Virtual Celtic Pilgrimage: The Wisdom of Saints Colman, Sourney, and Patrick
A Self-Study Online Retreat
- Online retreat
- Self-study, start anytime
- Move at your own pace, in your own place
- Lifetime access
Registration Fee: $180 USD
What might your intention be in this season of your life?
What are the seeds you feel rumbling inside of you?
How might making a 9-day commitment to your inner journey reveal new pathways into the future?
Program Description
You are invited on a journey of the heart. In the Celtic imagination, the portal to cross thresholds into other realms is as close as our breath, as near as the pulse of our aliveness. You are invited onto a pilgrimage where you might physically walk only a few steps, but your soul can travel vast distances.
During the time of pandemic our travel opportunities became more limited. Maybe we aren’t able to travel long distances at all for other reasons. Abbey of the Arts created this way of becoming a pilgrim of the imagination. With the help of our wonderful filmmaker friends, the Morgan Brothers, and some of our favorite guides in Ireland we invite you into the beauty of some of Ireland’s sacred places without having to pack a suitcase.
In this nine-day pilgrimage you are invited to explore the gifts and invitations that Saints Sourney, Colman, and Patrick have for us along with the wider wisdom of the Celtic tradition. Each day you will explore a different theme connected to their life and vision through teaching, music, meditation, storytelling, ritual, and embodied prayer to connect to the Celtic imagination and unearth your heart’s deep longings.
If a nine-day pilgrimage is too intense for your life commitments, you can spread them out over nine weeks or nine months. You have lifetime access to the material. Pilgrimage is time outside of time, so however you are being called to journey is perfect.
We originally recorded this event at the Feast of Bealtaine (or sometimes spelled Beltane) so may make references to that time of year. However you can move through these materials at any time.
What's Included
Each day’s 75 minute webinar recording includes teaching and meditation from Christine Valters Paintner, music and prayer from Simon de Voil, invitations into embodied prayer with Betsey Beckman, and beautifully filmed videos with local guides and musicians Pius Murray, Tony Kirby, David Luskin, Órla McGovern, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, and Nóirín Ní Riain offering their wisdom and insight into aspects of Celtic pilgrimage and spirituality. These 10-15 minute videos were filmed at various sacred sites in the west of Ireland to give you an experience of entering into the spirituality of the landscape.
BONUS: In 2018 we recorded a series of podcasts called Celtic Conversations with some lovely friends. Those have not been available for a while, but we are bringing them back here to share with you and they now have subtitles and transcripts if that makes it easier for you to follow along. They are meant as an extra dose of Celtic wisdom and inspiration if you have time and inclination.
All recordings include the option to view with closed captions and a PDF transcript is available.
You have lifetime access to all online programs.
What's Included
- 75 minute recorded webinars led by Christine Valters Painter with teaching and meditation that also includes:
- Music from Simon de Voil and Te Martin
- Invitations to embodied prayer with Betsey Beckman
- Beautifully filmed videos with local guides and musicians Pius Murray, Tony Kirby, David Luskin, Órla McGovern, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, and Nóirín Ní Riain offering their wisdom and insight into aspects of Celtic pilgrimage and spirituality. These 10-15 minute videos were filmed at various sacred sites in the west of Ireland to give you an experience of entering into the spirituality of the landscape
- BONUS: Celtic Conversations with some lovely friends as an extra dose of Celtic wisdom and inspiration
- Closed captions and transcripts
- Lifetime access to all material in our private and easy-to-navigate retreat platform
We’re on a pilgrimage of a lifetime, so give yourself a little bit of grace and allow yourself to be exactly as you are.
Daily Themes
Day 1
St. Sourney: Setting out on the Journey
Day 2
St. Sourney: Seeking Healing
Day 3
St. Sourney: Standing at the Threshold
Day 4
St. Colman: Embracing Renewal
Day 5
St. Colman: Attuning to the Senses
Day 6
St. Colman: Praying with the Wild
Day 7
St. Patrick: Following the Red Thread
Day 8
St. Patrick: The Coming Together of Two Traditions
Day 9
St. Patrick: A Blossoming Forth
Weekly Themes
Day 1
St. Sourney: Setting out on the Journey
Opening our hearts to the desires and intentions we bring with us, we begin our journey to our wild edges, asking for the guidance of the elements, ancestors, angels, and saints — particularly St. Sourney — to remind us we are never alone.
