Traditional Spiritwork 101 with Ren** Meets Wednesday this Week Only

Thursdays March 31, 2016 – May 5, 2016
*In the 5th week, class will be Wednesday evening the 27th, instead of Thursday the 28th – to make room for our very special guest Sharon Knight who will be presenting her Well of Song workshop while in town for her performance at our annual Beltane Festival.

Class runs 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm PST
in Los Angeles, CA at The Green Man
call 818-985-2010 to reserve your space.

Price of $120 may be paid in two equal installments of $60 at the first and fourth meeting.
Price includes downloadable audio-recordings of class and access to an online discussion forum including Q&A with Ren.
More about Ren Zatopek

The only way to have a friend is to be one. +Ralph w. Emerson

Traditional Spiritwork begins with conversations. The stars are singing. The memories in your blood are whispering. Can you hear them? The spiritworker learns the language of the dead, of trees, of the heart. Through these diverse relationships our worldview evolves and our understanding deepens, just like the expansion we experience if we have the opportunity to visit another country or learn a foreign language.

Sometimes the conversations lead us to other sacred arts: like the rituals, shrine-keeping, prayers, visionary work, and folk-practices of our ancestors. To me, Traditional doesn’t mean going through the same motions as those who came before. Our animist ancestors didn’t have the internet to look up which color candle to use. They found their own Way. They worked with what they had, they talked with what they found, they saw spirit in everything. The Tradition is heretical, it is the way of finding your own way.

I love how many folks have changed their question from, “Ren, can you tell me what my spirit guides are saying?” to “Ren, how do I learn to hear my spirit guides?” Love. But Spirit-Listening is a half-step. Traditional Spiritwork is not simply knowledge of guides, it’s self-knowledge. We, who are also spirits, who are capable not only of perceiving, but of communicating and creating with our invisible friends. As the quote says, the only way to have a friend is to be one.

Many modern seekers that I meet are conflicted. They reach for stronger spiritual contact from their guides, but may become overwhelmed as their sensitivity increases — we can become caught simultaneously drawing in and pushing away spiritual experience. We become caught wanting to see through those animist eyes, while fearing the madness that might come if we really start seeing faces and hearing voices in everything. We become blocked not by inability to perceive spirit, but by our fear that spirit isn’t “real”, such that what we perceive is never good enough. The vision is never strong enough to eradicate our fear. The comfort of confirmation never lasts.

In this class, we will learn that stronger contact is not clearer contact. We will learn a healthier way of relating to our fears. We will develop dexterity in our spiritual senses and yes, meet some of our nearest and dearest friends. We’ll start the journey of learning the language of soul, of spirit, of ancestors, of plants, animals, minerals, of threshold beings like faery, like Death, of Bright Gods and Titans, of innerworlds and otherworlds.

Spiritwork is the serpent constantly hatching from an ever-larger egg. Spiritwork is a tool that can work within any system, religion, belief or box that you enjoy, so long as that box isn’t brittle — in which case, fair warning, spiritwork may crack a few of your favorite eggs.