What does it mean to be spiritual practitioners at a time when things are dramatically shifting, rearranging, falling apart?

Each year for the Dharma Sessions we choose three books. One of these must connect spiritual practice to real crises or issues that we face collectively. This September-October we take as our text Hospicing Modernity by Vanessa Machado de Oliveira. I’ve been super keen to read this as I’ve heard whispers from various friends about how brilliant it is. The author writes: ‘This book offers a language and a pedagogical approach to clear the space for the possibility of seeing, sensing, relating, and imagining otherwise to emerge.’

Unfolding over 14 chapters, and not shying away from complex language in places, it will be a difficult read for all kinds of reasons – powerful themes are stirred up, bare truths about our society scrutinised, and deep inner and outer work called for. There is also a warmth and love woven throughout. We’ll break the text into eight parts and gather online each Sunday evening to meditate together and discuss the section from that week. On the ninth Sunday we’ll meet in the afternoon for a three hour ‘mini-retreat,’ where I’ll guide us through some of the exercises from the book, alongside our sitting practice, so we can approach the material in a different, more-contemplative way.

If you’d like to join us for this, let us know as soon as possible (drop me an email now), and also order your copy of the book from wherever you usually get your books! Our first session is less than two weeks away – September 6th. We have a suggested donation of between £20 - £50 for the course which makes a big difference to us – but you’re also warmly invited to come along without making a donation if that makes it possible to attend right now.

Yesterday our main event of the year came to a close, the annual Black Mountain Meditation Retreat. I couldn’t be there this year (if you read the last newsletter you know why). All week I’ve been listening to the wind (whatsapp) to catch tiny snippets of how it’s going, seeing a photo or two, and my friend Eric even shared with me a lovely film of waking up early in the meditation yurt and getting it ready for the day’s practice. I’m super keen to hear more and I’m sure Jess and Cailin will share their thoughts and reminiscences soon, if not before then definitely for the Autumn Equinox newsletter.

Finally, I’m teaching a weekend program at the end of November in London and it would be great to see some Black Mountain people there. There will be meditation, but also I’ll be introducing the practice of Inner-Relationship Focusing, a beautiful way to connect deeply with our emotions and stuck parts. It’s at the London Shambhala center and you can find out more here. Please sign up!

With love,

Llew and the Black Mountain Meditators

Lammas is an ancient festival celebrated on August 1st, marking the beginning of the grain harvest and a time to give thanks for the first fruits of the season. Also known as Loaf Mass Day (for the grain) in Christian tradition, or Lughnasadh in Celtic and Pagan traditions, it falls midway between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox.

Can you feel the beginning of the end of summer?

Here in Herefordshire, we’ve had 0 mm of rainfall throughout July, and sun-dazzling days for months on end. The world is bright and stark, but when I look closely, I can sense Autumn waiting just around the corner.

The trees lining our garden are now covered in pale hazelnuts, ripening and soon to be ready to crack. The smell and silky feel of their skins remind me so much of childhood. The garish displays of flowers that bloomed throughout May and June have frazzled and faded, making way for blackberries in the hedgerows. Leaves are beginning to turn rusty, evenings are darkening, and sycamore seeds are spinning down to the ground.

There is a subtle shift happening, as the abundance of summer remains, but already begins to tilt towards September’s dimming.

Black Mountain Retreat

At Black Mountain, however, we are reaching the peak of our year. We are now just TWO WEEKS away from our annual meditation retreat in the Olchon Valley!

Cailin, myself and the team have been hard at work since January, plotting, planning and dreaming up this year’s event. It’s bigger than ever before - there’ll be 35 of us on the land - and longer, too, now stretching across a whole week.

And thank you to all who’ve signed up - we are now sold out! We do have a waitlist, though, so if you’d like to join us, drop us a line and we’ll add you, in case a place becomes available at the last minute.

We’ve been busy creating an inspiring and heartfelt programme for the week. The teaching team are weaving together somatic healing practices and meditation with rituals, delicious food, and activities designed to help us create a conscious community together.

I feel so grateful, curious and excited to be a part of the magic once again.

There is also some big news from the team: Llew won’t be joining us this year, as his partner Oli is due to give birth in mid-August, heralding the arrival of a true Black Mountain baby! We’ll be holding them in our thoughts as we gather on the land, and sending lots of love and supportive vibes for the birth.

The Dharma Sessions

Our next set of Dharma Sessions will focus on Hospicing Modernity by Vanessa Machado de Oliveira.

This is a gorgeous text that explores how to stay with the trouble of this complex moment in history. It draws on storytelling, thought experiments and practical exercises to help us look at our collective crises with humility, maturity and love.

Choosing this book continues the pattern we’ve followed throughout the Dharma Sessions: each year, we explore one book that engages with social and political issues through a contemplative lens.

The Hospicing Modernity Sessions will begin in September. Drop us a line now if you’d like to be added to the list.

Online Morning Meditation

We continue to sit together from 7:30-8:00am (UK time), Monday-ZKFriday, starting the day in silence and togetherness. This may be affected by the arrival of Llew’s baby, but even if the timekeeper is absent, the Zoom room will remain open, and anyone is welcome to come sit together.

We’d love for you to join us!

