What is Spirit Horse Foundation about?

Songs of the Old Ways and the Music of What Is Rebuilding Sacred Culture

Spirit Horse Foundation is thoughtfully researching and reclaiming the ancient ceremonial and cultural traditions that are common human heritage. In recent centuries every aspect of our long evolved rooted traditions have been lost, attacked, cheapened; leaving us with absence where there should be richness in terms of our stories, sacred ways, sexuality, speech, relationships and dress to name but a few. Our connection to earth, spirit, community, nature, family, society, even food and water is materially less tangible and spiritually less founded than probably ever in the long, long lineage of humanity. There are places deep in the psyche that long for the food and drink of the spirit. Once these were honoured with magnificent traditions of story, song, dance, beautiful clothes, architecture, ceremony and being together in a way of spirit. At Spirit Horse we have been attempting to put ourselves on the front line in terms of addressing this work as individuals and collectively. Reclaiming this precious and soulful heritage is both great fun and a demanding spiritual challenge. Our ancestors walked this way before. We recognise ourselves struggling with the same time honoured themes of this earthly spiritual journey. In the old ways, a man or woman ritually initiated in their youth would know and live by the stories, songs and sacred knowledge of their people, inheriting a prayerful capacity to confer blessing and to address the gods from within a spiritual infinity lived as felt presence. Understanding individual uniqueness as a wild manifestation of spirit and a gift to community. Overcoming our isolation allows us to contribute with heroism and honour to our troubled world. These true forms of cultural wealth were not rare and have been considered normal by many societies over millennia. It is the authentic root and inheritance that we are attempting to reclaim. Intellectually super-equipped, yet spiritually uninitiated and ritually unskilled, living in great comfort, but removed from the source of life, we in our time can appreciate the need to redress our situation in a way appropriate to our times. At our summer workshops we re-create an "ancient yet new tribal village", temporarily at least, where these issues can be addressed at a deep and personal level. We offer experiential workshops ranging from "easy way in", fun workshops; to intensive, deep-end experiences for those seeking radical growth, change and understanding. Over the years a great desire to re-vision community, with a collective experience of the sacred, has arisen out of the footsteps of individual progress. For many, a sense of being part of something beautiful, something greater than any one of us, becomes more precious than any personal gain or benefit. Sloughing off conformity, our longing to truly participate in life and mystery with others can find a home there. Gratitude and gestures of nobility flow from that foundation. Spirit Horse has initiated several long-term projects, see Rebuilding Culture for more information. These descriptions were churned with good intent and are offered to unseen readers with wishes for fortunate circumstances and happiness. May beings flourish on paths of beauty and wisdom. "Out beyond right thinking and wrong thinking There is a green field I'll meet you there! When you lie down in that grass Life is too full to talk about." - Rumi

About Us

Shivam O'Brien and Erika Indra have been offering ceremonial transformation workshops together for other 15 years.

Storyteller, carpenter, poet and ceremonialist. Shivam breathes life into the Celtic tradition, and eloquently interprets indigenous and spiritual traditions worldwide. A spokesperson for the re-discovery of story, ritual and ancient wisdom generally, he is the originator of these and other courses. "Honed over many years leading retreats, wilderness and ritual workshops, his command of ceremonial space and eloquence, sets eyes, ears and dreams aflame. Passionate and compassionate, a mighty stallion of vulnerability, bearing the war-drum for the Old Ways; he inspires a respect and a loyalty, rare in any time."

Erika is a Hungarian, naturally gifted, psychic and counsellor. Her particular gentle compassion, generosity and fierce kindness are evident. Her earthy, womanly sensuality and sensitivity manifest spontaneously and unpredictably as a mysterious, ruthless and often comical force. She is a destroyer of pretence and logic, bearing forth with an intuitive awareness that cuts, prophesises and knows, honed with ancient mother wit and wisdom.

Around Us : A tribe of unstoppable, responsible, idiosyncratic individuals, circle holders, ceremonial speakers, storytellers, cooks, crafts men and women, and talented teachers. To name any would be to omit many. But we'll break our rule and mention two heroes who for many a long year have offered hospitality in our kitchen and helped us to keep afloat the fragile, storm-bound, story laden boat of the one year course: Tim Thompson: A thunderbolt of boar energy in the kitchen and elsewhere, who fell in with Han Shan and the Wild Rover somewhere between Portsmouth, far flung foreign seaports and tribal cooking fires in the wildest wilds of the British Isles. Nick Plews: A horned bull of endurance, cup bearer, chef, teacher, carpenter, grafter - shoulder to the stone. Unstoppable, relentless slave of the holy presence wherever it's light can be sought for. Right hand friend of any good man.

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