Gathering the Keeners Retreat

On the Isle of the Big Women

“Gather the keeners, for we need new rituals. We need each other, we need the tears, laughter, and love. We need the magic and lamenting as the world unravels. ”

— Gather the Keeners, by Jude Lally. Wounded Feminine anthology / Girl God Books

Yes, can you believe there really is a little island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland whose name is The Isle of the Big Women! It’s comes from a Gaelic sea kenning - when folks were away from home they would refer to the island as the isle of the Big Women, which might well have left folks wondering what island is that? That’s the very point of a sea kenning, you are not directly referring to where you are from.

But I reckon that wasn’t always the case. Was there a time before the clan warfare of neighbouring clans fighting, which once resulted in the entire population of the Isle of Eigg (as this island is more commonly known as) the 400 souls were hiding in a cave and to cut a long story short the neigbouring Clan - from Skye, lit a fire in the front of the cave and all 400 folk died.

Was there a time before this bloodshed where people came to the Isle of the Big Women, for perhaps healing. Big - is another name for looking up to, or respected and so perhaps this was what this island was known for and how it got its name. Was the story which is looked at as myth, once a little more down to earth and tangible?

So much is lost in the mists of time but there is enough - with the Well of the Holy Women and the Loch of the Big Women to engage with the land and let it spark your imagination.

Gather the Keeners Retreat. Sat 30th August - Sat 6th September 2025

In a world unraveling under the weight of loss, while we grieve collectively, we grieve alone, often without the space or language to fully express it. As a result, unprocessed sorrow lingers, not only in our bodies but also in our relationships and our communities.

Grief was never meant to be carried alone—it was once a communal ritual and so in Gathering the Keeners we reclaiming keening as a ritual to express out sorrow. Through story, art, and ritual, we reconnect with ancestral ways of mourning, allowing grief to move through us—deepening our resilience, rootedness, and connection.

The Isle of the Big Women

This retreat takes place on the Hebridean Isle of Eigg, which is also known as the Isle of the Big Women. To reclaim keening is to refamiliarise ourselves with grief, to try and be comfortable sitting with grief, not to run away from it but to stay and explore it through stories, ritual, and creative expression.

We will walk the land, visiting the island’s sacred sites, looking out for its wildlife, and attuning to the rhythms of the landscape, as the land welcomes us and reminds us that we too are nature.

Our land led approach will take us on a grief pilgrimage as we walk an old coffin road, visiting caves, crawling through a great hagstone in the rock. We will visit a beach which holds an old ritual of granting one last conversation with someone who has died - after time alone considering who we would like to talk to and having that conversation, we’ll make a doll from beach-combing finds to honour who we choose to talk to.

Entrance to the Massacre Cave

Who Is This Retreat For?

This retreat is for anyone who wants to engage with their grief, to explore their grief through a transformative journey - on previous retreats we’ve had death doula’s, mental health therapists, funeral celebrants, ecologists, scientists, artists and those interesting in engaging with the land in ancestral practices - as well as those who were simply curious and wanted to learn how to engage and express grief.

Keening Circle

Our main ritual for the week will be a keening circle. While I provide the outline there are a few elements we will co-create together.

This co-creation weaves in insights and skills of the group - for some women brings special songs, others a way of weaving words or silent gestures of ritual. These elements allow us to re-envisioning this ancient practice which naturally draws us into a liminal place, for it’s at these sacred edges where transformation and healing occurs.

The keening circle holds several layers inspired by the role of the keening woman - from

• Speaking of the dead

• Guiding the soul home

• For those who have died in wars and brutal genocides

• Speaking to the land

• Our own healing

• A lament for animals, insects and plants - and for those whose numbers are dangerously low

This is the place we begin our Coffin Walk pilgrimage - gathering at the Well of the Holy Women in the village of Grulin. This is a place people might well have come to to ask for blessings. The song is a traditional chant which was sung at the edge of the ocean, guiding the soul of the deceased homewards, out to the setting sun and the lands beyond. - Sung by Dana Murphy

Come join us for a week in a spectacular setting as we root ourself back into the spiritual bedrock, reclaiming the ancient tradition of keening, inspiring new rituals.