WORKSHOP JOURNEYS FOR WOMEN 2011 / 2012 with Carolyn Hillyer

THE SHAMAN-WEAVERS

WORKSHOP PROGRAMME FOR WOMEN ON DARTMOOR

2011

NOVEMBER 25-27/ WEFT (Weaver of Mountains)
For a report on this recent workshop please watch this space...

2012

JANUARY 27-29/ COPPER (Weaver of Rivers)

11/1/12 Cancelled place available today - please call Carolyn

Final payments by women booked onto this workshop may be paid through Paypal - £140

FEBRUARY 24-26/ ANTLER (Weaver of Forest) FULL

MARCH 30-APRIL 1/ WEFT (Weaver of Mountains) FULL

These weekends are now full but there are reserve lists for each of them in case of cancellations so please contact Carolyn if you would like your name to be added.

We are now taking bookings for the next four workshop weekends. You are also welcome to notify us of any future workshops in this programme that you would be interested in attending. If you have any questions about these workshops please contact Carolyn directly.

SEPTEMBER 28-30/ COPPER (Weaver of Rivers)

OCTOBER 26-28/ ANTLER (Weaver of Forest)

NOVEMBER 23-25/ THORN (Weaver of Islands)

2013

JANUARY 25-27/ DUSK (Weaver of Caverns)

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INTRODUCTION FROM CAROLYN

It is nearly twenty years since I shared my first workshop journey for women. My personal experience during this time has been profoundly shaped, enriched and challenged by these gatherings and circles; and year by year my understanding and trust grows in the creative power and capacity for change that arrives when women work together in sacred ways that honour earth and ancestors and shadow and life. I am deeply grateful for these opportunities to work alongside women who, simply by sitting in our circles, show courage in the face of their fears, strength beneath the burden of their wounds, delight when encountering strange wild experiences, tenacity when tackling unexpected challenges, trust when balancing on precarious edges, huge respect in the company of new sisters, and a potent blend of tears, cackles and sacred silence as they travel together through these shared journeys.

I am now slipping slowly through my sixth decade; well, perhaps not so slowly, my most pressing question being how to adjust to the different pace that a post-menopausal body is demanding of me. I have realised that the completion of the Sacred House book in 2010 represented a moment on my road where the spirallings of these last twenty years paused for a while to meet the possibilities of the next. We talk often about the responsibilities of women to hearth, community, sisterhood, planet; and how these acquire a deeper texture and hue as we learn to become effective elders. We want to harvest our experiences and intuitions, to distil them into wisdom and insight – without tripping ourselves up or forgetting how to gently mock our own ambitions. We want to find places where our strength and creativity and imagination are needed – without losing integrity or talking too many words. We want to be both magnificently proud of what we have achieved – but still humble about the small differences our lives are making in the whole weave of things. And, perhaps most urgently, we want to get our sharp minds and clever hands and bold natures focused on what most needs doing now, in the world now, while we still know how to change and bring about change.

With this in mind, I have been shaping a new sort of workshop programme to share with the women who want to come here to Dartmoor, to this piece of wildly beautiful land, to work and weave dreams and walk a while together. My experience has always been that the ancient mother forms I paint bring with them the words and songs and stories that feed and nourish the circles I create and offer. This winter I began work on a new cycle of paintings; to my delight (and relief) they seem content to emerge slow-and-steady. The stories they are bringing are not new but profoundly ancient; the symbols they carry are familiar but strangely different; their faces already feel like home. I believe I would be happy to keep painting these particular women right to the end, but for now I am looking no more than three years ahead!…so...

This next cycle of workshops begins November 2011 and weaves its way through to the autumn of 2014. It is a rolling programme; each workshop journey will be repeated and any woman can choose to come into the cycle at any point, to weave into her own life the workshop(s) that feels most relevant. Each workshop carries its own teachings and initiations; each contributes in its own way to the continuity of the circle. Significantly the groups will be much smaller than many of my previous workshop weekends, allowing for more space and depth and nurturing and intimacy. At the core of this whole work are the questions of how we connect ourselves to ancient and present ways of travelling our lives on this earth, how we weave ourselves into the world, how we kindle and tend the fires of our wise knowing. Where will we lay our bones, my dears, when all is said and done? The hearth woman is a primordial representation of a female shaman or udegan; the shaman-weavers are those ancient mothers who sit and work around the sacred hearth. The patterns and rhythms for this programme of workshops are drawn from the Sacred House book, from the ancient raw landscape (both within our souls and beneath our feet) and from thirteen of the many shaman-weavers who guide our archetypal mythologies and our magical work.

