An Australian Animas Quest – February 2026, Australia
February 10 - 21, 2026
With Doug Van Houten and Jules Howatt
The Animas Quest catalyses the encounter with soul by temporarily displacing everyday consciousness through five primary means: (1) solitude for three or four days and nights while (2) fasting (i.e., drinking water only), (3) being fully exposed to and enfolded within the forms and forces of nature, (4) enacting a series of ceremonies, and (5) employing a set of practices (Soulcraft) that support you in crossing into the mysteries of nature and psyche. The Quest takes place over a total of 12 days. Preceding your time of solitude are five full days of preparation activities that enhance your ability to benefit from the fast.
During the five preparation days, we work with dreams, poetry, deep imagery, ceremonial drumming and dance, dialogues with nature, the way of council, and other practices to help us slip out the door of our everyday lives and access our own deeper, wilder currents. The heart of the quest consists of the solo: three days and nights without human companionship in nature, fasting, engaging in personal ceremonies, saying yes to the mysteries of soul, tending the true mythos of your life, praising and grieving, and birthing a vision. Upon your return to base camp at the retreat centre, there are three days of reincorporation activities, preparing you to embody among your people what you received on your fast.
No previous camping or backpacking experience is required. (In fact, many of those who have quested with us have never before been camping or backpacking).
Note: following registration, you will be requested to complete an ‘Application Form’ with several pscho-spiritual questions – your answers to these questions will be reviewed by the Guides who will assess your readiness to Quest.
We ask that couples, family members, or friends not attend this program together.
Reincorporation Mentoring: Following your Quest, you face the challenge of integrating into everyday life what you experienced in the wild. This is the key to your further unfolding. To support you in this process, a post-quest mentoring session is available with an Animas reincorporation mentor. Ongoing quester-mentor relationships are available to help you grow into a more soul-centred life of purpose and passion.
Guides
The singular dream that has been a perennial guide for Doug van Houten’s own guiding practice is one where humans thrive in a mutually enhancing relationship with Earth, know our cosmic origins, and see ourselves as integral and yet necessarily unique participants in the ongoingness of the universe. His lineage of teachers and inspirators includes: Bill Plotkin and the Animas Valley Institute, Joanna Macy, Matthew Fox, David Whyte, Mary Oliver and Brian Swimme to name a few. In co-creating wild, ceremonial and soulcentric spaces for human development, Doug draws upon the wisdom of deep imagery and dreams, somatic and embodied…
Learn more about Doug Van Houten
From earliest memory, Jules has been entranced by the allure of wild places, devoting her life to uncovering their manifold intricacies, from the raw beauty of natural landscapes to the profound depths of the psyche and the mysterious realms of the Underworld. She is dedicated to helping others explore their own authentic nature so as to further cultivate a deeper relationship to Soul and embracing the mystical longing for interconnectedness with all things. As an ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide, wilderness guide, and photographer, Jules resides amidst the enchanting peaks of the Columbia mountains in Canada, where she offers unwavering support for…
Learn more about Jules Howatt