It has been a week since I left Willka T’ika. It will likely be a lifetime before Willka T’ika leaves me.

I came to this beautiful place as co-leader of The Wilderness Walk, an experience to help people explore their inner shadows. The participants were able to dig deep into the mysteries that their old fears and hurts had blinded them to, in part, because Willka T’ika served as a chalice, a vessel to hold them and hold their work with strength and tenderness. It takes a commitment to be willing to transform and it takes a safe container to create that safety. The management and staff, like the famous gardens that blanket the grounds, contributed to that safe environment through their attention to the details of our needs. My conversations with Terry, Carol, Tristen, and others were insightful, inspiring, and intuitive. There were many sacred, intimate moments I will never forget.

Already, I am dreaming of returning. As an artist, author, ceremonialist, and retreat leader, Willka T’ika calls to me. My series of Angels programs, each designed to help heal and integrate different aspects of our inner wounds through creative expression, beg for expression here. And ideas for a new Angels program was born during my stay here. “Angels in the Garden: the guides to living in beauty” came in a vision I had in the labyrinth of the Third Eye Chakra Garden. I can’t wait to explore its possibilities!

Willka T’ika feeds the soul on many levels.

~ George Herrick, December 2023