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…
Course companions come together monthly over a year or more to engage with tradition in innovative ways, and with a feminist and earth centred emphasis. Our path is one of catechesis, of questioning and curiosity, in relation to core elements of Christianity, which can lead towards a uniquely personal and authentic experience of Christian initiation, including the option of baptism or renewal of baptismal vows.
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 (including crafting) and ceremony.
Course Introduction
Created by Rev Sam Wernham, the course draws inspiration from Sam’s previous Wild Wisdom 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) and a nature based Druidic spirituality. 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…”
Course Structure – Part One
Wild Cat 1 – Beginnings
Catechetical questions: ‘What is your name? Who gave you this name? What did your sacred elders for you?’
Exploring beginnings… of ourselves, earth, mystical Christianity (and its Jewish origins) and our journey together.
Sacred craft & practice: Tree of Life drawing + beeswax candle rolling. Vespers focus: How to enter & (esoterically) understand a church. Phos Hilaron – our first chant, ‘the lights of evening round us shine’.
Wild Cat 2 – Fundamentals
Catechetical questions: ‘I believe in one God? Thou shalt have no other Gods but me? Our Mother/Father/Beloved who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name?’
Sacred craft & practice: willow wands & palm crosses. Vespers focus: ‘I am dust & ashes’ – the sacred elements in Christian prayer + bowing, prostration & making the sign of the cross.
Wild Cat 3 – Sacred Stuff
Catechetical questions: ‘I believe in Christ? Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image? Thy Kingdom come?
Getting to grips with the second person of the Trinity and incarnation. Reflecting on sacred sovereignty, kingdom & kin-dom? Exploring the role of imagination, imagery & other sacred ‘stuff’… the nature of sacraments & questions about iconoclasm.
Sacred craft & practice: Introduction to icon writing & using natural pigments. Vespers focus: ‘Windows into Heaven’ – praying with icons.
Wild Cat 4 – Mary’s Month
Catechetical questions: ‘Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary? Thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain? Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven?’
More on names! Including the potential of choosing a baptismal name. Exploring living in the fiery light of the Spirit with Mother Mary.
Sacred craft & practice: Introduction to prayer ropes/beads & incense.
Vespers focus: ‘May my prayer rise before you like incense’ – our second chant + using incense & praying/living the Angelus.
Wild Cat 5 – Turning Points
Catechetical questions: ‘Who suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried. Who descended into hell and the third day rose again from the dead? Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath? Give us this day our daily bread?’
As we come to the bright centre of the solar year, we reflect on the core of the Christian mysteries, including looking at the challenging concepts of sin, confession and forgiveness. We consider the meaning of sabbath and begin the process of preparation for communion.
Sacred craft & practice: Making an altar cloth + preparing to start a baptismal shawl/shroud. Vespers focus – creating altars, for both personal and community use.
Wild Cat 6 – First fruits
Catechetical questions: ‘Who ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God? Honour thy father and mother? Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us?
Circling back and around to a time of conclusion for now and preparing to harvest the first fruits of our learning journey as August & Lammas approaches.
Sacred craft & practice: completing altar cloth & starting on baptismal shawl/shroud.
Vespers focus: Sacred space review, from font to altar.
Part Two runs from September 2024 – March 2025, with the option of baptism/renewal of baptismal vows in Eastertide. It is open to those who have completed Part One. More details about the start of another cycle for new members in due course.