Lastly…

I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who replied to our last email, where we were looking for volunteer cooks for our August retreat.

We had such a heartwarming response, and sadly couldn’t offer everyone a place - although if you emailed us, we’ll remember you for next time!

We found two wonderful cooks to work alongside Frida, completing our kitchen team trio. We’re feeling very lucky to have such a brilliant group of people coming together to make the retreat happen.

Much love, and the last drops of summer’s abundance to you all,

Jessie & the Black Mountain Meditators x x

Hi all,

Our Summer Black Mountain Meditation Retreat is now just one month away, and we’re searching for one or two extra folk to join our kitchen team.

We’re looking for volunteers to help cook alongside other lovely humans, preparing simple, delicious, vegan meals. (We already have a cook on board, and a menu planned, so you would be there to provide extra help and overseeing, as part of a team - not left alone!)

It’s a fantastic way to be part of the meditation retreat, while still having plenty of time to enjoy everything on offer - from meditation and somatic healing to mindful walks, campfires, shared meals, and connecting with the community.

No professional cooking experience is needed. If you enjoy cooking, are happy to pitch in, and would like to be part of creating a warm and nourishing retreat experience, we’d love to hear from you.

What the role involves

• Dates: August 17th - 23rd 2026

• Preparing four lunches or dinners over the five-day retreat, for 35 people.

• Cooking in pairs, with plenty of help from participants for chopping and prep.

• Recipes and instuctions to follow for each meal.

• Having time off to enjoy the retreat programme and explore the Olchon Valley.

This is a volunteer role, and in return you’ll receive:

• A free place at the retreat.

• All travel expenses covered.

• The opportunity to be part of the community we create together on the wild hillside of the Olchon Valley (near Hay-on-Wye).

• Lots of fun!

If this sounds like something you’d enjoy - or if someone comes to mind who would be a great fit - please get in touch, or pass this email along to them.

Here’s what previous retreat participants have shared about their experience:

“I am new to meditation and I felt completely held and comfortable to practice and explore in my own way. I thought the facilitation of the sessions was excellent. And I really enjoyed the varied activities and focus on creativity and sharing. The whole weekend was planned so well, in that there was enough space to think and be, as well as socialise and meet new people.”

Anonymous

“The place was magic, the group perfect, the food so good. The retreat felt like a safe place - peaceful and laid back, but nevertheless profound.”

Margreeth, The Netherlands

“I am grateful for being able to experience the quality of meditation instruction which we were given. It felt inspiring and nurturing, as well as being very accessible for beginners. The whole retreat felt very inclusive, and I think this is a beautiful quality!”

Anonymous

Can’t wait to see you there,

X Jessie

Welcome to the very height of summer! The longest days, the brightest light, the moment when everything gets stretched to its fullest expression.

Lately I’ve noticed a kind of energetic buzzing wherever I go. People seem plugged into something: socialising, chatting, gathering, moving from one thing to the next. Everyone feels more alive, charged up by the extra hours of daylight.

Yesterday, at my sons’ school, we celebrated midsummer. The parents stood on a grassy bank and watched the children dance around a crackling bonfire in the morning light, before they each took turns to leap through a beautiful hoop woven with freshly-picked flowers. The older teenagers carried flaming torches, wore willow crowns, and beat drums. Everyone was dressed in reds, oranges, yellows, gold. We whooped from the sidelines. Teachers abandoned restraint and joined in the jumping hoop, too. It felt as though we were all fizzing.

There is a wildness at this point in the year. An exuberance, a joyfulness. But also something untethered - an anxious, restless energy that can be hard to name. A grief. Standing there, I was struck by how completely opposite it felt to the darkness of winter solstice. The contrast was so vivid that it made me grateful to live somewhere where the seasons still carry such distinct personalities.

Here in the UK, we are also on the verge of a heatwave, which feels entirely appropriate for this longest-day moment. As I wait for the sun to get hotter, I am working on grounding my untethered self, spending time lying down, trying to be slower and stay well.

Planning Our August Retreat:

Last weekend the Black Mountain Meditation Retreat staff gathered at my house in Herefordshire. We programmed our August retreat, made delicious food, gossiped, laughed a LOT, and - of course - meditated. It felt special to be together again. The collective excitement for our upcoming time on the mountain rose exponentially. We cannot wait to welcome you once more, for another week of magic ✨ ! This year the retreat will be a day longer, and we have a couple of new folks joining the staff: Anne Lepelaars, who will be offering her powerful somatic healing work, and Naomi Pratt, bringing her gorgeous energy, working alongside me on coordination. We also have three lovely new cooks - Harriet, Frida and Emma, who are already eagerly planning the menu.

While 30 spots are now full, we have a last handful of spaces still available for the retreat. Come and take some time out from life to befriend yourself. And please do pass on this link to anyone else who may be interested - it helps us so much.

The Dharma Sessions:

We have just come to the end of our Radical Acceptance Dharma Sessions. Once again it was a wonderful experience, and there was a strong desire to continue. The next set of Dharma Sessions will focus on Hospicing Modernity, by Vanessa Machado de Oliveira.

