Calling Our Pieces Home — Winter Solstice Women’s Pilgrimage

21 December 2026 · Flüeli-Ranft & St. Niklausen

Recalling our pieces home — those soft, gentle parts of who we truly are that we gave away a long time ago, as children or through lifetimes, and that hold so much of our power.

As women, we carry a certain luggage. From our ancestors, from our history, from the collective understanding of what it means to be a woman. And from the expectations we have towards ourselves.

We have loved, cared and carried. Sometimes we have carried too much for others because of how we understood our role. Somewhere in that, we may have let go of parts of our own nature.

The gentleness. The softness. The parts that care so deeply and are so connected with others and with the earth. Perhaps these were the most vulnerable parts of us — in such distress that we could not hold them in our field while we had to fight for survival, for our families, for our clan.

On this winter solstice, we go together to a place of power to recall those pieces and own more of our nature.

A gathering for personal inner reflection, healing and sisterhood. With our physical bodies immersed in the place, we work with our bodies’ technology, receiving its medicine and activations and reclaiming what becomes possible here.

Through sacred silence, we acknowledge one another and see each other in our truthfulness — in the purity and softness of who we truly are. We help each other call those pieces back.

What we no longer carry can leave room to nurture ourselves and others, and to receive an understanding of love, care and womanhood beyond what we know at the moment.

Dorothee & Brother Klaus

Here, we also meet the story of Dorothee and Brother Klaus. A woman carrying family life, whose support helped make her husband’s devotion to God possible. A man who entered deeply into that relationship with God.

We cannot know everything that this asked of her, or everything it meant to either of them.

We can honour what she carried and what he entered into. We can feel the questions their story brings close: what we give through love, what we make possible for another, and what happens to our own relationship with the divine.

We take these questions with us into the silence.

Meeting & travelling together

08:50 · Meet at the official meeting point in Zurich HB’s main hall.

• 09:10–09:51: Zurich HB → Luzern · IR70
• 10:06–10:27: Luzern → Sachseln · Luzern–Interlaken Express
• 10:45–10:56: Sachseln Bahnhof → Flüeli-Ranft Dorf · Bus 351

Joining directly: 11:00 at Flüeli-Ranft Dorf, by prior arrangement.

Our pilgrimage

Arriving · Flüeli-Ranft
Coffee or tea, time to arrive, and an opening women’s circle. We spend an hour gathering ourselves, acknowledging one another and bringing our questions into the circle.

Walking into the Ranft · Sacred silence
Together, we walk down into the gorge in silence. Space for our own inner journey, with the presence of the other women around us.

Ranft chapels · Personal medicine & activations
We visit the chapels, receive the medicine of the places and work with our bodies’ technology. Time to receive what is here for each of us and reclaim those gentle, vulnerable parts of our nature that become possible to recall here.

Melchaa river · Picnic & ritual
We share our lunch beside the river and gather in circle. We acknowledge what we have carried for others, release what is no longer ours, and call our pieces home.

Mösli Chapel · Walking & receiving
We walk uphill, pausing at the Mösli Chapel to receive before continuing towards St. Niklausen.

Venus hill · Women’s circle
We sit together, acknowledging one another in silence and welcoming each other into our womanhood. Through sisterhood, we help each other recall those pieces and see one another in our softness and truthfulness. Time for resting and receiving.

St. Niklausen · Stones, sunset & closing
We stay through sunset, around 16:40, and close with ritual, time with the stones and a chapel visit if accessible. Warm tea and time together before walking to the bus.

Travelling home

Approximately 20 minutes to walk to St. Niklausen OW, Alpenblick.

• 18:57–19:11: St. Niklausen OW, Alpenblick → Sarnen Bahnhof · Bus 343
• 19:35–19:55: Sarnen → Luzern · Luzern–Interlaken Express
• 20:09–20:51: Luzern → Zurich HB · IR70

What to bring

• Warm winter layers, hat, gloves and weather protection.
• Sturdy walking shoes with good grip.
• An insulated sitting mat and a warm blanket.
• Picnic lunch, snacks and water.
• A flask of hot tea.
• A headlamp or torch.
• A journal and pen.

Practical details

Approximately two hours of walking, including a steep descent and ascent. We spend extended periods outdoors, including sitting in circle. The final part takes place after dark.

We walk from Flüeli-Ranft through the Ranft and Mösli to St. Niklausen, adapting to the weather and path conditions.

Travel tickets, café purchases and food are not included in the participation fee.