Godhooks is available to teach the following weekend-long retreats at your event or teaching center.

The Descent of Inanna:
Letting go of the Trappings

The notion of a descent myth is nearly universal, with virtually every ancient civilization's lore featuring at least one version. The Descent of Inanna is among the more detailed and powerful of those myths, and this track is designed to allow the participants to walk in Her footsteps as She passes through the Gates and into the Underworld.

Ideally designed for individuals who seek a transformational experience, this track is designed for those in mourning, those wishing to break free of dysfunctional patterns and those looking for deeper meaning from everyday life. During the course of the workshop, participants will focus on stripping away the trivial trappings of the everyday with the goal of laying their true self bare.

Participants will encounter the mei, Sumerian symbols of power, only to have them ritually stripped away one by one. They will enter the Underworld and be brought face to face with their inner selves. In this place, they will be nurtured through a re-entry process and reborn as new beings.

This track is not easy. Participants should expect it to inspire strong emotions and challenging memories; they must be prepared to do an archaeology of their personal histories. In order to meet the physical challenges of the track, they must be able to walk 1.5 miles comfortably and move/dance with relative freedom.

This track is not suitable for those living with mobility impairments or pain syndromes that impede walking, free movement and attendance at multiple daily workshops. It may not be a good fit for individuals under severe emotional stress. While breaks are frequently scheduled, participants will be asked to undertake intensive emotional work accompanied by moderate physical effort. Please consider your physical and emotional state carefully and err on the side of caution before selecting this track.

Forging Magical Partnerships
Strengthening the Bonds of Intimacy and Love

Joyful relationships set the stage for a happy life. But cultivating the pull that draws partners together isn’t easy when there’s work to be done and challenges to face. For those who want to combine life partnership and spiritual practice, the challenges seem even greater: how can you keep it together--and keep it holy--while staying on top of your day-to-day responsibilities? Where can you find the support you need to strengthen your relationship while feeding its spiritual and energetic needs?

The goal of this workshop is to help you do just that. We will create a safe space in which to guide you as you explore your connection, re-energize its bonds and heal unacknowledged rifts. This two-day workshop for couples, triads and magical partners of all kinds will lead you through a series of group, partnered and individual exercises that allow you to open to the greater possibilities between you. We’ll start by identifying exactly where you are. Each couple or group will move through a diagnostic process designed to help clarify current patterns of relating and disconnecting. You’ll have the opportunity to identify the beliefs beneath your most common habits, while uncovering energetic patterns that either promote or block deeper connection.

Next, we’ll explore what you most want as opposed to what you have: are you truly fed by what you’ve created, or could you blossom by reaching out for more? Where do you really want to go together? Through facilitated exercises and interactive play, we’ll see where you might be able to go. Finally, we’ll begin the scary and delightful work of renewing the connection between you energetically, emotionally, sensually, and where appropriate, erotically.

This workshop will require serious focus: it is designed for committed partners and magical collaborators rather than individuals. Enrollment is limited in order to allow all participants to receive the attention they need. Arrive ready to work hard, play hard, enjoy each other and open to new possibilities between you. You should be comfortable with moderate self-disclosure, both group and partnered energetic work and be able to move about freely.

Each participant should bring a fresh, empty notebook, a blanket or padded throw, a portable chair, a pillow and comfortable clothes that allow for free movement. Nudity is not required. Enrollees will be asked to fill out a pre-conference questionnaire and participate in a multi-part Tarot reading.

Osiris: The Fool's Journey, or the Reintegration of Self

The legend of Osiris tells of his being torn into 14 pieces which Isis searches for and reassembles, minus one key piece which she must make magically. Our track will follow that journey of searching, rediscovery and assembly as a series of steps along the Fool's Journey of the Tarot.

Participants will form a sort of spiritual CSI team as they follow clues and look for their body parts around Camp Ramblewood. On the surface, this will be fun and engaging, but it will be supported by deeper underlying work looking at what each part of us means to us on a visceral level and how this relates to our journey through life.

More light-hearted in many ways than the Inanna track, this year's work is highly suitable both for those who have done the Inanna work and those who are simply looking for an opportunity to rediscover themselves and perhaps polish the gem that they are into something a bit new. No experience with Egyptian (or any other) deities is required.

