Shapeshifting for Writers

I can’t write a book until I can shapeshift into the characters. This often takes time and I seem to have to wait for it, full of expectancy but with as few expectations as I can manage *g*.

Writing a story is so like journeying. I’m in the characters skin. Several skins in fact as, even for the minor characters, I must be in them when I write them or they turn out flat and two dimensional. And I must be in them in order to react/respond as they would in each situation.

This gets exciting in conversation. The whole thing is flick-flick-flick, flicking from one to the other and so getting the right words and actions for each. The feel as the character hears the words of the person they’re with and sees the body language. I am amanuensis for each of them. At least translators usually only deal with one person. Writers always have multiple personalities going on! And writers must stay rational and conscious as they work between the characters or the reader just gets badly written mush instead of a good story.

All of this is what shamans do – journey to somewhere outside everyday reality, shift into other beings as necessary, and return to Earth with the goodies. Consequently I find my shaman training invaluable for writing.

As a shaman, I can and do journey on demand – a bit like POD, print on demand, for writers *g*. I have to for clients and to find what I need for myself as well. Journeying for a story is the hardest. All journeying requires incubation – putting the idea in the cauldron along with whatever other appropriate ingredients; stirring for the ritual year-and-a-day; being there at the right moment to catch the three drops of wisdom on one’s thumb; and remembering to put that thumb in one’s mouth to suck up the wisdom! That’s the standard preparation process on the Brythonic Celtic path … Taliesin’s journey.

In Taliesin’s journey he is then chased, by the goddess Ceridwen, through the four elements and finally eaten by her in order to be reborn. A standard initiation ritual. All this has to happen in writing a story too. I, the writer, am chased and harried through earth, water, air and fire to come to the climax of the story – rebirth.

Joseph Campbell has his own way of putting this in the “Hero’s Journey”. Taliesin is just the same, if far older than Campbell, only expressed differently. Campbell was right, all stories follow this pattern.
• Some crisis happens that brings the hero to a first awakening, as Gwion Bach is when he is called to stir Ceridwen’s cauldron.
• There follows a learning period with the “master”; Gwion stirs, learns a little, feels as if he’s Ceridwen’s chosen one.
• Then comes another crisis – the cauldron boils, the three drops of wisdom jump out onto Gwion’s thumb instead of the intended one. Gwion has to run or he will die.
• The goddess chases him and this forces Gwion to realise what he’s truly learned, so he shapeshifts into forms for each of the elements.
• He succeeds in escaping three times but, on the fourth time, just when he thinks he’s made it Ceridwen eats the grain of wheat that is Gwion.
• He spends nine months within her, going through the equivalent of Butterfly Soup – going back to the basic elements of his being, that make him, and reforming them into the new self.
• At nine months he is reborn, and so beautiful Ceridwen names him Shining Brow – that’s what Taliesin means – as a tribute to his wisdom.
• She then sets him free in the river of Life where he is fund by someone else in trouble and so is able to begin his new life by helping someone.

All good stories, the ones we want to read over and over and over, have this format. It’s how humans live their lives if they want to grow and be conscious – and most of us do want that. Campbell knew this. So do all shamans and they always have. This is what being a shaman is about – helping others to grow and become conscious.

Whether they know this consciously or not this is what all writers, storytellers, Cyfarwydd – as they’re called in Brython – want too.

I have to do all that journeying and shapeshifting for each story. It takes time and preparation that I, as an impatient human, rail at some of the time. Why can’t it be easy? Why can’t it just flow through me without all this work and travail. Oh, I know the answers but I need a good whinge as much as anyone else! When I was practising as a transpersonal psychotherapist on of my adages that I would offer to clients was, “A whinge a day keeps the therapist at bay!”. It works too. I use it myself … so I do walk my own talk *g*.

It’s an incredible moment – better than orgasm – when I click with the characters of a new story. Suddenly, they’re there. I’m there. We’re together, two consciousnesses in one being. I call it “thread twining” after a practice I learned while working in the Lucis Trust school, Alice Bailey’s lot – look it up on Google *g*. Once I’m there, with the characters, the writing does flow. It’s not easy though! It’s just like Gwion’s chase through the elements. Sometimes it’s so hairy I come out literally shaking and panting, eyes crossed. My husband, Paul, sees me and promptly makes a pot of tea, settles me down to get back to Earth, return to my everyday self. He’s a great support mechanism at these times *g*.

