Our practical workshops are normally very contactful. They include touch structures and massage, dance and breathing exercises, and sometimes nudity. Sadly, all this is the stuff that the covid virus loves to feed on. At the height of the pandemic andin a world of masks and lockdowns we have had no choice but to suspend all live workshops, and to work solely on line, creating virtual spaces in which to meet on line both for Gateway celebrations and for individual and couple work.
Like others, we have been amazed how healing cyberspace can be — at times a veritable witches’ cauldron, or a hermit’s cave, at others, a sweet place where many friends can meet and celebrate. We have learned a lot from working there, and we will continue to use it as a place of healing. But as I write we are already in the coming-in-like-a-Lion bit of March, and Planet Earth is spinning rapidly towards the next Celtic Gateway, the Spring Equinox! As the ancestors teach us, the time of emergence is close upon us. The time to re-emerge from the Cave of Dreams and Possibilities. The time to take our places among the circle of the humans again. Outside once more, feet planted firmly on the ground at the open door, blinking in the sunlight in a land carpeted with Daffodils.
The “Road Map” that the UK government has issued gives us good hope that there is, as they keep saying, “light beyond the end of the tunnel”, if not without the need to continue to step warily. The keys to this are high levels of vaccination, and good backup through Testing and Tracing, especially around travel. With this, and with the requirement that all our participants have either completed vaccination or have tested negative within the last 72 hours, we can gradually begin to re-introduce our live workshops.
Our first live workshop will be Lammas at the end of July, and the Couples’ retreat “Riding the Waves of Bliss” holiday week in SW Crete. We will continue to gradually add the other main workshops, provided that Covid remains contained, and our caution is working, as we move into winter.
We will also begin to offer individual Integration sessions to appropriate clients when we are confident that it is safe to do so again in person.