The Oracle Within: Dreams, Imagination, Synchronicity

"Go to the limits of your longing" ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

"The imagination awakens the wildness of the heart", writes John O'Donohue, "it returns us to our native wildness, to the natural and seamless fluency of our own nature." Following this theme, this soul making exploration will enable you to discern more fully what longs to be actualised in your life. By inviting you to consider a perspective which emphasises imagination and dreams, and the phenomenon of synchronicity in relation to this, this experiential weekend will invite you to consider the metaphor of "inner compass" or Oracle Within as a potential source of guidance in life. As the poet David Whyte puts it, this exploration will remind you how to "fall toward the centre of your longing", and to trust what might emerge as important indicators for your way forward. The exploration will include working with dreams, guided visualisations, and balanced with relevant theory and poetry.

EDINBURGH DATES: (1) Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th February (2) Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th September
TIMES: 10am to 5pm both days.
FEE: £120 (£40 non-returnable deposit).
VENUE: TBA on booking.
Minimum 6 places
Maximum 10 places

GLASGOW DATES: Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th May.
TIMES: 10am to 5pm both days.
FEE: £120 (£40 non-returnable deposit). Booking for this workshop to Aileen Ferguson~ aileenferguson.counselling@virgin.net
VENUE: TBA on booking.
Minimum 6 places
Maximum 10 places

ABERDEENSHIRE DATES: Saturday 18th & Sunday 19th September 2010
TIMES: Saturday 10am to 8pm, Sunday 10am to 5pm.
FEE: £140 (£40 non-returnable deposit) This weekend is limited to 6 places . Booking address for workshop only is Mike Wilson.
VENUE: Corse House, Lumphanan, Nr. Banchory, Aberdeenshire , AB31 4SB [ Map ]
ACCOMMODATION: Given the intensity of the weekend it is recommended that you book accommodation at the venue. Please make enquiries relating to accommodation to Janis Louden at Corse House - janislouden@btinternet.com Telphone 013398 83411

LONDON DATES: TBA
TIMES: 10am to 5pm both days
FEE: £120 (£40 non-returnable deposit).
VENUE: TBA on booking
Minimum 6 Places
Maximum 12 places

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Carl Jung's The Red Book

~ reflections on a reading of Jung's The Red Book ~

After his separation from Freud, in 1913, Jung entered an intense period of self-enquiry which he referred to as the “confrontation with the unconscious.” An important aspect of this process was that he engaged in emotionally charged fantasies while in a waking state, then attempted to understand their signifance in relation to his life. He later called this inner exploration the method and process of "active imagination". Some years later he wrote:

Jung's Red Book, or Liber Novus (New Book) was created between 1914 and 1930 and contains the core of his later works, though remained unpublished until October 2009. Its publication, nearly 50 years after Jung's death, opens a new and important era in the understanding of Jung's life and work.

This meeting is an opportunity to discuss and explore some of the many themes of The Red Book including the individuation process, the importance of the numinous, and the method of active imagination. Preparation for the study and discussion day is Chapter 6 of Carl Jung's Memories, Dreams, Reflections  (Flamingo: 1995)

Also, an in-depth article from the New York Times can be read by visiting this link

EDINBURGH DATE: Saturday 13th March 2010
TIMES: 10am to 1.00pm, 2.00pm to 4.00pm
VENUE: The Theosophical Society, 28 Great King Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6QH [Map]
BOOKING: Donation of £6 towards hire of space and cost of refreshments.

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Redeeming the Spirit: Counselling, Psychotherapy and Spirituality

"Certainly there is within each of us a self that is…out of love with the ordinary; it is out of love with time. It has a hunger for eternity." Mary Oliver

By attending to the spiritual dimension of experience, psychotherapy and counselling acknowledges an intrinsic aspect of a person's life, which is not always recognised or lived. The consequences of this can be far reaching. And it is often through paying particular attention to spirituality in therapy that a person's life is given greater significance, sometimes profoundly so.

For the practitioner, widening the therapeutic frame to give priority to spirituality can be challenging as well as enriching, and often demands a way of working which requires an ability to attune to the spiritual in the unique life of another, as well as to adopt a non-reductive therapeutic focus.

This weekend offers an opportunity to consider the spiritual side of therapeutic practice from both practical and theoretical perspectives, and will include a consideration of the importance of the quality of the therapist's way of being and "presence", the use of imagination, specific therapeutic interventions and technique, working with dreams, and creative explorations which take body's wisdom into account.

