Catharsis Ceremonial Art Retreat
October, 2025
Gaia Centre For Healing Arts, Constantia
Cape Town, South Africa
A curated holistic container to unleash your potential & heal through art.
With the support of mindfulness and transformative healing practices, we will explore various creative mediums to delve into the self, uncover hidden wounds and blockages, and allow these emotions to move through you, using the powerful healing energy of artistic expression.
Throughout the retreat, you will be guided and supported by two healing practitioners, Phillippa and Jaimie, who have personally used creativity and art to process, express, and heal. As part of the retreat, you will also have the opportunity to engage in a day of workshops with Yasmin Ezzideen, a talented exhibited Cape Town artist, who will inspire and guide you just before you embark on creating your own final piece.
Why join the retreat?
Transform pain into expression.
This is your opportunity to turn old pain and blockages into creative expression, releasing the emotional weight that has been holding you back in both art and life. The opposite of depression is expression - join us to get it all out of your system.
Release energetic blocks.
Not only will you clear the blocks affecting your art, but you’ll also dissolve the energetic stagnation that’s been limiting your growth, freeing you to move forward with confidence and clarity. We integrate healing wisdom, psychology, ceremony and somatic work to powerfully uncover and begin to release the blockages from the blind spots we sometimes don’t realise are there.
Deep dive into your inner world.
Through art therapy workshops, we’ll guide you to explore and untangle your subconscious. With the addition of a safe micro-dosing experience, led by a certified traditional healer, you’ll access deeper layers of healing and self-awareness, and have the ‘pattern breakers’, psilocybin, as gentle assistance in creating new neural pathways at an accelerated pace.
Reconnect with your inner spark.
Take time to immerse yourself in creativity, building new passions that excite your inner fire, creating a life of fullness and joy. An act of sacred rebellion in the society that wants us to live to work, not work to live. Reclaim your free time and presence through creation and inspiration.
Flow-state healing.
We live in a world where it’s become normal to absorb and react more than we create and express - something vital to healthy wellbeing. Flow state is a very healing frequency to regularly tap into; increasing flow of abundance, presence and mindfulness.
Join a community of creators.
Experience the joy of creating alongside like-minded individuals who are on their own transformative journeys. This is a space for connection, laughter, and shared inspiration. Our container is an intimate and vulnerable sharing space, respecting and holding space for where we are all at in our journeys.
Feel supported and held.
Julia Cameron says, “Art requires a safe hatchery”. In this safe, nurturing space, the healing facilitators will guide you and hold space for you, offering the warmth and support needed to feel deeply held as you process, release, integrate and discover.
Who is it for?
Anyone who,
Is ready to do the deep inner reflection and make the shifts to change their life.
Feels a creative fire within, but struggles to find the time, space, or flow to bring it to life.
Is carrying the weight of past traumas or pain, and needs support to release it and move forward.
Is seeking to recharge, reignite their passion, and rediscover the joy in their life.
Wishes to use their inner world and the stories of others as a catalyst for creativity.
Desires a transformative experience that combines various healing modalities, leaving them more aligned with their true self.
All levels of artistic experience are welcome—from seasoned painters to complete beginners who have never picked up a paintbrush.
People of all ages are invited, as we believe that the wisdom gained from merging diverse life experiences is invaluable. Whether it’s the deep insight from someone older or the fresh perspective of someone younger, there’s something to learn from everyone.
You don’t have to identify as deeply spiritual to join. We embrace skeptics, the spiritually-curious, and those seeking to expand their awareness in an open and welcoming space.
Art and healing are for everyone—no matter where you are on your journey.
THREE RETREAT OPTIONS
4 Day Warrior (Root to heart)
(Join only the first 4 days.)
Blockage release focus.
The first four days we move through;
Creative art healing workshops for self discovery,
Releasing blockages and practicing
Building the muscle of creativity.
3 Day Weekender (Throat to crown)
(Join only the last 3 days.)
The last three days we move through;
A looser schedule, focusing on expression of your voice,
your story, your he(art).
Getting your personal story, pain and healing
into a bigger art piece that you can take home.
7 Day Full Journeyer (Root to crown)
(We obviously recommend the full transformation and exploration for a more immersive and powerful experience.)
Completely rebirth through art and ceremony with the full seven days of journeying through the energy centres, all the blockages, all ceremonies and all holistic practices.
See more about the schedule below.
Meet the Facilitators
Three individuals weaving together wisdom, healing modalities, sacred ceremony and artistry to create a 7 day container that provides the journeyer with deep insight, exploration and tools for transformation.
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Co-founder of Catharsis
Jaimie is a conduit for healing, with energy work, psychic channeling, breathwork, tarot, and creativity as transformative tools for both personal evolution and collective healing.
Her practice is rooted in lived experience. These modalities first served her own journey of awakening, and now form a tapestry of support she shares with others through workshops, one-on-one sessions, and immersive artistic retreats. Each offering becomes a space for psychological exploration, somatic release, and soulful expression.
With a deep reverence for light in a world that can often feel overshadowed by heaviness, Jaimie is passionate about joy as a revolutionary act. She believes that art, when created from a place of truth, not only liberates the self—but radiates light into the collective field.
