Keening Retreat Launch & Imbolc Gathering
Sunday 4th Feb 7-8.30 PM UK / 2 -3.30 US Eastern
Join me on Sunday 4th February for the launch of the 'The Keening Women’ Scottish retreat and Imbolc gathering. Both focus on the Hebrides, the islands off Scotland's west coast which are also known as the Isles of Brighid.
The retreat takes place on the Hebridean Isle of Eigg, also known as the Isle of the Big Women. It is a retreat inspired by re-envisaging keening and how we can use it today to become more familiar with grief, in what Francis Weller calls a grief-phobic and death-denying culture.
Grief Rituals
Weaving Our Grief - The retreat offers grief rituals such as ‘Weaving our grief’ where we will use wool and natural objects to share the story of our grief.
A Keening Circle - A keening circle offers a musical journey, an invitation to bring the voice into grief work, and an opportunity to set deep intentions of transformation.
Create A keening Doll
Your keening doll is made with intention and allows you to explore your grief in several ways. From ‘laying down the bones’ your intention for your doll to symbol making on her body. Details such as pockets and bags offer pouches for stones and small natural objects found on the beach. Your doll can help honor ancestors and acknowledge the grief you carry for all that is unraveling in the world.
Liminal Places
Summer in Scotland experiences long lingering twilights after the sun has set. This feels like a magical time when the land is bathed in a quality of light that highlights the figures in the landscape. This is a time when many stories were born out of.
Trance Dance - A dance between the worlds to honor ancestors and ask the wise ones of this land for their wisdom.
Spiritual Senses - Our engagement with the land offers a honing of our spiritual senses - to connect to the story behind the story.
Stories of the Ancestral Mothers - I’ll share stories of the island as well as stories of the ‘Big Women’ as we visit sacred sites.
Brighid’s cross in the Hebrides
I don’t think of Imbolc as just one or three days, I think of Imbolc stretching from mid-Jan to mid-February and out till it overlaps with the edges of Spring Equinox. While we welcome Brighid back into the world Imbolc can be a deep and dark time. In northern latitudes, we often have the strongest winter weather still to face. It can be a time when people feel the weight of the world on their shoulders - from debt and job worries to wider worries of war and the breakdown of climate systems.
Creating a paper Brighid’s cross is a way to consider those worries - by drawing and writing and representing them on paper. We will use them as a form of prayer, or a small gesture of ritual.
Honoring Grief
In honoring Brighid as a Goddess of the thresholds of life and death, I’ll play an old chant that was sung at the edge of the ocean, intended to guide souls home to the otherworld. The song mimics the call of the Oystercatcher, who has been called the servant of Brighid.
Imbolc Gathering offers:
Space for prayer - Bring your paper Brighid’s cross (you will receive instructions)
Space to Honor Grief - With a Brighid’s Chant Which Guides the Soul Home
Exploring Brighid in the Land - Healing well + Beehive Cells dedicated to Brighid
A guided meditation which takes you to visit a Hebridean beach with white quartz sands and green blue seas.
Brighid in the Landscape
We’ll visit some sites in the landscape such as a healing well dedicated to Brighid and a Beehive cell.