There will be preparations to make before each workshop and endings to complete afterwards, but you will have an information pack to help with this. No experience is necessary; every woman is welcome who is willing to contribute to and honour the circle, to take no more than she will give. We will arrive with wolf paws and depart on eagle wings. We will travel through intensive teachings that include night ceremonies, gentle fasts, daybreak cleansing rituals, hearth councils, land beneath our feet, stories held within our laps, the magic of drum and song, a loom on which to anchor our shared circles, and all the surprise and wonder that the untamed moor chooses to lay along our trails. And there is an invitation for women who have travelled through several workshops to sit in the circle as fire keepers; two kindling sisters for each workshop, supporting the journeys of other women, honing their quiet skills, deepening their own stories. This is part of our commitment as women of spirit to encourage each other to be innovators, door-openers, wisen (wise healers) and solid friends. In this way we strengthen our responsibility to ourselves, to each other and to the earth.

SHAMAN-WEAVERS WORKSHOP PROGRAMME

Bookings are starting now for workshops through to January 2013.
Further details will be posted on our website as the cycle turns.

FEE £250 / includes 2 nights inside accommodation in shared rooms at Lower Merripit Farm (extra night available for women travelling from a long distance);all food (except Saturday dinner for which everyone brings a contribution); workshop materials plus an information pack sent out one month before the workshop with details about how to prepare and what to bring.

Please contact us for booking forms; all places are confirmed on receipt of deposit of £100. Please note that deposits are non-returnable (please read our cancellation policy below) and places limited to 13 for each weekend. YOu are welcome to make payments by installments. For each weekend there are two bursary places at a reduced price; these are reserved for women on benefits who otherwise would not be able to attend - please apply by post/email.

Lower Merripit Farm is located in the very heart of Dartmoor's wild hills. The workshops are based in the large guest cottage, surrounded by 24 acres of meadows, marshes, streams, woodland, hidden shrines, and our neolithic-style ceremonial roundhouse. The farm is run as an organic small-holding, with two species-rich flower meadows, a rare protected peat bog habitat and a small herd of wild hill ponies on the open moors. All the water is drawn from two spring-fed wells and visitors are encouraged to use eco-friendly washing products as the farm maintains its own sewage system. Public transport onto the moor is very limited so those using bus or train services are advised to travel to Exeter St Davids station from where we will be able to arrange a shared taxi or lift.

For further information and booking forms please contact info@seventhwavemusic.co.uk
Places are generally reserved quickly so early booking is recommended.

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WOMEN'S WORKSHOPS CANCELLATION POLICY for SHAMAN WEAVERS WORKSHOP PROGRAMME

For our workshop events at Lower Merripit Farm we have a policy of charging fairly high deposits when places are booked. This is intended to encourage participants to commit to their bookings and reduce cancellations. This is especially important in the case of smaller events such as the Shaman-Weavers programme, where the number of places available on each weekend is limited and an unused place may shift the balance of the workshop circle. The workshops fill quickly so other applicants often choose to book onto an alternative weekend; this means any cancellation of a place inevitably results in a complex readjustment of places.

While we appreciate that some participants will have very genuine and difficult reasons for not being able to attend, it would be impossible for us to make judgements on whether any individual cancellation would be deserving of a refund. For this reason we do not refund deposit money under any circumstances and places are not directly transferable by you ie. passed on to a friend or even advertised on the web (this has happened!) Any deposit money that is retained from a cancelled place is used either to fund a bursary place for a woman who could not otherwise afford to attend or added to a pot to support another woman’s creative project.

Because there will inevitably be some requests by women to change their workshop dates and options, we have decided that a confirmed place (that is, once your place has been confirmed in writing and a deposit paid) may be transferred to another workshop on this programme but that £25 administrative charge will be taken from the deposit; this option is available once only for each booking and cannot occur within 8 weeks of the workshop. If you have simply put your name on a reserve list or indicated your interest in a weekend this does not apply of course, and you are welcome to change as and when you wish.

Once a final balance payment has been made, we are happy to make a refund of that amount up to six weeks before the event as long as the reason for cancellation is valid and clear (for example, health or urgent family issues rather a change of social plans). In the last six weeks before an event we do not refund any payments as we cannot be sure that there would be enough notice for another applicant to take up the place and have sufficient time to work with the preparations for the weekend.

