My Work: As a practitioner, I offer Alkhemi Therapy, a combination of energy healing, yoga and shamanic techniques. I have worked privately on a one-to-one basis, and with larger groups to help combat corporate stress. I have taught workshops and courses through my business, and also as an Adult Education tutor for local authorities. Subjects include: Alkhemi Therapy; Yoga; Meditation & Stress Management; Meridian Therapies; Crystal Healing & Colour Therapy; “Your Body Speaks Your Mind”; and “An Introduction to Holistic Therapies".

As a teacher I encourage students to go within and trust their inner wisdom. My vision has always been to empower others and awaken them to the power of their own sacred journey.

Qualifications: I have a BA(Hons) Degree in Fashion and Textile Design, and a MA in Interdisciplinary Psychology (which included modules on consciousness, mindfulness meditation, and transpersonal psychology). I'm qualified as a City & Guilds Adult Education Teacher, Dru Yoga Teacher, Sekhem Master Teacher, Bowen Therapist, Reiki Master Teacher, Egyptian Cartouche Master Teacher, NLP Practitioner, Meridian Therapies Practitioner and Magnified Healing Master Teacher. I have diplomas in Anatomy and Physiology, Crystal Healing and Colour Therapy, and qualifications in Aromatherapy, Counselling and Co-Counselling. I have taken courses in Core Energy Management, Holistic Leadership, SKHM, Shamanism and how to be a trauma-informed practitioner. I’m currently taking diploma courses in Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs and Embodied Activism.

For a full list of my qualifications go here.

 ANCESTRAL SIGNPOSTS

I will probably never know why my great-grandfather's parents named him Pharoah Ramsden. Someone must have made an error with the spelling, which should read "Pharaoh", but I won't hold that against my working class great-great-grandparents who both signed their name with a cross on the 1861 census form. My grandmother told me that her father's name had always caused her embarrassment, but as a child I found the curious combination of the ancient and royal "Pharoah" [sic] with the down-to-earth Yorkshire "Ramsden" rather exotic and intriguing. It was no more than a curiosity then, but with hindsight it reads like an ancestral signpost, pointing the way to my future.

After my divorce in the late 1990s, I decided that, rather than go back to my maiden name, I would move forward and choose a new surname to reflect my transformation. I searched many sources for inspiration but Taliesin was the only name that resonated strongly with me. The usual pronunciation is “Tal-yes-in”, but to personalise it, I pronounce it “Tal-ee-sin”.

Sometimes called “the Last Celtic Shaman”, Taliesin was a poet who lived in late 6th century Wales, but in legend he was a shapeshifting bard and prophet associated with transmigration, metamorphosis, and writing - all symbolic of my life at that time. Taliesin literally means "shining brow", referring to the aura of light around his head.

El Masry is my surname from my marriage to Mahmoud, whom I met whilst living in Egypt. Although we parted ways after six years, the name has stayed with me by choice. Masr is the Arabic name for Egypt, so El Masry means "the Egyptian". Egypt is my spiritual home, and I feel honoured to share its name. Through the twists and turns of life and relationships, my name now has both Celtic and Egyptian elements.

CHILDHOOD

My childhood was defined by the extremes of academic expectations on the one hand, and my need to express myself creatively on the other. Significantly, my paternal grandparents were incredibly nurturing, and encouraged my creative nature by allowing me complete freedom, and teaching me the transformative power of unconditional love. I was a very talkative child, but also dreamy, artistic and thoughtful, regarded as "too sensitive" by some. I was in my thirties before I understood that sensitivity is a gift and not something to be suppressed.

At 11, I passed the entrance exam for Wakefield Girls’ High School, a local grammar school with an impressive reputation for advancing the education of girls. Education had been a pathway out of poverty for my parents and they were also both accomplished at sports, representing Wakefield at rugby union (dad), and hockey and athletics (mum). They encouraged me to be an all-round accomplished academic and sportsperson but they were a tough act to follow. I managed some degree of competency academically and at sports, despite struggling with the symptoms of ADHD. Like mum, I even represented school and Wakefield at hockey and athletics. However, it was in the wood-pannelled art room on the top floor of the 19th century school building where I felt most at home.

EGYPT…

I was always drawn more to Egyptian healing traditions rather than Eastern systems such as Reiki. In early 2000, I took a Sekhem First and Second Degree course, which was billed as an ancient Egyptian healing system. The energy felt luminous - golden, solar and powerful - and it had a profound effect on my life. Within a month, I was gifted my first trip to Egypt. I travelled alone to stay with an English woman who was teaching Egyptian Mysteries at the edge of the desert overlooking the Pyramids of Giza. My love affair with Egypt had begun!

That first visit felt like a dream come true and as a single parent I really thought it was a once in a lifetime trip. But the Egyptian gods obviously had other ideas! Five months later I was back, for Simon Treselyan's Sekhem Mastery Course, the first ever to be held in Egypt. I couldn't wait to start teaching Sekhem and I initiated my first student the day I landed back in England. However, I was disappointed by the lack of Egyptian content in the course and my students expressed the same frustration. As I worked daily with the energy, inspiration and information began filtering through. The way that Sekhem had been passed down to me made it clear that nothing could be changed or added to the system. However, I have a strong imagination and I’m innovative and visionary by nature. Inspiration flowed easily with the Sekhem energy and I gradually overcame my reservations and started to add the new material to the courses.

For more information on how I developed Alkhemi Therapy go here.

Since then, researching Egyptian spiritual traditions and working intuitively and shamanically with the deities of ancient Egypt has been my passion and my life's work. I lived in Luxor for a year and married an Egyptian man, Mahmoud. I’ve visited Egypt 23 times (so far!), each trip bringing more awe-inspiring moments and life-changing experiences: meditating at sacred sites; galloping on horseback across the desert by the pyramids of Giza; felluca (sailboat) rides on the Nile at sunset; riding camels into the desert at night to meditate under the stars; lying in the 'sacrcophagus' in the Great Pyramid whilst various notes were "toned" over me; meditating inside the Step Pyramid at Sakkara; being 'asked' by High Priestess and "Divine Adoratrice" Amenirdis to clear the passageways of her mortuary chapel; having the Queen's Chamber of the Great Pyramid opened especially for my personal Inner Guide Meditation initiation; sensing ancient priests around me in a small chamber at Medinet Habu; star-gazing all night on the roof of the villa, counting shooting stars; communicating psychically with Pharaonic statues; walking along the workers' path across the Theban Hills to the Valley of the Kings....

 …and in 2012 I made a personal pilgrimage to Luxor to fulfil my dream of watching the 2012 Winter Solstice sun rise along the central avenue of Karnak Temple - one the most memorable experiences of my life!