Anchorholding: The Three Entrances Reimagined in my Context, Part Three
Photo, Candice Bist
So you can see how this works in a specific modern context, here are the elements of the three entrance ways of my anchorhold. They change, of course, from day to day, and by the time this book is published may well be dated/shifted/changed. But this will give you an idea of what I am speaking about in specifics. And you need to work in specifics to build your own anchorhold. You can easily make up your own list, but this might help you understand what that list looks like. What I think you will discover, as I have, is the enormous body of people and entities that have enabled you to be sitting here this very moment. It is a humbling exercise to list all those who have helped you in the past and continue to guide and support you.
Entrance One: The spiritual, educational and community support upon which I have relied in the past and continue to rely upon daily.
· Schools where I have studied and whose libraries and resources continue to be available to me: University of Toronto, Victoria College, Knox College, Regis College, Toronto School of Theology, Toronto, Canada; University of Grenoble, Grenoble, France; University of Oxford, Christ Church College, Oxford, England; Claremont School of Theology, California, USA.
· The many professors who taught me, in particular my three doctoral professors/supervisors: Dr. Andrew Dreitcer, Rev. Dr. Karen Dalton, Dr. Frank Rogers; and my ThM Supervisors Katherine McAlpine and Dr. Maureen McDonnell
· Dufferin Hospice training and practice
· The churches where I have served as sole spiritual leader: Dunedin Presbyterian Church, Dunedin; Fallingbrook Presbyterian Church, Toronto; Primrose United Church, Primrose; Trinity United Church, Shelburne; and the many ecclesial settings in which I have taught and led services in Canada
· Rev. Roger Hunger and his ministry, Boarding Home Ministries, who was, and still is, my spiritual mentor and friend.
· The many retreat centres where I have gone, and continue to go, to rest in silence and meditation, particularly Loyola House, Guelph, Ontario, Loretto MaryHolm, Keswick, Ontario, Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, USA
· Spiritual Director’s International, the conferences I have intended in person, the ongoing conferences, and webinars I attend online, their considerable digital resource centre
· Personal Spiritual Directors, past and present from the last thirty years
· The endless body of literature that has formed my thinking and continues to do so. Writers and thinkers of note: Abraham Heschel, Dorothee Sölle, Simone Veil, Jürgen Moltmann, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, John O’Donohue, Beatrice Brudeau – the list is really endless
· Current scholarship/writing on kinship – Charles Eisenstein, Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Sophie Strand, Andreas Weber, Minna Salami, Bronte Valez, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and so many others– such rich work, and to note also, Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations, Humans and Nature Press Books, Edited by Gavin Van Horn, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and John Hausdoerffer.
· Advaya, curated interactive courses and learning journeys, especially their Kinship courses, and rich resource material
· Audible, monthly selections for listening to a wide selection of works including all those of Yuval Noah Harari (21 Lessons for the 21st Century), James Bridle (Ways of Being), everything John O’Donohue wrote
· Internet sources that come in the form of daily/weekly notes including, Today’s Gift, Hazelden Betty Ford, SALT semi regular blog, Wednesdays with The Marginalian
· Substacks that arrive regularly with which I interact: Beauty in the Mire, Madelaine Ley, Poetry Unbound with Pádraig Ó Tuama, Johnathan Rowson, Charles Eisenstein, and for a nuanced, intelligent interpretation of American/International politics I trust the The Chris Hedges Report.
· Mailings that arrive regularly from favoured sources
a. Poetry Unbound from the On Being Project
b. The Pause, On Being with Krista Tippet
c. Waging Non-Violence, people powered news and Analysis.
e. Broadview Magazine, United Church of Canada
g. The Walrus, Canada’s Conversation
h. Presence, International Journal of Spiritual Companionship
i. SALT, dedicated to the craft of visual storytelling
· Wide variety of podcasts, but favourites would be: Green Dreamer, For the Wild, Team Human, Sounds True, All that We Are/The Future is Beautiful, Strange New World.
· Poet David Whyte, Many Rivers, with his ‘Three Sundays’ offering and various other wonderful online teachings, books of poetry
· Dr. Bayo Akomolafe and his ‘We Will Dance with Mountains’ experimental extravaganza in which I participate. (Extraordinary thinker and initiator)
· The Garrison Institute (Garrison, New York) with Jonathan Rose, Dr. Angel Acosta and the exceptional programing they offer online and in person at their very modern monastery.
· The Omega Institute for Wholistic Living, Rhinehart, New York, also with their online and in person events many of which I have attended.