This is a gorgeous text that explores how to stay with the trouble of this complex time in history. It draws on storytelling, thought experiments, and practical exercises, to help us look honestly at our collective crises with humility, maturity, and love. Choosing this book follows the pattern we have used throughout the Dharma Sessions of each year having one book that focuses on social and political issues but from a contemplative viewpoint. The Hospicing Modernity Sessions will begin in September. Drop us a line now if you’d like to be added to the list.

From Llew:

I’m currently undertaking a year-long training in Focusing. This is a body-based therapeutic approach that I love, that has brought me immense benefit, and which I wish to share. As part of my advanced certification process, I am offering a limited number of one-on-one sessions, free of charge. For training and professional supervision purposes, these sessions will be audio-recorded. Please be assured that these recordings are strictly confidential, will only be accessed by myself and my teacher, Peter Gill, and will be securely deleted immediately after review.

If you’d like to explore this powerful practice over a series of three sessions, please contact me through my website: whitneycrocodile.com. You’re also very welcome to refer any friends for whom this might be helpful.

Happy, fizzing, wild solstice. I best go to sleep now, as I will wake at 3am to drag my kids up a hill for sunrise 🌞

X Jessie

Dear all,

Nights have shifted once more into magical brief equilibrium — today marks the Spring Equinox. It’s one of my favorite times of year as the magnolia and cherry trees on our street are laden with blossoms and the sun is a little less shy than it has been.

I’ve been getting my summer trips in order, and — though some of the great eccentric yogis of times past didn’t keep their embers lit at night, as they couldn’t be sure they’d still be alive come morning — it doesn’t hurt to make some plans! There are still some tickets for our Black Mountain Meditation Retreat this August.

You know the score: exceptional teaching, location, people, magic, and a rare chance to connect deeply with self and others. This retreat has been crafted over many years of tinkering and we fill it with love (we’re also making it a day longer this time). Please don’t be shy, and also reach out to others who might be interested. It’s for all levels of experience from box fresh, beginner’s mind to seasoned practitioners with 5+ decades on the cushion. If money is a barrier there are still a couple of concession tickets (and if those are still too much, reach out as we might be able to link you up with some funding).

The other big news is we’re soon to begin our next set of Dharma Sessions. I’m super excited about this one — we’ll be exploring together Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach, which has the subtitle: Awakening the love that heals fear and shame. After hearing first hand from a bunch of different people that they’ve found this book deeply life changing, I’ve been keen to use it as a Dharma Sessions text for a while.

The first session is on Sunday the 26th of April. The course will run for nine weeks, we meet Sunday evenings from 8pm to 9pm to sit together and chat through the chapter from that week. On the ninth Sunday I will guide a three hour mini-retreat drawing on some of the exercises from the book. It’s always such a gentle and caring community that comes together and I have a feeling this one will be particularly special.

Email us now if you’d like to join. It’s by donation (somewhere that feels right between £20 and £50 is the suggestion, but you being there is the most important thing).

We won’t email about this again before it starts, as our Beltane newsletter will be due just after the beginning, so don’t delay!

I’ll end by sharing how Tara Brach opens Radical Acceptance:

“When I was in college, I went off to the mountains for a weekend of hiking with an older, wiser friend of twenty-two. After we set up our tent, we sat by a stream, watching the water swirl around rocks and talking about our lives. At one point she described how she was “learning to be her own best friend.” A huge wave of sadness came over me, and I broke down sobbing. I was the furthest thing from my own best friend. I was continually harassed by an inner judge who was merciless, relentless, nit-picking, driving, often invisible, but always on the job. I knew I would never treat a friend the way I treated myself, without mercy or kindness.”

Take great care all and keep connecting with your senses,

Much love, Llew and the Black Mountain Meditators

Hello,

Today, on this auspicious New Moon, we celebrate the Tibetan New Year, and welcome in the much anticipated year of the Fire Horse!

It is also the day that we celebrate opening bookings for our summer retreat (poster below). You can find out more information here on our website, and book your place now, if you so wish.

Also: If you know anyone who may be interested in joining us, we’d be grateful if you forward this email on to them. Your support with getting the word out really helps us.

The theme of this summer’s retreat is ‘Perfect, Whole, and Complete’. Together, we will explore our Buddha Nature, and practice closing the gap between ourselves and the world around us, as we let our hearts awaken.

We work really hard behind the scenes to make these events come to life, so it is with much gratitude and delight that we set this free into the wider collective.

Whoever comes are the right people!

With love,

Jessie, Cailin and Llew x

Imbolc blessings, Black Mountaineers!

Imbolc is a cross-quarter holiday on the Pagan calendar, signifying the middle point between the recent winter Solstice (Dec 21st) and the upcoming spring Equinox (March 20th).

Here in the northern hemisphere we are once again turning slowly towards the sun. We have survived the ten darkest weeks of the year! We all deserve a medal for the last month of endless rain here in the UK.

January has flown by already. It feels like moments ago I was celebrating New Year’s Eve on the deck with old friends, our hands clutching on to one another as we pretended to know the words to Auld Lang Syne. (Does anyone know the words?) And suddenly here we are, birthed out into February in a weak haze of sunshine. Banks of snowdrops are lining the hedgerows, the evenings are undeniably lighter, and a sense of newness is peeping through.

