November, historically, is a time to remember our ancestors and to engage with any healing our relationship with them needs.
Families carry histories, traumas, cultural ideas; they carry stories of joys and fears, of what is correct and what is taboo. We are born into already created worlds and sometimes need to sift through the ancestral influences to come home more fully to ourselves.
Positive or negative, ancestral influences can impact our lives deeply.
They may give us a sense of belonging, of being held by a long line of people who walked this earth before us and thus increase our sense of self-worth here and now. In other words, they gift us with something enduring and healing.
Or, there may be injuries and hurts, in the family lineage, that have not been healed, and that still impacts who we are. The need to heal the apparently ‘negative’ impact from ancestral injuries can be a gift from our ancestors. Through working with and through these events we can gather our power. By fully ‘digesting’ whatever we have been born into, by healing it so that it doesn’t pass on to others, we can become more completely ourselves, no longer caught by unresolved ancestral or cultural energies and supported by our family line.
In this circle, we will journey to whatever ancestral or cultural event is most in need of our attention and is ready to heal.
This presentation will be given during Imagery International’s 2024 Conference: Birthing a New World through Imagery. Visit ImageryInternational.org for information
A Journey to the Celtic Otherworld epitomizes the birthing of new realities and new worlds through imagery. Otherworld Explorers encounter realms of richness and abundance and return transformed with gifts that facilitate self and cultural renewal, allowing their (re)birth, return, re-emerging into a new
existence.
This workshop delves into the rich mythologies of the Celtic Otherworld, where journeys to realms of renewal and transformation are central. Celtic lore features diverse Otherworlds accessible to humans, often depicted as paradises abounding with music, feasting, and eternal youth. Participants will explore entrances to these realms, focusing on the transformative gifts obtained from such journeys.
In tune with the theme of birthing a new world, participants will have the chance to identify what needs (re)birthing and renewal in themselves. They will have the opportunity to uncover their personal symbolism of psychopomps, gateways, and transformative gifts inherent in these experiences. Through guided visualization, participants will embark on an inner journey to retrieve gifts crucial to their current and future needs. The workshop intertwines Celtic narratives with personal exploration, offering insights into the timeless themes of (re)birth, regeneration, and the quest for wholeness inherent in the Celtic Otherworld tradition.
