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Tattoo Retreats
About Us
Izzy Nance is a licensed psychotherapist. She has worked as an existential therapist using a Gestalt and Jungian style with groups and clients for over a decade using compassion, art, awareness practice, visualization and humor.
For more information on her psychotherapeutic approach and practice, see her website. https://izzynance.com/
Izzy is also the creator of the novel The Heroine’s Journey, and the Heroine’s Journey Oracle Deck and guidebook.
Aaron Nassberg has been trained as a tattoo artist in an over 70 year lineage, harkening back to Phil Sparrow. In addition to tattooing, he holds a UC Berkeley bachelor of arts, degree. Working in the style of Pintura Matérica. he explores metals, processes of decay and alchemical symbolism. You can see his artwork at aaronnassberg.com
The Retreat
Encounter understanding beyond your everyday conscious self and invite your psyche to speak to you in a deeper way.
We combine tattooing and therapy in a magical and serene retreat setting to enable insight, change, and healing through the discovery and incarnation of messages and symbols received from the unconscious.
Tattoo retreats reshape the two primary components of the tattoo experience: the consultation and the execution. Psychotherapeutic and divinatory tools elevate the consultation phase, turning the process itself into a key aspect of the experience. The execution of the uncovered artwork is performed as an articulation of this process in a beautiful destination private studio in the picturesque countryside of Northern California.
Each retreat offers a specific theme to meaningfully engage with. Some examples of these themes include: Honoring, Grieving, Healing, Connecting, Reclaiming, Protecting, Transforming.
For our first weekend, we begin with the theme Honoring. Examples of honoring could be: expressing the importance of a family member, denoting the love you have for a part of yourself, or representing an event in your community or a significant time in your life.
During the weekend we will spend time in a small group facilitated by Marriage and Family Therapist Izzy Nance and tattoo artist Aaron Nassberg. Through sharing and group support, therapeutic journaling, guided visualization, art practice and divination, we will delve into the possible feelings, beliefs, memories and mysteries in the current theme of the retreat.
The final culmination of your deep dive into this theme will be made manifest for you in the language of the unconscious; your personal tattoo, or, if desired, a small artwork in the place of a tattoo. The creation of this symbol will be a collaborative discovery process performed in a meaningful, carefully held space, with the intention of creating a sacred and powerful experience for you to carry forward as you continue your life’s journey.
You may also have an idea of the image you would like to use before arrival. This is also wonderful; the hope of the retreat is to bring a powerful and tender and curious engagement with your theme. Whether you come with a symbol ready, desiring deeper understanding of its message or design, or you come with a blank slate, ready to uncover messages that emerge from within, this retreat will further your exploration.
Your symbol does not need to be articulated or researched, you will be following what sparks you. If you are unable to find your image and you desire help with the creation of your symbol, Aaron can facilitate the creation of a magical sigil with you.
To ensure that all members of the group are attended to, the time for your tattoo, including consultation, will be two hours. If we find that you need to receive your tattoo after the retreat, you may schedule a time with Aaron within a month of the completion of the weekend.
We prioritize safe space at our retreats. Finding and giving voice to personal meaning and expression of your symbols is best fostered in a nurturing environment. A sense of safety and trust are tantamount in the service of this expression. Misogyny, racism, ableism, transphobia or homophobia and disrespectful behavior are not welcome.
We understand the power of tattoo as an expression of bodily autonomy & self-actualization. If you believe that body art (or art in general!) can be an expression of individuality, healing, or transformation, this is the experience for you.
Fall retreat
October 11th-13th
We're excited to offer this unique opportunity for the first retreat of its kind, possibly in the whole wide world!
Come have some therapeutic art times and chill in the woods. Set in a beautiful and restorative location, this promises to be a special experience.
This weekend retreat spans from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. An hour and a half's drive from San Francisco, the location will feel remote while being easily accessed via car.
We include delicious vegan and pescatarian meals, charming lodging with individual rooms, group therapy and two hours of tattooing.
We have five (yes only five!) slots available AT COST for our first trip into this magical realm.
The total cost for our Fall retreat is $725
Come join us for the maiden voyage of Tattoo Retreats!