A Private Threshold Gathering

Are you at a crossroads, an in-between space in your life? Unsure which way is truly yours?

Step away from the noise, reconnect with your inner knowing, and move forward with clarity.

Awakening Heart Retreat
West of Ireland

A private residential threshold retreat with Mary Berkery, horse wisdom, and the mystical west of Ireland.

THURSDAY TO SUNDAY ·

OCTOBER 29–NOVEMBER 1

The Invitation

Life can also bring you to a threshold.

A career that no longer fits.
A relationship that has changed.
A dream, a call from within that refuses to stay quiet.
A new chapter is waiting to begin.

You know something is asking to change.

Have you taken the time to hear what it is?

This is a sacred time to connect to your essence, to allow yourself to be guided toward what your soul is asking of you, and held in that by the land, the horses, and Mary’s years of facilitation.

A Threshold Time

What has this past year been like for you?

Have you had time to integrate the changes within you?

If you feel that one season of your life is ending but the next has not yet become clear…

If you’re carrying questions that no amount of thinking seems to answer.

If you know you cannot keep living in the same way — then this is a threshold time for you.

The Celtic Year Turn

This gathering falls at Samhain, the turning of the year — the Celtic year’s end, when the veil between this world and the next is said to be thin. The wisdom of the season calls us to pause, reflect, and consciously turn toward the dark half of the year.

An intimate gathering held in a private country lodge in the west of Ireland

Created especially for this gathering, this retreat offers you the chance to step fully away from the pace of everyday life at this special turn of the year to come into a reflective and spacious self-held experience in the west of Ireland.

You will stay in a beautiful private lodge of timber and open fire, food crafted for you each day by a chef, an outdoor jacuzzi to sink into beneath the stars, and horses on-site whenever you wish to be near them. Nothing to travel to, nothing to arrange, every detail held, so all that is asked of you is your presence with yourself.

With the assistance of equine-assisted learning, daily empowering enquiries, soul teaching, and reflective integration, you will be supported to listen more deeply to your own instinctual knowing. This programme is shaped around who you are, what you are carrying, and what is ready to awaken and emerge for each of you.

The horses are met at liberty — there is no riding, no performance or experience necessary. Their grounded presence and natural responsiveness create a powerful space for insight, embodied connection, and authentic heart-aligned clarity for your life.

✦ A private country lodge for the exclusive use of your group of seven, with open fires and a place to unwind beneath the western sky

✦ All meals, thoughtfully prepared for you by a private chef

✦ Equine-assisted learning, held daily and adapted to each of you

✦ Coaching, teaching, intuitive guidance and reflective integration throughout

✦ Heart-centred and embodied practices, with handouts

✦ Journaling for reflection and insight

✦ A private follow-up online coaching session after your visit, to support integration

Space to listen. Space to feel. Space to return to what is aligned and true for you.

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Why This Retreat

Insight can arrive quickly. Meaningful change needs spaciousness.

Leaving your usual environment and giving your full attention to what is calling you allows you to pause familiar patterns and hear what may have been difficult to hear in everyday life.

Because this gathering is held for a maximum of seven people, there is room for depth and for real comfort. Every meal, every fire, every silent time at the lodge is there to hold you, so nothing pulls your attention from the work of arriving fully in yourself. Each of you has your own experience, while sharing the warmth and companionship of making this journey together.

The follow-up session extends the retreat beyond the days themselves — a place to revisit what emerged and translate it into grounded movement in your life.

How We Work Together

Held, daily, in these ways

✦ Equine-assisted learning, daily with horses free and untethered

✦ Reflective coaching and intuitive mentoring

✦ Morning Heart-Brain Coherence alignment practices

✦ Journaling for clarity and insight

✦ Guided visualisation and imagery

✦ Silent time for reflection and assimilation

✦ Embodied awareness practices to support intuition and instinct

✦ Time to be with your own knowing and internal spaciousness

✦ Follow-up integration session online, on your return

Practical Details

What to expect

LOCATION

A private country lodge near Westport, Co. Mayo

FORMAT

Three and a half days, three nights — an intimate group of seven

TIMING

Begins 4pm Thursday, ends 4pm Sunday

FACILITATION

Mary, the team and horses will be present throughout, from Thursday to Sunday evening

FOLLOW-UP

One private online coaching integration session

BOOKING

A 50% deposit secures your place, with the balance payable before the retreat

The details are held and prepared for you: the lodge, the fires, the private chef, the horses, the coaching, the year’s turn, and the space between it all. This is not just days away, it is a fully supported threshold experience, designed so that nothing but your own unfolding needs your attention, created to support clarity, connection, and sustainable integration.

Horses met at liberty — no riding, no performance required.

What Past Retreats Have Felt Like

In their own words

If you need a tune-up, a tune-in, or an audit on following your purpose and personal mission in life, do attend any retreat in the west of Ireland with Mary Berkery. From the start, Mary and her team expertly nurture and gently facilitate attendees individually and on a group level. Mary’s experience in the field of equine therapy is phenomenal — her love and understanding of the power of connection between the horse and the human are extraordinary to experience. It lifts the spirit, clarifies the mind, and nurtures the soul.

Monica Leech — Co. Waterford, Ireland

A magical retreat in the west of Ireland, hosted by Mary Berkery and Barbara Alexander. They wove equine-facilitated experiential learning with the heart and history of Ireland and its mystical sacred sites. Our facilitators brought their unique styles together in their hearts, their love of horses, and their attention to each participant’s path, to provide a deep and heartfelt experience.

Kim Kupfever — Columbus, North Carolina

Book a call to see if this is the right retreat for you

€2,550

Single Occupancy