation. Proof of Covid-19 vaccination is highly recommended to attend. We cannot offer any refunds of the deposit once your space is reserved or the final balance after it is due. The deposit or payment can also not be transferred to any other program.
Registration deadline & final balance is due by March 1, 2025
Steps to Register
- Please read this entire page including the FAQs below. Contact Kayce Hughlett with any questions.
- Pay the deposit using the button below. It will open a window in Paypal where you can pay by credit card. No Paypal account is needed.
- Fill out the registration form below and click submit.
- Kayce Hughlett will confirm your registration has been received.
Policies and FAQs
St. Andrew’s House is an Episcopal Retreat Center in Union, WA, United States on the Hood Canal. It is an hour and 45 minutes from downtown Seattle, one and a half hours from the SeaTac airport. If you are flying in, please allow two hours in each direction to get to and from the retreat center. We will connect you with others who are flying in to share an airport shuttle (approx. cost is $100 each way/ $200 round trip – based on total number of riders). The shuttle is far less expensive with several riding together so we schedule it to depart the airport at about 2:30 p.m. on arrival Monday – please schedule your flight to arrive by 2:00 so you can pick up any luggage before the shuttle leaves. On departure Friday, the shuttle will leave the retreat center at 1:00 and arrive at the airport by 3:00 p.m. It is quite expensive to book the shuttle on your own which is why we offer this option to share the cost.
You can find driving directions here.
St. Andrew’s Retreat House (Pacific NW) is a lodge-style building with several comfortable bedrooms upstairs with shared bathrooms. We limit the number of participants to 12. Sheets, blankets, and towels are provided as well as full wireless access.
At each retreat center we are the only group present so we have extra privacy for our work.
Our time together includes both community and solo time as we will be covering topics that will benefit from integration time on your own.
Day 1 – Check in between 4-6 p.m., arrival by 6:00 p.m. with dinner, opening session from 7-9 p.m.
Days 2-4 (Subject to slight changes to best accommodate group activities) – 8:00 a.m. for breakfast, morning session from 9-noon, lunch and an afternoon break from 12-3:30, afternoon session from 3:30-5:30, dinner from 6-7, and evening session from 7-9.
Day 5 – Closing session is 9 a.m. – noon, then lunch and departure by 1:00 p.m.
We always encourage you to listen to the needs of your own body and spirit.
This is not an official training session, so no CEU certificates are available.
We believe that everyone is an artist! Our approach is through the philosophy of the expressive arts, which focuses on the process of the creative experience rather than on creating a beautiful product (although inevitably an authentic expression of the soul is indeed beautiful!) and engages the arts in the service of healing. We have had participants join us with a variety of previous art experience, and some of our “least experienced” participants have been the ones who have most wholeheartedly brought the full spectrum of the arts back to their ministry contexts.
