The Way of the Willow

Shamanic Mentorship: Apprenticeship Pathways

Welcome to your Apprenticeship Pathway course.

My Shamanic Mentorship material grew out of observing a need within those I was meeting who were rapidly developing on their path, in a way that I felt was unprecedented. 

I feel these are days when formal shamanic training may not be the way forward for such people, as well as those with training in other spiritual and energy medicine backgrounds. I was blessed that my first teachers recognised this within me and ‘fast-tracked’ me through training. 

What is needed though is eldership, a guiding hand and heart that supports grounding the gifts being received.

Apprenticeship Pathways are the ways, within Shamanic Mentorship, where you can deepen your connection, through sharing in the Medicine that I carry, with the Dreaming Earth and the Elemental Kingdoms.

Exploring the connections between the Earth’s body, our body and the expansiveness of the Cosmos … the connection between Heaven and Earth with our humble physical vessels as portals of this connection. And how we can discover the innate wisdom held within. … our own unique Medicine Song.

We are living in times where the thinning of veils between the realms is increasing. Here we explore how to enter these realms with respect, integrity and honour and to prove our worth of being part of the Restoration of Kinship with the Elemental Kingdoms.

with Heartfelt gratitude for your presence here,

Tania Aurora White Crow

The Way of the Willow: Healing and Re-imagining Eldership

We gather to listen, as the decaying allows us, deeply to the memories within bones of Mother Earth.

We draw our energy here, towards the Heart of Eldership and the pulsing weave of Maiden, Mother, Crone.

I have long been questioning the lack of understanding Eldership within contemporary spiritual communities - those who like me search, find it at the feet of the Indigenous with unbroken lineages. Their whole communities serve as Elder communities for ours.

And the land … the land remembers. For the bones of our original Cosmic Elder, the Divine Crone - Tiamet formed her.

And this has been my work with the land these past few years, the convergence, her Restoration and our Re-creation … and it is time.

Time to heal our Elder Wounding, beyond that of the Divine Feminine and the Divine Mother. We need to heal our relationship with the choices that our Cosmic Elder made.that ripples through our ancestry, where the echoes still resides within our bones … 

Here we explore the rich tapestry of Maiden, Mother, Crone through the many layering threads of our personal weave, our ancestral weave and the great Cosmic one. 

We learn to recognise self as The Mother as the portal who in each moment births becoming the Child and the Crone

“Eldership isn’t a rigid status - it is fluid - one that moves through all three aspects retrieving innocence and purity, reparenting self with the still, quiet reflection that spins the song thread down into the well of your being, retrieving the balm of wisdom.” Willow Warbler

Throughout this work we explore Tiamet as the Divine Crone, Mother Earth as the Divine Mother and Gaia as the Divine Child, the Maiden. This is how I have been shown the relationships and I will talk more about this during our time together.

The Way of Willow course: what to expect …

We are being invited to allow what no longer serves to fall away and decay. Also what already has done so to be witnessed as the rich nutrient that brings to fruition something more aligned with our true nature, our authenticity.

As we prepare for Winter we are returning to the bones of our origins. This gives us the opportunity to access new memories, new coding within their formation ready to come to life in the spring.

This is a tender time so do we have the resources to nurture and nourish these new unfolding - cherish and nurture them ?

And so we not only watch the decay, but we actively participate in it. What is coming up for us? Patterns of relating, ways of being, lifestyles, places, people, things … these may be physical, mental, emotional or spiritual.

What are going to add to the bonfire, sea, rivers or the compost heap and do we know the difference - of what to add to what?

We will be moving full circle meeting from November to October. A year to observe these patterns of decay and flourishment and the enchanting that weaves through it all - that magical thread of our knowing, remembrance, deepening true self, soul integrity and authenticity.

Our human is always becoming … the grandparent, the mother, the daughter - there are always parts of ourselves who are younger, who are older … parts who are in the awe and wonder of being enchanted and those who are aware of the falling away, the letting go, the change of form …

how do we hold these with harmony?

without betraying self?

while continuing to listen to and for our truth - nourishing, leaning into and knowing our essence.

How do we not fall into dismay and dismantle the enchanting ?

As a parent protecting our children by telling them to grow up, get real …. How can we hold both the deep rooted knowing of Eldership and the passage of time … yet allow for fleeting moments of wonder to pervade and infuse so we can get lost and become engulfed, swallowed by their magic?

