Thanks to Juanna Grace Ladaga for blessing my feed with this. I was trained by the then Interfaith Seminary by the deeply-rooted Fay Barratt and the ever tuneful Olivea Dewhurst Maddock in Manchester starting in 2006: a process which ended almost fifteen years of depression and the Black Dog’s not been back since.

Since ordination in 2008 I’ve done a wedding or two, buried a few and even facilitated equine assisted spiritual counselling. These days I am mainly a storyteller, educator and drinker of tea but the gifts of the Seminary are still with me and I feel a more ministry-led path is somewhere up ahead of me!

I’ve known darkness and doubt and I fully believe in the power of stories and artistic expression.

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It’s always different. But spending time in nature is my anchor each day. It grounds me, especially when I’m video editing. It helps me release all the electro-stress, be grateful and savour each magic moment. Today the rain has gone and the sun is rejuvenating me. This ancient yew is in the churchyard of St Bartholomew’s Church in Much Marcle, Herefordshire is one of 70 ancient trees across the country. I have a few sacred trees that help me centre. Their wisdom sustains me.

Today has been about being quiet, filled with self-care & contemplation. The dark moon helped me release things no longer needed, clearing & preparing for today’s new moon in Aquarius. So I’ve rested, had a salt bath, done a ritual of intention setting and manifested for the highest good. With so many solar flares the past few days, and cosmic energies ramping up, no wonder I’m tired – are you feeling it?

Have you managed to carve out time to stop today?

“Breathing in I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment, I know this is the only moment.” – Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace

As someone who could probably be labelled an animist or a pantheist, I see the sacred, the Divine in all things.

As Yogi Bhajan says, “If you can’t see God in all, you can’t see God at all.”

As a result, I see lots of things as spiritual practice… walking in nature, writing poetry, baking a cake, filling the bird feeders, enjoying a delicious meal, and cuddling my partner. Anything done mindfully and as a way of connecting with that which gives life meaning, the mystery bigger than all of us is, to me, a spiritual practice. Mary Oliver beckons us to “Pay attention, be astonished, tell about it.” These words gave guided me for years in a life seeking to know the sacred in everyday life, to live in wonder. Things I do that may be considered more formal practices include meditation (I’m a trained mindfulness teacher) prayer (although my understanding of the word is very broad) spiritual reading and contemplation including poetry, and using various oracular methods of seeking wisdom such as The Tarot.

Do you do anything you consider a spiritual practice?

In a nutshell…

For many years I ran an outside catering business. A couple approached me to cater for their wedding, part of which was to take place in the groom’s grandmother’s rose garden; a very unusual happening back in the nineties). The choices the couple made and attention to detail were exceptionally thoughtful and truly beautiful. It was many years later that a dear OSIF minister friend invited me to an ordination ceremony in Oxford, there on the stage were Robert and Miranda Holden (the founders of OSIF) the penny dropped! They even recognised me in the crowd afterwards, it was a wonderful moment.

With such synchronicity afoot why would I not sign up for the OSIF training, as soon as it became possible?

This month is #monthofministry. Occasionally I’m asked how my ministry looks. It’s a question I ask myself frequently. As an Interfaith Minister, I don’t have a church or place of worship. I sit outside of that. I’ve slipped through funerals and end-of-life care to spiritual teaching and right back to ceramics. Working with clay brings me squarely and softly back to the heart of how I see life and my journey in it.

Clay is magical. Wild or manufactured, it’s an organic composite of every aspect of life, all squished in. It holds all the questions and all the answers. Working with it is a joy and a privilege. This past six months I’ve let it lead me to some deeper exploration of the themes I follow. After spending time in Orkney (returning to my home turf of the area around Stonehenge and Avebury) I let the anthropomorphic standing stones sink into my creativity. It’s been a journey.

Here’s just one of the investigations. Thanks for your curiosity, instagram folk. The answer is that my ministry sits in my clay journey and I’ll happily share that with anyone. It’s a journey of constant observation and questioning. I call it deep listening. And it moves forward through touch. Sometimes I question whether that’s self-indulgent. But honestly, it’s far, far from easy. Not a day goes by when I don’t kick myself for not having a proper job! At the end of the day, though, it’s what I’m here to do. And in these times the examination of beauty (perception, prejudice and breaking into newness) feels actually extremely important. I’ll give myself just a little slack.

This piece differs a lot from my usual work, but if my work was static it would be a product, not a process. So here it is, a part of my journey into the mysteries.