Creating Fulfilling Relationships (this can also be done as a weekend):

Mindful Kissing and Foreplay
Are you fully present when you kiss your partner? Or are you a thousand miles away, wondering what you'll have for dinner, whether the trash has been taken out, if the bills will get paid, and what about those things you said at the fight you had this morning? All of us experience stresses and distractions, but these mental tangents can damage the delightful intimacy of our relationships. They can also weaken the spiritual bonds we forge with our beloveds, but it doesn't have to be this way! Instead, we invite you to join us as we call upon the guidance of Aphrodite and her consorts in this magical exploration of connection, intimacy and play. Through guided visualizations and structured exercises, we will lead you through the experience of giving and receiving sensual pleasure together with your beloved(s). Note: There will be no nudity or public sex. Instead, be prepared to enjoy an evening of sensual delights that are totally safe for public play. You must bring a partner or partners to participate in this class. [18+]

Mindful Love Making
Give yourself and your partner(s) the gift of loving, sensual attention that delights wholly in them. If you often find your mind drifting during sex, then this workshop is for you. Together, we'll discuss—and explore—a range of playful, erotic and mindful strategies for focusing on the present moment when intimate with our beloveds. We will call on Aphrodite and her consorts to guide us as we play in the intersection of Zen, Taoist, and Tantric meditation and thought, all with the potential to enrich our experience of sacred sex. Because our work will be both interactive and practical, we encourage you to bring a partner (or partners) to this workshop: touching and communication will be key. Come ready to feel, listen and learn from and with each other. Note: No one under 18 will be admitted. Please note that this is a beginners' workshop focused on the goal of bringing our whole selves to lovemaking, not a class on the practice of Tantra. You must bring a partner or partners to participate in this class. [18+]

Mindful Sex Play: Adding Spice!
Inspired by Aphrodite's relationship with Hephaestus, this workshop addresses the needs of established, experienced couples. Just as eating the same meal every night can get boring, making love the same way can gradually close the heart. Yes, the familiar can sustain you, but can it make you grow? Can it keep you happy forever? Making love the same way every night, while often lovely and comforting, can simply get dull. This workshop is for those who want to add as yet unexplored delights to their love lives. Perhaps you've thought of roleplaying together, or writing each other sexy love letters. What would it be like to push the boundaries you've established: to have sex outside, or be spanked, or ask your lover what they've never dared to do—yet? We'll explore many of the spicy, juicy ways you can wake up your heart and keep lovemaking fresh. Our work will be both interactive and practical; touching and communication will be key. Come ready to feel, listen and learn from and with each other. Note: No one under 18 will be admitted. You must bring a partner or partners to participate in this class. [18+]

THE PRIEST/ESS TRACK:
Introduction to the Priestess Track: Combining Ritual, Aromatics
and Energy Work in Preparation for Trance, Meditation or Circle

This workshop will lead participants through the basics of combining four Wiccan Paths of Power: ritual, herbology, psychic development and trance and meditation. It is the first workshop of the Priest/ess Track, a series of classes designed to help develop the basic Priestly toolkit for clergy (or future clergy) walking any initiatory Pagan or Neo-Pagan derived path. This introductory class will teach the Sensory Spirituality approach to tapping those sources of spirit within us and all around us; and although it is derived from the traditions of northeast coast Blue Star Wicca , it is appropriate for both the students and teachers of many Pagan paths.

We will use individual and group exercises to lay the basic groundwork for circle, trance or meditation. Drawing on the Paths of Power noted above, Godhooks will lead the group through the process of opening to spirit through magic and prayer and preparing themselves to explore the experience of the divine. Because we will be drawing on the Path of herbology, we will be working with with intensely scented essential oils and incense. Those with perfume sensitivities may wish to choose another workshop. Participants will also have the opportunity to take home an incense or oil blend to enhance their private practice.

Additionally, we will be drawing on the Path of psychic development, and will ask participants to partner with another attendee for several exercises involving energy work; you may either come with a partner or choose partners at the workshop.

Please arrive with a open mind and readiness to enter sacred space. Enter willing to listen, learn, share and explore with respect, discernment and an open heart. Adults and teens are welcome.

