Please Read - November News&Views from Wrekin Forum

As we approach the darkest time of the year, it is an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between light and darkness. So many of us focus on the light as an important part of our spiritual practice, yet the One that contains all also contains the darkness. It is part of the whole, of the cyclic rhythm of our daily life here on this earth, and is reflected in the seasonal pattern which we take for granted.

Psychology reminds us that we reject the darkness at our peril, because to do so is to deny our wholeness. Jung spoke of the "shadow", that part of our human nature of which we are unconscious, either through repression or simply because it has not been discovered yet. As we face the challenges of life in the world today we are becoming very aware of the collective shadow of humanity. Consciousness is growing, and with that comes an awareness of much that we would prefer to reject rather than integrate but, if we truly acknowledge that we are One, we have to accept our collective responsibility for the ills of the world and share in the task of putting them right.

Yet what riches of potential also lie within the unconscious realm, invisible to our conscious minds just as bulbs lie beneath the surface of our bare winter gardens, waiting to emerge as snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils when Spring comes. When the time is right, after the darkest days, the light returns. We are told by many traditions that, as we face times of crisis and difficulty, these are just a prelude to the next evolutionary step of rebirth, expansion, and growth.

May you emerge refreshed from the longest night, as the days lengthen again into Spring.

With love

Carol Duncan

connect@wrekinforum.org

"Crisis ignites evolution.

The challenges and crises we face today are

actually signs that spontaneous change is imminent.

We are about to face our evolution."

Bruce Lipton

Message from Janice

RISING TO THE EVOLUTIONARY CHALLENGE OF OUR TIMES

This has been a calling note for a series of gatherings that the Wrekin Trust has held in different places around the British Isles - 25 thus far - through the Wrekin Forum for Contemporary Spirituality. At each event the people coming together agree that change and challenge are hallmarks of our times and that waves of unseen energy seem to be bringing an increased awareness in human consciousness.

Some see this as a 'rising tide of love', others as a 'reverence for all life' or 'goodwill to all our neighbours'. Others of us are required to respond to challenges such as redundancy, reduced incomes, broken relationships, bereavement, loss of old belief structures, etc, with resilience and with trust in life's benevolence to lead us forward. For many it is an increasing daily intensity as though time itself is speeding us towards some 'omega point' that we cannot yet see clearly but sense ahead.

If you recognise any of the above then maybe you are amongst the many who are being called to 'till the ground' and work as forerunners of a new reality that is bringing enlightenment in human consciousness.

Blessings

Janice Dolley

info@wrekintrust.org

"Every thought we have and action we take

becomes part of the collective energy of the planet.

When we use our energy to bring light into the world,

it combines with the light brought by others

to dispel the darkness."

Pierre Pradervand

The Gentle Art of Blessing

The Evolutionary Shift

We are not spectators in whatever is currently happening but vitally significant participators and co-creators at inner and outer levels of the future that is unfolding. What this means will be the topic of a Transforum to be held by the Wrekin Trust on 25-27 March at Hawkwood College.

A Transforum is a shared space for transformational exchange and co-creation. Janice Dolley, Dr Jude Currivan (www.judecurrivan.com), Lisette Schuitemaker and Peter Merry from the Centre for Human Emergence in Holland, and Gill Edwards ('Living Magically' and 'Conscious Medicine') will be among those engaging us in experiential and participative ways.

Do make a note in your 2011 diaries. For further information, click here.

"Words don't just describe; they initiate.

Words give shape to everything . . .

If you are looking for a source of inner power,

you need look no further than your tongue -

and the mind that controls it."

David Spangler

News from the Regions

We are delighted that many ongoing groups run by associates are now meeting in different locations. Some of these are listed in the Forthcoming Events column, but if you would like to make contact with a local group then do contact us and we will be glad to put you in touch with the "connector" for your area.

