On Sunday, February 16th, John Philip Newell and Cami Twilling participated in a service of lament for the California Wildfires as part of their February in-person event schedule. The community experience, called A Journey Toward Hope - From Ashes to a New Relationship with Earth & One Another, was hosted by All Saints Church Pasadena.

Greetings to you from California, where we are about to begin our February Earth & Soul retreats and events. What a blessing it is to come together in community as we listen to John Philip’s teachings, to the wisdom Earth holds for us and to our own deep wisdom we carry within through spiritual practice. It is always beautiful to see people in small groups with their hand on their heart in the practice of sacred listening, holding space for one another to share what is stirring within. 

We are so very grateful for each of you in the worldwide community of Earth & Soul. Thank you for connecting through retreats, pilgrimages, online events, house gatherings, and all the beautiful ways you have been in relationship with us and one another. Together we continue to deepen and develop our threefold vision of study, spiritual practice, and compassionate action as we help enable the urgent work of healing and new beginnings in our lives and world.

Dear Friends of Earth & Soul, I’m excited to share with you news of my forthcoming publication, The Great Search: Turning to Earth and Soul in the Quest for Healing and Home (HarperOne, August 2024 in the US and Wild Goose, mid-August 2024 in the UK). The context of this new work is the widespread collapse of religion as we have known it. There is a vast diaspora of people living in religious exile from our inherited traditions of faith. What are the yearnings that are stirring in us at this moment in time, especially in relation to Earth and the human soul?

In January of this year the United Nations ordered the government of Myanmar to take measures to protect members of its Rohingya community from genocide. Thus far nothing has changed.