MEDITATION & HEALING CIRCLE : Archive - An Tobar
Monday Meditation and Healing Circles were held at An Tobar from to 5 November 2007 to 28 January 2013
An Tobar 28 January 2013 meditation - Ups and Downs of the Journey - introduction
On 5 November 2007 the first Monday meditation at An Tobar started a planned series of 7 meetings up to Christmas that year. As we all know that series was extended into the following year and on after that. Tonight is not a closure, it is part of a continuing story. We started the meditation on the 5th with the Energy of the Earth Breath - counting 7 in, 7 hold, 7 out, hold 7.... and so today, 28 January 2013 our last meditation of this series, we start with the same breath. Our change happens at Imbolc and, like the snow drop, symbol of Brigid and this time of year, real change happens underground, unnoticed for a time, before it sticks its head above ground. The well goes deep underground, into the earth, and draws from those depths its inspiration, energy and expression. This happens on the land of An Tobar. There is a deep resource here that nourishes life and activities.
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A Continuity Candle made by Eileen dedicated by Bernadette
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A wonderful wine & cheese party organised by Jackie
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Some memories of our time there
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Healing Box full of intentions and wrapped with a Bhrat Bhride
Centres from various meditations
Everyone is invited to place personal objects on the centre cloth, in order to contribute to the energy of the meditation.
Generally you will see flowers, crystals, candles, sacred / holy objects... whatever helps your connection to Spirit.
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From sharing healing with dolphins & whales by Bernie |
Eileen shared a beautiful blossoming heart/rose meditation at the Well for the Full Moon and chakra series |
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Christmas 2010 saw Baby Jesus and the Star of Bethlehem surrounded by candles |
Yamann shared colour and contemplated flowers |
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Things in our lives that we can't exist without - or can we? |
Moon and Sun |
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A single flower |
The inner smile |
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| Phi Spiral |
Healing the Ancestral Web |
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Snippets from our Meditation Diary - Our meditations are led by regular attendees, each bringing their own methods and practices of traditional and modern meditation to the evening. This results in many different experiences, with each week being unique.
Grieg's music welcomed us into the Oratory, a lamp shone in the centre beside a flask of water, all on a purple cloth. We stood and relaxed from head to toe. The guided visualisation led us to the well at An Tobar, then we descended via a ladder into a chamber of green light and a still mirror-like central pool. We sat beside the water in silent meditation...
Everyone brought hard-boiled eggs. In the centre was an empty basket, 3 chocolate eggs, a fluffy rabbit, a candle, angel cards and daffodils. We held our eggs and put our intentions for the coming year into them. Then we decorated them with colouring pens...
We imaged a fountain at the bottom of Flower Hill in Navan flowing with harmony and peace. This energy spread over the town, road by road, then out over the surrounding countryside, Ireland, in all directions over the world...
Removing the Blocks to the Divine: This meddy had us navigate the things in our lives that we can't exist without, the chocolate, the crystals, the profit. the pain, the things we disfunctionally glorify. They can be blocks to our true divine nature. These are simply sign posts or stepping stones, they are not the eternal.
we have also meditated on.... mindful walking, the door to our hearts, sitting in silence, Ireland using Amergin's Invocation, our inner child, chakras and colours, physical changes when meditating, hemisynch brain balancing, crystals, experiencing energy with water, colour and lengthening our arms (yes, really!)
Healing Days
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21 July 2012 |
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Many thanks to Mary Owens who guided us to creating energy bags of flowers for healing, and Susan who encouraged us to stand up and energise with pancha tanmantra '5 elements martial art'. After a lunch break and short meditation and healing circle on positive intentions, Martin Dier led us through the experience of healing using bio-energy and eft. Filled with all the good intentions and healing energies of the day the bowl transformed. |
The First Circle opened the Day in the Labyrinth Room with an Introduction and Meditation, followed by a short Walk in Nature to collect items for our centre. We then returned to tell the story of their collection and what 'messages' we got from what we saw as we walked. For the Second Circle we move to the Oratory to share in Reiki explanation and demonstration with Bernadette and Aromatherapy practice and information with Eileen. We each chose the scents that attracted us at this time and then discovered what they were telling us about our lives. We returned to the Labyrinth room for the Third Circle, creating a Personal Mandala, reviewing the day and closing the centre. |
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The empty bowl in the Labyrinth room when we opened the day.
The labyrinth hidden under a rug, just as much of our inner selves is hidden to the outer world.
Meditation and Healing Circle Workshop 28 July 2012
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Meditation
Grounding basics - Bernadette Brain patterns & Meditation state - Eileen Talking Stick discussion – Nora |
Healing Circle
Building up Energy – Bernadette Format of Healing Circle – Eileen Talking Stick discussion - Nora |
Meditation aim is to access your spiritual core / soul / to connect to your inner self / higher self / sacred self. It can include visualisation and a journey but meditation is an inward not an outward journey – it is to find that eternal still space that is within us all. Once found it can then be connected to the outer world and the universe. In order to do this most of us require a short period of relaxation and to occupy our minds, focussing on breathing being the most popular method. Then the meditation can start.
