The Song of the Seasons

These three talks, given during a retreat at the Whidbey Institute in May 2025 explore how the Earth’s seasons are an essential gateway to deepening a relationship with the living world and the cycles that exist within creation. The first talk focuses on how our attention to the constant variation of the ways the seasons’ cycles manifest in place unfurls like a spiral, and draws us into a space of kinship with the Earth. The second talk speaks to the role of the story of creation, renewal, growth, decay and death that underpins all of existence. The final talk addresses the importance of humility and offering as a foundational frame for our relationship to the cycles of the seasons, and how we can recognize their beauty amidst the ways they are undergoing change and loss.