With Your Hands
Learn through making, building, preparing, weaving, tending, and working with the materials of everyday life.
Labor Day Weekend · September 4–7, 2026 · Laurinburg, North Carolina
Remember the way, you shape what comes next
Be inspired, uplifted, and equipped through practical learning, shared wisdom, and true connection. The gifts, insights, and willingness to shine that each person brings will help us weave the sacred tapestry together.
Discover why we gatherRooted in Black wisdom · Multigenerational · All are welcome
Remember what we know.
Share what we carry.
Build what comes next.
What is The Wellspring Gathering?
A sacred space for nourishment, restoration, and relationship.
Rooted in Black wisdom, The Wellspring Gathering is a sacred space created in devotion to our own nourishment and restoration.
The Wellspring Gathering is an annual family-friendly, soul family reunion open to all who come with love, humility, and respect. This is where you come to build new skills, share wisdom, create and strengthen relationships that sustain us.
We gather in full awareness that we are the medicine.
Our intention is to cultivate a brave, welcoming space that centers Black America within the Global Majority, while honoring the wisdom and contributions of cultures from around the world.
We draw inspiration from traditions such as African Diasporic wisdom, Native American teachings, African cosmology and spirituality, Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Feng Shui, Pagan studies, and other ancestral practices with gratitude, reciprocity, and respect, recognizing that we are not centering those traditions but learning alongside them.
Together, we nourish our spiritual, emotional, physical, mental, social, and economic well-being through workshops, storytelling, music, movement, ceremony, practical skill-building, shared meals, and community.
We gather together to remember who we are, deepen our relationships, and strengthen our capacity to share our sacred medicine.
Come home to the Wellspring for a chance to let down your armour, nurse your wounds, embrace imagination and co-create a world where we all can thrive.
Who's Invited to the Cookout?
The Wellspring Gathering intentionally centers the lived experiences, leadership, and cultural wisdom of Black America within the Global Majority because our communities deserve spaces where we are deeply seen, nourished, celebrated, and restored. We believe the resilience, creativity, ancestral wisdom, and healing traditions we carry are essential to cultivating a more just, joyful, and thriving future for everyone.
The Wellspring is open to all of our siblings of all races, ethnicities, creeds, colors, and backgrounds. We are rainbow family. This may be one of the few spaces where you experience being in the minority. We invite that experience with openness, humility, curiosity, and respect. Come ready to listen, learn, contribute, and be in right relation. If you've been invited, trust that you belong here.
Come as you are.
Bring your whole self. Your stories. Your gifts. Your healing.
Welcome to The Wellspring
The Founding MothersOnce we found one another, we promised not to lose one another.
How the Wellspring began
A promise kept became a place to return.
Seven years before Wellspring 2026, five women found one another at what became the final gathering of another women's herbal conference. Each had been walking back toward cabins and tents after the evening's festivities when Myquel stopped in her tracks, feeling the others approach. The connection was immediate.
Four continued together up the road and through the woods. They stopped again, sensing another sister approaching. Beneath the open sky, the five talked for hours. Then came a vision that none of them could ignore: a heavenly host of ancestors and beings of light surrounding them in the darkness, yet bright. When Myquel asked whether the others could feel what she felt, each said yes and described what was moving through her.
They embraced in the knowing that they had found one another for a purpose. They promised not to lose one another and committed to discovering what their coming together meant for themselves, their families, and the greater good.
Since then, each has become a beacon, calling in and finding other aligned star family members while continuing to serve her community.
Out of honoring that commitment, the Wellspring was born.
A living itinerary
Bring your piece of the map.
A foundation is prepared, but the complete experience will reflect the skills, abilities, questions, wants, and needs of the community that actually gathers.
Human Design · One piece of the map
Not a workshop. A way of experiencing the gathering.
Human Design is one piece of the map we use to better understand our innate nature. At the Wellspring, it is not simply a workshop. It helps shape the learning environment, beginning with each person and extending to the Penta, the living field created when families and small groups come together.
