Wise Women Gathering is an annual educational conference devoted to sharing herbal wisdom, exploring the women’s mysteries and cultivating community connection.
Held on the third weekend of May, the Gathering brings women together to listen, learn and remember what has been carried through land, lineage and lived practice.
On Darug Land, in the majestic Hawkesbury Valley, ninety minutes north of Sydney, we sit together in teaching, ritual, conversation and embodied practice, rooted in land and living tradition.
Over three days, women gather in woodland and river-light to explore plant wisdom, women-centred health practices, cultural traditions and embodied ways of knowing.
This is an invitation to learn in ways that are relational, attentive and embodied, and shaped by the places we gather. Each year, sessions unfold across multiple formats, from panels and masterclasses to sacred spaces, song circles and shared practice.
There is room for ceremonial opening and closing, marketplace connections, healing spaces with qualified practitioners, and time to rest, walk, swim, sing and play.
Across the weekend you can expect a rhythm that holds:
multiple educational sessions each day
panels exploring holistic practice and women’s mysteries
song and celebration woven into the program
Healing Space with massage, sound therapy and bodywork
marketplace with practitioners and makers
shared meals and gathering spaces for connection
opportunities for rest, play and immersion in land and community
Designed to be both nourishing and unhurried, the rhythm supports deep listening, reflection and shared participation, with space for women to choose how they engage.
Wise Women Gathering is intentionally intergenerational. Women gather across ages and stages of life, and children are part of the fabric of the weekend. This is not an informal arrangement, but one held through clear boundaries, dedicated spaces and skilled support.
Our Kids Camp and Maiden’s Circle are specifically designed so children are well cared for, engaged and supported, while carers are free to focus on learning, participation or simply to rest for a while. This separation of spaces allows both children and adults to be met appropriately, rather than asking anyone to manage competing needs.
Experienced staff hold the children’s spaces, with clear agreements about supervision, safety and movement across the site. Learning spaces for adults are protected, and the presence of children is held with care rather than left to chance.
Wise Women Gathering exists to support forms of learning that take time. The kind that come through practice, relationship and attention to the living world. Knowledge is shared through teaching, conversation and being together, with space to listen and to be changed by what is encountered.
This is why we gather: to reclaim patterns of listening, to build connection across generations, and to sit together in the kind of learning that changes how we carry ourselves into the world.
For centuries, women have gathered on Country, in forests, on riverbanks and around hearths; to share experience, memory, care and craft. Wise Women Gathering picks up this thread, not in imitation, but as continuation. Our learning is drawn from earth, community and enquiry; it is embodied and generative.
We honour the traditions that have been sustained through lineages of practice, and we hold space for women who step into that lineage in their own ways, at their own pace.
Meet the Weaver
The vision and stewardship of Wise Women Gathering is woven out of the life work of hollie wildëthorn, held within the wider work of institute for self crafting.
hollie’s approach to embodied learning, land–aligned practice and relational knowing has been shaped over decades of walking with women in clinical practice, study and ritual. Since hollie took custodianship of the Conference in 2019, it has evolved from a longing to create a place where depth could be tended, where teaching and lived experience meet, and where women can learn traditional wisdom from and with one another in a way that is generative rather than extractive.
This work is not about offering answers, but about honouring the questions that arise when women come together with intention, curiosity and generosity of spirit.
What Women say…
“From sacred circles and rich conversations to belly laughs, warm hugs, dancing through the elements, walking in the rain, meeting new sisters and connecting with Country… every part of the weekend fed my soul. The food was nourishing, the company even more so and the whole experience felt like a deep reset for both body and spirit.”
~ Tracie
“I felt like I came home to a like minded community, feeling nourished from workshops, movement, singing, dance, food and a deep connection to land and myself. All the threads woven together for more than a weekend experience but rather a way of being in that wholesome and real. What stood out was the welcoming openness of everyone who attended and genuine friendliness.”
~ Lisa J
“Gentle learning where individual autonomy is deeply respected and community living is enriching. I’m taking away a sense of being heard and respected, enjoyment and curiosity about the things that were new to me and the joy of seeing women who I might only ever see once per year at WWG, but who are close to my heart and inspire me.”
~ Cailleach