Thistle & Flame
A journey of remembrance and reclamation of the accused witches of Scotland
East Lothian, Scotland
4 to 10 October 2027
For women only, 18 and over. Entirely alcohol free.
For centuries the word witch was used to silence women: healers, herbalists, midwives, wise women, ordinary people.
Thistle & Flame walks the ground where Scotland's accused were tried and burned, honours them, and together takes the word back. Not about spells. About remembering your own power and intuition.
This is tender ground, and we hold it gently.
This is tender ground and we hold it gently, but do not mistake it for a solemn week. The arc runs upward. First the history and the facts, then the Remembrance, then the Reclamation, with rest protected after the fuller days and a feast at the end of it.
There is laughter in this week, and singing, and a great deal of tea. Scotland at its most elemental: firelit evenings, big skies, and a house and a welcome to match.
A glimpse of two days on this retreat…
Day 1
The Flame: How It Began
A morning with a historian on how king and church turned folklore into fear, and the court records to prove it.
To Haddington and John Knox's kirk, then to the Sands where the town's witches were burned, to pay respects.
Across to Culross in Fife, one of the best-preserved burghs in Scotland, where the cobbled lanes and ochre walls look much as they did when the accusations were made.
In the afternoon, the North Berwick coast and a silent remembrance walk by the sea, a gentle somatic release on the shore, and an Equinox saining by nightfall.
Day 2
The Thistle: Reclamation
A wild walk into the hills in search of the thistle, a beautiful thing that keeps its own thorns for protection.
Broom-making to sweep away what no longer serves, and a ritual of reclaiming voice and boundary.
The week closes with a Samhain feast: what you came to lay down left in the soil, a chair set for the ancestors, and each woman sent home rooted in her own lineage.
Also in the week: a foraging walk with botanist Sally Gouldstone of Seilich, gathering meadow herbs and flowers to make your own balms and teas, and a fire at the end of that afternoon where storyteller Amanda Edmiston tells the plantlore of this stretch of Scotland as the light goes.
Who Holds the Week
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Tree Carr
Death doula, dream guide, priestess and author. Tree has written several books, given a TEDx talk, and been featured everywhere from The Guardian to The New York Times, with a monthly column in Woman & Home. She holds the ritual heart of the week: the fireside ceremonies, the saining and the Reclamation.
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Hailey Beaupre, the Sassenach Historian
An American who followed her love of Scottish history across the Atlantic and stayed. With a background in history and museum studies, Hailey tells the story of Scotland's past, from castles and ruins to the witch trials, to a devoted following online. She is our historical anchor, the facts beneath the folklore.
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Amanda Edmiston, of Botanica Fabula
A storyteller working in plantlore, the old knowledge of what grows around us and the tales that have grown up alongside it. Amanda joins the foraging afternoon and stays for the fire, where she tells the plant stories of this part of Scotland as the light goes. It is the point in the week where the herbs in your hands stop being ingredients and start being characters.
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Marie Macpherson
Haddington's own historian and novelist, author of the acclaimed Knox Trilogy and a past president of the Haddington History Society. Marie is at work on a novel about the East Lothian witch hunt and campaigns for a memorial to the women accused. She walks us through the real history, on the ground where it happened.
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Dr Sally Gouldstone, of Seilich
A botanist and ecologist who traded academia for a wildflower meadow in East Lothian. Sally founded Seilich to make skincare and herbal teas grown and gathered from her own restored meadows, biodiversity bottled. She leads our foraging walk and shows us how to turn what we gather into balms of our own.
Where you stay
Six nights at Papple Steading, East Lothian. This Georgian farm steading has been restored with rigour, preserving its pale stone ranges, cart arches, threshing barn and granary. Dubbed the Scottish Soho House, it is quietly luxurious and deeply warm, with exceptional Scottish cooking, open fires, hidden nooks and the Lammermuir Hills beyond.
Once the country home of Prime Minister A.J. Balfour, Papple was also the birthplace of the Soil Association, where Eve Balfour pioneered organic and biodynamic farming.
