The Quickening Hearth: Tending the Sacred Flame Within

The Quickening Hearth is a six-night Imbolc healing retreat on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi, led by Elle Saunders at Hestia Magic Paliuli Farm in Captain Cook. It is a sabbatical for people who have been tending everyone else's fire and are ready to turn toward their own: those who feel something stirring but haven't had the space to listen, who are recovering from burnout, or who are moving through a life transition and need more than a weekend.

The retreat works with three teachers: myth, land and body. It meets at Imbolc, the late winter moment when the seed quickens in its shell, and asks one question: what is your ember, and what does it need to stay alive? Brigid's symbols of the flame, the well and the blackbird sit alongside Pele, the volcanic presence of the island, who is met as fierce when power needs returning and soft when rest needs permission.

What to Expect

The days have a gentle shape, with plenty of room left open. Breakfast is at your own pace and adapted to your needs. A morning teaching circle brings group myth exploration and guided inquiry to set your intentions for the day. Afternoons are yours: rest, swim, journal, explore or hold a private ritual, following what your body asks for. Lunch is on your own. Private one-on-one sessions with Elle, or sessions with local healers, can be added at extra cost. Evenings begin with a community dinner, followed by an optional sharing circle.

The week opens and closes with sacred ritual and includes somatic healing and fire ceremony. A group excursion takes you to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, where fire has built new earth, and to Paleaku Peace Gardens. Guided group rituals visit sacred sites aligned with the group's intentions, including Place of Refuge and Kealakekua Bay. Each person receives a sabbatical toolkit with journaling pages, a reflection deck and seasonal wellness gifts, plus local guidance for exploring the island in line with their own intentions.

About Elle Saunders

Elle Saunders is a licensed marriage and family therapist, mythic educator and ritual facilitator. Her work sits at the intersection of Celtic mythology, depth psychology, somatic healing and earth-based spiritual practice. She treats story as transmission, ceremony as medicine and the body as the first and most reliable oracle. Her training is rooted in Avalonian priestess work and several oracle and ceremonial traditions. She is the founder of Trinity Star Family Counseling, Inc., and writes The First Altar on Substack.

The Setting

Paliuli Farm Sanctuary is an active Kona coffee farm on over ten acres above Honaunau Bay. Guests stay in a private room in one of four distinct farm sanctuary spaces, each designed for rest, with a choice of shared bath or en suite bath. The land offers lounging areas with sunset and ocean views, a tropical garden with seasonal fruit, and coffee and cacao trees. Wild spinner dolphins return to the bay to play and rest, and the ocean is close for swimming.

Healthy breakfast food is stocked in your space by a local food co-op, and a community dinner is shared each evening. Two meals a day are included.

Before You Go

The retreat is held in English. Tuition covers six nights of lodging, two meals per day, morning group sessions with Elle, the opening and closing rituals, the toolkit, the group excursions and entrance to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

Not included are airfare and local transport, lunch, onsite massage, acupuncture or energy healing, guided tours to sacred sites beyond the group excursions, whale and manta ray boat excursions (the team can help you arrange these) and one-on-one follow-up sessions with your retreat host.