We love this beautiful reflection on the Celtic calendar by Mari Kennedy, which featured in the Short and Sweet section of our Autumn 2019 issue. It’s a fitting reflection to consider, as winter settles in!
The Celtic Wheel
Radial wisdom for contemporary women
by Mari Kennedy
The Celtic Wheel is a year-long online course I designed for women who want to weave ancient wisdom into their contemporary lives and live from a deeper, more soulful place.
The Wheel came into my life as my dad was dying, nine years ago. I feel it was his passing gift to me. At first, it helped me to make sense of a number of losses I had experienced around that time. As I dived deeper into Celtic consciousness with my teacher Dolores Whelan, it became a map and model of how to integrate my soft, intuitive, wise feminine with my clear, competent, kickass masculine.
The Celtic Wheel is the calendar handed down to us from the pre-Celtic and Celtic tradition, which charts the eight Celtic festivals and seasons in the year. The ancestors of this land were rooted in the rhythms of nature and the cosmos. In today’s strive-and-drive linear culture, we, their descendants, are living disconnected from these natural rhythms. This can leave us fragmented, tired, wired and exiled from our soul.
Last Samhain, I launched my first year-long course. My intention was to gather a web of women from around the world to journey through the year, celebrating the festivals together with rituals and practices. These women would inspire, support and embolden each other as wisdom holders.
Over the last eight months, 66 women from all corners in the world have been journeying together. It has blown my mind and my heart open to see the power and impact of this indigenous wisdom.
