Mother & Daughter
Journey Group
An 18 month facilitated programme starting this Autumn and held by an experienced team of facilitators.
We gather as women to tend our own inner girl in preparation for welcoming our girls for your journey together. Then, together in a circle of sisterhood we gently prepare our girls for this journey of womanhood and give them the tools to navigate the teen years with a sense of themselves, trust in their inner knowing and a strong mother and daughter bond.
About the Program
The Mum and Daughter Journey Group is an 18 month facilitated program based on the work of Eartha Love Varda and held near Totnes, Devon. The program will be divided into two parts:
6 months journey as mums (without girls) starting at the end of September 2025
1 year program with the girls and mums . Once the girls are settled in, we will spend more than half the day alongside each other, and the rest of the day sharing/connecting separately.
As part of a circle of sisterhood, we will be reclaiming and honouring our inner girl, to support us in meeting and celebrating your daughter as she moves closer to her journey to womanhood. Together, we will be weaving a strong container for our girls to feel safe in when we welcome them in, March 2026.
Gathering around our daughters we remember our ways of being together in connection with the Earth and honoring the journey to womanhood in community. This is a circle of sisterhood, where together we celebrate and witness the girls as they grow and change. This journey also supports your connection to your daughter and nurtures the bond between you. The sessions are aimed to empower our girls to stay true to themselves in preparation for the journey into puberty and the teenage years.
The group is a space where the girls can feel seen and celebrated
We will gather round the fire together, sharing snacks, catching up and playing games in the wild land of Oakwood. Connecting with each other and the Earth through games, stories, song and ceremony. Sharing food, laughter and togetherness as we deepen in sisterhood and bring our loving presence to our daughters to deepen and nurture our bond with them.
✓ Nature connection
✓ Intuition and confidence
✓ Nurturing your daughters trust in herself and her inner knowing
✓ Honouring & celebrating the journey to womanhood
✓ Being witnessed and seen in sisterhood
✓ Preparation for puberty and honouring menarche as a rite of passage
✓ Nurturing the mother & daughter bond
Mother's Journey
The first 6 months is a journey with just mums as we come together to tend to our own inner girl and find ways to integrate and honour our experiences on the journey from birth to womanhood as we revisit each threshold together. Our days together will include sharing circles, listening partnerships, shared lunch, guided journeys, singing, journaling invitations and ceremony.
During these months we will also be weaving a deep and safe container in which to bring our girls in, when we welcome them in March 2026.
Mum & Daughter Journey
Gathering around our daughters we remember our ways of being together in connection with the Earth and honoring the journey to womanhood in community. This is a circle of sisterhood, where together we celebrate and witness the girls as they grow and change. This journey also supports your connection to your daughter and nurtures the bond between you. The sessions are aimed to empower our girls to stay true to themselves in preparation for the journey into puberty and the teenage years. We will welcome the girls in March 2026 and begin our journey together. The sessions with the girls will follow a familiar daily rhythm : sharing circles, nature connection games, craft/activity, shared lunch, ceremony/guided journey/stories and singing related to the chosen theme. The programme will include topics such as intuition, the map of womanhood, the seasons and cycles of nature, healthy sisterhood and connection to the wisdom of our ancestors. The sessions will be adapted to the needs of the girls and there will be plenty of space for fun! Whilst there will be moments of dropping into a ceremony or a guided journey, we will make these activities simple and accessible and balanced with movement and time to relax together. These activities aim to give you and your daughter shared experiences that deepen your connection with each other and nurture your bond. Nature connection and feeling a sense of belonging to the Earth is central to this approach and so we will be weaving in the seasons and ways to deepen our relationship to the natural world. The themes of the sessions aim to support and nurture trust in your daughter’s inner knowing, confidence in speaking what is true for her and a space to share and hear from others about the topics we explore. The group is a space where the girls can feel witnessed and celebrated through thresholds and to normalise this and honour the journey to becoming a woman. As our circle models respects for each other’s differences and allows us to have our own unique experiences, so we can support our girls to navigate the complexities of friendships and sisterhood whilst staying true to themselves.
Free Tasters Sessions 7.30-9pm on the 9th July, 5th September & 16th September!
Sharing Circles
Once the girls are settled and they feel comfortable for us to leave them with Tarryn, we will come together just as mothers for our sharing circle (this will take place late morning of each session). This is an important space for us to share how our girls are and how we are in relation to them and this mother and daughter journey. This enables us to meet the girls and sense what they need and how the sessions can best support them. It gives us space to be heard and witnessed in sisterhood and share the joys and challenges or our mothering journey. We will also explore specific topics and decide how best to bring our own experiences of growing up to the girls during whole group sharings, discussions and chatting whilst crafting.
Dates & Structure
From 30th September 2025 to February 2027
6 months journey as mums (without girls) starting at the end of September 2025
1 year program with the girls. Once the girls are settled in, we will spend more than half the day alongside each other, and the rest of the day sharing/connecting separately.
