Spiritual Intensives
Spiritual intensives are times of immersing within, focussing on strengthening the connection that each of us has with the Infinite, with nature, with ourselves and with each other. They have a starting point and an ending, and participants stay for the entirety of the event, immersing in a safe and contained environment for mutual benefit, awakening and inner illumination. They are similar to a retreat, although the spiritual content is usually more transformative and deep. We explore different traditions such as our Christ Consciousness Easter intensives, we have also held Kabbalah intensives, Ganesha or Shiva intensives, Sisterhood of the Rose, and a number of other topics of interest to our members.
Because of the inclusive nature of our philosophy, we offer a wide range of spiritual intensives some of which are seasonal and some of which arise in the course of the development of our community. Some focus on nature, and our connection to plants, animals and nature.
Festivals
Festivals are joyful gatherings that run for days or weeks along a particular theme, involving sessions that string together where we can drop into the ones we want and it doesn't matter that we miss some, or that we are also working and running our lives at the same time. Some are related to significant spiritual festivals held in various or our Navaratri, festival of the Goddess festivals which we hold annually. We have held summer festivals and musical festivals, showcasing our amazing musicians, or looking at relationships over a series of days or weeks.
Maha Shivaratri Intensive - February to March 2025
This annual celebration of Lord Shiva, the Divine as Pure Bliss beyond form, occurs every year in February/March. Shiva is enigmatic, his name means bliss, but he is also Rudra the destroyer. As Nataraj, He is the Cosmic dancer and as Nityasundara he is Eternal beauty. Amidst bliss filled practices and blessings, we will be looking at these facets of Shiva, and the weaving of our lives with the Cosmic dance.
Shivaratri is a time for the awakening to a more enlivened consciousness. It is an opportunity for the exploration of your own beauty and truth, as well as the discovery of gateways into the light and bliss beyond form. Our Shivaratri celebrations will be filled with music, meditation, mantra, stories from the Vedas and joyful exploration of the inner light. All are welcome.
Shivaratri Annual Celebration - 22 to 26 February 2025
Shivaratri is the annual celebration of the marriage of the great Yogic God Shiva, to the Goddess Parvati. Their marriage is a metaphor for our soul’s marriage to the Great Light that is within and all around us. Continuing our journey with the Luminaries, the Sun and the Moon, we will look at Lord Shiva as the Clear Light beyond all other Light. This is Limitless, Voidal Nothingness, like the dark sky of a moonless night. It is what existed before light and sound.
Celebrated by millions around the world, Shivaratri is a powerful time for initiation. Our Shivaratri celebrations will be filled with Divine presence, music, rich ceremonies, meditation, mantra, stories from the Vedas and joyful exploration of the inner light. We ask Shiva to help us re- enter the bliss of That From Which We Arose to Have Our Being. New mystery school members will be offered first initiation. Some of the most powerful initiations received by Shakti Durga and Gayatri have occurred at Shivaratri. The first one was in India in 2008, and each year it is a powerful time.
Shivaratri is a time for us to enter into the awakening of more enlivened consciousness. It is an opportunity for the exploration of gateways into light and bliss beyond form.
The energy of Shivaratri provides us with a great opportunity to raise ourselves from our present consciousness to more enlightened states. Not only that, it is a time for inspiring change, letting the old level of being go free and activating more of the totality of who we really are.
If you are interested in expanding your consciousness, this is a transformational intensive not to be missed.
Shivaratri - A Monthly Dance with the Light
Shiva represents pure bliss beyond form, the infinite light that fills all of our souls and every form of life, in every dimension and realm of existence. In 2024 the monthly Shiva ceremony will run on the day and time on which it falls (departing from the preferred Sunday 1pm time slot often favoured in the past).
Every year we celebrate Maha Shivaratri in Feb/March. It has always been a spectacular event, a time of growth and change. Yet this lunar festival occurs every 28 days, with every passing cycle through which the existing light is dissolved in the ocean of all possibility, to then return in fullness again and again.
Lunar festivities are always about the reflected light coming from the Great Sun. In this analogy the Sun is our Higher Soul and the Moon is our mind. The bliss of the higher soul can be brought to mind, but then the mind wants to wander off again into valleys of relative light and egoic dullness.
Our conscious mind, wonderful as it is, is largely a tool of our egoic vehicle. It latches onto a particular version of how things are. When we are on a spiritual path, we know that our experiences are subjective and relative. Nothing is fixed, everything can change and be reborn, transformed. We have more empowerment to bring awakening, growth and change when we stretch more into the light of our full truth.
