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My Story

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As a young person, I was interested in  communication and creative energy.  I decided the best way to understand creative energy was to be it and this is what took me to Art college firstly in Leeds,  then Cardiff, Wales where I studied for a BA (Hons) in Fine Art and later to Birmingham, England and then Dundee, Scotland where I studied to MA level.  

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I continue to hold the premise that the best way to understand creative energy is to be it and that is why my work with others is dedicated to being present, listening deeply and believing passionately in each unique journey of discovery.

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In between my BA and MA study periods,  I became a writer and then went to train to teach and work with young children.  I taught in inner city Birmingham.  I was primarily interested in observing the children and learning how to encourage and educate (draw out) their unique expression and gifts.  I was deeply inspired by the diversity of faiths and cultures represented in my classrooms and this took me on a bit of a spiritual pilgrimage to other countries including Africa and India.

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I left the education system so that I could return to art and moved up to Scotland after the death of my maternal grandmother.  The experience of my grandmother's death showed me very clearly that the vision we are invested in holding for this everyday reality does not stop here.  This opened a deep initiatory period within me and led me to explore spiritual maps, especially the shamanic map which answered questions and framed positively the existential crisis I was experiencing.  My studies of the creative matrix behind this reality and how each of us work with it are inspired by the great opening that happens for me when someone dies and also from what I have learnt from helping children to stay connected.

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I went on to have my own children and this was possibly my biggest experience of feeling creative energy at work.  I was working on an MFA project merging nature and human systems and voices when I became pregnant with my son.  I spent a lot of my children's early years out in nature.  I moved up to Findhorn in 2004 with my son and daughter and we became part of the Steiner kindergarten culture there.  It was here that I took part in lots of trainings and courses in spirituality and ecology. 

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I moved back to Fife, Scotland after a big opening with the land there and worked in a Montessori School as an Artist,  following my children.  I left there to develop and install the Nature as Teacher spiral curriculum for the Secret Garden Outdoor Nursery with my pioneer friend Cathy Bache.  This brought my work with children to a perfect closure as I merged the way of nature and presence with the National curriculum to take nature education into the main stream. 

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During these five years I had been taking courses in Shamanism working firstly for two years with Franco Santoro with the sun and moon cycle and Astrological work (2004 - 6), then Heather Ash Amara and Raven Smith (lineage of Don Miguel Ruiz) (2007) Stephen Mulhearn of Lendrick Lodge (2007 - 8), Peggy Dylan (fire walking instruction) (2008) and many other spiritual teachers. I also trained in and worked intensely in a study group with the practice of non-violent communication and attended seminars with Marshall Rosenberg, Dominic Barten, Claralyn Nunnamaker and Karl Staeyart. 

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I set up the little red drum School of Creative Shamanism in 2009 as a gallery and as a school. 

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I took a 2 year Shamanic teacher training course in New Mexico with Sandra Ingerman (2012 - 13).  I assisted Sandra at her Teacher training in Scotland along with Chetna Lawless and Stephen Mulhearn in 2016.

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2009 - 11, I attended a two year study group in constellation therapy with Clare Crombie  and took further courses with Dan Booth Cohen and Emily Blefield. Between 2014 and 16, I studied various programmes of constellation work with Nikki Mackay.   The constellation therapy method features strongly in the Creative Earth Ensemble model I have developed here. 

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In September 2011 I was accepted by Abertay University to take a Post Graduate Certificate in counselling skills. I returned in 2015 to take the two year diploma course and then complete the MSc element (2018-19) which was an auto ethnographical play in three Acts mapping the effectiveness of mindfulness on mood with nature and darkness. In 2020 I went on to train as a Counselling and Practitioner Supervisor with Rowan Consultancy.

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I led courses and apprenticeships in Creative Shamanism for nine years.  My way of understanding this work has always been that it is an innate way of being and that by attuning with creative flow and the natural cycles of nature a deeper and more true part of us can find its way to the centre.  I have been holding graduation programmes where practitioners find their own name and way of practicing with this work.

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In 2018 it became clear that I needed to change the name of my practice to meet the needs of the contemporary culture to which I belonged.  Many of the students who step out as Practitioners are artists,  writers, curriculum and programme managers,  voices for marginalised people and ambassadors of innovative holistic projects.  The title Visionary  seemed accessible as an understandable expression of the connective and inspiring practice that I held space for.  It also reflected the need of these times to bring through Visionaries who will help bring an inclusive future into being.  

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I took the last intake of apprenticing visionary and shamanic practitioners in 2020.  My work has now come full circle to take its place back inside Art.   The domain of Theatre, Film, Story and Constellation practice is the setting for a live and evolving healing and creative practice.  

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The 4Directions Theatre template is a model I have devised that repeats through all aspects of my work and this encompasses (quite literally) Coaching, Supervision,  Earth Ensemble constellation therapy, Story practitioner work, Visionary Artist practitioner courses and Bringing in the Mythical Art projects.   I have been leading programmes that help many more people and places to realise their full visionary and creative potential.  

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The path of the Creative Visionary is blessed.  It can also be incredibly testing psychologically and emotionally.  It involves the breaking down of lots of  ideas of form and attachment and it can be a path that includes much trauma and spaces of disillusionment and depression.  

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From visiting these places as part of my own path, my own journey has brought with it a deep desire to help others and a rich pool of resources and understanding of the terrain that in my Coaching and Supervision, Earth Ensemble and Visionary Artist work I can bring to others.

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My direction has moved over the last three years after leading the Story Practitioner and Artist Practitioner courses and holding a one time only two year courses for a lively and enriching Earth Ensemble Constellation Practitioner training (which is the ocntent of my new book 'This Wholeness').  It has moved into being a published Author and a graduate in digital film making! The books Story Compass, Trees are our Letters and Shamanic Dreaming were released by Moon Books and Findhorn Press  My film making has taken me to reach people through story in new and exciting ways.  My focus for the next few years is to lead and oversee the development of collaborative story, filmmaking and mythical work in areas where it can enrich and continue to reconnect nature, the muse and the wider circles back with people again. This includes leading film research and programmes to help filmmakers to evolve with pluralistic and living models of education and take the hierarchical forms out of teaching. 

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I am a holistic artist who works of creative flow.  My work is about bringing back models to restore inclusiveness and connection by listening to the earth's calling.  Quantum and deeply honouring in design, Carrie Day Film & Creative Earth Ensemble is showing us the way.