Gráinne Mhaol is one of Ireland’s foremost heroines of 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 explore how to embrace our inner power, wisdom, and intuition and how to cultivate a relationship in support of ‘the inner marriage’ of the masculine and feminine within. We will explore the affirmative energy of the fierce warrior within, build a healthy relationship with anger and begin to assert healthy boundaries.

During the three-hour online gatherings, we deepen into the world of the senses – awakening a more grounded authentic connectedness to ourselves and bringing conscious awareness in our bodies to our presence in the world. We will open a space of supported reflection, attuning to our bodies in mindfulness meditation, embodiment practices, learning to listen to the wisdom that is held within. We will explore how the journey inward has been unfolding in our lives so far. It is an opportunity to share thoughts, ideas, inspirations, to feel supported by each other on this path of transformation. This gathering is designed as an opportunity to integrate learning arising from the workshops, and integrating it at a deeper level now in this exclusive forum.

We will call on the support of Brigid and her loving cloak, which she would expand and cover the length and breadth of Ireland in times of strife. We will explore how we can cultivate self-compassion and care in our lives and begin to nourish and shelter ourselves so we can feel our worthiness, just as we are. This workshop will explore regret, guilt, and stuckness. When we struggle with indecision and the blocks around embracing life and our life force, how can we mobilise our compassion and life force to meet our potential in the world?

Samhain marks the beginning of the darkest part of the year, the beginning of Winter. In the Celtic tradition, at Samhain, the Cailleach, the old hag or the wise crone of winter, leaves the mountains and begins her walk across the lands bringing the winter storms, snow and darkness with her. It is the time of the year where she makes her descent into the underworld to incubate the seeds of the new life. Darkness is associated with new beginnings. The potential of the seed below the ground. These are liminal threshold times in the changing seasons of our lives…

Many of us carry wounds from childhood. When we speak about trauma, what we mean is that the natural rhythm of our nervous system was in a state of overwhelm, and our innate survival mechanism (our limbic system) was activated in order to keep us safe. Where this becomes difficult in adulthood is when this survival mode becomes locked in the body as memory. This happens because the support just wasn’t there in childhood to process it. The survival pattern becomes deeply ingrained, keeping us stuck in anxiety and fear, and patterns of behavior that are not in support of our growth. This impacts how we engage with the world and how we remain disconnected from our authentic self….