Please Read - March News&Views from Wrekin Forum

Welcome to Spring! This is the beginning of a new season and a new year. Traditionally, the Spring Equinox has been regarded as not only the beginning of Spring, but also of a new yearly round or cycle of events in our collective and personal lives.

New beginnings made at this time have the energies of the cosmos behind them, and our hopes and projects which have been incubating during the long winter months can now start to move forward. The Christian story tells us annually of death and resurrection at Easter. In the alchemical tradition it was the time for starting the Great Work of transforming base matter into the gold of the philosopher's stone. Today we recognise that transmutation and transformation can take place within ourselves and within our world, as we move through stages of becoming on the great evolutionary journey.

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going ..." and so many people have been experiencing a tough time, with crisis points in health, work, finance, and family matters. We need to remind ourselves that, while the dark night of the soul is a necessary part of the journey, the nigredo of alchemy, it carries within it the promise of rebirth in due season.

As we each make our new beginnings and move forward into a fresh turn of the spiral, joining together at a profound level with others is becoming more and more relevant. Within the Wrekin Forum we are finding that a community of deeper and stronger connection is developing and growing, as group gatherings gain momentum. A wonderful range of events is offered by our friends and associates, many of whom are willing to travel to other parts of the country where a group would like to host a workshop or other event. In particular, we are seeking to develop more regional round tables in the north of England. If you would like to host such a gathering, do please contact Janice, info@wrekintrust.org, 01452 840033.

Bon voyage for the journey ahead

With love and blessings

Carol Duncan

connect@wrekinforum.org


"Beyond all ideas of right and wrong doing There is a field. I'll meet you there."

Message from Janice

This 'field', this creative field, seems to be calling and as we meet there in different groupings we are discovering new levels of consciousness which are unfolding gently within us. Whilst we can touch into these levels when alone, it is in gatherings with others of like awareness and like intention that new neural pathways begin to form. By travelling these pathways again and again huge collective pathways can be more easily available for others.

This has been my experience in the last few months as each regional round table seems to build on the patterning set up by a previous one and as each gathering for retreat, reflection, and deeper connection takes us further into the 'dark wood' of a world that hasn't yet been created.

If you would like to contribute to this 'insearch' project to share our discoveries of the qualities that take us to this 'field' and the discoveries we are making once there, then do please contact me on info@wrekintrust.org or 01452 840033. Each grouping that forms and deeply connects is a life-giving 'imaginal cluster of cells' in the evolving body of humanity, re-discovering our deep connection with all life and deep purpose for being here at this time.

Janice Dolley

"The focus is on holding a vision of

a golden grid of light

connecting each and every individual being of light

not only with each other but also with the pulse of life

and the heart centre of vibrational creative energy

that we are and everything is."

Janice Dolley

Inner Working of Outer Action

A new phase of a holding group to share inspiration and nurture the vision which underpins the work of the Wrekin Forum started on 18 February. A group of 13 associates, drawn from those who feel called to inner work, came together at Douai Abbey for a day's reflection and deeper connection which was a living example of a unity of vision and purpose emerging from a diversity of experience and expression.

We saw the work of the Wrekin Forum as supporting the emergence of a grass roots spirituality, lighting sparks to ignite the seeds of potential that are dormant everywhere and enabling their interpretation and synthesis. The day affirmed the vital importance of inner structures holding the outer forms and connections that will arise; of the role of all associated in mid-wifing 'the new' and the work of the Wrekin Trust in holding a steady and strong 'Wrekin mountain' that could withstand whatever changes arose.

Our role - individually and collectively - is to provide spiritual leadership at this time and offer the light of knowledge and understanding, and the love of deeper connection with each other, with the natural world, and with the inner pulse of life, together with the power of gathered and focussed intention.

The next inner holding group day will be at Douai Abbey, Nr Reading on Wed 9 June. All who feel drawn to the work will be welcomed by contacting Carol Duncan, connect@wrekinforum.org, 01243 572714. (Full report)

Janice Dolley

"To meet everything and everyone

through stillness instead of mental noise

is the greatest gift you can offer to the universe."