Almost nothing is compulsory. Join what calls to you and leave the rest. An afternoon in the garden with a book is a perfectly good day.
For women only, 18 and over. Entirely alcohol-free. Small group. Moderate walking, with gentler options each day. Nearest stations: Drem or Dunbar. Nearest airport: Edinburgh. Transfers arranged.
FAQs
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Because of what the week is about. We are walking the ground where women were accused, tried and killed, and taking back the word used to do it. The circles, the ceremonies and the reclamation need a room where women can say things they might not say otherwise.
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Same reason. This week asks you to be present for it, and going without for six days keeps everyone in the room.
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No. There is ritual, and there is reverence, but there is no doctrine and nothing to sign up to. Women arrive from every position on that question, including none, and all of it fits.
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No. You can sit in the circle and say nothing, or sit by the fire and watch, or take the evening off entirely. Tree is very good at making room for whatever you are able to give on the night.
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Often, yes, and some women come precisely for that. But it is worth a conversation first rather than a booking. Speak to us and we will talk honestly about whether now is the right time for you. Sometimes the answer is next year.
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Moderate. Coastal and hill walking on uneven ground, a few hours at a time, with a gentler option every day and a house to come back to.
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Press Book. You will be taken into our booking area, where a deposit reserves your place and the balance falls due nearer the time. If you would rather talk first, book a call instead and we will take it from there
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All accommodation and meals for the retreat, and all drinks except alcohol. Every session and activity, all local travel and entries once you are with us, a welcome pack, and our planning and support throughout. In short, everything from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave.
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International flights, travel to the meeting point, travel and medical insurance, alcohol, and any treatments or add-on activities offered on that particular retreat. Where a retreat offers treatment add-ons, they are booked and paid for separately and the balance falls due ninety days before you travel, alongside the rest.
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Yes, and many do. All are welcome.
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No. Every retreat has a single supplement for a room of your own. Twin sharing is there if you would prefer it, and if you are coming with a friend we will put you together.
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Fit enough for a comfortable few hours on your feet, on uneven ground, at a pace that suits the slowest person rather than the quickest. There are gentler options every single day. If you are unsure, speak to us and describe your usual week honestly. After a call we will advise on the fitness level required and which activities would suit you
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Tell us on the questionnaire after booking and the kitchen will work around you. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, allergies, the lot. The chefs at our retreat locations are used to it and would rather know well in advance than on the night
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Yes. Valid travel insurance is required, and must cover you for the full duration of the retreat, including emergency medical treatment, hospitalisation and evacuation.
We also strongly recommend that your policy covers delay, interruption, cancellation and lost luggage, and in particular that you take a Cancel For Any Reason policy.
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A non-refundable deposit of $1,000 per person secures your place. The remaining balance is due 90 days before the retreat begins, along with any add-ons you have chosen.
If you need to cancel, 91 days or more before the retreat you lose the deposit only, and we will convert it into a credit toward any of our retreats, valid for 12 months. Between 90 and 61 days, a quarter of the total price is non-refundable. Between 60 and 31 days, half is non-refundable. At 30 days or less, the full price is non-refundable.
And a promise: if we are able to fill your place after you cancel, we will refund everything you have paid beyond your deposit and a $250 administration fee, no matter when you cancelled.
If we ever have to cancel a retreat and cannot reschedule it, you get a full refund within thirty days.
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Yes, and we would encourage it. We can arrange a bespoke trip or a curated itinerary for before or after. Just tell us when you book, or any time up to a month before you travel.
Is there an age requirement?
Guests must be 18 or over.
Join what you want and skip what you do not. If you would rather spend an afternoon in the garden with a book than get on the minibus, that is a perfectly good day.
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Any retreat can be extended with a bespoke trip or a curated itinerary, before it or after it. A few days in London first, the Highlands afterwards, or simply two slow nights somewhere good to get over the flight. Just tell us when you book, or any time up to a month before you travel, and we will build it around the week you have already chosen.
