THE ART OF MIRRORING
18–22 November 2026
Lien de Coster & Carine Roth
"Mirroring: the elders turn a collective mirror to the person who is narrating the story. The mirror with which we are concerned is not the mirror in the bathroom or bedroom. It depicts far more than the physical proportions of the one looking into it. The mirror of the elder’s council is composed of the eyes and ears of the elders. The “impressions” which it reflects are emotional, psychological, rational, and spiritual, and have less to do with physical reality than personal reality. … Their mirror is almost always “positive” as opposed to negative, for they know that their validation is the stuff of health and vitality. … There is no therapeutic substitute for a body of empowering elders. I did not say “judging” or “examining”; I said “empowering.” The empowerment process is an art in itself."
Steven Foster with Meredith Little. (1998).
The Four Shields: The Initiatory Seasons of Human Nature.
Mirroring – Deep Listening – The Healing Power of Stories
During this four-day workshop, running from Wednesday evening to Sunday afternoon, we will explore the art of mirroring and deep listening.
Every day we will go out into nature to seek out stories and bring them back to the group. And together we will learn how to become experts in the art of listening to and reflecting the ‘medicine’ – the power – of a person’s story, of an era, or of a species.
Since time immemorial, human beings have made sense of the world through the stories they tell and pass on. What remains of a life if not a story?
And sometimes, the only thing that can help a person is a story.
Are you interested in delving into the depths of myths and the teachings of Nature?
We will go and listen, there, in the place where the whispers long to be heard, where stories nourish the soul and remind it of its poetic essence.
We’ll be a small group on this odyssey; you’re welcome to join us if you hear the call!
“Without expression, our lives can seem silent. Without deep listening, we miss out on the truth and the fullness of another person’s experience — their body, heart, mind and soul.
The most beautiful stories reveal our shared humanity — our essential nature as beings who are at once physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.
And one of the most powerful ways to access these stories is to return to nature, in its raw and unfiltered state" – The School of Lost Borders
We’ll ask you to send us a short letter of intent, so we can start getting to know one another
and get an idea of everyone’s motivations.
The art of mirroring is practised during solo quests in Nature to extract the essence of an initiation, to reveal the signs sent by the Mystery of life; this story that you bring back, that you carry, is, in a way, your contribution to the great fabric of life. It is the way in which you manifest yourself to the World, your own way of walking this unique and precious life that is yours.
But it is also a way of being in the world, and for all those who work with people and in human, social or therapeutic contexts, the art of mirroring is a precious gift in our shared quest for meaning and in our shared humanity.
We will use the Medicine Wheel of Human Nature to guide us as we learn about mirroring.
A deposit is required at the time of booking.
Group size: maximum 15 people.
The course takes place at Col du Marchairuz.
There are no prerequisites.
Logistics
From Wednesday 18 November at 6.00 pm to Sunday 22 November 2023 at 4.00 pm.
At the Hôtel du Col de Marchairuz, Vaud.
Price for the course with two facilitators: a price range of between 560 and 680 CHF, depending on your means.
A deposit of 200 CHF is payable upon registration; this is non-refundable unless the workshop is cancelled by the facilitators.
Association Rite de Passage, Ch de Renens 12, 1004 Lausanne, Switzerland
IBAN CH16 0839 0039 1577 1000 1, Banque Alternative Suisse.
Accommodation and meals:
in a single room CHF 584,
in a twin room CHF 514,
in a dormitory CHF 424.
To be paid on arrival.
Please specify when registering if you have any allergies or special dietary requirements.
Meals are vegetarian.
"The Art of Mirroring is a practice that involves actively listening to another person and then providing feedback that promotes understanding, self-awareness, and a sense of being seen and validated. This practice will be of interest to counseling professionals, those training to become rites-of-passage guides, and anyone wishing to harness the healing power of nature in their work or personal journey.” wildernessquest.org
What to expect
This programme combines time in nature, thought-provoking stories, the art of ‘mirroring’ and the practice of ‘council’. Through teaching circles, moments of solitude in nature and ‘councils’ where stories are shared, you will explore and develop a personal way of listening that draws on the full intelligence of your body, psyche, mind and soul.
Our stories, and the way we express them, lead us towards active participation in life, with a sense of courage, determination, the will to overcome difficulties, and to reach beyond our own limits.
With Lien and Carine
Lien De Coster (she/they) has been organising ritual spaces for over a decade. They are committed to reviving the great ceremonies that foster a healthy and regenerative culture, and adapting them to our times. In particular, they focus on supporting processes of death and rebirth through mourning rituals, rites of passage for queer teenagers on the cusp of adulthood, as well as organising ‘sit-outs’ and vision fasts in the Northern European tradition, aimed at adults. For more information about Lien, click here.
Carine Roth (she/they) is a Swiss eco-spiritual practitioner, photographer and rite-of-passage facilitator. She is the founder of Ceux d’ici and co-founder of the Swiss organisation Rite de Passage, which promotes modern, wholesome rites of passage in nature for young people and adults.
Trained at The School of Lost Borders, Carine has been following the lineage of this school for many years. More about Carine
Myth
Myth, in the way I am thinking about it, is an echo-location arising from the Earth itself.
"In the living world, when certain animal calls collide with another being, they send an echo back to the caller, giving even an almost blind creature a sense of what is in their surrounding domain. I think the Earth has always done something similar. It transmits pulses, coded information, lucid image, and then sits back to see what echoes return from its messaging. This is not the deadening thump of just one note but a multiplicity. Sometimes we get lucky. It may be a Inuit perched on the ice round a fishing hole, a tramp wandering Welsh lanes, a woman gardening early on a summer’s morning that receives it. These pulses tell us something about how to live. I would call this beholding.
Oral cultures have often demonstrated great skill at honouring this, and crafting art around it until it becomes a two-ways-looking that confirms a kind of holy thinking existing between wolf and caribou, silvered rain and tangled byre. This mystical morse code is the true underlying pattern of any myth deserving of the name. It is the sound of the Earth and its inhabitants thinking about itself.
When the call hits whoever is tuned to receive it, it sends an echo back to its source; it confirms relationship, and in some way edifies that origination point. These pulses can get picked up when fasting on the mountain top, in the temple during a silent retreat, whilst grieving for an old love by a still lake. It is very mysterious, and requires a certain aliveness to pick it up. It’s not a fashionable sentiment, but the kind of multi-tasking that modernity celebrates is a direct hindrance to receiving it." - Martin Shaw
Jean-Jean and his team will be hosting you
