These gatherings are the simplest way to work with me and you can subscribe at any time.
The alchemical gatherings are of two sorts —
Seasonal workshops
these are online live workshops (recorded) to gather and write in community around the four Celtic lunar festivals (Samhain, Imbolc, Beltaine and Lughnasadh). In these 2-hour sessions we use a range of prompts to inspire our writing. We’ve taken themes such as ‘gather listen tender’, ‘gather story mend’, ‘gather remember hallow’ … and this year we are looking at four metaphors for our writing and wider life in a series: ‘life is a river’ and ‘a life in fragments’, ‘life as a forest’ and ‘a life of loving what death can touch’.
There’s a sample of one of the workshops here: gather cherish held
Calmly by Candlelight
This is a monthly writing space with inspiration and time to write together around the time of the dark moon. The inspiration for the name of these sessions came from Virginia Woolf:
She will write in a rage where she should write calmly.
Our world has so much with which to enrage us. Righteous anger is more than understandable, but we are often left drained and overwhelmed instead of resourced and clear-eyed. These sessions are respite and restoration. They are not turning away from the dark or indulgence, but the resilience of nurturing our creative, connected hearts.
We begin with a poem prompt and then write in silence for around 50 minutes (it’s always surprising how much we do simply knowing we are writing together from across the globe). We reconvene for a closing poem and take away a prompt from this and from a herbal oracle card to carry us to the next full moon.
There’s a sample session here, but really you have to be there.
When the world is dark, we can move through time by taking care of what we attend to. In savage times, we can choose a tone of fierce tenderness. We can move through the world to the rhythms of compassion. We can offer one another solace. When the world is dark we can gather, listen to each other and to our bodies, write calmly be candlelight. You are welcome to join me.
Keeping the Omen Days
Additionally, this subscription includes a self-led course with a final online gathering that covers the days from December 26 to January 6. The are traditionally intercalary days. Days that don’t fit a lunar calendar in a solar-calendar world and so become liminal — days out of time. They are an opportunity to do some wintering, to rest and reflect.
Each days corresponds to a month of the coming year. 26th December for the coming January, 27th December for February and so on… Each day we walk and observe the world, attending to what is in front of us, to the moment, to the bodies we inhabit. The Omen Days provide a space to reflect and also to look forward. A space to think and to write. It might only be 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there, to catch our breath, but it helps us become a different story.
As we each keep the omen days we know there are others also keeping this ancient tradition, transforming us from atomised individuals into community. And at the end of the course, those who would like to will gather online. A circle to close these gift days with our reflections, to share something of the journey and do some writing together.
Join me in Alchemical Gatherings
These gatherings are a way of working with me with minimal commitment and maximum accessibility. Four 2-hour workshops, 12 Calmly by Candlelight gatherings and the 12-day Omen Days course with a final gathering — for just £25/€28/$30 for the year.
This offering began as my paid subscriber benefits on Substack, but as I move my work to a quieter, calmer space I’ll be hosting them via Mighty Networks which will also give you a safe forum space to share work and for other related discussions, as well as links to the zoom events and an events diary.
(Please note: the Mighty Network forum has the name of my herbal work: triskelewell, but also hosts groups for Ktih and Alchemical Gatherings)
(If you have a current subscription to these gatherings via Substack this will be honoured.)