Staff, Song, and the Land: Seidr-inspired practise
with Christiana Aro Harle, Tuvan – Finnish – Nordic traditions
In the beginning was the Word, so they say. Some say, many cultures say, that this Mother Earth and all Her creatures were born from Song. Every culture – every People – around this world sing. Some cultures use song actively still today. Estonia sang her way to independence. Tuvan shamans use song in seances. Finnish folk and all of the Baltics, as well as into Siberia, have long songs of epic stories, have keeners, have healing songs, herd and bee calling home songs, songs for everyday activity, political songs, entertainment, and only in ceremony songs. And yet we do not sing much.
Songs are as many as there are people in the world. All have in common: to give Voice to intention, to give power.
Song was and is the carrier of language, the stories of a People. Song, some say, is what keeps the world in place. And song is one of the first items on the checklist of forbidding and punishing within all colonialist – imperialistic, power-seeking, extracting cultures.
“Leave no word unsung” is a saying from the Baltic region. Words were from the stories of The People, from the Spirits, the Gods and Goddesses, Nature, Life itself. Singing the land, singing the multi-sensory visions perched on a question and on the land we become curious about our voices, about words and the flow of power in the songs each of us carry.
During this Seiđr-inspired workshop the focus is on finding and using our voices, a song, with or without words and the staff and Nature. Because this is a short workshop we shall begin in teh Sacred Glade and then head out onto the land to find a quiet place where we can scatter into nature, rejoining in circle to comment, share and seek the next step. Perhaps we shall return to our lives with more voice.
You do not need any singing experience.
Bring with you a wooden staff that is about your own height. Wear clothes for sitting in nature.
How to make a staff
About Christiana:
Christiana Aro Harle, a shamanic healer, holds degrees in Music Therapy, Inspriaktiva Breathwork Therapy, and Women’s Consciousness education. Beekeeping is a constant companion into the micro-macrocosmos. Christiana works in the field of shamanic healing for over thirty years as well as a shamanic drumbirther. Her path is woven with Land and Song, through Tuvan shamanic initiation in Tuva with deepening paths into Spirit of Song via Nordic/Finnish/Tuvan traditions: keener, healer, birther, journeyer, seer. Christiana is passionate about supporting and guiding people to find and remember their path, heal, and re-connect with Mother Earth and all Beings. Christiana lives in southeast Finland with her partner Topias on a small plot of forested land with very old pine trees in the Kymi River Valley writing, dreaming, planting, foraging, and protecting Mother Earth.