IN PROGRESS:
Two books about the Runes: a handbook for Rune Magicians and a Rune Compendium
Also the next picture book in The Green Bear Series, where Linnea and Lars are taken on a new adventure!
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!
September 2021 update!
Hi everyone! I am slowly transitioning back to in-person teaching. In reality many of my courses for 2022 will follow the Hybrid Model (people can choose to participate in person or on-line). I am currently drafting an document explaining hybrid mode, which I will soon make available as a download from this site. On-line classes will continue but I will space them out more to reflect the "new normal" we are all learning to navigate.
Dates for 2022 in-person courses will appear in my October Newsletter (goes out on October 3rd, make sure you are subscribed!) All courses will have a hybrid structure, meaning that people can choose between attending in person or attending on-line. I am no Tech Goddess - but my tech skills have improved during the Lockdowns!
As regards in-person teaching in the US: 2022 dates will soon be announced for the Seidr Introduction Course in Wisconsin, coordinated and hosted by Amy Wilinski at Golden Light Healing (near Green Bay).
My US East Coast coordinator, Susan Rossi, and I have not yet been able to set new dates. Staff at Pendle Hill (our usual host) are still working towards a safe and comprehensive reopening. More about that in future newsletters (not the October one).
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 AND people on different continents can work together in real time!
The thing I have enjoyed most is co-dreaming workshops into being, in partnership with long-term students. The most recent Witch Wound class was inspired by a dream one participant had, about The Witch in the role of Private Investigator or Private Eye!
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:
UPCOMING WEBINARS:
HEALING THE WITCH WOUND CLASS #4: WELL WITCH
THE ROLE OF THE OLD NORSE PRIEST AND PRIESTESS: the Goði and Gyðja
VIDEO PODCAST: THE PREGNANT HAG
In one 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!
I have some very interesting guests lined up for Autumn 2021, such as Author/Witch/Songwriter Sheena Cundy and well-known Druid Elen Sentier (and I am open to suggestions!)
PLEASE leave a "Like" or even better a "Subscribe", so I can keep creating content and invite my dream guests! THANK YOU!) PODCAST
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 five (and counting!) 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
- NORTH SEA WATER IN MY VEINS: The Pre-Christian Spirituality of the Low Countries will be published on 24 June 2022 (and it can already be pre-ordered, at a guaranteed fixed price, on amazon)
- THE GREEN BEAR: Linnea and Lars Meet The Bears in the Night Sky (This is book #1 in a series, there more stories in the pipeline!)
- I am currently also working on two books about the runes: a Handbook for Rune Magicians and a Compendium
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). After that I worked 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 of time, which changed overnight!
I invite you to check out the paintings I have made in this extraordinary period. Many of these paintings have sold but some remain available and new paintings are being created all the time! In periods when time allows, I accept commissions too.
< 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!
