Enter the Otherworld
Weekend Immersion:
Aug 5th-7th 2022
Gambier Island, BC
<|> Nature Connection <|>
<|> Soul Tending <|>
<|> Ancestral Wisdom <|>
Healing
NOW FULL! Please email sacredearthgrove.com to join the waitlist!
An immersive weekend program to explore the ancient cosmologies of the British Isles and how they can inform us today, from the perspective of the diaspora.
Our focus is three-fold:
1. We explore ancient British & Irish animist practice, through languages, lore, cosmology, and historical finds from 13,000 years ago until today (with a focus on the Insular Celtic cultures).
2. We navigate how to integrate fragmented history into relevant and meaningful earth, soul, and ancestor-tending ritual practices in our lives today.
3. We engage with the unique perspective of learning these traditions while living on distant lands.
"The Otherworld is a core concept that allows us to experience and understand the animist knowledge and practices of the ancient British Isles"
Elements of our Practice:
Insular Celtic Cosmology
Teachings from a study of British and Irish histories and cultural worldviews, with an emphasis on accurate sources and thorough research.
We take a look at the entire British Isles, understanding that while the nations existing today are individual and distinct, it can be incredibly helpful to look at each of these nations to get a fuller picture of our area of study.
We start with the understanding that these cultures are still living and thriving today, and that there is no static snapshot of Celticity.
Personal Intuitive Growth
Intuitive skill development and safe ritual practice to ground
your unique path of learning
into an embodied connection
to culture.
We look at how modern knowledge of plant/tree intelligence, heart awareness, trance visioning, and other
areas of nature connection
and intuitive knowing can be
informed by what the
ancients knew.
Cultural Repair Work
We explore how we can come into relationship with ancestral identity as the diaspora, and how this restoration can be a source of healing in today's world.
We also navigate the complexities of relating to living Celtic cultures when we are far removed.
We walk with the question of how to rebuild ancestral connection while on another land.
We navigate how to respectfully practice these traditions on Indigenous land.
You don't need to do what your ancestors did, but seek what they sought
Program Outline
Orientation
Friday Evening
We begin with an orientation to the field, exploring relevant concepts, and situating ourselves in the work and addressing cultural migration across time.
We learn about understanding these cultures as living, what it means to be the diaspora, and how these influence our practice. Thoughts on reliable source material, separating fact from fiction, and the role of unverified personal gnosis (UPG) are all considered.
The class also contains a brief overview of the history and geography of the Isles and key cultural concepts that guide us into connection, helping to break down the oftentimes overwhelming amount of information.
Embodied practice includes establishing safe ritual processes and supports in the Otherworld.
Inspiration
Saturday Morning
We look at the cultural idea of the Otherworld, related inhabitants, and how it can be accessed for creativity, poetry and music, inspiration, and wisdom. We discuss localized faery lore and their potential origins.
Nature connection and animism are also core areas of this section, as we learn how our direct perception of the consciousness of nature is a way to access the Otherworld.
Our embodied practice includes intuitive nature communication through heart intelligence for guidance and relationship.
Ritual & sacrifice
Saturday Afternoon
We explore foundational cosmology of working with energy for healing, omens, and protection. We engage with the Nemeton as ritual space, and with the idea of sacrifice as reciprocity and gratitude in animist cosmology.
We also meet Brighid, a vital presence in our field.
We connect with fire and water as important elements.
Embodied practice includes energy work with ourselves, nature, and the elements.
Ancestors
Saturday Evening
We explore the evidence for ancestral reverence practice in the British Isles, and the ideas of death and reincarnation in Insular Celtic cultures. We continue our study of intuitive perception in relationship with ancestors and spirits.
We also learn about the Cailleach through the creation story of Scotland.
Embodied practice involves connecting to ancestors and building our own ancestral tending relationships.
Sacred Tree
Sunday Morning
Exploration of the importance and symbolism of trees in Gaelic culture. We look at the World Tree, the Fortingall Yew, the Ogham (and why this is not a "tree alphabet"!), and explore personal connections to trees. We learn how tree symbolism and knowledge holds many keys to understanding the cultures.
We take deeper dives into animism as seen throughout the relationship between land and culture in the Isles across different periods of time.
Embodied practice includes learning from trees and beginning a relationship with the Ogham.
Soul-Tending
Sunday Afternoon
We focus on our personal power, gifts, abilities, and path in this work. We get clear about who we are in relation to the material, and how our future practice can integrate these ways.
Embodied practice involves intuitive connection to purpose and gifts, and animals.
ONLINE GUEST SPEAKER:
ASHA FROST
I am absolutely honoured to introduce Asha Frost, Indigenous (Ojibwe) Medicine person, mentor, space holder, and seer as our guest speaker for this program.
Through an online gathering of around 1.5 hours, Asha will guide us through a transformative experience and hold space as we navigate the complexities of respectful practice on Indigenous land.
I warmly invite you to attend this online gathering to complete our weekend gathering.
Online, August 10th, 1 pm EST/10 am PST
Recording available
Learn more about Asha's incredible work here,
The following pieces are also interwoven throughout the program:
- Seasonal festivals and customs across time
- Some language (Scottish Gaelic, Irish + Welsh)
- Personal gifts and insights into the self
- Animism
- Music, poetry, and stories
- Geography and sense of place
- Historic finds, archaeological evidence, and interpretation of history
- How living on Indigenous land influences our practice
Reliable resources will be offered for students to follow-up on specific areas of interest.
