Feb 27, 2024

Wild Cat One – Beginnings

Reflections from Jan: February has seen the start of the new Wild Cat(echetical) course. The first group met in person on the afternoon of Sunday 18th at Sam’s micro monastery, and the second group met virtually the following week.

Both gatherings explored the same theme – beginnings. We took the first question from the Catechism: “What is your name?” and, as we introduced ourselves to the group, we pondered on our given names and our chosen names and what they meant to us. I was struck by the importance of naming, and how the biblical book of Genesis tells us that God called creation into being from the formless, dark void by naming it: “Let there be light; and there was light”. Then one of humanity’s first sacred tasks, was to meet and name all the animals. I found myself wondering if I would be moved to choose a new baptismal name at the end of the year when we are offered the opportunity to renew our baptismal vows, or (for some) to be baptised for the first time.

We then talked about our journey to Wild Cat and the beginnings of our spiritual heritage. Our experiences were rich and varied, and there seemed to be a strong common bond. Whatever our story, we had all been drawn to participate in this particular form of contemplative, nature based Anglican Christianity which embraces both tradition and new ways of experiencing the Divine, reclaiming the sacred feminine and honouring the ‘more than human’. I felt that we had all, somehow, been called by Love. In T S Eliot’s beautiful language:

With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

Little Gidding (The Four Quartets)

Sam then challenged us with the question: what is beginning, where does something begin? For example, the beginning of the local River Dart is hard to discern as it has two sources coming from patches of boggy land, as well as many smaller tributaries and upcoming tidal waters from the sea. Using this analogy, Sam asked us to think about where our personal Christian story begins; what and where in the manifest world do we feel deeply connected with, what ancient and possibly extinct things give us a sense of origin? And where in the mythical matrix (including the Bible) do we find ancestral roots of inspiration and faith that feed into and illuminate our Christian story today? Big, mysterious questions to reflect on.

To create some context for our reflections, we considered Neil deGrasse Tyson’s cosmic calendar which sets out the timeline of our planet framed in a single year (a link to an illustrated version of the cosmic calendar is available here)

In DeGrasse Tyson’s own words:

“January 1st is the Big Bang. And modern day is just before midnight on December 31st. You realize that cavemen were walking around 15 seconds before midnight, and Jesus was 7 seconds ago. You realize how late we are to the party, and how small we are in time”

(https://www.popsci.com/article/science/cosmos-explained-neil-degrasse-tyson-his-new-series/)

I found this perspective humbling, but it also encouraged me to think more deeply about Sam’s question about ancestral connections. It is not just about history. It is about searching for meaning through all aspects of creation and especially through the more-than-human world and the more-than-rational. I am reminded of Psalm 104 which tells of God creating the world and I love Ian Adams’ commentary where he says:

“The psalm nails the misapprehension that the earth is just the stage for human activity. Actually, it’s not all about us! Rather, we human beings are participating in much greater, wider patterns of existence. . . humanity is revealed to be just the amazing tip of an astonishing wave”

(From “Reflections on the Psalms”, an app by Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd.)

The in-person group then engaged in two crafts: learning to draw a Kabbalistic Tree of Life and rolling beeswax candles both for ourselves and for our Vespers service. In the Zoom group, Sam led us through a meditative look at the Tree of Life and its power and beauty as an origin story, a way of understanding the different dimensions of ourselves, as well as a metaphor for the sacred layout of a church – worthy of a whole journal entry in its own right!

We ended the 28th with Vespers in St. Barnabas church, Brooking. We are learning to chant Vespers and it is our intention, once we complete our learning, to open the service of Vespers to others. Singing to God and with God as the sun went down in the quiet, candlelit church was very special.

I am glad to have been part of both Wild Cat groups, and to bear witness to the start of our journey together. Although we are just constellating as a community, I feel full of hope for us: hope for our own unfoldings, and hope for the difference we can make even if only in a small way. A holy difference nevertheless.

Jan 17, 2022

A Winter Gathering of Wild Wisdom School 4

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For the first gathering of Wild Wisdom 4, we met at Jan’s home in East Devon in the damp greyness of winter.

Our day began with some welcome silence and a heart-based meditation and Sam introduced us to the three-fold wisdom way of ethike (outer and inner ethics), physike (contemplation of nature, engagement with and enquiry into the material world) and enoptike (meditative union with the divine).

We remembered our absent companions, and then we opened our Wisdom Pot and shared some seasonal reflections and stories about ourselves. We each welcomed our own blessing of the season: robins, starlit nights, the waiting of Advent, poetry, the evergreens, stone-pine cones, the telos of decay, fruits, seeds, renewal.

We spoke of feeling unsettled and learning to accept that feeling, and of the importance of paying attention to the mundane; the importance, too, of relationship – from immediate family to wider family, and this wild and wise group. We acknowledged and grieved for what we had built and loved and lost and wondered at the ancient skills of navigation at sea by the stars. We talked too of the pandemic and how it is challenging our concepts of individualism, communalism and libertarianism, and the call to different ways of being…. how the love of the land can change us, and how physicality can lead us into the abstract.

We affirmed the transformational power of listening, of quietly and lovingly witnessing one another’s profound feelings: joy, grief, anger, helplessness, and pain. The Wisdom Pot welcomes everything. The speaking and listening changes things just as the bitterness of cider apples is necessary for good cider, fermenting into something better.

After a break, Sam told the story of The Handless Maiden and we shared our responses to the telling of this enigmatic tale. There were many themes that caught our attention but perhaps the one that we all found most intriguing was the shadow man with the fire reflected in his eyes. The necessary bitterness? The catalyst for transformation?

After a wonderful bring and share lunch of warming soups, bread, hummus, delicious nut roast and a sumptuous apple crumble, we went into quiet time. Some went for a

meditative walk, others read. I am always struck by the magic of free time and silence when it happens in community, the magic of knowing that the spaciousness is shared, that we are being held, and that we are somehow together even as we wander in our different directions.

As we gathered once again for our final reflections, I realised how much we had journeyed with the three-fold wisdom way during the day. Our Wisdom Pot included inner and outer ethics, our relationship with nature and the material world and perhaps, in the silence and meditative times there were even glimpses of enoptike, unique and personal for each of us.

I am deeply grateful for the experiences of the day, and for the group, and look forward to our next day of love, sharing and community.

(Journal post written by Jan)