Faery doctors are men and women in rural Ireland and other Celtic lands who treat people suffering from illnesses and misfortunes attributed to faery influence. In the past, faery doctoring was strongest in areas without western medical care and where the presence of the Otherworld was recognized as one of the realities of daily life. As modern ways of life encroached on these traditional societies, faery doctoring was looked upon as superstition, and much of the old wisdom was lost. And yet, like shamanism, it is undergoing a revival. The faery doctor -- like the shaman or the druid -- re-appears in every age to meet the needs of the times. Every age must, therefore, come to its own understanding of the faery world and its relationship to it.

Working as a faery doctor means allying yourself, your shamanic practice, and other areas of your life with that realm of the Otherworld that some Celtic people call the Sidhe (pronounced "shee" and meaning both the faery world and the faeries themselves). It requires working with middle-world spirits according to our shamanic three-world scheme. Like all shamanic practices, faery doctoring requires working with and for the spirit world as much as seeking its help for ours. In fact, being a faery doctor may require living more closely with -- and between -- the worlds than what many people consider their usual shamanic practice. It requires new levels of commitment.

This five-day training program is structured so that participants can "partner up" with the faery world and learn traditional faery doctoring methods, such as healing ritual, prayer, gift-giving, song and music, love-talking, life-force rescuing, using elemental power objects, and other activities. But faery doctoring is more than just a collection of practices. It is actually a way of life, a shamanic way of living as faery allies who continue, even after the five days, to discover and create ways to promote health, beauty, love, vitality, and a relationship with the Sidhe based on cooperation, friendship, and affection.

There is a growing realization that the faery world and ours must live, work, and play in greater harmony than they currently do. The epidemic of illnesses with traditional faery-related symptoms -- such as tiredness, depression, listlessness, low enthusiasm for life, and an inability to focus attention that suggests partial soul loss -- is one manifestation of this disharmony. The Sidhe are taking energy and vitality from humans to restore and re-balance the life force that we consume wastefully, selfishly, and in great quantities. Modern exploitation of Earth's resources weakens Earth's ability to sustain diversity of life, including the life of the Sidhe.

The Sidhe need human allies and human energy to help them preserve Nature's vitality, just as we need their cooperation to heal individuals suffering from faery-related illnesses.

Participants should be seriously committed to shamanic living and be interested in adapting their current shamanic practice to middle-world work with the Sidhe. This is an advanced program, and participants need strong shamanic skills and some degree of commitment to using shamanism to learn faery doctoring so they can serve the needs of the human world, the faery world, and the Earth that is our common home.. Hopefully, we will become a new generation of faery doctors.

 

NOTE: The three-day programs are less intensive than the five-day programs and do not go into as great a depth or provide the same opportunities for practicing the material in the workshop itself. The three-day programs do, however, cover essentially the major elements of the five-day programs.

August 6-10, 2008
Kellogg Biological Station, Hickory Corners, Michigan
See www.kbs.msu.edu/ to view workshop site.
Information: Contact Kate Durda at 517-543-6754 or spiritweaver@voyager.net