But, without the shift, the writing is dull and boring, it plods, is a very effective sleeping-draught! With the shift I can fly …

PS – the drawing is the logo for Rainbow Warriors, the shamanic school I lead, and comes from my own interpretation of the shaman on the Gundestrup

Of the Land - Being a pagan for me

The word comes from the Latin “paganus”, meaning of the land. To say it in Welsh is the word Wledig … reminding me of the story of Macsen Wledig whose legend is that he became the first (& last) British emperor of Rome. You can find one version of his legend at Early British Kingdoms and he’s also on Wikipedia under his Latin name. He died in Aquileia in 388AD. According to , Mary Stewart's The Hollow Hills, (a usually accurate author) there is a mosaic of his execution there.
Macsen is best known among Celts for the Mabinogion story, the Dream of Macsen Wledig. His name comes from "Gwlad" - country - nation - "holder of lands", possibly nowadays meaning is "rural" or “of the land”. A fascinating blog from the Chief Constable of Wales tells more of its meaning and its association with dragons – the Welsh national beast.
My own name, Elen Sentier, comes out of this. Elen was Macsen’s wife, a woman of the Faer, a face of the goddess Sovereignty, the goddess of the Land of Britain. In the story Macsen builds three castles for her and she builds three roads between them – an analogy for the three Cauldrons of Poesy which are the pars of chakras in the Celtic tradition, similar to the three cauldrons of the better known Taoist tradition. Elen’s roads or sarns between them are like the eastern nadis that connect the chakras. Ooof! That was a wallop of heavy Celtic tech stuff, eh?
But I’ve had this lady, Elen, on my tail all my life and when I came to write she told me she wanted me to write in her name. She is called Elen of the Ways, Elen Sentier is that in that “Sentier” is French for footpath … the lady seems to like the pun.
Despite the fact that Dad thought I might grow up to be more ladylike if he sent me to school at a convent (LOL) I’ve always been pagan, always been of the land. I was born on Dartmoor and lived most of my childhood on the edge of Exmoor, two ancient and wild places down in the old kingdom of Dumnonia and full of British legend. My first novel, Owl Woman, is set there and built around the legend of the sacred well in our village that was owned by my aunt, and actually set in the wall of our garden. It is about the meeting of worlds, promises made and broken to Otherworld and the consequences.


I now live in the smallest of the old British kingdoms, Ergyng, in the between-worlds land of the Welsh Marches, absolutely bung-full of British legend – we even have our own Merlin-figure, Dyfrig, with his school and his oak tower at Moch Ros about five miles up the road from me and born in my local village. Dyfrig has inspired my latest novel, Oak Man, on which I’m working frantically at the moment, it’s about a teenager, Jenni, who meets an old tramp who asks for her help … of course, the tram is Dyfrig, in disguise and with some memory loss. Jenni helps him, learns magic and they win out the day by the skin of their teeth. The story is set here where I live and in the ancient deer-park where Dyfrig had his school and his oak. It’s the first in a series, all set at sacred sites in Ergyng, with Jenni at their centre. I’ve got no write-up for it yet as it’s not finished … but I have done the cover ad this is it J.

My whole life has been formed around “the land” where I live, even the twenty-five years I worked in London. There I had so much to do with Fountain International and knew Hamish Miller (he helped me learn to dowse) and so got very involved with the Star Patterns of alignments in the city. London too is an ancient place, with a great mythos about how it came to be, I found working there fascinating and stimulating … and again, always the connection with the land.
This connection with the land goes out from sensing the moods of rocks, earth, magma, all the mineral kingdom, expanding into the vegetable kingdom – promoting my passion for gardening – and to the animal kingdom, the loves of my life. It even gets me into the human kingdom, the fourth kingdom of nature, although I do have serious issues with many on the selfish way humans treat the rest of creation.
And that’s another thing about being pagan. The connection with the land, being “of the land” makes it impossible to treat anything else as a lesser being just because it isn’t human, doesn’t look like me, and maybe I have difficulty understanding it when it speaks to me. That must be ultimately frustrating for non-human beings! We must appear deaf and stupid to them the way we take no notice. And that reminds me of one of my favourite books, Jinian Footseer by Sheri S Tepper. In that the heroine, Jinnian, gradually discovers that her “talent” is to be able to speak with and hear other creatures. When she finally understands this she realises how patient they have all been with her complete lack of realisation that they’ve been understanding her and speaking with her all her life … a very embarrassing place LOL.
All of this, all this connection, of being of the land, has drawn me to write. And to teach. My novels – as well as being mystery and exciting – are about walking between the worlds. This is the theme of my whole life, walking between the worlds. The phrase comes from one of our ancient and famous British shamans, Thomas of Erceldoune, probably better known from the song “Thomas the Rhymer”. This quote from Wikipaedia tells a little about him …
Thomas Learmonth (1220-1298; also spelled Learmount, Learmont, or Learmounth), better known as Thomas the Rhymer or True Thomas, was a 13th century Scottish laird and reputed prophet from Earlston (then called "Erceldoune"). He is also the protagonist of the ballad "Thomas the Rhymer" (Child Ballad number 37). He is also the probable source of the legend of Tam Lin. Sir Thomas was born in Erceldoune (also spelled Ercildoune - presently Earlston), Berwickshire, sometime in the 13th century, and has a reputation as the author of many prophetic verses. Little is known for certain of his life but two charters from 1260-80 and 1294 mention him, the latter referring to the "Thomas de Ercildounson son and heir of Thome Rymour de Ercildoun".
True Thomas’ coined the phrase “walking between the worlds”, his ballad-story shows how it happened for him, how he met with the Queen of the Faer, travelled between worlds with her and gained his magic. The Queen of the Faer is yet another representative of Sovereignty. I walk in his footsteps.
Yes, walking between the worlds, that’s pagan for me. Being in continuous touch with the Land, the Spirit of Place, this gorgeous planet that supports us despite what we do to her, that’s being pagan for me. Being “of the land” …

