2023-2024 Medicine Spiral – North Direction

For us and our Ancestors, the arrival of Winter at Samhain is a deep and layered invitation. It is our native new year and a time of tender honouring of ourselves and Ancestors. It is a time of going within to care for the seeds of new life being born within us in the dreamtime of the darker season. Samhain and Winter are truly about embracing a graceful approach to new ways of being and true sustenance. Our Ancestors saw into this seasonal transition and saw openings and beginnings of innermost transformation. They saw the threshold of The Medicine Spiral, the healing shamanic voyage stirring intention and vision in those to whom Nature gifts belonging and connection. May you rightfully see yourself as deserving welcome to that threshold and worthy of intention and vision.

There are profound healing and mystical rewards waiting for all, held in the ever loving arms of our Ancestors who bring us into the luminous lineage, heritage and tradition of the sacred isle of Ireland. To take The Medicine Spiral journey is to walk onto an ancient track of reflection, discovery and empowerment. In apprenticeship, shamans throughout the ages boldly stood in front of a great mirror that reflected the truth about themselves and the world. The mirror pointed to wounds unhealed and asked the shaman to heal himself/herself/themselves. The ‘medicine’ in the Spiral refers to all the training gifts that facilitate and empower our emergence into a grounded, self-actualised, connected being of power who has taken the journey of the healer. If your Celtic Soul has a connection to Ireland, Nature, empowering mysticism and hears the call to step further and deeper into the healing shamanic lineage of Ireland, this training is a sincere and lasting resource.

As is tradition we begin in the North as Winter begins and the first weekend of live online tutorials falls on November 4th and 5th. Facilitators are husband and wife, Dr. Karen Ward and John Cantwell, recent guest international presenters at the 2023 Annual Conference of the Society of Shamanic Practitioners.

While The Medicine Spiral is taught live online, it is for many also a hybrid learning experience allowing for a blend of live and self-paced immersion. All members of the Tuatha (Tribe) receive recordings of all tutorials, allowing you to view and review in your own comfortable time. This answers to any concern you may have to being unavailable when tutorials are live and you are very welcome to consider investing initially in the North (Winter) Direction, as a first or stand-alone three months shamanic experience. Following on, you can be guided by your inner wisdom for continuing into the next or remaining Directions. The training takes place on four highlighted full weekends at the beginning of each Direction and on two highlighted Saturdays or Sundays later in the season. Live full weekend tutorials take place 11.00-14.00 and 16.00-19.00 (Irish Time) on both days. The seasonal festivals and months for each Direction are:

• North Direction – Samhain Winter December 2023
• East Direction – Imbolg Spring February 2024
• South Direction – Bealtaine Summer May 2024
• West Direction – Lughnasadh Autumn August 2024

John and Karen speak of The Medicine Spiral in this video.

A prerequisite is prior participation in the Introduction to Irish Celtic Shamanism. This is a self-paced entry into the Irish tradition and can be made available to you immediately, if it has not been already experienced. In the weeks and months ahead, the Introduction and the North Direction of The Medicine Spiral can overlap and keep your learning optimal.