March was a full month in the seasons of the spirit this year, with Wild Church celebrating Mothers Day on the first Sunday and journeying through Holy Week to the Easter as March drew to a close.
I still vividly remember our Wild Mothers Day, as we wandered through the still sleeping oaks and the first wild daffodils to arrive at Hembury Hillfort near Buckfast on this cool, early Spring morning. It was something of a shock to find that the old oaks around the raised earth centre of the site had been felled, though it did emphasise the incredible views that open up in all directions. I wish I could look back in time to see what this special place may have been like in its prehistoric days. Reading Bristol University’s historian Ronald Hutton (author of Pagan Britain), I understand that Iron Age hill forts are no longer considered only as military sites but some, such as Maiden Castle, have been found to contain sacred spaces also. So perhaps prehistoric pilgrims had been here before us?
Our diverse pilgrim band came together in song and then set off on our silent walk through Hembury woods. As we reached the bottom of the hill, we paused by the Holy Brook, which flows along the lands around Buckfast Abbey until it joins the River Dart. There’s a little hump backed stone bridge where the road crosses the water – perfect for a game of ‘pooh sticks’ and for a scramble down to the stoney shore for giving and receiving blessings from this lively stream.
Our second pause came where a leat flows from the brook to the old monastic mill at Buckfast, with a well placed bench under an old oak, before taking a longer break at Buckfast Abbey itself. I love visiting the Abbey with the scent of incense within its golden stone walls… and all the rich colours of stain glass, paintings and flickering candles. I don’t worry about belief… I just appreciate it being open, warm and full of a sense of the sacred… however you understand that sense of peace and depth.
From the Benedictine monastery at Buckfast we quietly climbed up the long hill to the beautiful ruins of the Anglican Church of Holy Trinity. There is something in the contrast of these two sacred spaces that feeds different aspects of my being – the former rich with decoration and ceremony and the latter pared back to its spiritual bones with arches that open to the sky and windows filled, not with the patterns of stained glass, but the living tracery of trees. I still remember watching ‘A Midsummer’s Night Dream’ here under a full moon, with a faery bed for Titania and Oberon spread over where the High Altar once stood.
So we kindle the fire wok and create an altar of our own from winter’s lichened twigs and spring’s bright flowers. We give thanks for the fruits of the earth and silently pass around our communion cup, being priests to one another as we take turns to give and receive. And after a final song, there’s time for each who wishes to share their own experiences of walking together in nature and on the theme of motherhood.
Sometimes in traditional Church services we overlook that motherhood can be a painful territory. That some seek it and are left longing, while for others it can be a burden or touched by suffering and loss. We also sometimes overlook all the different forms that mothering can take. I found the song by one of my favourite singers, Cara Dillon, was sometimes playing in my head as I walked – ” O where are our dear Mothers?” Not all are called to mother their own blood children with so many lonely children needing love, and some of us are mothering other creative expressions, which are just as needed and just as much a gift to the world. Also, that nurturing and mothering and creating is not constrained to any particular gender or indeed species – perhaps our most beloved mother needs must be Mother Earth herself. So for our Church of all beings, this was a celebration of Wild Mothers – of all the forms that mothering can take in its dark and bright beauties. A blessing be upon all you Wild Mothers today and everyday!
Words by Sam, with thanks to Rob & Beth for photos.