Men and the Quest – From Wasteland to Wonder led by Richard Olivier and Michael Boyle, with assistance from Robin Alfred and special guest presenter Robert Moore Saturday 5th July, 2008 (5 days) A Five-Day Mythodrama Adventure for Men Saturday 5th July - Thursday 10 July Each man’s life is lived on the edge between going out into the world and going deeper inside, between climbing the ladder of spirit and wandering the dark roads of the soul. The myth of Parzival is an archetypal story that contains ancient wisdom about the need for and the process of male initiation. Parzival is the naive young man who painfully learns that an honourable life requires a quest for meaning which transcends individual triumph and ultimately serves a greater whole. On his path to restore the earth from the wasteland it had become and return to a sense of wonder, he is initiated into the deep masculine potentials of King, Warrior, Magician and Lover. Mythodrama is an exciting new form of experiential learning. It draws on the shamanic origins of theatre to enable participants to live through initiatory stories and to personally embody newfound knowledge in a powerful and memorable way. Book early, bring a drum. Places are limited to 100 men. Price: £ 475 if your income is low £ 545 if your income is medium £ 635 if your income is high £285 for participants under 25 years of age and for group bookings of six or more. includes 5 nights accommodation and all meals, including Thursday lunch. Course completes Thursday lunchtime.
	Richard Olivier is Artistic Director of Olivier Mythodrama, a unique leadership development consultancy. He is a successful theatre director and has worked extensively in the fields of organisational and personal development. His work is at the leading edge of bringing theatre into the development of authentic leaders.
	Michael Boyle is a psychotherapist and storyteller. He has worked with men on personal development, rites of passage, and within prisons. He is a certified leader in the ManKind Project for whom he leads trainings internationally.
	Robin Alfred, an affiliate of Olivier Mythodrama Associates, is founding director of the Findhorn Consultancy Service. His passion lies in the development of human and organisational potential, through the use of creativity, innovation and intuition.
	Robert Moore is a world leader in archetypal psychology and author of King Lover Warrior Magician.

“Parzival differs considerably from other epics because it is not a story about what happened in humanity’s past, but about what can happen in its future.” - Robert Sardello

Perhaps the story of Parzival still prevails because it carries both mystery and living symbols, and provokes the very questions that men, old and young, have struggled with for centuries - a living myth with which to feed the spirit. Eternally current, it flows from nameless sources of the dark forests of Britain and Ireland into the wider confluence where the medieval troubadours, at a time of religious persecution, fitted it with encoded wisdom and made it ready for the timeless sea.

The very form of the Parzival story seems to offer a metaphor for life as a mythic journey into meaning. The story portrays the transformation of a young man from an insensitive and naïve fool into a wise and compassionate King, matured in self–knowledge. If one can imagine any life as an unfolding story in a spiralling set of experiences, this is precisely Parzival’s path and perhaps, like him, the modern day questor comes to know himself and his calling only through making mistakes and undergoing certain trials with increasing insight, courage and faith. His is not the path to perfection but, rather, towards forming a healthy relationship with his imperfections.

Perhaps what it means to be a True Knight was only ever a mythological fantasy. But to be one who would be willing to offer a challenge for what he believes to be right, whose word can be relied upon absolutely, and who would revere the feminine and protect the weak is surely an honourable aspiration for all men.

So on another level it’s a story of the difficult road to fulfilment for the masculine and therefore, perhaps fittingly, it requires the power of the feminine, rendered angry and monstrous by neglect and indifference, to be the transforming source of the story.

Consciousness is moulded by the sacred story to which it awakens.

by Michael Boyle