The inheritance no one ever told you that you had.

Stalking the Rebel Soul is the school’s new look immersion programme, emerging rehydrated and re-energised from the solitude of lockdown. This extraordinary five-weekend journey, undergone by hundreds over the last two decades, remains the central fire of Dr Martin Shaw’s teaching and for the first time in 2021 includes online groups and extra pre-recorded sessions between gatherings.

Over this programme we will journey from the oldest stories imaginable, far beyond the conditions of the modern West. From there, our thoughtful little caravan trundles through Sumer, Greece, the Caucasus, and onto Britain, Ireland, Iceland and many other extraordinary terrains. Riding alongside these dazzling tales is attention to the where in your own life and thinking. You make depth connections; this is not a passive experience.

“Stalking the Rebel Soul,” explains Martin, “was the title I gave my very first year teaching from the belly of my black tent way back at the beginning of this century. Somewhere deep in lockdown I realised it was talking to me again, saying something about the urgency of our times and the need for deeper ground.

“This iteration of the programme is a result of that listening. Although in the short term the prime benefactor of what we do may seem to be yourself, the way of things should eventually dictate that you find useful methods to pass it on. Reverie leads to participation.

“Each weekend is packed with story, poetry, and a culture of conviviality. We are always looking for a little cross-species dialogue, a world which speaks of more than our own reflection.”

Deep listening is required, a willingness to study, a commitment to entertaining more than the fluctuating polemics of our times. As a student, you will engage in storytelling from the very first weekend, not just as entertainment but as a different kind of activism.

All weekends include solo time in the afternoons, brooding and deciphering stories contained within the Devon landscape. The mythology of a landscape and the landscape of a mythology is a perennial theme for the year.

We will be keeping a tight schedule between the gatherings as well. For the first time we will have the online group Wolf Milk, an introduction to the wilderness vigil, rites of passage and related areas, and also a book club to keep the magic of our reading lively and conversational between sessions. Four extra stories will also be released from our highly secret audio vault to brood on, and there will be four pre-recorded sessions from Martin between our Dartmoor gatherings.

Scroll down for dates, weekend content and fees.