At the same time, energy levels are low, everyone seems exhausted, and cosy evenings in bed with a book and hot chocolate still seem to be calling. We sit between two worlds, slow and wintering, with one eye on the waking springtime magic ahead.

It is a time of preparation in the in-between. In old Irish, the word imbolc translates to 'in the belly’. It’s the beginning of lambing season, a time to plant your seeds, and the start of the earth thawing, ready to burst with new creation in only a few months time. So what are you in-between creating and birthing - what is in the belly for you? And while you dream of what’s to be, how can you stay cosy and warm, and not get sucked into moving too fast?

Imbolc is connected with Saint Brigid and her sacred flame. She is recognised as a fire Goddess who symbolises renewal, and the returning of the sun. It’s time to light a candle, weave a St Brigid’s Cross, and let yourself feel a moments warmth as you look back on what you’ve just walked through, and take a moment to dream of what’s next under this big full moon.

Behind the scenes at Black Mountain we are busy gathering the 2026 team, and planning our in-person summer retreat. We have been meeting on Zoom to discuss ideas, and it is all starting to feel exciting and real!

We open our bookings for the retreat on February 17th, which is of course the Tibetan New Year, and the arrival of the much anticipated Year of the Fire Horse. Mark that date in your diary to book your place, and come join us for more zen heaven and mischief on the wise old mountain.

Love to you all, may we stay slow and present,

x Jessie and the team

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Joyful winter solstice to you all, Black Mountaineers. Jessie here.

Wonderful news!! We can finally announce that after 2025’s fallow year, our summer retreat 2026 will go ahead! We have an incredible staff team shaping up, and are fizzing with ideas. After listening to your feedback, we have also lengthened the retreat this time, to include more meditation and an extra day.

We cannot WAIT to be back on the mountain together once more. Please email us with any questions. Booking will open on Tibetan New Year - February 18th 2026 - so mark that date in your calendar to avoid disappointment.

Related to the retreat: We are looking for three cooks to join our staff team this summer!

This year, each cook will prepare four meals (lunches or dinners) over the course of the five day retreat, and have three days off to join in the programme and enjoy the area. Cooks will work in pairs, and have plenty of support from participants with chopping and prepping. The role is voluntary, with a free ticket to the retreat and all travel expenses paid.

We're hoping to find people with enthusiasm for cooking simple, flavoursome veggie food - if this is something you or anyone you know would be enthusiastic to contribute, get in touch!

The three of us have been at my house this weekend, partaking in various rituals to mark the darkness on this new moon and shortest day. We are cradling glasses of port by the fir tree, after taking a dusky walk and doing the below ritual, to mark the returning of the light.

Reminders:

• Last call for our January Book Group / Dharma Study Sessions! This time we will be discussing The Way of the Bodhisattva. We meet over eight consecutive Sunday evenings, from 8-9pm UK time. ALL are welcome! There’s no need to attend all the sessions, and as always the course will be by donation with a loose suggestion of £50 full price / £20 concession.

  “Written in India in the 8th century, this text became one of the most cherished in Tibet and remains so to this day. A gorgeous evocation of the complete path trodden by an awakened warrior or bodhisattva, the book is filled with practical advice for bringing spiritual practice into everyday life.

  The sessions begin on Sunday January 4th. Drop us an email now to mark your interest.

  

• Morning meditation will continue as normal throughout the festive period. If you’re seeking quiet time amongst the celebration and madness, Llew will be there as usual, on the cushion, for moments of calm. Monday-Friday, 7.30-8am. Email if you need a reminder of the Zoom link.

  

  Big hugs and more soon,

  Jessie and co. x

Dear meditators,

At one of the great monasteries in eighth century India, there was a monk so utterly lazy that he was given the nickname Bhusukhu (Eats, sleeps, strolls around), since that was all he was capable of doing. Proving to be an irritating burden, the other monks decided to try to drive him away, and, to humiliate him beyond all repair, they asked him to give a public teaching, making a grand throne for him as a joke. The joke was on them, of course, when this ‘lazy’ monk effortlessly gave a teaching so beautiful and profound that it became enshrined in the Buddhist tradition as one of the most important Mahayana texts of all time.

This text, The Way of the Bodhisattva, composed by the secret yogi Bhusukhu (a.k.a Shantideva), is the focus of our first set of Dharma Sessions moving into the new year. As always we will study the text over eight sessions, coming together each Sunday evening to practice and discuss together the chapter for that week. The ninth session will be a ‘mini retreat’ over a Sunday afternoon that I (Llew) will guide. There’s no need to attend all the sessions, and as always the course will be by donation with a loose suggestion of £50 full price / £20 concession.

I can’t even begin to explain how important this text is within the Tibetan tradition. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has said that if he knows anything of compassion it is due to this book, and it was not uncommon for great yogis to die with it as their only possession. At the same time it’s crunchy — there are really important questions to be asked about what service to others really needs to look like in our modern culture, where it is not uncommon for people to give too much, disregarding their own needs in a damaging way.

From a personal point of view, I studied this book a lot in my twenties and on my first read through found it to be rather disappointing (after all the hype), however, on a three month retreat in Nepal I read parts of it outloud every day (to the consternation of others staying in the monastery) and it was here that I began to glimpse what all the fuss is about. I hope, and know, that studying it together as a group we will have some of these same glimpses, the kind that bring tears to the eyes and connect one directly with what is fundamentally good about ourselves and this world.

