F&B RITUAL
Beyond the Veil
a conscious Samhain rite of silence, song, sensation and self-discovery
This Halloween, we’re drawn to the things our culture keeps in the dark.
Bodies. Pleasure. Death. Grief. The hunger for touch. The wildness we learn to suppress, & the intimacy we’re so rarely given space to explore.
We love Halloween’s permission to unleash; its embrace of strangeness, darkness, transformation & taboo. For our second RITUAL, we want to take that permission deeper - into a fully sober, immersive ceremony exploring the edges of voice, movement & human connection.
We gather in the wake of Samhain, as the nights lengthen & the year turns towards winter. This time of thinning veils, visiting spirits & encounters with the unknown offers a rich invitation to explore the boundaries of our own world: what we welcome, what we exclude, what we hold sacred, & what we’ve been taught to shame.
For 6 hours, we’ll move through a carefully composed arc of ceremony, performance, song, dance & sensation. We’ll explore collective sound, uninhibited movement & conscious touch; the exquisite intensity of deep attention, & the joy of becoming a little wild together.
We offer a secular sacrament, suffused with the sensual & spiritual; an intimate, intentional gathering that explores the depths of self, and connection.
STEP INTO THE DARKNESS
At the heart of this RITUAL is a journey beyond sight.
We loved the blindfolded encounters at our first Solstice gathering so much that we took the exploration further at Medicine Festival - leading an entire 3-hour session with our guests fully blindfolded.
It was extraordinary. People sang, touched, moved & gradually transformed into forests, oceans & strange collective creatures. At one point, a vast swathe of humanity became worms, joyously wriggling across one another. There was so much trust, invention, tenderness & utterly beautiful absurdity.
We want to go further.
“Your workshops were incredible; truly life-changing. I’ve taken a huge, huge step forward in being able to be present with others.”
Alex & Lauren will lead a new blindfolded exploration of sensation, intimacy & collective imagination. Without sight, a simple encounter can become astonishingly vivid: the texture of a hand, the anticipation of contact, the warmth of another body.
We’re passionately interested in the freedom this offers from appearances & visual judgements; the chance to slough the shackles of self-consciousness, become more present, & discover unfamiliar ways of connecting.
The ritual will centre on 3 group workshops, each exploring different modalities. We’ll be joined by the brilliant Dominik Schnell, returning with the depth, intensity & musicality of his Heart Wave movement practice, slipping deeper into eros, & an exquisite vocal facilitator, whose wild, elemental voice will transport us all into powerful collective choral resonance.
Together, we’ll weave a world of sound, movement, & touch - carefully held, deeply participatory, adventurous & alive.
“Unbelievable - we felt transformed! Thank you so much!”
“I felt so safe and free, and went so deep. I cannot thank you enough.”
WHAT TO WEAR?
For this RITUAL, we move from all white into all black.
Think thin, light, wafty, flowing, veil-like; sensual & ceremonial: robes, cloaks, gowns, shawls, billowing sleeves, loose trousers & generous layers - perhaps alternately concealing and revealing, and liberating skin. Dare to add a little drama, mystery & ritual to your silhouette. Dramatic black eye and other makeup deeply welcomed. Think black.
Please wear something more alluring, intentional and ritualistic than ordinary black daywear. We invite you out of the ordinary - and to leave the quotidian at the threshold. We invite you to re-imagine how you wrap your temple. This need not be complex, stressful or expensive; it might entail just a swathe of fabric, or a creative repurposing - or a strategic borrowing.
Please stay comfortable: you’ll need to move, stretch & lie down. Avoid restrictive clothing, sharp jewellery or anything likely to snag on another person. Please bring warm layers just in case.
CONSENT
“My favourite experiences of the whole [Medicine] festival. Really pushed me out of my comfort zone in a growth way, but felt so empowering and safe.”
Wellbeing is at the heart of what we do. Taking care of one another is one of our highest ideals & deepest motivations.
We require every attendee to act consensually: seek clear agreement and enthusiasm before touch, respect each person’s boundaries, & check in as interactions evolve. Every invitation is optional; everyone can change their mind, decline, pause, remove their blindfold, or speak at any time.
A rich team of attentive spaceholders will help hold the experience, offer guidance & support anyone needing care. We ask everyone to share in that attentiveness - to themselves & each other.
This is a sensual, non-sexual event.
Come with curiosity, an appetite for discovery, & whatever wildness you’d love to give some room.
We deeply look forward to exploring this with you <3
PLEASE BRING
Black ceremonial clothes
A flower, leaf, herb or sprig for the altar
A water bottle & any other non-alcoholic drink you might fancy
+ snacks if you’ll need (we’ll provide a few fruit and nuts in the early evening)
An open heart & mind
YOUR FACILITATORS
TOUCH: Alex Haw & Lauren Katalinich
Alex runs Fox&Badge and has spent his life exploring ways to connect & unleash people. Lauren co-directs Fox&Badge alongside her role as co-director of Psychedelic Society & cofounding a new network startup. They both love sensuality, expression, art, dance, authenticity and exploration, and believe in the power of the body to know and speak truths we don’t always listen to. This work builds upon our various Sensual Speed Dating workshops and our years of work as facilitators exploring the senses in workshops, festival tents and immersive interactions.
MOVEMENT: Dominik Schnell
For nearly three decades, Dominik has explored dance as a pathway to presence, expression, and connection, beginning in the underground rave scene of the late 1990s. His practice spans Contact Improvisation, Contemporary Dance, more than twenty years of 5Rhythms, and a range of other embodied modalities. He brings these together with personal development, men’s work, tantra, meditation, archetypes, Gene Keys, and relational inquiry. As the founder of HeartWave, he creates safe, well-held spaces for exploring embodiment, eros, power, authenticity, boundaries, and human connection.
OTHER PRACTICALITIES
ARRIVALS: 2:45-3pm only please. Please plan ahead. We have a packed programme of diverse activities to take you through & late arrivals are disruptive to the collective.
ACCESSIBILITY: the venue is a large, elegant high-ceilinged room, accessed by front stairs which have a wheelchair lift.
PHOTOGRAPHY: we feel everyone benefits if there is quality photography of our events, & will have a subtle photographer present. We also fully respect and protect the privacy of all attendees. You will be offered a white wristband on entry which signifies that you wish to not be photographed.
REFUNDS: we cannot offer refunds, but if needed, you can resell your tickets via our Tixel plaform our various platforms
We deeply look forward to exploring this all with you <3