Guests who are new to Human Design can begin with simple experiments involving choice, movement, conversation, rest, family interaction, and play. Those already familiar with their design can explore how individual strengths, energy, communication, and decision-making interact within a group. This gives everyone a practical way to listen inwardly, relate more clearly, do less harm, and contribute with greater intention.
Human Design is not a religion, and no belief or previous knowledge is required. It will not be used to define anyone or replace their inner knowing. We will use it as a language for observation, curiosity, and respectful experimentation.
What would the world be like if we were intentional about knowing these things about ourselves and each other? Let's find out together.
Three ways we learn
Learning becomes wisdom when the whole person is engaged.
Our workshop experiences are organized around three connected ways of knowing. Together, they make room for practical skill, embodied understanding, and the wisdom carried through relationship and spirit.
With Your Body
Learn through movement, rhythm, breath, sensory awareness, and experiences that help knowledge become lived and remembered.
With Your Heart & Spirit
Make room for story, ancestor remembrance, authentic relating, reflection, healing, and spaces created with young people in mind.
Nurturing your whole self
The village integrates and celebrates together.
As evening comes, learning moves through dance, drumming, song, poetry, storytelling, food, laughter, and time around the Fire. Choice remains present, but the whole village becomes the classroom.
The rhythm of the gathering
A shared rhythm with room to listen, respond, and flow.
The anchors are dependable. The workshops remain responsive to the people present and where the Divine leads.
Optional sunrise practiceContinental breakfastMorning circleLearning blocksTea and nourishmentEvening integration
September 2–3
Arrive early
Volunteers and guests who need more time to settle may arrive after 10:00 a.m. on September 2. Early arrival is free; meals are not provided before Friday dinner.Friday · September 4
Welcome home
Arrival begins at 1:00 p.m. Settle into the village, meet one another, share dinner, and enter the gathering through our opening ceremony.Saturday · September 5
Learn and create
A full day of on-site experiences shaped by the skills, questions, gifts, and desires of the people who gather.Sunday · September 6
Pray and celebrate
Experience sunrise prayer and meditation at a place sacred to our family. At our ancestral lake, we will pray for vision and direction for this season of our lives. A later morning arrival option will be available for Earth Church, hiking, enjoying the lake, and lunch. Later, we return to camp for an epic celebration and expression of gratitude.Monday · September 7
Solidify the vision
Sunrise practice, breakfast, shared vision work, a closing circle, care for the land, and departures with something clear to carry forward.
Community reciprocity
Gifts given. Joy carried forward.
Every guest is encouraged to bring something to give as one way of expressing love, gratitude, and encouragement for the teachings being shared and for one another. It may be handmade, purchased, previously loved, or a service you provide.
There is no required number or monetary value. Gifts are offered as expressions of love, gratitude, encouragement, and community reciprocity.
Garment Gracing
Garment Gracing is more than exchanging clothing. It is adorning new family and friends with clothing or jewelry that once brought someone else joy. Each time the receiver wears the item, it carries a memory of the giver, belonging, and the gathering.
Meet your hosts
William & Myquel Demartra Wheat
Opening their family's land so a wider village can gather, remember, and grow.
Myquel brings herbal wisdom, holistic wellness, Human Design, ceremony, and years of creating intentional spaces for families. William brings a life of service, practical leadership, and a steady commitment to building structures where people can belong and contribute.
Together with their children, they are not presenting a finished model or claiming to have every answer. They are inviting others to bring their piece of the map and help practice what a more connected future could feel like.
Hosted with love through MIYHELP Wellness Network
New Community Access Rates
An easier yes for individuals, partners, families, and elders.
We have updated our rates to make attending The Wellspring Gathering more accessible while honoring every person and household that helps build the village.
Individual Weekend Pass
$200Full-gathering admission for one person over Labor Day weekend.
Partners or Family Weekend Pass
$300One shared rate for partners or members of the same household attending together.
Elder Gathering Pass
$60 per personAttend one day, several days, or the entire gathering. Thank you for being willing to share your wisdom with us.
Elder Couple Pass
$80 per coupleA shared pass for two elders attending together for one day, several days, or the entire gathering.
