Walking into that good night: a practice of living and dying.

The Swiss association Rite de Passage is offering a program in Sweden for the first time: From April 12 to 17, 2026, the transformative retreat “Walking into That Good Night: A Practice of Living and Dying” will take place at the Kärlingesund Retreat Center in the Bohuslän Nature Reserve. The six-day practice combines elements of traditional rites of passage and end-of-life guidance in a contemporary context, inviting participants to engage with their own mortality – to live more clearly, courageously, and fully.

This program
This program has been originally created by Joyce Harvey Morgan and Meredith Little, in Death Valley, USA, where Carine assisted and supported as the fire keeper on several occasions. This is now an integral part of “The Practice of Living and Dying”, a body of work we are delighted to be able to offer for the first time in Sweden.

The invitation
Death is the elephant in the room. However physical death is the ultimate rite of passage that we are preparing for on some level throughout our life. Sometimes this “preparing” looks like denial; sometimes sudden illness or life-threats surprise us into looking squarely at the inevitable truth. The more consciously we can turn our attention to our mortality, the more able we are to turn our life’s focus toward that which truly matters to us during this precious lifetime.

In today’s world we carry the challenge and opportunity of making important health decisions with modern medical advances. This changes what our “dying” may look like, and necessitates significant conversations with our loved ones, as well as soul searching within ourselves. Here are some of the questions that may arise. How do these decisions affect my loved ones? What are my biggest fears? My greatest hopes? What is my relationship with chosen death or suicide at a certain point in my dying process? How much am I in control? How does the certainty of my own mortality inform my living and even infuse my life with meaning and beauty? There is no final answer to these and many more fertile questions, rather an opportunity to deepen our organic, creative relationship with death that matures as we do.

What to expect
We will come together and be in conversation with the land, each other, and ourselves about our mortality, expectations and fears, relationship with mystery and the unknown. We will individually discover what arises from the tension of being life-filled, while inevitably walking toward our death.

Night walks under a darkening sky will be the solo time each day, with one full solo night out. During this time you will explore and cultivate your own personal tools for walking in the darkness. During the week you will also be guided in the ceremonial making and decorating of a Death Mask, which will be initiated in the night.