Trip to Scotland's Highlands September 14-25, 2019
Add on three days in Iceland (September 10-14).
This trip combines the grandeur of touring the Scottish highlands with making ceremony to the land, working with ancient Celtic spiritual forces, honoring ancestors and filling our lives with a once-in-a-lifetime experience. An overnight flight from Minneapolis to Glasgow through Reykjavik, Iceland. We'll explore sacred realms in stunning landscapes: mountain, caves, waterfalls, ocean and forest. The trip will culminate with a mythic water-crossing to We will Isle of Lewis to spend the autumn equinox at the Standing Stones of Callanish - erected 2,000 years before Stonehenge. The specific itinerary is still being arranged and will be announced soon.
Questions: drummingthesoulawake@gmail.com
Click on some of the the images and blue links below to get more information!
Loch-Bealach-a-Bhuirich
There is a common shamanic practice of visiting places of power to ask the spirits of those places to embed their power in you, to give you new strength, to heal you, to teach you and guide you.
This trip combines the grandeur of touring the Scottish highlands with making ceremony to the land, working with ancient Celtic spiritual forces, honoring ancestors and filling our lives with a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
This trip combines the grandeur of touring the Scottish highlands with making ceremony to the land, working with ancient Celtic spiritual forces, honoring ancestors and filling our lives with a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
 Wheee!
You will book your own flights. If you want to be on the same flight as me and others, let me know. Several of us are adding on three nights in Iceland on the way to Glasgow. I'm in the process of booking this wonderful place to stay.
We will all meet up in the Glasgow airport on Sunday, Sept 16 at about 11 AM for transport to Aberfoyle. Sunday, September 16: Aberfoyle We will begin our adventure at Macdonald Forest Hills Hotel in Aberfoyle. Aberfoyle is equidistant from Edinburgh or Glasgow - about 3 hours by train then bus, or about an hour with a hired car. You'll receive detailed transport options. Two nights in Aberfoyle (Sunday and Monday). |
View from Ben A'an, Aberfolye
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 Ben Lomond
Monday, September 17: Aberfoyle and The Trosachs MountainsThe basic plan is to hike up Ben A'An or Ben Lomond - both are said to be not grueling. We will have fun and do ceremony for the spirits of high places. In Aberfoyle there is also the Doon Faery Hill, a magical place with great legends. This could be an alternate plan for those who don't want to hike.
Tuesday, September 18 (Travel Day) Transport from Aberfoyle to Stirling on the bus, then from Stirling to Inverness by stunning train ride through the Cairngorms National Park (about 3 hours total). We pick up our hired bus in Inverness, with our Scottish driver, shamanic practitioner and psychotherapist, Ken Fisher.. We drive across the highlands (about 2.5 hours) toward Ullapool - a lovely little port city, ending up in Achiltibuie, 11 miles from Ullapool, and our two remote lodgings: the Patagonia guest house and the Acheninver Hostel. Three nights (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). |
Ullapool
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 View from The Bone Cave
Wednesday and Thursday, September 19-20
Pilgrimage to to The Bone Caves and possibly the Falls of Kirkaig. (This itinerary may change). You'll hear stories of the elemental Celtic spirits, we will do extended ceremony in these two spots, blessing the ancestors and spirits of the deep earth and moving waters, and asking for vision and healing, and wisdom. Both the caves and this waterfall are said to be a relatively easy hike. The area around Ullapool has dozens of waterfalls, including Eas a Chual Aluinn (the highest waterfall in Britain - however, it is a five-hour hike.) More about the hike to the bone caves. |
Falls of Kirkaig
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 Callanish
Friday (Travel Day) and Saturday, September 21-22
Transport by bus and Ferry to the Isle of Lewis and the Standing Stones of Callanish. (About a 2.5 hour ferry ride, plus 30 minutes by bus on each side.) The mythic "water crossing" will be accompanied by ceremony and story. This magnificent neolithic site is 2,000 years older than Stonehenge. This off-the-beaten-track wonder is our destination for the autumn equinox: Saturday the 22nd. The stones are situated to gaze out across the water toward a mountain ridge known to locals as "Sleeping Beauty" in English or "Cailleach na Mointeach" in Gaelic - which translates as "The Old Woman of the Moors." We will make ceremony here to the goddess of the land, to the Mother Earth, sending blessing, power, healing and thanks to her, and asking for her guidance in our lives. We will stay Friday and Saturday nights - some of us at Cabarfeidh Hotel in Stornoway and some at Lathmore Guest House. |
Callanish
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 Inverness
Sunday, September 23: (Travel Day) Ferry from Lewis back to Ullapool, bus to Inverness. About a 5 hour travel day.
Two nights in Inverness, staying at Ardross Glencairn. There is much to so in Inverness, including visiting its faery haunts, the Munlochy Clootie Well, neolithic sites and wonders. Plus, perhaps, a visit to one of the many distilleries in the area. Monday September 24 Exploring and fun around Inverness to be determined. Possible visit to Clava Cairns. Tuesday September 25: Early train from Inverness to Glasgow airport (3 hrs). |
Urquhart Castle, Loch Ness, Inverness
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Cost: $2450. A $500 deposit secures your spot.
