|
|
Circle of Fire, Circle of Stone
This workshop traces the history and cosmology of Celtic shamanism and its applications to life today. The use of Old Gaelic chant, meditation, and the visionary technique of the spirit journey, create the opportunity to make connections with Celtic Deities, spirits of the land, ancestral spirits and spirit guides.
In this experiential workshop, we will have the opportunity to have a direct, personal experience of contact with the Síd or Otherworld: the spiritual aspect of reality.
Síd also means peace in Old Irish. We find our truest selves, and the purpose God and the Spirits have for us, by harmonizing with the peace of the Otherworld. The workshop begins with meditation to guide us into the specific state of spiritual awareness required for all
spiritual work, especially the visionary technique of the spirit journey that follows. We will also use chant and movement to experience the Divine within us and outside of us, in this world and the Other, ever more vividly.
Through these techniques and in traditional ceremonies, we discover connections to the Celtic Trinity of God, Goddess, and Creator, the spirits of the land, the spirits of our ancestors, and our own personal spirit guides and totems. Because the Primal Celtic tradition stresses the personal
experience of God, and the shamanic techniques at its core have been practiced universally by all faiths, it is compatible with any tradition that celebrates our diversity while acknowledging the unity of Spirit.
|
|
Immram
The ancient Irish tale Immram Maelduin, or the Voyage of Maelduin, gives us a mythic map through life. Maelduin begins his journey as a quest to revenge his father's murder and ends it in the fulfillment of forgiveness and fellowship. In between, he visits a series of islands, each transmitting specific spiritual lessons, and each contributing to his spiritual transformation.
Using the visionary technique of the shamanic journey, along with prayers and chants in the Old Irish of the tale, we journey along with Maelduin, learning from both the myth and from our own experiences of the spiritual islands he passed through. We will learn the lessons of the traditional "three strains" of music, the music of sorrow, the music of joy and the music of trance. We will
learn of the stages on the journey where it's possible to get lost in sorrow, joy or arrogance. We will explore the lessons of the Isle of Birds, the Isle of Women, and some of Maelduin's other destinations. Most importantly, we'll learn the lesson and purpose of forgiveness, enabling us to cast off the ropes that hold us to the pier and set our sails for the ocean of being.
|
|
Knowing God
Some religions feel that only saints or the enlightened can have contact with God. What isn't so clear is how we're supposed to become saintly or enlightened without contact with God. Only alchemical contact with the Sacred, the union of our being with God's, can transform and illumine
us.
Shamanic experience refreshes and re-visions religious devotion. In fact, all religions are based on shamanic vision, on that moment when someone saw God "not through a glass darkly, but face to face." Christ saw a dove descending upon him, as the voice of God proclaimed him Son. The Holy
Prophet, Mohammed, went on a "night journey," where he drew the five times daily prayer from the devotions angels made to God. The very power of these individuals' experiences put many of their students in such awe of them that they felt they couldn't do the same — ironic, because these great teachers kept telling their students, "You are as I am. You can do what I do," and they showed
them how. However, over the centuries, many organized religions abandoned the techniques and sensory supports that facilitate contact with the Sacred. Trance inducing drumming and chants became bland hymns, darkness and flickering candles that encouraged the sight of the Otherworld gave way to brightly lit halls that overwhelmed with the sight of this world.
However, there have always been mystics like St. Ignatius, St. Theresa of Avila, and the Sufi mystic, Rumi, who used visionary techniques. Through the spirit journey, as well as chant, prayer and meditation, we can return to the primal source of all religions, finding a belief based on
experience. To strive for faith as a belief in things not seen is to strive to be happy not seeing, when it is our birthright as children of God to see our divine parents.