So put a copy on your list for Santa (we’ll be using the Revised Padmakara Translation with a red cover, but if you have another translation that’s always interesting). And send us an email now to register your interest. The first Sunday meeting is January 4th, so a perfect way to find community in those two first dark months of the year.

Really looking forward,
Llew and the Black Mountain Meditators

p.s. Substack auto sent an email recently about paid subscriptions. This is not something we do, although we do have a couple of generous subscribers who help us keep this ship floating and for which we are deeply grateful. So apologies if this caused any confusion!

p.p.s Our weekday morning meditations continue as always through the festive season. If you haven’t joined for a while, please do drop by!

Dear meditators,

We write to you on Samhain with the warmth of an autumn bonfire, sending solidarity in your efforts to release old habitual patterns and to open to the quiet transformations that unfold in the darker part of the year. We have an exciting announcement, and some invitations for shared practice and companionship as autumn deepens and winter begins to enfold us…

BMMR 2026!

We are joyful to share with you that we will be gathering once again in the Olchon Valley this summer, for our 2026 Black Mountain Meditation Retreat! After a year away, we feel refreshed and inspired to shape a beautiful space for meditation and connection. We look forward to welcoming old friends, as well as those new to our community. We will be sharing the dates soon, so watch this space and have your diaries at the ready.

Morning Meditation

Living in a dharma centre for several months over the summer, I woke up each morning to communal meditation practice. I am terrible at getting out of bed – no matter how many hours I sleep, I always wake wanting to linger in the warmth and protection of my duvet, tucked away from the world for just a little longer. Knowing that others were rising in the stillness and heading down the old wooden stairs to the shrine room helped me find the will to do the same. Eventually I began to sign up for the role of ‘umze’, which meant waking earlier to prepare the shrine room – brewing tea for powerful beings known as protectors, and filling glass bowls of water to represent clarity.

I returned home with a familiar (and, I’m sure, relatable) conviction to continue a daily morning practice and to find that sense of sacred simplicity in my own bedroom. Despite having meditated for nearly ten years, it’s something I’ve never quite managed to achieve.

Because of changes in my life and work, I am now able to join the Black Mountain morning meditations, which is slowly but surely helping me to reshape my mornings. It’s been so lovely to wake up with friendly faces and share cosy stillness and presence together as the early morning unfolds. We’d love to see you there - the space is held Monday to Friday from 7:30 - 8am (UK). Email blackmountainmeditation@gmail.com if you’d like to receive the Zoom link.

Winter Retreats

If you are looking for support connecting with gentle presence this season, we want to share two beautiful meditation retreats that are taking place in the liminal and sometimes slightly unsettling period between Christmas and the beginning of the new year. Llew will be co-teaching a winter retreat at the London Shambhala Centre, and our friends at SITA are also hosting their annual winter youth retreat for 18-35 year olds in Germany. We have attended both of these gatherings several times, and they always offer real restoration and the warmth of human connection in the coldest time of year.

The Way of the Bodhisattva

Each year, we explore three carefully chosen texts: a classic Buddhist teaching, a contemporary dharma work, and a book that examines the connections between contemplative practice and our wider social, political and environmental world. We are already excited for our next set of Dharma Sessions focusing on The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva. Written in India in the 8th century, this text became one of the most cherished in Tibet and remains so to this day. A gorgeous evocation of the complete path trodden by an awakened warrior or bodhisattva, the book is filled with practical advice for bringing spiritual practice into everyday life. The sessions begin on Sunday January 4th. Drop us an email now to mark your interest.

Much love, and may the changing seasons offer space to slow down and listen deeply,

x Cailin and the BMM team.

Dear meditators,

With momentary alignment of both sun and moon calendars, today is the first day of a new lunar month, and also a day in which dark and light are balanced on a grass tip at the autumnal equinox.

We are three sessions deep into our current set of Dharma Sessions, focused on How To Live in a Chaotic Climate. Powerful themes emerging are the need for community, honesty to accept what is, strengthening the capacity to lean bodily into uncertainty, and — preparing for next week’s session — mortality and death. Thus far there is something very familiar about this material: these ideas are all core to the buddhadharma, however it is refreshing, awkward and challenging to bring these themes into direct contact with the current unthinkable devastation assailing our planet, the more-than-human, and people.

And more personally, it’s been a time of ritual and shift for all three of us. To share a couple of glimpses:

This morning for the equinox I (Llew) offered a pair of silver earrings to the River Thames. Today marks twelve years of having lived close to its banks. Last week I gathered stones, petals, a twisting branch and clean mineral water to make a small river altar. On this altar the earrings rested over the weekend, before I took all of the pieces down onto the beach at low tide and gave them to the waters.

And here is a link to a reel Jesse made for the eclipse yesterday showing her own journey into the Black Mountains.

We hope that this turning point, and the Autumn it unfolds into, brings renewed capacity to live in the challenge, as well as a richness of humour, gentleness and delight.

As a final note, we have exciting news coming soon about the 2026 summer retreat, so do look out for that!

