Water Priestess Arts in the South of France
Join other women from around the world for 7 days in France, near Toulouse.
The ancient lands of the Cathar and Magdalene.
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UPCOMING PILGRIMAGE DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED.
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Water Priestess Arts, Sensual Embodiment, Body Temple Tending, Holy Sisterhood
We are Mermaids & Womb Priestesses
Water. Not just a substance, she is the Divine Mother incarnate.
Without her, nothing living would exist.
The water is the root of the lineage of love. She is the primordial fabric all beings are woven from. She is me and she is you. She is the mirror of unity. The substance of polarity. The star in the story of the sacred night gone bright with remembering. She is memory.
Water as mother. Mother as love. Love as water. The spiral flows.
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IMAGINE THIS:
Hiking hours into the largest cave in Europe where the Cathars once hid escaping persecution and sound ceremony in the natural cathedral.
Praying & singing in my favorite sacred chapels that you’ve probably never heard of with powerful leylines in devotion to Mary Magdalene.
Climbing the Magdalene tower of Rennes Le Chateau, walking through Cathar towns & castles, and an off the tourist path church with black madonnas.
Soaking in pure hot springs, drinking “miraculous” spring water, communing at a salt water spring, and baptising in a holy river.
Doing nourishing temple rituals in our own private castle.
And so much more…
Dive into the legends and living legacy of Magdalene & the Cathars.
Pilgrimage Overview
The southwest of France is absolutely enchanting. The land is rich and soaked in a lineage of love from Mary Magdalene and the Cathars. The land looks similar to Tuscany with rolling green and golden hills, yet there are also gorgeous dramatic mountains. It is a terrain that is abundant in natural beauty and sacred water sites. Endless churches and castles.
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As a little girl, I wanted to go to France more than anywhere in the world. It called my heart and beaconed me. The first time I went in 2018 was life changing for me. In 2022, I had a very powerful dream telling me to travel to a specific place in France I’d never heard of and connect with the spirit of a Cathar priestess. I listened and traveled there for a self guided Cathar & Mary Magdalene pilgrimage. Finally finding the places in France that I’d been waiting to discover since I was a child. I walked those lands and felt them not only in my blood as ancestry, but in my spirit. Finally remembering the fragrance as wet candle lit caves, wild blooming rosemary, and golden love. I re-discovered places without proper directions off the tourist trail that are some of my favorite places ever.
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In the 1200’s the catholic church launched a crusade against fellow christians who were considered a threat to the pope’s rule. Killing between hundreds of thousands to a million people in what is known as the Albigensian Crusade mostly in the south of France and northern Italy. These people are referred to today as the Cathars, but they referred to themselves as bon homes, good people. I believe they carried and some still carry to this day the true teachings of Mary Magdalene, who escaped to France after the crucifixion. They were such a threat to the catholic church that they were hunted, so the lineage of love went underground. Literally.
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Now we are in the time of the fulfillment of the prophecy. The laurel is turning green again.
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I am honored to bring you on a similar pilgrimage.
.Baptism is far more ancient than Christianity. Variations of baptisms and water purification ceremonies have been used in ancient cultures including temples in Egypt, Greece, Bali, and other sites around the world. There is recorded documentation of many temple sites having permanent bathing style water structure remains. There are speculations about what they were used for, but based upon my own intuition, they were for sacred ceremony including a form of “baptism”. Water is life and used to be honored and revered at the forefront of spirituality.
We will incorporate singing & vibrational medicine throughout the journey. Hiking & dance will also be woven in our time together.
We will enjoy story time from some of the gnostic gospels. I will share legends and stories about Mary Magdalene and the Cathars.
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We will also have tea parties. They are an amazing way to process and integrate after ceremonies, initiate deeper journeys, as well as a wonderful start to the day! Organic, sustainable, highest quality.
In France, the word for spring is source. I can’t think of a more perfect name than to call this water flowing from the womb of the earth what she is…living pulsing liquid source of us all. The mother. The womb. France, especially the Languedoc, is overflowing with spring water. It seems like every town has a sacred spring or well. We will gather and drink spring water for the duration of our time together.
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I will bring you to a over 5 different springs revered for their healing/miraculous powers. We will not go to Lourdes, as it’s a long drive, incredibly touristy and not a favorite of mine. But we will go to another miracle spring that features a white lady visitation and was almost made the “Lourdes” of France.
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We will journey to the miricle springs off the tourist trail to commune with the sacred waters, the white ladies, and make many offerings & prayers. By connecting to these miracle water springs, we connect with the depth of the womb of the earth.
Mermaids of the Magdalene was my very first initiation into water priestess arts, and it transformed me beyond anything I could have ever imagined or dreamed of. I joined on pure intuition and it was hands down one of the best decisions I have ever made..