This policy has been established to help us continue to create our events here on Dartmoor, to enable as many women as possible to have access to the weekends and to strengthen the commitment between participant and workshop.

Many thanks for your understanding, Carolyn

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DARTMOOR WORKSHOP JOURNEYS

Since 1995 Carolyn has created and guided many workshop journeys for women throughout the UK and in other countries including Russia, USA, Japan, Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, Estonia, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Many of her workshops take place on the ancient farmstead of Lower Merripit amid the wild hills of Dartmoor. The journeys are rooted in the oldest traditions of women’s spiritual and creative gatherings, weaving together sacred drum, voice, contemplation, direct engagement with the wild landscape, creating and interpreting with our wise hands, simple shared ceremony, personal ritual, mutual nourishment and an intent to explore beyond the farthest reaches of our perception….as well as the opportunity to sit within a warm, supportive and inspiring circle of sisters.

WORKSHOP ARCHIVE

THE SHAMAN WEAVERS ( October 2011)
A workshop on Dartmoor created for women from Russia

THIRTEEN MOONS WILDSONG CAMP (2011)
A gathering of 120 women hosted by Carolyn Hillyer plus workshop contributors Julie Felix, Jana Runnalls, Kat Brown, Shannon Smy, Maya Preece, Tegwyn Hyndman, Katy Marchant and Kate Fletcher. A weekend entirely dedicated to the celebration of our weaving voices, our drumming hands and our dancing feet, created by inspired and inspiring musicians & singers, with ceremonial circles by the roundhouse fire and a concert celebration on Saturday night. With songs for ancestral mothers, earth blessings & sacred lands; songs for integrity and change; songs from islands and forests, mountains and tundra; refrains to loosen our hips and soothe our souls; ancient chants for weaving and waulking; laments for our tears; lullabies for our prayers; surprising musical ditties for our laughter; rounds and rondelays to enrich our spiralling journeys…and all infused with the rhythms of our sacred drums.

WEAVING THE LAND: Stone and Sky (2010)
Continuing the theme of the Wood and Water workshop and the weavings of wild nature, this winter journey combines the raw experience of stone and sky in the ancient landscape with the magical bindings of our words, stories and songs as we move around the loom of the land. We make small totems on which to catch the elements of stone and sky.

CAULDRON OF CROWS: A Winter Journey (2010)
A workshop created for women in Russia and Germany.

WEAVING THE LAND: Wood and Water (2010)
The songs and stories of wild nature play constantly across the ancient land. They exist without us being there to hear them but once we add ourselves into the weave, the remembered threads of journeying, yearning, returning and belonging entwine to become our deep mythologies and rich harmonies of word and sound. A creative and magical journey into the deep spriit of the landscape, combining trips onto the open moor to meet ancient wood and wild water, with the weaving of our expereinces into words that we will sing and speak and pray. We feed our ceremonial fires and turn our women's circle around the loom of the land. We make small web looms in which to catch the elements of wood and water.

THE AMBER ROAD: Return to the Ancient Land and a Sacred Journey into Sisterhood (2010)
Held in the beautiful North Hungarian countryside, attended by women from Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and the UK. We shared a powerful journey into the mysteries of women's ancient spiritual traditions, rooting our travelling souls into the wisdom of the grandmothers, the beauty of the season and the blessed earth of this ancient landscape. We worked with our creative hands, our singing hearts and our deep magic to make a strong circle of women. We bound together the bright elements of copper, amber and flame to celebrate sun and moon. We sang to the earth and danced inside the storm. We gave laughter and tears to honour the wild land around us and within us.A wonderful gathering of women from 6 countries with our translated words flowing between us like small rivers. There are plans afoot for more gatherings like this in Central Europe so watch this space!

CAULDRON OF CROWS: A Winter Journey (2009)
A winter retreat inside the primordial cauldron of crows, the vessel that holds our most profound mysteries of death and life, as we enter the earth along the harsh edges of winter and deep into the silent lands. A journey through a starkly beautiful landscape of death and restoration, touching into dark solitude with the Dissolving Woman (who carries the burden of wounds within the deep belly of the cauldron); silent incubation with the Hollowing Woman (hidden far inside the marrow of ancient bones); inspired renewal with the Bleeding Woman (as she follows the strange seam where death and life are knitted together); and the blessing of lament with the Illuminating Woman (who dances on the cauldron rim where the ultimate gifts of light are finally revealed). Through all of this we trace our intimate connection with the moon as she carries us around the circle road.

