explore myth and story, meditation and simple ritual, practical and natural crafts

Sue and Sam's vision is of an ongoing cycle of groups where women can discover and share with each other this kind of soulful, wood sisterly wisdom and support. We draw upon fifteen years previous experience of co-ordinating the ‘Celtic Circle’ in which women gather regularly around the seasonal cycle of the eightfold year for morning meetings based on meditation, sharing and sacred time in nature. In Wood Sisters we imagined a series of longer one day workshops in which women come together to explore myth and story… meditation, medicine walks and simple ceremony… practical and natural crafts… and to share reflections, experience and delicious food! Our aim is to balance spiritual, creative and practical ways of approaching Mystery and to enable a down to earth approach to integrating inner learning into everyday life in a way that is of benefit to all.

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Unlike the civil life or philosophical systems of the time, which used practical and intellectual approaches to understanding how to live, the Mystery Schools focussed on mystical truths expressed through mythical stories and used ritual and spiritual practices to enable participants to open to direct inner experience. Classical Mystery Schools probably drew upon the mystical explorations of earlier cultures and in their turn fed future spiritual traditions.

Rangoli Circle We see a modern mystery school not as a system or organisation but as simply a group of companions who are committed to spiritual awakening and want to come together over time for deep soul work. Unlike some traditional ways, we take an open approach to ‘truth’, which for us has one source but many forms.

We also take an open, transparent approach to learning and power structures. We have no hierarchy but meet in a circle as equals and emphasise collaborative ways of working. While there are certain roles, they are ones of facilitation and enabling, not of personal performance or exercising power or control over others. Our aim is that anyone who wants to learn about and exercise these roles will be able to, or will be encouraged in finding their own unique expression of empowerment and soul purpose.

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Wood Sisters groups don't focus on the teachings or ‘expertise’ of one person. Instead we focus on our collective wisdom about Mystery through focussing on the current celtic festival and the simple, seasonal cycles of the year. Going round the circle, we ‘stir the wisdom pot’ together, as each women has the chance (if they want it) to share their own thoughts, feelings and experience of what that festival means to them, to share their reflections on what is happening in the natural, outer world and in their own nature, or inner world. We find this a much richer feast for heart and mind than one person could cook up alone and that each group has a unique blend of wise, witty, wild and wonderful women!

Seasonal crafts: Mask making at the Autumn Equinox
From 10.45 we'll be moving into our main mythic storytelling session for the day. In this session, on Slow Cook Course days, we focus on a deep myth of soul transformation in the Western Mystery Tradition that features women, such as Inanna, Isis, Ceridwen or Persephone. On Other Wisdom days our stories also feature women, from a variety of faiths and cultures. (More details of our current myth cycle can be found on our ‘events’ page). Storytelling is followed by time to discuss together the themes that have touched us. These mythic motifs are then explored further from about 12 Noon, through a guided meditation, which includes a period of silence. Still meditation is followed by time for personal journalling and/or sacred time in nature. After this quiet hour we come together at 1pm with another cuppa and to ‘stir the wisdom pot’ again as we share insights and responses to myth, meditation and outer and inner nature.

Between 1.30-2.30 pm we prepare together, enjoy and clear up our bring and share feast. These feasts usually include a delicious mix of contributions from home made seasonal delights such as nettle soup or equinox buns (half dark chocolate and half light vanilla!) to simpler but equally appreciated bars of chocolate!

In that sleepy after lunch hour we raise our energy and spirits by getting crafty with natural materials, with anything from simple candle making to creating Bridie dolls (with the option for some quiet, digestion time for those who prefer this). Often this time includes gathering natural materials from the garden and starting to decorate our ceremonial space for later. After another cuppa, from about 3.30pm, we gather for the final quarter of the day, which sometimes includes a second, shorter story and always focusses around a simple ceremony. This could be anything from offering prayers and tokens into a wishing well or floating candles on the river, to celebrating a harvest home or simple communion. This sacred time includes space for each woman who wishes to share something of her own creativity, whether it be a prayerful silence, a song or poem or whatever! From 5 - 5.30pm we are heading home feeling inspired and nourished by our sacred time together to re-engage with our families, work and everyday life…

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In the first year of the Slow Cook Course, each of four one day workshops is close to the solar festivals of the Winter and Summer Solstices and the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes. Over these four one day workshops we make a mythic, herstory Mystery tour through Sumerian, Egyptian, Hebrew and Greek mythic stories and spirituality…

Sue and the Cauldron!
In the second year, each of the four days is close to the Celtic ‘cross quarter’ festivals of Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasadh and for these days we focus on myth and magic from the Celtic and Arthurian traditions. All myth, story and meditative work focusses primarily upon female characters and motifs. While we fully respect the more masculine mythic traditions that focus on male heroes, who often have hunting or battle based stories, we feel this needs to be balanced by having sacred time and space in which to focus more fully on woman centred ways, which have a history of being silenced or ignored.

The Slow Cook course has been created for women who wish to explore their Mysteries more deeply and as such, each of the eight days over two years is designed to build upon the last, so we recommend that you aim to commit to the full course. Optional, individual soul friendship sessions are also available, on a donation basis, to women working through the Slow Cook Course. We recognise that life sometimes has its own unplanned way of teaching us! So we also welcome any woman to come along or re-visit any of these days.

In between the Slow Cook Course days are four days each year for open exploration of Other Wisdom. Each of these days has it's own theme and focus within the overall seasonal pattern and in these days we offer a changing menu of stories, meditation and crafts to tempt both new and familiar faces!

Please do have a look at our courses page to see all the workshops set out on the sacred circle and for more details of the content of individual days…

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