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name change blog post

The Religion Beat blog has changed its name to Holly of the Woods!

March 11, 2021

About me

January 29, 2020

holly chetan-welsh portrait start here

New? Start here!

January 29, 2020

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hollyofthewoods_

The leaves are turning to gold, the arils are ripe

The leaves are turning to gold, the arils are ripening on the yew trees and another season of this land begins.

It feels like a new season of the soul for me, too, because in October I begin a 2-year training course in Interfaith Ministry with @bringittothealtar!

The training will invite me to deepen my spiritual practice and learn new ways to hold space for others in deepening theirs, whatever that may look like for them.

This feels like the next step in a journey I’ve been on since I asked my dad if he believed in God when I was like seven years old. The path of a seeker. The way of a pilgrim.

As I prepare for this new undertaking, I’ve also listened to an intuitive prompt to take a natural pause in my writings and my presence here on Insta. I don’t know what that pause will evolve into, but I’m trusting that it will become clear with time.

Which leads me to a question for you, sweet one: what prompt or prompts are whispering to you from within your inner Knowing? Listen carefully and bravely. Could these autumn days be offering you a new season of the heart, too?

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#newseason #newseasons #autumn #autumnequinox #mabon #spiritualjourneys #pilgrimage #interfaith #yewberries #yewtree #seasonsoftheheart #seasonsofthesoul #souljourneys

Let’s crowdsource the rich life experiences here

Let’s crowdsource the rich life experiences here.

Please share in the comments:

🌟 What does ‘sacred’ mean to you?

And/or

🌟 Where do you experience it?

All answers are good answers. ❤️

____________

#sbnr #wildwoman #searcher #spiritualawakening #spirituality #sacred #sacredwoman #sacredspace #everythingisspiritual #woodlandwalks #womanofthewoods #hedgewitch #treespirit #treespirits #naturespirituality #spiritualitymatters #religiousfreedom #religionmemes #religiouslife #spiritualjourney #spiritualgrowth #spiritualbeings #nonduality #philosopher

Climate grief: a prayer. Sacred Earth, I don’t

Climate grief: a prayer.

Sacred Earth,
I don’t know how to turn towards you,
I struggle to breathe
Just as I know you do
Smothered as you are by our heavy footprints

Grief weighs in my belly
I’m afraid that
If I start weeping
I will never be able to stop

Yet I know
Grief untended
Is an abandoned child
It is love unmet
And this hurt
Must be healed in every heart
If we are to survive.

Today
Give me the strength to be still
And attend to the rough waters within
So I may honour the raging waters without
For we are water

Give me the space to breathe so fully
That I can feel the life-giving exchange
That I so often take for granted
For we are air
Give me the fortitude to ground myself every day
To recognise that our roots start far below our feet
For we are earth

Give me the courage to fan the flames of righteous anger
To nurture my role as protector
For we are fire

Give me the strength to feel all that is within
To allow the healing
From which action can flow
To create the love
From which justice can grow.

_________

#climatecrisis #climategrief #climateanxiety #climatechange #climateemergency #earthprayer #earthwarriors #earthwitch #environmentaljustice #earthspirit #earthlove #gaia #planetearth #planetorplastic #ourplanetourhome #thereisnoplanetb #theresnoplacelikehome #griefislove #healtheearth #healtheworld🌎 #intersectionalenvironmentalism #treesofinstagram #treesplease #treehugger #treehuggers #beechtree #beechtrees

Sunday evenings can feel like the moment on a roll

Sunday evenings can feel like the moment on a rollercoaster
After the climb
Just before the big drop
A moment of anticipatory fear.

But can you invite into your imagination
A way to see this evening differently?
To view it as a time outside of time?

For the week you have been living is over
The new week is yet to begin
You cannot change what has passed (you can only ruminate upon it)
You cannot truly start living what is to come (you can only carry the weight of anticipation)

Dear one, can you invite yourself to choose a third way?

Tomorrow will come
So there’s no need to cling to it
In this liminal space, you can lay it all down
And just be

This evening
Can you allow yourself to feel the weightlessness
The sense of freedom

That comes
Before the drop?

___________

Post uses a photo by Priscilla Du Preez on @unsplash.

___________

#sunday #sundayscaries #sundayrest #nosundayscaries #sundayscariesbegone #sundayeveningreminder #sundayevening #everydayisagift #sundaynight #everydayisanewday #sundayinspiration #sundayblues #sundayvibes #sundaythoughts #restdaysmatter #sundayeveningvibes #restisresistance #restisimportant #takeapause #sundaypause #pressthepausebutton #pause #slowsunday #slowweekend #slowweekends #slowlife #slowliving #slowdown

Seek sacred solitude, and you will be reminded of

Seek sacred solitude, and you will be reminded of your irrevocable place in the constellation of all things.

