April 20, 2022
5:00pm - 6:30pm EDT
An online eco-contemplative workshop inviting lament and hope on the eve of International Earth Day
Facilitator: Judith Keller, Australia
‘Poets and artists can help restore a sense of rapport with nature in all its complexity and remarkable beauty, that can help provide the psychic and spiritual energies necessary for the work ahead.’ (Thomas Berry)
The biodiverse worlds of stars, seeds, birds and humans interweave in the music, poetry and ritual in this online session. The session is immersive, eco-contemplative and reflective in style. We will open with music from the Australian CD, ‘Australian Birdcalls: Songs of Disappearance’ and then move into a sacred listening process, lectio divina, around the poem, ‘Shadow Line’ by the Australian poet, Stephan Edgar. We will then enter a meditation space drawing on a Tibetan Buddhist compassion practice which invites us to open to the sufferings of the world and to let them move through our hearts, and out again. After a brief break between sessions, we will re-gather around the poem by the Native American poet, Linda Hogan, ‘Ceremony for the Seeds’, and move into ritual expressions of love and hope for birds, ourselves, and Earth. The workshop will close with the music of the Indigenous Australian composer, Nardi Simpson titled, ‘Of stars and birds’. There will be at least one breakout group for participants to introduce themselves.
Register with Judith Keller before or in the week before the workshop by contacting her on kellsull@ozemail.com.au. The zoom connection details will then be sent to you with additional materials and requirements in preparation for the workshop. Please bring your journal and pens as there will be time to write, draw or journal. There is no cost.