Celebrity Traitors star Charlotte Church has found a new passion in life practicing witchcraft and offers a course at her retreat to help others ‘heal the witch wound’ and connect to magic
She is currently on TV screens starring in Celebrity Traitors with 18 other celebrities, including Alan Carr, Jonathan Ross and Paloma Faith, but off screen Charlotte Church has turned to a very different pursuit.
The Voice of an Angel singing sensation set up a wellness centre in Wales a couple of years ago at a beautiful country house where she guides guests through immersive experiences such as breathwork, forest bathing and creative expression.
She has been working as a sound healer at the retreat for some time but has just branched out into a whole new area – witchcraft.
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The Dreaming’s website offers a variety of experiences for guests to enrol in, with the newest being Witch. The “enchanting” five-day retreat is for “17 souls ready to embody their magic through ritual, nature and deep witchcraft practices”.
Charlotte, 39, is one of two high priestesses who lead the course which is described as an “immersive retreat designed to activate the witch within: blending ancient wisdom, elemental magic, and deep self-exploration.”
The website goes on to explain how it works: “Led by singer and spiritual guide Charlotte Church and High Priestess and author Tree Carr, this retreat is an opportunity to rekindle your craft through ritual, herbalism, dream-work, plant-spirit connection, meditation, sound and sacred art.
“We’ll awaken our witch’s voice through sound rituals woven with the rhythms of nature. Chanting at dawn, humming at dusk, invoking breath and tone, we align our magic with the sun, the land and the unseen. These are not songs to perform but spells to cast, prayers to plant and vibrations to stir the wild world awake,” it reads.
In an accompanying video Charlotte is seen staring in wonder up through the trees while walking barefoot through mud in the forest. “I need you to remember, listen closely, listen deep,” she whispers mystically. “Do you hear the whisperings of your blood?”
As a haunting tune is sung in the background, presumably by Charlotte, she sings, “the ancient understanding in your bones” and asks, “do you remember beloved? Can you feel her? The priestess is rising.” At the end of the video she can be seen dancing in a circle with others who are wearing headdresses, flowing tunics and face paint while they play instruments.
Charlotte has completely embraced her new life working at The Dreaming where she also works as a sound healer “I’m doing stuff at The Dreaming, which is really about pulling out the strands of how sound can be used for healing, how voice can be used for healing. I wanna sort of try and meld this idea of music and healing, and voice and healing, with that joy and ecstasy.”
She has previously discussed how taking magic mushrooms helped her get in tune with nature. She revealed she first took the hallucinogenic drug which can be eaten or made into a tea, in her 20s. “When I was about 27, I took magic mushrooms for the first time,” she told The Skylark. “That experience created a different sort of connection, a deeper understanding, far more intrinsic and connected to patterns. You can never unsee or unfeel that connection once it happens. Ever since then I’ve been diving deeper and deeper into my spiritual journey – the idea of the unseen world, the wonder, awe, and power of nature.”
Recently she spoke to Martha Kearney on her BBC Radio 4 podcast about the drug. “My relationship with nature started to blossom partly when I had kids and then partly when I first took magic mushrooms for the first time,” she said. “When I took magic mushrooms, everything, everything in nature just opened up and began communicating. When you see that you can’t unsee it.”
When Charlotte acquired The Dreaming she spoke about wanting to have a change of path and how she knew she wanted to buy the property as soon as she saw it. “I didn’t want to have to make a living from showbusiness any longer,” she explained. “I wanted to make art and music, but not be reliant on celebrity; to live more in line with my values.”
Charlotte and second husband Jonathan Powell bought Rhydoldog, the former idyllic home of designer Laura Ashley, back in 2021 and opened it as wellness centre, The Dreaming, in 2023. It is set in 47 acres of ancient woodland, which is described as, “a haven nestled in magical lands of Wales” which is, “the perfect setting for witches to reconnect with the old ways”.
A four-night stay costs £3,000 in what is called luxury accommodation. Home cooked food and drinks are included in the price as is access to the home, gardens, land and plunge pools. According to the centre’s Instagram the first retreat in June this year sold out so more dates were added. The next Witch retreat runs in early December, with two more scheduled for 2026.
Despite this, The Dreaming is reported to be struggling to make a profit. After making a whopping £25million from her singing career, last year Charlotte admitted she is no longer a millionaire. She was said to have been forced to sell her home and downsize to a semi-detached house.
She and her family lived in a huge mansion, The Spinney, in Dinas Powys, Wales. She is believed to have paid £1.3million for it in 2010 and made almost a million profit when it sold for £2million. Charlotte had previously told Closer about the school she ran from the “beautiful” property. “We had a school there for a bit and a studio,” she said. “When it is used by the community, it makes sense, but when it is not used, it doesn’t.”
