WILD NATURE / WILD BEING – course

COUNCIL OF ALL BEINGS * ANIMISM * RITUALS * MEDITATION * DRUM JOURNEY * POWER SONGS

Guided by Eero Peltonen and Helena Karhu


We invite you to spend the magic of winter with us at Villa Ora’s retreat center, right next to Koli National Park. There, in the middle of wild nature, we get to enjoy rest, fire, good food, gentle warmth of a wooden sauna and each other's company. The course takes us to the circle of our ancestors, to feel the connection to everything in our bones and in the core of our beings.

Wild Nature/Wild Being invites us to sense ourselves as part of nature and nature as part of ourselves through ritual, songs, drumming, imagination, and dance. We invite our ancestors, natural forces, places of power, and representatives of the plant kingdom, rock kingdom and animal kingdom to our weekend.

The main theme of the course is sensing and discovering our own inner nature and the wild nature that surrounds us. The main theme of the course is the ritual drama the Council of All Beings developed by Joanna Macy.

We start preparing for the council already on Friday evening by following the sound of the drum and the sensory path opened by poetry singing and meditation. We experience the beauty of ourselves as a part of all that exists. Each of us chooses a member of the animal, stone, or plant kingdom, a force of nature or a place of power that we want to represent in the council. This is how we bring out the richness and diversity of nature and help the different phenomena of nature to tell about their lives, both joys and sorrows.

During the course we will make a mask that embodies our Being. This helps us to deepen our connection to the natural being that we are representing in the council. If you wish, you can bring materials for your own mask for the course, e.g. bark, firewood, feathers, moss, or other natural materials. We instructors bring also some materials for the masks. The course culminates in the Council of All Beings on Saturday evening.

In the course, we rejoice the opportunity to be wild, and experience our own true existence as part of nature. We need wildness, we need each other, and we need contact with nature to feel well!

Wildness:
• Increases inspiration, motivation, and confidence in life
• Brings creativity and freshness to our work or studies
• Gets the energies moving in our bodies, hearts, and minds
• Strengthens connection, interaction, and balance with all of creation
• Adds joy, fun, and humor in life
• Allows the "inner child" to become visible, nurtured, and noticed
• Helps us to find a path to our own self

During the course, we will learn to take over the archaic power through our own creativity, voice, body, and our course group. The gifts of archaic Nordic folk tradition are strongly present in the course, as we use songs, poems, spells, and primordial myths as a bridge to animistic experiences. Animism refers to the view that everything that exists contains soulfulness, a purpose for its own existence. All of us are important and irreplaceable members of the nature family! Everything in nature has its spirit.

You don't need previous experience or knowledge of rituals, animism, or drum journeys, singing or dancing. Everyone's voice, essence, and footprint is welcome exactly as it is.

We will also make a trip to the famous peaks of Koli National Park. We peacefully embrace the magical powers of Ukko-Koli and Akka-Koli mountains and awaken our power animals and our inner creation.

Come with us on this winter adventure - an opportunity to learn, refresh and be inspired together! Helena and Eero warmly welcome you!

Helena Karhu:

I am a wellness and nature entrepreneur from North Karelia, a mother of twins and a cultural researcher. I work at Karhu Talo (www.karhuntalo.com), which I founded, which aims to produce services based on connection with nature, cultural empowerment and inspiration, as well as holistic well-being in my birthplace in North Karelia. At Karhun Talo retreats, we use ancient and reliable methods to increase comprehensive and natural well-being. I have taken a huge number of different courses in the fields of holistic well-being, from shiatsu to herbal courses, traditional blood cupping, shamanism, reiki therapy, and practiced Tibetan Buddhist mind exercises for about 15 years.

No special knowledge or experience is required for the course. The course is
alcohol-free. Please notice, that Villa Ora’s is unfortunately not accessible by wheelchair.