2023 Workshops...

IMG 1208Walking Awake into the Celtic New Year: A Weekend Retreat

 Friday, October 27th - Sunday, October 29th, 2023

This event is now SOLD OUT! We'll return to Kirkridge again in 2024 to celebrate the Celtic New Year! Be sure to register early! 

This weekend retreat will be hosted by Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center at their Farmhouse facility in Bangor, PA. Surrounded by wooded trails and within walking distance of Columcille Megalith Park (a Celtic influenced standing stone park with over 90 stones!).

If you feel a deep connection to Nature, have an interest in Celtic Spirituality, and a longing to be amongst the stunning autumn foliage, this weekend is for you! 

Throughout the weekend we will explore some of the many surrounding lessons and gifts available to us as we 'walk awake' together into the Celtic New Year. 

In Nature: It is the time of year when the woodlands transform: leaves begin to turn vibrant colors and float to the forest floor as the trees prepare for dormancy. Animals are busy gathering, storing, and filling themselves with food as they prepare for hibernation and the approaching cold winter months. The hours of daylight are becoming shorter and shorter. 

On the Celtic Wheel of the Year: We are entering the time of Samhain, the last of the three Celtic Harvest Festivals and the return of the dark half of the year. The ancient Celts believed everything began in the darkness therefore, Samhain is referred to as the 'Celtic New Year'. In realms of Celtic Spirituality, it is a time when the veil between differing worlds becomes its thinnest. A 'betwixt and between' period of 'no-time' when the spirits of the ancestors, those recently passed, and the world of the Fae might slip between the veil and communicate with those left behind. 

This weekend's schedule will ebb and flow with the energy and interest of the group. Structured group gatherings may include sessions on various aspects of Celtic Spirituality (past and present) with attention on the Celtic New Year and the honoring of the ancestors, nature walks with focus on recognizing and connecting with the 'seen and unseen' in Nature and weaving the history and mystery that connects the mountain location of the retreat with Isle of Iona, Scotland. The weekend will also include an eclectic mix of ritual, ceremony, morning meditations, time to walk and wonder, song, story, and poetry. 

Additionally, we will have the unique and memorable opportunity to attend Columcille Megalith Park's Celtic New Year Celebration* amongst the torchlit standing standing stones on the Saturday evening. You may even wish to dress up in your best Celtic or Halloween attire for this event!  

How to prepare for this magical weekend?: 

Be sure to bring your love of Nature and your curiousity about Celtic Spirituality, Kirkridge, Columcille, and Iona. 

Sessions will be held both indoors and outdoors so please come prepared as we will walk amongst the wooded paths and standing stones. 

A more detailed itinerary will be sent to those registered a few weeks prior to the event. 

*If planning to attend Columcille Megalith Park's Samhain Celebration, there is an additional $10.00 pp suggested entrance donation to Columcille which will be collected by retreat facilitator during the retreat prior to the event.  

Cosr for this Weekend Retreat:
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$350.00 for shared accommodation (two to a room)

$400.00 for single room (limited availability) 

To register:

Please proceed to the Kirkridge website page for this event or by clicking here

Scholarships are available for this event. Contact Lydia Wylie-Kellerman at lydiawk@kirkridge.org for more information about scholarship opportunities. 

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We Will Bring Our Workshops to YOU!...

Nick and Denise 2An integral part of Walking Awake’s ministry is to enable opportunities for others to deepen their innate connection with Nature, and to explore the wisdom within the sacred spaces of ancient sites, myth, history, the individual and collective journey, and the land we walk upon.  

Denise and Nick creatively weave these treasures together blended perfectly with a mix of music, poetry and story within all of Walking Awake’s events throughout the US and the UK.  

Denise and Nick enjoy traveling and meeting new people and are happy to create the perfect customized workshop, guided walk, retreat, or pilgrimage for you and your community. See below for examples of Walking Awake’s past workshops. Contact Denise today to begin a conversation regarding the many exciting possibilities of how Walking Awake can bring our workshops to YOU!  