Dakota practices what she preaches and more importantly: she embodies every piece of wisdom she shares. She holds such a pure, innocent, powerful and clear frequency that is profoundly magnetic. I know I will carry the wisdom, remembrance and clarity I received at this retreat for the rest of my life, into my next lifetimes and beyond.
This retreat not only changed me as a person, it also helped me get clear on my own mission on this Earth, and it made me come home to myself in ways I could have never imagined. A week before the retreat I was diagnosed with ADHD and it shook me a lot. During the retreat, I noticed that all of my intense symptoms that I experience “out in the world” faded like rain before a blazing sun. I felt safe in a way I have never experienced in my life. I felt held and supported, and I feel we unlocked the codes of what true sisterhood means. I literally feel I have made new neural pathways in my brain that are connected to the deepest sense of safety. And I am forever beyond grateful for this!!
I will cherish all experiences, ceremonies, activations, hugs, giggles and profoundly transformative rituals for the rest of my life. I love Dakota’s work, her soul, her presence, and the way she embodies her mission. I hold her and her work in highest regard.
I absolutely LOVED every aspect of this entire retreat. And I recommend everyone to give themselves the gift of learning from Dakota, and bathe in the profound primordial water wisdom she holds.
Mermaids of the Magdalene pilgrimage to the south of France with Dakota was deeply magical and sacred immersion in the holy energy of the south of France, of Mary Magdalene and her teachings, and into us as her by connecting to our own holiness.
Dakota’s love and respect for Mary Magdalena, who she really is, was evident and the basis of drawing each of us together. It felt like this pilgrimage was a legacy of love Dakota had returned to and was now inviting others to return to too. Every moment of it was a dream. Dakota held a container of sisterhood, relaxation, ease, feminine energy, transformation, delight, & peace. Her embodiment of these things made the container natural & supportive. Dakota’s astute professional leadership was wonderful to witness. As a teacher and creator of retreats myself I hold so much appreciation of her work.
All the ceremonies & activities had a beautiful cohesive flow. By the end of the week, I realized we had co-created heaven on earth & it’s that simple to do. Each ceremony, sacred spring, and chapel Dakota had found on her travels and brought us to was a transmission & reminder of this, a calling to step into creating heaven on earth now that we’d remembered we can. This was my most profound realization and became my most profound transformation.
Journeying to the south of France with Dakota was an incredibly transformative experience. There is a certain magic about honoring all that radiates through Dakota—a true Magdalene in every sense of the word, a Water Priestess, and basically Aphrodite incarnate, embodying all aspects of the Divine Feminine in ways that I have never before witnessed in this lifetime until I met her in France. It was evident in the words that she spoke, actions that she took, and pathways that she illuminated for others. The fact that she radiated the beauty of all life in this way, on the sacred lands of the South of France made my pilgrimage that much more potent.
It was nourishing on so many levels—through the historical and spiritual wisdom that Dakota shared of the land, through the ceremony and rituals that we collectively wove, and of course the delicious water that we sourced from sacred springs. The attention and intention to the variety of experiences that Dakota facilitated was so evident as an expression of devotion to her work. In her doing so, it surfaced so much within me—all of which I am looking forward to further exploring, transmuting, and developing. It was an honor to share in this journey with Dakota and to be a part of her work. I come away with more inspiration and devotion to the waters that exist on this Earth and within us, and highly recommend journeying with Dakota to anyone who is called to any or all expressions of her work. In deep gratitude.
Dakota’s in depth knowledge and wisdom was so beautifully and authentically shared with us. She is one of the most thorough and organized women I know, with such an artful capacity to hold the energy of leadership for all of the incredible sister Magdalene Mermaids for the entire seven days. I felt so deeply held and honored to be experiencing her codes of love, truth and beauty of the Divine Sacred Union within, as well as in partnership. She truly is a living example of one who lives her truth, and walks her path continually. She is such an inspiration of devotion to her heart that you can see that inextricable link between her heart and life path being one and the same. It is courageous and admirable and so inspiring. Her enthusiasm and passion is always present, she is wise beyond her years, and so deeply heart centered that you can’t help to feel the inspiration become contagious in the most positive way.
The Languedoc region of France is rich with history and culture, and beautiful beyond imagination. Seeing many sacred sites and collecting and drinking the living spring waters added yet another layer of depth and sacredness to the experience. Dakota guided us so effortlessly in many powerful and profound clearing and healing rituals in sacred ancient places, that deepened and empowered my own sense of self-love and self mastery. She truly is an angel, and I am forever a lifelong ally in the journey of creating the new heaven on Earth. Thank you Dakota for an experience that has touched me so deeply to the core of my soul, the imprint is indelible. I am so honored to be a witness and a participant on this path of love.