Day 2
St. Sourney: Seeking Healing
Visting St. Sourney’s Holy Well, we explore this sacred site, seeking healing. The practice of walking the rounds at Holy Wells reminds us of the cyclical, spiral nature of things, that the path to healing is not linear.
Day 3
St. Sourney: Standing at the Threshold
With the support of St. Sourney, we’re invited to dwell in the mystery of the threshold spaces of our lives, the places where we have been invited to let go of the old but the new has yet to emerge.
Day 4
St. Colman: Embracing Renewal
Engaging with the story of St. Colman’s retreat to his cave, we’re invited to our symbolic caves as a place of solace, encouragement, and belonging, where we can bring our grief and be birthed anew.
Day 5
St. Colman: Attuning to the Senses
Known for his intimate relationship with creation, St. Colman is our guide in attuning to our senses, celebrating the sacrament of all creation, and bringing ourselves into closer relationship with the spirituality of landscape.
Day 6
St. Colman: Praying with the Wild
With the support of St. Colman, we are called to embrace and celebrate the diversity of ecosystems in nature, ourselves, and our communities, inviting us to tend to these wild places that have been overly domesticated.
Day 7
St. Patrick: Following the Red Thread
The Red Thread is a symbol of the collection of stories we carry, both personal and ancestral, that shape how we travel forward. Inviting St. Patrick as guide, we follow this thread back, encountering our knotted places and gently allowing a loosening.
Day 8
St. Patrick: The Coming Together of Two Traditions
Through the lens of St. Patrick’s life and work, we ponder the coming together of different traditions, the rich fertile ground that emerges, and where we might be called to bridge traditions with deep respect and honor.
Day 9
St. Patrick: A Blossoming Forth
Oftentimes, pilgrimage is about coming home to ourselves, to the fullness of who we are, to what is blossoming forth within us. We invite the saints who have journeyed with us to stay with us, witnessing to life of blossoming alongside our struggles.
Rhythm of the Pilgrimage
Each day for nine days, you will receive an email with a link to that day’s content. Content includes a 75 minute recorded webinar with teaching and meditation, music, invitations into embodied prayer, and beautifully filmed videos of sacred sites in the west of Ireland. We’ve also included bonus recordings of a series of nine Celtic Conversations.
You have lifetime access to the materials and can move at your own pace.
Your Guides for the Journey
Christine Valters Paintner, OblSB, PhD, REACE
Christine is the director and online abbess of AbbeyoftheArts.com, a virtual monastery exploring contemplative practice, creative expression, and ways to nourish an earth-cherishing consciousness. She is a spiritual director, teacher, pilgrimage guide, and author of numerous books on spirituality and the arts. Her deepest belief is that the earth is the original monastery—a wisdom guide and mentor in living a soulful and vibrant life. Visit the “About Christine” page for more information.
Simon de Voil
Reverend Simon Ruth de Voil is an interfaith-interspiritual minister, sacred musician, spiritual counsellor, and chaplain. His sacred work—both musical and interpersonal—explores themes of the inner landscape of the soul, the enchantment of the natural world, and the healing power of spiritual practice. As a chaplain and counsellor, Simon helps individuals and groups connect sacred presence with everyday life. Simon is also a transgender activist and a luthier in training. SimondeVoil.com.
Betsey Beckman, MM
Betsey Beckman, MM is nationally acclaimed as a spirited dancer, storyteller, teacher of SpiritPlay and dancing Spiritual Director. With her extensive repertory of sacred storydances, she is regularly featured as artist/presenter at national conventions as well as local churches. She earned her Masters in Ministry degree from Seattle University, her certificate in Movement Therapy from the Institute for Transformational Movement, and is a certified InterPlay leader. As dancer, choreographer, author, mother, wife, teacher and spiritual director, she is passionate about living life fully and fostering creativity in all those with whom she shares life and ministry. Betsey’s publications include books (she is co-author of Awakening the Creative Spirit: Bringing the Expressive Arts to Spiritual Direction), recordings, and The Dancing Word series of DVDs on embodied prayer. She offers the gift of playful improvisation whenever possible. TheDancingWord.com.
