writingpresence

practising for a whole life

Welcome to writing presence, which is…

shyly spreading pollen

…  an occasional sharing of what I smile at, what I cry with, what touches me, and some of the rest.

And more recently a resource for writing our way whole: at home (© WoWWaH), my shared practice since long before 2020, when it started here online.

It’s a journey towards wholeness, pencil in hand like a torch in the shadows.

It’s a place of thresholds, doorways, portals, gaps in the hedge, gateways, and paragate (which means “gone beyond” in Sanskrit).

I am a biologist, poet, gardener, lover, mother, friend, life-writing companion, and soul-witness.

Journalling, poems, letters, essays, and songs have sheltered me from exposure to the too-bright sun, and now employ me (though not yet gainfully unless you like to donate here to support my ongoing training and therapy).

For years I moved north to Sutherland (58°N) in summer, like the swallows and the Arctic terns. With my then-partner Jim, in the Campervan. As one neighbour said fondly:  “You return like the cuckoo”.

During the Covid years my home was Dhruvaloka, ‘Place of the North Star’. in Brora. Then after a diagnosis and successful treatment (in Scotland) for breast cancer in 2022 I took the decision in 2023 to revert to the summer-winter migration to Cambridge, where I am at home with my dance practice and my sharing of Yellow Petal Touch.

I belong to The Way of the Buzzard tribe, with friends on the Earth Path. I’m an appreciative learner in the foothills of Buddhist tradition, contemplative Celtic Christianity, and Sufism, among others.

For the rest of my life, I aspire to rest down more deeply into easeful relationship with myself and others in play, song, poetry, dance, intuitive touch, and soul-witness.

Always invited onward to recognise The Bright Field. (A big thank you to Emily Ardagh for the article on R.S. Thomas’ glorious poem).

Yet oftimes finding myself beside my compost heap, appreciating the remaking of Good Brown Earth by the annelid earthworm recyclers. You can support my Trees for Life grove here

© Dr Kathy Labrum McVittie, 2015-2024 All rights reserved

Biologist, life-writing companion & poet,

sharing ©writing our way whole at home [© WoWWaH]

3 thoughts on “Welcome to writing presence, which is…

  1. Rereading this at peri-Imbolc 2024 I see how much is still true.

    Like the Swallows I have migrated south once more, to spend time with family and to resume in person some of the soul connections I forged in 2012-2019.

    And in my absence from Brora my ex-partner is attending to some of the pressing maintenance needs of Dhruvaloka, as his contribution to the current negotiations about our separation.

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    1. Thank you Sukhema for dropping in with wildflowers and word-weavery.

      I much appreciate your warmth in welcoming me to The Poet’s Way in Glasgow, online, way back in 2020, and the work you do in propagating writing-for-wellbeing, especially at end of life.

      You are welcome to advertise your projects here!

      Like

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