Come, come, whoever you are.
Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
It doesn't matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even if you have broken your vow
a thousand times.
Come, yet again, come, come.
~ Rumi
As frequent readers of Reweaving Earth & Soul1 know, we have been reflecting on our role in this time of great unraveling and our desire to turn from business as usual toward co-creating a world of greater unity and mutual wellbeing. We cannot do this work alone.
In September, I’m coordinating two opportunities for us to further the work of reweaving Earth and soul in community - one online and one in person. Although the themes of bearing loss and offering gratitude might seem to stand in contrast to each other, they are woven into the fabric of our lives. In these gatherings, we will hold these strands with the support of each other and the living world around us, building our openness to see what is, deepening compassion for ourselves and others, and reclaiming the resilience of our open hearts. I hope you will consider joining us.
Bearing Witness: Holding Pain, Honoring Relationships
Sunday, September 6, 3-5pm EDT via Zoom
It’s past time to move beyond business as usual to re-member our connections within the web of life. And yet to do so opens us to the pain and loss of the living world. How shall we find the fortitude and courage to allow our hearts to break as we honor our more-than-human kin and landscapes we have loved?
Last month’s online gathering found us naturally gravitating toward the pain we feel as beloved places of great beauty and beings once found in abundance fade away or are destroyed before our eyes. And we know there is more loss to come. We’ll lay this conversation on the table between us, gently, lovingly, thoughtfully, taking in only what’s right for us within the safe space of our ever-forming community.
In our time together, you can expect shared conversations, small group discussions, and space for quiet reflection as we open to expanding our relationship with the living world. Midway through our time together, there will be approximately 30 minutes of silence so that you can move away from technology to be present to the more than human world near you.
If you want to connect more deeply to this Earth, there’s a place for you in the circle on September 6 - and any first Sunday of the month. Click below for details and to register for your Zoom link.
More Details & Free Registration
Do you know anyone who might appreciate community with like-hearted people who care deeply about creating community with the more than human ones? Please feel free to share this gathering with other weavers of Earth and soul.
Turning toward the Gifts: Receiving Earth’s Blessings on the Edge of Change
Sunday, September 20, 2 - 6pm EDT
Shepherd's Spring Retreat, Sharpsburg, MD 21782
Even as chaos abounds, we are beneficiaries of a bountiful harvest. With gifts of food, water, air, sunlight, and beauty, the living world nurtures our bodies, minds, and souls. As we approach the Autumnal Equinox, we remember this rhythm of light and darkness into which our lives are woven. In this gathering, we’ll open to receive from Earth’s generosity and consciously harvest wonder and wisdom for the coming winter.
Join us as we hone our awareness of Earth’s blessings, gratefully collaborating in a cycle of giving and receiving, gifts and reciprocity. Our time together will include opportunities for reflection, spacious silent wander among the trees and beings on this beautiful land, conversations in small and large groups, story, poetry, chant, and sacred circle dance. We’ll join in the Thanksgiving Address as shared and encouraged by Haudenosaunee elders and close our time together with shared food in a ritual of plenty.
Shepherd’s Spring Retreat encompasses 220 acres of beautiful nature on the Potomac River with plenty of paths for walking, a labyrinth, natural spring, lots of woods. Driving distance: Shepherdstown, WV (20 min), Hagerstown, MD (25 min); Frederick, MD (50 min); Washington, DC (90 min).
For more details on the retreat including what to bring, click below. Registration is free; donations will be accepted onsite.
Retreat Information and Registration
Do you know someone else who might like to know about these gatherings? Please share with them, spread the world, help us all to lean into the great turning.
I will set a table And wide enough for two
For my soul
Among the trees
Quiet, I will wait
Beneath a canopy of leaves
Let stillness be the table
Let silence be the cloth
Let sunlight be the service, gleaming
My seat a bed of moss
I will set a table
For my soul
Out in the wild
Calling her to come
And play, as if she were a child
Let soft winds be the music
Let flowers be the dance
Let butterflies be our hearts, weaving
Patterns out of chance
I will set a table
For my soul
In forest glade
Inviting her to rest
And feast, on Bread no hands have made
Let wonder be the blessing
Let laughter be the prayer
Let forgiveness be our cup, healing
And let Love be the fare
I will set a table
For my soul
Where woods are deep
Or more, so you can sit by me
Nichole Q. Perreault, Connecticut, poem birthed out of her daily Centering Prayer group
I write and share “Reweaving Earth & Soul” several times a month via Substack. (No AI, just me.) The intention of my essays is to explore the intersection of ecology, spirituality, and story to help us live more fully alive and deeply connected in these dangerous, beautiful, wrenching, awe-inspiring times on the edge of loss and possibility.
“Church of the Wild Earth & Soul” is a recent reimagining of the place-based Church of the Wild Two Rivers that I founded in 2019. This new version has three components: a monthly online gathering; a seasonal, in-person retreat; and a newsletter to keep you informed. We are a member of the Wild Church Network, a large affiliation of unique offerings that support connecting to spirituality in nature.
Although under the same Substack umbrella, “Church of the Wild Earth & Soul” and “Reweaving Earth & Soul” are published separately. You can subscribe to both, only one, or none - although I hope that won’t be the case.
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