EDINBURGH DATES: Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th May 2010
TIMES: 10am to 5pm both days.
FEE: £120 (£40 non-returnable deposit).
VENUE: Wellspring, 13 Smith's Place, Edinburgh, EH6 8NT. Please make cheques for this workshop payable to Wellspring. Click here for downloadable Word Document booking form.
Minimum 6 Places
Maximum 10 places

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Dreams: Theatre of the Soul

"It was a dream in which my greater self rose up before me…" Lucille Clifton

Dreams offer you an invitation to participate in the unfolding of your unique nature. Turning your attention toward dreams is a way of acknowledging that your life is perhaps greater than you think; perhaps richer than you live. Dreams are compensations for what is happening in waking life, and it is possible to turn to these inner images for guidance and inspiration. Discerning what meaning the dream may hold for you is a challenging, yet important process in deepening an understanding of who you are, and where you are going.

This practical weekend is an opportunity to work with dreams and deep imagination, and will consist of learning some theoretical and practical rudiments of dreamwork. The core theoretical model will be Jungian, but we will also include other approaches.

LONDON DATES: TBA
TIMES: 10am to 5pm both days.
FEE: £120 (£40 non-returnable deposit)
VENUE: London, TBA on booking.
Minimum 6 Places
Maximum 12 places

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Sacred Duties of Imagination: Process & Practice

"This is one of the sacred duties of imagination: honourably to imagine your self." ~ John O'Donohue

"You must give birth to your images. They are the future waiting to be born. Fear not the strangeness your feel. The future must enter into you long before it happens. Just wait for the birth, for the hour of new clarity." ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Carl Jung wrote of the incalculable debt we owe to imagination. Almost everything begins with imagination - imagination is the beginning of creation. Often taken for granted, imagination is responsible for many of the things in your life which you bring about. This includes feeling states, thinking processes, as well as perceived life possibilities and actualities. Imagination often fixes ideas about how something is or can be, but rarely are these creations of the imagination consciously re-imagined and lived in ways which enhance life. This means that imagination can flow in a contrary direction to the fulfilling possibilities of life. For, imagination is a force of Nature within you, endlessly revealing itself as a stream of possibilities in the process of being and becoming which is paradoxically often limited by imagination. The first publication, in 2009, of Carl Jung's Red Book gives witness to the importance of imagination as a key cornerstone in this process.

This experiential weekend continues the theme of The Oracle Within and is an invitation to consider the use of imagination in daily life. Four important processes and practices, or sacred duties, which allow and enable you to become more the author of a fuller life will be considered in depth, with particular emphasis given to the centrality of compassion in supporting your development. Consideration will also be given to naming key obstacles on this path, and ways of dealing with these.

EDINBURGH DATES: Saturday 30th & Sunday 31st October 2010
TIMES: 10am to 5pm both days.
FEE: £120 (£40 non-returnable deposit).
VENUE: Edinburgh, TBA on booking.
Minimum 6 Places
Maximum 10 places

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Following in the Footsteps of Nature

"I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in." John Muir

Psyche has it roots in Nature, but in defining your identity it is likely that you are increasingly drawn away from this Ground as a consequence of being defined by culture and the egoic life. Paradoxically, this means that you are also drawn away from yourself. There will be many signs of this in your life. The alchemists, for instance, upon realising this, where committed to following in the footsteps of Nature to return to a state of wholeness, oneness or unity with Nature. This was also the core teaching of many esoteric philosophies and orders in the West. But, what does this mean in practice?

What might unfold if you were to allow nature to be your guide? What might you discover if you were to trust in nature to answer your most earnest questions? What may emerge if you were to allow nature's "wisdom" to assist you in making sense of your dreams? Through a series of explorations in an evocative nature setting, this weekend offers you an opportunity to learn more about who you are, who you are drawn to become, as well as to deepen your connection with nature so that you come to know more fully your intrinsic non-separateness from Nature, and the dream which Nature holds for you.

SCOTTISH DATES: Friday to Sunday
TIMES: Friday 6pm to 9pm, Saturday 9am to 9pm, Sunday 9am to 1.00pm.
FEE: £120 (£40 non-returnable deposit).
VENUE: Nature setting, Scotland (TBA)
Minimum 6 Places
Maximum 10 places