This workshop is particularly suitable for interested spiritual organizations and churches to sponsor as a step towards true, inspired, religion — from the Latin religio, that is, linking back to the Sacred. Trevarthen's extensive study of world religions enables her to teach these
essential techniques in Christian or other contexts, so long as they respect that there are many roads up the mountain.
|
|
Over the Ninth Wave
In Celtic myth, the Milesians come over Nine Waves, symbolizing their harmony with the Celtic cosmic structure, to land on the Irish Coast. Their shaman, and Trevarthen's kinsman, Amergin, recited a poem, saying: "I am a wild boar in valor, I am a salmon in water...I am the God who brings fire to the mind." This reflects a Western idea of enlightenment: harmonization of the self with the Sacred, rather than dissolving the self in the Sacred. This harmony inspires action in the world.
In this experiential workshop we explore ways of bringing the Sacred into our daily lives, using the Celtic myths and traditions as our model. Journeying over the nine waves, the spiritual energies of creation, like the energy of the ancestors, of union and of wisdom, we reflect on the qualities each bring to our lives. Our final focus is the energy of sovereignty, and the capacity it gives us to manifest the spiritual truths we've learned through noble action in the world.
|
|
The Practice of Joy
Joy is a practice not an event. Joy is our natural, native state of union with the Sacred. When we experience the world in a state of invincible union with God, what happens in the world can hurt, but never harm us. As the great 9th century Irish theologian, Eriugena, said, the
only source of suffering is separation from God.
The Goddess Brigit taught Trevarthen the practice of joy after she'd suffered from severe depression for many years. With Her guidance, Trevarthen came to see that although pain is inevitable, the grinding, oppressive experiences of suffering and depression are not.
In this workshop, designed for anyone who has suffered from depression or simply wants to live more joyfully, Trevarthen teaches what the Goddess taught her. She also reveals inspirational lessons of early Irish myth, which show how the oscillation of sorrow and joy support the vessel of the self. We learn how to break the spiral of depression energetically, bypassing all the ostensible "issues" that we believe caused it. We learn how to see traumas neutrally, as forces of nature that shaped us. We can then learn their lessons and let them go.
Through the shamanic journey, we have the opportunity to experience Brigit's healing powers for ourselves. Also patroness of the creative arts, Brigit can show us the art of life, the way in which we co-create our lives with God. We will learn to use beauty and creativity to enhance our lives, as the ancient Celts did to such an extent that early scholars called Celtic art "the work of angels."
By co-creating with God we do angelic work. By praising God as the angels do, extending ourselves energetically to the Sacred in gratitude and joy, even when, especially when, we don't feel like it, we break the inward energetic spiral of depression that can imprison us, and learn to practice joy each moment of our lives.
|
|
The Wolf's Trajectory
This is a workshop to show women how to constructively use longing for a soul mate as a directional focus in life. This not only makes finding a good spouse much more likely, but brings joy and power into our lives right now, as we allow the hunt for the beloved to become the magnetic north that points us to our bliss on many levels. We do not need to wrest our attention from the ideal of the beloved to grow, but rather, we must use the power and potency of that
ideal as inspiration for every facet of life.
To ask a woman not to hunt for a mate, to focus only on developing herself, is like asking a wolf not to hunt — it's against nature. However, we can hunt well or poorly. The wolf is one of nature's supreme hunters — fierce, intelligent and confident. Where a hunting dog will chase right behind a deer, a wolf will aim at a point ahead to intercept. Because the dog chases directly, the dog will only catch the very young, very old, sick or injured, where the wolf will catch the best.
To follow the wolf's trajectory is to aim at a point ahead. It is to use your desire for a particular sort of man to point you to your life path, or to the next great experience on that path. For example, if you desire an adventurer you're more likely to meet him on a trek in Nepal than a bar in your home town. Most important — if that's the sort of person you want to love, chances are, that's the sort of person you want to be. Your desire can guide you to that fulfillment.
Primal Celtic tradition sees desire as positive. It motivated the Goddess, God and Creator to make the universe. In Old Irish the word rún can mean mystery, desire and the beloved, therefore, desire can align us with creation's sacred purpose, an alignment we'll strive for in this workshop.
While there are lots of good workshops on specific "hunting strategies," this one focuses on a bigger picture — the power, passion and fulfillment desire can draw us to in all realities.