Without being called back into a ‘reality’ that is not ours.

Here we are really focusing on our Inner Elder, so they can become a healthy ancestor for our Inner Child.

We draw comparisons between the Cosmic story and our personal stories, and learn to heal both - so we can become true stewards of the New Paradigm.

As we step into our power, we step up, taking up the mantle - the responsibility for our work in the world, the knowledge of the imprint it will leave, fostering the Eldership qualities of integrity, discernment and Mastery of Self.

Where ever we feel we may be on our path we move from abdication to advocation and a knowing that this is never a linear journey.

We explore the intersections and parallels between the Cosmic story and our personal stories, our own Inner Elder, through mythos, poetry, shamanic wisdom, sacred transmissions and deep experiential connection with Mother Earth and Grandmother Willow.

THE WAY OF THE WILLOW

Course Overview

  • Preparation

    * Gathering the stones

    * Meditation to connect with your Elder and your Child

    * Exercises to familiarise yourself with your relationship with the dark 

    * Reading material:
    - ebook ‘The Auroras and the Re-creation’
    ‍ ‍- poem ‘Dragon King’

Start Preparation

  • Session Dates

    Session 1: The Descent and the Decay
    Tuesday 18th November 2025, 6pm UK time

    Session 2: Settling into the Darkness ~ Receiving the Wisdom
    Tuesday 16th December 2025, 6pm UK time
    Optional: Group Alchemical Healing Circle: Sunday 21st December 2025

    Session 3: Emerging ~ The Cracking and the Budding
    Tuesday 20th January 2026, 6pm UK time
    Optional: Group Alchemical Healing Circle: Sunday 1st February 2025

    Session 4: Becoming ~ The Flowering and the Seeding
    Tuesday 17th March 2026, 6pm UK time

    Session 5: Freedom ~ Taking Flight 
    Tuesday 19th May 2026, 6pm UK time

    The Inbetween: Questing and Gathering

    June ~ Maiden
    Visiting: At the feet of the Elders and the Ancestors

    July ~ Mother
    Independence and the Quiet: Refining the knowledge received.

    August-Crone
    The Rooting and the Deepening: integrating, assimilating, embodying 

    Session 6: The Ripening
    Tuesday 22nd September 2026, 6pm UK time

    We gather to share our journeys.

    Session 7: The Wisening
    Tuesday 3rd November 2026,
    6pm UK time

    Completion and reflections
    Optional Bonfire Vigil: Sunday 1st November from 4pm UK time

  • Overview and Mythos

    This is a Long, Slow, Deep year.

    We start with connecting to our Ancestral and Crone energy though our relationship with the dark. Here we start to remember, clear what no longer serves, activating this powerful alchemical energy.

    From deep within the clarifying luminous dark, where the cold has crept in - when the ice begins to soften, crumble and expand. Our skins start to crack as the light and warmth slowly return.

    New growth emerges, quietly, gently and tenderly at first before gathering speed in the warmth … finding the spaces to expand. Budding new leaves, feed the flowers who embrace the bees … until they become seeds containing the wisdom of that path of descent and growth … ripe and ready …

    The seed begins it’s journey. First experiencing the exhilaration of liberty … exploring the enchantment of limitless potential … 

    Questing, visiting, discovering … the journey within the journey again covers the threefold journey of Maiden, Mother, Crone as this exploration brings deeper layers of nourishing understanding, quiet reflection and independent thought before choosing a path …

    a thread within the weave to follow and starts to slow, deepen and settle …

    these early seeds of Willow … while others fruit are reaching maturity, ripening at their own pace on their path, ready to release their seeds into the soil - they return … for this is the Willows Way.

    Now is the Wisening … the gathering of all that has been learnt, all that has been undone, the reckoning of old and new preparing for the descent again …

    A sharing of pathways …

    The journey of Crone to Maiden to Mother that holds within the freedom and wisdom of flight and exploration of the journey from Maiden to Mother to Crone

    In all stages our focus is on the point of growth of the Willow Tree. We must also remember the whole tree …

    Always working and weaving through the parallel layers, the macrocosm to the microcosm … finding the paces unravelling the knots that still bind, but no longer serve … where we find our Child, we also look for our Elder and our Mother … what do they teach us in those moments … when the focus is on one how can we widen our vision for the perception of all three …

    The Mastery we learn from Grandmother Willow is holding them all in perpetual harmony