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PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR 2012 COURSES
(Day courses first, then weekly, followed by residentials)
I'm currently rebuilding the website. There are gaps and glitches (and the ghosts of a few swear words!). Thanks for your patience.
DAY COURSES
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THRESHOLDS 2012
creating the year you want
one-day intensive retreat
nr Totnes, Devon, Saturday 21st January 10am-5pm
The 20th year of this workshop in its various incarnations! This day is about revisioning your life: taking stock of where you’ve arrived and dreaming the future. It’s a day of intensive and focused personal writing prompted by questions from me, guided visualisations and small ceremonial moments to let go of the old and welcome the new. It’ll be punctuated by refreshments and times of groupwork. This year we’ll be using the idea of the hero’s journey in fairy tale to explore your heart’s deepest desire. NB I hope to be working on producing an online version later in 2012
Directions given on application
Fee £35 by cheque if postmarked on or before 12th January; £40 thereafter to arrive before 21st, £45 on the day (but I need to know you’re coming)
Bring a veggie dish to share; pen and paper; indoor shoes; an extra layer (though the woodburner will be lit in my garden studio); an open heart.
BOOKINGS: the whole fee (non-refundable) to
R L Angwin, Higher Beenleigh Barn, Diptford, Nr Totnes, Devon TQ9 7ND.
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‘Ground of Being’
Re-imagining the world
creative writing & environmental awareness
('Home & the Heart', Roselle; oil pastels)
Merrivale, Dartmoor
For the spring equinox, Sunday March 18th 2012
10am–4pm (the latter approx.)
Gather 9.45am at Four Winds car park, near Princetown, Dartmoor (OS ref: 562749)
Humans are tuned for relationship. The eyes, the skin, the tongue, ears, and nostrils–all are gates where our body receives the nourishment of otherness. This landscape of shadowed voices, these feathered bodies and antlers and tumbling streams–these breathing shapes are our family, the beings with whom we are engaged, with whom we struggle and suffer and celebrate (David Abram)
Relationship is our natural state. And yet loss of heart and alienation seem to be widespread experiences in our fragmented consumer society. What would it be like to live in accord with our essential nature, aware of interrelationship and interdependence as felt experiences? Time spent in natural and megalithic landscapes like that of Dartmoor enables us to feel and deepen this sense of connectedness, and can offer us a lasting shift in understanding. This outdoor workshop day aims, by re-immersing you in the land with its inhabitants, to reconnect you to lost and hidden parts of yourself, to your imagination and creativity, and to the shared heart of nature. Here we touch the invisible ‘ground of being’, where briefly we may move beyond the separate disconnected self into world soul, anima mundi.
These day workshops draw on ancient bardic sources, returning us to the wells from which we sometimes forget to drink. We aim, too, to catch some of the fire of the elusive spirit of ‘Awen’. We use poetry and creative writing to record our experience in whatever words have been given to us during the day, alive and thrumming. We’ll be paying attention with all our senses, including the non-physical ones, plus using silence as starting points, and writing as a way of recording our responses.
At the spring equinox, where light and dark are held in balance, we’ll consider how this is symbolized in the outer world and in our inner lives; the poise or otherwise of the pairs of opposites; what dreams we're planting this year.
‘Sunday is still glowing in my mind; it was remarkable, intense, revealing, surprising. You established a trusting space … [I was] amazed at what the day brought.’ ‘Full, rich, magical, extraordinary…’
Come for just one day or join us four times a year to share the equinoxes and solstices with me in this way at the same place. If you pay with your booking, in advance, the fee is £35 per day; £40 if you pay on the day. Either way, bookings MUST be in advance.
NB Places are limited. To book, please send the full fee of £35 to: Roselle Angwin, Higher Beenleigh Barn, Diptford, Nr Totnes, TQ9 7ND. Please make sure I have a contact number for you.
Please bring packed lunch, hot drinks/water, notebook, pen, warm windproof clothes (it can be really cold up there, even in summer, especially since we’re still quite a lot), waterproofs, sturdy footwear – and an ability to be with silence.
Other One-Day Courses
(painting by Roselle)
NB THESE 4 BELOW ARE 2011COURSES BUT I WILL BE OFFERING THESE OR VARIANTS IN 2012 AS WELL
I’m offering four one-day courses this autumn at my home near Totnes (there are good train connections to Totnes from mainline stations, and sometimes lifts are possible with others in or near Totnes. The address is as above, under Ground of Being.). The days will run from 10am till 4pm.
