Irish Steiner Teacher Training Presents:
Easter Break Short Courses, Wednesday 11 to Friday 13 April, 2007

At Raheen Wood School, Tuamgraney, County Clare

11:30 am - 1 pm each day: The Healing Art of Storytelling with Nancy Mellon

Nancy Mellon has developed a practical, spiritually oriented approach to personal development through the art of storytelling. Participants will heighten their ability to create stories of a healing nature. This course is designed for caring professionals, parents, teachers and artists. Nancy is a writer, therapist and teacher who lives in the United States. She is the author of Storytelling and the Art of the Imagination and Storytelling with Children.
2:15 pm - 3:45 each day: The History of Artistic Expression: an Evolution of Consciousness with Dick Bruin. Dick Bruin will present a mix of lecture and drawing workshops, looking at examples of architecture and visual arts from Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Early Christian, Renaissance, and the Modern eras. Paper supplied. Bring coloured pencils and block crayons
Dick is an artist and visiting teacher from Holland, and the co-author of “Painting in Waldorf Schools”.
Pre-booking essential. Cost - one workshop - €45, both workshops - €75.
Delicious vegetarian lunch available €8 (advanced notice required)
To register, please contact Jonathan Angus, Tel: 061 926 889

email: jonathan.angus@gmail.com

~~~~~~~~~

Book Launch:

“Into the Further Reaches - An anthology of contemporary British poetry celebrating the spiritual journey”
edited by Jay Ramsay
PS Avalon Publishing isbn 978-0-9552786-1-7; £15 sterling
This large format, beautifully designed 252 page anthology contains the work of 64 leading poets rooted in the Romantic and visionary tradition inviting you to awaken to your own inner spiritual connection at this time of global transition.
Available from www.psavalon.com or from www.amazon.co.uk
or in Ireland, available from Ruth Marshall at networkholistic@eircom.net

Cost €27 incl P&P.
“To take a step beyond ‚ this is what this exciting new anthology of Contemporary British Poetry invites you to do at this time of transition. Rooted in the Romantic and visionary tradition, these 64 poets form part of a powerful vanguard that is alive and well (and mature) outside of the accepted mainstream. These poets are alive on the page and in the mouth ‚ intelligent, committed, colourful, spiritually conscious and awake to the edges of things in the clear seeing that poetry requires. Above all, this is a poetry book for travellers re-negotiating the shape of our lives as we reach the end of time, with all it means to be here and in service of the Divine.”

GNOSIS! A new book due out in April

Author Sean Byrne is from the Republic of Ireland but has lived and worked near Belfast for many years. As well as publishing and editing, he writes for various journals and magazines. His first novel, GNOSIS! is based on the life of the 2nd century Christian writer Origen of Alexandria (pictured at left). The decadent Roman Empire is on the brink of anarchy. Rome is suspicious and fearful of the new religion, but wishes to harness its power for its own ends with a cold and down-to-earth programme. In Alexandria on the other hand, Christianity is welcomed with open arms as a herald of a new age of the spirit. Origen, the Egyptian philosopher, is a danger to Rome's plans. The result is one of the most intriguing and exciting periods of history the world has ever known. £8.99 or €13.50 from Amazon or direct from the author with his signature. Email Sean Byrne, member@ageoldbooks.fsnet.co.uk
Sean Byrne also informs us that the current issue of The Local Planet features his review of Sekem, Ibrahim Abouleish's book about the biodynamic community in Egypt.

The above illustration is from Andre Thevet Les Vrais Pourtraits et Vies Hommes Illustre 1584, University of Michigan

Recommended Reading:The Interior of the Earth
An Esoteric Study of the Subterranean Spheres
Available from Rudolf Steiner Press, London, Price: £9.95

Paul V O'Leary who recently moved to Dingle has compiled a book containing the rare lectures and essays given by Rudolf Steiner on the influence of the subterranean spheres of our earth. This has the greatest relevance in these times and yet has hardly ever been discussed. Can we know what lies beneath our feet, how it affects us and how we can transform it? Rudolf Steiner's unique insight gives a picture of the nine layers of the earth that range from the familiar ‘mineral’ on which we live, to the innermost core. In between are layers such as the ‘Mirror Earth’, which represents qualities of extreme evil, and the ‘Fire Earth’, which is connected to natural catastrophes and also intimately related to and affected by human will. When the human will is chaotic and untutored, says Steiner, it acts magnetically on this layer and disrupts it, leading to volcanic eruptions. He also describes other natural catastrophes such as extreme weather and earthquakes - in connection to the interior of the earth and karma. These lectures make it clear that 'human evolution implies a transformation of the earth's interior' and we so well to become familiar with them.