This year has been a powerful reminder of the tenuous grip we have on this precious life. Despite distance and separation, COVID reminds us of the inescapable and intrinsic interconnectedness we all share through the very air we breathe. As we look towards the future, we see fire seasons in Alberta, the devastating warnings of the IPCC report, the rise of fascism and scarcity politics, the insincerity of reconciliation from the settler state, and global unrest and uprising as people fight and flee imperial and capitalist domination.
As the weather cools and the forest surrenders, decomposing what was and becoming what is yet to be, we feel the call to come undone ourselves, and in that undoing remember that everything is always becoming everything else. Of course we feel each other’s pain.
Join us as we gather to mark Autumn Equinox and reflect on change, loss, and longing. The shifting season gives us pause to look back at the last year, honouring endings and holding space for the parts of ourselves and the world that are waiting to be transformed.
Come exactly as you are, bringing with you whatever losses you are mourning, even if you’re not yet sure what they are. The evening will include time for inclusive shared ritual, personal reflective writing, and small group discussion. All are welcome.
Facilitators:
Gabrielle Gelderman is a third-generation settler born and raised on Treaty 6 territory in amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton, Alberta). She's a community chaplain and a graduate student at St. Stephen’s College studying theology, climate grief, and spiritual care.
Jodi Lammiman (she/her) is an eco-spiritual director, community educator and an artist who lives on Treaty 7 territory in Mohkinstsis (Calgary, Alberta). As a co-founder of Refugia Retreats, she facilitates dialogue exploring alternatives to traditionally accepted narratives of wellness culture, productivity culture, and capitalism. These counter-narratives are informed by the natural world and its rhythms of rest, germination, and balance.
Steph Olsen (she/her) is a lover of the world and a student of the wild, gratefully living in and learning from amiskwaciwâskahikan, Treaty 6 territory. She is devoted to the path of re-enchantment, and remembering the magic, wonder, and responsibility that we share as members of this beautiful living biosphere. Through facilitation, she hopes to support spaces where spirituality, belonging, and ecological justice meet and transform one another.
Register here.