The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief

Product Information

One of my most memorable teachings about slowing down came from my mentor, Clarke Berry, a Jungian analyst with whom I apprenticed, following licensure. Rashani and Francis are skilled toolmakers who masterfully guide us through the raw vulnerability of grief to a place of reverence for the journey, offering a balm to the nomads of this harsh terrain.

The Wild Edge Of Sorrow: A Book Review By Carolyn Baker The Wild Edge Of Sorrow: A Book Review By Carolyn Baker

When I push it a little further and ask them how it would feel if a friend came to them with his or her sorrows and pain, they respond that they would feel honored to sit with their friend and offer support. Today, at fifty-nine, he uses what he learned whenever he sits down with a client in his psychotherapy practice or facilitates one of the grief retreats he organizes. Becoming skillful at digesting our grief makes us a source of reassurance and stability for the wider community. Ritual is the pitch through which the personal and collective voices of our longing and creativity are extended to the unseen dimensions of life, beyond our conscious minds and into the realms of nature and spirit.From my perspective, the answer is quite simple: Unacknowledged and unexpressed grief is the most oppressive and agonizing burden that humans are carrying at this moment in history. In summary, Jenkinson asserted that this time of “catastrophe” compels us to descend—to go downward rather than soaring; to focus inwardly as much as we pay attention to the external world—and, to do this together in connection and community. A client apologized to me the other day for “going backward” in his work with me, as if forward were the only acceptable direction. When the deeper rhythms of grief are allowed to emerge, we becomeaware of the intimate connection we share with all things. Imagine the feeling of relief that would flood our whole being if we knew that when we were in the grip of sorrow or illness, our village would respond to our need.

The Wild Edge of Sorrow by Francis Weller, Michael Lerner

The warmth of Francis’s voice and his beautiful language, will speak directly to your soul, in a way your soul has longed to feel embraced. The Threshold Between Loss and Revelation is not so much a book that one reads as it is a deep dive into the mystery. When feelings of shame arise, we pull back from the world, avoiding contact that could cause or risk exposure. To deny either truth is to live in some fantasy of the ideal or to be crushed by the weight of pain.There is often a feeling of shame attached to the survivors of suicide, a hidden doubt that they might not have done enough to prevent this death. For the most part, grief is not a problem to be solved, not a condition to be medicated, but a deep encounter with an essential experience of being human. That is one of the fundamental understanding about gifts: we can only offer them by being ourselves fully. This, of course, is just a start, but it has all flown by, hardly time for goodbyes, my feelings French pressed down as Life poured over into new pastures with very little pastoral help.

The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sac…

In fact, I had always been in control of myself emotionally, having shaped a life made up only of the known.

Learning to welcome, hold, and metabolize these sorrows is the work of a lifetime and the focus of this book. Poet Kahlil Gibran said, “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. The work of the mature person is to carry grief in one hand and gratitude in the other and be stretched large by them.

Home [www.francisweller.net]

We are asked to stand alongside these difficult and painful visitations, these epiphanies of lamentation.

The work has honed something clear and valuable in his own character, and a delightful wisdom shines through every page of Entering the Healing Ground. The icing on the cake is the way he draws on indigenous wisdom and soul-tenders like Pema Chodron and John O’Donohue.