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from the Meditation category

Urban Springtime and the element of Air

This is the third in a series of articles on exploring earth-centred spirituality in an urban context. I have been reflecting on the seasons and their frequently associated elements: autumn and water, winter and earth, now spring and air. The four traditional elements are associated in this way, through ascribing them to the four quarters of a circle, divided like a compass by the north, south, east and west lines. More ...

Sensio Divina

The contemplative exercise of Lectio Divina, or Divine Reading, has been practiced from the earliest times of monastic discipleship – the act of sitting prayerfully with a short piece of sacred text and allowing it to speak and inhabit our minds and hearts. How does it work when reading the Book of Creation? More ...

Looking for Life: An Autumn Nature-walk in the City

It's mid October and the sky is overcast, the temperature has dropped in the last few days and night-time storms have been beating the skylights in our loft bedroom. I've got a day to myself and feel the impulse to head for the city centre to experience Autumn in the 'urban jungle' that is now so many of our habitats. More ...

Great things come in small packages.

The full majesty of the tree is contained in the small seed. The essence of something fully developed is there inside, and much more – the promise of further multiplications of fruit that can come from the single seed that is allowed to die, (as Jesus famously said in reference to his own path.) More ...

Ecosystem Services and Giving Thanks

Years ago I heard a throw away line during a radio documentary that captured my imagination. The interviewer and a naturalist were exploring a particular stretch of coastline and the interviewer asked about a rocky outcrop with a bit of grass on top, not knowing whether to refer to it as an island or not. The naturalist said that the definition for an island used to be if it could keep a sheep alive for a year. More ...

Forest Church Group Meditation for Autumn Equinox

I’m just about to start my third Autumn in the Cambrian Mountains and I’m now convinced that we need to mark – along with nature, tradition and even the solar system – this time as a significant moment of pause, balance and reflection, even more so than mid winter. Vive l'équinoxe d'automne! More ...

Natural Theology, Signs and Omens – God speaking through Nature.

God speaks primarily through sacred scripture, so I’ve been led to believe by those who’ve shaped my thinking, but I’m hearing the same divine voice speaking elsewhere – standing out against the everyday backdrop of my natural surroundings: the unusual behaviour of a bird, a rare plant growing somewhere unexpected, a vision of beauty that penetrates me with a sense of transcendence I can’t ignore. My instincts tell me the voice is God’s but this is a harder book to read. More ...

Spring Equinox Meditation

Easter is the only festival whose date is dictated by the movements of the sun and the moon. This offers us a great opportunity to interlink the mysteries of Pagan, Jewish and Christian understanding. More ...