The Nemeton, rather than A Nemeton?

There are several blogposts on this website about moving to new places... though I rather suspect they have been appropriate-for-then places to live, rather than homes. In one way or another, I have made most of them into nemeta, though each has been A nemeton, rather than The nemeton I believe I’ve found this time.

beginning the outdoor space...

This time I’m back (I do seem to live in places twice!) on the edge of the Yorkshire Wolds in the pretty little village of Hotham, which - appropriately for creating The Nemeton - derives from the Old English word hōd, meaning ‘shelter’. And, I’m overjoyed to say, it’s an incredibly biodiverse little patch too: I already have a good walking-from-home bird ‘list’, and I’m finding wildflowers and insects I haven’t seen since I was a child.

This house move - this Nemeton - does have a very different feel for me than most of my moves over the last few years. Primarily because it’s a bungalow in a very quiet cul-de-sac, rather than a flat (how I detest flat living), and also because as well as having a much more rural-rather-than-urban feel, it has a private garden space. This I’m creating as a wildlife garden, with a pond, mostly native trees and plants, and with a sacred walking circle and meditation space.

a jackdaw investigates...

I’m offering there, as I did before (those of you who remember my beautiful Medicine Garden), my indoor and outdoor spaces as places for retreat and reflection. You can visit for an hour, or several, or a day, and do whatever it is you need to do, either on your own, or using me as a facilitator in whatever way you need. 

Of course, as some of you know and have experienced, I’ve been offering my personal indoor space as a counsellor/therapist/witness-bearer/space-holder (whatever you want me to be) for more years than I care to remember. I’ve worked in a therapeutic capacity outdoors too, but apart from the brief year of the Medicine Garden - my own spiritual journey taking me from there to the (original) Findhorn Foundation - I’ve not worked in quite this way before. And certainly not with my new awareness about the value of secular sacred space in general, and my experience from the Nemetona Project in particular.

As some of you also know, I’ve been technically retired for some time now, and don’t work for income. But I will always be doing The Work, and if you want to donate anything towards that - as in the Buddhist dana principle - then it would be very welcome and supports upkeep of the Nemeton, my ongoing development costs, and of course, tech. But it’s not a problem at all if you have no spare income, and want some time in the Nemeton yourself. Contact me by email to make a date.

In the post before this one, I mentioned a new website going live at Imbolg. That didn’t happen, partly because of an awful virus lasting almost 3 months at the beginning of this year, and partly because of my awareness about another move on the close horizon. However, now it is about to happen, and will be here. So watch this space. Or rather, watch that space - coming soon.