About Spiritual Intensives & Festivals
Harmony Centre spiritual intensives and festivals involve meditation, group healing, time in nature, contemplation, spiritual music, kirtan and chanting, transmission of Divine energy through shaktipat blessings, and are for people who wish to awaken, deepen their search and evolve spiritually.
These are held either at the Harmony Centre, or partially online. They are always offered by heartfelt donation.
Spiritual Intensives
These are times of immersing within, focussing on strengthening the connection that each of us has with the Infinite, with nature, with ourselves and with each other. They have a starting point and an ending, and participants stay for the entirety of the event, immersing in a safe and contained environment for mutual benefit, awakening and inner illumination. They are similar to a retreat, although the spiritual content is usually more transformative and deep. We explore different traditions such as our Christ Consciousness Easter intensives; we have also held Kabbalah intensives, Ganesha or Shiva intensives, Sisterhood of the Rose, and a number of other topics of interest to our members. Because of the inclusive nature of our philosophy, we offer a wide range of spiritual intensives, some of which are seasonal and some of which arise in the course of the development of our community. Some focus on nature, and our connection to plants, animals and nature.
Maha Shivaratri Intensive
This annual celebration of Lord Shiva, the Divine as Pure Bliss beyond form, occurs every year in February/March.
Shiva is enigmatic, his name means bliss, but he is also Rudra the destroyer. As Nataraj, he is the Cosmic Dancer and as Nityasundara he is Eternal Beauty. Amidst bliss filled practices and blessings, we will be looking at these facets of Shiva, and the weaving of our lives with the Cosmic dance.
Shivaratri is a time for the awakening to more enlivened consciousness. It is an opportunity for the exploration of your own beauty and truth, as well as the discovery of gateways into the light and bliss beyond form. Our Shivaratri celebrations will be filled with music, meditation, mantra, stories from the Vedas and joyful exploration of the inner light.
All are welcome!
Maha Shivaratri Annual Celebration - 22 to 26 February 2025
Maha Shivaratri is the annual celebration of the marriage of the great Yogic God Shiva, to the Goddess Parvati. Their marriage is a metaphor for our soul’s marriage to the Great Light that is within and all around us.
Continuing our journey with the Luminaries, the Sun and the Moon, we will look at Lord Shiva as the Clear Light beyond all other Light. This is Limitless, Voidal Nothingness, like the dark sky of a moonless night. It is what existed before light and sound.
Celebrated by millions around the world, Maha Shivaratri is a powerful time for initiation. Our Maha Shivaratri celebrations will be filled with Divine presence, music, rich ceremonies, meditation, mantra, stories from the Vedas and joyful exploration of the inner light. We ask Shiva to help us re-enter the bliss of That From Which We Arose to Have Our Being. New mystery school members will be offered first initiation. Some of the most powerful initiations received by Shakti Durga and Gayatri have occurred at Maha Shivaratri. The first one was in India in 2008, and each year it is a powerful time.
Maha Shivaratri is a time for us to enter into the awakening of more enlivened consciousness. It is an opportunity for the exploration of gateways into light and bliss beyond form. The energy provides us with a great opportunity to raise ourselves from our present consciousness to more enlightened states. Not only that, it is a time for inspiring change, letting the old level of being go free and activating more of the totality of who we really are.
If you are interested in expanding your consciousness, this is a transformational intensive not to be missed.
Festivals
These are joyful gatherings that run for days or weeks along a particular theme, involving sessions that string together where we can drop into the ones we want and it doesn't matter that we miss some, or that we are also working and running our lives at the same time. Some are related to significant spiritual festivals held in various or our Navaratri, festival of the Goddess festivals which we hold annually. We have held summer festivals and musical festivals, showcasing our amazing musicians, or looking at relationships over a series of days or weeks.
Navaratri Festival
Navaratri means nine nights, and it celebrates the victory of light over darkness. Specifically it is a contemplation of the Divine Mother in the form of Durga, a goddess who brings strength and courage to humanity. Various other forms of the Divine Mother are honoured during this time. Our programs involve meditation and mantra, fire ceremonies and discourses, stories from the sacred texts with contemplative discussions around how the stories have applications in our lives. They are times of spiritual growth and illumination where huge blessings are received by attendees.
Navaratri is an awesome opportunity to energetically cleanse and bless your life, your projects and new beginnings. There will always be loads of energy available to create & support yourself for the year ahead and plenty of blessings and joy. Don’t miss it!
Parts of our Navaratri are usually festival format, with people coming and going to the daily events. Usually there is a core period over a weekend during which we go deep in a more formal intensive.
Awakening The Goddess Within - 3 to 12 October 2024
2024 Navaratri this year falls from 3-11 October with Dusserah, the day of celebration on the 12th.
Navaratri is an ancient annual Goddess festival. It celebrates the inevitable defeat of darkness and dullness, ignorance and pain by the vastness of Divine love and wisdom. In the wonderfully evocative way of the Sages of India, there are stories to delight our hearts and inspire us in our own lives, to bring forth victory of the soul over ego, love over fear and wisdom over ignorance and delusion.
This year we will focus upon the grace of the Triple goddess, Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. We will continue the use of the traditional Navadurga or 9 forms of the goddess to invigorate and enlighten our energy centres. We will also give time and consideration to our life as a vehicle for the Divine Mother. We contemplate questions such as: How can we be part of the play of grace? What is our calling arising from within? How can we make a difference, right now, exactly as we are, offering what we have, and finding the deep satisfaction that comes when we allow ourselves to believe in the better world that is waiting to materialize? Instead of giving in to feelings of despair and hopelessness about the state of the world, we can merge with the Goddess and access the miraculous.
We will be active in asking the Divine to enter the battlefield and avert crisis and flashpoints in world affairs. They will not go away without the spiritual people of the world calling to the Divine to intervene and diffuse evil, tyranny and oppression.
Each day during Navaratri there will be sessions where we can be together online and there will be opportunities for puja and community over the weekend of 1 and 2 October. Come to what you can, and sessions will be recorded if you would like to catch any of them later.
This divinely inspired program is open to all, you can expect powerful sacred energy and blessings, discourses and meditations, sacred music and lots of openhearted bliss.
These priceless experiences are offered by donation to help our community embody the spirit of giving and loving and sharing.