Workshopalooza Part II

My students can breathe a sigh of relief: their Sabbat exams went very well. In fact, it took me longer to go over them because I couldn't believe how good they actually were! I, of course, take all the credit (and share it with my co-teacher Amanda).

On Wednesday, we will be visited by Meri and her workshop on Therapeutic Touch. There's a couple of sections we missed, so we need to go over those too in class. All of this will be leading up to the intensive 6 week part of the class dedicated to Deities of the World (which I'm tempted to call Deityapalooza). 24 deities in 6 weeks. Yikes!

Amanda and I are in discussion about the Writing workshop. It might be in two weeks or we might put it off for a few weeks (to get a break from the Deityapalooza). We'll let you know.

Amanda has also contacted her Herbalism specialist and it looks like we might get an herb walk this spring! This will probably be an optional class rather than a substitution. Would you be interested in this Herb Walk as an optional class?

Workshopalooza Part 1

Heartfelt thank-yous to my good friend Robyn for coming in (virtually last-minute) to give a fantabulous workshop on Reiki (check out Le Urban Retreat where she works). Unfortunately for me, I'm too heavily shielded to feel the benefits of Reiki, but my students did definitely feel the reiki energy pulse through them when Robyn did her demonstrations.

Then we did a grounding/centering just before the students did their Sabbat exams. I wasn't sure how I was going to do this guided meditiation, but as we sat down, I was inspired.

I had them visualize a pool of liquid light beneath their chairs. As they drew in a deep breath, the light would be drawn upwards through them, flowing through them and being held at their heads. When they released their breath, the liquid light would fall back down to the pool, dragging all the tension, stress, and other negative fluff out of them.

I'm very picky about guided meditations. The most popular one tends to be imagining that you are a tree and you need to visualize your feet becoming roots and your arms becoming branches.

Blech. I've never been a tree and it's unnatural for me to imagine any of that. In fact, my claustrophobia usually kicks in when my feet become roots, holding me fast to the ground. The terror that results usually pulls me right out of the meditative state that the leader is trying to build.

I try to stick to common experiences that people have. Walking in water, leaving a noisy place to walk to a quiet place, rubbing your hands along a cold stone, etc. Maybe I'm too literal, but I find I can ground and center with these images much easier than imagining that a beaver has started to nibble at my ankles.

Having an industrious beaver turn up in a meditation should tell you how irrevocably Canadian I am, eh?

Scheduling Conflicts

There's been a bit of a scheduling conflict with our presenters over the next few weeks (completely my fault). I'm trying to get my friend Robyn to come in tomorrow night to give a talk about Reiki, but I haven't heard back yet.

Don't forget that we'll be doing that exam on the Sabbats, so go over your notes in your workbooks (dates, symbols, crafts, foods, stories, etc.). If we don't get a speaker in this week, we've got another film to watch and I have a discussion in mind that leads well into the Deity classes we're about to get into (in 3 weeks).

Of course, being in class is an excellent time to catch up on homework... *hint*hint*

Reaching out across the water

If you look the Comments, this blog has been found by someone in Wales! I have no idea how she found me, but we're exchanging links for a Pagan Blogging Circle. Welcome Starfisher!

One of Starfisher's journals is quite topical for the upcoming part of the class on Deities from across the planet (24 deity structures in 6 weeks!). I invite you to check it out!

The Holy Cow

Sabbats... Get Cracking!

We watched a documentary called Pagans that covered the Pagan Sabbats of the year in more detail. The documentary's not bad, but it's still heavily Goddess-oriented. And the food the students brought in was fantastic! Scarlet brought apple cider (for Samhain) Valou brought a spicy carrot soup (for Mabon), Caroline had an orange-peach pie (for Litha), and Taiga had a fruit-stuffed cake (I forget which Sabbat she had). I brought a bran-raisin bread for Lammas.

Next week, Mrs. Young will be giving her talk on writing and we'll be doing the dreaded Sabbats exam. Get cracking!

And thanks for all the positive feedback on the course evaluations! We'll try to work more meditations, chanting, and ground/centering work into each class from now on.

Food and Films!

Don't forget that next class, we are bringing in our Sabbat foods for feasting. I'll be making my bread tonight!

I'll be bringing in my laptop so that we can watch the second film. Also, don't forget your exam redo's!

In two weeks, Ms. Ceri Young will be giving her lecture on Writing, so don't forget to bring your extra $5 for the guest lecturer.