The Handless Maiden: An Expressive Arts Journey
with Christine Valters Paintner, Aisling Richmond, Jamie Marich, Kellie Kirksey, Polly Paton-Brown, and Te Martin
Forum facilitators Aisling Richmond and Amber Andreasen
September 28 – November 15, 2026
3:30 – 4:30pm Ireland
10:30 – 11:30am Eastern
7:30 – 8:30am Pacific
*Due the difference in end of Daylight Savings Time, for our Ireland and UK participants the gathering on October 26th begins at 2:30pm
We gather at the thresholds of loss and healing, orchard and forest, movement and writing, somatic awareness and creative exploration.
Program Description
Stories offer us maps for transformation. Fairy tales reveal profound truths about our human journey. They teach us about the necessary, soul-ripening work of initiation by entering us into the imaginal realm. They speak to the struggles and trials we face, the resilience we can find when we meet those struggles with presence and endurance, and the transformation that awaits us on the other side.
In this 7-week online retreat we will explore the fairy tale of The Handless Maiden, a story that has over a hundred versions worldwide. It is a story of abandonment, loss of innocence, the wounded feminine, making deals with the devil, exile, disinformation and miscommunication, the temptation of technology to solve things for us, the long journey into the forest to trust the wisdom hidden in wounds and to find healing.
This story embodies the archetypal journey from wounding to wholeness, from oppression to empowerment, and ultimately how the union of feminine and masculine energies support our own creativity and healing.
We will be working primarily with the story as it was recorded by the Brothers Grimm, and will bring it to life, crossing a new threshold each week, reflecting on its main themes, and engaging in a variety of creative practices to help us embody the story and integrate its wisdom into our lives.
We will enter the story and invite it to enter us. It will become a compass and guide through the challenging terrain of being human in this place and time. The creative explorations will become medicine that catalyze our own healing and empower us to bring our healing presence into the world.
Rather than the linear, conquering hero’s journey we have heard so much about in recent years made popular by Joseph Campbell, this story reflects a more spiral and inward journey of healing to reclaim the inner wild we all carry within.
Together we will create a temenos in our daily lives, a safe sanctuary to lay down our defences and soften to what is unfolding within us.
Each week you will be invited to cross a new threshold in the story. During our live sessions, Christine will invite you into the story and the story into you through teaching, storytelling, gentle movement, meditation, and reflective writing. Te will invite us into song.
You will then be invited to allow this threshold to continue its work on you through a variety of creative practices from our wise and wonderful guest teachers.
Together we will create a temenos in our daily lives, a safe sanctuary to lay down our defences and soften to what is unfolding within us. By reflecting on our experiences through writing and the arts we invite alchemy, by witnessing our unfolding transformation, we are empowered.
For seven weeks we will gather at the thresholds of loss and healing, orchard and forest, movement and writing, somatic awareness and creative exploration.
Guest Teacher Practices
Aisling Richmond will weave together Somatic and Celtic nature-based practices to support a deepened embodiment of this tale.
Dr. Kellie Kirksey will facilitate a weekly contemplative experience using the handheld labyrinth as a somatic container to navigate the “Handless Maiden” fable. Participants will be guided through meditative finger-walks and affirmations designed to process the various twist and turns within the inner landscapes of this fables’ narrative. (A different printable finger labyrinth will be provided each week).
Polly Paton-Brown will invite us to use collage and mixed media to make a simple jointed doll to explore the messages the Handless Maiden has for us.
Dr. Jamie Marich will use a combination of mindful movement and writing to assist participants in the art of reimagination– either writing a version of the fairy tale that best serves them in these times or constructing their own unique fairy tale inspired by the practices covered in the course.
Your body and your pen will help to guide the way.
Weekly Structure
Each week you are invited to cross a threshold which moves you into an imaginal world where you meet aspects of your own story and the story of the wider culture reflected.
Monday: Live zoom session with Christine Valters Paintner & Te Martin
Tuesday: Somatic and Celtic-Natured based practice guest teacher Aisling Richmond
Wednesday: Handheld labyrinth practice with guest teacher Kellie Kirksey
Thursday: Collage and mixed media doll making with guest teacher Polly Paton-Brown
Friday: Mindful movement and writing practice with guest teacher Jamie Marich
Saturday: An invitation into reflection on the week’s insights and discoveries
Sunday: A Sabbath day of rest and integration
Weekly Themes and Thresholds
Threshold 1: The Deal with the Devil
Threshold 2: Seduction, Sacrifice, and Severing
Threshold 3: Hunger and Nourishment
Threshold 4: Silver-Handed
Threshold 5: Deception and the Devil’s Return
Threshold 6: Healing in the Forest
Threshold 7: Inner Marriage and Emergence into Wisdom
What's Included
- Six days each week you receive an email with a link to the day’s content. The 7th day is a time for rest and integration. The materials are in written, video, and/or audio format which you can view and listen to at any time.
- Weekly live Zoom sessions with Christine Valters Paintner and Te Martin each Monday of the retreat.
- All Zoom sessions will be recorded for those who are unable to attend at the scheduled time or who want to view again. You will be sent a notification when this is ready to view.
- Pre-recorded video of creative practices from our guest teachers.
- Option to view the Zoom sessions and pre-recorded material with closed captions. We will also provide a text transcript for each video.