WooHoo !!!

And the new Celtic Shaman's site is up. Fairly slim at present but I'll be adding to it. The basics are there, Rainbow Warriors, but a friend has podcasting and all sorts on her site so I must go investigate as these look exciting. Tell me how you like it so far ...

The Shaman's Way - 2010 Workshops

Shaman's Way Workshops

I thought you might like to know what we will be doing on each of the four workshop days. The format for each of the workshops will be the same. The content of each, of course, is different. The workshops form a progress through the theme of growth.

The workshops take place around each of the 4 Celtic moon-fire seasons … Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain.

WORKSHOP 1 – IMBOLC

We begin with Interconnectedness, our relationship with Life, the Universe and everything … and the answer isn’t 42 .

Our story is Shining Brow – the story of Taliesin, the bard of Britain and how he came into being. Taliesin’s name means “shining brow” and he was given it at the end of his initiation by the man, the prince, who finds him as he is reborn. This workshop is about our rebirth out of fear, ignorance and separation from everyone and everything else into Taliesin’s birth … being everything.

WORKSHOP 2 – BELTANE

This workshops takes us to the theme of Choice. Choice is vital to us, as you’ll discover … even more than you probably already know.

Our story is Ragnall’s Wedding, the Loathly Lady, and how she tests first Arthur and then Gawain. And how Gawain answers the question successfully. This workshop is about learning to ask, to let go, to give away … to give choice.

WORKSHOP 3 – LUGHNASADH

This workshop is about the Teacher, about growing up, making the personality a vehicle for the soul; trials; testing; trickery.

Our story is The Enchanter’s Tale, the story of Llew Llaw Gyffes and how Blodeuwedd, the Queen of the Night, helps him to grow from a selfish child into a useful and caring guardian. Following Llew you will go this way.

WORKSHOP 4 – SAMHAIN

This workshop is about Service. When we know that we are part of everything, when we have choice, when have learned not to be selfish but to care for everything, then we can learn to be of service to the Earth.

Our story is Thomas the Rhymer. Thomas was a real person, a Scottish shaman from the 12th century. He coined the phrase “Walking Between Worlds” and he was certainly a walker between worlds. He goes to otherworld, meets the Queen of the Faer and returns. This “return” is one of the most important things the shaman does. Journeying is to walk between worlds and return. It’s about responsibility; going & returning; seeking wisdom and retuning to help the earth, Life, rather than going on to look after oneself. It is not useful just to go out if you do not return to give your wisdom to those you serve. This journey shows you the way.

The format for each of the days is …

You arrive by 10.30. We have coffee, introduce ourselves and begin the workshop. After going over the theme of the day I tell you the Story. Then we discuss what the story has told us and what we have learned.

After lunch I lead you into a Journey that follows the theme of the story; you go there, have the experience.

You then draw the journey. Drawing contacts different parts of the brain than writing, allows you to go deeper into the journey, stops your brain from expurgating the bits it doesn’t find easy to take . You do this in silence, not discussing your journey as yet.You then tell your journey to your colleagues in small groups – we do some work and exercises on listening and hearing to help with this in the morning. We then come together in the whole group and share your experiences.

After tea we work together to prepare the Ritual we are going to do after supper. Again the ritual works around the theme of the story.

After supper we drive to the sacred site and perform the ritual. We then return home, have a brief discussion over coffee.

The workshop ends by 9.00pm.

cost is £45/workshop or £175 for all 4 booked together