It’s A Circle. Not A Course.
I’ve been teaching at university for the last 11 years. I’ve taught courses that, over the years, have covered everything from Sophocles, Chaucer and Shakespeare to Tarantino, Stephen King and Stephanie Meyer. Yes, really. I’ve convened a cross-disciplinary course on Digital Media that was taught across 3 departments in small groups, computer labs and lectures. I now teach an annual International Summer School course, that I devised on the impact of 19th century British Gothic on popular contemporary culture, where we look at key gothic novels – Frankenstein, Dracula, Jekyll & Hyde – alongside Bioshock, True Blood and zombie fun runs.
Why am I telling you all this? I’m telling you this, because I know courses. I know how they’re structured. I know how they’re delivered. I know how they speak to larger aims and objectives. And this is how I know that the Practical Magic Business Circle is not a course. It’s a circle.
Jean Shinoda Bolen speaks so beautifully to the archetype of a women’s circle in her book Goddesses in Older Women. She tells us that the ‘circle has both a sacred dimension and embodies the collective wisdom of its members. It is the archetype that has the potential to channel women’s wisdom into the culture’. So if we want to influence the cultural dynamics of our times, then one of the ways in which we can manifest positive change is through gathering together in a circle and sharing, receiving, contributing, laughing, embodying, comforting, witnessing…
In this place, Bolen assures us that, each ‘woman is connected to the others through her connection to the centre of the circle and a spiritual centre in herself; each has a place on the rim of this wheel of energy. The invisible pattern is felt and strengthened over time, each time the circle meets it’s as if another invisible layer is added to the pattern’.
And when I feel into this description of a circle, I become even more certain that the Practical Magic Business Circle is not a course – it’s a gathering of women who are invested in doing business differently, in doing business their way. They are each going to receive their own personal medicine – that which they need in order to relate to their business in new yet intimately familiar ways, to feed it what both woman and business need to feel beautifully nourished, what they need to blossom in richly sustainable ways. And they will contribute to a group medicine – our collective contribution to inspire positive change at a transpersonal level.
And while the Practical Magic Business Circle is not a course, it does still have a structure – the circle still requires a container and a central point of focus that we can all orientate ourselves around.
But while a course outline should be clearly defined, containing all elements, determining exactly what should be delivered and received, with assessments to ensure a high level comprehension, a circle is still beautifully held, contained and centred, but it is a living, breathing archetype in and of itself. And it is capable of ushering in powerful change both for those who form the initiating circle, as well as those who experience the ripples of energy that reach out and touch our friends, our family, our clients, our peers, our blog readers, our newsletter subscribers, our audience, our tribe, our people… and beyond.
The Practical Magic Business Circle is not a course. It is a circle. And you can take your place in that circle now.
