welcome to wonderworks
At Wonderworks we offer tools, both ancient and modern, for healing, mindful living and for diverse spiritual practices. We specialize in books about spirituality, creativity, and holistic health. At WonderWorks you can find teachings in energy healing, meditation, divination, yoga, Ayurveda, and earth-based practices.
Wonderworks is a place where you can explore ways to honour all of life's transitions. You will also find writing journals, tarot cards, CDs with both sacred music and guided meditation as well as a beautiful selection of jewelry in silver and semi-precious stones glass and artisan crafted statues. Wonderworks specializes in body-mind wellness which includes a variety of high-grade essential oils for aromatherapy and body care and a large selection of Flower Essence remedies - energetic tinctures that address various physical and emotional imbalances. Other specialty and gift items include incense, candles, greeting cards and healing teas.
upcoming events
Tarot Mondays 12 to 5pm
Weekly with Monica Bodirsky
Tarot Guidelines here (.PDF)
We are now offering Tarot Card Readings on Mondays
(instead of Tuesdays as before).
Monica has over 20 years of Tarot reading experience, and is a fourth generation seer whose great-great grandmother provided healing and spiritual consultation. As a visual artist and a tarot specialist, she uses symbolism and archetypes with intuition to assist her clients through life changes and decisions.
Rates per session: $40 for ½ hour, $60 for 45 min., $75 for 1 hour.
To book an appointment with Monica: 416 784 9519 or monica.bodirsky@gmail.com
Wonderworks Bookclub
Fridays 6:30-8pm
Wonderworks announces our Bookclub selections and schedule for the 2010/2011 season:
September 9th
Magdalen Rising by Elizabeth Cunningham
(please note this meeting is a Thursday).
October 15th
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
November 19th
Jitterbug Perfume, by Tom Robbins
(no bookclub meeting in December)
January 21st
The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi by Jacqueline Park
February 18th
The Bull From the Sea by Mary Renault
March 18th
A Mercy by Toni Morrison
April 15th
The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel
May 20 & June 17th
Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald
We'll be starting with Magdalen Rising. This is the prequel to The Passion of Mary Magdalen. Many of you already know this book, as we chose it to launch our book club last fall. These books are a re-telling of the gospels through the eyes of Mary Magdalen, wife of Jesus, priestess and sacred prostitute. Magdalen Rising details how Maeve and Jesus first met. You don't have to have read one to enjoy the other. Each book stands alone.
Raised on the mythical Isle of Women by eight weather-witching mothers and no father but the sea god, Maeve the Red first catches a glimpse of her cosmic twin, Jesus of Nazareth, in the reflection of a pool. Maeve and Jesus pursue their conjoined fates, they are brought to the druidic school, where ancient wisdom abounds.
To RSVP, and to get an email with the list of the discussion questions we will be covering,
Contact: wonderworksbookclub@gmail.com
Bookclub events are free and open to all.
Fleishman Gallery
Upcoming Exhibition To Be Announced
Call for submissions:
The Fleishman Gallery is currently accepting submissions from artists. Work selected may be in any media, including film/video installation, photography, performance art, and mixed media. The curatorial approach of the WonderWorks gallery will consider themes and issues around spirituality, personal exploration, identity, feminism, alternative practices and contemporary culture.
Download floorplan .pdf here.
Submission packages should be comprised of the following:
1. Artist CV and contact information
2. Artist statement relating to the proposed work to be shown *please tell us what your work is about and how it would be of relevance to WonderWorks - max 1 p.
3. One of the following formats of visual support material: a.10 slides b.CD or DVD c.sketch or photo of proposed work - max 3 pages
4. Return postage (SASE) if you would like your material returned to you.
5. Please do not send copies of press materials or catalogues – thank you.
Please mail or drop off your submission to:
Gallery Submissions – The Fleishman Gallery
79A Harbord St.
Toronto, ON, M5S 1G4
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Mid-Summer 2010 |
Upcoming Workshops
The Seeker’s Journey:
A Tarot Intensive Part 2 with Monica Bodirsky
Tuesday evenings from 6:30 – 9pm
“Tarot is a mirror which reflects our true selves and offers advice on how to deal with issues from our past and present for future growth.”
Upside Down… Revisited: Reading those tricky reversals in the tarot
Tuesday July 20th 6:30 – 9:00 pm $30
While positive and shadow aspects of any card can be interpreted in non-reversed or upright cards, reversals offer an alternative, as well as a more in-depth reading. Through simple exercises using reversed cards can be simplified. Please bring a notebook as well as a Rider-Waite-Smith deck, or your favourite tarot deck.
