You can join a free call about the sitout on April 30th at 7pm.
The invitation
There are moments in life when we find ourself in a place of not knowing. We enter a new life phase, a crisis or loss changes the way things were, we can’t seem to figure out what it looks like to contribute in a meaningful way to our community, or something about the way our society functions makes us feel we don’t belong. These and similar moments can make us long for guidance. Yet sometimes human advice just doesn’t seem to bring us any further.
Since ancient times humans all over the world have turned to ritual to look for guidance in nature, to deeply listen to the babbling stream, the soaring buzzard or the song of the wind and to maybe take home some instructions from them. In these rituals the same elements come back: solitude in nature, exposure to the elements, fasting, and prayer.
In the Northern tradition the old sources, like the poetic Edda and some of the Icelandic sagas, mention the word ‘útiseta’, literally ‘to sit out’. This practice often involved sitting on a burial mound to get in touch with the ancestors in order to receive wisdom. In the Edda we also read that Odin was hanging from the world tree for nine days and nights while fasting; ‘no bread did they give me nor a drink from a horn’. At the end of this period he received the runes, not just an alphabet but also a doorway into poetry, magic and deep knowledge.
The Well of Memory is an invitation to participate in a contemporary sitout, to remember the waters of life from which we all have come and to be renewed by them. In Norse mythology the well is located beneath the world tree and is said to contain much wisdom – Odin (he again) even sacrificed an eye in order to get a drink from it! Are you ready to sit by its side?
What to expect
The Well of Memory takes place over a period of ten days. The first two days we spend together with our small group in base camp to prepare for the ritual. On the morning of the third day you leave to your sitout spot where you spend four days and nights in solitude. After your return we spend another two full days in base camp to start integrating your experience.
There will be an online group call before and after our time together. Please also bear in mind that the sitout requires preparation beyond our days in base camp. Be prepared to start readying yourself some months in advance through some daily practices. (You receive more information about this after your registration.)
For whom
Do you find yourself looking for meaning?
Are you asking big questions that won’t go away?
Do you feel life has brought you on your knees and everything that used to make sense no longer does?
Do you feel a deep longing to surrender to the unknown?
Are you curious about what the next stage of your life is about?
Do you want to experience being human in the big web of life?
Do you feel a thirst for being fully alive?
Do you want to sit with the essential?
If any or more of these resonate with you there is a big chance the sitout is a fit. Not sure or you would like to learn more? Then you can join one of the free info calls or reach out for a one-on-one conversation.
By whom
Lien De Coster, Zaia Hoffmann & assistant
Zaia Hoffmann
(she) has a passion for nature, dance, percussion, Japanese culture and crafts which she deepended since her late twenties in different workshops and trainings. After assisting a rites of passage for teenagers and going on a vision fast at the west coast of Sweden in 2012 she knew that she wanted to support rites of passages. When she first experienced rituals held by Dagara teacher Sobonfu Somé from Burkina Faso, integrating the elements of nature, music and dance in a sacred and purposeful space, she immediately felt at home and joined the unique three year training in nature connected rituals. Together with a training in nature awareness this became her fundament for holding rites of passage programs for teenagers. Together with Lien she designs contemporary, locally rooted community focused rituals and ceremonies. During the sitout she takes care of all things practical, including food and logistics, to allow you to be able to drop into deep listening and surrendering into the ritual space.
For more info about Zaia, click here (in German)
Photo: Anne Schwalbe
Lien De Coster
(she/they) has been holding ritual spaces for more than a decade. She is passionate about blowing life into the big ceremonies that make for a healthy and life-serving culture and to translate them to contemporary times. After some try-outs in the Ardennes she held wilderness solos in the Pyrenees for seven years. In 2020 her friend Miki Dedijer invited her to Sweden and together they started holding the ritual in a northern European tradition. The sitout was born. Lien studied with Dutch shamanic practitioner Linda Wormhoudt, among other the ‘woman of the paths’ training with a focus on sacred landscape.
For more info about Lien, click here.
Dates
From Saturday August 2nd at 4pm till Monday August 11th 2025 at 10am.
