0THE SPIRAL YEAR: Celtic Wisdom of the Seasons
Facilitated by: Rev. Simon de Voil and Christine Valters Paintner
Available by: Watch Online Recordings
Price: General Public: $ 100.00 | One Spirit Graduates and Students: $ 90.00
Elective Credit: 1
The Celtic spiritual tradition is a spiral way, one that honors non-linear consciousness and intimately follows nature’s rhythms of rising and falling, of fullness and emptiness. When we open ourselves to this way of being in relationship to time’s unfolding, we discover a profound wisdom that honors our own seasons of flowering and fruitfulness, as well as seasons of release, surrender, fallowness, stillness, and mystery. It empowers us to live in a way that deeply honors both body and soul. This is a radically counter-cultural way of being in the world.
Drawing on the wisdom of the ancient and mysterious Celts, we will:
Delve into the stories and practices associated with the Celtic wheel of the year - the solstices, equinoxes, and the four cross-quarter days known as the Celtic harvest festivals. These turning points are thresholds when the veil between worlds is thin. Each portal has its own invitation to us on our spiritual journey.
During our workshop we will explore how these eight holy days of the Celtic year can enhance our spiritual lives today and how they invite us into an Earth-cherishing consciousness.
Celtic wisdom speaks strongly to so many people because it addresses an ancestral and soul language that many people feel acutely in their modern lives but have no words for.
For many who have European roots, there is a strong draw to a path that is indigenous to their ancestors. For others, the call is to a way that honors Earth wisdom alongside human wisdom and the presence of the Otherworld just beyond the surface of everyday appearances.
FACULTY:
Rev. Simon de Voil
Reverend Simon Ruth de Voil is an ordained interfaith/interspiritual minister, trained to be a sacred presence outside the conventions of traditional religion. As a sacred musician, spiritual mentor and worship leader he incorporates chant, ritual, poetry, storytelling, and mindful practice to create a space for profound connection and sacred witness. Simon provides music for worship, ceremony, and prayer in a wide variety of churches and non-religious spiritual communities. He particularly loves to create music for meditation, healing services, and rites of passage. Simon is also an experienced workshop and retreat leader, drawing on 15 years of study, training, and practice that grew from his time living and working in Iona Abbey. Although influenced by many traditions, Simon's spiritual path and teaching is deeply rooted in Celtic Christianity, the wisdom of the earth, and in the Scottish land where he's spent most of his life.
Dr. Christine Valters Paintner
Dr. Christine Valters Paintner earned her PhD in Christian spirituality from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and she is a Registered Expressive Arts Consultant and Educator (REACE) with the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA). She is the founder and online Abbess for Abbey of the Arts, a virtual monastery and global community which offers programs and retreats integrating contemplative practice and creative expression. In 2012 Christine and her husband John moved to the wild west coast of Ireland where they have fallen in love with the landscape, the stories, the music, and the people. The wind, stone, and sea shape her prayers each day and she weaves together the wisdom of the Celtic monastic tradition along with the desert and Benedictine strands of contemplative practice. She is also the author of 18 books on spirituality which include The Soul’s Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred and three collections of poetry.