it gets colder and colder. you can no longer feel your fingers, numbed by the merciless bite of the freezing wind. your whole body is trembling.
there you are, on your knees, on the shores of the black lake. you have just met your first ghost. and the encounter was… unsettling, to say the least. you cannot take your eyes off the water, staring at the exact spot where the apparition vanished beneath its dark, impenetrable surface.
not a ripple remains. as though nothing had ever happened. as though you had imagined the whole thing.
then, without a sound, something appears before you. two exquisite little glass vials, resting side by side upon the frozen earth.
one contains a liquid as black as the lake itself. the other, something perfectly clear. as clear as water.
between them lies a tiny piece of paper, carefully folded.
your trembling fingers reach for it. you unfold it.
and there, written in a delicate, familiar handwriting, you can read...
I’M THE POISON. I’M THE CURE.
NOVEMBER 3 — 13, 2026
you think it’s poison… it isn’t. it’s the cure.
the sadness? the anger? the disappointment? the shame? the guilt? the grief? the fear?
or perhaps that unbearable, almost embarrassing desire for a life so much greater than the one you're currently living?
how many times have you swallowed your tears because there was work to be done?
how many times have you convinced yourself that you were overreacting?
how many times have you called yourself dramatic, sensitive, unreasonable, ungrateful?
how many times have you kept yourself busy, entertained, distracted, productive, simply to avoid sitting alone with the movement inside you?
and how many times have you mistaken your ability to keep functioning for proof that everything was fine?
oh, darling.
you have become so extraordinarily good at not feeling. numbing has become your number one skill. and it’s nothing to be proud of.
you know how to intellectualize your pain. you know how to explain it away. you know how to journal about it. but you don’t know how to stay with it.
somewhere along the way, you began to confuse the absence of feeling with the presence of peace.
and perhaps the most devastating thing about it all is that you didn't only learn to avoid the feelings that hurt. you learned to silence the ones that made you feel alive, too.
your desires. your wonder. your joy. your hunger for more.
you cannot selectively abandon your inner world and expect to remain fully connected to yourself.
and that, darling, is where the chapter two of our story begins.
in PHANTOM, you met the dead. you stood on the shores of the black lake and confronted the uncomfortable possibility that certain parts of your life had been dead for a very long time.
and perhaps you thought that recognizing your ghosts would be enough.
it’s not.
what happens after recognition? what happens when the truth begins to hurt? what happens when the tears come? when the anger rises? when the grief you have been postponing for years finally knocks at your door?
do you run?
do you return to the familiar comfort of pretending?
do you numb… or do you stay?
POISON begins where PHANTOM ends.
meeting your ghosts is one thing. learning how to welcome what they awaken within you is another.
and there is something you need to recover before we can go any further. something you may have spent years trying to silence. something so ordinary, so deeply human, that you may have forgotten how extraordinary it really is.
THE CAPACITY TO FEEL.
imagine, for a moment, what your life might look like if you stopped treating every uncomfortable emotion as a death sentence.
imagine being able to sit with yourself through a painful moment without immediately reaching for your phone, another task, another person, another chocolate bar.
imagine no longer having to pretend that everything is fine in order to feel worthy of love, peace, or belonging.
what if the feelings you've been trying to escape were never your enemies?
what if you could learn to welcome them without being ruled by them?
what if the answer wasn't to feel less… but to feel more?
beneath the lake mansion, hidden far below the grand staircase, lies a place you have never visited before.
the thermae.
a magnificent underground sanctuary of warm water, alabaster columns, candlelight, and rose petals. a place untouched by the merciless winds of the black lake. a place where the water is warm. where the world grows quiet. where there is nothing to prove. and where you will simply be invited to return to yourself.
i'll be waiting for you in the water, darling.
you’ll see that you do not need to be rescued from every feeling that visits you.
you just need to learn how to stay.
the second chapter of the black collection.
POISON is an artistic, mystic and immersive experience created by Sylvie Swan, where you’re invited to stop numbing the pain of facing your ghosts.
it combines a world-immersive experience, personal contemplation, rituals and LIVE transmissions to help you feel more.
please be aware that chapter one of the black collection, the free PHANTOM experience, is a necessary prerequisite to POISON.
life time access to the POISON experience - bonus : discord community to connect with the members.
the opening narration & pre-work
two mysterious vials. one black. one clear. you'll receive the opening chapter of POISON and a series of contemplative invitations designed to explore your relationship with your own emotions.
a LIVE zoom transmission by Sylvie Swan
our first gathering is dedicated to the fascinating world of emotions. why we feel. why we resist feeling. how we learn to disconnect from our emotional experiences. the difference between feeling an emotion, being overwhelmed by it, and acting upon it. and how to begin developing a more intimate, compassionate relationship with your inner world.
the preparation phase for the bathing ritual where I share the process, ingredients and atmosphere for the immersive experience at the heart of POISON.
the immersive experience and bathing ritual
the heart of POISON. an intimate, guided experience designed to be enjoyed in the comfort of your own bathtub, with warm water, candlelight, and a little time set aside entirely for yourself. through narration, sensory immersion, and gentle emotional contemplation, you'll be invited to practice something you may have spent years avoiding.
a bathtub is recommended for the full sensory experience, but a comfortable seated alternative is also be possible.
a LIVE zoom transmission by Sylvie Swan
we gather again. this time, not to discuss what we believe about our emotions, but to contemplate what we have actually experienced during the ritual. what surfaced? what resisted? what surprised you? what happened when you stopped trying to immediately change the way you felt? together, we'll explore how to carry this practice into ordinary life, long after the ritual has ended.
the closing narration & post-work
the final chapter. a new narration. a final contemplation. and a mysterious necklace. a small relic carrying a meaning you have yet to discover. something to remember. to take with you.
darling. this is all you need to know right now.
sometimes the POISON … is the CURE.
POISON is not a substitute for therapy or professional mental-health care. the emotional practices are gentle and optional; no participant is required to revisit traumatic memories, force emotional release, or share personal experiences.
Hi.
I’m your host, Sylvie Swan.
and this… is where you finally become the woman you were always meant to be.
Sylvie Swan is the founder and creative force behind SYLVIE SWAN the brand, a poetic business and immersive world devoted to the remembrance of feminine power.
Her work does not begin with strategy. It begins with a world.
A white mansion by a black lake.
Four queens who disappeared.
And a question that quietly lives within every woman:
What if you never lost your magic… you simply forgot?
Through profound and immersive experiences, Sylvie guides women back to what has always been theirs, not through performance, discipline, or external validation, but through remembrance.
Her philosophy is simple:
The business is not the art. The art creates the business.
Blending storytelling, psychology, spirituality, symbolism, world-building and ritual, she creates spaces where women no longer chase a life but remember how to live it.
Sylvie Swan does not teach women how to become someone new. She invites them to return to the woman they were before they learned to doubt themselves.
She lives peacefully in the Belgian countryside with her two daughters.