I Arise Today: St. Patrick and the Celtic Spell of Surrender

Introduction

I arise today, through the strength of heaven,
The light of the sun, the radiance of the moon,
The splendor of fire, the speed of lightning,
The swiftness of wind, the depth of the sea,
The stability of the earth, the firmness of rock.
I arise today, throughGod's strength to pilot me,

I summon today
All these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel and merciless power
that may oppose my body and soul,

– Excerpt from St. Patrick's Breastplate prayer

St. Patrick is a historical and mythical figure well known for his Lorica prayer of self admonition, often translated as ‘The Deer’s Cry’ or St. Patrick’s Breastplate. 

So much of a life well lived revolves around our ability to surrender and hold faith in the protection of nature and reality. Faith is the invocation of magic in our lives and St. Patrick is an icon of our ability to invoke the world of invisible divine power. 

St. Patrick is foremost in the Irish consciousness as a slave, taken from Britain to Ireland by Irish pirates and put to work as a shepherd. After heeding a voice in a dream during his lonely captivity he escaped back to his homeland. Years later another voice instructed him to return to Ireland as a clergyman on a mission to convert the Celtic Irish to the new Christian story. Within two centuries of his return he was regarded as patron saint of Ireland.

Patrick has become a mythical as well as a historical figure in Ireland. He makes show stopping appearances in some of the pre Christian Irish mythological stories, and is attributed with similar powers that our Celtic Irish heroes were told to wield. One such power attributed to him and his famous prayer is the ‘feth fiada’, 

St. Patrick’s day is foremostly a religious festival here in Ireland. The local village and town community parades are a charming juxtaposition to the large scale global celebration that it is today.  

We look forward to sharing insight, stories, music and poetry of Ireland during these two days together where we revisit St Patrick and his relevance to our lives today.

Concepts covered over the course:

• How can we survive and leave our legacy institutionally and imaginatively as St. Patrick’s story has. How can we survive in the historical and mythological world simultaneously?

• How can we invigorate the hopeful patient perseverance in our lives through the story of St. Patrick?

• We will examine the mythical, musical and poetic repertoire around the life of St. Patrick

• How does St. Patrick’s life and spirituality teach us about forgiveness and speaking truth to power?

• How can St Patricks mythical background cultivate a more inclusive view of our world and spirituality?

• Compose our own invocational body prayer (feth fiada)

What you will receive:

• Attend two live Zoom meetings

• Every session has an optional breakout conversation with other participants to reflect on a question of the day

• Interact with the group via the Zoom chat feature

• Gain access to recordings of the two sessions indefinitely

• Download the Teaching Notes and Participant Chat for each session

• Receive an invitation to join the Dámh Imeall (h)Edge School Facebook Group

• Become a part of this ever growing community of creativity and imagination

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