Bali 2016

 

Balinese Stone GuardianSelf and Other: Honouring the Depth and Diversity of Relationship

With Brian Clark and Carole Taylor

in affiliation with
Heaven & Earth Workshops and Astro*Synthesis

26th October-2nd November 2016

Bayad, Ubud, Bali

 

 

Ulun Temple at blue hourThe Faculty was delighted to work once again with Heaven and Earth Workshops, run by Faculty Diploma holder Evelyn Roberts, to present this course in Bali – taught by Faculty tutor Carole Taylor and Brian Clark of Astro*Synthesis.

Our focus on the course was relationships of all kinds – how we reach out to others, our needs within relationships, how they develop, the profound changes they can bring about in us and the grief we may experience when we are called on to let them go. Our chart for the course involved the two planets of relationship, the Moon and Venus, engaged in a T-square with Saturn and Neptune, reflecting the waning square of this important planetary pair cycle and its interplay between practical focus and poetic imagination. Saturn spoke to the concentrated and interior quality of the work, and Neptune to the intuition needed in the interpretation of charts – and indeed on a physical level we were located beside an area of  land held to be sacred by the Balinese, which only added to the sense of entering into magical territory as we explored our theme and honoured the mysteries of attachment, love and relationship.

We had a group of 22 students for the workshop who had traveled from many different countries to the exotic island of Bali to immerse themselves in eight days of intense astrological work and in the culture of this beautiful and ancient land. burne jones cupid psycheWe looked at relationships throughout the life cycle, starting with our first interactions with family through to adult attachments and relationships in later life. We explored many different kinds of relationships, including romantic connections, marriage and long-term partnerships, family bonds, professional relationships, working relationships and friendships. We also encompassed the different stages of development within such partnerships and how astrological timing can be an effective tool in understanding the cycles of relationship whether this is the beginning, middle or end of a relationship, focusing throughout on the charts and the very personal experiences of those present.

The workshop took place at a crossroads in the yearly cycle when many cultures in the northern hemisphere celebrate the end of the harvest and the dying of the light into darkness. Many mythic images gather around the themefasbayad of this ‘darker’ part of the year. The Celtic festival of Samhain fell during the second part of our workshop – a liminal time when the boundary between this world and the ‘other world’ is porous and contact between the living and the dead is more accessible. When consciously working with this moment in time, it becomes time to appease and honour the dead, to let go and to return to living. Using this living symbol we turned our gaze  to reflect on endings and losses in relationships, supported and enriched by an excursion to a sacred waterfall – access was via a long flight of steps down into a valley to the sacred pool below, a fitting journey of descent into the cleansing ritual of the waterfall and re-ascent into the light.

 

Here was the programme for our eight days together:hammocks

Day 1 – October 26: First Impressions
Day 2 – October 27: Beliefs and Biases
Day 3 – October 28: Intimacy and Diversity
Day 4 – October 29: Cycles and Passages
Day 5 – October 30: FREE DAY
Day 6 – October 31: Rewriting the Script
Day 7 – November 1: Remembrance
Day 8 – November 2: Blessing

Our 22 participants worked diligently and were also tremendously inspiring throughout the workshop – a testament to the thoughtfulness, capacity for reflection and high standard of work offered by students attracted to the Faculty and to Astro*Synthesis, and of course to Heaven and Earth Workshops.

For my own part, it was a wonderful experience to teach alongside Brian Clark of Astro*Synthesis. Brian is one of the world’s foremost astrologers – he has taught at the Faculty’s Summer School a number of times and has contributed a half-module to our course material on The Astrology of the Family (available in our London classes and by distance learning). So this collaboration with Brian, and with Evelyn Roberts, was a great honour and a very enjoyable and enriching time.

Carole Taylorcarole.taylor@astrology.org.uk

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Previous events in Bali

Grounding the Vision: bringing the magic of astrology into working practice
1st – 10th December 2014

READ MORE

Hosted by: Evelyn Roberts, Heaven & Earth Workshops
Tutors: Cat Cox and Carole Taylor
Meditation and Full Moon Ceremony Facilitator: Melanie Reinhart

Bali 2007

A big thank you to Evelyn Roberts for hosting this eight-day workshop given by Faculty tutors Cat Cox and Carole Taylor on the beautiful island of Bali – it was a very successful event and a truly magical experience for everyone involved.

Evelyn is a Faculty Diploma holder, as well as a holder of the CPA Diploma, and is a fine testament to the creative options open to those who feel called to work professionally with astrology – as well as having an international clientele for her astrological client practice, Evelyn brings her superb organisational skills and fifteen years’ experience of working with astrology to the creation of the Heaven & Earth Workshops programme, a feast of events in Bali, Goa and Mexico. Evelyn invites tutors from around the world, the best in their field, so it was a great pleasure for us to team up with her for Grounding the Vision.

Thank you also to our wonderful Faculty patron, Melanie Reinhart, who supported us in our endeavours with energising early morning meditations and an awe-inspiring trip to the nearby town of Tampak Siring to take part in the Full Moon ceremony there. It was certainly the ‘full immersion’ experience, as we waded into the sacred pools and made our prayers to the gods!

balibathsOur class of twenty students were also an inspiration – coming from all over the world, each brought his or her own particular insights and skills to the work, creating a very special atmosphere for our ten days together. Our programme involved the weaving together of natal chart interpretation with transits and progressions, to build confidence in working through a whole chart with integrated forecasting. In addition, we also engaged in some experiential work and guided visualisations throughout the course, creating a marriage of left-brained analysis and craft with right-brained imagination and creativity. All this and module credits too, so that students could be on their way towards the Diploma!

We worked hard but we also found time to enjoy the beauty of Bali – its lush green rice fields and stunning temples. A deep spirituality is woven into daily life on this Hindu island, evident from the ubiquitous temples, statues and daily offerings laid out in and around the shops, restaurants and houses. Ganesh, lord of astrology in the pantheon of Hindu gods, was ever-present! Our group excursion to the 9th century Buddhist temple of Borobudur on the neighbouring island of Java was an uplifting end to the event.

We are delighted to say that more collaborative events between the Faculty and Heaven & Earth Workshops are planned in 2016 and beyond, including events in Goa (India) and Bali. Watch this space – or sign up for our mailing list below, to receive regular updates direct to your mailbox!

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