An Invitation 

A year-and-a-day long exploration of what it means to live soulfully and magically in an Animate World. On this online, introductory level course, we’ll journey together around the sun, for 366 dawns and dusks and thirteen moons, delving into the old knowing of our lands, reconnecting with our wild and intuitive nature and embracing the unseen things that make our souls sing.

Over twelve monthly meets, held by Angharad and a wonderful gathering of guests, practitioners and tradition bearers, we will be grounding ourselves in magical thinking and ways of living soulfully in modern times.

Through practices of: deep listening and connecting to intuition; creating simple ceremony; maintaining balance; aligning with tides and rhythms; dreaming / journeying; divination; ancestor connection; rites of passage; connecting with the mythic landscape and creating sacred space; we’ll explore our deep, connected humanity and our place within the web of life.

Along the way you can expect to experience, ceremony, lots of practical skills to embed in your lives, vigil and a sharing of wisdom drawn from lore found in ancient texts, poetry, stories and song. We will be meeting together in circle (online), on a regular basis, to share insights, learnings and dreams.

This is an introductory level course, so no previous experience is required, just a yearning to delve deeper into soulful connection with all life and living magically.

 Online Course Structure & Fees Structure:

12 monthly meetings with Angharad and a very special guest to cover the topics below, with discussion time and setting of practical taks for the coming month.

Time: 7pm-9.00pm (UK time) Dates: 19 September, 17 October, 14 November, 12 December, 16 January, 13 February, 12 March, 9 April, 7 May, 4 June, 2 July, 6 August

12 monthly sharing circles to share insights, responses and questions (usually about a fortnight following each monthly meeting). You will also have continuous access to the discussion platform on Animate Earth to share and discuss your thoughts, ideas and resources, creating for yourselves an animate-loving community through the arc of the year and beyond.

Time: 7pm – 8.30pm (UK time) Dates: 3 October, 7 November, 28 November, 2 January, 30 January, 27 February, 26 March, 23 April, 21 May, 18, June, 16 July, 19 September

Fees:

Online  Programme £685

We are able to offer a limited number of bursaries at £445 to make this online programme accessible for as many people as possible. To apply for a bursary please fill in the application form.

We have an early bird price for this online  programme at £625 if you book by 1st April 2023.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROGRAMME & CONTENT (it may be subject to a little change)

Topic 1: A new, old way of knowing – September Information versus instinct; logos versus mythos. We’ll examine the history of how we know things, and how different kinds of ‘knowing’ have been valued throughout history. We’ll explore different traditional ways of ‘knowing’, from gut instinct to divination and portends and begin to intuit a framework of meaning through which we can dialogue with all life.

Topic 2: You are made from the love of millions – October An exploration of our relationship with death and renewal. Seasonality, cycles of life, grief, letting go, renewal. Working towards a relationship with some of our ancestors as we approach Sawain, Calan Gaeaf, Halloween: the time of ancestors.

Topic 3: Lore – November Drawing from stories, ancient texts, folk-wisdom and song, an exploration of what our ancestors knew about living in harmony with each other and the natural and unseen world, which our modern world may have overlooked. A discussion of what it might mean to re-invigorate some of these wise principles of living well in our lives today.

Topic 4: Gathering and sharing wisdom at the fireside – December A firelight or candlelight midwinter gathering filled with stories, poetry and songs that have inspired us along our journey so far. The value of living with the seasons, the importance of nourishing each other and community during the darkest point of the year.

Topic 5: What’s in a dream? – January Mythic Imagination and the collective unconscious. Different perspectives. Dreaming awake, opening ourselves to further connection and working with guides.

Topic 6: Our magical selves within a mythic landscape – February We are bound to land – though we may have lost connection. Connecting deeply with place, holding it as sacred, being in relationship to the natural world is fundamental to human wellbeing. Orienting ourselves with the directions, elements archetypes and features in our local landscapes, we’ll begin to weave our way deeper into magical connection with it.

Topic 7: Magic of the everyday: small ceremonies and rituals. Why they are important – March Why the small ceremonies and rituals of our day are potent. How they shape our interaction with the world and each other. In this session we’ll explore ways to create a practice of small rituals, and moments to help us distill the magic of every day and sustain soulful connection.

Topic 8: Hollow bone – April Learning to listen deeply. We’ll return to earlier work with our intuition and examine some relevant theories and philosophies. We’ll begin to refine a ‘divinatory’ or symbolic framework with which we can understand moments of synchronicity, magic and connection.

Topic 9: Tides and times – May The flow of dawn to dusk, full to new moon, season to season. Placing ourselves within the tides, synchronising, allowing them to move us, feeling the ebb and flow.

Topic 10: Places of reverence, things of magic. Altars, shrines, talismans and tools – June Why create them and how to do it. An exploration of working with an altar or shrine and how to make magical talismans and tools.

Topic 11: The journey of life and rites of passage – July Where are we in the tide of life, at what life phase? An exploration of the archetypes of each phase. An examination of magical understanding of the initiatory process of life as mapped in the Tarot and other systems.

Topic 12: Honouring this moment – August We draw the thread of the year circle to a close together by co-creating a ceremony to mark an ending and beginning, a rite of passage that celebrates who we are, where we’ve been and the becoming we sense ahead. We’ll delve into guidance and intuition, and find ways of committing ourselves to what comes next, magically.

(The final sharing circle will fall a month later in mid September 2024)