by Daniel Giamario
I am writing this from the most extreme western tip of SW Ireland, on the Dingle peninsula of county Kerry. I am here until the end of May doing research and writing projects.
Scotland and Germany
I am also planning two side trips. One trip is returning to Callanish, on the Isle of Lewis in NW Scotland to visit Margaret Curtis and the Standing Stones for at least the 7th time.
My second trip is to visit a group of women in Bavaria, known as the Priestesses of Spica. Yes, Spica is that star in the constellation of the Virgin Priestess that I always intuited was the most important star represented the mysteries of the sacred feminine. And they agree!
Another remarkable synchronicity (I am in my exact Uranus square Uranus timeline cycle) is that the oldest known statue of the Goddess (40,000 years old) was recently found near a place called Kraherwald, outside Stuttgart, Germany. I lived in Kraherwald from age 5 to 7!!! The Priestesses intend to take me there.
Ireland
Meanwhile, here on the Dingle Pennisula where I am staying there is an ancient land/temple/heirophany of the Tuatha De Danaan, the original race of people who established over 2000 years of peace in Ireland from 4,000 BC to 1700 BC. They created and used chambered cairns, standing stones, and other ceremonial calendrics on the sacred landscape demonstrating the magical link between the Sun and Sky and the land and water. For over 2,000 years this eliminated the perpetual wars between patriarchy and matriarchy in this area.
It turns out just a few miles away from where I am is the harbor said to be the actual location of Tir Na Nog, the final domain of the Tuatha De Danaan. The pre-Celtic cosmology of Scotland and Ireland are a close match for the philosophical framework of the Shamanic Astrology Mystery School.
For the last few years, my experience and research has been most inspired by three seemingly disparate transmissions from different places on the Earth. They include:
- Southwest America
- Polynesia
- Ireland and Scotland
All were tribal shamanic cultures and each had two features that particularly connect with Shamanic Astrology. The first and most basic connection is the spiritually oriented “As Above So Below” organization of their cultures. The second is the always present motif of the “Great Navigator.” This motif is expressed in various ways including the four Mauii brothers locating Hawaii, New Zealand, Easter Island, and South America.
In the South West America there were the traveling clans of shamans carving out petroglyphs and ceremonializing the seasons across western America. And, there is even evidence of enigmatic Irish and Phoenician petroglyhps in New Mexico. Here in Dingle, just four miles from my house, is where Brendan the navigator and Irish Monk sailed for America in the 6th century. The highest mountain here is named after him.
Outreach
Shifting gears, the foundational progress and continually expanding ability of the Shamanic Astrology Mystery School to contribute to an awakened humanity at the accelerating Turning of the Ages feels really good to me. Cayelin and my recent successful participation at the River of Stars Conference on the Big Island of Hawaii, confirmed the insight that our School has much to offer in outreach and connection with other similarly inspired Schools of Astrology such as Evolutionary Astrology. We are inviting other Astrologers to learn the night sky with us.
The presence of Shamanic Astrology has been an important feature of the every expanding number of Priestess circles around the country, originally inspired by the late Nicole Christine, then by our Cayelin, and now powerfully anchored by certified Shamanic Astrologer Anyaa McAndrew who joined us at our last intensive in February. Additionally, there is my own connection with the Divine Feminine/Awakened Masculine Institute as an auxiliary faculty member, bringing the Shamanic Astrology Mystery School tools and techniques to the finest school of spiritually oriented, tantric and relational trainings I am aware of.
Plus, the Shamanic Astrology Mystery School is also now part of the Essene training curriculum of Gabriel Cousens at his Tree of Life Community in Patagonia, Arizona. The Tree of Life is coincidentally very near the Shamanic Astrology Mystery School location where we hold our trainings south of Tucson. I also am seeing some useful connections being made with the growing community of “coaching” professionals benefiting from the useful tools the Shamanic Astrology Mystery School has to offer.
Kripalu, UAC and The Big Island
In other news, I will presenting for the second year in a row at Kripalu Retreat Center in Massachusetts to celebrate the September Equinox 2011. And, I have recently been invited to be on the teaching faculty for the next UAC conference in May 2012 in New Orleans. I will be presenting about the Venus Synodic Cycle and the connection of this cycle to the journey of Inanna to and from the underworld. Lastly, to continue the unfolding magic of the Polynesian connection DO consider joining us for the August 13-20 Cosmology event on the BIG Island. We have a truly magical time planned including visits to:
• The Lava Flows (pictures on the details link) Another recent major eruption of Kilauea is spouting up to 85 feet high lava into the air.
• The Sacred Cave to Pele and Hiʻiaka (Pele’s favorite sister, more on the story to follow soon)
• An exotic Garden of Eden type Fruit Farm
• Green Lake (pictures on the details link)
• Imiloa (a planetarium and astronomy center dedicated to remembering the skills of the ancient navigators. Imiloa is a Hawaiian word that means exploration driven by a sense of wonder and imagination)
We have also invited Auntie Maile to come and share Sacred Cultural Hawaiian Story Telling with us. And the grand finale will be the graduation of five SAMS members being certified as Shamanic Astrologers! I am happy to announce that I will now be living on the Big Island each Summer and am looking forward to sharing the magic of the Big Island with you at this summer’s event. See more details about the event here http://shamanicastrology.com/events/advanced-night-sky-cosmolog
In closing, this is a reminder that we are always interested in input and creative insights for networking the Shamanic Astrology Mystery school with the larger world community, cultural creatives, and all those dedicated to building a new world founded on the principles of “As Above So Below, As Within So Without, a world again honoring “the lady and her land” and redreaming the round table and Avalon, a world where the heart, mind, body, soul, and spirit of the feminine and masculine live and work together as allies.