EVENTS 2009

MARTIN IS RESEARCHING AND WORKING ON A NEW BOOK OVER THE WINTER, BUT WILL BE TEACHING AT THE BELOW EVENTS, BEFORE RESUMING AN INTERNATIONAL SCHEDULE IN THE SPRING. PLEASE MAKE ALL ENQUIRIES TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS


All Weekends £165 (some concessions available) Please ring 01364 653723 to sign up.
www.schoolofmyth.com

Weekend two:
COYOTE MAN AND THE FOX WOMAN
27-29th Nov '09 Blytheswood

Main Texts: Associated Coyote, Wolverine and Guizer myths.
Themes: Paradox, Longing, Linguistic eloquence- becoming a hunter/gatherer in the forest of metaphor.We will be exploring the tangled lines of Trickster stories,and the ancient and holy implications of the 'fool'. We will also be exploring the idea 'The Currency of Longing and the Malignancy of Disapointment'
The movement into wilderness now include specific exercises, challenges and tasks-many that have been utilised for thousands of years, Saturday evening we gather around the fire on the sheepskins with Martin and Chris-and start to coax each other into a song, story, poem or outrageous boast-we offer great and un-biased encouragement for this! It can create more anxiety for some than the six am dips in the river Martin is so fond of!

Weekend three:
ROAD OF SOLITUDE, ROAD OF VOICE
8-10th Jan '10 Heathercombe

Main texts: 'The Serpent and the Bear', Ramon Lulls writing on Chivalry, assorted notes from Shaw's 'A Branch From The Lightning Tree', 'The Dialogue of the Two Sages'.
Another gateway to cross: Day One is a dawn till dusk fast- a'medicine walk' on the moors, entering the living myth of your own life. Martin will introduce the art of mirroring back stories and introduce specific information on how to integrate wilderness and dream information.This weekend will require preparation and study.Saturday evening will be nothing short of a Wildwood feast-lamb glazed in honey and wild herbs, oceans of fresh salads, nut roasts and dark chocolate sauces on luscious fruit.
Day Two Chris leads a session on the craft of Storytelling, with practical instruction and the participants bringing stories to the day. Martin will teach Spanish poetry and Siberian myth.

This weekend really emphasises the bardic perception of both a developed inner life that is connected to the wild, and the orator ability to feed the community with that connection. The partipant becomes a 'crossroad' of the two disciplines.

Weekend four:
FIERY HORSES OF THE TONGUE
12-14th March '10 Heathercombe

Main Texts: 'Parsival',supported by addressing Jung, Robert Moore, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, and poetry by Neruda, Hughes, Oswald and Bly.. With the epic of 'Parsival' as our guide, we explore how the 'mythic imagination' is a way of carrying the tawny grammer of our inner/outer wilderness back into community. We also look at the work of Jung and Estes as a way of approaching the archetypal world-The Queen, The Hermit, the Magician.
In the evening we move into the inky blackness of the Gaelic Sweat house-built by our own hands. All weekends aim for a good balance between study and the experiental.
Day Two-Morning 'Parsival' cont. Afternoon-Bushcraft skills with Chris-working together in the living world as well as apart.

Weekend five:
THE HOPE OF THE WEST: The Return to the Village
7-9th May '10 Wildwood

Main Texts: ‘The Six Swans’, 'Iron Hans'- A weekends emersion into the world of the archaic fairy tale-specifically through the Brothers Grimm.The focus of this weekend is all about integration of the work we’ve done- This last gathering will remain secret for now.....suffice to say it should set us up well for year two (!) and the next doorway to the myth-world.