Guest Teachers
Pius Murray
Pius Murray N.T., B.A., H.D.E.(Hons.), LL.B.(Hons.), Diploma in Celtic Spirituality has his own guided walks business, Walk With Pius. He is a founder member of Pilgrim Paths Ireland and a member of the Burren Ecotourism Network. He is a member of the Burrenbeo Trust and a Burren Conservation Volunteer. He organises and leads walks, especially Inspirational Walks which enable walkers to connect with nature and with the spirituality of the landscape in the Burren and on Inisheer, for visitors of all nationalities, students of all levels and a variety of associations and organisations. Pius lives in Corofin, County Clare with his wife and family. Visit Pius’ website at WalkWithPius.com.
Tony Kirby
Tony Kirby was born in Limerick city. He has also lived in Dublin (civil servant) and Bologna (English language teacher). He started to conduct walking tours in Dublin city in the late 1990s.
Tony moved to the Burren in County Clare in 2002. He founded Heart of Burren Walks that year.
In 2012 Tony Kirby produced the short film West Cork set at St Gobnait’s monastic site in Ballyvourney, County Cork. The film was screened at the 2012 Cork International Film Festival. A new edition of Kirby’s critically acclaimed book The Burren and the Aran Islands A Walking Guide (Collins Press, 2009) was published in August 2014. Tony lives in Killinaboy with his wife Eimer and two sons. Visit Tony’s website at HeartOfBurrenWalks.com.
David Luskin
David Luskin co-owns and runs Corrib Cruises with his brother Patrick. Passed down from their father John who started the company in 1975, they serve Cong Co. Mayo, Oughterard, Co Galway and the historic island of Inchagoill, which is exactly half way beween the two. Collectively Patrick and David have decades of experience, and they offer their passengers that personal touch, only afforded in a family business with such a heritage. Visit David and Corrib Cruises online at CorribCruises.com.
Te Martin
Te Martin is a song-keeper and ritual artist whose work is shaped by the pacific ocean, coastal redwoods, desert gorges, circus arts, and theater games. Born on Ramaytush Ohlone land (san francisco), Te facilitates oral tradition singing spaces that center song as a tool for collective liberation, somatic regulation, and ancestral connection. Te co-organized Thrive Street Choir in the san francisco Bay Area for six years, co-founded Mountain Song, a 4-day community singing gathering in the high desert of New Mexico, and is a student of Gaelic song and the Irish bodhrán drum. In 2021, Te released their debut EP of original songs, Water & Bones, along with a professional music video for “May This Body Be a Bridge.”
Órla Mc Govern
Órla Mc Govern is an award-winning Storyteller, Performer and Writer based in The West of Ireland. She performs, tells stories and teaches at venues small and large around the world. She has worked for many years in theatre, film and television on more than one continent. She’s very interested in both scripted and improvised work; her award winning plays and short films have been produced globally, and she has written two books of stories Dublin Folk Tales For Children & Wild Waves & Wishing Wells (The History Press). She is a member of Interface Inagh, Aoife’s Clown Doctors, Theatre 57 and Storytellers of Ireland. Órla is also founder and Artistic Director of Moth & Butterfly, a storytelling collective and annual festival. Visit Órla online at OrlaMcGovern.com.
Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin
Mícheál ‘Moley’ Ó Súilleabháin is a renowned singer, poet, teacher and speaker from Limerick, Ireland. His artistic identity lives on the threshold between things. He is a master of several worlds of musical and poetic performance and composition. His way in the world exists between laughter and poignancy.
Mícheál published his first book of poetry, EARLY MUSIC, on David Whyte’s Many Rivers Press (Seattle) in late 2020. Also in 2020 he founded the Dámh Imeall — (H)Edge School with his brother and mother. (H)Edge School is an online community of inquiry and ritual with online workshops and events on a range of interfaith and multi-disciplinary topics. Join Mícheál’s online community at Turasdanam.com.
Nóirín Ní Riain
Rev. Nóirín Ní Riain PhD is an Interfaith Minister (One Spirit Interfaith Seminary), an internationally acclaimed spiritual singer, theologian, writer, musicologist, and Celtic Spirituality expert. Rev. Ní Riain performs weddings, naming ceremonies, concerts, lectures, and gives workshops all over the world. She lives near Glenstal Abbey, county Limerick, Ireland. Visit Nóirín online at Noirin.love.
There is no hurry, no rush to get to where the path is going. Know that it is every step of the way that is the gift of pilgrimage. Stand at the beginning of this path and breathe in the possibility.
Praise for the Pilgrimage
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