Wild Cat(echectical) Course

Wild Cat is a new adventure in exploring the depths of mystical Christianity through head, heart and hands learning. This is a journey for those of us who love the wild edges and fertile margins of faith, who want to put down deep roots into sacred ground and for those who are more interested in questions than answers…

Wild Cat is part of a gradual and experimental emergence of a committed, new monastic, learning community that can support and enable those who may be called to a contemporary, contemplative way of living. As with earlier Wild Wisdom courses the emphasis is on holistic and collaborative learning that includes curiosity (study & reflection), contemplative practices, creativity and ceremony.

New for September 2026

As we look towards the completion of our third Wild Cat journey in July 2026, we are now inviting a new member to join our existing learning community. This will involve starting with our Wild Monastics zoom group for the summer term, from April to July – more details here. This can lead to an invitation to join a new Wild Cat year from September 2026.

We meet on Zoom from 2.30-5pm, on Zoom on the third Sunday and in person on the fourth Sunday of each month (except December). Some extra Zoom sessions are usually offered 2-4 times a year, for example for Ash Wednesday, a Tree of Life drawing Day, a Wild Scripture Day etc…

If you live locally or can visit Dartington, we also offer the following through our Wild Monastery & Wild Church:

• First Sunday – Monthly contemplative pilgrimages along the River Dart and its tributaries. More details here.
• Second Sunday – Monthly retreats at Brooking Church. More details here.
• Fourth Sunday – ‘Wild Evensong’ at Brooking Church – contemplative Christian ceremony with gender inclusive & non-hierarchical language & multi-sensory (with candles, incense, bells, chanting & iconograohy).

Course Introduction

Created by Rev Sam Wernham, the course draws inspiration from Sam’s previous doctoral research and from the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) in the Anglican tradition. So the ‘catechetical questions’ offered below are drawn from those in the BCP Catechism, which baptism & confirmation candidates were expected to learn & be able to ‘get right’. We will be treating them as open, depth questions without fixed answers and yet as a way to engage with some of the core aspects of Christian tradition and to consider what our own unfolding answers may be. Each of our gatherings will take a small part of the Creed, the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer, so that together we can dig into this fertile and yet sometimes hard ground, to discover our own meanings.

Sam writes: “My own lifelong and challenging Anglican journey has also taken me to different spiritual contexts. In Christian terms this has largely been into Eastern Orthodoxy and my practice as an iconographer over the last fifteen years. Woven into this are several decades of also deeply exploring Buddhism, Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah), nature based Druidic spirituality and Taoist Alchemy. This all seems to have come together in my life quite harmoniously over the years! So I’ll be offering some sacred seeds harvested from this journey & it will be up to you to decide which seem life giving and then to grow them in your own way. I hope you will also share your own harvests too…”

A taste of what may be offered (with some changes & additions from year to year…)