Not pictured: me losing my mind at a red kite flying right in front me. Didn’t realise how big those peeps are. Also not pictured, me listening to the lovely latest episode of @revkarla’s fab Spirituality Matters podcast - ‘God within us’. Feels like I’m listening to a kindred spirit from across the pond.

__________

#solitude #solitudeisbliss #solotraveler #solotravels #southdownsway #soulfulliving #sacredtime #walkinguk #walkinginnature #naturewitch #walkingtherapy #walkingmeditation #naturenerd #solitarywitch

🌾 A Lughnasadh blessing 🌾 When we stand on

🌾 A Lughnasadh blessing 🌾

When we stand on the spoke of the wheel of Lughnasadh,
We shade our eyes to look out across a field of hazy summer days
To the harvest festival of autumn
Like the outline of a tall tree on the distant hedge line

On this festival of the first flour
May you have beautifully enough
May your daily bread satisfy you and delight you
May your plate, and your life, be rich in flavour

May you take into yourself all the days
The grain has grown in sun-soaked and rain-washed fields
To nurture you and sustain you today

May you call to mind
The complex dance of interdependence
Which connects you to the seed which was planted beneath the earth
May you offer gratitude that you don’t have to do all this alone

In honour of the stalks of wheat whose time has come
May you find opportunities to bend in the breeze
May you rustle
May you sigh
May you soak up the goodness of the sun
And find you want for nothing.

May the season of summer be within you
And may you feel beneath the pulse of daily life
The deeper rhythm which sighs,
‘All is well, all is well, all is well.’

_______

To read more about the festivals of Lughnasadh and Lammas, click the link on my Linktree to this week’s newsletter. (Spoiler: it involves bread! 🍞)

________________

#lughnasadh #lunasa #lughnasadhaltar #lammas #moderndaymystic #lammastide #lughnasadhblessings #harvest #harvesttide #earthrhythms #natureworship #naturespirituality #celticspirituality #wheatharvest #illovebread #breadismyspiritanimal #summerblessings #sunworship #sunshineheals #abundanceblessing #alliswell #slowdown #lazydays #belazy #restisimportant

A reconnecting ritual. Anyone else find themselves

A reconnecting ritual. Anyone else find themselves feeling disconnected these days? Then join me in this brief meditation ritual for reconnecting inspired by the Buddhist practice of lovingkindness meditations.

⁣
#meditation #interfaith #mindfulnessmeditation #lovingkindnessmeditation #mettabhavana #lovingkindness #simplespirituality #presence #spiritualityforeveryone #simplerituals #heartmedicine #mindfulness #bekindtoyourself #selfcare #sacred #soulful #soulfulrituals #gentlewisdom #selflove #spiritualbitch #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealth #groundingpractices #wellnessisforeveryone #anxiety #anxietytips #buddhistmeditation

A blessing for my body (and for yours too - especi

A blessing for my body (and for yours too - especially if, like me, you’re on a journey of self-acceptance and body love)

💚 Quick reminder - the body positivity, body neutrality and fat activism movements were started by fat black people, mostly women, and should still be ultimately about removing the barriers that people in bigger bodies face in education, healthcare, careers and beyond. Those of us in small, abled and white bodies must allow this to inform our own journeys of self-acceptance. 💚

Post text:

Dearest body, most sacred skin

I know you’ve longed for this day
And I have denied you so many times

But
It’s time

Time to lay down my weapons
Forget this foolish war
And make peace

I’ve extracted more than my pound of flesh
And now let’s say no more
Let’s come around the table and agree
There’s more unites us than divides us

And, honestly, I need you
More than you need me

I know you may need time
To forgive me
To forget the scars
And the slurs I have slung at you

I know I started this war
And I might err on the road of reconciliation
But when I do

I promise to come back
To the treaty table
Where in gratitude
And without strife
Without panic or counting the cost
We will toast one another
And we will feast on how beautiful it is
To be in love,
To be in life
Together. 💚
______________

#bodyimage #bodyimageissues #bodyneutrality #selflove #everybodyisasummerbody #fatphobia #loveyourbodynow #bodypositiveblogger #fuckdietculture #selflovetips #selfkindness #simpleselflove #myselflovejourney #softgirlsummer #dietculturesucks #fatphobiaisracist #bodypositivityforall #hydratedgirlsummer #wearthedamnshorts #embodiedspirituality #soulmeetsbody #yourbodyissacred #yourbodyisbeautiful #allbodiesaregoodbodies

(C) 2021 - Holly Chetan-Welsh. All Rights Reserved.

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