The first two are writing workshops, the second of which introduces Zen mindfulness and writing in the Zen style. The other two are more personal development workshops, using writing primarily as a tool for exploration and recording.
Each day is £40, payable with booking in advance please (non-refundable as places are limited). If you book two days, the cost is £35 each day; if you book all four, it’s £120 in total. Address for bookings: see Ground of Being, above.
Please bring indoor shoes, an extra layer, and vegetarian lunch to share.
Saturday 15 October: Fire in the Head creative writing: day of inspiration
Sunday 16 October: Writing the Bright Moment: bringing Zen mindfulness into our writing and exploring haiku and haibun (this will be followed by the long-awaited Zen & Poetry weekend retreat at the Barefoot Barn). It doesn't matter how much experience you have writing, nor whether you know anything about Zen. Just bring your heart and a pen and paper
Sunday 20 November: 'In a dark time the eye begins to see'.
This day took shape from my re-meeting the quote 'What use are poets (mythmakers, storytellers, writers in general) in times of need?' And I think again about how one of the most important aspects of poetry and story is their capacity for healing. Today we'll explore the losses and fractures in our lives as a way in to working with transforming them into a quest for healing. Near Totnes
Sunday 11 December: 'If nobody speaks of remarkable things'.
Although this day is self-contained, it also follows on from the November day on the uses of poetry. Today, we'll be remembering the remarkable things about being alive, and celebrating our place in the family of things by writing about the unique gifts of our lives as human beings at this time. Near Totnes, Sunday 11 December
WEEKLY COURSES
Poetry School sessions new term begins 9th January - still places!
I'm going to be leading a weekly reading/writing/discussion group on a term-time Monday evening in Exeter for the Poetry School from September. Monday evenings. See www.poetryschool.com
RESIDENTIAL COURSES
Islands of the Heart
creative writing retreat with
Roselle Angwin
on the magical Isle of Iona
2012: Saturday April 21 – Friday 27
(painting by Roselle)
Argyll Hotel
Isle of Iona
Hebrides
And we like migrant birds blown in to here
Where all our stories meet…
An island is both a physical point in space and metaphorically a place where we might bring ourselves home. Iona is one of those places where, as the Celts describe it, the veil is thin. It has probably been a place of pilgrimage for 1000s of years; it was a Druidic teaching centre before the arrival of Celtic Christianity.
Here, surrounded by the seas that both connect us and keep us apart, is a good place to start the quest for the heart.
For nine years I led a weeklong retreat on Iona with my friend, fellow author and poet Kenneth Steven. The many people who have attended, some of whom return every year, know what a unique, and frequently life-changing, experience these five days offer.
In 2010 I launched the Iona event as a solo adventure for me. I kept the spirit of our shared venture: the ambience and format; the wonderful Argyll Hotel, right on the water; the walks; the warm gatherings; the workshops, discussions, talks, poems and readings; the daylong pilgrimage to St Columba’s Bay gathering silence, green stones, and the voices of the air; looking for seals; the boat trip to Staffa (weather permitting). Iona is and always has been a place to bring your stories and poems, your joys and sorrows, your laughter and your open heart. In addition, I added an extra focus: the theme of ‘islands’ as a starting point and medium for thought, creative expression, writing, and reflection.
In 2011, we added an extra day and night. (Four days were a day too few!) We've kept prices as low as we can. There are changes to booking and accommodation arrangements. Choose a place to stay to suit your budget, in 2012 from between £40 to £700 for the week (approx):
A tent for the hardy (farm camping, showers and loo, was approx. £5 a night in 2010)
The wonderful Lagandorain hostel (around £20 a night)
A local B&B.
Of course, nothing will beat the Argyll Hotel: a single garden room overlooking the ruined ancient nunnery at the hotel is £51 per night B&B for a 6-night stay (2011 prices); the spectacular sea-view doubles, twins and family rooms are £111-ish per night (ditto). (If you choose to share you obviously pay half that.) It does of course make a difference to the experience to all be under the same roof; so if you choose the hotel, I’d advise very early booking (please make your own accommodation arrangements). See http://www.argyllhoteliona.co.uk and under their ‘essentials’ button you’ll find a link to other island accommodation.
PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL COSTS AT THE MOMENT ARE BASED ON ESTIMATES FROM THE 2011 prices.