Examples of past Walking Awake Workshops:

Walking Awake in Nature Weekend Workshop:

Mikes-Iona-Photos-1012 workshops retreats kirkridge retreat center pa denise crawnCome spend the weekend  with Denise Crawn and “remember” how to “Walk Awake”. There is an old saying: You can’t see the forest for the trees.” Denise will take you to that forest both figuratively and literally; a primal place that offers a feeling of magic, remembrance, of not being alone, and of being connected with something larger than the human mind can envision. Based upon her book, “Walking Awake: The Faces in Nature” and her own deep connection with nature, Denise will share her ability to see and sense things that others might miss along the wooded path or on a crowded city street.

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We have all seen faces and shapes in nature, for example in clouds, flowers and trees. Together we will step into wonder and explore the beauty and mystery of such encounters. Are they messages or signs? Are they communication from God, a reflection of a Universal Consciousness, or simply just “there?”

This retreat will be held both indoors and outdoors and will include using our natural instincts and awareness in our everyday surroundings. We will learn to use our closeness to nature as a spiritual practice, grounding our spirit in our connection to and oneness with the natural world. We will be helped in this reconnecting to our roots through Denise's photographs of Nature Beings. There will be group conversation, reflection on quotes from well-known people and from sacred texts, individual quiet time, guided walks, meditation, creative play, music and more.

This weekend is designed to help us to re-claim a sense of wonder! Bring your journals, cameras, sketch pads, imagination and weather appropriate apparel.

 

2019 Walking Awake Workshops

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Walking Awake: 

Harvesting the Messages from Nature 

*This is a past Walking Awake Workshop. If you would like Walking Awake to bring a workshop similiar to this one to your location, please contact Denise.

 

Friday, August 2nd - Sunday, August 4th, 2019 at Kirkridge Retreat Center, Bangor, PA USA - led by Denise Crawn.

 

If you love trees, stones and being in Nature, this retreat is for you!

Join Denise for a memorable weekend at Kirkridge Retreat Center nestled on top of the Kittatinny Mountain Range in Northeast Pennsylvania, USA. 

It’s summer time on the mountain, Nature is in full bloom and August 1st marks the Celtic observance of Lughnasadh, a celebration of the year’s first harvest.

Nature’s gifts abound…can you see them? Nature is communicating with us all the time…are you present enough to receive the messages? Are you ‘walking awake’? 

During this weekend we will expereince ways to connect more deeply to the natural world that surrounds us and explore how to harvest the gifts available to us through our innate relationship with Nature. 

With a focus on Nature and a touch of Celtic Spirituality this weekend on the mountain will provide a balanced blend of group gatherings, guided walks and meditations, rituals and activities, story, poetry, and song.  In addition, there will be plenty of opportunity for individual free time to rest or to explore the many wooded trails at Kirkridge and neighboring Columcille Megalith Park with its over 90 Standing Stones.

On Saturday, August 3rd, there will also be the option of attending Columcille’s Lughnasadh Celebration. 

Be sure to bring your camera, journal, sketch pad, drum, rattle, and of course, your love of Nature! 

Cost $425 includes double occupancy room, board and tuition

Contact Janet Lewis at Kirkridge to register: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

 

Denise Crawn is the owner of Walking Awake, LLC, author of "Walking Awake: The Faces In Nature" and creator of several inspirational card decks. An ordained Interfaith Minister through One Spirit Interfaith Seminary, NYC, Denise's ministry is expressed through her photography, book, cards and events, all of which focus on becoming more aware, awake and fully present through our interconnection with the spirit of Nature. Her deep-rooted relationship with Nature began as a child when she would join her father and brothers hunting and fishing. No longer a hunter, she remains forever an outdoors woman with a keen eye for tracking and a gift for reading Nature’s hidden messages. Once upon a time (not so long ago)…a real-life Circle of Standing Stones nestled in the woods at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountain range (Columcille Megaith Park) in her former home state of Pennsylvania called her to visit the tiny Hebridean Island of Iona, Scotland. Ten year’s later on her way back to Iona, she met her husband on a ferry and so began their “Ferry Tale” come true. Denise now resides in Scotland with her husband, Nick Prance. Together they lead workshops on both sides of the pond and pilgrimages to sacred sites in the UK with the intention of helping others connect to their inherent relationship with Nature and the Divine within and around. 

  

Walking Awake will come to YOU!...

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Walking Awake offers a variety of retreats and workshops at various locations throughout the US and UK. We love to travel for book signings, guided walks in nature, workshops, and retreats. For more information contact Denise.

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