Isabella Ferrari Sells Out €1,900 Irish Witch Retreats as Women Seek Healing and Anger Release
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jun 10
Isabella Ferrari Sells Out €1,900 Irish Witch Retreats as Women Seek Healing and Anger Release
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jun 10
Summary
Fifteen women gathered at Ferrari’s two-and-a-half-day Green Veil retreat in Ireland, using divination, candle-making and somatic exercises to confront grief, trauma and suppressed anger.
Tickets priced at €1,900 to €3,000 sold out repeatedly, with more than half the cohort coming from the US as participants sought community outside churches, workplaces and other institutions they felt had failed them.
Women at the retreat described rape, suicide loss, stalking, divorce and spiritual isolation, framing the coven-like setting as a source of protection, belonging and permission to say "I am so angry" aloud.
Scholars say the appeal fits a broader rise in alternative spirituality, with more than 30% of Americans identifying as spiritual but not religious and witchcraft often serving as a rejection of male-dominated religious hierarchy.
Critics call such retreats a commercialization of female empowerment, but practitioners argue the money is secondary to what attendees are really buying: a temporary space for healing, rebellion and mutual care.