Nostos Retreat Launches at Broughton SanctuaryFive Day Immersion into Meaning, Myth and Modern Spirituality
A new immersive retreat, Nostos, will take place from 15–20 November 2026 at Broughton Sanctuary. Through philosophy and psychology, the retreat offers a fresh approach to spirituality rooted in ancient Western philosophy and reimagined for the modern world.
Led by acclaimed psychologist, mythologist and author Sharon Blackie, and joined by contributors including Mark Vernon, Tom Bree and Vanessa Chamberlin, the five-day retreat brings together a community of “learners and seekers” to explore what it means to live well in today’s world.
Derived from the ancient Greek concept of “homecoming,” most famously associated with Odysseus’ return to Ithaca in The Odyssey, Nostos represents a return not only to place, but to something deeper: a rediscovery of meaning, belonging and connection.
A Spiritual Response to Modern Life
“At a time when many feel spiritually unanchored, disconnected from both organised religion and surface-level wellness culture, Nostos offers a rare alternative,” says Sharon Blackie. “It provides a grounded, intellectually rigorous and deeply imaginative framework for exploring life’s biggest questions, without dogma or doctrine”.
As conversations around identity, belief and belonging evolve, many are seeking a form of spirituality that feels both authentic and culturally resonant. Nostos responds to this growing need by offering a Western-rooted path that is exploratory and deeply personal rather than prescriptive and institutional. Participants are invited to cultivate their own understanding through imagination, creativity and lived experience.
An Immersive Five-Day Programme in Nature
Set within the natural landscape of Broughton Sanctuary, in the Yorkshire Dales, the retreat includes structured learning, personal reflection and shared experience. Guided sessions will explore:
The role of myth and the “mythic imagination”
Dreamwork and active imagination
Sacred geometry and cosmology
Virtue ethics and the divine feminine in Western traditions
Platonic and Neoplatonic philosophy as a way of life
Allowing for personal exploration, optional experiences include:
Walking the Sanctuary’s labyrinths and rewilded landscapes
Time in the Avalon Wellbeing Centre, including pool, sauna and steam room
Sound bathing sessions
Storytelling and music gatherings around the Fire Temple
Participants will also engage with enduring human questions: What is the meaning of life? How should we live? What does it mean to be wise?
Beyond Wellbeing
While many retreats focus on wellbeing alone, Nostos positions itself as something more expansive - a spiritual experience that seeks to reconnect individuals with the sacred, without requiring adherence to any formal belief system.
At its heart, the retreat focuses on what Nostos describes as “soul-making”, helping individuals find their personal calling and make sense of their life journey within a wider cosmos. “It’s an invitation to reconnect with the sacred without subscribing to rigid doctrine,” add Blackie ”to rediscover imagination as a source of knowledge and to engage with life as something inherently meaningful and alive.”
The retreat builds on the Nostos Institute as an existing philosophy-led community and marks the beginning of a longer-term vision, with plans for annual gatherings at Broughton Sanctuary and smaller, more intimate events throughout the year.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Broughton Sanctuary & Avalon Wellbeing
Located in the Yorkshire Dales, Broughton Sanctuary is the only accredited Healing Hotel in the United Kingdom. The accolade recognises its commitment to wild wellbeing through immersive retreats, innovative rewilding initiatives and sustainability. The Sanctuary was named one of the world’s 30 coolest places to visit in 2024 by National Geographic Traveller and commended as “one to watch” in the Rest of the World Responsible Tourism Awards.
Broughton Sanctuary offers 98 bedrooms across historic and nature-immersed accommodation, from the 16th-century Broughton Hall to off-grid Hermit Huts and Sanctuary Homes. Home to one of the UK’s leading nature recovery projects, with over 330,000 trees planted in partnership with the White Rose Forest, activities include wild swimming, woodland saunas, forest bathing, ice bathing, sweat lodges, fire ceremonies, meditation labyrinths and moon baths. Plant-based dining is served at the walled garden bistro Utopia, with bespoke catering available throughout the estate.
At the heart of the Sanctuary lies Avalon Wellbeing, conceived by owners Roger Tempest and Paris Tempest as the estate’s wellbeing hub. Featuring thermal facilities, studio spaces and specialist treatment rooms, Avalon hosts residential retreats, daily yoga and meditation, workshops and a wide range of therapeutic practices.
Together, Broughton Sanctuary and Avalon Wellbeing are recognised as one of the UK’s most progressive destinations for depth-led, future-facing wellbeing.
About Dr. Sharon Blackie
Dr. Sharon Blackie is an award-winning and internationally bestselling author, speaker and teacher. She’s a former neuroscientist and a psychologist with a background in mythology and folklore, and her work is focused on the mythic imagination and its relevance to the personal, cultural and environmental issues we face today.
As well as writing seven books of fiction and nonfiction, including the bestselling If Women Rose Rooted and Hagitude, her writing has appeared in international media outlets and she has featured in programs by the BBC, US public radio and independent filmmakers. Sharon is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, an Honorary Member of the UK Association of Jungian Analysts, and has taught and lectured at many academic institutions and cultural festivals around the world. Her much-loved publication ‘The Art of Enchantment’ is a global Substack Bestseller.
Sharon lives in Cumbria, in the far north of England, with her husband, dogs, hens and sheep.