One-Day Gathering Pass
$65 per personJoin us for the day that works best for you. Meals, workshops, supplies, activities, and evening ceremonies are included for that day; overnight camping is not included.
Other Payment ArrangementsThere will always be enough to share.
Sovereign exchange, customized payment arrangements, cash at arrival, and other approved options may be available. Complete the registration form first, then contact Myquel at (910) 379-9966 if you plan to pay with cash, arrange another form of exchange, or have questions.
Full-weekend registration includes camping, shared meals, workshops, supplies, and gathering activities. Every one-day guest must be included in the registration. The Elder Couple Pass covers two registered elders age 56 or older. Registration is confirmed after payment or an approved alternative arrangement.
Remember the way. You shape what comes next.
Help us build the temporary village
Your support helps make the Wellspring possible.
You do not have to attend the gathering to help bring it to life. Purchase a needed item, contribute useful materials, or share food and nourishment with the village.
Open the shareable Support the Gathering page ↗Send a needed item
Choose tents, canopies, kitchen supplies, art materials, storage, and other gathering needs from our Amazon Wish List. Items can be delivered directly to the gathering hosts.
Shop the Amazon Wish List ↗Contribute materials
Bring or lend canopies, tarps, tables, chairs, storage bins, art supplies, jars, blenders, tents, and other useful materials you already have.
Coordinate materials ↗Share food and nourishment
Contribute fruits, vegetables, herbs, snacks, or coordinated foods from your farm, garden, farmers market, or favorite grocery store for our community kitchen.
Coordinate a food contribution ↗Current village needs
The best present is your presence, but every thoughtful contribution helps us prepare the land and care for the people who gather.
Main event canopy tents: two 20 × 20 and one 20 × 40
10 × 10 or larger canopy tents, extra tarps, tables, and chairs
Flags and streamers for dancing
Art supplies, essential oils, fresh flowers, and living plants
Commercially sourced craft feathers, beads, and beading materials
Mason jars and five personal blenders for shared morning smoothies
Large storage bins and racks for the community kitchen
Extra tents for registered travelers and families who need one
Fresh produce, herbs, snacks, and coordinated farm or market foods
Purchasing reusable infrastructure instead of renting it helps keep future gathering contributions reasonable. Have something helpful that is not listed? Trust the nudge, then contact us so we can coordinate what the village needs.
A place prepared for the village.Plan your stay
Accommodations
Stay close to the Fire or rest nearby.
Camp in the village
At no additional cost, you may pitch a tent or bring your camper to our sacred, primitive camping site. Registered guests receive the private location and arrival instructions directly.
Prefer a hotel?
Hotels are available within approximately 10 minutes of the gathering location. When searching, look for accommodations in Laurinburg near Walmart.
Traveling to Laurinburg
Laurinburg is approximately two hours from both Raleigh-Durham International Airport and Charlotte Douglas International Airport. The Hamlet Amtrak Station is approximately 20 minutes away.
Registered guests traveling by train or plane may arrange to have bulky camping items shipped ahead so they are waiting upon arrival.
Come excited and prepared
Build a temporary village with us.
Visit our Welcome & What to Bring page for a practical guide to preparing for the gathering. Along with your personal camping and comfort items, each person is invited to bring:
Read the full What to Bring guide →A basket or large bowl
For gathering, carrying, making, sharing, and receiving.
A stone
To help surround the sacred Fire and prayer circle. Take it home carrying our prayers, or leave it to welcome you when you return.
This is a leave-no-trace gathering. Together, we leave the land the same or better than we found it.
Gather close to the Fire.Join the circle
What piece of the map do you carry?
You are invited to arrive ready to teach, eager to learn, willing to help, or simply needing a place to reconnect. The registration form gives you space to share what your household needs, what you hope to experience, and what you may want to contribute.
WhenSeptember 4–7, 2026
WherePrivate family land in Laurinburg, NC
ConfirmationAfter payment or approved arrangement
The private address and unloading instructions are shared with confirmed guests.
Open registration in a new window ↗Registration & Payment PortalOpen the form ↗