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Greetings!
Pumpkins and mums are everywhere! Reds, oranges, golds, and browns adorn every tree and each fallen leaf. The sweet burnt sugar scent of decaying katsura leaves, scurrying squirrels bearing heavy burdens for their cache, and the savory aroma of squash in the oven are reminders that fall has truly and fully arrived.
The harvest that we associate with autumn here in the Northern Hemisphere is not merely an external one. We can also take advantage of the lengthening darkness to spend time seeing what has ripened to maturity within us. After the wonder of experiencing a bi-coastal start to fall including a nor'easter in Massachusetts and a 100 F. Santa Ana Winds heatwave in California, what's strongly calling me is the need to cozy up at home, cull material belongings, organize my home space, support my community, and prepare for a season of reflecting, creating, writing, and reading.
It is also gratitude season (as if every day is not a great enough opportunity to count our blessings)! I invite you to consider how you can offer some of the behaviors of grateful living - generosity, kindness, compassion - to the world out of the trove of inner riches you're harvesting.
Join us this month and next for:
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Nov. 2nd (Mon.) Compassionate Spiritual Ecology: A Virtual Gathering via Zoom Free (Register to get access) 8:00 – 9:30 AM Pacific / 10:00 - 11:30 AM Central
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Nov. 21st (Sat.) BARN Holiday Bazaar 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM Pacific 8890 Three Tree Lane NE, Bainbridge Island
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Dec. 7th (Mon.) Compassionate Spiritual Ecology: A Virtual Gathering via Zoom Free (register to get access) 8:00 – 9:30 AM Pacific / 10:00 - 11:30 AM Central
I trust that this autumn is offering you comfort, beauty, and the call to deepen into your own inner gifts. May you and yours experience and express gratefulness as you deepen into the season.
Blessings,
Jennifer Wilhoit
Founder, TEALarbor stories
Important Dates
Learn more about all of these here.
Registration for most paid events closes one week prior to start date.
TEALarbor stories' new Spiritual Ecology Training is available with rolling admissions and one-on-one mentorship. Join us now!
Nov. 2nd (Mon.) Compassionate Spiritual Ecology: A Virtual Gathering via Zoom Free (register to get access)
8:00 – 9:30 AM Pacific / 10:00 - 11:30 AM Central
Hosted by Jennifer Wilhoit (TEALarbor stories Spiritual Ecology Training Founder/Mentor) and Brooke Gilley (Naturalist, Spiritual Ecology Training Graduate, Forest Bathing Guide)
Come gather with us for ninety nourishing minutes every first Monday of the month for an exploration of Compassionate Spiritual Ecology. Together we will engage the many ways of embodying Spiritual Ecology values, practices, and rituals to enhance our everyday connections with the sacred in the Earthy wild within and outside of us. Please bring a journal, pens, and a sacred-to-you item to each gathering.
Nov. 21st (Sat.) BARN (Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network) Holiday Bazaar
10:00 AM – 3:00 PM Pacific 8890 Three Tree Lane NE, Bainbridge Island
Come enjoy the beautiful handmade items from all the vendors at this biannual event. I'll be at my table with books and handmade art cards, and a lovely nature altar. Check out my new designs and package deals.
Dec. 7th (Mon.) Compassionate Spiritual Ecology: A Virtual Gathering via Zoom Free (register to get access)
8:00 – 9:30 AM Pacific / 10:00 - 11:30 AM Central
Hosted by Jennifer Wilhoit (TEALarbor stories Spiritual Ecology Training Founder/Mentor) and Brooke Gilley (Naturalist, Spiritual Ecology Training Graduate, Forest Bathing Guide)
Come gather with us for ninety nourishing minutes every first Monday of the month for an exploration of Compassionate Spiritual Ecology. Together we will engage the many ways of embodying Spiritual Ecology values, practices, and rituals to enhance our everyday connections with the sacred in the Earthy wild within and outside of us. Please bring a journal, pens, and a sacred-to-you item to each gathering.
Note: There will be no CSE Gathering in January 2027. We'll see you in February.
News
Read more about all of these here (or click the teal fonts below).
On Sep. 10th I taught The Heart and Soul of Memoir Writing again this year via Zoom in collaboration with Chuckanut Writers/Village Books and Whatcom Community College. This class focused on the emotional, psychological, and spiritual aspects of memoir writing. Intended to be a very practical, hands-on guide to the process of memoir writing, students had the opportunity to engage creative and nature-based ways to handle the inevitable inner landscape difficulties that arise as we delve into writing our stories. Last year's students said they wished the class was longer (than two hours), so this year we convened for three hours. Our class was as full and potent as last time. What an incredible classroom of students, eager to write their stories in ways meaningful for themselves and the world. I am heartened and inspired by the courage and beauty of each of these participants!
Our September Compassionate Spiritual Ecology Gathering was meaningful. Read more here.
Our August Wild Church gathering at Suquamish United Church of Christ was another deep experience. We had hearty participants who enjoyed this nonsectarian opportunity to have quiet time on the landscape while being held in a sacred grove of red cedars. The next quarterly Wild Church convening will be on the morning of October 31st.
We had a very deeply engaged group of participants at our Jun. 8th event, Understanding Our Place in the Web of Life: Nourishing Hope Among Us. Hosted by the Bainbridge Island North Kitsap Interfaith Climate Circle's Web of Life planning group, we began by giving overviews of our past four events focusing on Earth, Air, Fire, Water. We launched into the meaning of "web of life" and then proceeded through Joanna Macy's spiral of hopeful action (gratitude, pain, renewed vision, going forward) through a series of meditations, songs and chants, story-share, reflective writing time, and large-group discussion. In sum, we explored our niche in the web of life toward restoring our climate-challenged world.
This year's Annual Spiritual Ecology Retreat happened during the first half of May and was deep, restorative, rich, and beautiful. Participants deepened relations with more-than-human neighbors, nurtured a greater sense of wellbeing and wholeness, and were nourished through creative and nature-based activities. We enjoyed various natural locations on verdant Bainbridge Island including forests, conservation areas, and saltwater beaches to enhance our ability to flow into greater ease and clarity about the next steps on life’s journey.
The BARN (Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network) Spring Bazaar on May 2nd was, as always, a wonderful event in which to participate. I offered new art cards for sale; these designs come from this year's 50-Day Project during which I crafted one hundred small fabric/paper/thread pieces based on a meditation prior to making each one. I also sold my books and landscape paper collage cards. It's such a beautiful way to connect with the community of shoppers as well as the community of artisans.
The Spiritual Ecology Training has rolling admissions and one-on-one mentorship. You can enroll anytime. Join us now!
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TEALarbor stories' newsletters offer inspiration, encouragement, beauty; inform about the connection between story, the natural world, and all things writerly; and promote professional writing, guiding, and peacemaking services.
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