☾✩☽ Guest Luminaries ☾✩☽
You can find out about our guest luminaries here:
Ceara Conway
Ceara Conway is an Irish contemporary visual artist and vocalist. She creates innovative experiential performance works that utilise traditional and contemporary songs, music and visual art to explore social issues such as the ecological crisis, migration and feminist concerns. Ceara has undertaken numerous significant commissions, residencies, and public art works. Recent and upcoming projects include Viriditas, Galway ECOC & Saolta Arts (2020), Dóchas/Hope, Oireachtas na Gaeilge & Waterways Ireland (2019). The Feminist Supermarket, Ormston House Cultural Centre (2021), Illuminations Gallery, Maynooth University (2021), Pocahontas Opera House Residency, West Virginia, USA (2022). www.cearaconway.ie
Angela Bourke
Angela Bourke has studied caoineadh extensively, publishing many essays in Irish and English about the women who practised it and the poetry they made. Her first book was Caoineadh na dTrí Muire: Téama na Páise i bhFilíocht Bhéil na Gaeilge (Angela Partridge, 1983)—on Irish-language songs about the Crucifixion, with the Virgin Mary as bean chaointe (keener). Later books include the award-winning The Burning of Bridget Cleary: A True Story (1999); Maeve Brennan: Homesick at the New Yorker (2004), and the Famine Folio Voices Underfoot: Memory, Forgetting, and Oral Verbal Art (2016). She is joint editor of The Field Day Anthology, vols iv & v: Irish Women’s Writing and Traditions (2002; see 30-page section, ‘Lamenting the Dead’, vol. iv). A former visiting professor/fellow at US, UK and Japanese universities, she is (full) professor emerita at the UCD School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore, where she taught for many years.
Marian Dunlea
Marian Dunlea M.Sc., IAAP, ICP, is a Jungian analyst and somatics practitioner who has been leading workshops internationally for the past 30 years integrating body and soul. She is head of the BodySoul Europe training programme, part of the Marion Woodman Foundation. Marian’s unique approach incorporates developments in neuroscience, trauma therapy, attachment theory with Jungian psychology, and the phenomenological standpoint of interconnectedness. Her book, BodyDreaming in the Treatment of Developmental Trauma, an embodied therapeutic approach, Routledge, won the Gradiva Award for best book, with NAAP - National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis and is Co-Winner of the International Association for Jungian Studies 2020 Best book award.
Ormston House
Ormston House is a meeting place for the arts in the heart of Limerick City. We opened in 2011 as a Cultural Resource Centre to create new opportunities for artists and arts workers. Our core question is: how can we support artists better? The three pillars of our programme are artistic ambition, community engagement and professional development. The Artists-in-Residence play a central role in our thinking.
Ormston House welcomes audiences seeking intimate arts experiences. Our programme is co-designed with citizens to promote access and inclusion resulting in community partnerships, multi-annual projects and cultural events that are responsive to the city and its context. We have developed a participatory model to connect local wisdom with diverse approaches to artistic practice.
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☾✩☽ Resources ☾✩☽
↠ Ceara Conway website: www.cearaconway.ie
↠ Making Visible: Commissioned by CREATE – Arts Council of Ireland
https://www.cearaconway.ie/making-visible-2014
↠ Ormston House Cultural Centre, Limerick, Ireland https://ormstonhouse.com/
↠ Feminist Supermarket Programme: https://ormstonhouse.com/programme-list/
↠ ITMA: Irish Traditional Music Archive: Resource for Irish traditional laments https://www.itma.ie/
↠ Angela Bourke : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Angela-Bourke/s?rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3AAngela+Bourke
↠ Marian Dunlea website: https://www.mariandunlea.com/blog/
Other recommended resources:
Reading :
↠ A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa
https://tramppress.com/product/a-ghost-in-the-throat-by-doireann-ni-ghriofa/
↠ Performing Mourning, Lament in Contemporary Art by Guy Cools
https://valiz.nl/en/publications/performing-mourning.html
↠ Feminist Messages, Coding in Women’s Folk Culture which includes the essay ‘More in Anger then in Sorrow’ by Angela De Bourke
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Feminist-Messages-Publications-American-Folklore/dp/0252062671
↠ On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy & Their Own Families
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Dying-Doctors-Nurses-Families/dp/1476775540
↠ On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grief-Grieving-Finding-Meaning-Through/dp/0743266293
↠ Grace and Grit by Ken Wilbur
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grace-Grit-Ken-Wilber/dp/1570627428
↠ Top Five Regrets of the Dying
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying
☾✩☽ Moon Medicine Rituals ☾✩☽
Create an altar. Create a sacred space in your home - see our guide in aftercare.
Connect with the Moon. Whether or not you subscribe to astrology, the moon is always in the sky, and attuning yourself to the moon's cycle can guide self-care.
New moon: At the beginning of the lunar month, the moon is a new moon. Metaphorically, it's a time to plant the new seeds of goals, intentions, and actions.
Waxing phase: Her growth from new moon to full moon is the waxing phase. This the Warrior Phase—where we gain momentum in our actions.
Waning phase: The Sage Phase happens as she wanes from full, —where we gradually power down, restore ourselves, and integrate lessons learned.
Dark moon: The last few days before the new moon is called the dark moon. Here's when we retreat to our proverbial caves to rest and reflect, preparing for a new cycle ahead
Cleanse. Sage your Home, Bedroom, Chariot & Office. Energetically cleanse the energetic wombs of your life, where you find yourself “creating”.
Observe. Select a journal, and record your dreams, thoughts, insights, experiences and observations.
Collect items: pen, paper, tarot cards, candles, incense, herbs, symbols to represent Luna: mirror, mother, water, seashells, etc.
Have Patience. Have patience with yourself and the journey you’re embarking. Allow yourself the emotional space to process, release, learn, develop and heal.
Lavender Oil. Have lavender in your home, bed or altar. Lavender can bring stillness, and calm an overactive mind.
I Feel. Acknowledge your emotions and journal with what emerges.
Breathe Deeply. The pull of The Moon can bring up strong sensations and emotions – and sometimes this is uncomfortable. However it’s a prime opportunity to feel more and allow the emotion to unfurl. A very practical and grounded way to do so is to focus on the breath and breathe a little deeper than you would normally. Place your hands on your Womb and Heart and take a few deep breaths and feel.
Go For A Moon Walk. Walking in the lunar light in nature can be particularly magical.Watch how the trees move and interact; with The Moon, the wind, with you, and listen, really listen in to the sounds of nature. Moon Bathing can be a truly magical and intimate experience.
Take A Loooong Luxurious Bath. The Moon affects the tides, the Oceans, the water in our body.
To get in touch with this aspect of nature within and around us – take a long bath.Add in Epson Salts, your favourite essential oil, play some soothing music, light candles and relax.
Tending to your Temple: BodyLiving consciously starts with taking care of your body; the temple that houses you, here on this planet. So, scan yourself from head to toe. How does your body feel? Give yourself all the O2 and H2O your body needs.. Your body will thank you for that.
Ground, Ground, and Ground
The magnetic pull of The Moon is strong so Grounding is super important. If you do nothing else at The Full Moon – ground. It’s especially helpful just before bed as being rooted in the body aids a better sleep.
with heart
Beannachtaí
from Kathy and all at The Trailblazery xo