Module 3 · 9 CIRCLES OF TRUST Dr. Parker Palmer © 2020 Sacred Art of Living CIRCLES OF TRUST

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Healing the HealersArt of Living & Dying

Module 3

Responding to Spiritual Suffering

www.sacredartofliving.com Copyright © 2020 Sacred Art of Living

www.sacredartofliving.com Copyright © 2009 Sacred Art of Living Centre

HEALING THE HEALERS

MODULE ONE

Understanding

Spiritual Suffering

MODULE TWO

Recognizing

Spiritual Suffering

MODULE THREE

Responding to

Spiritual Suffering

MODULE FOUR

Transforming

Spiritual Suffering

Ars Moriendi: A Hybrid Tradition

1000 AD

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ARS MORIENDI“The Good, Tame Death”

vs.

MORS IMPROVISA“The Quick, Unexamined Death”

Medieval Caregiver Map

ACCEPTING ONE’S MORTALITY

Diagnostic Practices

LEANING INTO THE PAIN

Prescriptive Practices

EMBRACING THE TRANSITION

Vigil Practices


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ROMA DOWNEY

healing angel

Bí Thusa

'mo Shúile

Dallan Forgaill, 6th century “Rop tú mo baile, a Choimdiu cride”

WORDS &MUSIC BY PHIL COULTER

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IN GRATEFUL

MEMORYIN GRATEFUL

MEMORY

MARY & RICHARD GROVES

PROGRAM FOUNDERS

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Session One

Celtic Wisdom for Living & Dying

Tools for the Anamcarawww.sacredartofliving.com Copyright © 2020 Sacred Art of Living

Elements of the Celtic Healing Tradition


Marriage of Cultures

Nature as Teacher

Threshold to Other Worlds

Anamcara Relationship

Wisdom of Suffering

1. MARRIAGE OF CULTURES

The Celtic Soul takes the best

from every tradition

yet leaves its own gentle imprint


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Keltoi = Greek

Galitia

Galicia

Galli


CELTIC-INDIAN CONNECTION

anam आत्मन् = Atmanwww.sacredartofliving.com Copyright © 2020 Sacred Art of Living


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Extent of the Roman Empire

Early 5th Century



Celts & the Romans

‘The Celts are a fierce,

wilderness tribe; even

their warriors go naked

into battle… They are an

especially honorable

people. Unlike tribes from

Germany, their word is

trustworthy. Unlike the

Romans, they honor their

diplomats, priests and

women as much as their

soldiers.’

Livy, 18 BCE

Celtic Warrior


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Abbot Fintan of

Clonenaugh

990-1089 AD


Fintan Travels to Europe


Anamcara Influences in Europe

Clonenaugh

Monserrat

Switzerland

Galicia


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Medical-Spiritual Manuscripts


Abbot Fintan

of RheinauStiftsbibliothek

Sacramentary

of Fintan

ca. 1082 A.D.


“May you have the

commitment to

know what has hurt

you, to allow it to

come close to you

and in the end,

become one with

you.”Fintan’s Blessing


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CIRCLES OF TRUST

Dr. Parker Palmer

www.sacredartofliving.org © 2020 Sacred Art of Living

CIRCLES OF TRUST

• Small group meetings during & between program modules

• A welcoming space for personal work in community

• A place to connect our “soul and role”

• Led by a group ‘animator’ who facilitates the process

TOUCHSTONES

FOR CIRCLES OF TRUST

A place of WELCOME and support for EVERYONE

Time to be fully PRESENT to each others’ stories

Not a ‘share or die’ event but an INVITATION

No FIXING, SAVING, ADVISING or CORRECTING

Strict CONFIDENTILITY is essential.

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CIRCLES OF TRUST

www.sacredartofliving.com Copyright © 2020 Sacred Art of Living Center

Take a few minutes to reflect/journal

about how Fintan’s wisdom might speak to your

own life experience?

Name an area of suffering in your life that you

could allow to come closer.

Share or listen to the reflections of

members in your circle of trust.

Keep in mind the following Touchstone:

“When the going gets tough,

turn to wonder.”

Druidic-Judeo-Christian Spirituality



Prehistoric Sun Cross

A ‘map’ of the Cóiceda or Five Provinces of Ireland

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Hebrews ‘qua’ Hebrews

Legend of Jasconius the Whale


Celtic Orthodox Tradition

Spirituality

of the

Psalms

• Saturday Sabbath • Jewish Feast Days


Frank Mac Eowen


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Elements of the

Celtic Healing Tradition



Nature as Teacher



Wisdom of Suffering

2. NATURE AS TEACHER

Nature is the Face of God

Spirit is the Invisible God

In us they become One


Dru id Poetry

I am a stone of the MountainI am a feather of the RavenI am a flame of the EarthI am a wave of the OceanI am a shadow across the Moon


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Kevin of Glendalough


NATURE IS THE FACE OF GOD

The love of nature can heal the deepest wounds…

Kevin of Glendalough

There are fewer

anamcara today

because in the

old days Healers

lived for long

periods of time

close to the

earth, conversing

with the trees

and listening to

the silent wisdom

of salmon and

deer… 8th century

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Celtic Wheel of Nature

IMBOLC or

OIMELG (Feast of

St. Brigit

February 1st)

SAMAIN

(Hallowe’en)

Celtic New Year

November 1st



“The Celtic approach to God opens up a world in which nothing is too common to be exalted and nothing is so

exalted that it cannot be made common.”

