April News
Dear Friends of Earth & Soul,
Greetings to you from the Isle of Iona.
Iona is many things. It is an idyllic Scottish island with white sand beaches and turquoise waters. It is also wild and exposed to the elements. And to those who call this little island home, it is a place where community means everything, working and living in harmony with Earth and one another.
Having a chat with a lifelong islander about living on the island, he reflected, “What’s your thing? A million small things add up. When everyone does what they can do and shares what they have to offer, that is how we get on here.” When we feel the chaos of the world, let us ask ourselves, ‘What is my thing?’ and offer what we have to our communities. Nobel Prize-winning chemist Ilya Prigogine famously observed that when a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order. Does this not feel like Iona is showing us the way forward! Iona and countless other communities and groups are choosing to work together — showing up with what they each have to offer to be part of the shift.
The work of Earth & Soul is designed to nurture a vision of Earth and every human being as sacred and to enable the work of transformation and healing in our lives and world. As John Philip Newell writes and teaches, he invites us to be attentive and to be open to what has never happened before as we find our way forward together.
We invite you to join us in community for a time of teaching, spiritual practice, and asking how this translates into compassionate action in our lives and world. Upcoming opportunities include Celtic Wisdom 3 (online, April 25–26), several in-person events throughout May, and limited availability for the Thresholds of Hope Pilgrimage on Iona in September. The additional growing list of 2026 and 2027 retreats, pilgrimages and events is on our Events Page.
In the gift of this new day,
in the gift of the present moment,
in the gift of time and eternity intertwined,
let us be grateful,
let us be attentive,
let us be open to what has never happened before,
in the gift of this new day,
in the gift of the present moment,
in the gift of time and eternity intertwined.
-Sounds of the Eternal, John Philip Newell
Thank you for being part of the Earth & Soul community. We are grateful for each of you.
Peace,
Cami Twilling
Director, Earth & Soul