Last Saturday I was joined with 15 other women at a beautiful location north of Adelaide where we honoured a number of Celtic Warrior Queens as well as Goddesses who were renown for their displays of "feminine power" - being initiators of heroes, as well as defenders of their pride and tribal homelands.
The timing of this workshop could not have been any better as SBS had recently started to screen a series on Britain's "She Wolves", where historian Dr Helen Castor explores the lives of seven English queens who challenged male power and the fierce reactions they provoked. The first episode explored the lives of Matilda, who some 800 years ago, came within a hairs breadth of being the first woman to be crowned queen of England, as well as her daughter-in-law Eleanor of Aquitaine, who divorced one king, married another, only to lead a rebellion against him.
Commencing the day with two historical figures - Boudica of the Iceni and the lesser known Cartimundua of the Brigantes, our journey took us across the waters where we met the (in)famous Grainne Ni Mhaille (Grace O'Malley) whose pirating ways drew secret admiration from Queen Elizabeth I.
As the Celtic mist started to descend, blurring fact from fiction, we also met Medb (Anglicised as Maeve and who later appeared as Fairy Queen Mab in Shakespeare's Mid Summer Night's Dream) and the many characters found within Irish myth named Macha before heading up to the Isle of Skye, off the western coat of Scotland, were the initators of heroes, Scathach and Aoife, were waiting for us.
The afternoon was spent expressing the inspiration gain from the stories of these amazing women, and reflecting them in the creation of a personal warrior shield.
As the Celtic mist started to descend, blurring fact from fiction, we also met Medb (Anglicised as Maeve and who later appeared as Fairy Queen Mab in Shakespeare's Mid Summer Night's Dream) and the many characters found within Irish myth named Macha before heading up to the Isle of Skye, off the western coat of Scotland, were the initators of heroes, Scathach and Aoife, were waiting for us.
The afternoon was spent expressing the inspiration gain from the stories of these amazing women, and reflecting them in the creation of a personal warrior shield.
While the day was thoroughly enjoyable, it was evident that I was attempting to cram far too much information into one short five hour workshop. The suggestion was made that the next time I run this workshop, that it be expanded into a two-day event. Something I would certainly keep in mind.
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