Kings can be women too…we meet again! Court card confusion eradicated
Tuesday July 27th 6:30 – 9:00 pm $30
This helpful workshop will help you differentiate between Queens, Kings, Knights, and Pages …even if they are princesses and sages, elders or wise women in some decks. Please bring a notebook as well as a standard RWS deck or your favourite tarot cards.
Meet the Tarot: Creative Visualizations with Tarot
Tuesday August 10th 6:30 – 9:00 pm $30
We will delve into the mystical world of tarot through a guided visualization; a meditative journey to access the secret language of the tarot. Once you have experienced this method, you can explore the deck using this interactive and exciting technique on your own. Please bring a journal.
Toronto Tarot-ists! … Not as dangerous as they sound
Wednesday August 4th 6:30 – 9:00 pm Free
Please join us for the first, monthly meeting of our new tarot club, the Toronto Tarot-ists! This gathering is open to those interested in discussing and furthering the practice of tarot as an esoteric tool of empowerment. This is a call to like-minded individuals who appreciate the history, mystery and beauty of the tarot. The discussion topic for the first meeting will be: “Have contemporary decks altered the fundamental interpretation of tarot to its detriment, or are they simply contributing to the positive evolution of the cards.?” We look forward to a lively chat. Please bring your deck and notebook.
*To register for tarot classes and the tarot club, contact monica.bodirsky@gmail.com
Maximum 15 participants per class, $30 per class
VortexHealing® Divine Energy Therapy
Facilitated by Lorraine Goldbloom
*Free Group Healing and Introductory Talk
Sunday July 18th 7pm
Experience the power of Vortex Healing®, one of the most effective and profound forms of energy therapy taught today. Designed to transform the roots of emotional consciousness, it can heal the physical body and awaken spirit within the human heart. This is the Merlin lineage, full of the magic of divinity, focused on healing and the acceleration of spiritual awakening. Working directly through consciousness and matter Vortex can release the issues we hold and heal the physical, emotional and karmic bodies.
Contact: vortexhealingtoronto@gmail.com, or 212 860 0418 for more information. No pre-registration required.
Soul Breathing™ & Sound Healing with Robert Winn founder of Spirit in Motion
Soul Breathing is one of the most powerful self-healing modalities on the planet – the cutting edge of breath work. It consistently generates profound physical, emotional & mental self-healing and awakens your connection to Spirit.
Soul Breathing shows you how to free your breath and heal yourself. By clearing restrictive breathing patterns, you let go of old emotions and constricting mental patterns. You open your heart to joy and instantly feel your deep connection to Infinite Intelligence or Source. An open breath allows Spirit to flow fully in you, so you integrate and anchor your soul in your body. In the Soul Breathing™ introduction and workshops you will learn how to raise your vibration (your consciousness), clear past issues imprinted at your cellular level and awaken who you really are.
Tuesday August 3rd Soul Breathing Introduction 6:30 – 8 pm $10
Thursday
August 5th 6:30 – 9:30 Soul Breathing Evening Workshop $60
Early bird price: $50 by July 26th
This workshop includes one full breath session and personal guidance.
Saturday/Sunday August 7th and 8th 9:30am – 5pm Soul Breathing Daylong Intensives
$150 per day or $270 for both. Early bird price: $135 per day by July 26th
These daylong intensives include two breath sessions & a sound healing. Be grounded in expanded consciousness. “Tune up” your chakras. Reclaim your breath and your power. Breathe fully to live fully.
*Workshops & Intensives: Please bring a mat and blanket and wear comfortable, loose clothing.
Contact and Registration: 416 458 6323 or souljourneys1@yahoo.ca
Karma Wellness Fair - A Fundraiser for HIV/AIDS in South Africa
Sunday August 29th 12 - 5pm
Fee: $15 for each 15 minute session, $30 for a 30-minute Akashic Reading. Try as many treatments as you like.
Indulge your senses and enjoy an exciting day of mind – body services! You will be treated to Thai massage, chair massage, Akashic readings, Reconnective Healing and Reiki. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to HIV and AIDS education and prevention in South Africa as part of the 2010 Global SEVA Challenge for South Africa.
A fantastic day for a very worthwhile cause!
Drop-ins are welcome, or guarantee your spot in advance by registering at www.osal.ca/events.htm by August 27th
Visit www.osal.ca/events.htm or contact sondrawiseman@hotmail.com by email or 416-471-8146 by phone.
***Advance notice for some of our Fall Programming***
Navratri - The Nine Nights of the Goddess Celebration
4 part evening workshop series with Parvati (Angela Lytle)
Friday Oct. 8th 6:30 - 9pm Tuesday Oct. 12th 7 – 9pm Thursday Oct. 14th 7 - 9 Sunday Oct. 17th 5 - 7:30pm
Explore the divine feminine through Himalayan-inspired celebrations of the 9 Nights of the Goddess. Connect to the great goddess Durga through mantra chanting, yoga, meditation and ritual. Build the foundation for a regular at-home mantra and tantric ritual practice. Parvati (Angela Lytle) is an India-trained yoga instructor and Tantra practitioner.