There will be three opportunities to meet us, hear more about the program and bring your questions: Free Taster Sessions (just for mamas) 7.30-9pm Wednesday 9th July 7.30-9pm, Friday 5th September 7.30-9pm, Tuesday 16th September Please send an email to book your place: contact@anniegardner.uk Introduction Session & Sharing Circle Tuesday 30th September 6.30-9pm Dates for Sessions with Mums 2025 18th October 15th November 13th December 2026 24th January 7th February All sessions will be from 10am-4pm and will be held at Oakwood, Denbury (except 13th December which will be at The Angel Hall, Bowden House, Totnes). Oakwood is an incredible venue with outdoor shelters, roundhouse, indoor classrooms, herb/flower gardens and 4 acres of woodland. Mum & Daughter Journey Begins! 7th March 4th April 9th May 6th June 4th July ‘Social’ 12th September 3rd October 7th November 2027 9th January 9th February
About the Facilitators
The programme will be overseen by Annie Gardner with the support of Bella Lilley and Eartha Love Varda. The mother’s sessions will be held by Annie & Bella, both mothers and with years of experience in setting up and being part of mother & daughter groups with Eartha’s support and mentoring. They set up and were part of the core group for their eldest girls group (which lasted for three years). Bella has since been part of another group for her second daughter. They are inspired to offer this Mother and Daughter Journey Group for their youngest daughters as well as make it available to other girls of a similar age and make this beautiful approach to supporting the journey to womanhood available more widely. We see how this way has become ‘normal’ for our older daughters and how it has shaped their attitude to menstruation and their openness around sharing their experiences of growing up and all the changes this brings. Both Bella and Annie have experience with women’s circles, rites of passage and ceremony through their work with Eartha as well as with Fiona Shaw and other mentors. They bring to this work their other skills and experience including Bella’s voice work, deep immersions in Gambian culture and community and home-education projects. Annie brings to this work her experience in herbalism & intuitive plant connection as well as soul-centric practices (with Anima’s Valley Institute). Girls Sessions From March 2026, the sessions will be with the girls and held by Tarryn Castle with the support of Annie, Bella and mentoring from Eartha. Tarryn Castle For the past 20 years, since graduating with a degree in entomology, Tarryn has dedicated her life to protecting and raising awareness about the natural world. Mum to Ezra, she currently runs a weekly group for young children at the land-based community of Kettle Co-operative, based at Oakwood, which is her home. She is trained in 8 Shields, Intuitive Herbalism and for the last 13 years has worked closely with Fiona Shaw, in women’s healing, journeys and rites of passage. Tarryn is passionate about supporting young people to connect deeply with themselves and nature and she has mentored both young girls and teens. Tarryn is inspired by Eartha’s approach to holding space for the girls and the resources she offers us that will support the sessions with the girls. Annie and Bella will have their youngest daughters in the lodge and so will be participating in this journey, but will be supporting the sense of container and holding parts of the day such as the mother’s sharing circle, singing and holding aspects such as the ceremony/afternoon activity sometimes.
Who is this Programme is For?
This journey is open to mothers with daughter’s age 8-10 years old (in March 2026). This is an approximate age as each girl enters puberty at different ages. Please feel free to get in touch if you would like to join, but your daughter is just outside this age range.
We will be gathering together as a group of 9 girls and 9 mums, plus our facilitator Tarryn, you and your daughter will need to be able to manage being in a group space which we recognise is not always easy for everyone.
Opportunity to Continue the Journey
The girls (and possibly mothers) could continue after the programme ends, in the form of craft & sharing circles and lodge days run by Tarryn and/or Annie/Bella or other external facilitators).
Further sessions could cover some/all of the following topics which will be more relevant when the girls reach the age of around 12 years old:
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Intuition
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Puberty
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Menstrual cycle awareness Self-care and body image
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Sacred sexuality, consent & boundaries
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Menarche Ceremony
Eartha Varda Love & The Map of Womanhood
Eartha Varda Love offered support and mentoring to Bella and Annie during the Mother & Daughter lodges (groups) they have been part of for their daughters. The Map of Womanhood is central to her approach to this work.
Eartha has gifted many communities of sister's this sacred map as a blueprint for the return of a healthy culture for Women and Girls through rites of passage. Beautiful work for communities of women who are committed to mending the Soul of the village, re-creating a healthy culture through the awareness of rites of passage, the journey of the soul and the Exquisite beauty of the feminine.
This sacred journey of Rites of Passage will bring you inspiring wisdom to better understand yourselves as ever deepening women and also the invaluable wisdom of how to hold the future generations of women through our collective daughters. It informs everything, birth, womanhood, mothering, menopause, elderhood, death.
Financial Exchange
£150 advance payment due at the beginning of October 2026.
Then we ask for £45 per month direct debit from November 2025 to February 2027
Please get in touch if you have any questions.
Testimonial
“The times spent together as mothers on our own was really insightful and profound and enabled me to approach my daughters adolescence and threshold of becoming more soulfully and from a more heartfelt way, because I understood myself far better. Hearing other mother’s stories was also a real treasure for me to understand our common cultural wounding and our gifts as women and as mothers and what we have to offer our daughters. Spending time with my daughter and other girls in the lodge was so precious. Introducing her to ceremony so it became a natural part of her life, wild time on the moors, fun and games and creating beauty with her, such precious times. I am so grateful for the lodge and the friendships that were formed, both mothers and daughters.”
Catherine
Celebrating the Thresholds on the Journey to Womanhood
