LIKE WILDFLOWERS YOU MUST ALLOW YOURSELF TO GROW IN ALL THE PLACES PEOPLE THOUGHT YOU NEVER WOULD…
 

These heARTbeat retreats are for the seeker; those courageous enough to dive deep and journey the delicate underbelly of BEing. Steeped in wild earth based ancestral tradition, over the course of the weekend you will ceremoniously birth your own healing colleague, a traditional style Medicine Drum and Sounder.

 

Focus is on the Irish Celtic traditions, lore related to these ancient earth festivals (within the Celtic Wheel of the Year), the seasonal elements, directions, and archetypes, and the wild native medicinal plants and trees that relate with these festivals. 

​

Over the course of the weekend each participant will birth their very own personal Drum and Sounder. We work with local sustainably sourced Birch for the drum hoops (Celtic tree of new beginnings and overcoming difficulties), and ethically sourced Reindeer rawhide which we receive directly from the Sámi peoples of North Finland (northern Earth Element ancestral medicine). We work with my own handcrafted wild botanical colours, eco dyeing methods, wild native medicine bundles, and a wide selection of hand gathered botanically dyed raw sheep's wool for your felted Sounder.

​

These are not merely weekends to birth your drum and sounder colleague though, each of these weekends is a dedicated time to birth yourself fully into BEing. Given the nature and energy of the seasonal element, the Celtic festivals, and moon phases over these weekends, it's important that participants are aware that these gatherings are full sensory initiatory experiences that will demand deep introspective 'work' on your part. This demand, in whatever shape and form it comes in, will be your unique invitation to 'step up' and empower yourself through the natural forces of (non human) nature. Should you choose to embrace it or not is entirely up to you and where you are at in your journey. Some are consciously aware of this immediately, others become aware of it as they evolve together with their drum colleague.

​

​

A special note on the Summer Solstice Bear & Oak Ceremonial Drum Birthing Weekend

​

​Our Summer Solstice drum birthing weekend is a gathering I'm greatly looking forward to, and is sure to be a deeply transformative pathfinder weekend.

This June Solstice weekend is a special once off opportunity to work with the foot bones of Brown Bear to support us in walking our true path so that we may embody it fully, and with compassion, grace, and integrity. We will work the Celtic tree of the Summer Solstice, the Oak, for rooting, strength, courage, determination and resilience.

 

As this is a Summer/Fire Element gathering and the season of the Parent Archetype, we will draw on Oak and Bear for clarity in the ways that we have been abandoning ourselves (through over parenting others and prioritizing their needs over our own), and the ways can better parent ourselves through the non egoic tending to our own Soul needs. We will explore signs, divine timing, the natural cycles, and pace. The myths, legends and folklore of Bear, Oak, and the Celtic Bear goddess Artio, will inform our focus, and over the weekend we will make a pilgrimage to an ancient cave bear den in the high Alps as a walking ritual of re-dedication and renewal. As a parting gift, each participant will receive a bone and small piece of bear fur to adorn their Drum and Sounder, and bone black pigment made from the charred bones of bear from which a natural paint can be made to decorate your drum or journal with.

​

​

A special note on the Lúnasa RED DRUM Ceremonial Drum Birthing Weekend for Women

​​

The RED DRUM retreat weekend is specifically created as a safe female only space for those currently navigating themes such as ancestral healing, bloodline lineage, intergenerational trauma, healthy boundaries, thorn medicine, womb health, the 'Smother wound', patriarchial matriarchs, the path of wild rose plant medicine, the heART of peaceful resistance, and war energy within the Celtic context of The Mórrigan and Raven Medicine. On this special occasion we will each birth our own Red Rose & Red Ochre Ritual Drum and Sounder.

​

As it is the season of water and the enchantress archetype, throughout our weekend together we will reflect upon inner rhythms of embodying fluidity, flow, renewal, and release...for equilibrium, solace and inner peace. As it is the first month in the lunar half of the year, we will also explore cyclical BEing and the dark side of feminine consciousness.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

​

The dye that I develop exclusively for this gathering is made from Red Rose petals and hand dug Red Ochre that I gathered in Ireland. You will receive seashells filled with natural paint made with Birch tree pigment (new beginnings, overcoming difficulties), Oak tree pigment (strength, endurance, courage), and charred Willow pigment (emotional wellBEing, lunar BEing, dreams, intuition) to take home with you and decorate your drum once it is fully dried, as well as a bone black pigment co-created with Raven bones and charred wild Mugwort (vision, protection, cleansing, lunar journeying).