ASHES AND EARTH: The Illuminating Woman (2009)
A blessing of light. The final weekend in the Ashes and Earth cycle of journeys that has explored our intimate connection with a moon that repeatedly carries us on a circle road through dark solitude, incubation, inspired renewal and the illumination of memory. In the full brilliance of the Illuminating Woman we discover the ultimate blessing of ashes and earth. She slowly dances around the rim of the cauldron of crows, where light is revealed through its relationship with shadow, creting deep ceremony enriched by the intricate weavings of soul songs and lament and the wonder of life. Together we prepare a white ritual house, a ceremonial dancing ground and small looms on which to catch light, air and bright memory.

ASHES AND EARTH: Raw Earth (2009)
A moment of awakening. Over the raw spring earth runs the quickening woman, following the strange seam where death and life are knitted together, where a perfect balance exists between the winding of shrouds and the vibrant expression of new energy. We are midwoves of so much: last and fisrt journeys, blodd of grave and of womb, return and release, physical and elemental bodies, all lifted on a rising wave of change. Involves a profound connection with a wild place and the alchemy of sacred water. We use willow and hazel on which to spin some spring magic and paint our red journeys as we catch the early spring waves of energy that carries us onwards towards the illumination of summer.

ASHES AND EARTH: The Hollowing (2009)
A place of incubation. A special retreat for the deep winter. Within the silent stillness of the hollowing woman, caught in the marrow of ancient bones and far inside the cauldron of crows, rests one seed that holds the key to the restoration of life. So we create a journey of germination and renewal as we pause before the last out-breath of winter, held at a turning point within the protecting hands of the oldest guardian, and guided by the visions that wait behind our eyes. A time for mending, dreaming, tending fires and travelling gently, supported within the circle of women and nurtured by the ancient land.

ASHES AND EARTH: The Cauldron of Crows (2008/9)
A journey into shadow. Solitude, the disintegrating woman and the bearer of wounds are aspects of the darkest mythological guardian of the Ashes and Earth cycle. She is found within the primordial cauldron of crows, the vessel that holds our most profound mysteries of death and life. In this workshop we enter the earth along the harsh edge of winter and deep into the silent lands. Involves a personal ritual journey into the Cauldron House and the shared creation of a winter book.

SAMHAIN DRUM NIGHT (2008)
An evening around the hearth fire in the ceremonial ancestor house with drums, songs, prayers, spells, remembrances, sacred tales, shadowy myths and earthy ritual to honour the veiled season, the silent lands and the bones of our ancestral mothers.

THIRTEEN MOONS Autumn Festival on Dartmoor for Women (2008)
Celebrating bright edges, deep shadows, ancient sisterhood and wild hills with workshops, talks, presentations, craft workshops, concerts, song circles, drum house & simple earthy rituals. A festival for 300 women shaped as a journey around thirteen moons: copper, fallen crow, salmon, warriors, healers, nameless, leaping hare, drummers, weavers, granite, bone, honey and finally honouring our sacred journey with many sisters moon. An ancient pilgrimage of sisters sharing wisdom, wonder, music, old magic, inspiration, spirit, food and fun.

DRUMS OF THE HEATHEN HILLS (2007)
Women’s drum making weekend. A weekend of creating wild skin drums (with reindeer, red deer and horse) and using them as sacred tools for harnessing the raw power of the autumnal shift. We walk into the ancient hills to find inspiration for our own drum song and make a ceremony around the roundhouse hearth to bless our drum journeys and honour the spirits of the skins.

RIVENSTONE: Song of the Harvest Drum (2007)
Day workshop to make and decorate a harvest drum, a bright moon deerskin dancing drum conceived within a place of fruition and celebration. A drum with which to honour the abundance of the earth and the rituals of the gathering time. With our drums we create and perform a special harvest rite.

THE UNSEEN MOON AND THE DARKEST DRUM (2007)
Pausing on the bridge between a cycle of work that describes the primordial grandmothers of ancient ice and a new work that travels the silent lands of the death mothers, this day workshop uses sacred song, quiet ritual and strange mythology, as well as the making of dark moon drums (small reindeer skin finger drums) to shape and honour night shadows and hidden places.

