The Hedge School presents
tending our roots
Sundays; Jan 26, Feb 02, 09, 16
with a Closing Ceremony on Friday, Feb 21
7pm Ireland | 2pm ET | 11am PT
Course price: €166
Please ensure you have read our Terms & Conditions before purchasing from The Trailblazery.
Our Hedge School founder Kathy Scott {Creative Director of The Trailblazery, Ireland} will be joined by Laura Murphy {Poet, Activist & Healer}, Cáit Branigan {Druid, Bean Feasa, Priestess & Healer}, Ciara O’Donnell aka Domhan {Artist, Multi-instrumentalist & Songwriter}, Jen Murphy {Celtic Mythologist, Anthropologist, Founder of Celtic Embodiment}, Ceara Conway {Visual Artist, Vocalist & Composer}, Pat McCabe, Weyakpa Najin Win, Woman Stands Shining {Activist, Artist, Ceremonial Leader & International Speaker} and Anne Walsh {American-Irish Singer, Musician & Voice Coach}.
Over 5 sessions from Jan 26 - Feb 21 we will gather in a collective enquiry to learn and unlearn by sharing stories, experiences, practices, artistries and resources in community.
We're beings who live at the nexus of our ancestors' dreams
and the memories of our descendants.
~ Dr. Sará King.
Tending our Roots is an invitation from the soil and soul of Ireland to walk together through the season of Imbolc; a time of emergence and renewal on the ancient Wheel of the Year. This season offers a potent portal for the personal and collective regeneration needed on our planet today.
Imbolc celebrates the transformation of winter to spring, death to rebirth, and from the crone into the maiden once again. This time is guided by the ‘exalted one’ Brigid, otherwise known as Breo-Saighit ~ the fiery arrow, Triple Goddess, Matron Saint of Ireland and Keeper of the Flame. Imbolc calls us to tend to our roots and align with this quickening life force, so that together we can rise.
Tending Our Roots will host voices from Ireland and other parts of the Earth, bringing alive the power of right-relationship with ancestry and the wild world that nourishes us. As we travel through this 5-week immersive online journey, we will have an embodied experience of rewilding and tending our roots in alignment with the gifts and challenges of Imbolc. We will be led by a host of extraordinary guides, artists and medicine keepers through communal ritual and ceremony. Our intention is to re-source true belonging with kin and kindred so that we can “tie our roots together” (Sophie Strand) and develop our capacity to navigate this turning of the Wheel.
It is time to rekindle our hearth and hearts so we can reconcile the past, receive the present and reimagine the future for the generations to come.
you will learn/unlearn how to
✦ Explore the burdens, blessings, wounds and wisdom of your ancestral inheritance
✦ Sow seeds of possibility for your life and the lives of future generations
✦ Embody the archetypal energies of Imbolc to reclaim the power of your roots
✦ Experience ritual, ceremony and other practices with wisdom keepers from Ireland and beyond
✦ Attune with the numinous to access untapped knowledge and capability
✦ Source collective intelligence through meaningful conversation
✦ Dream into the legacy you are creating as an ancestor-in-training for your lineage and our planet
✦ Participate in a community working with wholeness in service to life, lineage and the Earth herself
what’s involved
The opening and closing sessions invite us to co-create a courageous container by weaving our individual worlds into a collective space. This will be facilitated by Kathy, who will create the conditions for meaningful conversations through practices and ritual in collaboration with Laura Murphy (Poet, Activist, Healer). Together we will become a vibrant collective body from which we will co-sense new insights and learnings for these times.
The central trilogy invites us to tune into the energies of Imbolc and this moment on the planet with the support of our guides and musicians. These sessions will include guided somatic practices (visioning, movement, breathwork, creative writing) to help us process and integrate the gifts and challenges of the season.
A care package with recording and curated resources will be provided within 24 hours of each session.
What people are saying about hedge school
why now?
We have arrived at a crucible moment in our shared human story. We are bearing collective witness to a world that is slowly dying while another waits to be born. We are labouring through interlocking systemic crises, human-made catastrophes and the collapse of empire. We are being called to step into greater response-ability as ancestors-in-training.
This course is open to folks from all lineages ~ especially if you are one of the 80 million people around the world who claim Irish roots. We come from a long line of Clann (family) and Tuatha (tribe). We are the expression and extension of a long line of survivors. We are immigrants and emigrants, oppressor and oppressed and everything in between.
As a shared human family we all carry unresolved trauma and soul wounding.
We are also rooted in resilience.
Join us in our Imbolc explorations, to find our ways home.
Cé leis thú – who do you belong to?
Who are your people?
What hidden his/herstories lie in your cultural heritage?
Where are your roots?
What seeds of possibility are you planting?
What might your legacy be as an ancestor-in-training?
What acts of sacred artivism can you kindle at this time?
Meet your guides
Kathy Scott | Host
Kathy is a cultural activist and creative entrepreneur dedicated to creating provocative experiences that animate the spirit of our times. Her greatest mission in this life is to nudge humanity forward by inspiring people to rise and lift each other up along the way. She is the creative director of The Trailblazery which was founded as a response to a need for deeper human connection and belonging in our world.
Laura Murphy | Guide, Jan 26 & Feb 21
Laura Murphy is a poet, activist and healer who works in the Irish tradition of Imbas Forosnai. Said to be a gift of Goddess and St. Brigid, the filí (poets) of medieval Ireland used this practice to bring wisdom into their beings, truth to power and healing to society. Laura was the inaugural Poet in Residence at Herstory, the movement illuminating female role-models, she campaigned to make Brigid’s Day a national holiday, was commissioned by Kildare County Council to create the poem and short film ‘Is Mise Bríd’ to celebrate the new public holiday and she is an advocate for Palestine, Mother Earth, Ireland’s Mother and Baby Home and Magdalene Laundry survivors.
