Chant for Samhain
A year of beauty. A year of plenty. A year of planting. A year of harvest.
A year of forests. A year of healing. A year of vision. A year of passion.
A year of rebirth. A year of rebirth. This year may we renew the earth.
Let it begin with each step we take. Let it begin with each change we make.
Let it begin with each chain we break. And let it begin every time we awake.
(All Saints)
Why Celebrate the Celtic New Year?
The ancients of this land were experts at knowing how to work with nature to ensure healing and happiness. They knew that time is cyclical and that the point is to engage with the flow of the seasons and the changes of the moon with the aim of bringing through life’s best dance. They knew that everything has its season and that light and darkness inspire an alchemical process of bringing ideas into form. They worked intuitively with the elements, allying with the forces of air, fire, water and earth to energise projects and guide the way of things. They didn’t believe in separation. They lived with their senses alive and a reverence for all things seen and unseen. Their lives would have been a colourful and ecstatic experience of feeling in tune with the natural worlds and their fellow companions on the path. Their lives would have been an empowered and heartfelt experience of trusting in the process and enjoying the wonder that co-creation brings.
As today’s guardians of this land we know we feel this too. We have the same senses, seasons, moon cycles and elements to accompany us on our path. We have the same need for community, love and inter-connectedness. And in this time of changes and a maybe urgently felt urge to unite with the call of the earth and incite healing, we have the energy moving us in a positive direction to learn again how to ally with what the ancients knew and bring ourselves and the planet, quite literally ‘back to our senses’ and into our contentment.
The Celts knew that all of the moon cycles and seasons each held a special focus for working with the flow. They cherished the different parts of the year and celebrated the festivals which were marked by full and new moons with equal relish. They didn’t cling onto the past or long for the future because they lived in the present and knew how to harness the power and magic of being in tune with the spirit of the time. However, they knew that the time of the Samhain full moon, which we now mark as the Halloween festival on 31 October was probably the most powerful festival of them all. Applying ones listening self to the Samhain ceremonies, being ready to admit and let go of the residue of the past and aligning with the wishes and dreams which were longing to be born would powerfully and reliably shape and direct the course of action for the whole year ahead. This is the potential of the Celtic New Year.
Are you ready to ally with your true self, give permission to the wishes that you can feel bubbling inside you, release the burdens of the past and make an appointment to direct your vision for the year ahead? Are you already working with this process and would really love to be a part of a celebration with other people to energise your projects and feel the joy of connection with a beautiful community of like-minded souls?
If the answer to any of these is yes, then you may want to book a place on the little red drum’s Celtic New Year celebrations workshop and/or firewalk this year!
Details and booking info below… Wishing you a powerful and wondrous Celtic New Year, however you celebrate!
The Celtic New Year Celebrations
Workshop
Saturday 30 October 2010 10.00 am – 5.00pm
Fire walk
Sunday 31 October 5.30 – 10.30 pm
Workshop 10.00 -5.00 on Saturday 30th October at Synergy Centre, Glenrothes:
Come and let go, shake out, move on! All the bits that no longer serve you, bring them along for the biggest clearing out party of the year at Synergy. Now is the time for it. Traditionally, the time of year when the veil is at its thinnest and the ancestors are at their closest there is the potential for so much healing and exchange of worldly confusion for spiritual truths.
We will explore how the Celts would have celebrated this time of year and tune into the Season and what it teaches us. I will introduce some Shamanic rituals to honour the ancestors and see the blessings in all that is behind us. We will use the technique of Shamanic journeying to do some happy cleaning work so that we can step out into the New cycle sparkling and clear, fertile ground for the visioning of the New dream – which we will give space to tune into too!
Then there’ll be a day on the Sunday for you to do your own thing: reflect, walk in nature, take your time to integrate before….
Fire Walk on Sunday 31 October 5.00 – 10.00 at Kilgour House, Falkland, an amazing ancient site with powerful hills around it where the Celts will have celebrated many many times before I am sure!!
When we choose to walk on fire, we choose to say Yes! instead of No.
Choosing to take a step to walk on hot coals instead of the temperate surface of the earth illuminates just what a big deal the step from no to yes can be. We can appreciate the psychic hold of our present limited belief system in the nervous anticipation of the real life step onto the path of passionate connection with the fire element! Firewalking shows us that miracles are possible. It is our fear that holds us back. It is our fear that keeps us in this restricted frame of who we believe ourselves to be.
When we find ourselves drawn to fire walking we are approaching our initiation with the fire-element. We reach out to a life directed by our passion and creativity and cleansed of fear and sabotaging beliefs.
We join a group of other like-minded souls in a tender workshop. We appreciate what brought us to this point and evidently no longer serves us, we give ourselves permission to release those ways and now identify what truly makes us feel alive. Whether we choose to step across the coals tonight or be simply nourished by being a part of this beautiful ceremony, the results are touching and deeply transformational.
Booking Details
Special Price for workshop and firewalk package: £70
Workshop: £50
Fire walk: £50
Fire walk dual walker booking: £40 each
Send your booking details with name and contact details to carolday@thelittlereddrum.com
After confirmation that there are still places, I will reply asking you to send a deposit for £20 for the package or £10 for the workshop or fire walk and will give details on address for postage and directions to venues. Or you can visit www.thelittlereddrum.com and pay deposit or full by paypal. Details are on program page.