Eckart Tolle

Weekend Workshops

There are just a few places left for the weekend workshop with Ravi Ravindra at Aylesford Priory on 23-25 April, Spiritual Practice in Daily Life in the Light of the Great Traditions. If you would like to attend, please contact Marolyn now, marolyn.burgess@ntlworld.com, 01707 891286. (details)

Our friend and associate William Meader returns to the UK in May, and we have arranged another weekend workshop with him at Hawkwood College on 21-23 May, The Awakening: The Christ Principle Emerges. William points out that this time of crisis and change is an opportunity for the awakening of humanity's higher consciousness, and that the struggle for right relationship within the human family, within social institutions and with Mother Nature herself is an initiation into a new universal spirituality. (details)

William Meader comes to the UK in May and November each year, and in November will be starting a new two-year Intensive Study Course entitled Milestones to Enlightenment, with a focus on the book The Rays and the Initiations by Alice A Bailey. For further details of this very special course, please contact Ann Harley, annharley7@gmail.com or 01865 515685, or Hawkwood College, info@hawkwoodcollege.co.uk.

During his trip in May, William will be presenting workshops in Sussex and Cumbria (see the Forthcoming Events column), and we are currently planning his November itinerary. If you would like William to give a workshop or talk in your area, please contact Carol, 01243 572714, carolduncan8hl@btinternet.com and we can discuss it further. For a list of William's topics, see his website www.meader.org.

"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic,

it is based on the fact that human history

is a history not only of cruelty, but also of

compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness -

and if we do act, in however small a way,

we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future.

The future is an infinite succession of presents,

and to live now, as we think human beings should live,

in defiance of all that is bad around us,

is itself a marvelous victory."

Howard Zinn (1922-2010)

Spirituality in Outdoor Learning

The Institute for Outdoor Learning is proposing to set up a new Special Interest Group with a focus on Spirituality in Outdoor Learning, as there is a growing interest amongst its members in the exploration of inner or innate spiritual potential and its integration and expression in everyday life.

At this time of global crisis and turmoil, a sound relationship with self, others, the natural environment, and the divine provides a sense of empowerment and resilience in the confusion of current events.

If you, or anyone you know, would like to be part of an IOL Special Interest Group to explore Spirituality and Outdoor Learning, contact Heather Brown at he.brown@btopenworld.com.

"When the wisdom of the Grandmothers is heard,

the world will heal."

Native American Prophecy

Book Review Corner

THE GOLDEN THREAD: THE AGELESS WISDOM

OF THE WESTERN MYSTERY TRADITIONS

by Joscelyn Godwin, Quest Books, 2007

"Godwin is a modern psychopomp, leading us into the secret chambers of the ancient world" - Gary Lachman

The ancient sages of the Western Mystery Traditions passed on a knowledge beyond reason allowing us to access transcendent states that reveal our own nature and that of the cosmos. This book traces the thread of esoteric wisdom in the Western world, from classical antiquity to contemporary Europe and America. Whilst the arrangement is historical, this wisdom is timeless, each stage is perpetually present, and a source of inspiration and action for today. Each chapter makes reference to some aspect of contemporary life and immediate concern.

Originally written as a series of fourteen articles for the magazine Lapis: The Inner Meaning of Contemporary Life, this is an easy-to-read yet scholarly account of the unfolding of an esoteric or inner golden thread which underlies the exoteric or outer form of religions and philosophies.

"Thoughtful and thought provoking, this is a delightful and erudite collection of gently subversive essays - a book to savor." - Arthur Versluis

Have you read an interesting book recently, and would like to tell others about it? If you think it would also interest readers of this newsletter, do please send us the details together with a short review and we may be able to feature it in Book Review Corner.

HOLISTIC MAP UK

A free directory - helping you to connect and network

with like-minded people and organisations

Well being for all - there are many thousands of us

in all walks of life with a common aim -

to build a better world and bring well being to everyone.

Great project - You'll find a community offering

resources and support all across the nation;

a group of people aiming to create

a coherent voice for tangible and lasting change.

To join the map or search for listings visit: www.holisticmap.org

HolisticMap UK is a not-for-profit project enabled by the

Foundation for Holistic Spirituality (www.F4HS.org) .

The Wrekin Trust is working in collaboration with F4HS

to support and enable local and regional Groups across the UK.

WELCOME TO OUR MAILING LIST!

If you have enjoyed reading this newsletter and would like to become part of an active Forum for Contemporary Spirituality, why not support the work of the Wrekin Forum by becoming an Associate. If you would like us to send you further information, please contact connect@wrekinforum.org, or click here for details and an application form.