Much love, Llew and the Black Mountain Meditators

Dear meditators,

It’s Llew writing this time. Throughout July and August I’ve been very lucky to attend three different but overlapping programmes. Two were powerful summer schools (Training in Embodied Critical Thinking (TECTU) in Bielefeld, Germany, and Mind and Life European Summer Research Institute at Gomde Austria), and the third was BuddhaDharmaSangha Camp, a gorgeous family oriented programme in the UK. I could talk at length about each of these, but there is something else I’d like to guide your attention to now.

At each of these programmes, there was an undercurrent that I have felt before but never with such intensity, almost as if a pot was about to boil over. Our world is changing — speedily, unequally, and unpredictably — in scary and heartbreaking ways. At each gathering there was an upsurge of longing to recognise and relate to that — that the fragility of this moment cannot be ignored. At the same time one precious aspect of programmes like this is they offer an opportunity to take a breath before we go once more into living the challenge. It is a delicate balance.

The book that forms the basis for our next set of Dharma Sessions addresses this question head on. Beginning on September 7th, and continuing each Sunday for two months between 8-9pm (UK time), we will be exploring together How To Live in a Chaotic Climate by LaUra Schmidt (with co-authors Aimee Lewis Reau and Chelsie Rivera). Based on the work of the Good Grief Network, this book presents ten steps to reconnect with ourselves, communities, and planet, at this time of Great Unravelling (to use a term popularised by Joanna Macy).

Amazingly this is our tenth set of Dharma Sessions. The gentle format always becomes fertile ground for deep insight and community. And as always they will be run in a light-handed way by a small team of expert facilitators (with Jackie, Cailin and Corine joining me this time). We keep the readings light, with the option to read more if you wish. The course is run on a donation basis (with £20 concession/ £50 full as a guideline). If you’d like to join, don’t delay! Order yourself a copy of the book now and send us an email at the usual Black Mountain meditation address.

Dear meditators,

We send you Lammas tidings from the gentle hills and woodland of Dechen Chöling, where Jesse and Cailin are enjoying time at the annual ‘Family Camp’ alongside Jesse’s two boys. It’s been a beautiful 10 days of social connection, meditation, nature based crafts and daily ice lollies.

Fundraising for our ‘fallow year’

This autumn, the three of us are each attending a programme as participants. After three wonderful summers organising gatherings in the Black Mountains, we felt it was important for us to release the role of organiser / facilitator this year, in order to experience being held ourselves. We are excited for the opportunity to connect with wider networks and to deepen our own practice and research. Jesse will join the BuddhaDharmaSangha Camp – a community-based retreat where she will be camping with her sons under the stars in beautiful Dartmoor. Llew will go to the Mind and Life European Summer Research Institute in Austria, to be immersed in the interface between Buddhism, science and philosophy. A few weeks ago, Cailin has completed a 10 day retreat at Dechen Chöling, to deepen her connection to the Shambhala Buddhist teachings. We also hope to join the Feeding Your Demons retreat in Wales in September.

We have created a fundraiser in the hopes of receiving some offerings to put towards the costs of attending. If you feel moved and are able to support us in this way, we would be deeply grateful. You can find the link here.

How to Live in a Chaotic Climate

Our next set of study sessions are beginning on Sunday 7th September! We will be making a departure from dharma books, to read How to Live in a Chaotic Climate. Please drop us an email if you want to join what we hope will be a fruitful exploration of perhaps our greatest collective challenge.

Online morning meditation

We continue to sit together from 7.30am til 8:00am (UK) Monday - Friday, starting the day in silence and togetherness. We’d love for you to join us!

Hoping you’re all well. We of course miss seeing you on the mountainside in Wales.

Sending lots of love,

Cailin & the Black Mountain Meditators x

Dear meditators,

Wishing you a beautiful and gentle solstice. Relaxing your body-mind (even for a moment) into this celestial shift, may restorative celebration happen spontaneously. And if you need encouragement, please consider this inspiration to find your way to the meditation cushion to come home once again into this present arising!

I’ve been reading some Chuang Tzu poems this week, interpretive translations by Thomas Merton, that I picked up in a bookshop when taking a trip back to Herefordshire. It is a gentle breeze to be reminded of the deeply contrary way of Tao: not to not do, but to do naturally without tightly holding to doing.

Our current set of Dharma Sessions (our Sunday evening online group) are soon coming to a close. It’s been a powerful couple of months exploring the Feeding Your Demons practice. The next Dharma Sessions will begin in September, and we will be exploring perhaps the greatest challenge of our current polycrisis, by reading together How to Live in a Chaotic Climate. More info on that soon.

Online morning meditation from 7.30am til 8.00am (UK) continue Monday to Friday. If you haven’t dropped by for a while, please consider this a nudge!

Finally, although we are not doing a Black Mountain summer retreat, Jesse and myself are heading to BuddhaDharmaSangha camp in the UK from the 9th to the 17th of August. This is a weeklong camp-out retreat that sounds at least a little similar to our own annual gatherings in the Olchon Valley, Wales. Because they still have a few spaces, I offered to circulate the information on their behalf, so do check out the website here if you’re curious to find out more, and come along if you’d like to!

Much love,

Llew and the Black Mountain Meditators.

