Online Zoom Forum: Parenting and Adoption as a Spiritual Path: Spiritual, Social, and Policy Perspectives.
Date: Wednesday 29 May 2024.
Time: 7pm-9pm (UK time).
Event Description:
Format: There will be four talks, each of 15 minutes, followed by 20 minutes of discussion among the speakers and the chair, followed by Q & A.
Chair:
Phyllida Anam-Áire:
Phyllida Anam-Áire, a former Irish nun, as well as grandmother and therapist, who trained with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D., has worked extensively with the sick and dying.
Also a songwriter, she has taught Celtic Gutha or Caoineadh, Irish songs or sounds of mourning/keening.
The author of A Celtic Book of Dying, Celtic Consciousness in Contemporary Living, Let Love Heal, and now in the process of writing two more books to be published in 2024.
Phyllida lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Speakers:
Nadursea:
Title: Parenting as a Spiritual Journey.
Bio: Mother, Healer, and Gardener.
Interests; including Gutha singing and end of life companionship.
Prof Richard H. Roberts:
Title: On Behalf of Adoption: A Story of the Greatest Gift.
Description: I regard the adoption of a baby boy by my late wife Audrey and me way back in 1982 as one of most positive decisions of my life.
Given the enduring impact of a highly problematic upbringing in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, I doubted my capacity to parent a child.
Much fear had to be confronted and overcome in order for me to adopt.
We regarded our son as a gift and sacred trust: this has been a joyous commitment that lives to the present day.
This is my story.
Bio: Richard H. Roberts (né Vodvárka) is Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies (Lancaster University), and was for a time Professor of Divinity at the University of St Andrews.
Richard Roberts is currently Honorary Fellow at New College, University of Edinburgh.
His research interests include ‘managerial modernity’; the interface between music, performance and ritual; shamanism and altered states of consciousness; critical interrogation of the polarisation between theology and religious studies; and the existential and theological issues concerned with sexuality and embodiment.
Richard is currently working on a lecture project entitled: On the Absence of Tantra: The Body, God and Connectivity in the context of a collaboration with the anthropologist Professor Geoffrey Samuel.
Sólasan Elina von Herzklang:
Title: The Boys' Lesson for Single Mums, or Tough Lessons of Love.
Description: One of the challenges of bringing up boys on your own is meeting the male as a woman.
This has brought out all of the parts of myself that were not yet at peace.
Then I realised that this applies equally to my daughters and to my unpeaceful female parts.
So my spiritual growth was intensely moved by my own and many other children who accompany me and are ready to meet me.
Once in a state of constant stress and self-doubt, now in deep gratitude and joy.
Bio: Sólasan Elina von Herzklang (German), birth and death Doula, mother of four.
Researcher in the 13 signs of the zodiac in interaction with femininity/humanity.
Singer-Songwriter, Poet and Storyteller.
Sólasan is a Priestess and Initiate of Brigid of Ireland.
Her devotion is to also be a Guardian and Teacher of the Gutha (Celtic mantras).
Mary Horan:
Title: Good Girl.
Description: We tend to socialise girls to be pleasing and compliant - Mammy's best friend, Daddy's good girl.
This leads to poor boundaries and a weak sense of themselves.
I will discuss my observations of the price that girls pay for keeping the adults around them happy.
This talk will draw mainly on my twenty years in a girls secondary school with a special nod to my new Guru, three year old Leyna.
Bio: I am a mother, grandmother and educator and have worked in Montessori, Primary, Secondary and Third levels.
An archive recording will be made for the EICSP archive.
NB: There will be no refund if you cancel your booking.
Cost: By Donation:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
There seems to be a new issue with Paypal and hopefully it will be resolved.
If you are having a difficulty paying by Paypal, then you can pay by bank transfer instead.
NB: you must also email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so we can send you the Zoom sign-in details.
Here are the bank transfer details:
Account Name: Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace
Bank Address: Edinburgh Royal Mile Branch
Account Number: 06131159
Sort Code: 802000
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The IBAN number is as follows:
GB70 BOFS 8020 0006 1311 59