Retreat for Women Celebrates Imbolc in Scotland

Exciting news, though a bit short notice. Working for Recovery, based in Scotland, is leading an Imbolc retreat for women on the Isle of Lewis, including time at Tobar Bhrìghde (Brigit's Well) and the Callanish stones. 

I hadn't heard of these folk before but the little I've read just now I find very interesting. Aside from retreats for people in recovery, (which is defined as recovery from mental illness or mental distress) they train professionals and have a ten week online course. Formerly they had a house where people could take mental health breaks, but that has now closed.

About the retreat:

A Retreat for Women: Celebrate the Celtic Return of Spring (Imbolc) - 30 Jan - 2 Feb 2020, Isle of Lewis, Scotland

Working to Recovery & Midwife of the Soul present: ARetreat with Women: Celebrate the Celtic Return of Spring (Imbolc)


The retreat will start with dinner on Thursday 30th January and finish after lunch on Sunday 2nd February (in time for the afternoon ferry or flights home).  The retreat will be immersed in the land of the Isle of Women - Lewis & Harris. 
FACILITATORS: Karen Taylor and Jane Eastwood (guest appeareance by Jill Smith)

ABOUT THE RETREAT
Imbolc, on the 1^st February, is the time to celebrate the return of Spring in the Celtic calendar when the Callieach returns to sleep and Brighid reawakens.  Together we will explore this relationship between the old and the new, rebirth and letting go, cleansing and growing.

The night before Imbolc we will go to the Callanish Standing Stones to celebrate “the sleeping beauty” and the ending of winter.

On Imbolc, together we will go to “St Brides Well” at first light, where we will clean the well and offer her gifts and celebrate her coming.

In my home we will explore what do we need to cleanse within ourselves, what we need to let go of, in order to grow into the women we wish to be.  We will use Celtic stories to guide us and explore our own stories.  Bringing us ready for a fresh new start.






Images: "The Emergence of Spring - Brighde's Well" by Jill Smith.
               "Callanish Standing Stones" by Marta Gutowska. CC 2.5.
              "Tobar Bhrìghde on Lewis" by Peter Boyle. On the Mobile Megalithic Portal.

St. Bride's Chapel-of-Ease in South Uist

From the Hebridean Parishes of Ardkenneth and Bornish:

Fàilte!

Welcome to our parishes. Situated in the beautiful and windswept island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland - we are two parishes and two chapels perched on the edge of the Atlantic. On a still day you can sit in our churches, made holy through generations of prayer and listen to the faint singing sound of 3000-mile-old Atlantic breakers. Please stay a while and explore - and one day please come and visit us!

St. Bride's, Gerinish

St Bride's, Gerinish, was opened in 1966. It is a simple 'chapel-of-ease' for Ardkenneth Parish. The Church bears the name of one of the patron saints of the Western Isles - St Bride. Inside the Church we have a large St Bride's Cross and artwork by our parish artist, Michael Gilfedder, depicting the Sacred Heart and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Jill Smith: Brighde of the Isles

Check out the English webzine Goddess Alive: a new magazine of Goddess celebration.  Now into its 17th issue and its 8th year, if you peek back to issue 2 you will find fine paintings and an article about Brigit in the Hebrides, all by Jill Smith. Art from the series Brighde of the Isles was used on the cover of the Friends of Brides Mound CD, Songs of Bride.

“Brighde is an ancient creative force/goddess who later merged with St. Bridget of Kildare in Ireland to become something of both of them, yet more; and in the Hebrides she has her own distinct character.”

(For photos, ferry schedules, weather forecasts, jobs, events, and more for the Hebrides, click here to get to  Western Isles of Scotland.)