Seasons Of The Soul

Couples have come to Holy Island from Australia, Dubai, New Zealand/Aotearoa, England and Scotland for this week's retreat on Seasons of the Soul. To the song 'Turn, turn turn' with its words from Ecclesiastes 'There is a season for everything under the sun' we listed seasons we identified with such as famine and plenty, Spring and Autumn, desert and daring, recovering and pruning, dancing and destitution, barrenness and bloom, failure and enterprise, brokenness and discernment. adventure and exhaustion, birthing and dying.

We explored psalms that mirror so many human conditions, including lament and anger. Retreatants wrote their own psalms. They walked the pilgrim posts or the dunes and listened to the different bird songs. 'What is the song I am waiting to sing?' they asked themselves. One psalm writer wrote afterwards 'I could feel new green shoots inside me at long last'.

One old Voyager in our Community of Aidan and Hilda told how she had been in a season of release and blessing to others. She intuited that this would be her farewell visit to The Open Gate. We explored how the season of dying can be fruitful if we fully live each season that precedes it. And we read poems such as this by George Herbert: 'Death, thou wast once an uncouth. hideous thing... But since our Saviour's death did put some blood into thy face; Thou art grown fair and full of grace.' We anointed this dear lady. She said she felt deep contentment.