Note: My particular area of knowledge is Gaelic Scottish and what is now England.
It is my hope that this program helps to break down the complexity and provide some clear starting points for developing a spiritual practice grounded in the evidence for animist thought and practice in ancient Britain & Ireland, that I can show you how to find accurate source material and develop safe practices, and also integrate the added complexities of being the diaspora.
Ultimately, we are collectively helping each other to find our way in adapting ancient fragments of cultures into our current cosmology and spiritual practice.
This weekend includes:
A 2-night stay at a beautiful retreat property on Gambier Island, BC.
We start on Friday evening, and finish on Sunday afternoon.
Accommodation:
Beds are available for all, and camping is an option, but you will need to bring your own bedding/sleeping bag and pillow.
A fully functioning kitchen and washrooms are available, but you will need to bring your own food for the weekend.
Travel:
To get to Gambier, you need to take a ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale, Sunshine Coast.
From here, there is a small foot passenger boat that leaves from Langdale ferry terminal and takes you to Gambier.
I will send more detailed directions via email by early July.
Program Schedule (rough breakdown):
- We will have our first circle on Friday evening.
- We will be in circle and ceremony from 9 am - 9 pm on Saturday, with several breaks, lunch, and supper factored in (and this will fluctuate according to group needs).
- We meet from 9 am - 3 pm on Sunday, with breaks and lunch.
Investment:
$357, $50 deposit to hold your spot
NOTE: there is very limited space for this program, so please book your spot now to ensure you don't miss out!
*BIPOC Offering in acknowledgment of intergenerational trauma and systemic inequalities: $250
Payment Plans are also available - let's talk!
NOW FULL! Please email sacredearthgrove.com@gmail.com to join the waitlist.
Meet Robyn
Creator and Instructor at Sacred Earth Grove
How did I come to create this program? Well, in 2005, I emigrated from East Anglia, England, where I had been born and raised for the first 20 years of my life. From here, I moved to the west coast of Canada and have been living in Canada for the past 15 years. Spiritual seeking has been a core part of my life and growth since a young age, and although it has taken a lot of twists and turns, I have consistently made a practice of tracking the meaning of my life experiences.
Several years ago, after many years of dabbling, I began to make a serious study of the Insular Celtic traditions of my Scottish Gaelic ancestors, and the ancient cultures of Britain and Ireland in general (this spans approx. 13,000 years, so it’s no small endeavour - the more I know, the more I realise I don’t know). Ancestral connection was profoundly potent in deepening my practice, and it took my spirituality to greater depths than I could have previously imagined.
This study and practice was also steeped in grief for my homelands. Growing up, I spent a lot of time in the NW highlands of Scotland which is where much of dad’s family is from. I have a strong personal and family connection to this part of the world. Then, after having my three daughters, the importance of knowing where we come from became even stronger. Learning my traditions has helped me navigate the grief of losing them and deepen my relationship to where I come from.
More recently, I started to realise that I was not alone in this longing. Through my early classes on spirituality here in Ontario, I noticed that people are absolutely craving connection to their ancestral wisdom traditions and heritage, and yet, they don’t know where to look to find it - furthermore, so much of learning starts out as unlearning, because the old Celtic traditions have been mixed with so much misinformation and fantasy over the past few centuries.
Even though I am far from an expert, I have still enough years of study and practice under my belt to be able to offer a coherent framework for learning traditions as a diaspora, and a solid approach for adapting ancient knowledge into ritual practice for today's world.
Having had the perspective of both growing up on my ancestral lands, and then moving far away, has illuminated for me that relearning cultural traditions looks very different depending on where you are. Practising my traditions on my homelands is a very, very different thing than it is practising them here, on traditional Indigenous lands in what is now Canada. The two require a different approach, and it’s very easy for people in North America to feel disconnected and lost when it comes to connecting to European cultures.
And this is really what this program addresses: how to learn ancestral traditions when we are not on our ancestral homelands. I hope it answers some of the many questions I had when I started this journey, and brings you a sense of homecoming.
Client Love
Mheyah B.
“Robyn is a powerful eloquent & knowledgable speaker. She led us through a magical & transformative experience with integrity & grace. I felt so safe during this guided process and it was a truly meaningful experience. Thank you Robyn”
Teresa W
Robyn is very knowledgeable and provides very detailed information, to assist me on my spiritual journey. Everytime I notice she has a workshop I just have to attend. I appreciate all that Robyn does, very highly recommended
Wendy M
Robyn creates a warm, welcoming space for personal discovery and healing. Her offerings have brought me new insights and opened new ways for me to learn and grow. Robyn is a generous, humble teacher with incredible integrity. I wholeheartedly recommend saying yes to any opportunity to work with her!
Kaitlin A
I am so grateful I found you as a teacher and healer
Teresa W
Robyn is very knowledgeable and provides very detailed information, to assist me on my spiritual journey. Everytime I notice she has a workshop I just have to attend. I appreciate all that Robyn does, very highly recommended
Vanessa F
Since the first night I met you, you gave me that clarity of my own path. You lead me to my metaphorical “home” so thank you!