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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 ...

Devising ‘rituals’ for Mid Wales Forest Church.

Four times a year, close to the sun festivals of solstice and equinox, Mid Wales Forest Church has a 'Ritual', which is a grand name for what might be better described as interactive, experiential, shared meditation / reflective / alternative-worship like activities. Ritual is shorter. More ...

Down to Earth: Winter Prayer-walking

Five years ago we moved to a densely populated and culturally diverse area of south Birmingham. There have been many joys in living here, one of which has been the local riverbank and a small but very special patch of woodland called Moseley Bog. 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 ...

Talking to Trees

Of all the experiential nature connection ideas I’ve been exploring and advocating through workshops and the Forest Church book, the one that has raised more questions than anything else is the idea of conversing with nature. More ...

The Seed: Symbol and Mystery

A seed is a mystery. It is both beginning and end, life and death, nothing and everything. A seed sits easily in the palm of the hand, and yet grows into a living structure which can be twice the size of house. It is a single grain, yet it is the source of a thousand grains. It can be stored for many years, and then be stirred into life in days. A seed is the whole universe in a grain of sand. More ...

Mystic Cat

One of the midsummer traditions we no longer observe is burning cats. More ...

Fire and Fertility

It's been a long winter in the South Hams of Devon. But during the last few days something has changed. We've seen the first swallows arriving from the far South, the trees are beginning to green, daylight is continuing long into the evening, the dawn chorus rings vibrantly over fields carpeted in daisies, and the first aromas of the warmer times to come (we hope) are in the air. Whatever has lain dormant is discovering its fertility. Something new is coming into being. 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 ...

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