Imelda Almqvist
When you meet teachers so full of knowledge usually they are dead so you can only read their books!
When you can work with someone like Imelda in person you should grab the opportunity!
- Katharine Lucy Haworth, Shamanic Practitioner, UK
Finally, can I just say your research and scholarship is outstanding!
-Trevor Greenfield, Publisher/Editor at Moon Books, John Hunt Publishing
I can totally see you teaching at Harvard!
— Manca Geberl, Slovenia
To me you are amazing and I hope that sinks in-even a little! I do love it when my sisters emerge in this world to shine... And doing the most important work of our time, in my humble opinion. I've known you for many years and have watched you share your sacred knowledge with so many!
- Robin Romeo, Founder, Center for Light Body Healing, US
Thank you for being such a wonderful teacher that I love crossing oceans and time zones to work with you!
-Megan Anderson, US
PANDEMIC NOTE TO ALL VISITORS!
In 2020 I opened my on-line school called Pregnant Hag Teachings in response to the Pandemic. Writing short but intense courses in accordance with the Zeitgeist has been an interesting experience. Teaching entire sacred art retreats on-line has been a steep learning curve but... it is possible!
The best thing of all has been co-dreaming workshops into being, together with students. The most recent Witch Wound class was inspired a dream one participant had, about The Witch in the role of Private Investigator or Private Eye!
I still don't "offer all my work on-line" as this is neither possible nor safe (e.g. think High Seat Ceremonies!) Right now I cannot say with any certainty when I will return to teaching in person, in various locations. Regular updates on that are posted in my newsletters.
All my courses in the US have been cancelled (except the Seidr Introduction course in Wisconsin, moved to December 2021). My US coordinator Susan Rossi and I are not able to set new dates, at this time, for our courses in the US (East Coast) because travel to and from the US is severely restricted.
I always follow government guidance for all the hosting countries involved.
PREGNANT HAG TEACHINGS: ON-LINE OFFERINGS
MY FREE webinar titled Meet The Pregnant Hag remains available (just register and watch!) on Teachable + check out all my upcoming classes:
Another FREE webinar, recorded in October 2020, to mark the publication of my third book, Medicine of the Imagination:
A NEW VIDEO PODCAST: THE PREGNANT HAG IN DIALOGUE
In the most recent episode Valarie Budayr introduces the ancient art of Kalavala Singing, from Finland/Karelia. We speak as lineage keepers of two powerful traditions that have existed side-by-side for centuries in the Nordic region: the Song Cycles of the Kalevala and Old Norse Tradition/The Eddas/Seidr. Valarie actually sings the opening verses of the Kalevala for us and plays her kantele! Find yourself transported to the Song Lands!
(And I'd much appreciate a "Like" or even better "Subscribe", so I can keep creating content and invite my dream guests!)
Welcome to this website! My name is Imelda Almqvist and I am an international teacher of Sacred Art and Seiðr (or Fornsed) and also a painter and author of three books. I divide my professional time between London UK, Sweden and the US. My paintings can be found in collections all over the world. I recently appeared in a TV program called Ice Age Shaman, in the series Mystic Britain, on the Smithsonian Channel. I am the author of:
- NATURAL BORN SHAMANS, A Spiritual Toolkit for Life (Using shamanism creatively with young people of all ages), 2016
- SACRED ART, A Hollow Bone for Spirit: Where Shamanism Meets Art , 2019
- MEDICINE OF THE IMAGINATION, Dwelling in Possibility, will be published by Moon Books in 2020
- I am currently working on a book about recovering and reviving the pre-Christian spirituality of The Netherlands (my country of birth)!
- I have also started a book about the Runes and Advanced Rune Studies (spurred on by the students on my 2-year program in Sweden!)
My sacred art courses and retreats take place in the fertile space where art meets visionary spirituality. They have a strong Mystery School aspect: the focus is on engaging in fresh and innovative ways with ancient material and wisdom traditions to create powerful art work, ceremonies and personalized Rites of Passage!
Your Facebook posts are really good medicine, thank you!