Ritual Priest/essing: The Sensory Spirituality Approach

Godhooks will lead participants through an exploration of the fundamental tasks of those Priests or Priestesses who guide students through any kind of ritual experience.

We will use a series of individual and partnered exercises to experience the skills and mimic the responsibilities of a ritual leader and discuss our discoveries as a group.
Participants will have the opportunity to identify the key elements of what makes good ritual work and learn how to start polishing their own skills. They will be asked to partner with another person for several exercises, so either arrive with a working partner or come willing to meet new people and work with them. Although the basic principles we explore will apply to a very wide set of ritual formats, we will be working with the litergy of the Blue Star tradition. Although it would be helpful to have attended the introductoryr workshop in the Priest/ess Track seriesprior to attending this workshop, it is not required. All respectful adult and teen participants are welcome.

Learning to Help: Expanding Your Lay Counseling Skills

Craft leaders and group failitators often find themselves in the position of providing support and advice to students and others in pain or confusion. How can one develop a basic set of lay counseling skills that offer the right kind of help without inappropriately crossing (or bending) professional boundaries? How can a Priest/ess best guide her students and colleagues when they need spiritual help? And when should a Priest/ess refer someone to the professional counseling sector?

One answer: a well trained, compassionate Priest/ess can provide a safe space in which individuals can identify and address daunting personal issues without sacrificing a spiritual interpretation of their problems. Careful use of divination can help students and colleagues participate in the interpretation and healing of their pain andoffer insightful, nonjudgemental guidance through many of life’s challenges. While even the best diviner cannot offer professional counseling services unless he or she has received appropriate levels of training, a good Priest/ess can serve as a valuable adjunct on the healing journey. This workshop explores the fundamental underpinnings of using divinatory techniques to offer lay counseling and provides concrete instruction for those Priest/esses interested in developing lay counseling skills or adding a formal lay counseling component to their current divinatory practice. We will move from theory to real life examples of the kind of work that lay counselors do, using Tarot and Rune readings as examples. We will close with a question and answers session if time permits. Godhooks will make reading recommendations for the further, private development of participants’ lay counseling skills, and if possible, will bring several copies of the text she most recommends to the class for purchase at the original cost. Diviners, readers and interested individuals of all backgrounds and experience levels
are welcome.

Magic Without Tears: Helping Students Overcome Resistence
and Learn to Work with Energy

The fourth workshop in the Priest/ess Track series will tackle the problem of teaching energy work and magic to students who doubt that they can do it. We will start by sharing a few stories of resistence and quickly move into a review of the ways in which almost everyone moves energy and uses magic every day. The group will then learn a sneaky set of exercises designed to help Craft teachers nudge their students into magical work without triggering fear, doubt and underconfidence. Participants will be asked to partner with another person for several exercises, so either arrive with a working partner or come willing to meet new people and work with them.

The workshop will culminate in the use of a Braided Stream/Blue Star technique for entering altered states of consciousness. Please come with an open mind and be ready to explore and learn. Although this class is part of the Priest/ess Track, attendance at prior series workshops it is not required.

Working with Advanced Students: Leading the Initiated to Third Degree

This workshop, the final class in the Priest/ess Track series, will lead participants through the Sensory Spirituality approach to mentoring and teaching advanced students. It will emphasize practical strategies for the cultivation of those qualities and attributes that are required of effective group leaders,Craft teachers and good mentors in general.

We will draw on the work of multiple traditions and researchers from many disciplines in approaching this task; through individual and group exercises, we will identify and explore the interpersonal and self-actualization skills of a good teacher and role model. We will discuss the key domains that must be nurtured in order to “grow” a good community leader and lay out our discoveries as a group. Participants will have the opportunity both to contribute their own insights about how to work with advanced Craft students and identify those areas in which they would like to further their own growth. Although Godhooks works within the Blue Star tradition, this class is designed to meet the needs of all teachers and group leaders who work within modern Pagan initiatory traditions. Although it would be helpful to have attended other workshops in the Priest/ess Track prior to attending this workshop, it is not required. All teachers, leaders and future leaders are welcome.

In order to preserve a safe and intimate learning environment, please arrive willing
to listen, learn, share and explore with respect, discernment and an open heart.