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Dear Friends,
I have been preparing for this time of Imbolc for some time, and am grateful to the wonderful companions with whom I have shared some of this experience. It has been a joy to come into this precious season with you!
On Imbolc eve I made a fire to the Goddess Brigit, and sang prayers to her, hung clooties, and more. I have also been journeying every morning with an ardent intention of resetting my inner perspective at this important time of year.
This morning I did a journey in which Brigit appeared to me. I was brought through a form of healing that I feel is an adaptable key to truly reweaving a wholeness within myself, as well as coming to terms with the many forces that are active now in all the worlds. Different forms of this way of working have been a regular practice for me for many years. But today’s journey was so powerful, I wanted to share my experience with all who may be struggling with their own forms distress and an increasing awareness of the forces that are coming to bear in all the worlds.
When Brigit appeared to me, she took me into her own energy, and into her womb. In that warm and expansive space I found myself at the center, only a meager consciousness, a partial being, a deeply fractured soul. I found myself viewing my dismembered body, lying in carnage all around me, spilled blood and scattered limbs. Brigit held me there, in the gentle light of her womb, with unconditional love and acceptance. I felt her loving acknowledgement that the trauma that had led me to this place had begun well before my birth. It was as if there had never been a mother in my life. I had never been welcomed into the womb or into this life in any way. I was alone, and unformed. I was in agony.
In the warming comfort of Brigid’s womb I began to feel the love of a mother for what seemed like the first time in my life. As she held me in this way I began to feel the earliest feelings of what it was to be completely alone in the world, without acknowledgement of my existence or value, without true love and nurturance. As she held me so lovingly, more uncomfortable feelings started to come.
Each feeling had form, each a faceless body of sorts, with its own limited characteristics, but each with deeply uncomfortable feelings, each profoundly difficult to experience. My core self was present at the center. I was taken around this 360 degree circle, to each feeling, knowing that it was time for me to fully feel and embrace each of them. I became increasingly aware of my own deep fractures scattered around me like so much debris. I was also aware that each of these wounds was more than a personal well of trauma, but was also an actualization of some grave historical fracture that has deepened throughout the centuries in the world that we live in. These were in no way separate from my own consciousness. They were there for me to acknowledge and to learn to deal with. And Bridghid was illuminating a pathway on which to proceed.
As I was taken to each of these feelings individually, I found myself able to bring the unconditional love that Brigit had shown to me to each of these feelings individually, both the personal and the collective, welcoming them in, drawing them back into myself lovingly. Each was acknowledged, welcomed, and integrated into the core of my being. The experience was profound.
Within the safety of Brigid’s womb, I was taught to come to center there, and one by one, allow myself to feel each of the painful and distorted feelings that arose. I was shown how to embrace and nurture the source of these feelings, each as I would a helpless, suffering child, and bring each into the heart of the flame of love.
In the end I found myself so sweetly present at the center of my circle, a tiny pine comb burning with the sweetest flame, feeling the depth of true integration, and knowing that the goddess Brigit had given me a precious gift: a pathway to healing at the very deepest level, one that involves recognizing and integrating my own experience of the incredible fractures of our times.
I see that there is much yet for me to feel and embrace, but through the loving presence of Brigit and my willingness to do the hard inner work, a deeper level of healing has made itself known to me: one that I can carry into all of my relationships in all the worlds and actualize through the practice of right action.
Brigit told me that through the process of feeling all the feelings that come through me, and meeting each with the utmost tender loving kindness and nurturance, that she has made of me a small Brigit myself. She told me that she is a “Happy Mother”, always there to hold me and nurture me. On this second day of my own observance of Imbolc, I wanted to share this blessing with any who still may have suffering in all the worlds.
I was also shown that this way of working within ourselves is also a way of greeting the many forces in the world we live in, with the utmost kindness and generosity, offering these as best we can. Many of the forces we encounter in all the worlds at this time may bring extreme distress to the sensitive soul. Yet if we can meet the inner disturbance with the love that Brigit personifies, perhaps we can make inroads to truly tending the core within our own deepest Selves, and sharing the light of Her care with others who are also contending with the turbulent forces of these challenging times.
May Brigit’s flame illuminate our ways of seeing and being,
May her radiance guide us with grace into the deepest heart of all matters,
My her brilliance lighten our hearts as we go forward in all the worlds.
The love of Brigit above us.
The love of Brigit below us.
The love of Brigit around us.
The love of Brigit within us.
Bright Brigit light our way home.
The very brightest Imbolc blessings to you and yours!
Gail Gulick
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Shamanic Journey Circles
Wednesdays - 6:30 - 9pm in Asheville, NC
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What we're about
Now in the fifteenth year of holding weekly shamanic journey circles in the Asheville area, we are now offering virtual circles through Zoom every Wednesday evening.
Through shamanic journey circles, trainings, individual work, and community, we work together to refine our own internal compasses and nurture a strong sense of visceral alignment with the Self so that we may bring our own deepest natures to full fruition in all the worlds. We use shamanic practices to help cleanse belief system and conditioning that inhibit the expression of our fullest potential in our lives, and to align with the spirits of the natural world, to cultivate relationships that are respectful and nourishing to all living things.
As a group, we are dedicated to nurturing the authenticity, sovereignty of spirit, and innate wisdom inherent in all beings. We come together to explore and develop our own innate gifts and abilities, and to learn how we may further share these gifts to bring conscious and intentional discovery into the process of working with the pressing issues of our times.
The shamanic journey circle is a wonderful resource for practicing shamanic journey skills. In a circle. Individuals trained in the journey process come together to practice in a dedicated environment where one can strengthen their relationships with their Spirit Partners, access spiritual resources for personal healing, and build community with others who love to journey.
This circle uses shamanic drumming as the vehicle for journeying, as in the work of Core Shamanism, as taught by Michael Harner, or by Sandra Ingerman. Our approach is to honor the ability of the individual to find guidance and aid through accessing their own Compassionate Helping Spirits.
Suggested Donation: $10 - $25
Email Gail to RSVP and for Circle information:
info@dreamtimejourneys.net
Website: www.dreamtimejourneys.net
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 Gail Gulick brings to her deep work as an experienced shamanic teacher and healer, her lifelong experience with non-ordinary reality, and a joyful commitment to helping others lovingly embrace all aspects of their human nature. Gail is also a shamanic mask and rattle maker and graduate of Sandra Ingerman’s teacher training and Tom Cowan’s training in Celtic shamanism. She has also studied with Nan Moss, David Corbin, Sandra Harner, Betsy Bergstrom, and other gifted teachers of many realms. Gail lives with her family in Asheville, NC, where she has offered weekly shamanic journey circles and trainings locally since 2006. You can visit Gail's webpage at www.dreamtimejourneys.net |
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A Safe and Loving Home, by Gail Gulick
May we each work without tiring
to build a safe and loving home,
a sweet retreat so deep within us,
that no breach could ever come.
May we nurture space within us,
steeped in beauty, bathed in light,
warmed in comfort, jeweled in magic,
that our souls may know delight.
May we always take our comfort
May we always take our ease
where this hearth's blaze lives within us,
where our sufferings may find peace.
We are vast and we are varied,
this wide world of rainbowed souls.
Yet the hunger in each heart's call
Is the song that sings us home.
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