Transition gardens

In former times communities knew how to celebrate and to create rituals that would mark the movement from one passage of life to another.  Passages of the soul, James Roose -Evans

Sample installations periodically released

The Transition Gardens project has been exploring the fashioning of physical natural and man made installations (using paths, trees, walls, gates etc) in freely accessible places such as church grounds, hospices, public grounds and twinning them with simple rituals that can help individuals transition well through common life and faith events. This involves working with tasks and experiences such as letting go, decision making, saying hello to new ventures and journeying with grief.

One testimonial

“Andrew brings a way of seeing the creative opportunity and potential in what may seem quite unremarkable church or civic grounds or empty space: an unnoticed piece of stonework, a clump of trees, a dog-weary patch of grass- are transformed after engaging in creative consultation with Andrew.

A meticulously drawn plan together with quotations, poetry fragments and use of natural materials can accompany such a design outline. I can commend Andrew for his listening and creative design process.”

- Rosamond Robertson, based on her experience in an Eco Congregation group when she invited Andrew to consider new ideas for St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral grounds, Edinburgh 2019.

So, if you wish to open a conversation upon any aspect of this, in general terms or around a specific piece of land, please contact Andrew Hook via email initially (coracletrust@gmail.com).

Transitions

There are surprisingly many transitions that we all experience and often, coming in various forms of loss, opportunity and threat.  The (super) natural elements of birth, life and death are repeated within a whole life cycle/frame  from childhood and adolescence through to young, mid and older life.  These are also reflected in the life mentoring journey of Jesus as he undergoes incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection. Such transitions may be explicit and epic.  They may also be very subtle. We may be slow to recognise, appreciate and relate healthily to any transition, when it enfolds us.

Human beings have used nature and ritual to buffer the effects of change and to support a life event, rather than denying or indulging it.  Angeles Arrien

Hospitable, therapeutic spaces

The project involves discovering collaborators who currently work in this field or are connecting with this pairing of nature/the outdoors and contemplative practices around cultivating spiritual and therapeutic spaces.   The project covers research, design and crafting of ‘reflective points’, physical objects that are freely accessible like playparks and exercise machines. These objects may be location specific, taking into account the profiles of terrain (in church grounds, hospices, public grounds) and the faith and local communities, and/or be of a more universal nature.  Such objects may be natural (such as a tree, path, stream), man made (gate, door, arch, wall, grave stone) or freshly  built. 

Transformation happens in the presence of images.  Richard Rohr