A Sacred Round on Stolen Ground: Decolonising Magical Spaces

An introduction to decolonising your magical spiritual practice

This workshop is an introduction to and exploration of decolonising your magical practice. Respecting the spirit of this ancient land; acknowledging the Traditional Owners and their kinship to the land, honouring Ancestors and Spirits of Place. Deep listening, respectfully connecting to country and being in active solidarity with First Nations communities and causes. This workshop will include crucial conversations, deep listening and witchcraft.

This workshop is not a solution or a quick fix; this workshop's intention is to better understand how colonisation has harmed and continues to harm Indigenous people and introduce ideas on how to decolonise your practices and ally with Indigenous people and causes. Mostly we intend to create a safe space for open discussion and listening.

This workshop takes place on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri and Woiwurrung people of the Kulin nation. As the traditional custodians of the land where the Gaia Temple is built we honour the land, ancestors, elders and wisdom holders of this alive culture. We endeavour to walk in solidarity with the continued struggle for sovereignty of all First Nations People.

What people are saying:

“A deeply inspiring and touching workshop. Raphael is full of knowledge, they have helped me to understand how to de-colonise, un-learn what we have been conditioned to believe and turn it into a new space to honour the land, asking for permission and give respects to land that we walk on. And how essential it is for us as witches to bring that knowledge into our craft.” – Dahlia Dahab

“Raphael has an amazingly powerful grounding energy. In their presence, I immediately feel calm, held & primed to experience and learn from a gentle yet fierce Priestess. The Decolonising Magical Practises workshop is essential and vital for everyone leading or participating in sacred spaces” – Natalie

Who is this workshop for?

This workshop is intended for spiritual practitioners; witches, pagans, cunning-folk, priestesses, spirit workers and anyone holding circles/ rituals/ creating sacred spaces or working with mysteries on the colonised, unceded lands of so-called Australia.

Your facilitator: Raphael Lavallee

Raphael (they/them) is a Ngarigo-Buhlung from the Ngarigo and Yuin nations. Ngarigo is their Grandmothers country, and Yuin is their Grandfathers. They are a WildWood Witch, a Reclaiming Witch, a Priestess, artist, ritualist, a ceremony and law/lore keeper, meditation teacher, expressive and cultural arts therapist, experienced workshop facilitator and fat activist.

Raphael holds an immense passion for the land and working with communities in respecting and honouring traditional owners, ancestors, and spirits of place. Their craft is a union of ancestral connection, their witchcraft traditions, their relationship to the land and their living ancestral threads within an embodied passionate expression of self.

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Date: Sunday 30th July 2023

Time: 10:00am – 5:00pm

Location: The Gaia Temple, 79 Holmes Road, Moonee Ponds.

Price: $75 (includes lunch)

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Background

the Gaia Temple – Explore Goddess Workshops

At the Gaia Temple, our mission is to help create a world in which people respect and honour the Goddess in her many forms and explore the intersection of spirituality, ecology and community activation. Our 'Explore Goddess' workshops are an opportunity for people to come together over lunch and an afternoon of group discussion facilitated by an authoritative special guest.

We explore new ideas about how the Goddess is present in our lives, the relevance of earth based spiritual perspective in solving modern issues and celebrate the Divine Feminine within, from a uniquely Australian perspective.

Each workshop covers an essential aspect of how we connect with and honour the Goddess, from Indigenous perspectives to honouring our Ancestors and motherline, celebrating the turn of the seasons and connecting with the spiritual energy of nature.

Come dive into women’s wisdom, story-telling and embodied learning! We will transport you to her different altars and immerse you in her divine energy here at the Temple.