The group spent the weekend of 5-6 January 2011 with Zoë Brân who generously introduced them to Shamanism and Shamanic Journeying.
Earlier this year our group worked with Shaman UK, a London-based organisation facilitated by Zoë Brân. The possibilities of working with shamanism, through altered consciousness and the shamanic journey, came to our attention when we took part in a presentation by one of our members, Vanda Playford. Vanda had given a presentation to the group on the life and work of TS Eliot, a presentation which in part derived from a shamanic journey she made with Zoë Brân for the purpose of exploring Eliot from a fresh perspective. This way of working seemed unusually creative and stimulating and so the weekend course was arranged.
On the first day of the course we all learned the techniques of shamanic journeying as only Vanda had ever experienced this before. One of the ways in which Zoë described this process was 'moving from the left, analytical, structuring brain, into the right, sensing, feeling, visualising brain'. Listening to live drumming helped to alter consciousness and move from a state of ordinary thought, into a state of heightened awareness in which we could ask questions and receive visual and verbal information. The potential for this way of working quickly became clear and by the second day we were ready to use the technique of shamanism for exploring our current joint project Time Capsules and Conditions of Now a.k.a Vision Forum – London. Through discussion and targeted shamanic journeys, which looked explicitly at the content and form of our upcoming exhibition and publication, we were able to work together in a new and dynamic way. By the end of the weekend we had an outline content and form for the presentation and had a strong feeling of how to work together in a harmonious way. For more information about Zoë Brân and her work with creative professionals: http://www.shaman.uk.com/
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