This has been a particularly challenging year to be alive on planet earth, with the genocide in Palestine, the war between Russia and Ukraine, soaring costs, job losses, increasing ecocide, pollution and a culture of fear, separation, division, as well as increasing gaps between the rich and poor. This has left many struggling with painful emotions, confusion, despair, powerlessness and exhaustion from overwhelming choices, sensory input and information overload that modern life throws at us.
All this means we really need to find ways to take better care of ourselves and meaningful ways to respond with love to it all.
This has been a big year for me personally too, as I was ordained as an Interfaith Minister, after two years of deep, reflective study and growth. This path seemed to flow seamlessly from the previous years of work as a Sound Healer, Shamanic practitioner, Yogini, Transpersonal Psychology researcher and Practitioner, creator of ceremony and holder of sacred space. I have spent the last two years not only training, but also growing increasingly connected to the Divine. Spirit has repeatedly whispered to me during the last few years with increasing frequency as I developed a prayer practice. Something I had never considered or understood before.
I have been working in the worlds of healing and spiritual growth since I was in my twenties. I am now in my 60th year – I celebrate my 60th birthday in just five months. I can hardly believe I will soon be getting my bus pass and yet I still feel so much a beginner at life. For example: It has taken most of this time for me to really understand the value and importance of self-care and self-love. The essential nature of surrendering to what is and relaxing fully into the present moment.
I have read about these things, practiced them even, for most of the last 35 years. But its only now, as I approach a new phase of life as a Reverend and an elder that I realise that I am finally truly living this way most of the time. This is due to my increasing ability to hear the voice of Spirit and to respond with love to what is.
So, I am expanding my work and my courses with new ways to help others deepen this connection and find their own ways to respond to what life throws at us with equanimity, love, surrender and peace. The work I am offering over the coming months will, I hope, be richer and more profound than anything I have shared before. Grounded as it is in a lifetime of experience and a connection both to Spirit, the earth and my own true path that has deepened and blossomed so much during my last two year’s training.
The sort of work I am offering is a self-care retreat “Celtic Soul” – a day long (with overnight option) event full of sacred sound, most of it in the Celtic tradition, including Welsh poetry (in English), and simple chants and invocations in Welsh. I will be partnering with my beloved friend Sally Davies, a gong healer, Naked Voice practitioner and Poetry Dive facilitator. This is a retreat to fill up your love tanks for the winter and to work with the spirit of autumn to release what needs to be let go of in the moment. We will be sharing beautiful food, dance, music, poetry, prayers and blessings that honour ourselves, the earth, all of life and the Divine.
This retreat is designed to NURTURE YOU, NOURISH YOU and help you find inner peace, harmony and balance. It will be held at Precious Wood, near Cardigan in West Wales in the yurt and in the woods. There is the option to stay over for stargazing and a fire (weather permitting).
As a result of my last two years, I also bring a greater depth of clarity, purpose and meaning to my Interfaith Shamanic Sound Healing course “Sounding the Medicine Wheel”, which begins again this autumn and runs through the darkest months. This course will bring you sacred sound-based tools, which will help you turn inwards during the quiet months, where introspection and integration are the natural order of things.
Earth based Shamanic practice is a human birth right – it doesn’t belong to any one culture. All peoples once used tools to connect to Holy Love, to the Great Mystery. We can use any tools that resonate with us to connect to the spirits of land, sea, sky, flora and fauna, wherever we find ourselves rooted. The Divine opens herself to us and whispers to all those who listen. She uses different voices all over the globe, but our hearts can become attuned to all the nuances of her many languages. On this course we share lots of them to enable you to create or refine your own path to healing and connection.
These tools will allow you to spend the winter deepening your connection to nature, to the One Great Spirit, to your own creativity and the authentic expression of your soul. They will help you heal and transform your emotional and mental patterns in whatever way you need for your own blossoming.
This course is LIVE on ZOOM twice a month from Samhain until Imbolc. I have had participants from Spain, Italy, North America and Canada, India and the Far East as well as the UK. It is a truly wonderful thing to share our deep experiences of this holistic spiritual journey with beautiful souls from around the world, and it really demonstrates the unity and commonalities we share across faiths, nations and cultures.
For more information about our beautiful “CELTIC SOUL” retreat or “Sounding the Medicine Wheel” course please EMAIL ME: hara@amazinglyfe.com
In the meantime, I leave you with this prayer that I wrote for the children of the earth, may it bless you and yours.
May you be blessed by the Divine Mother
May you be healthy and strong
Safe and well in a circle of beloved ones
May you live an authentic life
In alignment with your soul
A life of meaning and purpose
That serves both your joy and the healing of the earth
May you grow through your challenges
And return easily to equanimity
With an ever more open and loving heart
May you love and laugh freely, be at peace
And be a blessing to the world.
In love, beauty, gratitude and peace, Hara xxx
Healing journey for an autoimmune disorder