-Sarah Wharmby
To subscribe to my newsletter please email me on imelda dot almqvist at gmail dot com (or press CONTACT US and submit your message)
I also invite you connect with me on social media:
Twitter: @ImeldaAlmqvist
Instagram: almqvistimelda
I pioneered a shamanic program for young people called The Time Travellers. This offered safe sacred group space for children and teenagers to develop a viable spiritual toolkit. In 2015 LA-based film maker Hannah Beadman made a film about The Time Travellers using guidance from spirit allies to resolve bullying. I was interviewed by Sandra Ingerman about her shamanic work with young people as part of her Shamanic Journeying for Guidance and Healing course on The Shift Network.
I am passionate about teaching the ancestral wisdom traditions of Northern Europe: Seidr (Fornsed) and Northern Tradition material. Longer programs run at my school in Sweden called TRUE NORTH, situated in pristine forest land by the Baltic Sea.
I have been a presenter on the Shamanism Global Summit with The Shift Network in 2016 and 2017. I was a presenter on Year of Ceremony with Sounds True in Colorado (together with my 13-year old son Brendan I offered a ceremony, titled Drawing Down The Divine Child, marking the Blue Blood Moon of January 2018). I still work for Sounds True as a regular presenter on The Shamanic Path. My upcoming presentation is about uncovering the pre-Christian spirituality of The Netherlands.
My Seidr and Northern Tradition programs also run in the US courtesy of Susan Rossi. For more information please contact Susan Rossi on msrossi@comcast.ne
The pandemic has reshuffled our lives. As many things became impossible for now (such as teaching in person), other things could be prioritized.
For me personally painting was one such thing. In recent years I have divided much of my time between teaching and writing books. Art time often got squeezed into very small pockets, which changed overnight!
I invite you to check out the paintings I have made in this extraordinary period. Many (if not most) of them contain elements of (what I will call) "pictorial activism" and a creative commentary on what is unfolding in our world. I also took many experimental photographs and made masks:
ART PHOTOGRAPHS & RUNE ACTIVISM
< Sounds True has given permission for me to share the Year of Ceremony video titled The Human Family (about the vigil and Full Moon Ceremony of The Time Travellers to Cross Bones in London) with the general public. The video appears on the left!
> The Shift Network has given permission for me to share my 12 year old son's bonus video about using dreaming as a technique for navigating the cosmos with the general public. Please note that this film was made for the Shamanism Global Summit of 2016, where I did a presentation about using shamanism with children.
With gratitude to my friend and colleague Simon Cook who was of immense help in the making of both films!
Sheena Cundy interviews Imelda Almqvist on Tree House TV, April 2018
"When the student is ready, the teacher appears!" (and fortunately this also works the other way around: "when the teacher is ready, the students appear!")
I have had the immense good fortune of training with the following shamanic teachers: Simon Buxton, Betsy Bergstrom, Naomi Lewis, Kate Shela, Chetna Lawless, Ruth Aber and last but not least of course Sandra Ingerman, who wrote a wonderful Foreword for my first book Natural Born Shamans! I have learned as much again from powerful creative partnerships with the following people: Simon Cook in London (The Time Travellers and Blind Labyrinth Walks), Anna Kjellin in Sweden (Seidr and Fornsed), Nick Taylor in Wales (Rites of Passage Work with Teenagers), Karmit Evenzur in Spain (Geomancy and Earth Speaks), Judith Bogner (Public Speaking and Mediation), Hannah Beadman in LA (Film Making), Jill Hunter (Animal Healing), Sony Baron in Victoria BC, Canada (Ancestral Healing and Peer Supervision) Susan Rossi in Philadelphia (Sacred Art and Crone Medicine Work), Anja Steinbauer for invitations for a shamanic teacher to speak at Philosophy for All Events (and keeping my interest in philosophy alive!), Terry Morgan in Maine USA (Astrology) and Alec Davis in Seattle (ceremonial work in the Desert at both Chaco Canyon and in Santa Fe, New Mexico), Kate Mieczkowska (artist and curator of the Goddess Now Show) and Valarie Budayr (working with me on project Healing Wise and helping me set up my online school Pregnant Hag Teachings), Christian Thurow for taking my courses on-line during Lockdown - you all changed my life and made it better beyond comprehension!
