After much studying and exploring from the depths of my heart and soul, I can now see how this work has taken form, not to be taken lightly it certainly does shake us, but with the the most joyful and heart awakening experience to follow.

It is known as the most powerful of religious experiences we can have in life. Mandorla is the place of poetry “where the fire and the rose are one!” (four quartets; T.S Eliot)

Both workshops on offer in Amsterdam have filled up instantly and so I plan to do more. There is so much conflict in our world, I know this is hugely necessary work to follow. I wrote about my first experience of Mandorla realization in my second book ‘Reclaimed Innocence.’

At a time when our differences, our needs and desires, gender, culture, politics, faith traditions etc threaten to divide us, the Mandorla provides a bridge that can deepen this experience with relationships and empower the right action. There is no way to depict the Mandorlas brightness, except by darkness. If we stand in the place of the Mandorla, that meeting place of two opposites, then we can use the energy of that particular conflict to provide a vital spark which can lead again to a deeper understanding of what is occurring and to enable us to make clear decisions and feel into the power this gives us. In my own case my mothering and my ever-emerging soulcraft conflicted with each other. I became more aware of these two opposites as I explored them. I held two very strong levels of soul work. One was the rearing of six children; the other was my work in the world. They were both equally as important to me. I was stretched unbelievably between the two. For years I experienced deep anguish and pain as I juggled these roles and found ways to combine both of them in my life. I felt that tension growing in me, the tearing apart of what I needed to do, pulled in all directions.

I felt that tension growing in me, the tearing apart of what I needed to do, pulled in all directions. I spent a long time on the phone checking in with my girl, seeking help from others and talking to her in ways that I felt would help. My own tension was growing inside me, a creature going crazy feeling the madness of it all. My own heat rising in my belly, the curse of the mountain lion, the puma, sharpening her claws, what was going on inside me, what was happening to the child I wanted to protect from wounding. I raged with agony to be in both places. One voice saying ‘go home to your daughter, be a ‘good’ mother.’ Another voice saying ‘let her be, this is her journey she needs to experience this’ Another voice recognising the importance of the work I was undertaking and how it may affect hundreds of other beings in years to come, as well as helping me very deeply to connect with my own strongly emerging mytho-poetic identity. The Mandorla work was exploring me, just as I was exploring it. Now I had a ‘name’ for what I had experienced so much in my adult life.

I was romancing the world and yet staying in touch with my daughter as best as possible. Being with the river and my singing voice that kept emerging and singing its songs. I allowed my Mandorla tension to rise, to feel right into it, to be with it in ways I had not felt before, or even allowed myself to ever feel. The tension grew and the lioness roared deeply within. Pacing amidst the undergrowth, sharpening her claws on rocks, dancing her way into being. Then the dance began. A deep trance dance that was held beautifully by drummers and compassionate witnesses, by circles of men and circles of women. The beast was set free, she tossed and tumbled into the pain of her own soul, making love to the earth, being with the soil, the mud clinging to her body, the beat of her heart rocking to the rhythm of the world. She felt for a moment the trapping of a wild beast trapped in the confines of this human world, looking into fear filled faces, snarling as she broke free into her wild dance, she would not be held or caged, she would dance as wildly as her own body would allow. Hair flailing, arms and fingers exploring the dewy sensuality of mud and saliva, toes clawing at the edges of the circle finding a way to free themselves into the expansion of what was outside this cage, knowing that to be whole she needed to dance everything that was inside it. I had to leave myself behind for a while, to see what would emerge, to let go of countless skins, to shed the old and step into the new. I could not be in control of this; ‘it’ whatever ‘it’ was needed its own journey for a while and I simply needed to step out of its way. For me to really find my own soul, my own unique place in the world the ‘I’ needed to pull away, to allow the love relationship to unfold, to feel the caresses of the earth, to surrender to the torrents of passion we were creating together, I in my dance and the earth meeting me in all my wildness. We became one.

(An exert from Reclaimed Innocence MyVoice Publishing Caroline Carey)

There is a tension that is created at an evolutionary level. The mandorla is the almond shape where two circles partly overlap, it is the Italian word for almond, the circles merging place signifies the sacred place in which balance and reconciliation are birthed. There is a generative power available within the tension of opposites as in heaven and earth, light and dark, masculine and feminine, loyalty and betrayal, to name but a few. Mandorla is the sacred space of our soul work; it is where beauty and terror exist together. There has been a split and these two circles become united together. The curse is the pain it can inflict but with the greatest potential to heal.

This gathering includes creativity, movement meditations & constellation work. The focus is on the conflicts in our lives and as we begin to realize how these conflicts affect us, we can begin to find their dance. With the support of the group and a constellation process which is held and guided by myself and the drum beat, we begin to allow the Magic of the Mandorla birth the richness of wisdom and new insights.

My intention is to offer this work and experience within workshops but also to business’s, colleges, organizations and individuals. It is available to you, what ever your experience, for those wishing to work with deep rooted issues or to simply become awakened to new insights. For those training in therapeutic studies or the student to life’s experiences. Men and women, any age or ability.

Magic of Mandorla, amazing and deep work with Caroline Carey. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT to anyone who is studying to become a therapist or is one already but seeking the thread of connection in continuing your own development and work with your own process (which we so need when we work with others – right?). If you feel called to this work, then follow your intuition and go for it! I think it’s excellent quality. Suzan Lemont

You can read more about it on my website and please feel free to contact if you would like more info and possibilities….http://www.alchemyinmovement.com/magicmandorla.html

Caroline

info@carolinecarey.com