Rose & Sword

The Foundry

Where masculinity and men are forged. A place for men to meet online and transform together.

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. The Foundry is about going far - becoming the best man you can be, in every area of life.

First session of the month is always learning.

Second is always sharing - how the work is going, and how life is going for you.

£65 £50 PER MONTH
Founding member 5 of 5 places left
Become a founding member

Founding rate held for as long as you stay · Three months, then month to month

Kieran Dowling talking with men at a session
StartsWed 7 October
Time19:30 UK
WhereOnline
Room12 men, no more
What it is

Grow your masculinity, shoulder to shoulder with other men

Most of what men are offered is either a talk or a therapy room. The Foundry is neither. It is a small group that meets twice a month to work on the practical side of being a man - your body, your energy, your attention, your appetite, the way you handle pressure, the way you are with the feminine, and the way you are with the people closest to you.

Each month has two nights. On the first we take one thing and go properly into it, then practise it together. On the second we sit down and say what actually happened, and what else is going on.

We practise on our feet wherever we can, because reading about something changes very little but doing it changes a lot.*

* Some topics it simply will not be possible, and we will not pretend otherwise.

Men sitting in a circle
What the work does

What you actually walk away with

One mechanism a month, explained properly
You stop guessing at your own body and mind. When you know why something happens, you can do something about it instead of managing it blind.
A seven-day protocol you can actually run
Change comes from what you repeat, not what you hear. Every session ends with something small enough that you will still be doing it on day six.
A room of men who know your situation
You stop working it out alone. Most of what you are facing, somebody in the room has already been through - and will tell you plainly what helped.
Somewhere to say the thing out loud
What men carry quietly gets heavier. Said once, in the right room, most of it turns out to be workable rather than shameful.
Someone paying attention
You are far more likely to do the work when you know you will be asked about it. That is most of the difference between men who change and men who intend to.
First Wednesday · The Foundry

The learning night

We take one subject and go into it properly rather than skimming five. Then we put it to work - standing up, doing the thing, with the rest of the room doing it alongside you. You leave with a protocol for the following seven days, and the next time we meet we find out how it went.

Over a year we work through the ground that actually matters to a man:

  • Masculinity
  • The body
  • Sexual energy
  • Managing stress
  • Balancing life and transformation
  • Dealing with the feminine
  • Being a better lover, in and out of the bedroom
  • Being an attractive man
  • Values and principles
Teaching at the whiteboard
Men talking in a garden
Third Wednesday · The Garden

The sword without the rose is brutality

A man who only ever sharpens himself becomes hard, and hardness is not strength - it is what strength looks like when nothing is behind it. The Garden is the other half.

It is the room behind the Foundry, and it is not limited to how the practice went. If work is grinding you down, bring that. If things are difficult at home, bring that. If something has been sitting on your chest for a year and you have never said it to anyone, this is the room for it.

You say the real thing, the men in the room take it seriously, and then between you it gets looked at, argued with, and turned into something you can actually do. Men do not need permission to feel, nor to wallow in emotions. They need somewhere it gets said, and alchemised.

Add on · Five places only

The Anvil

In the Foundry the whole room is heated at once. On the Anvil, a man is hand-crafted.

Forty-five minutes with me, one to one, every month. Your own goal rather than the room's. Training built around where you actually are, in your actual life - your work, your relationship, your body, whatever the group cannot reach because it belongs to you alone.

It makes three points of contact a month instead of two, and it puts somebody in your corner who will ask you directly whether you did what you said you would. That accountability is usually what separates a good intention from an actual change.

Five places, and no more. That is how many one-to-ones fit in a month alongside everything else.

A one to one conversation
What membership includes

Everything starts the day you join

What it costs

Twelve places in the room

Standard membership is below. Five of the twelve places are open as founding places at a reduced rate - once those are gone, they are gone.

Founding member 5 of 5 left

For the men who come in first and help shape what this becomes.

The Foundry
£65£50/ MONTH
Take a founding place
The Foundry + the Anvil
£120£95/ MONTH
Take a founding place
  • Your rate is held for as long as you stay a member
  • You guide where we start - founding members choose the first subjects we work through
  • First refusal on retreats and events, before anything is announced publicly
If you would rather not take a founding place

Some men do not need a reduced rate and would sooner leave the place for someone who does. Sign up before 1 October at the standard price and you keep every founding benefit - your rate held, a say in where we start, and first refusal on retreats and events.

Standard price, founding benefits →
The Foundry
Standard membership
£65
PER MONTH
  • Both nights, every month
  • Taking Your Measure, read by me
  • The full library from day one
  • The group between sessions
Join the Foundry
12 of 12 places in the room
The Foundry + the Anvil
Standard membership
£120
PER MONTH
  • Everything in the Foundry
  • Forty-five minutes one to one, every month
  • Your own goal and your own training
  • Three points of contact a month instead of two
  • Someone who notices whether you did it
Join with the Anvil
5 of 5 Anvil places
How joining works

Right of refusal reserved

Places are by application. Payment is taken when you join, but I read what you send back before you are in the room - and if I do not think this is the right place for you, I will tell you and refund you in full. The success of the group depends on having the right men in the room for the right reasons. That needs to be protected. If your application is rejected you will be given a full explanation and guided to something that might be more appropriate for you in this moment.

  1. PayCard, monthly, three-month commitment. Month to month after that.
  2. Taking Your Measure lands in your inboxFill it in properly. It is worth doing slowly - most of its value is in the doing.
  3. I read itYou are either welcomed in, or refunded with a straight explanation of why.
  4. You are inThe library opens immediately. First Foundry night is Wednesday 7 October.
Before you join

Worth being honest about

This works if

  • You would rather practise something than read about it
  • You can give two Wednesday evenings a month and a few minutes most days
  • You are willing to speak in a room of men, even if it takes you a while
  • You want it small enough that you are actually known in it

This is not the place if

  • You are looking for therapy or clinical treatment
  • You want to watch rather than take part
  • You need something you can dip in and out of with no commitment
  • You are in crisis right now - that needs more than a group can give, and I would rather point you somewhere better
The detail

Dates and terms

First learning nightWed 7 October · 19:30 UK
First sharing nightWed 21 October · 19:30 UK
RhythmFirst and third Wednesday, every month
Room size12 men
Anvil places5
Founding places5
CommitmentThree months, then month to month
BillingMonthly · cancel any time after the third month
WhereZoom · link sent before each night

The first room starts on 7 October

Twelve men, two evenings a month, and something to actually practise in between. If you have been meaning to do something about this for a while, this is a reasonable place to start.

Five founding places are open now.

Become a founding member

Rate held for as long as you stay · Refunded in full if I say no
Questions first? Write to me and I will answer them properly.

Men standing together at the start of a session