Each month just before the moon goes fully dark there is a sliver of light, the waning moon. That is a great time to connect with Lord Shiva. It is a time to surrender the fixed constructs that feel binding and disempowering. We offer them to the great Lord Shiva, dissolver of form, who frees us from the bondage we didn’t know we were in. Every Shivaratri is about overcoming darkness and ignorance. Some of the things that we may gain assistance with in these monthly festivals:
- Breaking bad habits and overcoming addiction
- Dissolving old patterns of self-criticism, anger, blame
- Loneliness
- Ill health
- Asking for higher consciousness for the world around environmental or social concerns
- Self-Realisation
- Conditioning our conscious mind in a different way to our early programming
- Letting go of toxic memories or relationships, Help with forgiveness
- Flowing with the River of Life
- Experiencing pure bliss
- Feeling renewed and cleansed from the inside
- Destroying evil, from the smallest thought of revenge to the world-wide pandemic
- Seeking spiritual guidance and direction concerning any matter
The monthly festival for our community concentrates around a ceremony, the form will vary as guided by Shakti Durga. It may be a ceremony of fire, water (traditionally called abhishekam) or flowers for the month bringing all this into focus. They can be accessed through Shakti Durga Ceremonies Facebook group and in person at the Harmony Centre. It will be an opportunity for offerings, chanting, community, enjoying time together, and opening our hearts to more love and compassion. Traditionally there is chanting, fasting and meditating upon ethics and virtues such as kindness, non-violence, charity and forgiveness.
We come together in this way, we are helping not just ourselves but the world at large. Feel free to bring offerings such as flowers and food, this helps us to be active participants wherever we are and whatever role we are playing in the ceremony.
If you are watching online you can also place offerings on a table with a jug of water, and the intention is that there will be blessings for these offerings, which can then be consumed after receiving the blessings.
We are looking forward to sharing this precious time together. We are so blessed to be receiving such profound support at this difficult time globally.
Navaratri: Awakening The Goddess Within
Navaratri is an ancient annual Goddess festival. It celebrates the inevitable defeat of darkness and dullness, ignorance and pain by the vastness of Divine love and wisdom. In the wonderfully evocative way of the Sages of India, there are stories to delight our hearts and inspire us in our own lives, to bring forth victory of the soul over ego, love over fear and wisdom over ignorance and delusion.
Navaratri is an awesome opportunity to energetically cleanse and bless your life, your projects and new beginnings. There will always be loads of energy available to create & support yourself for the year ahead and plenty of blessings and joy. Don’t miss it!
This year we will focus upon the grace of the Triple goddess, Durga Lakshmi and Saraswati. We will continue the use of the traditional Navadurga or 9 forms of the goddess to invigorate and enlighten our energy centres. We will also give time and consideration to our life as a vehicle for the Divine Mother. How can we be part of the play of grace, what is our calling arising from within? How can we make a difference, right now, exactly as we are, offering what we have, and finding the deep satisfaction that comes when we allow ourselves to believe in the better world that is waiting to materialize. Instead of giving in to feelings of despair and hopelessness about the state of the world, we can merge with the Goddess and access the miraculous.
We will be active in asking the Divine to enter the battlefield and avert Crisis and flashpoints in world affairs. They will not go away without the spiritual people of the world calling to the Divine to intervene and diffuse evil, tyranny and oppression. Each day during Navaratri there will be sessions where we can be together online and there will be opportunities for puja and community over the weekend of 1 and 2 October. Come to what you can, and sessions will be recorded if you would like to catch any of them later.
Parts of our Navaratri are usually festival format, with people coming and going to the daily events. Usually there is a core period over a weekend during which we go deep in a more formal intensive. Each day during Navaratri there will be sessions where we can be together online and there will be opportunities for puja and community. Come to what you can, and sessions will be recorded if you would like to catch any of them later.
This divinely inspired program is open to all, you can expect powerful sacred energy and blessings, discourses and meditations, sacred music and lots of openhearted bliss. These priceless experiences are offered by donation to help our community embody the spirit of giving and loving and sharing.
Benefits of Sponsoring a Ceremony
Sponsoring ceremonies is a great way to ask for Divine blessings upon your prayers, to earn grace and positive karma and to serve those you love and all of creation. You don’t need to attend a ceremony in order to sponsor, you will receive the grace no matter where you are in the world. Sponsorships can be made with the intention of blessing your own personal prayers, or with the intention of blessing loved ones, communities or projects. The spiritual energy pours itself into your intention and is a potent way of creating new circumstances in your life.