Dear meditators,

We’re gearing up for our next set of Dharma Sessions and I — Llew this time — thought it might be a nice moment to share a few thoughts. The quotation above can be found in Tsultrim Allione’s wonderful Women of Wisdom (1984), and later inspired the title for Pema Chodron’s book The Places That Scare You (2001). However it goes back much further than that! Machig Labdrön is a deeply beloved Tibetan practitioner from the 12th Century. These are powerful and provocative instructions given to her by her teacher Padampa Sangye: an invitation to move towards the painful aspects of our experience with courage and bravery, and release the compulsion to cling.

The Tibetan way of counting to three goes: chig, nyi, sum — one, two, three. ‘Mother’ in Tibetan is Ama or sometimes just Ma. The deep love that Tibetans feel for Machig Labdrön can be glimpsed in her name — Machig — one mother, or only mother. Machig was a child prodigy with a deep devotion to dharma who practiced in wild yogic ways alongside raising kids, and later serving a large community as teacher. That she has such a central place in the psyche of Tibet is in part because she is considered by many to be the originator of Chöd or ‘cutting’ practice. This is a spooky graveyard ritual often done at night where the yogini imaginatively offers her body to demons as the repayment of karmic debts; among other things, looking at the mind when very frightened can be a powerful opportunity for wakefulness!

A number of years ago I received the transmission for a particular Chöd practice from His Holiness the Karmapa, in India, at a large three day event that had been organised by Tsultrim Allione and her sangha. It was a beautiful and intensely memorable experience. I haven’t yet had the chance to do the practice we received — it requires a specific solitary retreat — but I feel this next set of Dharma Sessions may be a step in that direction. The book we are exploring together — Feeding Your Demons — presents a simple but deeply moving practice developed by Tsultrim Allione, based on Chöd but synthesized with Jungian shadow work and gestalt practice. It doesn’t require making music with a skin drum and a thigh bone trumpet in the dead of night, but it does provide a route to connect deeply with some of our scarier emotions and pain.

The Dharma Sessions begin soon, on May 4th, and as always will be by donation. During the course we will be reading the book together over eight Sundays evenings, with lots of chance for practice and discussion. We will also finish with a mini retreat on the ninth Sunday. Email us now if you’d like to join the sessions or find out more. (And if you’ve already emailed I’ll be sending out a welcome email to everyone very soon!).

May you go with great courage to the places that scare you!

Much love,
Llew and the Black Mountain Meditators.

Dear meditators,

I have spent the winter living in a cabin on a hillside in Wales. Most mornings since I landed here I have woken to find frost patterns on my bedroom skylight. Grabbing more clothes, I clamber down the ladder, and open the front door to get logs to make a fire. Most mornings, as I step outside, the grass has been silver-tipped with frost, and the world has felt cold. In other words, it’s been a long winter.

It is hard to believe it today, as I lounge on my deck, getting overly hot in my mohair jumper. The earth’s axis has shifted, as it always does (and as I always forget it will), and I find myself listening to a rowdy birds’ chorus and squinting into the stark sunlight. On a walk yesterday, I touched lime-green hawthorn leaves bursting out of their buds. My cheeks feel pink, and my heart is surprised.

The deeply icy months spread behind us now, and we can say it is well and truly Springtime in the northern hemisphere! The sun has crossed the equator, making day and night equal in length. For centuries, this turning point has been celebrated as Ostara – a moment to honour the rebirth of nature and the strengthening of the sun. It is a time to set intentions, start new projects, and (of course) plant literal seeds. A chance to let go of the old, the cold, and the dusty, and create space for brilliant newness to land.

In other news, we have just finished our latest edition of Black Mountain’s Dharma Sessions, in which we’ve been studying the Tao Te Ching. A group of us met for a succession of Sunday evenings throughout January and February, and had a fantastic time nerding out together on Taoist philosophy.

We can now announce that we have a new Dharma Session beginning on Sunday 4th May. It will be open to anyone who is interested, and is operated on a pay-what-you-can basis.

We will be reading Lama Tsultrim Allione’s book, Feeding Your Demons.

Send us an email to sign up or learn more!

And finally:

If you are near London, Llew is guiding a day retreat at the Shambhala Centre, on Saturday 29th March. The information is here, if you’d like to know more.

So much love,

Jessie and the BMM crew x x

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Dear meditators,

I am sat on a train heading south through Wales; down toward Gaia House in Devon, for a few days of silent retreat. Sunlight is bursting through the train carriage as we whip past the chimney tops of Newport and out of the city towards the Channel.

It is Imbolc, and the sun is giving us all a cosmic wink! Traditionally celebrated around February 1st (this year the exact midpoint falls on the 3rd), Imbolc marks a pivotal moment in the wheel of the year, signaling the halfway point between the dark Winter Solstice and the rebirth of warmth, at our beloved Spring Equinox.

This ancient Celtic festival is associated with the goddess Brigid, who encompasses light and fertility.

At this time of year, I get the urge to cleanse my home and studio, preparing for the vibrant energy of spring. When I get back from retreat, I'll decorate my alter with white flowers, candles, and symbols of fire, representing the gentle, powerful return of the sun.

