Eldership: Growing into The Wisdom You Carry
A Masterclass with Heather Plett & Fanny Matheusen
28.09.2026 – 09:30 – 29.09.2026 – 17:00Your steppingstone to transformation: from trainer, coach, leader to elder.
This two-day masterclass is a deep, transformative experience for professionals who feel that something more is being asked of them beyond their role as a trainer, coach, or leader.
It explores the shift towards eldership: not defined by age, but by a grounded presence, a sense of responsibility, and the willingness to contribute to something larger than yourself.
You will explore how to stand more firmly in who you are, how to support others in meaningful ways, and how to respond to a world that calls for more maturity, depth, and wisdom.
This masterclass is held in English.
Why?
If we look at the state of the world right here and now and the dominant voices that tend to be the loudest, we see a lot of immaturity.. Do you recognise this?
Wise authors tell us this is due to our loss of elders. We don’t grow up into adulthood as humanity because there are no guides to teach us how, to put boundaries that we won’t cross, to reflect what we do on a moral compass. Colonialism and capitalism have taken our elders away. And we long for them.
“With so few ripened leaders, our communities have become caravans astray in a cultural wilderness. We’ve lost our bearings and forgotten where we were headed in the first place. When we arrive at a difficult crossing – say, a river or a chasm – having no boats or ropes, we sadly stare and then turn away to try another direction, perhaps hoping a god or genie might someday come along to rescue us.”
– Bill Plotkin, Nature and the Human Soul
What to expect
This masterclass is a deeply transformative learning space. Heather and Fanny will guide you through insights, rituals and exercises that invite you to explore and step into your eldership.
Over the course of two days, you are invited to slow down, turn inward, and connect with others who are walking a similar path. A moment out of the everyday, creating space for reflection, connection and depth.
We will work with four archetypes of eldership:
- Anchor – help me ground
A steady presence, able to stay grounded and hold the other end of the line when someone else feels unstable - Wisdom keeper / guide – ignite the light in me
Not just a teacher, but someone who brings together insight, tenderness and quiet guidance - Cheerleader – stand beside me
Someone who sees you, believes in you, and supports the work you are here to do - Nest – hold me in a safe space
Creating a space where others can land, especially when things fall apart
On the evening of the second day, we open up the space for an intergenerational gathering. Participants of the masterclass will meet young professionals from the HUMMUS community, creating a dialogue across generations. We ask that you are present for this evening as part of the experience. If this is not possible, please let us know when registering.
Our inspiration
We stand on the shoulders of people who have been elders to us. We are grateful to Joanna Macy, Arnold Mindell, Jane Goodall, Thich Nhat Hanh,
Bill Plotkin, Francis Weller, Stephen Jenkinson, TuBears, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Malidoma Patrice Somé, Christina Baldwin
Is this masterclass for you?
This masterclass is a warm invitation to anyone who wants to step into eldership to safeguard the world for the next generations to come. It isn’t your age that makes you an elder, it is the wisdom you carry and that you want to share with others, it is your connection to the world, to mother nature, to the bigger picture of life that inspires you to connect with others on a deeper level.
If you want to take that next step in your life, if you want to taste what this could be for you or if you want to come to connect to others who are transitioning into eldership, you are most WELCOME!
Practical details
28 and 29 september 2026
Day 1: 9:30 – 17:00
Day 2: 9:30 – 17:00
Evening gathering (Day 2): 18:30 – 21:00 – we ask participants to be present for this evening
HUMMUShuis, Mechelen
Hendrik Conscienstraat 8, 2800 Mechelen
You can find accommodation options here
€1100 excl. VAT
More alive in what you give than in what you were
“While they’re alive and especially when they’ve grown into their adulthood, the trees look after each other and all of the beings of the forest, and when it is their time to die, they lie down on the forest floor and continue to nurture the forest for a hundred years. They say that a nurse log hosts so much life – moss, fungi, bugs and younger trees – that the tree is actually more alive than when it was standing.”
About Heather Plett
Heather turns 60 in May 2026. As she approaches what will be the last third of her life, she is making space in her life for Eldership, seeking the wisdom and groundedness needed for a time like this. She spends a lot of time in the woods of Vancouver Island, learning from the trees and mycelium about what it means to guide and support the forest, and learning from the salmon what it means to commit your life to the ecosystem. She is currently working on a book inspired by the nurse logs in the forest who teach her that even after her death, she will continue to have a purpose for the greater good of the collective. She’s the author of two books and the cofounder of the Centre for Holding Space.
About Fanny Matheusen
Fanny turned 56 this spring. She feels she is transitioning into another phase in her life where she is more and more an elder to people in the way she trains and supervises coaches and trainers, in sharing her wisdom through her writing and public speaking, in her guidance of her growing-into-adulthood-children. Her most important intention for what she brings to the world is leaving this planet as a safe haven for the next generations. Her profound knowledge of deep democracy, systemic work and the work that reconnects inspires her to hold brave spaces where people can be and can transform in what they are meant to be. So that they can do what they are called to do.