Power of Dark, Power of Light
Exploring Dualities in Celtic Shamanism

The old Celtic calendar divides the year into a dark half beginning on November 1, the feast of Samhain, and a light half beginning on May 1, Beltaine. Midway between these two points are the feasts of the goddess Brigid, who energizes and initiates the light half of the year while it is still cold and dark (February 1) and the god Lugh, who skillfully fulfills the activities of the summer months (August 1). These two "Shining Ones" balance the powers of light and dark, and can empower us in understanding the need for both as Celtic thinking has always asserted.

Celtic mysticism rejects dualistic thinking that says reality is divided into two opposing and hostile camps. Instead there is a seamless polarity in which things contain their opposites, and all pairs of opposites are interwoven as a whole, much like a Celtic braid. We will explore these themes in order to deepen our shamanic practice and be able to use this dynamic tension for healing and confronting the darkness we meet in the current age of danger, violence, and fear.

We will work with the polarities of night and day, the gods known as then Tuatha De Dananns and the Fomorians (the Irish deities of order and disorder respectively), the visible and invisible, and the "problem of good and evil."

You will be sent an article on the Fomorians at the time of registration. Please read it before the workshop.

Prerequisites: Skill at journeying into nonordinary reality and working with power animals.