Glorious song, laughter and eyes that sparkle with loving kindness, holding hands and deep communion. These were days of soul remembering, connection with place, union with the divine, elemental playtime and enchantment with life past, present and future. I am profoundly grateful and honored to have attended the Mermaids of the Magdalene Retreat. It has been a most precious gift, one that I feel deepening even beyond our time together in France. Dakota has a special way of bringing forth the purest wisdom, with a sweet and grounded presence. The women who heard the call came with hearts open and arms outstretched.
It was a slice of the template of life as it feels meant to be and a reminder of what is truly possible for humanity. In sensorium, I experienced being held by the divine feminine in a way that I felt my self anew. If only I could find the words to express the depths of my experience! Feeling truly safe, truly worthy and accepted just as I am, allowing the self judgements to fall away, such sweetness. Even if for a moment, this is a profound gift. My experience continues to deepen and unfold, weeks after our time together and images of the Black Madonnas, the sacred places and waters, the friendships, and teachings all dance in my awareness. My gratitude is immeasurable.
The Water Priestess Retreat was absolutely incredible, and life-changing. It was a discovery of the waters of the world and the waters within my being. The women that she attracted were the perfect blend to awaken parts in me that have been hiding just under the surface. At this retreat, I rediscovered my ancient Priestess self, saw my magickal abilities in a more profound way, and really felt into my personal codes and place in this world.
The temple space that Dakota created was exquisite and transformative. I learned so many tools and teachings that I will carry with me for lifetimes to come, and am forever grateful for this experience.
“I knew I was going to the Water Priestess Retreat at the second I opened the website. Even through a screen, the powerful and magical energies of Dakota blossomed in my heart. Everything was calling me, the energy of the incredible island, the enchanted rituals that were offered and Dakota’s light.
During the retreat everything became even more clear, it was not only a retreat, it was a divine meeting of 14 daughters of the water. A group of powerful and divine water sisters. Thank to Dakota, who holds such humble and beautiful circles with all her heart, a strong sisterhood was created from the beginning. I felt home, I felt safe and supported. We all had our place at this circle, we all had a purpose, sometimes being the one that fell down, sometimes the one that holds her sisters, activations and liberations happened in a perfect and magic flow.
Dakota is very dedicated in her mission, it is so obvious and beautiful to see her natural connection with the spirit of water, and she takes us easily into her magical world and connection.
During this retreat I experienced different deep moments of rituals, it was soft, divine and profound.
I loved this magical retreat. I recommend it to every women on Earth to connect with the element of water, source of life, source of women’s pleasure. It can bring you into your deepest self, remembering your truest essence. And when practicing along with other sisters, it is even more intense and magical.”
“The Water Priestess Retreat held and transformed me in ways I could have never seen coming.
Dakota holds a frequency of pure unconditional love, powerful innocence and ancient wisdom. Everything that is not that is innately invited to emerge in the safety of the container to be alchemized.
This allows for a deeply healing sisterhood experience, where every sister is equally celebrated in her true essence and honoured in her power.
I’ve had a pattern for as long as I can remember of feeling deeply inferior in the presence of powerful beings and doubting my belonging in every group I have been a part of. For the first time in my life, I got confronted with the reality that this pattern is created by just a belief and that I actually do get to shift it, if only I choose to surrender to the greater truth.
The retreat quite literally flowed like water. Dakota embodies the feminine in a truly graceful way, and – can fiercely mission her masculine into upholding the unshakable container that allowed 14 women to drop into the depth of their being.
I have never felt as safe in my body as I did at the retreat. I felt a bit shy knowing there would be practices involving physical touch and minimal clothing. But when the time came for them, my consciousness got flooded with remembrance that cast out the fear. I knew we had been tending to each other’s bodies in these ways for thousands of years. It felt right, invigorating and beautiful. I felt like my body could remember true joy for the first time in years. Remembering my body as holy and feeling every woman’s body as that made it so that both giving and receiving in these ways felt like an equally great honour.
My relationship to water has shifted substantially. Learning some ways of the water priestess initiated me into feeling deeply connected to the waters of the earth and the waters within in a very new way.
I will continue to integrate this beautiful experience for a long time.
Dakota, deep bows for listening to spirit in such a meaningful way and thank you, thank you for all you embody, all you offer and all that you are.
Love love love
Dakota has had the honor of journeying to the south of France for extensive pilgrimage four times over the past 6 years to commune with the land, do research for her upcoming book, and remember the magic of Occitania. Each time she goes, more is revealed. The land is an ancient manuscript that unveils new meaning the more you read it. She has led three pilgrimages in the area over the years. Dakota has been studying Mary Magdalene since she was 18, water priestess arts since she was 21 and leading retreats around the world for 7 years. It is her highest joy to share these teachings of love, equality, and union to co-create heaven on earth. She recently discovered her mother is 50% French by DNA testing and has been discovering more of her French ancestry, including 14 recorded ancestors named after Magdalene. She can’t wait to share these sacred places with you and co-create the most beautiful journey.
Photography: India D’Scarlett & Natalia Dunne