We’ll be at the Argyll for all the indoor sessions (morning, late afternoon, and evening) and we all share dinner at the hotel, as part of the group. We think you can eat really well, on the fine Argyll fare, for between £18-£25 per day (excluding drinks), assuming you have breakfast wherever you’re staying (that’s included in the rate at the Argyll). Frugal people can of course probably improve on that! By the way, you don't need to book a table for dinner, as it says on the Argyll's website, if you're coming on the course – I do a block booking.
You need to know that some walking is an integral part of the course. It’s not obligatory, but some sessions are built around a walk.
Practical info: please see below for details on travel, clothing, etc.
Fee: this is in two parts: my fee, and the accommodation. My fee for 2012 is £240; you will need to send £100 to me as a deposit as soon as possible, please (but I’m also happy to pencil you in to hold a place until November 2011, by which time I need firm confirmation).
The Hotel or other accommodation needs to be booked and paid for separately; I’d recommend making enquiries as soon as possible as the rooms go fast, especially the singles. The staff will tell you about deposits and refunds.
You will need to make your own travel arrangements: see below.
The small print: Please note that if for any reason I cancel the course, your fee is refundable. If you cancel before January 31st, your deposit is refundable minus £25 admin costs. In February, I will refund half your deposit if you cancel. After that refunds are not possible. You might want to consider travel insurance.
Prices do not include the optional boat trip to Staffa, which will be around £28 – and it’s more than worth it.
Booking: I need a deposit of £100. Please contact me as below (NB my old P O Box is defunct). 01548 821004 www.fire-in-the-head.co.uk roselle[at]fire-in-the-head.co.uk
Roselle Angwin, Higher Beenleigh Barn, Diptford, TOTNES TQ9 7ND.
Timing: the course starts at 6.30-7pm with an informal gathering and then dinner on the evening of Saturday 21st April 2012, and finishes after breakfast on Friday 27th. Note that the last ferry from Mull to Iona is 6pm usually at this time of year; please check with Caledonian MacBrayne times of crossings from Oban to Craignure on Mull in order to take the bus to get you to the Iona ferry at Fionnphort in time for this. Usually you can assume that if you get the 4pm ferry from Oban to Mull (Craignure), and catch the bus, you'll make that last ferry. There is a brief introductory session after dinner on the first evening.
The focus of the course is, loosely, poetry, but this does not exclude prose writing and prose writers. It’s not about being ‘good at’ something, but about exploring words, their possibilities for connection, their richness and their edges.
Iona: The Glass-Blue Day
The way sky inhabits the creases
smears colour that steals your breath
The sand so pale it might be grains of light
The big Hebridean night that opens its arms
and drops its creel of stars
towards our upturned faces
(Roselle Angwin)
TRAVEL: flights or trains to Glasgow (I personally recommend the train whenever possible for two reasons: one, the environmental - walking lightly on this earth is part of the ethos of Fire in the Head; and two, the spirit of pilgrimage is best honoured by including time for the soul to keep up with the body).
Then take the West Highland Line – in daylight if possible, as the scenery is stunning – to Oban (beware that the train splits at Crianlarich for Fort William!).
There is then the ferry sailing to Craignure on Mull (Caledonian MacBrayne, or ‘Calmac’; see their website); a bus journey (the buses normally tie in with the ferries) across Mull to Fionnphort; finally the five-minute ferry crossing to Iona.
The Argyll Hotel is visible in front of you to the right.
CLOTHING: In April we’ve usually been lucky with the weather: mostly fine bright days. But it’s COLD; there’s almost always a wind, and we have to allow for stormy weather. We do quite a lot of walking, too, so warm clothing, waterproofs, windproofs, gloves and scarves and walking boots are musts.
Argyll Hotel: 01681 700334reception@argyllhoteliona.co.uk
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Zen & Poetry
I keep promising this and postponing it. Now though I am going to hold it as a weekend residential in 2012, in the beautiful Barefoot Barn in Chagford. Dates tbc, but probably 11-13 May 2012 (Friday evening to Sunday late afternoon).
My own life as well as my writing is underpinned by my 35-year relationship with the profound simplicity of Zen Buddhism, with its focus on mindfulness, the immediacy and beauty of the passing moment, and the natural world. This course grew from the need, at a recent poetry workshop, expressed by a number of participants, for more silent time and for exploring the connections between the practice and philosophy of Zen and the art of writing poetry. It’s probably helpful (but not necessary) if you already have an interest in either Zen or poetry – if both, that's a bonus; although the ‘process’ here is more emphasised than the ‘product’.’
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