Sharon Paice MacLeod

Sharon Paice MacLeod trained in Celtic studies through Harvard University and has presented and published work in North America, Ireland and Scotland, including the University of Edinburgh, University College Cork, the Harvard Celtic Colloquium, the Ford Foundation Lecture Series, the International Celtic Congress, the Harvard Graduate Study Group on Ancient Magic and Religion, Smith College and the University of Massachusetts (Extension). Ms. McLeod's research specialties include ancient Celtic culture and religion, early Irish poetry and wisdom texts, Medieval Irish and Welsh literature and mythology, Scottish and Irish folklore, seership, Otherworld traditions, and the ritual expression of indigenous Celtic belief through word, song, poetry, chant and story. Her published works include: 'Celtic Myth and Religion: A Study of Traditional Belief' (McFarland), 'The Divine Feminine in Ancient Europe' (McFarland), 'Queen of the Night' (Red Wheel / Weiser), 'The Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium' (Harvard University Press) and 'Cosmos' (University of Edinburgh, School of Scottish and Celtic Studies). She is a research grant recipient (Canada Council for the Arts; Scottish Clans Association of Canada) and Director of the Eolas ar Senchas Research Project. Ms. MacLeod is also the Founder of Senchas: Celtic Religious Studies Association and Immrama: Indigenous Celtic Shamanic Traditions. Her musical career has included classical, folk, rock, medieval, world and Celtic music, and she is an accomplished Celtic singer, performing Gaelic, Welsh, Irish, Cornish and Breton songs. She plays flute, oboe, recorder, pennywhistle, Irish flute and low whistle, Tibetan and Native American flutes, keyboards, harp, lyre, bodhran and frame drum. She was the founder and lead singer for 'The Moors', whose award-winning CD has gone through several pressings and is available through I-tunes and CD Baby (with artwork by the reknowned artist Cynthia von Buhler). Sharon has also studied indigenous religious traditions, and is a shamanic practitioner with over 18 years of experience, applying universal shamanic practices to illuminate Celtic traditions. She has studied with a number of indigenous shamans, and in the Andean tradition has been given the rites of the Pampamesayoq, a type of shaman specializing in rituals honouring the earth and divine feminine. She is also a pipe carrier in Lakota tradition. She leads courses and workshops, as well as distance learning programs based on the books 'Celtic Myth and Religion' and 'The Divine Feminine in Ancient Europe.' For more information: celtic wisdom at ymail dot com.