Earlybird discount: $125 (before Sept 8) Regular: $140
Cost includes all workshop materials: Durga booklet with chants; ritual/meditation items, including 108-bead japa mala (rosary) for chanting and other items to assist your home practice.
To register and for more info: www.lilayoga.com/9nights Email: parvati@lilayoga.com
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our feature in the toronto star! |
Working wonders
for women
Mar. 8, 2006
by DAPHNE GORDON
THE CONSTANT SHOPPER
THE ITEM: Canadian Forest Tree Essences
THE COST: $20 each
WHERE TO BUY:
WonderWorks bookstore
(79A Harbord St.). |
CARLO OSORIO/TORONTO STAR
Canadian Forest essences are made from such trees as silver maple and white pine, and are said to ease emotional challenges. |
It's International Women's Day and the Constant Shopper suggests a visit to the speciality bookshop WonderWorks as a means of celebrating all that is naturally and powerfully feminine.
I've long been a fan of this spiritual bookstore and meeting place on Harbord St. near Spadina. With a space in the back of the shop available for Goddess gatherings and healing seminars (see http://www.gowonderworks.com/workshops.html), the shop has become a resource on the subjects of creativity, spirituality and healing over the past 20 years, under the ownership of Mary Anderson.
Anderson recently sold the store to a new owner, and the Constant Shopper is excited about Rochelle Holt's plans for WonderWorks.
Holt, 40, will continue to stock the books, audio and video tools, and healing flower essences for which WonderWorks is known. But there will be some subtle and interesting changes.
With a degree in art history and a background as administrator in the local visual arts scene, Holt is poised to renovate the workshop space into an art gallery, and will show work that addresses ideas of spirituality.
It's a subject that has long been avoided in the art world, says Holt, who previously worked at A-Space, an artist-run centre that focuses on experimental work, and Leo Kamen gallery, a successful commercial gallery. She has always been attracted to works that examine the role of women and spirituality in the wider culture.
"In the '70s and '80s you had a huge outpouring of Goddess imagery. It was very important and very political. But we're moving to a more conceptual, challenging imagery around spirituality," she says, pointing to the first exhibition at the WonderWorks gallery, a video installation by local artist Deanna Bowen (http://www.deannabowen.ca) called (truth)seer, as an example of such challenging work. The show opens this summer.
Holt is also a practising Wiccan and she plans to expand the shop's selection of books, tools and accessories devoted to the pagan religion. Despite its ancient roots, Wicca is relevant to the lives of modern women, she says.
"It's an earth-based religion, and reverence for the earth is hugely important for us as humans, to understand that the earth is part of us and we are part of the earth," she says, explaining that environmental activism is a natural extension of Wiccan beliefs.
To fill the shelves with modern spiritual tools for pagan practitioners, Holt is planning a road trip, with a fellow Wiccan friend of hers, to Salem, Mass. The area is a pilgrimage for Wiccans, particularly at the spring equinox, and the shopping is said to be wicked. There, Holt will source modern Tarot cards, challices and swords — necessary tools for performing ancient pagan rituals.
The store has always been a resource for books and tools related to natural healing methods. Expanding on that focus, Holt plans to invite a Shiatsu practitioner to work at the store. And she wants to create an online shopping site devoted to flower essences, aiming to serve rural and suburban customers who can't buy the healing tinctures close to home.
She's also added a unique line of essences made from trees native to our forests. Formulated in Quebec, Canadian Forest Tree Essences are said to have a healing effect on the body, emotions and psyche. (For more info, see http://www.essences.ca.)
Holt's goal is to bring spirituality and contemporary culture together, she says, noting that WonderWorks customers aren't all new age hippies. Alternative practices have gone mainstream.
"You've got corporate types meditating and using flower essences and going back into a big meeting," she says. "We're really waking up to the body and waking up to the spirit. People are becoming aware of the need to integrate all of these levels of experience."
IN THE NEIGHBHOURHOOD: The strip of Harbord St. between Spadina and Bathurst is a shopping hot spot for women who love books. Visit the Toronto Women's Bookstore (73 Harbord St.) for a wide range of estro-charged books both fiction and non, Caversham Bookseller (98 Harbord St.) for self-help and psychology resources, Atticus Books (84 Harbord St.) for scholarly finds about anthropology, art history, philosophy and religion, and Good For Her (175 Harbord St.) for erotica.
Daphne Gordon's Constant Shopper column appears every Saturday in the Shopping section and Monday to Friday online at http://www.thestar.com/constantshopper. |
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