· Fresh Start, Kingsway-Lambton United Church, a Sunday morning zoom gathering, church online
· The Internet and Google Search Engine - endless digital support throughout the world but special appreciation for the digital offerings from various Art Galleries and Wikipedia.
· The School of Life, aps, books, weekly notes, thoughts, videos
· Thesaurus, a wide variety of dictionaries, physical and digital
· Editor in my Microsoft program
· And, and, and. . . .
Second Entrance: These are the supports in my temporal life, allowing for the physical care of my anchorhold and surrounding area, and my personal needs.
· The known and unknown benefactors throughout my life who have sustained me in endless ways, with gifts of money, food, time, care, attention.
· The current caregivers among my family and friends who continue to shower me with physical gifts and to visit with offerings of companionship and conversation.
· The technology with which I work – computers, cell phones, headsets, screens, sound systems – my technological buddies
· The local farmers, farmer’s markets, and grocery stores providing sustenance for purchase
· The trees, propane, hydro lines.
· The giant walnut trees that surround my anchorhold with beauty and shade.
· The endless intelligences who live in and around my home.
· FiddleFoot Farm, the biodynamic farm around the corner where we purchase most of our produce, backing up our own garden with wonderful treats
· Nadia who comes on Thursdays to care for the house physically, but also brings her sweet presence to freshen the air.
· My husband, who along with providing companionship, mows the lawn, builds the compost, looks after the bees, does the heavy work in the garden, cooks, does laundry, makes music, is endlessly supportive.
· My children, and grandchildren, who visit digitally with their sparkling conversation, come to visit several times during the year physically. They are walking companions, spiritual and intellectual companions who send articles, books, podcasts, YouTube videos to help with my writing
· The endlessly bountiful garden, orchard, berry, current and asparagus beds, the elderberry and sour cherry bushes from the hedgerow, the small planting of oats, the larger planting of clover – all providing food, exercise, beauty
· The bees who provide honey, the maple trees who provide maple syrup
· The mechanics who keep the car, the tractor and lawn mower running
· Sabina and Brenda who help with the bees
· The walkers of the trails that surround my house to keep them well-trod
· The township that gravels the road, Angela who delivers the mail, the men who pick. up the garbage and recycling weekly
· Cathy who comes to help in the garden, Dan who prunes the orchard, Dave who stacks the wood for heat in the winter and helps Bruce with the heavy work
· Sheldon Dairies who milk the cows and sell it to me for making cheese.
· Whiffle Tree Nurseries, Northland Nurseries, Conan’s Nurseries, and Glen Echo nurseries provide the plantings that we may eat from them.
· The Scottish family who built my stone house in 1862 and all the inhabitants of it until my husband and I came to live here.
· Environmental Pest Control who come once a year to speak firmly with the cluster flies and mice.
· Roger who comes once a year to clean out the chimney of the wood stove
· Sparlings Propane who delivers the propane for winter heat.
· There are doubtless many, many more people, companies, intelligences, entities who care for what seem my simple needs, but which on examination, are part of an extensive web.
Third Entrance: These are the places I offer my thought into the world. This is a current work in process, but you can see the possibilities and directions that may be considered.
1. Physically, in my home and on the land surrounding my anchorhold.
a. Elder's lunches in my home, lunches organized monthly for those who are often disregarded and require help to come out of their homes for company.
b. Individual visitors who come for tea and consultation
c. Spiritual directees who visit monthly
d. Family and community gatherings, around a meal or celebration of some kind
e. Hosting of picnics, swimming lessons, games and gatherings for groups that need a space to gather
f. Individuals seeking help with addiction
g. Couples wishing to marry and seek council
h. Leading of day long silent/teaching retreats for leaders in various fields
i. Hosting quiet days for painters and artists to explore art as spiritual practice
j. Hosting learning circles, book studies, thought groups
2. Physically, in the community
a. Leading Sunday worship in local churches
b. Leading covenantal services of marriage
c. Speaking, teaching on request
d. Leading funerals, celebrations of life, helping those walking through the palliative process, spending time in hospice homes
3. Recordings:
a. Writing and recording music, original songs in our recording studio
b. Writing, recording Sunday service podcasts throughout the pandemic
c. Currently recording poems and the background to their writing
4. Digital Presence:
a. website in construction: https://www.anchorholding.ca
b. https://www.shelburneprimrose.com/sunday-morning-podcast-with-shelburne-primrose-united-churches/ 42 episodes of Sunday Service, podcast
5. Literary:
a. Two books of poetry completed
b. One book of collected essays completed
c. Two musical collections completed
d. In progress, joint book being written with my daughter Madelaine Ley