“Weaving the threads of Sacred Art, Shamanism and Sacred Plant Medicine together” 

Joy Ellis

About Joy

Intuitive artist,  Sacred plant medicine woman,  Shamanic practitioner and Homeopath –  these are my passions and my medicine that I weave together and offer to others.

Having completed a certified 4 year apprenticeship in Sacred Plant Medicine with  medicine woman and  medical herbalist Carole Guyette in Ireland which was an absolute joy and led to a deeper immersion into the gifts and medicine of the plant kingdom which I offer through healings and workshops.

Having had no formal training in Art I have finally dismissed the inner critic (well almost!) and claimed my medicine as an Artist. Last year I was. fortune enough to be accepted as a Sacred Art Facilitator and  am delighted to be offering Sacred Art workshops to help others in ‘allowing’ the expression and exploration of their soul to come through onto the canvas. What I love about this offering is that no prior training of art is necessary and the unlimited potentiality and what can materialise is vast.

My path like many peoples has taken many twists and  turns………

I first encountered the spirit world as a child where I could see, sense and feel different energies. This was compounded when aged 11 years my mother died. It was during this time I was visited by the spirit world and could see the spirits very clearly in this reality that came to visit and knew without a shadow of a doubt that there was protection and love in this experience. It was this that comforted me after losing my mum – the knowing that there was more to life than most people realise and that the spirit lives on. The legacy that my mother passed on to me was her love of plants and trees. It was during my childhood that I developed a love of art and painting and would ‘lose myself’ in the escapism of the wonderful world of creativity.

After becoming a mum myself at a young age and going on to have a large family of five children and studying qualifications in accountancy, I stepped away from my spiritual insights for many years whilst immersed in the busyness of family life and working,  although throughout all those years my love of art, plants, trees and gardening remained consistent.  However as things come full circle and through synchronicities that I couldn’t ignore the spiritual realm re-emerged in my life 22 years ago which led me to train in Homeopathy in which I have had a busy clinical practice in ever since (see www.homeopathy4all.co.uk).

I subsequently studied core shamanism in Ireland, Scotland and England, initially completing a two year classical shamanic practitioner training in Ireland followed by a three year classical shamanic practitioner training at The Sacred Trust in Dorset, UK followed by many other trainings and experiences. My love of art and creativity led me to complete a two year Sacred Art training with Imelda Almquist in London in 2016. I am an initiate of the Path of Pollen and for the last few years have undergone in depth training within the Lyceum of the oracular arts of the Melissae and the priestesses of Delphi with Pythia. Whilst bringing up my children, it was always my intention to go off backbacking to far away places when my children grew up. With going straight into motherhood from school at such a young age I had never experienced travelling so five years ago after a major life event and the shock of a sudden bereavement I decided to just go for it and set off to backpack around Peru. Staying deep in the Amazon for a short time I was hoping to meet a local shaman however every time I got into a boat to visit his village, his wife would tell me he’d gone fishing and would be back shortly only he never materialised. This happened time and time again so I figured it just wasn’t meant to be!!  Although my travels. were certainly an experience and I’m glad I went, it took this experience to make me realise that my roots lie on British and Irish soil and that I no longer had that desire to travel to far flung parts. Sometimes we have to just go off and follow our dreams to realise that what it was we are looking for is right under our nose all the time!