Cáit Branigan | Guide, Feb 02
Cáit Branigan is an Ordained Priestess Hierophant of the Western Mystery Tradition, a Bean Feasa (Shamanic Practitioner) and Healer working within the traditions of Ireland. She works with individuals at her healing centre in Co. Wexford. She also teaches groups and conducts ceremonies throughout the country and internationally, work which includes Women’s Mysteries, the facilitation of Rites of Passage and sweat lodges within the Irish Tradition. She is an Ovate with the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids and a member of the Fellowship of Isis.
Ciara O’Donnell aka Domhan | Musician, Feb 02
Ciara O’Donnell is creative artist under the name “Domhan” channeling music and songs inspired by the Earth and the Divine. Domhan’s voice (pronounced “Dow-an” in Gaelic) has captivated audiences in both her native Ireland and abroad, showcasing her undeniable virtuosity as a multi-instrumentalist, potent songwriter and vocalist. Ciara is a Shamanic Practitioner, Pranic Energy Healer, Music and Language teacher and Vocal coach and facilitator of women’s circles. She is also a member of transcendental band “Bog Bodies”, here she allows the spirit of Ancient Ireland to move through the music in a bid to help activate and empower the ancient memory embedded in all of our DNA.
Jen Murphy | Guide, Feb 09
Jennifer Murphy is an Irish mythologist, anthropologist and creativity mentor, and founder of The Celtic Creatives. A Dubliner born and bred, from the time she could talk, Jen's grandmother Frances O'Sullivan filled her ears with tales from Irish myth and folklore, fuelling a now 40-year fascination with the stories of her lineage. Jen's apprenticeship to following her soul’s breadcrumbs over the past twenty years has guided her work and formal studies in Medieval Irish and Celtic Studies, Sociocultural Anthropology, Creativity and Innovation, and Jungian Psychology with Art Therapy. She supports creatives from diverse fields to (re)connect with the mythopoetic imagination of Ireland, using ancient wisdom to inform modern creativity through myth, dreamwork, imagination and the body.
Ceara Conway | Musician, Feb 09
Ceara Conway is an Irish contemporary vocalist and visual artist. She creates experiential performance works that utilise traditional and contemporary song, performance and visual art to explore social issues such as the ecological crisis, migration and feminist concerns. She has received awards from the Arts Council of Ireland, Creative Ireland, CREATE and Galway & Limerick County Council for her Public Art Commissions. Ceara holds the position of Arts Coordinator for the Clare Arts Office ( Artists in Schools and Embrace Arts and Disability Programme) and is a Creative Associate with the Arts Council.
Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win, Woman Stands Shining) | Guide, Feb 16
Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win, Woman Stands Shining) is a Diné (Navajo) mother, grandmother, activist, artist, writer, ceremonial leader, and international speaker. She is a voice for global peace, and her paintings are created as tools for individual, earth and global healing. She draws upon the Indigenous sciences of Thriving Life to reframe questions about sustainability and balance, and she is devoted to supporting the next generations, Women’s Nation and Men’s Nation, in being functional members of the “Hoop of Life” and upholding the honor of being human.
Anne Walsh | Musician, Feb 16
Anne Walsh is a transformative voice coach, opera singer turned Irish folk singer, and ancestral song carrier. With degrees in Vocal Performance and Music Education, she combines her classical training with somatic and intuitive methods to empower voices. Under the artist name Áine, she preserves and modernizes Sean Nós singing in her recent music releases with musician friend, Layv. Based in Topanga, CA, Anne leads retreats, facilitates community voice activations, sings in folk trio Honeywild, performs in Improv Comedy troupes, and is usually found frolicking outside.
tending our roots FAQ’s
What date & time does Tending Our Roots begin?
Each live session takes place from 7-8.30pm (Irish Time):
Sundays; Jan 26, Feb 02, 09, 16
Friday; Feb 21
How long will the sessions be?
Each live gathering runs for 90-mins starting at 7pm (Ireland) | 2pm ET | 11am PT
How do I access the live Tending Our Roots sessions?
All live sessions are broadcast over Zoom. We record each one and they will be available by streaming only and are not downloadable.
You can watch or listen to the sessions online via any connected device — or listen audio-only by phone.
Playback is available for 21 days after the course ends.
I can't make all of the live sessions, will they be recorded?
Yes! All live sessions will be recorded and made available within 24 hours.
Playback is available for 21 days after the course ends.
Will the information shared by participants be kept confidential?
Yes, confidentiality is a priority for us, as it provides a secure space for individual and collective experiences. Any inclination to breach confidentiality is a call to recognise, integrate, and embrace our own shadows. We make a commitment to safeguard the confidentiality of all shared content. If there's a desire to share insights, we'll do so by altering identities and relevant circumstances.
I have a question regarding Tending Our Roots, how can I contact you?
If you have any further questions please contact hello@thetrailblazery.com
More About Hedge School
Hedge School is a virtual homeschool rooted in Ireland that invites people around the world on a collective learning experience to find our shared humanity and resource our possibility as global citizens. Hedge School is an Irish drum beat with a global resonance. Back in the 1700’s, Irish education was outlawed and the process of learning took to the land. Hedge Schools gathered wherever people could find shelter; along hedgerows, fields, mountains, by rivers and under the stars. Out at these wild edges, our culture was kept alive...
