Council Journey this August - and a note from between paradoxes
Honouring two dear teachers who have been in conversation with death: Joan Jiko Halifax, back to Upaya after heart surgery, and Joanna Macy, in home hospice (find vigils to join in this link).
Greetings and blessings from a hot and sunny Dartmoor...
My skin still burns from the mix of midday sunshine and nettle stings, after doing the rounds of harvesting raspberries. I don't remember ever touching, harvesting, seeing so many. We wonder about the birds who year after year ate most of them: are they gone? —yet I can hear their almost constant chatter and song all around me. I'm sure the towering apple-mint and nettle that half-hides the canes, the cleavers that keep weaving roofing above them, I'm sure they have some say in this unscathed abundance? But more than that, I believe that our leaving the plants mostly in peace has started to provide more and more food for the birds —and many other creatures. Or at least I hope so. I also know that a sanctuary like this is small help, and that the numbers of birds keep on decreasing —particularly in England.
It's a time of paradoxes, witnessing the abundance around me, and the scarcity beyond this bubble of green. In the news and see that the world as I've become to unknow it goes on. Gruesome death statistics —like mass graves— are followed by summer trends in leg moisturisers. Floods and droughts come a bit further down, side by side with capers from celebrities. Something gives in me... the world, that world, feels distant, impossible. Can all this be happening at the same time?
The answer, of course, is yes.
It is my hope that through practicing deep witnessing, making a space to be with one another and ourselves, the boundaries between those different realities become more porous, and we're more able to hold these paradoxes, and that we can break open instead of apart. If we choose to.
It is in that spirit that I share the following offerings
Council Way is back - spaces still available for tomorrow Thursday 10th.
Full Moon Council ~ Thursday, 10 July 18h00 - 19h30 (UK) (check your local time)
New Moon Council ~ Thursday, 24 July 07h30 - 09h00 (AM! UK) (check your local time)
Full Moon Council ~ Saturday, 9 August 08h00 - 09h30 (AM! UK) (check your local time)
New Moon Council ~ Saturday, 23 August 17h00 - 18h30 (UK) (check your local time)
Some special councils coming up!
Being with Life Council ~ Saturday, 19 July 08h00 - 10h00 (AM! UK) (check your local time)
Council Way into Abundance - honouring Lughnasadh ~ Saturday, 2 August 08h00 - 10h00 (AM! UK) (check your local time)
You can find all dates in the in the calendar, in this page and in the booking form
Council Journeys ~ To reflect and accompany us as we dive deeper into the year
These are five-week journeys to get intimate with this simple and powerful practice... A space of possibilities... to nourish the turn of the seasons, the business and the rest. It is an opportunity to explore how it feels to listen, really listen. To be listened to, really listened to. We journey, as a group, through different aspects and practices of witnessing, of being present.
We explore ways to invite more of all that into your life, to find out what are the conditions, the stances, the attitudes in yourself that allow for a rich and brave space, or a quiet and soothing space, or a space for deep inquiry, or conflict transformation, or tending our joy and laughter...
"It's a practice of being in community, coming together as a community and listen to each other deeply with curiosity without judgement. A practice of strengthening our bonds & making them more visible. It's a practice of belonging to community regardless of where you are and who you are with."—NT, 2024 participant
You can find more information by following this link, and register your interest, share your availability through this booking form.
Dates and registration: Five weekly online sessions, with invitations for practices in between.
Wednesdays at 16h30 - 18h30 (UTC+1), from 30 July until 27 August. and / or (depending on numbers) Sundays at 10h30 - 12h30 (am UTC+1), from 3 August until 31 August.
Please check your local time by clicking the links above.
Please let me know your availability in the booking form: https://forms.gle/3Yv22SLR6D9QSyKG8
Exploring our Wild Edges
Is a place of enquiry through connecting with a text —from authors writing about, from, within the edges— in meditative ways. I'm very excited to share from two authors who are bringing me to my wild edges, exploring the boundaries of our soul, what it means to be human in these times.
And fortnightly alternating Tuesdays and Mondays until October —they're also in the calendar. You can find some of the previous texts—and some sharings from participants— being gathered here, and you can register here.
Sending prayers of hearts opening, with resilience, awareness, compassion.
With deep gratitude for your reading,Dita