INTO THE WINTER HOUSE (2006)
A day of winter ceremony and preparation for the hibernating months. As we turn to face the darkest nights and the dead of winter, we explore the themes of feeding the hearth fires, keeping safe the winter light, and moving ourselves into quiet hibernation where we may rest and dream and mend. Together we share a winter ceremony around the roundhouse fire, brewing the elements of ice, flame, mist, stone and black earth within our cauldron and drawing inspiration from the wise bones of our ancestral mothers.

WOMEN OF THE BEAR DRUM (2006/7)
The deepening winter journey and long night vigil. A winter retreat and intense journey into the powerful territory of the bear drum. We work together to prepare for a special all-night ceremonial vigil in the roundhouse, deepening our connection with ancestral and inner landscapes. We learn ancient song techniques from the cold northern lands and use clay, ashes and bear magic to make traditional fire oracles. A chance to investigate the maturing of our journey and travel through the mysteries of our ancient mothers to a place of silent strength and fierce courage.

WOMEN OF THE SALMON DRUM (2006)
The returning autumn journey and the dance of life. The ancient salmon drum draws us into a
spiralling dance of seasonal ebb and flow, initiations, rites of passage and circling currents in the
rivers of our own lives. Following the magical routes of water, laid out as living veins across the
wild earth, we seek the gifts of the salmon drum: freedom, perseverance and clarity of intent.
Around the sacred fire of our ancestral mothers we build the power of the long journey, honouring
its sacrifices, its challenges and its changing shape. We learn how to tan salmon skin using
traditional Arctic methods and we make salmon rattles and small fish leather pouches in which to carry tokens of our journey out and of our return.

WOMEN OF THE HARE DRUM (2006)
The awakening summer journey and full moon celebration. A weekend of bright circles, drum songs and sacred chants, gentle ritual and shared council at the roundhouse fire. We travel lightly and dance wildly/ We work with the primordial symbols that lie at the core of our constant dance with the moon: dark blood, white salt and soft black earth. We walk beneath the night sky across the moon-lit moor to visit a hidden ancient shrine and we make hare drums (small deerskin finger drums) on which to sound the pulsing lunar rhythms in our veins.

THE NORTHERN SISTERHOOD OF DRUMS (2006/7)
A workshop created for women in Russia and Germany.

ARCTIC DEEP WINTER WOMEN’S RETREAT JOURNEY (2006)
A journey for thirteen women to the far north of Sweden within the Arctic Circle, living for nine days in forest cabins beside a frozen lake. The retreat combines silent days and nights within the frozen landscape, visits to Arctic craftspeople and teachers, plus experiences with dog sleds, wild reindeer and the northern lights with a series of group circles during which we explore aspects of our most ancient northern women’s spirit traditions.

ONE THOUSAND ANCIENT MOTHERS (2005)
A workshop created for women in Hungary, Holland and Sweden.

INSIDE THE WINTER HOUSE: A Journey Through Ancient Ice (2005)
Set within a circle of primordial grandmothers, The Northern Sisterhood of Drums, as they sit together in council, and sourced from a body of work created both on Dartmoor and in the frozen north, this workshop travels into deep archetypes, the power of the sacred drum voice and a women’s mystery that was born 25,000 years ago from ancient ice. Includes the opportunity to use our wise hands to make a spirit of ice pouch using materials gathered from the Arctic.

THE PRIMORDIAL GRANDMOTHER DRUM (2004/7)
A workshop created for women in Hungary, Holland and Sweden.

THE ROAD TO RED OCHRE WOMAN (2004)
A workshop (for women 38 years and over) that traces a deepening spiral into the spirit of midwoman and explores our sacred responsibilities as older women. We begin to unravel the threads of what might be waiting for us as we journey northwards, facing our mortality and our aging, slipping into our old skins and moving closer to our final transformation as crone women. We challenge our boundaries of perception and courage at a time of year when the shadows of the coming winter reach towards us and the mists of samhain swirl around our feet. We draw on the untameable moors as a source of gentle and fierce darkness, quiet secrets, unexpected mystery and wise revelation.

THE WILDERNESS DAUGHTERS OF GRANDMOTHER DRUM (2004)
A weekend to explore and experience women’s ancient drum mysteries, share drum songs and dances, learning drumming techniques as well as embracing the autumn elements of the wild moors. We make and decorate traditional Arctic reindeer paddle (or dancing) drums using reindeer or red deer skin, and we create a ceremony to honour the spirit of wild deer.