Maybe you want to settle in the region already before the start date. It is strongly advised, if possible, to build in some extra free time before and after the sitout in the area or somewhere else before getting back to your daily life.
Location & transport
Our base camp is situated at the Swedish west coast, on the beautiful island of Orust. It takes about two hours to get there by public transport from Gothenburg or about an hour by car. You will receive more details about the location upon registration.
Costs
The cost of the sitout is 1350 euro or 14800sek.
This includes a preparation package and a group call during both the preparation and the integration period and guidance during the actual sitout week. It also includes the stay at the location and food cooked in a way that helps you to prepare for the fast and to appropriately build up afterwards. Please get in touch if the price makes it impossible for you to participate.
Info
liendecoster7@gmail.com or 0046(0)724468878
Join our free call about the sitout on Wednesday April 30th at 7pm. This comes without any obligations. You can register through filling out the form underneath.
Would you like to have a one-on-one conversation to find out whether the sitout is for you?
Registration
Are you thinking of joining the sitout? Then let us know and we will send you the registration info!
The deadline for registration is May 31st. There is a maximum of 8 participants for this sitout. Your registration is complete once we have received a filled out questionnaire and payment from you.
Deeply intense and transformational processes can arise during a sitout. Make sure you are in a physical and mental condition suitable to enter into this kind of liminal space. If you are unsure about this, please get in touch.
The return
There is something raw, beautiful and pure about the faces of people upon the return from the sitout. Photographer Miet Van Hee joined us in base camp one year and made a series of portraits, some of which you can see here.
Articles
For Northern Spirit House Lien wrote an article about her early sitout experiences. You can read ‘Utiseta - The Crossroads of Life’ here.
Testimonials
Childlike surrender
Going on a sitout with Lien, was a very enriching experience. She naturally ignites everybody to reconnect with their true nature and the purity of the elements. Going on this sitout gave me back my childlike surrendering and trusting in Life and Nature. Lien knows the art to combine depth with playfulness. She was the perfect guide to go on this transforming journey. I recommend this sitout to anyone who longs for Love, Truth and Freedom.
(Mieke Bruneel, Hamme, Belgium)
Untamed soul
My time with Lien took me into another world. The ten days in base camp did not feel like part of my ‘normal’ life, rather like a very, very long journey.
No mirrors, no walls, no running water, no time and partly no food. All of that and Lien’s way to create and hold space; with mysticism, beyond the daily life and the brain and making the invisible in and around us tangible.
It was radical and partly hard but exactly this context made it possible to experience myself deeper and purer than ever before in my life. My wild, untamed soul got space. I can feel it since and it gives me power and direction on my way. Thank you.
(Ronja, Rostock, Germany)
Leadership catalyst
Lien's sitout changed my life in a profound way. I highly recommend the opportunity to reconnect with oneself, nature and the elements. It was a great leadership catalyst in my own life to be part of the sitout.
(Anna Caroline Türk, Berlin, Germany)
Lost enough to find myself
In old tales I have heard about the forests of the fey where time flows in strange ways - you wander there for an hour but upon returning realize a month has passed back home. Little did I know that these where more than mere stories until I wandered with Lien into the woods.
With tales, poetry, deep sensitivity and of course the forest itself, they spun a magical realm outside the rational where I got lost enough to find myself - or a little part of myself at least - and though they still claim the program was only 10 days, I am sure that I spent at least a month in there with the robin, the slugs, the trees, the cliff, the spirits.
(Morten Andersen, Copenhagen, Denmark)
More testimonials
After the sitout I can feel how going through this all is a gift to the world. Beside all the things that might still arise from this time, it helped me so much to really feel at home in myself. And to face challenges with trust in life and myself.
(Rebecca, Witzenhausen, Germany)
Lien's sitout was an extraordinary and deep experience. I got to know Lien as an experienced, grounded and empathetic guide throughout the program. She provided me with ancient wisdom and rituals to re-connect my self with nature and expand my limits. I highly recommend to be accompanied by Lien on such an inner journey which takes place in beautiful wild nature.
(Christiane Bieker)