November 13, 2026 • BY Tina Birch

What The Darkness Holds

The Opening of Nocturna Domes—a Darkness Retreat on Cortes Island, BC

A rendering of the completed Nocturna Domes on Cortes Island, BC, Canada.

If you had met me twenty years ago, building a darkness retreat on a small island off the coast of British Columbia might not have been where you pictured me today.

At the time, I was deeply disconnected from myself, lost in my own addictions and suffering from the painful separation of my children’s father.

It would take me many years before I understood how to be in the discomfort of my own pain, allowing my feelings to have a seat at the table no matter how inconvenient the occasion. Once I began to understand that the parts of myself I had spent so long pushing away were the same parts holding my deepest gifts, I made it my life’s purpose to heal. I married a man equally devoted to his healing path and together we spent years tending to ourselves and the experiences that had shaped our lives from early on.

In 2014, we moved to Vancouver Island with a wealth of experience and training in natural healing modalities. By then, I was an Ayurvedic practitioner and folk herbalist, and we made the decision to open a herbal apothecary. We spent the next 10 years supporting people with herbal medicines and helping them find ways to improve their physical, spiritual and emotional health.

Tina Birch with her alembic still.

Although the nature of our work has evolved, and a darkness retreat looks a little different than an apothecary, the heart of what we do remains the same.

At Nocturna Domes we’re inviting aspects of the natural world to create a space where guests can find deeper more meaningful connections with themselves and the world around them.

A darkness retreat is an ancient practice found in many spiritual traditions across the globe. Some call it the oldest school of mystery. For several days, guests rest in complete darkness, away from the distractions, stimulation, and familiar cues of the outside world. With nothing drawing us outward, life begins to slow, and we become more deeply attuned to what is moving within.

In the dark, we begin to notice ourselves in ways that are hard to reach in everyday life.

Thoughts, emotions, memories, sensations, and long-forgotten parts drift forward from the background. Darkness can bring us to the edges of what has long been held in shadow, and with presence and permission, those edges become our teachers. There is nothing to achieve here and no one to become. The invitation is simply to be with whatever arises, trusting the intelligence of the body and the knowing that what surfaces in the dark is exactly what is ready to be met, held, and welcomed home.

One of the most treasured gifts that comes with us from owning the apothecary is this beautifully handcrafted alembic still from Portugal.

With it we’re able to create a distillation that gives two expressions: an essential oil, and an aromatic botanical water. The essential oil is a concentrated and potent extraction while the botanical water is the subtler of the two, and is what we’re crafting for guests who visit our darkness retreats.

A heavenly scented distillations that we’re creating is from the hemlock trees.

When we first purchased the property on Cortes Island, we began to notice a pattern. We jokingly referred to the hemlocks as having an uncommitted relationship with life because, without warning, they would simply snap in half or fall over entirely. I’m sure any arborist would tell us this is characteristic behaviour of hemlocks, and we would believe them. But, we also see something else . . .

In Ayurveda, there is a concept called Prabhava, which speaks to a unique and mysterious quality that cannot be explained by what we know or understand.

As we explored the energetic signature of the hemlocks, with their ability to hold the masculine and feminine in balance, and the way they surrender to the earth with trust for what comes after, we could see reflections of our own healing and the ways we’ve dedicated ourselves to this project.

The falling trees offer generous boughs of medicine that, through the art of distillation, can be transformed into beautifully scented botanical waters. There is something about the timing of these trees coming down and what is being birthed through darkness that feels like a living conversation between the land and the divine. Who’s to truly say exactly what it all means, but we feel called to pay attention.

At Nocturna Domes, guests journey with darkness supported in part by aromatic waters distilled from plants native to our land. These waters are not ingested or psychoactive in any way. They’re crafted to be added to the bathwater in your private dome during your time in darkness. The intention is to help deepen your capacity and presence to meet whatever arises in darkness.

Our darkness retreats are held with loving presence and the warm invitation to bring all forms of yourself to this experience. We welcome you with radical permission to be exactly where you are, no matter what shape it takes, including the places we struggle to see ourselves as already whole.

Nocturna Domes will be welcoming guests in the Spring of 2027 on Cortes Island, British Columbia.

For information on booking contact Tina at nocturnadomes@gmail.com or visit nocturnadomes.com.