Song of Myself: Celebrating Authentic Self through Visual Autobiography with Eileen Casey

Course Summary:

This four week workshop experience aims to explore and celebrate authentic self, creating a visual autobiography in the process. Based on Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Journal of Authentic Self,  poetry/prose writing is encouraged in a nurturing atmosphere sparked by collage, colour, tealeaf landscapes, meditation cards, Chakra balancing and music. Materials supplied but participants will be encouraged to bring collage fragments specific to their own unique personalities. ‘Song of Myself’ is a time to reconnect with authentic self.

Course Outline:

Participants will use Life Mapping, collage (drawn from various aspects of our physical and imaginative lives) epitomised by Henri Matisse’s ‘The Snail’. Collage is a communication tool, despatches from the inner self, a recognition of disparate elements of identity. Reading symbols found in tealeaf landscapes ‘painted’ by Persian tealeaves, in tandem with meditation cards (i.e. animal spirit/mermaid/dragon); nurtures haiku/prose responses. Participants are invited to bring their own journal/scrap book.

Course Outcomes:

Participants are invited to explore and acknowledge their authentic selves, their unique presence in the world.  In contemporary society, we are often either stereotyped or categorised, thus separating ourselves from what makes us authentic.  ‘Song of Myself’ offers the opportunity to reclaim the forgotten, the overlooked or discarded. In the words of Sarah Ban Breathnach, ‘There is no more exciting, inspiring and important adventure than the reunion with your Self’.

Eileen Casey is an award winning poet/writer, widely published in major anthologies by Faber & Faber, New Island, Salmon, The Stinging Fly, Ireland of the Welcomes, among others. She published seven poetry collections (Arlen House, New Island, AltEnts, Rua Red) and received residencies and bursaries. ‘Small Landscapes at the Bottom of my Teacup’ (using tea leaves) formed the basis of a Grundtvig workshop in Denmark. Over the years she has facilitated a number of relaxation sessions throughout South Dublin, using Chakra balancing and meditation.