Some groups are well advanced and meet regularly with a full programme of speakers and events. In other areas, groups are still in the early stages, trying different formats and discovering what works best for them. Some operate quite independently, others choose to use the Wrekin name and logo to show that they are part of a larger movement.

Last month 24 Local Connectors met for a day to share information about what they are doing in their groups, and develop ideas on how they can collaborate further to support each other. Claire Mcdonald has kindly offered to compile and circulate a list of presenters who are willing to travel to speak to local groups, and Naomi Duffield is willing to offer a listening ear to group leaders. Carol Lewis is willing to operate a "skills and resources exchange" whereby those needing assistance can be supported by others offering to share experience and areas of specialism.

This is a very practical way in which associates can support each other. More information will follow later, but meanwhile if you would like to find out more about these ideas, please contact:

Claire Mcdonald, 01886 884888, clairemcdonald62@msn.com

Naomi Duffield, 01508 570444, trust@mangreen.co.uk

Carol Lewis, 01305 773199, carolathome@homecall.co.uk

"Small acts,

when multiplied by millions of people,

can transform the world."

Howard Zinn

Special Interest Groups

Many Wrekin Forum associates are also members of professional organisations and groups, and it is good to receive news of the establishment of special interest groups with a focus on spirituality which are developing in some of these areas.

Roger Orgill tells us that there is now a Special Interest Group in "Spirituality and Outdoor Learning" within the Institute of Outdoor Learning (www.outdoor-learning.org). Roger has also been invited to give a workshop on this theme at the Annual Conference of the National Association of Field Study Officers at Girton College, Cambridge in January, and a similar workshop in Derbyshire in March at the annual Lindley Educational Trust Festival of Outdoor Learning and Development.

Keith Beasley of Bangor University reports that there is a growing interest in setting up a Special Interest Group on Spirituality and Teaching within Higher Education in the UK, and invites anyone interested to contact Jonathan Smith, Jonathan.Smith@anglia.ac.uk.

Do pass on this information to anyone you know who might be interested.

"Man is far too clever to be able to survive without wisdom."

E F Schumacher

Book Review Corner

A NEW RENAISSANCE:

Transforming Science, Spirit and Society

ed David Lorimer and Oliver Robinson

Floris Books, October 2010

This is a compilation of essays which were born out of a vision by the Scientific and Medical Network to address the ecological, political, and spiritual crisis in which we find ourselves. It includes contributions from Ervin Laszlo, Elisabet Sahtouris, Richard Tarnas, Iain McGilchrist, Rupert Sheldrake, Satish Kumar, Anne Baring, HRH the Prince of Wales, and many other leading thinkers.

The Florentine Renaissance some 600 years ago took a huge leap forward into realism, rationality and self-awareness, and was born out of the waning authority of medieval institutions and beliefs. A New Renaissance diagnoses an urgent need for change and renewal in our own time, in a period of crisis for philosophy, science and society. more . . .

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.

'A Universal Human is one who is connected through the heart to

the whole of life, attuned to the deepest intelligence of nature

and called forth irresistibly by Spirit to creatively express

his or her gifts in the evolution of self and the world.

Above all, a Universal Human has shifted identity

from the separated egoic self to the deeper self

that is a direct expression of service.

To become a Universal Human

is to evolve consciously,

choosing a path of development

that has never been mapped before

in a world that had never existed before.'

Barbara Marx Hubbard


*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. For further information, please click here or contact connect@wrekinforum.org.

The next issue of News&Views is due out in January

Whilst we regret that we are unable to undertake individual mailings on behalf of associates, we are more than happy to consider the inclusion of items of interest and details of forthcoming events in this newsletter.

Please note that these must be received by 1 January at the latest for inclusion in the next issue.

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Wrekin Trust

Courtyard Lodge, Mellow Farm, Hawcross Lane

Redmarley d'Abitot, Gloucestershire, GL19 3JQ

01452 840033

info@wrekintrust.org

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