Hartwell Pages:

non residential events
individual ceremonies
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healing

Non Residential Events: Earthsong
It has been said that all of creation is made up of the songs of the holy beings who live outside our time and space. That the growth of the grasses is their song, that the strong and fragile wing of a bird is their song, that the fine antenna of a butterfly is their song, that each human also is their song.

It has been said that the earth has a song, a story, a destiny
for each one of us, if we would only stop to hear what it might be.

This collection of workshops is for those who want to learn ways to listen and understand the songs of the holy and the songs of the earth and who want to find ways to bring those songs into the hearing of us all.

We will attempt to recall the ways of those who have gone before, the old people, the earth people, to step into the faint footprints that still linger in the remembering earth.
We will explore ways to help us listen to the teachings of our relations the rocks, the plants and the animals. We will learn how to make gifts for those who carry our destiny. We will find ways of reading their omens and their signs, whispers that fly by on the wind.

We will do most of our work in Bath, otherwise known as Aquae Sulis, Waters of Sulis the goddess of the gap, the gateway to the other world. Here we will learn to move between worlds and to call for guides as we venture into strange territories.

Later, we will spend time in Penwith in Cornwall where the land stays much as it has been for millenia, where the hold of our civilization is tenuous and it is easier to put our heads down and listen to the stories that the earth holds for us.

Earthsong is made up of a collection of workshops that can be taken as a whole or dipped into. Starting in November, there will be non residential weekends in November, December, January, February, March, April finishing with a five day residential in May.

Dates:
11 – 12 November 2006
2 – 3 December 2006
20 – 21 January 2007

24 – 25 February 2007
24 – 25 March 2007
21 – 22 April 2007
17 – 22 May 2007

11 – 12 November The Bones of the Earth: Traditional ways into ceremony

Setting up a Medicine Wheel and blessing and awakening sacred space.
Honouring the turn of the year with the Celtic Fire Festivals
Collection and empowerment of ceremonial tools
Psychic protection, boundaries and cleansing

2 – 3 December The Breath of the Earth: Calling to Spirit

Feeling our way into the consciousness of the plants.
Journeying for animal guides.
Making a house for Spirit to dwell in.

20 – 21 January The Patterns of the Earth: Aligning with the dance of life

Working with omens and auguries.
Exploring different forms of divination.
Opening gateways into alternate realities.

24 – 25 February Gifting the Earth: gifts for the Holy, crafting our tools

Feather beading,
Making a rattle,
Medicine bags,
Decoration of the drum
Finding the symbols

24 – 25 March Calling to the Ancestors: learning the wisdom of our forebears

Calling to Sul, the ancient ancestor of Bath who holds the gateway open to the deep chambers of the earth

Remembering and honouring our family ancestors,
Connecting with the ancestors of this land
Opening ourselves to different lineages

21 – 22 April: Walking the Earth

Over 6,000 years ago people came to hunt, gather, live and finally farm this quiet valley nestling among the chalk hills of North Wiltshire. Archaeologists have evidence of their activities in flint blades and arrowheads, in the bones of the animals they consumed, in the charcoal that marks ancient hearths.

But the ancestors of this place also left a unique legacy: the largest henge, the highest human-made mound and the longest unexcavated barrow burial in Britain.

In this landscape they have left us a story, not only of how they lived but a story far greater than that: of the Great Goddess Herself. Some say that she was beheaded by her son[s], others say she fell from the sky; all say Her body became the Earth itself, that She shows Herself in all of life.

This is the story, full of life, death and everything in between, that is celebrated within the Avebury landscape, a story to be experienced rather than told.

We invite you to walk with us over two days, travel this story road, remember the ancestors of this land and honour them in ceremony.

18 (eve) – 22 May four day residential: Listening for our Earthsong

Five days on the land in Penwith, surrounded by the ancient gateways of our ancestors, listening for the song that the earth sings for each one of us. A time of quietness, vision quest, ceremony and celebration

Guinevere of the White Feet: Reclaiming the Power of the Priestess Queen

The great queen would walk, as priestess, her feet bare, before the king and all others, leading the way into battle. How may we learn to walk before others leading them on their true paths out into the world?

For the young there is the start of the journey that leads to the power of the queen. For older women it is the recognition that perhaps they have arrived and are worthy to receive the mantle.

We will explore our own ancestral patterns around the power of the older woman, the queen of the land. We will remember how sovereignty was a gift received from the land and regain ways to open up to that gift. We will ceremonially offer the mantle of the queen to those who may be ready to receive it.

Tuesday 2 August, a day workshop for the Goddess Conference. For details go to www.goddessconference.com/fringe

The Turning of the Wheel

As the wheel of the year turns so does the wheel in each one of us turn.: maiden mother crone, queen of the stars, flower maiden, owl woman…..over and over again. To become the old wise one, we need to have the others held in our hearts and known in our being. We will explore the wheel of life and see where in our lives we are abundant and where we have far to go to achieve the balance necessary for us to step into our power and claim our wisdom.

Thursday 4 August a half day workshop for the Goddess Conference. For details go to www.goddessconference.com

For course dates go to the calendar page.