A Journey Inward
Awakening Bealtaine
Embracing Our Authentic Power - A Celebration of Granuaile - Pirate Queen of the Irish Seas
In ancient times, Bealtaine celebrated the end of the dark half of the year and the coming of the light half. It is the midpoint between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. The name derives from the old Irish phrase “Bel Taine”, meaning “bright fire”. Together, we will cross the threshold of Equinox and Solstice, moving into the sun's power. Fire at Bealtaine represents the ritual of sacrifice and renewal.
What might it feel like to take control of our lives? To be empowered through self expression, boundaries and an inner marriage with the masculine and feminine?
This is the time of year that is the peak of Spring and the first hint of Summer. Nature is abundant with growth, and everything is vibrant. The life force (eros) is coming back into the earth. So often in our lives, we must sacrifice our old habits and limiting beliefs that no longer serve us and allow ourselves to blossom into the strength and grounded fullness of our authentic selves.
This course celebrates Gráinne Mhaol, known in the Irish Language or Grace O’Malley/Granuaile in English. She is one of Ireland’s foremost heroines living in the 16th century. She was a renowned seafarer and pirate who took to the high seas at age 11, a woman living an unconventional life, authentic to herself.
We will journey into the inner world and soul self, invoking the spirit and wisdom of ancient Ireland, of the pirate queen Granuaile and her authentic warrior energy, Gaelic stories, myths, poetry, folklore, and the ancient Irish landscape. This aims to help you find your inner ground and light the way for you on this journey inward.
We explore how self-abandonment patterns show up in your own life and guide you to channel the anger into a process for healthy boundaries. It will create a foundation of self-awareness and provide you with ways to support and resource you to begin healing this wound. It will look more closely at the masculine and feminine principles and how we must embrace and cultivate that inner marriage between those two energies. We will engage in the affirmative, assertive, healthy expression of anger when establishing our separateness and boundary and how we can begin to support ourselves to find our separate, grounded, solid, authentic power.
Join Eileen on a journey inward. Together, we will explore, through the work of Psychotherapy, Depth Psychology and Irish Mythology, how we can step into our authentic power through uniting our own inner masculine and feminine principles.
What’s Included?
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We will begin by Crossing the Threshold—the Opening Ritual that guides all of my Deepening the Senses Programs, Courses, and Workshops. In this space, we create a container for our work together and set our individual and collective intentions.
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In the second section, we will deepen into story and mythology. For our ancestors, the world of storytelling, poetry, songs, and folktales shared around the hearth at night provided an escape from a harsh existence—an escape that brought them into the unseen world of imagination, psyche, and spirit. We will become curious about what images are stirring our own imagination today from these ancient stories and images, as they guide us on this journey inward.
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Next, we will have two seminars, where we will explore ideas, images, and reflections from the world of Depth psychology, philosophy, literature, Irish folklore, and poetry. We will explore the emotions that are stirring within and how this learning can be a rich source of knowledge to support us in developing a relationship with our inner world and soul self.
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After each seminar, there will be a time for reflection, a space for you to note your experience through awareness, journal invitations, and personal reflection.
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Once we have emerged from the last reflection section, we will cross back over the threshold again, returning to our initial starting place of ritual, the container of our work together, where we will close this work again in ritual. From here, we return to our everyday lives, inspired and curious about what new perspectives, new understandings, and awareness we can bring with us, from the journey inward experience.
You will learn how to…
… recognize and identify how the self-abandonment wound interrupts you from fully connecting to yourself and others.
… understand how your old narratives and embodied trauma keep you stuck in vigilance and self-sabotage.
… deepen your understanding of your self-abandonment wound, building a foundation of insight to support change and growth.
… deepen your understanding of how the wounded masculine and feminine damage you and how the divine masculine and feminine can be cultivated ‘in marriage’ to support your authentic growth and presence.
… about the affirmative energy of anger as an emotion and how you must build a healthy relationship with anger to assert healthy boundaries.
… to embrace your authentic power in your life and how we can connect to that sense of self when healing the self-abandonment wound.
… build relationships with the warrior energy/archetype in order to embrace your life’s purpose from a place of authentic embodied and empowered presence.
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Depth psychotherapy research, theories and practices, somatic psychotherapy, psychology and neuroscience, Celtic mythology, ancient Gaelic wisdom in folklore and stories, the medium of poetry, art images, symbol and metaphor.
What A Journey Inward Participants have said...
FAQ
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All workshops, courses, programs and products are designed to support your personal development. They are not designed to diagnose, prescribe or recommend any specific psychological, psychiatric or physical health interventions. Anyone engaging in this work agrees to take responsibility for their own personal wellbeing and should they need to consult an individual licensed, qualified healthcare professional, they will do so at their own discretion.
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I wanted to translate the live workshops into a more impactful video-infused format that creates a more immersive and enjoyable experience. You can go at your own pace and start whenever you feel called to step into the journey inward. The essence of the courses is the same as the live workshop versions and still draws on aspects closest to my heart, from mythology, poetry, and the ancient Gaelic Celtic world, connecting to the body and the deeper symbolic, soul self.
I have added extra sections for deeper reflection, videos that share the myths in a visual format, and journal invitations to help you directly apply the work to your daily life.
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New A Journey Inward courses may be added in the future; please join the mailing list to be the first to be notified.
About
Eileen Ní Shuilleabháin
BSocSc, MSW, MA Psychotherapy, Dip Supervision, Dip Jungian Studies, Certified Coach (WCI)
I am a Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapist, Supervisor and Coach with over 20 years of experience. I am dual-located in the US and Ireland (In Northern Nevada and on the West Coast of Ireland, in Galway).
I grew up in Connemara, a wild and rugged landscape on the Atlantic coast of Ireland. Oscar Wilde famously said of the region, “Connemara is a savage beauty”. I grew up in a small, rural Gaelic (Irish) speaking community where Gaelic is still spoken today in people's homes. This area was a major centre for the work of the Irish Folklore Commission, recording endangered folklore, mythology, sean-nós (old-style) songs, and oral literature. I have been greatly influenced by the wild physical landscape and immersed in those ancient songs, stories, customs, myths, legends, and music since childhood.
I desire to share with you a sense of that culture and spirit and, as a Psychotherapist, to support how that connection can nourish and guide you on your personal development journey.
A Journey Inward Course Series
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Embodiment, Soul and the Celtic Spirit
Healing the Wounds of the Abandoning Self
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The Cailleach's Descent to the Underworld
Crossing the Dark Seas of Loss into Strange Country
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Resting Under Brigid’s Mantle
Cultivating Sanctuary and Self Compassion in Daily Life
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Awakening Bealtaine
Embracing Our Authentic Power
A Celebration of Granuaile -
Celebrating the Harvest at Lúnasa
Taking Your Seat at the Banquet of Life