MEMBERSHIP

What is The Celtic Creatives?

A mythic village where we gather together to learn about creativity from Celtic mythology and invite this ancestral relationship and wisdom into our lives to enrich our sense of belonging and well-being. 

Who is this for?

Anyone who is interested in Irish or wider Celtic mythology, creativity and wellbeing. Open to all genders.  

What do I believe?

I believe that a creative life is not for the elusive few, we are all naturally creative. We are all made from the evident and yet mysterious force of creation itself on this planet—from nature. This same creative juice flows through each one of us. Being in nature helps us to feel well because it cloaks us with its creative lifeforce. As within, so without, nature mirrors back to us the evident and yet mysterious pulse that’s within us.

As our societies have become disconnected from nature, so too have we become disconnected from our creativity. To quote a couple of studies, 93% of people feel creativity is important to their wellbeing 1, yet 75% feel that their creativity is underutilized 2, and interestingly, in a recent survey of creative professionals in Ireland, 90% felt that Irish culture and our natural environment contributed to the quality of their creative output. 3

A Creative Otherworld

I grew up with a grandmother who filled my ears with tales of the unseen, of the Celtic Otherworld that runs parallel to our waking world where live the old deities and ancestors of Ireland. This inspired me to do a degree in Medieval Irish and Celtic Studies in my late teens, now 20 years later, I truly appreciate the catalyst these myths were for my creativity. I believe that when we invite our ancestors into our creativity, we radically enhance our well-being because this supports two fundamental human needs; the need to belong and the need to create.

The Druids: Bringing in the Mistletoe

The Druids: Bringing in the Mistletoe by Edward Atkinson Hornel & George Henry

A Society of Creatives

The ancient Irish curated their tuatha (tribes, “too-ah”) around creativity, with the Áes Dána (“Aysh Dawn-ah”) the ‘People of the Arts’ as their leaders. For our ancestors, nature was their temple because nature was a portal to the Otherworld. Nature, along with storytelling, dreamwork, imagination, and their bodies, helped them to open this portal so that the wisdom of these old deities who were, in essence, their Creative Ancestors, could flow through in service to their creative expression and their community. Today, thousands of years later, I access my creative flow in this way. 

I believe that these same Creative Ancestors are available to us all; the archetypes of Celtic mythology (and of course all mythic traditions worldwide), and those who have gone before like the Áes Dána and my beloved grandmother, Frances. This is a space to explore how we might access our Creative Ancestor Imagination, to open the portal to the ‘Otherworld’ by inviting images that emerge from myths, night dreams, imagination, the body, and nature to guide our creativity and well-being. 

Join the Community

The Celtic Creatives membership is hosted on SUBSTACK.

In this creative clan (clann is the Gaelic word for an extended family), you can expect:

For Free Subscribers:

You’ll receive my monthly Imbas Dispatches newsletter. Imbas is an Old Irish term (and ritual practice) for wisdom that illuminates, and so my intention here is to share a nugget from Irish or wider Celtic mythology to inspire your creative soul. 

For Paid Members:

Each month, you’ll receive:

  1. The Imbas Dispatches newsletter (as above).

  2. A tool for your Celtic Creatives Toolkit: This will be a monthly creative practice to fuel your creative fire. It could be an active imagination, a movement technique, a creative journalling exercise, or a mythic art or craft practice.

  3. A Creative Ancestor Profile: I will share an introduction to a goddess, god, archetype or mythic being within the Irish tradition who you can connect with as a Creative Ancestor to support your creativity.

  4. A Co-Working with the Creative Otherworld session on Zoom: Bring along whatever you are working on to this hour-long co-working space. This can be related to your work or for pleasure (craft away!) In the first 10-15 minutes, I will guide you through a practice to drop into your body and what I call, the Creative Ancestor Imagination to inspire your work. After this, you will have 45 minutes to work away on whatever it is you bring with you before we close down. I am in Ireland but will try to vary the times each month to accommodate multiple time zones. You will be able to access the recording for one month afterwards. 

  5. Post and respond to comments and participate in our community.

  6. 25% off all my self-guided courses plus discounts on mentoring programmes and live events.

* The investment is €10 per month or €95 per year.

For Founding Members: Áes Dána Retreat

You will receive:

  • All of the above with the paid membership.

  • Áes Dána Retreat: Four beautifully curated online retreats each year aligned to the creative wisdom of the Gaelic seasons. The first retreat will be in Bealtaine/May 2024.

* The investment is €225 per year.