Speaker and academic

I am able to speak on any facet of Celtic and Western spiritual tradition that suits the focus of a particular conference, gathering or event.

Past topics include shamanic healing, the lessons of spiritual crisis, the experience of knowing God, sacred union and finding the truth of your being.

Please contact me to let me know your requirements or areas of interest.

See me in action...

Here I am in 2018 speaking at the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Centre in Edinburgh about a significant encounter with the moon.

Me as scholar

Widely acknowledged in academic and spiritual circles as an authority on Celtic shamanism, I've written on spiritual topics from both experiential and academic perspectives, including the entry on 'Celtic Christianity' in the Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, and articles in Pagan Dawn, SPIN and Cosmos, The Journal of the Traditional Cosmology Society.

Download my 2018 article published in Pagan Dawn here.

I have studied shamanism, other ancient spiritual traditions (including Sumerian and Egyptian), European magick, alchemy, Celtic and Scottish Studies and early Christian mysticism and theology.

I taught at the Omega Institute in America, and elsewhere.

I received an MSc from Edinburgh University for my work on spiritual crisis in Old Irish literature and a PhD from Edinburgh University for my ground-breaking work on Celtic shamanism. My PhD was the first to demonstrate academically a full spectrum of shamanic practices in Celtic cultures (though authors such as John and Caitlin Matthews and R.J. Stewart have written about it, and Celtic scholars such as Melia, Carey, Nagy, and others have demonstrated facets of shamanic practice in Celtic cultures).