Ancient Healing Ways
with Pip Bondy
The Practice of Council in Nature
Embracing Council as a form of communicating today
nurtures and nourishes the spirit of the old ways
The ancient practice of Council is rooted in land and nature. Council knows that all life is connected – the elements, animals, place and each other. Council teaches us that listening in a whole and more inclusive way embraces all parts of our being. It teaches intimacy and truth within life and ourselves. Living in Council we experience the whole circle. As this heartfelt way of being deepens so does our intimacy and trust and a sense of community grows.
In the first two days of this retreat the emphasis will be on The Way of Council
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Enabling us to create special time and place for the Council setting
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Practising the four intentions of Council
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Using stories from our own lives to embrace the art of attentive listening
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Various forms of Council will be practised to highlight the numerous situations and uses where Council can serve
“It’s very simple. Council is always in the unknown, always unique and always a new beginning.”
Having familiarised ourselves with the practice, we move our focus into the solitude and stillness of nature. We meet each morning to explore and discover the powers and teachings of the four directions, a universal map that evokes the whole being; all symbols, seasons, colours, animals and elements inside and outside us and all nature. (The knower and the known) We will uncover this ancient form as a place and space to find reference in ourselves and in our lives.
Several hours each afternoon will be spent in nature – a threshold time in the natural world, alone with no food or shelter, evoking a story from within our souls, memories, feelings and dreams that lie just beneath the surface of our everyday lives. This is a time of personal ceremony with the spirits of nature being witness, teacher and mirror.
Evenings will be storytelling time. The telling and expressing of stories from our threshold time brings forth the myth of our own lives and reveals the sacred mirror within us all. Stories serve the circle and are the healing and heart of the Council.
You think your mind is your thoughts and concepts, but really it is the trees and grasses
Dozen
On the second from final day you will be invited to send time alone over night. With lessons learned we will speak, share and explore how these lessons and gifts inform us and are brought back to enable the healing of our lives and our place in the world.
“It’s a practice of truth and a path towards peacemaking, which invites the phenomenal power of the vulnerable heart, in the name of love.”
This retreat serves those who seek deeper and compassionate communication with their community, families and loved ones.