RIVENSTONE WOMEN’S MEET: Our Oldest Magic (2004)
A gathering to nourish, celebrate and honour women’s creative and magical energy with song and drum, simple ceremony, the work of women’s ancient hands, the secret testimony of the land and the power of sacred circles. In the heart of wild moors, women meet together to share ancestral wisdoms and express wild spirits. Includes guest presenters, contributions from participants and a special creative group project using traditional felting techniques and involving the hands of 80 women. Concludes with a shared ritual within a marsh labyrinth and around the roundhouse fire.

HOW STRONG IS THE FACE OF A WOMAN’S DRUM? (2004)
A sacred journey to the colds lands of our ancestral mothers and the mysteries of the ancient Grandmother Drum ~ a symbol of our ancient woman spirit, our mystical journey and our original raw connection to the living landscape. Working together in three clan groups (Bright Wings, Amber and Red Ochre) we share sacred mythology, ritual song and ceremony to strengthen awareness of our rich and deeply rooted women’s heritage, and ultimately travel into the distant territory of the Grandmother Drum. Includes the making of red deer or horse skin rattles.

THE WOMEN’S HOUSE (2003)
A workshop created for women in Japan

WOMEN’S DRUM CAMP (2003)
We prepare and craft a traditional deer skin drum, including ceremonies to honour the skins and bless the finished drums. We make drum beaters and prayer tokens, share drum songs and explore the drum traditions of northern Europe.

MIDWOMAN The Gift of Amber (2003)
A workshop intensive (for women aged 38-59) to embrace, honour and commit to the journey towards and through the middle years. Exploring the outer and inner dynamics of menopause, working with words, music, herbs and sacred myths and tokens, creating rites of passage and simple ceremony to bring power, courage and wisdom to our understanding and experience of the midwoman time.

WOMEN’S HIBERNATION RETREAT (2002)
A chance to prepare for the winter months in a nurturing, warm and inspiring atmosphere, with time tobe quietly alone, enjoy the magic and peace of Dartmoor as well as share in close group work.

WEATHERED EDGE: The Deep Landscape of Women (2002)
Ancient ragged spirit women, concentrated fusions of wild energy, gather in the Weathered Edge cycle of paintings and songs to create the gateway through which this workshop is experienced.We meet the concealer, the protector, the hunter, the summoner, the bestower, the visioner, the destroyer and the drummer. They are all shaped by weather, by season and by the hidden patterns of the land. They are formed from the deep life and death forces of nature. They help to shape the landscapes that we are. Through them we remember, rediscover and bind together a story that describes our own spirit land.

RIVENSTONE WOMEN’S MEET: The Ragged Megs (2002)
A gathering to celebrate and honour our sacred relationship with the wild land, weaving together ceremony, talk, creativity, shared song, ritual dance and drum, tending the roundhouse fire plus the stretching of limbs and the moving of spirit. We seek out the strange and ancient megs of the wild weather and the enduring seasons, who dance the cycles and rhythms of the earth, the ebb and flow of the year and the deep magic of the elements found at the very edges, and in the secret places, of the ancient land.

THE ORACLE OF NIGHTS (1999)
Binding together ritual, myth, drum and chant, this workshop enters the Oracle of Nights through a series of challenging encounters with the five protectors: toad, crow, spider, bat and mare. A black-wrapped journey into the cave, a descent into a personal territory of darkness and shadows, and an intimate exploration of underworld. A place in which to seek, confront and ultimately understand our fears...and from which to emerge again empowered.

OLD SILVERHEAD: Songs and Initiations of Womanhood (1998)
A powerful exploration of the experiences and transitions that define our passage through womanhood. This journey is created around song, rites of passage and a cycle of eight initiations to honour and celebrate our changes from girlhood to old age: from girlseed and first blood; through fruitmother, spinmother and midwoman; to earthcrone, stonecrone and Old Silverhead herself.

THE HERON HOUSE: A Women’s Ancient Mystery Round (1997/8)
The Heron House is the place through which we travel to meet and honour our very ancient foremothers and to rediscover our indigenous ancestry. It represents a forgotten spirit land and the primordial cycle of life and death. The Heron House contains the memory of all that we have been and all that we are as women wed to the earth. The Heron House is the woven fabric of our wise stories, our strong truths and our deepest relationship with the earth.

A CIRCLE OF THIRTEEN (1995/6)
Sitting within a circle of grandmothers, we experience thirteen powerful deep-woman archetypes, each of whom holds a key to an aspect of our inner landscape. We uncover and absorb the mythology and wisdoms that lie behind them, gather together the fragments of our own ancient memory and explore our personal myths as women of wisdom.

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