Whether guiding breathwork, channeling intuitive insight, or holding space for creative catharsis, Jaimie invites others into deeper connection with themselves, their bodies, their stories, and the unseen support all around.
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Featuring Professional Artist.Yasmin is a multi disciplinary artist with experience in a variety of mediums. In 2013 – she graduated with a distinction from Michaelis School of Fine Art majoring in sculpture. She draws inspiration from mysticism, mythology and holistic shamanic healing practices.
As a multi-disciplinary artist, she creates sensual figurative drawings of the female form. Through her work, she aims to explore the concept of the goddess and the rising power of the Divine Feminine, drawing from her own multi-cultural diaspora. Her artistic process is a deeply personal ritual of healing, wherein she connects to the earth and embraces a sense of oneness with the universe.
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Co-founder of Catharsis.Phillippa has over 25 years of experience in Metaphysics and brings deep expertise as a Reiki master, quantum healer, hypnotherapist, soul plan reader, yoga teacher (CYT 700h) and ceremonialist. Through transformative ceremonies in South Africa and Egypt, she guides individuals on a path of healing, awakening, and embracing their fullest potential.
She integrates multiple modalities to facilitate deep energetic shifts, helping individuals dissolve blocks and step into their fullest creative expression. Believing deeply in the power of immersive experiences, she designs and co-facilitates retreats that blend healing practices, creative exploration, and sacred artistry together.
More about the schedule;
From the second day, we begin our time together at 7:45am to prepare for morning yoga
and leave the space around 8:30pm after the daily closing circle ends.
We have themed and curated the days to flow with the systems of the body, using ancient Buddhist wisdom and insight.
Monday - ROOT
Arrival, Opening ceremony (blue lotus medicine), Group hypnosis, Art blockage workshop, Closing circle.
Tuesday - SACRAL
Yoga, Meditation, Prompted journalling, Nature adventure, Earth altar creation ceremony, Art blockage workshop, Tarot readings, Closing circle.
Wednesday - SOLAR PLEXUS
Yoga, Meditation, Prompted journalling, Art workshop to see beyond, Collaborative art workshop releasing control, Tarot readings, Closing circle.
Thursday - HEART
Yoga, Meditation, Prompted journalling, Cacao and poetry ceremony, Poetry workshop, Swim and sauna, Closing circle.
Friday - THROAT
Yoga, Meditation, Prompted journalling, Vocal activation session with Yasmin, Art discussion with Yasmin, Begin your big artwork, Open mic with cacao option.
Saturday - THIRD EYE
Yoga, Trataka, Prompted journalling, Group breathwork, Space to keep working on your big artwork, Closing circle.
Sunday - CROWN
Yoga, Meditation, Prompted journalling, Finish your big artwork, Closing ceremony by earth altar.
The schedule consists of FULL days,
Packed with holistic, ceremony, and artistic practices to take you as deep as possible in the few days we have together, truly shining the light on what’s inside and how to bring it up in satisfying, cathartic and healthy expression.
This is not a retreat for the person looking to relax and lounge around.
Most of our time together we are activating the fire and inspiration to move our minds into the subconscious and move our hands into creation.
More about the space;
This 7-day journey is designed as a daily immersion, with no overnight stay. Each morning, we gather together in Constantia at 7:45am to begin our opening practices and step into the creative container. After the sun sets, we close our day in circle, departing the villa around 8:30pm—fulfilled, connected, and inspired.
The villa itself radiates a rare and stirring energy. Its walls are alive with the spectacular works of renowned artists, each room steeped in aesthetic soul. It's a space where beauty breathes—a sanctuary crafted for artistic expression and holistic transformation.
For the foreigners coming through, there are fantastic airbnb and hostel options around Cape Town.
We recommend choosing a place close to Constantia to avoid traffic in the mornings.
The lush, inspiring sanctuary.
What’s the exchange?
Included: All movement and mindfulness classes, all group healings, individual tarot sessions, swimming and sauna, all ceremonies, all gentle plant medicines given in ceremony and psilocybin macrodosing given in the mornings. Light breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Art supplies (graphites. charcoal, acrylic paint, pens, art paper, journal, canvas). Only for the days/ package you’ve chosen.
Not included: Yoga mats, cacao on the open mic evening, evening stay, transportation. Extra art supplies if you choose an art medium we don’t provide for your big art piece starting on day five. Snacks.
Our Payment Options
7 Day Full Journeyer
(Root to crown)
(Full exploration for an immersive and powerful experience.)
Early Bird (Before May)
R1 000 Discount!
3 Month Plan
R4 000 per month
Once Off
R11 500
4 Day Warrior
(Root to heart)
(Join only the first 4 days.)
Early Bird (Before May)
R1 000 Discount!
Once Off
R8 000
3 Month Plan
R2 900 per month
3 Day Weekender
(Throat to crown)
(Join only the last 3 days.)
Early Bird (Before May)
R1 000 Discount!
3 Month Plan
R2 500 per month
Once Off
R6 750
Ready to let your Inner Artist come out?
Please fill out the application form below.
Have questions?
catharsis.artevents@gmail.com