Vancouver Island Retreat: May 16-19

We have private access to 800 meters of riverfront, featuring two natural swimming holes, three gardens, four ponds, and three miles of trails winding through the rainforest and old-growth forest. The land also holds a traditional sweat lodge and a medicine wheel, offering sacred spaces for reflection, solitude, and connection with yourself or soul family.

Ceremonies will take place in the property’s dedicated gathering space. Guests can choose between private rooms, shared rooms, or a camping spot, with accommodations for up to 12 participants for an intimate retreat.

Athena, born in Greece and enriched by her diverse heritage as a South African-Venezuelan, is a profoundly skilled and authentic teacher of plant medicine. With over 18 years of experience in indigenous ceremonial practices from both North and South America, her formal apprenticeship was with the Shipibo Mahua lineage in the Peruvian Amazon.

Known to her students as a renegade lightworker, Athena channels a cosmic grandmother energy in her ceremonies, offering an incredibly potent yet gentle transmission of the plant spirits. Her ceremonies are uniquely safe, authentic, and infused with eternal love—an experience that remains rare in the realm of ayahuasca work.

Jason, an energy healer and shamanic herbalist, embodies the spirit of plants with his rooted and lifelong connection to the plant world. Since 2010, he's worked extensively with ayahuasca, cultivating and preparing it in Hawaii on his family’s property.

Specializing in tailor-made shamanic medicines, he addresses emotional, physical, and spiritual needs, aiming to deepen individuals' connection to the Earth. Known for his incredible humor and nurturing presence in ceremony, Jason strengthens the container by holding the masculine while allowing the feminine to lead.

How do I get to the location?
Eagle Nest Sanctuary is located in the Shawnigan Lake area, approximately 50 km northwest of Victoria, BC.

If you’re coming from Vancouver Island, you’ll need a car or a ride-share with another participant.

If you’re coming from the mainland, you can either fly or take a BC ferry to Victoria. From there, you can coordinate a ride with another participant or rent a car to reach Shawnigan Lake.
How do I prepare?
This retreat includes a 3-week master plant dieta with Chiric Sanango, beginning online on April 27, 2025, with a Zoom call led by Athena and Jason. You will open your dieta before the retreat and close it during the retreat experience.

Unlike a standard Ayahuasca 2-week preparation protocol, this dieta requires a three-week monastic-style spiritual, psychological, and physical preparation for both the ayahuasca retreat, as well to accommodate your dieta with Chiric Sanago. This includes eliminating specific foods from your diet and avoiding certain consumptive patterns and exposures, such as alcohol, drugs, pornography, social media, caffeine, and processed sugars.

Upon registering, you will receive a detailed preparation guide outlining the full Ayahuasca + Chiric Sanango protocol. If you have any questions, you can reach out to Athena directly via email: athenasprayers@gmail.com, and she or her assistant will be able to answer your questions.
What is the practitioner to participant ratio?
Our retreat ensures personalized support with a ratio of two ceremony facilitators for our small group of 10-12 participants.
What is your refund policy?
Due to high costs of facilitating retreats, we cannot offer refunds. In the event where you can no longer come, we will place your funds toward future retreats or online offerings by Athena or Jeremy, of which there are many.
I already purchased the Chiric Sanago Online Dieta, is there a discount to add-on this retreat to the dieta?
Yes! Participants who have purchased the Chiric Sanago Online Dieta get a $555 USD discount from the retreat price. Please purchase a retreat spot, and use code CHIRIC555 at checkout to redeem the discount.

Please note: this discount is not available to participants who have no already purchased the Chiric Sanago online dieta offering
What is the time commitment of the 3-week Dieta primer? What is expected of me?
You’ll have the option to join us for a 2-hour live call every Sunday and Wednesday for 3 weeks.

These calls are not mandatory, though they certainly help to dieta process. If you can make one call a week, that would be ideal to receive the Ikaros from Athena. Two is completely optional. All live calls will be recorded for later viewing. The calls would be a 2-4 hour commitment every week for the 3 weeks.

Our weekly live calls will be Wednesdays at 2pm PST / 5pm EST, and Sundays at 10:30am PST / 1:30pm EST.

The first call would be Sunday April 27, 2025 at 10:30 AM PST. The last call for the online container will be May 18, 2025 at 10:30am PST. Those in retreat will instead close dieta May 18 in ceremony that weekend.

Outside of the calls, setting aside time to be with your dieta means more walks in nature, more time with water, time contemplating and taking care of yourself in various simple and therapeutic ways. This is a time commitment that varies that you would ideally have available to you when entering dieta to get the most out of it.