We'll use the shamanic techniques of the spirit journey, chant, prayer and dance to connect with the power of the wolf, the power of desire and the power of our own truest selves. We will journey to the spirit mate, the purely spiritual aspect of the soul mate, to feel the Creator's love in a personal way, removing the desperation for a physical lover we experience when we're divorced from divine love. By experiencing divine love separately, we'll also learn to understand what happens when we perceive it through another, and how to combine divine and human love instead of confusing them. We'll also find the ancient Celtic archetype of the sovereignty goddess within
ourselves, to align our choices with the truth of our being. Following the wolf's trajectory, we'll reach the point ahead, where desire and fulfillment meet in us, and can be met in the world.
|
|
Seasonal Workshops
The Celtic fire festivals can be seen as representing the oscillation of union and division that make up the cosmos.
In the first instant the primal scission of creation divided the Creator into the Primal Polarities, Source and Force, the Mother and Father of us all. Becoming Two, God became Three, because God the Initiator, the Catalyst who set off the creation reaction, remained Itself, even as It
polarized.
The first polarities, Mother and Father, Source and Force, seeing their separation, instantly saw their unity as well, and in that instant they returned to union, but the union was conscious — more realized than the primordial union of the first time. As their conscious union returned them to
awareness of their individuality, another scission occurred, creating other forms who in turn saw God in each other and returned to union. In repeated oscillations this shattering and union, fission and fusion birthed all forms and facets of creation's jewel.
Each of the fire festivals can be seen as a "station" in this cycle of the union and individuation of the God and Goddess. Sometimes they'd start the festival fire with nine times nine men taking turns rubbing together two huge planks of oak.
We can interpret the revolving motion as the turning wheel of the year and the cycles of life, death and rebirth. The planks themselves were cut from the same tree, and so, had been separated and brought together, like the Mórrígan and Dagda, the Mother and Father, reuniting after the primal scission. After a time, the fire suddenly exploded into life between the oak planks — the creative fire between the God and Goddess. The bonfire made visible the manifesting power They unleash at each station in the cycle.
Samhain celebrates the God and Goddess in primal union at the Celtic New Year. It is the time of the ancestors and gateway to the dark half of the year. It is associated with the energy of source and sacrifice.
The left arm of the cross is Brigantia, Feast of the Goddess Brigit, on February 1st; and the right is Lughnasadh, Assembly of the God Lugh, on August 1st. Here, the God and Goddess have separated, aware of themselves and their separate power. Both Lugh and Brigit are very potent deities, associated with the fire of manifestation.
The top of the wheel is Beltane, Festival of illumination, where the God and Goddess manifest as Findias, the Radiant Couple, in conscious union. This festival opens the light half of the year.
Each of these stations gives an opportunity to harmonize with the energies of nature and the manifestations of the God and Goddess whose powers rule these times. By doing so, we can work together with the Spirits to co-create a reality of greater harmony and love for all beings.
Samhain Samhain, the Celtic New Year, is a time to start afresh. This is the time of the primal union of the Mórrígan and Dagda. The ancestors, especially the first, the Great Goddess and God, were celebrated on this date. It's a time to take a clear look at our lives as they are and as we want them to be. Most importantly, it's a time to move beyond that wanting to will, working with the tremendous powers accessible to us at this chief pivot of the year to realize our loftiest visions for our lives. In union with God, the Mother, Father and Creator, and the Spirits, we come to see that this vision isn't just our desire, but what the Sacred desires through us for the greater good of all. When our intent is allied to the Spirits' will, transformation needn't take months or years of emotional introspection, but can occur on an energetic, alchemical level, sweeping away limitations in a single act of co-creation with the Sacred.
Brigantia
This women's workshop (which can also be taught at any other time of the year) focuses on exploring aspects of the Goddess through the spirit journey, and within ourselves. Brigit has been worshipped for many millennia, from ancient Celtic times to the present day where she is honored as the St. Brigit of Irish and Scottish tradition.
