A weekend watch | The Softening in spring/summer.

Dearest reader…

How are you finding the shift between spring and summer? It has been pretty sudden here in London, with chilly squally rain and hail at the beginning of the week, followed by steamy sunshine as we reached the weekend…!

I am delighted to share the recording and guide to The Softening, our (online) gathering for spring/summer, where we spent time remembering to make space to ground ourselves, to quietly tend, and to blossom sustainably this summer, with embodied wisdom and knowledge from the community.

The gathering and guide has taken the shape of a collaborative handbook of nourishment, wisdom and inspiration… including a meditation practice for making space and taking a pause within our spring/summer days; notes on blooming sustainably; learnings from hawthorn and the medicinal potency of the peony; poetry that speaks to this time of year; insights from a nature walk in May; a creative practice to harness joy; reflections on quiet tending and nourishment during spring/summer.

Huge thanks to all of the generous contributors who allow The Softening to feel like a wonderfully supported community co-creation. I have loved our creative conversations in the lead up to, and during The Softening and am amazed at the alignment and synchronicity that has emerged between the individual pieces, which include…

• Breathing space, a grounding meditation practice giving us permission to take a pause as we move from spring to summer by Erin Taylor.

• Blossoming sustainably, navigating the process of blossoming and visibility without burnout by Sarah Robertson.

• Lessons from the hawthorn tree, reflections on the wisdom of the hawthorn and home by Carmen Luisa.

• Medicine garden, a poem by Caroline Mellor.

• How to grow, heiter in bloom by Katharina Geissler-Evans heiter magazine. (More details here about supporting independent publishing and to help the Blooming issue of heiter come to life).

• A May Day walk, a spring nature walk with Katie Lloyd.

• What she wanted, a poem by Annie Ridout

• Draw your fire: what lights you up? A creative journalling exercise for spring/summer with Sophie Johnson.

• Our quiet, invisible blooming, on tending by Jen Eden.

• Hold yourself with the magic & medicine of spring flowers, the peony,
  flower of healing, by me.

• The Butterfly, a poem by Lauren Barber.

I have recorded a message below with more details about the content of the guide as we weren’t be able to cover it all within the gathering itself, there is enough for a whole weekend retreat… (anyone up for this?!) The sound quality isn’t perfect as I recorded directly into Substack but I am eschewing perfection in favour of having it done, and I hope it gives you a flavour of what is contained in the pages…

The Softening guidebook is included below as individual pages, and right at the bottom, as a PDF for you to save and hopefully return to over the summer months ahead.

Here is a closer look at the oracle card I pulled for us all…

I would love to hear your thoughts about what softness means to you in this season, and wanted to offer two contemplations…

• what is one thing you could remove from your to-do list this week?

• what one small nourishing thing could you add?

Much soft spring/summer love,