Additional Information

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Further Information:

Wisdom Council, Workshops and Book launch ….

Further Information

In 2005 I, Ann-Marie, was part of an event in America, where women gathered to celebrate their ‘grandmothers/women elders.’ This event made me realise that our society now is extremely focused on the values of newer, better, faster. We have little space for the experience of going deeper, for valuing the knowing that comes from living openly through 60 or 70 winters and springs: to have watched your children and their children grow and have children of their own; to have watched values and beliefs change; to have seen society grow in expected and unexpected ways. While many of us acknowledge the importance of wisdom to us as individuals, as a community we have not created spaces for us to explore with older women. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could come together with questions and then be able to enrich the daily living of our lives with the growth that comes from exploring together.

On another level…. older women are telling us that they feel invisible, Eily Buckley, one of the women from the book said, “we can talk till we are blue in the face but if there is no one listening…” The week ending 2nd October is Age Action week, let us come together with our elders. As a society we only become whole and balanced when each member of that society contributes what they can best contribute.

Wisdom councils have their roots in ancient traditions but have not been used in this land for a long time. They are a chance for people to speak openly with one another, the aim is not debate but finding connections and threads that unite. In our wisdom council we will have 10-12 specially chosen wise women sitting in circle in the centre of the room. They will face each other, looking inward. We will pass a ‘talking stick’ around the circle. When a woman has the stick she can talk, the other women, and the circles of people witnessing the council are silent. When the woman finishes she passes the stick on around the circle. Women can choose to stay silent, to respond to something that has been expressed before or express something from her heart or experience. Gradually the sharing deepens. Towards the end people from outside the centre circle are invited contribute. A wisdom council is a forum for sharing, learning, growing; a place where we can be inspired, challenged and moved.

Currently Mary Robinson, Archbishop Tutu, Ervin Lazslo, Deepak Chopra (members of the Club Of Budapest) have initiated the World Wisdom Council. “The World Wisdom Council has been formed in the conviction that the paramount requirement in this age of discontinuity and transformation is to recognize that, through the development of a new dimension of consciousness, the world can be constructively changed by women and men wherever they live and whatever their interests and lot in life…. It seeks to cultivate wisdom as the highest priority for our time through various means, including the posing of some fundamental and far from obvious questions that bring into prominence glaring inconsistencies, paradoxes, dysfunctions and pathologies in our individual, institutional, and cultural milieus. It affirms that our mindset, and the way we use the many facets of our mind, shape the reality of the world around us.”

Beyond the event

We would love to create regular spaces in our society where wisdom can be valued, grow and be shared. We hope that regular wisdom councils will develop. We aim to continue developing the website so that the conversations which begin on the 2nd Oct can continue. By creating these spaces we hope that support can be given to the development of a clear vision about where society is moving. This would include support for parents, relationships, healthy lifestyle and spiritual exploration.

Each of us have parts of us that are wise… we need to start feeding these parts by connecting with those who have integrated the experiences of their lives and now choose to stand before us and share from their hears…. The wise women of Ireland are offering us an incredible gift….

Please get involved.