St. Brigit may have been "the Brigit," oracle of the Goddess, at the time of the Christian conversion. The lesson of the oracle is that all of us can embody the Divine and act as the Creator's hands on earth.
During this workshop we'll connect with some of the Goddess' aspects within ourselves, each other, and in the Otherworld through spirit journeys, prayers and meditations. The Triple Goddess' aspect as Maiden returns us to the Land of Promise, the sense of freshness and promise we all had flashes of as children, but may have lost touch with. The Goddess as Mother soothes away the wounds of the past, celebrates her body and sensuality, and holds the warrior's power as well, because Celtic women were great warriors. She also inspires art in many forms, which all come together in the art of life. The Goddess as Crone takes us into the womb of creation, dissolving and dismembering the old self, so we can re-member who we truly are — unique facets of Her. Like a hologram, each facet contains the whole, making us goddesses in our own right.
Beltane During this week-long Beltane retreat, we'll discover that the Primal Celtic tradition can be as geared to attaining illumination and exploring life's deeper mysteries as Eastern traditions. We have the opportunity to awaken the Divine within us, to become, as the Celtic poet Amergin did, the "God who brings fire to the mind." Through ritual, meditation and chant, we learn to release all that holds us back from illumination and embrace all facets of life. We journey to Óengus and Caer, the Enlightened Couple, the God and Goddess in conscious union, to learn how to attain it for ourselves. We journey to the spirit of the swan, symbol of enlightenment in Celtic tradition, to learn how to master air, element of consciousness, and water, element of the Divine Source of all being. As the swans symbolize with their black feet and white plumes, to be illumined means we must learn to hold all life's polarities, light and dark, in divine awareness.
Lughnasadh
The God Lugh is a great warrior God of Celtic tradition, yet he is also known as Samildánach, the All-Skilled One, because, as it's been said, "Courage is the virtue that enables us to practice all the others." The warrior virtues are versatile, encompassing effective behavior in all areas of life, because the warrior energy is our effective power — the energy that makes both actions and honor possible.
No one in Celtic culture was exempt from warrior training. In fact, it was said that Celtic women had such prowess in battle that if a man called his wife into combat with him a whole troop of foreigners couldn't defeat them. Women not only trained as warriors, but were among the best drill sergeants. The formidable Scáthach of the Isle of Skye trained Cú Chulainn. Warrior training, for men and women, was an integral part of training for life in general.
However, many fear the whole idea of warriorship because they confuse warriors with thugs. They couldn't be more different. A thug uses effective power to create chaos, bullies to bolster a sense of personal powerlessness, is sadistic, and seeks power over others. A warrior uses his or her power to bring order, feels powerful, takes no pleasure in another's pain, and seeks power within him or herself to use in service to others.
Embracing the warrior side of our nature actually ensures we don't become negatively aggressive — as the God Lugh Himself said to Trevarthen, "If you don't allow yourself to be fierce, you will become vicious."
This workshop will help us connect with the fierce, wild side of our natures, assert ourselves in our lives, and heal the body/mind split so prevalent in our culture. Through journeys to our spirit teachers and totems we will learn how to best care for our bodies, the densest levels of our souls. As
is appropriate at this harvest festival, we will also give thanks to the Spirits, the God and the Goddess, for the bounty they've given us in spiritual and physical realities.
|
|
Keynote Talks and Lectures
Trevarthen is able to speak on any facet of Celtic and Western spiritual traditions that suit the focus of a particular conference, gathering or event. Past topics include shamanic healing, the lessons of spiritual crisis, the experience of knowing God, sacred union and finding the truth of your being.
This is the synopsis of one keynote lecture.
Ancient Harmony
Celtic Society was bound together in ancient times by loyalty, honor and shared spiritual and ancestral connections. Its harmony was based in the deeply felt connection to the Otherworld, the spiritual aspect of reality. Tonight we'll discuss both the sort of society this created, and how we can begin to apply its lessons to our own lives and culture. Through the use of chant and song we can learn to experience for ourselves the harmony and sense of community that was a feature of the Celtic way of life.
|