Notes for inspiring our discussions are in this document: Basic discussion points for running a meditation group and healing circle - download here.
17 December 2012 - Treasures and Gifts
We gathered in the Oratory and placed gifts on and around the central tree. Following a star we walked to the Labyrith Room, collecting Nativity figures as we walked the corridor. In the Labyrinth room we blessed the Nativity scene and meditated. Singing Away in a Manger, Silent Night and We Three Kings we returned to the Oratory. Here we shared gold, frankinsence and myrrh from Jerusalem, then held a healing circle. We each took a gift from the tree and the donor shared their story of the gift. It was then down on hands and knees for a game of tapping the floor in a rhythm few could achieve, but which caused much fun. We ended with a christmas feast of food and drink in the kitchen.
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Christmas 2011 - Give up yer aul sins - Little Soul & the Sun
had the Nativity as told in "Give up yer aul sins", a play based on the Little Soul and the Sun (Neal Donald Walshe)
and a candle dance to honour our divine centre.
Spiritual Orienteering 2011
We enjoyed an all day event on Saturday 13th August 2011 for all those that have attended monday night meditation evenings.
We shared a Labyrinth morning with a talk, divining and meditation experience walking the beautiful one at An Tobar. The creative afternoon involved glass painting and a memory board. The evening we all relaxed with a 3 course BBQ, film on the work of Emoto and charades.
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Mindful Eating
All enjoyed this Monday Night Meditation which was based on Mindful Eating.
Everyone brought a small plate of food, packet of crisps, bar of choc, salad or similar to share.
A Healing Circle was followed by Food Blessing Meditation and Guided Slow Eating.
We shared a spirit plate with earth and all beings in the Labyrinth.
Anyone for Artisan Tea?
.....It looked odd but popped into boiling water it slowly unfolded to what you see below and was quite drinkable!!!
Artisan Tea. ...........amazing!
29 October 2011 - Bridging An Tobar and St. Ultans Well, Ardbraccan
Bridging the centuries of history and tradition. Ardbraccan has a long and sacred history and our pilgrimage over holy ground will take into account the importance of St. Ultan and all those that have lived and died here down through the centuries, those that have given us vision and inspiration.
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29 November 2010 saw the passing of a dear tree friend at An Tobar
It is coincidental that it was only a couple of week's before that Martin led us in a meditation that included this tree.... it will be sadly missed.
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Modern Day Bile Tortain Strange weather we are having. A local man saw a bright orange light in the garden and later found a magnificent cedar (actually a Monterey Cypress) tree split in two. This particular cedar was a massive tree a few hundred years old growing in Ardbraccan, Co. Meath. Maud Gonne would certainly have known about this particular tree and was keen to revive the ancient practice of Tree Worship in the area . Whether it just split in two or was hit by lightning or a meteorite remains to be determined. However, a few centuries ago in the same area stood the Bile Tortain , one of the five sacred trees of Celtic Ireland. A tree of special significance and imbued with magical properties, even mentioned by Columb Cille. Bile meaning sacred tree and Tortain a tribe in the area. Bile was also the Irish god of life and death and from the same root word we get Bealtaine -our season of life unfettered. It was considered a national land mark and associated with the sovereign reign of kings. Indeed the King was often seen as a tree with branches outstretched protecting the people. When ever a Bile fell it was followed with a catastrophic change in the world order. Circa 763AD the Bile Tortain fell and with it the reign of the sons of Aed Sláne. Archetypal trees are central to many world cultures and are often depicted as an axis mundi, the centre around which all life revolves. Damage to the tree is typically met with tragedy. In the bible, for instance, there is the story of the fall from grace for eating off the tree of knowledge which was in the centre of the garden of Eden. How strange then that this magnificent Cedar which is a modern day contender for the role of Bile Tortain and would have seen the rebirth of Sovereignty in Ireland in the early 1900s has seen the end of our economic sovereignty less than a century later. Might we guess what happens next. History may hold a clue. Pictured split in two and frozen in snow the modern day Bile Tortain. Art imitating life? |
The Bile Tortan near ArdbreacanFrom: Survivals in Belief Among the Celts, by George Henderson, [1911] "The Bile Tortan stood in Magh Tortan in Meath, near Ardbreacan, and was blown down in the reign of the sons of Aedh Slaine, about the middle of the seventh century. This tree was one of the three wonderful trees of Eirinn, and had stood at the time of the Milesian conquest, more than a thousand years." "Bile Tortan, Eo Rossa, Craebh Mughna, Craebh Dathi, Bile Uisnigh were five ancient trees which sprang up in Erin in the reign of Conaing Begeglach (Anno Mundi 4388).Conaing held a certain assembly at Tara . . . and they saw coming towards them from the west a man of wonderful size, carrying in his hand a branch of a tree bearing apples, nuts, acorns, and berries. . . . He told them he had come from the place of the sun's rising in the east to the place of its going down in the west, to know why it had stood still for a day, and having obtained the cause of this irregularity that he was now on his return again to the east. He shook the produce of this branch on the ground; and these being taken up by various persons and planted in various localities, produced these wonderful trees which were all blown down in the seventh century.
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Page last updated: 6th Oct 2018