Esther de Waal, Welsh Celtic Scholar

An ceò ‘s an drưchd

An drưchd ‘s an ceò,

An ceò ‘s an drưchd

An sưil mo ghŕàidh,

An sưil mo ghŕàidh,

The mist the dew,

The dew the mist,

The mist the dew

In the eye of my love,

In the eye of my love.

Croon of Mnathan-Tuiridh

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A Blessing for the Senses

May your body be blessed.

May you realize that your body is a faithful

and beautiful friend of your soul.

And may you be peaceful as you recognize

that your senses are sacred thresholds.

May you realize that holiness is mindful

gazing, feeling, hearing and touching. 6th C.




Nature as Teacher



Wisdom of Suffering


3. THRESHOLD TO OTHER WORLDS

“As above, so below…”


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“Seek the Thin Places…”

BRIGIT’S ‘WISHING ROCK’ — KILDARE, IRELAND

THRESHOLD MEDIARIES

The anamcara learns the secret

of moving through the Áit an

dorchas mór … passage of

Great Darkness.


Iron Age Fire Temple

One-Legged Sciapods

VULVA

FETUS

HOUSE

DAGDA’S

STAFF


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Celtic Medieval Initiation Rite

“To go to Rome is much

trouble and of little profit.”


THE THREE WORLDS

THIS WORLD

Cruinne

MIDDLE WORLD

Alltar

OTHER WORLD

Nearth

SILENCESILENCE

Goal: To live in all three worlds simultaneously

NATURE

PSYCHE

PAIDIREAN: THREE WORLD PRACTICE

Druidic in origin

First recorded use:

St. Columba of Iona 6th c.

A Mini-Psalter [150 beads]

A practice to harmonize

the three parts of us

that relate to each of

the three worlds: the

Spiritual, the Psychic or

Otherworldly, and the

Physical

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CELTIC SCHOLAR: SEAN O’DUINN





Nature as Teacher



Wisdom of Suffering

4. Anamcara Relationship

“The highest call for a human being is to be

an anamcara for another…” St. Brigit

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Bard

+

Midwife

+

Healer

ANAMCARA = SOUL FRIEND


“The Anamcararelationship is broken by no chances, no interval of time or space can destroy it.

Even death itself cannot tear it apart.”

John Cassian

Orthodox Saint, 4th c.


Spirituality of the Anamcara

“The Anamcaraillumines the Mystery of the Divine because Friendship is the true nature of God.”


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“A person without an

Anamcara is like a body without a

head.”

Brigit of Kildare 6th c



Brigit the Druid

GODDESS OF LIGHT, FIRE AND HEALING PATRON OF IRELAND

St. Brigit of Kildare


Sean

O’Duinn

Sean O’Duinn

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Gender Equality

“Respect equally the direction

of your Abbot or Abbess.” St. Brigid


Ordination of Brigit

“A power greater than me has done this…

No one in the land is more worthy than she.”

Bishop Mel, 480 AD

Modern Anamcara


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“Friends

Of

God”


St. Columba of Iona

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on…

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clear blue air are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

The world offers itself to your imagination,

Calls you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting–––

Over and over announcing your place in the family of things.

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DEUS MEUS ADJUVA ME Psalm 118

Tabhair dom do dhearc a mhichíl Dé ....

Ancient Bardic

Poetry

Set to music by the

Monk Maol Iosa

County Donegal

6th c.

ANAMCARA CONVERSATION

Introduce yourself and your

“grandparent mentor” to your

Anamcara partner…

Why did you choose this

“grandparent mentor” for today?


Elements of the

Celtic Healing Tradition



Nature as Teacher



Wisdom of Suffering

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5. W isdom of Suffering

“When you place yourself under the judgment of another, seek the fire that will least spare you.”

St. Maelruain, 8th c.


www.sacredartofliving.com Copyright © 2009 Sacred Art of Living CenterHEALING THROUGH OUR SUFFERING

Drinking from a Sacred Well

The approach to

the numinous is

the real therapy.


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“Fearless in the Face of Death…”Annals of Julius Caesar

“(MAY YOU HAVE) A HAPPY DEATH”



The Áite of Death

The ‘soul knows’… 28 days before death and 49 days after dying

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Anam Aire

Watching with the dying

Traveling with their soul

To a final place of peace

“Soul Carer”



Documents

Module 3 · 9 CIRCLES OF TRUST Dr. Parker Palmer © 2020 Sacred Art of Living CIRCLES OF TRUST