WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS

Thursday Sept 11th

10.00-12.00am Weaving the Webs – Marj Rowland

Together, we will weave a web of connections to help to give each woman a deeper understanding of her own place on the energy webs of creation on Mother Earth, and of the threads of destiny that she holds. We will look at the paradox of working with the energy webs of the future dream for the bigger picture in mind, while also spinning, weaving and mending our personal dreams. We will hear, and celebrate, the legends of the weavers – Clotho, Lachesis, Atropus, Ariadne, Arachne. After making our own Grandmother Spider Spirit Doll, we will journey to meet her, to the beat of the shamanka’s drum.

Marj Rowland has many years experience of facilitating workshops, and is one of the organisers of the Goddess in Cornwall event each year.

Please bring paper & pen to record your journey, and something to lie on/wrap yourself in. (all materials for the Dolls will be provided)

2.00-5.00pm Visit to Boscawen-un Stone Circle

With the help of the Priestesses of Kernow we will weave the magical energy threads of the ancient stones of Boscawen-un and make a talisman empowered by our visit to the site.

We will take a trip through the mists of time to discover our own personal messages from this wonder of stone circles.

Afterwards there will be time for individual creative reflection and inspiration.

Please be prepared to share cars for the journey to the Circle.

7.30-9.00pm Singing Her Praise Voice Workshop – Sally Pullinger

Sally Pullinger, Priestess of Avalon, will teach some of her songs in praise of the Goddess. Sally has written a variety of Goddess songs, from simple chants to songs with several harmonies. No previous experience is required, the workshop is open to all. It is always so exhilarating to raise our voices together in sacred song.

Please bring a drum or rattle if you have one.

7.30-9.00pm Saying Her Praise Writing Workshop – Rose Flint

Rose Flint, Priestess of Avalon, has had many volumes of poetry and individual poems published in We’Moon and other outlets, and is a respected and much-loved writer and poet. In this workshop she will share some of these writings with you, and also guide and teach you in creative writing that can explore your relationship to the Goddess without and within.

Friday Sept 12th

10.00-12.00am Loving Mother Earth – Rachel Clyne

Our planet is calling to us through all Her voices, animal, plant and elemental; calling to her human children to live more lightly and harmoniously with Her. Our way of life has to change soon, or She will change it for us. We will journey through meditation and spend time communing with the living beings immediately around us, returning to share their messages with each other and explore together how we can respond to Her call.

Rachael Clyne is an experienced psychotherapist who has worked with individuals and groups since 1984. She was involved for many years in running professional trainings in spiritual counselling and has trained as a priestess of Avalon. She is the author of Breaking The Spell - The Key to Recovering Self-esteem and poetry collection She Who Walks With Stones and Sings. web: www.rachaelclyne.com

2.00-4.00pm Preparing to meet the Goddess – Katinka Soetens

This workshop will explore themes of the experience of meeting the Goddess embodied in human form. The practice of embodying or carrying has ancient precedence and was known about as having occurred by Priestesses in many Goddess-celebrating cultures.

Katinka Soetens is an experienced ceremonalist and teacher on Goddess training courses in Glastonbury and Cornwall. She brings great knowledge and experience of ways in which we may all connect with the essence of spirit that manifests as the Goddess.

The Workshop is also a preparation for the evening session, and should be attended by anyone wanting to go to the evening visit.

7.30-10.00pm Meeting the Goddess

A very special opportunity to travel to the Celtic Iron-Age site of Boleigh fogou and the grounds of Rosemerryn House near Lamorna. Here there will be an evening ceremony that will incorporate an opportunity to meet the Goddess and connect deeply with the Earth.

Transport will be provide to and from this Event, and there will be a small charge to cover the cost. The Event will take place in the grounds of Rosmerryn House, so please bring warm clothes and adequate footware.

For those not wishing to go to Rosemerryn, there will be the chance to meet up at Boswedden and bring favourite faery stories to the Lounge to share. Marj Rowland will be on hand to introduce the seven types of Cornish Faeries, and perhaps take you on a journey to meet them.

Saturday Sept 13th

10.00-12.00am Gifts for the Goddess

An opportunity to bring your songs, dance, art, music, poetry and creativity of all kinds to share with others in love of Goddess. A sharing, co-creating space in which we can all offer something to bring together for our mutual enjoyment.

2.00-5.00pm Sea Ceremony – Connecting with Mother Ocean

We shall travel to the beach for a Ceremony honouring Mother Ocean, with blessings, purification, songs, and creating a beach sculpture. Facilitated by Geraldine McCarthy & Cheryl Straffon, there will be the opportunity for paddling or swimming, so please bring bathing costume and a towel.

Please be prepared to share cars for the journey to the sea..

7.30-9.30pm The Inner Mysteries – Geraldine McCarthy

At this time of the year we begin our preparations for the Autumn Equinox. Mother Earth has completed her germination and is now preparing for the dying season. We remember the ancient myths of Inanna and Erishkigal and the descent to the Underworld, and the Eleusinian Mysteries which took place in Greece for 2000 years in which Demeter & Persephone’s mythic drama was enacted. Demeter’s story unfolds on many levels; that of the earth fertility, of the agricultural cycle, of women’s life cycle, of the natural intimacy of the mother-daughter relationship, and of the primordial relationship of life and death. When we explore our own psychological underworld, difficult as the experience might be, we retrieve great riches. We shall enact our own turning within and journey through myth, meditation and song to the eventual inner revelation, the Epiphany of the Goddess.

Geraldine McCarthy has been celebrating the cycles of the Goddess throughout her lifetime, in ritual, ceremony, workshop and women’s mysteries. She is one of the organisers of Goddess in Cornwall.

7.30-9.30pm Free Dance – Sheila Rose Bright

Come and dance the Goddess through your body, heart and soul. We will dance a couple of waves of Goddess music, but you don’t need to know anything about the five rhythms. No experience required, all you need is to open to the music and let it move you to ecstasy or wherever else you need to go.

Sheila Rose Bright has been dancing the Wave (Five Rhythms) for many years. “They keep me sane in the hard times and ecstatic in the good times”. She is a Priestess of Brigid and an experienced facilitator of events.

Workshops to be followed by a fire ritual & ceremony in the grounds of Boswedden House.

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