I am a part time hospice chaplain at Katharine House Hospice nr Banbury and part time writer, retreat leader and celebrant. Before I was ordained in 2000, I was already a mother and married and had been a psychiatric nurse for 10 years.
Since ordination, I worked 3 years full time in a rural parish, and then went on to chaplaincy, first in an arts centre and then in hospitals in Oxford. I also trained as a counsellor and worked in a GP practice for 2 years and spent 3 years teaching pastoral psychology at a theological college.
I am interested in the felt experience of the spiritual journey and love to witness folks finding and naming how their deep calls to deep. For me, the contemplative and earth traditions help me to trust that the seasons of the heart are held in the same rhythm as the seasons of the land, and that in fruitfulness and fallow, all is one.
My spiritual practice is the whole of life and feel most attentive when I am in silent prayer, listening to another, walking with the dog or beside the sea, writing, painting, enjoying other folk’s creativity especially music, poetry and handmade things, dancing 5 Rhythms. Since the Winter Solstice 2004, I have been part of a circle that celebrates the Celtic festivals. I have been part of a women’s group with silence and listening at its heart since 1991. I am also fortunate to have found a “generously orthodox” little church that chooses words carefully and does not define who’s in and who’s out.
