Elen Sentier - Shaman Pathways: The Celtic Chakras

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT

A concise and elegant introduction to a Celtic way of under- standing reality. Elen Sentier appreciates the depth of meaning present in the myths and riddles of the British Isles and makes an erudite and entertaining guide for the curious seeker.
Lyn Webster Wilde, author of Becoming the Enchanter & several other books; OU tutor

Rich with personal vision, the book is an interesting exploration of wholeness. Drawing on stories and traditions that are central to modern Pagan and New Age thinking, Sentier finds a deep and valuable root within the spiritual heritage of Britain.
Emma Restall Orr, author of Living With Honour and The WakefulWorld etc.

Elen Sentier takes us on a well-considered journey, weaving Celtic lore and sacred geometry with experiential practices that move us into heart-full embodiment of ancient wisdom. The Celtic Chakras is a multi-dimensional and dynamic exploration of the bodys energy system, illuminating a sacred pathway to evolved human consciousness.
Llyn Roberts, a prominent teacher of healing and shamanism, is the award-winning author of Shapeshifting into Higher Consciousness. Llyn also wrote The Good Remembering and Shamanic Reiki.

Dance to the centre with Elen Sentier s groundbreaking Celtic Chakras, an enlightening synthesis of ancient shamanic lore, wisdom, journeys and meditations for the beginner or seasoned practitioner alikeenter the world of the ancestors, of Elen of the The Celtic Chakras Ways, Arianrhod, Ceridwen, and more From the Heart to the Brow, the unique spiral path of Celtic wisdom can lead one through the chakras in a special way, a guide to illuminating the Still Point within. Highly recommended.
Dr Karen Ralls, author of Templars and the Grail, Sacred Doorways, and Music & the Celtic Otherworld

Winchester, UK
Washington, USA

First published by Moon Books, 2013

Moon Books is an imprint of John Hunt Publishing Ltd., Laurel House, Station Approach, Alresford, Hants, SO24 9JH, UK

office1@jhpbooks.net
www.johnhuntpublishing.com
www.moon-books.net

For distributor details and how to order please visit the Ordering section on our website.

Text copyright: Elen Sentier 2011

ISBN: 978 1 78099 506 9

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publishers.

The rights of Elen Sentier as author have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Design and cover photograph: Stuart Davies www.stuartdaviesart.com

Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

We operate a distinctive and ethical publishing philosophy in all areas of our business, from our global network of authors to production and worldwide distribution.

Some people think there is no concept of chakras in the western tradition but this is not the case. Chakras are not a purely eastern concept but one found throughout the mystery traditions all over the world. I was interested to read what writer and novelist, Jim Donaldson, says on his website, As ancient mythologies, apparently so idle and meaningless, are now perceived to embody truths, scientific and religious, so the seemingly foolish tradi- tions of nations, descriptive of their early history, are recognized to convey ideas more or less astronomical and theological. Its good to see other folk coming to realise that what has been scorned by academics in the past is very far from the rubbish and childrens fantasies we were told it was.

There is a strong body of knowing of the energy centres, and the pathways between them, that the cunning folk and spirit keepers of Britain have known from time out of mind but, in the way of all esoteric and occult traditions, it is very well hidden in the stories and song of this land. This book takes you to follow the quicksilver pathways of the goddesses Elen of the Ways, Arianrhod, Ceridwen and Fraid and so discover the ancient wisdom for yourself.

The eastern systems have for many years been quite well known; our western systems have been hidden in story, song and old lore. From years of reading, studying and experimenting with willing people Ive been able to go deeply into the ancient stories of our land and figure out from their riddling what they tell about how the Earth works. Thats what Grammarye is about; its the old word for the lore, the wisdom teachings, used by cunning folk and Ill be using the word in this book. Grammarye is a system to help us find and remember how the world works, how the whole fits together. Its what physicists and mathemati- cians are working towards too. When you can get to talk to them privately, as Ive sometimes been able to do, they freely admit that there is a lot of correspondence between what they see and think and the old stories of our planet. Ive worked with many of the traditions from around the Earth, eastern and western; when you sit with them, ponder them, hold several threads together in your mind, you begin to see how they say the same thing, how their grammarye is of the whole world but expressed differently depending on the spirit of place who is guardian to that part of the Earth. Grammarye helps us to get into the sense and feeling of the land, brings us closer to the ancestors who hold the wisdom for us and expand our own knowing.

I find Im asked two questions when I first talk about the Celtic chakra system

• How are the Celtic Chakras different from the eastern systems? I thought the word was Sanskrit and they were only an eastern concept.
• All the books Ive read go through the chakras from the base up to the crown. Why do the Celts use a spiral?

Stories are the main way for the Celtic shaman to learn grammarye, the lore, we follow the spiral path of story, never going straight at a thing but always following the twists and turns of the path. Elen of the Ways, the ancient reindeer goddess of the northern peoples who haunted the Boreal Forest (of which Britain was a part) and her sister goddesses show us the tracks and pathways for our lives.

The triskele spins and spirals its way through the Celtic chakra system. It threads its way through Celtic art but it is much more than just a beautiful pattern, it holds one of the funda- mental principles of the Celtic spiritual and mystery tradition, the 3-in-1.

There are three main forms of path for humans to walk through the spirit worlds; the straight line, the circle and the spiral.

• The straight line is simple linear time; from birth to death; folk tend to think of it as a progression each step following on the previous, continuous expansion from a point of no- thing-ness (like the Big Bang theory).
• The circle is also time; cycles and seasons, returning always to the same place.
• The spiral contains both the cycles and the sense of progression but without the restricting points of either continuous outward expansion or continual return to the same place. It has a sense of breathing; a sense of conti- nuity and newness the and/and principle rather than the exclusive