My goal for this trip, besides having a fantastically fun and spiritually wondrous journey to an awesomely mystical land, is to keep it a reasonable cost for you. To do that, I'm offering a journey which includes the base expenses, and puts you in control of how you choose to spend money. The lodging will be clean, safe and charming - but not luxurious.
The above price does not include airfare, meals, or touristy fees (like scotch tasting, museums or admission fees for education centers or parks), tips for drivers, shopping, or fees for engaging local experts in myth, lore or shamanic practice. It does not include ground transport from Glasgow to our first base in Aberfoyle. It does not include any ground transport you take that differs from the group itinerary. It doesn't include extra fees for a single room. (I'm not trying to be tricky with cost, it's that people are planning to fly in from a variety of places and at different times.)
The above price does include lodging (Sunday, September 16 - 24 / 9 nights), ground transport beginning Monday, September 17 (bus, train, ferry, and hired drivers), the work of planning the trip, and a stipend for my Wahoo-filled teaching along the way. Some lodging includes a Scottish breakfast, but in at least one of our stays, it will be "self-catering."
After some research, It seems a safe estimate of basic food costs is $70 per day - but you'll want to do your own research on this.
The itinerary is in flux. I'm not a fan of crowded tourist areas, I want us to have plenty of long stretches out be on the land, walking it, absorbing it, singing to it, and making offerings. Scotland is hiking land, and I'm creating a trip that will include an option or two for more challenging hikes for those who might want that - with no expectations placed on those who don't want that. Lodging will be in shared rooms - most often two people per room in single beds, but possibly three or four in a room in single beds. If you require a single room, your cost will increase, and you must let me know when you pay your deposit.
You will book your own flight. This gives you flexibility to extend your trip however you wish. I'll let you know my flight details if you want to be on the same flight. Otherwise, it will be your responsibility to be at the Glasgow airport by 11AM on Sunday the 16th.
My goal for the trip is to have fun, find spectacular places to revel in the landscape and do ceremony, dive deep into a state of wonder and mystery, and have more fun. Along the way (and before we go), you will receive teachings in Celtic lore and shamanic practice, the Faery realm, Celtic wonder tales, poetry and song - all to help boost your experience. On the trip, you will make offerings and prayers and you'll be offered visionary and healing experiences with the spirits of the land. Because the group will be smallish, I can help you craft your intention for this pilgrimage.
Full payment is due by July 10. The full payment is refundable minus a $400 administrative fee up until August 15. After that, it is refundable minus $950 plus any non-refundable costs (lodging) already incurred.
My goal for this trip, besides having a fantastically fun and spiritually wondrous journey to an awesomely mystical land, is to keep it a reasonable cost for you. To do that, I'm offering a journey which includes the base expenses, and puts you in control of how you choose to spend money. The lodging will be clean, safe and charming - but not luxurious.
The above price does not include airfare, meals, or touristy fees (like scotch tasting, museums or admission fees for education centers or parks), tips for drivers, shopping, or fees for engaging local experts in myth, lore or shamanic practice. It does not include ground transport from Glasgow to our first base in Aberfoyle. It does not include any ground transport you take that differs from the group itinerary. It doesn't include extra fees for a single room. (I'm not trying to be tricky with cost, it's that people are planning to fly in from a variety of places and at different times.)
The above price does include lodging (Sunday, September 16 - 24 / 9 nights), ground transport beginning Monday, September 17 (bus, train, ferry, and hired drivers), the work of planning the trip, and a stipend for my Wahoo-filled teaching along the way. Some lodging includes a Scottish breakfast, but in at least one of our stays, it will be "self-catering."
After some research, It seems a safe estimate of basic food costs is $70 per day - but you'll want to do your own research on this.
The itinerary is in flux. I'm not a fan of crowded tourist areas, I want us to have plenty of long stretches out be on the land, walking it, absorbing it, singing to it, and making offerings. Scotland is hiking land, and I'm creating a trip that will include an option or two for more challenging hikes for those who might want that - with no expectations placed on those who don't want that. Lodging will be in shared rooms - most often two people per room in single beds, but possibly three or four in a room in single beds. If you require a single room, your cost will increase, and you must let me know when you pay your deposit.
You will book your own flight. This gives you flexibility to extend your trip however you wish. I'll let you know my flight details if you want to be on the same flight. Otherwise, it will be your responsibility to be at the Glasgow airport by 11AM on Sunday the 16th.
My goal for the trip is to have fun, find spectacular places to revel in the landscape and do ceremony, dive deep into a state of wonder and mystery, and have more fun. Along the way (and before we go), you will receive teachings in Celtic lore and shamanic practice, the Faery realm, Celtic wonder tales, poetry and song - all to help boost your experience. On the trip, you will make offerings and prayers and you'll be offered visionary and healing experiences with the spirits of the land. Because the group will be smallish, I can help you craft your intention for this pilgrimage.
Full payment is due by July 10. The full payment is refundable minus a $400 administrative fee up until August 15. After that, it is refundable minus $950 plus any non-refundable costs (lodging) already incurred.
