Grandmother Elspeth: Classes

Grandmother Turtle's Wisdom Stories
1 to 2 hours
Elspeth tells stories that come from her heart as well as traditional myths and "found" stories. The voice sends more to the heart than the ear can know. For the inner child in everyone!

"A Bundle Of Sticks And Some Soup"

1 to 1.5 hours
For thousands of years humans have used storytelling to carry messages, to teach lessons, and to change minds. We use words to convey more than the obvious. A story can be both entertaining and instructive.

We are living in a very special time - a time of great opportunities cleverly disguised as insoluble problems. We cannot continue to block out the fear and anger around us, the changing needs of the world and of our own species. The things that worked before don't work anymore. Our approach to these opportunities must be from a new way of perceiving.

We can approach these opportunities with stories, old and new... with a conscious effort to be open to whatever may give us a new perspective, even if it's really off the wall. We're an adaptable kind of creature. Stories may hold the key to our next step.

Visualization, Guided Meditation, Journeywork
1 hour
These are all useful methods of dealing with the unconscious. While they have many commonalities, they work at different levels, and for different purposes.

This session will incorporate some definitions and examples of each including excerpts from my recent CD "Out of the Forest".

Retroactive Rites of Passage
1 to 1.5 hour
Most of us missed our puberty rites. Many of us have passed other landmark occasions without fully honoring them- deaths, births, divorces, first job/house/ car, gains and losses in life. Is it too late to heal the past? Let's talk about possibilities. Bring paper and pencil.

Personal Rites of Passage
Designed for a group-festival- event, to be offered a season after the class discussion above
For those who feel the need to ritualize a life passage, present or past. Anyone planning to undergo this ritual must be on site the evening before to choose a sponsor. A council of Elders will meet to consider the candidates the next morning. Preparations will be made during the day, and the Questioning, Ordeal, and Rite will be held during the night. Days are adjusted according to festival length.

Storytelling as History, Teaching, and Healing

1 hour
Throughout human existence, information has been carried in the memories of the people. Part of understanding illness, for instance, is seeing it as part of myth and story. All of us, especially the children, learn from stories. As we build community once again, we need to revive these skills. (Can be a 2-part class)

Be Responsible for your Mouth
1 hour
Words are magik - powerful magik. And we speak them freely. What are your words doing as they pass from your mouth to someone's ears? This lecture/class will consider some of the uses (and misuses) of the power of speech.

Dark Lady, Grandmother, & Crone
2 hours - Requires a secluded quiet place
A consciousness-raising look at this most mysterious - and most feared- face of the Goddess, and of Her earthly counterparts. After we identify some of the characteristics of the Crone, woman and Goddess, we will remember Crones we have known. As the closing ritual, we will give thanks to The Dark Lady (the hidden one) for some of those gifts we would rather not have had. This class is for everyone, of any gender- not just older women.

COMPANION CLASS DESCRIPTIONS

Healing Your Relationship With Money
1 to 1.5 hour
Originally a temple token (the first coins bore the face of a god), money has come to mean much more in our present culture. For some people, it has come to mean power, love, comfort, sex, war, peace, even the meaning of life itself. And you? What are your feelings about money? Is it simply coin and paper? An illusion? Or is it your Driving Force? Money- the earning of it and the spending of it - is not separate from the rest of your life, certainly not your spiritual life. How and why does it relate? Elspeth speaks from her own life experiences and from her 78+ years of observing our species in action.

Finding Your Right Livelihood
1 hour
Almost every creature has to do something to meet its physical needs. Most of us use personal energy in exchange for money to meet our needs. Today, in our culture, this occupies over 1/3rd of each day. Your life was not meant to be a grinding, boring, or hated round of activity. You just need to find what you love to do, then you can more easily bring spirit into every moment at work.

Reweaving the Web of the World
"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities - brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems."
John William Gardener

We Are Threads in the Web
1.5 hour
We have each chosen to be born into this time; amid the degrading environment, the ending of fossil energy, the rapid socio-political changes, and the growing knowledge of the power of the individual to alter reality.

What we have not yet come to terms with is our relationship to the whole of the natural world. Only when we learn to see the patterns, and recognize the intrinsic value of each being, will we begin to find our own place in it. And recognize our power to re-create our part of it.

Changing to Meet Today's Challenges
1.5 hour
How are you evolving to deal with everything that is happening? How can you affect what appears to be a world spiraling out of control? The best way to protect your future is to create it. You have the power to be a creator of a new and more loving world.

Reweaving our relationship with the natural world must begin with a new vision of how we fit into it. A new vision can only come from an alternative picture of how things could be. Creative imagination and a system for using it is the key.

PERSONAL EVOLUTION: A Four-Step Program for Self-Improvement
These sessions are intended to help you re-focus your life. They are designed as a complete unit, so if you miss one, you must make it up before you can continue to the next. You will benefit in proportion to the energy you are willing to invest in them. There will be homework. These sessions will require thinking-that doesn't mean they will be boring!

#1 - "I don't know what I want, but I know it isn't this!"
Sooner or later, many of us find ourselves not ourselves. We seem to be living someone else's life; not the one we want, or need, or find fulfilling. This session will help you identify your real goals and find what gives your life meaning.

#2 - Who's Pulling Your Strings?
Sometimes we feel unable to evolve beyond our immediate set of circumstances. What is blocking your ability to act with free will to achieve your real goals (see #1)? Why do you feel unable to go forward? Let's look at some of the circumstances.

#3 - Releasing the Ties that Bind
Now that you have found out why you're stuck, what do you do about it? In this session, we will focus on untangling the strings that others have pulled. We will study the mechanisms of handling those strings ourselves, (see session #2) so that no one feels the need to take over.

#4 - "I Am Strong, Powerful, and Capable"
Having made sense of both goals and barriers - now is the time to recognize your abilities, talents, and strengths. Feel free to brag!!

RITUAL/TRANCE JOURNEYS: Now featured on the "Out of the Forest" CD!
1 hour each, requiring a quiet, secluded space.

A Journey Into Healing
This journey is a present life regression for the purpose of recognizing wounds and healing them. You will have the opportunity to examine neglected, wounded, and painful places in your life; and to heal them. Do not eat just before this working, bring something to lie down on, and prepare to work hard.

An Elemental Journey Towards Wisdom
This is a guided meditation /deep path working. It is a journey for learning. After facing the elements, you will have opportunity to gain new information or insight. Ask for what you want before starting. Do not eat just before this working, bring something to lie down on, and expect new experiences.

Shadowing Innana
We humans fear the unknown- be it people, places, situations or ideas. This working is designed to ritually approach the death- and rebirth-experience. If you are able to completely immerse yourself in this experience, death will no longer be the unknown. Do not eat just before this workshop, bring something to lie down on, and prepare to face death.