- A lovingly facilitated forum is also included in this live version of the retreat. Feel free to share what you are discovering with a community of kindred souls.
- You have lifetime access to all online programs.
Your Guides for the Journey
Christine Valters Paintner
Christine Valters Paintner, OblSB, PhD, REACE is the online Abbess and director of AbbeyoftheArts.com, a virtual monastery exploring contemplative practice, creative expression, and ways to nourish an earth-cherishing consciousness. She is a spiritual director, teacher, pilgrimage guide, Benedictine oblate, and author of numerous books on spirituality and the arts. Her deepest belief is that the earth is the original monastery–a wisdom guide and mentor in living a soulful and vibrant life. Visit the “About Christine” page for more information.
Aisling Richmond
Aisling Richmond is a Somatic Therapist and transformative guide who is deeply inspired by nature and the wisdom of the soul. Aisling is currently undertaking a PhD in Psychology and Transformative Leadership to work with cultural change. She shares a home with her partner in the rugged wildness of Donegal, North West Ireland. Aisling works as a therapist, supporting people to resolve trauma and life challenges through body-psyche-soul wisdom. She also mentors people in finding their deep soul purpose, and teaches a rich range of transformative programs online. Aisling is passionate about soul centred living, where nature and the feminine are deeply valued. Having worked collaboratively with many organisations including Amnesty International, Aisling has also been a guest lecturer with both Galway and Limerick Universities. AislingRichmond.com
Dr. Jamie Marich
Jamie Marich, Ph.D., LPCC-S, REAT, RMT (she/they) travels internationally speaking on topics related to EMDR therapy, trauma, addiction, expressive arts, LGBTQ issues, spirituality, yoga, and mindfulness while maintaining a private practice in her home base of Northeast Ohio. Jamie is also the developer of the Dancing Mindfulness expressive arts practice. Jamie is the author of several books including Dancing Mindfulness: A Creative Path to Healing and Transformation (2015, with foreword by Christine Valters Paintner) and Process Not Perfection: Expressive Arts Solutions for Trauma Recovery released in 2019, heavily influenced by the growth she has experienced through her study with Abbey of the Arts! Now primarily a North Atlantic Book author, she has recently released Trauma and the 12 Steps: An Inclusive Guide to Recovery (2020), Transforming Trauma with Jiu-Jitsu (2022), and Dissociation Made Simple: A Stigma-Free Guide to Embracing Your Dissociative Mind and Navigating Life (2023). Their newest book is You Lied to Me About God: A Memoir (2024). Jamie is currently a seminarian in the Chaplaincy Institute’s Interfaith Ordination program. JamieMarich.com
Dr. Kellie Kirksey
Dr. Kellie Kirksey is a holistic psychotherapist and founder of Creative Wellness Solutions, LLC. She received her doctorate at The Ohio State University in Counselor Education and Psychology. She is a licensed clinical counselor, an advanced clinical heart-centered hypnotherapist, a certified rehabilitation counselor, a yoga instructor (200hr), a reiki practitioner, a poet, and a wellness consultant. Dr. Kirksey has practiced and taught in the counseling field for more than 25 years and has focused her work in the area of multicultural counseling, social justice, integrative holistic counseling, and wellness. She was previously a tenured Associate Professor of Counselor Education at Malone University in Ohio where she taught practicum, internship, group counseling, theories, and cultural diversity. She is dedicated to learning healing ways from other cultures and bringing those wise ways to the masses. Dr.KellieK.com
Polly Paton-Brown
Polly Paton-Brown, MA, UKCP worked for many years as a psychotherapist and trainer in the field of trauma. More recently, Polly’s focus has been on helping people explore their spirituality and prayer, using creativity and connection with nature. Polly has a particular passion for creating healing dolls as a portal to transformation. Always a lover of nature, horses and creativity Polly now integrates all of these into her practice. She has trained in Nature Based Practice and Eco-pychology, Environmental Arts, Expressive Arts and Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy. She is a licenced facilitator of Chakradance, The Art of Allowing , Creative Awakenings and the Wild Soul Woman Programme.
A member of the Iona Community, Polly was coordinator of their healing ministry for 11 years and when in that role ran regular retreats on the Isle of Iona. She is also a Sister of Belle Coeur. With roots in the contemplative and monastic traditions, Polly also draws wisdom from other spiritual paths such as Druidry and Sufism. She is passionate to help those wounded by the institutional church restore their image of God and themselves. Polly writes Wild Soul Calling on Substack. PollyPatonBrown.co.uk
Forum Facilitators
Aisling Richmond
See Aisling’s bio above.
Amber Andreasen
Amber Andreasen is a contemplative, ever desiring to deepen into and dance the rhythms of monk and artist. She has trained as a spiritual director, receiving her M.A. in Spiritual Formation and Soul Care from The Institute of Spiritual Formation at Talbot School of Theology. She has her B.S. and M.S. in Kinesiology and a Ph.D. in Holistic Nutrition. She has also done training in BioSpiritual Focusing as a holistic approach to spiritual growth. Wherever she finds herself, she desires to nurture a compassionate space where others can be listened, beheld and loved into fuller being by the Beloved. She is continually awed by the body as sacred storyholder and storyteller and by dance and movement as conduits of deep interior silence, stillness and joy. Her heart beats loudly for the weaving together of creativity and spirituality in the discovering of what it means to live an embodied, fully human life in all its mystery and wonder.
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