Categories: Newsletter

Springing back to life!

Sun is up and Spring is here!
Wake up all and have no fear.
It’s time for greening, winter’s done.
Welcome Spring and welcome Sun!

~ the Song of Waking

I’ve been basking in the strengthening Spring sunshine this morning, then shivering in the chill wind that still seems to be breathing Winter down collars and under coats. The season feels exceptionally unpredictable this year. Hailstones battering the washing trying to dry on the line. Sparrows chatter in heart-lifting bursts from the pink blossoms of our cherry tree, then scatter when the grey clouds swoop in, heavy with rain.

I am reminded of the Song of Waking from the Spring Equinox story in Walk The Wheel. Blackbird comes to Lark, a shy child, because he is worried that the song won’t be sung and so the Spring will not come to the woods. Without the song, all the beings living in it will diminish and fail to thrive. In the story, Blackbird helps Lark to find his voice and the Song of Waking together. This year, I am finding courage in the power of birdsong, which still seems to be heralding the emergence of Spring into being, in defiance of the strange weather.

Change and transformation

I have been re-negotiating my relationship to connection and spirituality.

Since Walk The Wheel launched, I’ve struggled to engage with my usual Wheel of the Year practises or to feel connected when out in the world. The more-than-human continues to be my passion and fascination, but for some time now I’ve had, what feels like, a clear glass partition between me and the more-than-human beings around me.

For so long, this felt like a failing. I had lost contact with a part of my identity, around which I had built a lot of my work and relationships. If I couldn’t feel connected then how can I write about the need for and joys of nature connection? I wondered for a while if it was some kind of cosmic balance, offsetting the joyful emergence of the book. Eventually I had to accept that, for whatever reason, I was in a fallow time, a composting period, a darkness of the soul.

Emerging from darkness

As always, acceptance made for an easier journey. I began to find joy and connection in the more mundane (yet just as magical!) things that I had neglected in those years when the wild and spiritual were my focus. I’ve had more silly conversations, visited more towns and cities, read more fiction books and generally given myself a break! It felt like going back to my teens, when I very first discovered earth-based spiritualities.

I have been re-learning how I want to exist in the world, what my priorities are, and not all of them are what they were before. I have developed a strong need for the pragmatic and the practical. I need my inspirations and connections to be rooted in a real and present approach to living, not in the often blurry shapes of dreams, wishes and maybes.

So now, I am seeking ways to weave this grounded pragmatism with the wonderous magic of the wild world that I know exists, but have not fully experienced for some time.

Wild new ways

Last week, I joined The Wild Academy as their Community Facilitator. Run by two wonderful wild women, the Academy offers a variety of ways to engage with the seasons and the more-than-human world, including seasonal circles, lunar circles and fantastic courses that draw on all kinds of creative and land-based wisdom.

In my new role, I build connections with and between the wonderful folks who are part of their subscription community, The Grove. I also participate and facilitate their online gatherings where they hold space for earth-inspired exploration and draw upon the wisdom and nourishment of our wild world, offering it back to receptive souls.

It’s been a long time since I held these kinds of spaces myself. The exhaustion that came with doing so for almost a decade was profound. I am now finding great joy and restoration in being held so gently and capably by Eleanor and Maddy, and guided in a new/old way of being, back towards those connections I now feel ready to re-embrace. Being an active part of the workings of the Academy also feels like a gentle, possible step back into a more intentional and active relationship with my own wild self.

So, if you enjoyed Walk The Wheel or my other seasonal work in the past, I highly recommend checking out The Wild Academy. There are different ways you can receive their work and, if you do take part in a circle or more, you might just see me there!

Wild new writing

I’ve also set myself a commitment to pull away from social media and back to long-form writing (like this!) I’ll be posting on Instagram and Facebook less and less and hope to direct the thoughts, stories and reflections I shared there into blog posts and emails. I’ll also be sharing insights into my new book (if folks are interested?!) and anything else you might want to read about. To facilitate this I have plans to investgate a new platform. (Watch this space!)

A little Spring blessing to send you on your way..