writing together through the seasons
'ROOT + WRITE: A Seasonal Year' begins at Samhain
As Autumn licks its full and fertile lips at us here in the UK, I am preparing to begin ‘A Seasonal Year of ROOT + WRITE’: 8 writing days to mark the key points in the Celtic Wheel of the Year, held spaciously online, with plenty of time to ROOT where we are. We start on Saturday, October 26th to mark the coming of Samhain, and the beginning of the new Celtic Year.
Writing through the seasons, with one eye on the changing skies and feet planted upon the earth, has been an active part of my life for over fifteen years, and I have written while walking the pathways and pavements of where for many years before that.
Sitting by the stile, that has since become a gate, in the valley across the way, where I was visited one day by a frog the size of my thumbnail, it came to me. I was fresh from studies of cited authors, footnotes and -isms, examinations and knowing, and it dawned on me that the way I was encountering the rise and fall of my thoughts and feelings mirrored the churned earth ahead of me; ploughed land preparing for seed planting and the feed of manure. I too was tending the ground and planting new seeds, nurtred by all of the experience that had past. I too was pausing and preparing. Might there be more at play here than the pure drive of my own whirring, planning and frantic mind?
There sprouted an inkling of a knowing and unknowing of how the cycles ebb and flow. How death follows life follows death all within the span of short and longer seasons. This came alive beyond the incessant scratch of pen on paper and enmeshed itself in the dirt and moss. It calmed the thinking and settled the breath.
This was back when memes and gifs were not everyday forms of communication, where influence and trends were not born in the phones in the palms of our hands. This wasn’t delivered as a cute life hack, of fashionable practice. This knowing arose from the ground, from an ancestry of agriculture in a land of farmers and growers who worked, loved, lived and wrote of the changing seasons not from lofty ideals but with the wind on their cheeks, hands callused from labour.
The storytelling of place and people, the living and other worlds, is a tradition rooted in this Welsh place. My father would tell my sister and me tales of how local places got their names when we were out on day trips in our old blue Volvo. Stories of keys hidden under the feet of giants, wise men who built bridges and angry mothers who you daren’t cross. The truthfulness of their origins questioned but not dwelt upon.
The narratives we currently live by need our discerning querying. With fewer benign giants and many more powerful ghouls1 wielding greed, division and fear, bringing our attention to what sits in our hearts, bodies, minds and the world directly outside the window is a radical act.
RADICAL: Of or relating to a root or to roots
Of, belonging to, or from a root or roots; fundamental to or inherent in the natural processes of life, vital; designating the humour or moisture once thought to be present in all living organisms as a necessary condition of their vitality.
Oxcord English Dictionary.
To give our energy and direct our actions to that which creates connection and not compound division (which is different to recognising difference) requires attention and care.
This is why I am returning with ROOT + WRITE sessions this Autumn. To hold space for this care-full, elemental and seasonal focus for folks who want to come together and mark the seasonal turning. To root their words in their breath and bones, to explore new stories and savour the grounding that being in conversation with themselves can bring.
Each session falls at one of the eight points in the seasonal cycle that mark the equinoxes, solstices and the midpoints between them. Here we pause together, mark the shifting of the light, dark and natural movements around us, and connect to our inner and outer landscapes through writing and embodiment practices.
These sessions are held online and can be accessed from the comfort of your own home. They are designed to gently nourish your curiosity and creativity.
You are invited to come as you are, to write for fun and insight, with full permission to be messy and imperfect.
As always, expect reverence and irreverence, lightness and depth.
Each gathering will be crafted for the season and features:
Warm-up writing + somatic meditation
Check-in - seasonally focused
Shared inspiration, fun and playful writing prompts with creative twists
Regular breaks, invitations and experiential suggestions to get us interacting with the screen in sustainable ways
Longer writing sessions
ROOT + WRITErs will also receive a bonus 45-page Seasons + Cycles workbook.
You can sign up for one, a few or all 8 for a series discount. Tiered pricing and payment plans are available.
When the moisture goes out of our lives, and we’re no longer able to see beauty or converse with magic, we must ask ourselves how we can replenish our wellness. Too often, we fall into the misguided belief that the outside world is our source of vitality. We wait for its cues and its permissions and forget to honour, petition, and receive from the well within. Unconsciously, we’re terrified to turn away from the world; we think we’re putting our ‘heads in the sand’, or that we’ll lose everything if we don’t keep up pace.But the truth is that there is a different rhythm trying to temper us from within. If we shift our responsiveness from the outer to the inner world, allowing for periodic ebbing of our external effectiveness, we come to see that it is in service to a more harmonious way with our own bodies and with our greater earthbody…
And as you are tending to your inner well, know that your work is part of a larger mission that is attempting, through our combined experience, to come into harmony. In other words, our individual well-being is also the well-being of the whole.
Toko Pa Turner - Belonging.
Testimonial
My daily writing had become a bit samey - all about stuff I had to do or how I was feeling. ROOT + WRITE has injected some creativity and helped me think about why I want to write and how writing practise can support me in living a more present life, with more attention and wonder and everyday magic. It’s also lovely to have a writing community to meet with regularly.
— Suzanne. ROOT + WRITE 2023
Come along and ROOT your WRIT(E)ing in body, land and the shifting seasons.For hearty wild words, tending the fire in your inner hearth.
If you have any questions do hit reply.
Warmly, and in creative camaraderie,
KJ
Ghouls = humans + power + perpetuation of greed, aggression and delusion.