While the frosts of winter still linger here with me in Wales, there are signs everywhere of the earth beginning her awakening. On my daily walks I see crocuses and snowdrops pushing up through the hedgerows. The birds are alive with song again. Evenings are lighter, and the air seems to hum with the potential of what is yet to come. For many, this shift signals a time of planting seeds - whether literal or metaphorical - that will blossom in the months ahead. As nature revives, so too do our dreams and ambitions, ready to stretch into the sun. But slowly, slowly. Don't come out of hibernation too fast. We do not need to race!

Many good wishes to you all!

X Jessie and the Black Mountain Meditators

Together we approach the longest night! For those of us in the northern hemisphere, the unfathomable orbit of our great spinning globe is now at its most tilted away from the sun. The solstice lets the year pivot: each day from this point grows incrementally in length, bringing to us — at this time of sheltering — the smallest hints of the summer to come.

We began 2024 reading together the Dhammapada — sayings of the Buddha. For 2025 we’ve chosen another impossibly beautiful and classic text, this time from the Taoist tradition of ancient China. The Tao Te Ching seems such a perfect choice for counsel and remedy in this era of endless doing, proliferation of consumerism, madness of planetary destruction, and relentless anxious, unfriendly, busy minds.

Yesterday I read for the first time Ursula K. Le Guin’s pithy introduction to her translation of Lao Tzu’s work and I felt really excited for the discussions this strange and magical text will provoke. Themes of doing non-doing, wise pacifism, and a powerful sense of the feminine, intermingle with koan-like expressions drawing out skilful leadership and meditative insight.

As always the Dharma Sessions are by donation, so don’t let finance impact your decision of whether to join. We’ll meet for eight sessions from 8pm til 9pm UK, every Sunday beginning Jan 5th with no requirement to come every week. A ninth and final meeting on the afternoon of March 9th will focus on practice. Email us now to book your space.

In other news, our friends at the London Shambhala Meditation Centre asked us to share this upcoming weekend programme Discovering Ordinary Magic on February 8th and 9th. This is the first of five weekends in which both the practice of meditation and supporting context are delivered in a soft and skilful way. Throughout there is a particular emphasis on connecting with the basic goodness of one’s experience.

Also for those of you who are sad that we are taking a fallow year with our BMM summer retreat in 2025, we thought it good to mention a couple of similar tent-based gatherings: The amazing BuddhaDharmaSangha Camp open bookings in January for their August event. And also it’s worth taking a look at the biggest meditation festival in the UK — Buddhafield has already opened ticket sales. Drop us a line if you’re planning on attending either as it could be supercool to go as a group.

Finally, our morning meditations continue uninterrupted into January and beyond, even on Christmas day and New Year’s Day! A small and ever shifting cohort of us open our zoom portals in the background, so that despite being separated by great distances, we can give each other support to get to the cushion and to stay bravely with the wildness of whatever presents itself. Drop us an email if you’d like the link, we meet Monday to Friday 7.30am to 8am, and of course it’s always free.

Wishing you all a deeply restful, exciting and generous solstice. May you be decked in finery as beautiful as the robes of this Taoist priest. And may you — as they say in the Zen tradition — “Shine one corner of the world.”

With love from Black Mountain

Dear meditators,

After deep discussion and contemplation, we've made the decision that there won't be a summer retreat in 2025. Attuned to the wisdom of ancient farming practices – and contemporary music festivals – we have decided to allow our fourth year to be a fallow time, so that nutrients can return to the soil, and we can be refreshed in order to continue this meaningful and joyous co-creation.

The work to establish and blossom these retreats, including the stunning help we have had from our network has been immense – from baking cakes and cooking soup, to teaching the dharma, cushion making, transportation, guidance of online and in-person events, financial and material donations, spiritual aid, pragmatic conversations, and emotional support from our loved ones. It has all been voluntary, happening around busy and challenging lives and against the backdrop of increasing economic precarity, environmental degradation and a too often unsafe world. This feels like a good point to celebrate and rest! To decide how and in what way we'd like to continue, as well as to say a deep impossible thank you to the many many people who have helped bring forth these gorgeous happenings together.

We hope and intend to make a retreat happen in 2026, and in the meantime will continue with relaxed events such as meet ups in the summer months in London parks, as well as our programme of online offerings. Speaking of which…

Open into 2025 with the Tao Te Ching Sessions

It's one of the most extraordinary and influential wisdom texts ever written, the original manual for relaxing the doing mind. Starting on the 5th January we'll be using the Tao Te Ching as the basis for our next set of rich and intimate Dharma Sessions. An ancient text that has been translated many times into English, we're going to be using author Ursula K. Le Guin’s carefully crafted version, for whom the Tao Te Ching was a powerful guiding light. That being said, please feel free to join in with any translation you may have, as it's always illuminating to see where different decisions have been made.

We'll be following the same format as always: eight Sunday evening meetings on zoom from 8pm to 9pm UK time, followed by a three hour afternoon session on the ninth Sunday with a focus on practice. There's a small, suggested donation of £20 concession / £50 full price to pay for the whole course. We promise a strong yet yielding way to enter 2025, with connection to community to guide through the darker months.

Email us now to be a part of the course, or if you have any questions.

That’s all from us for now!

Wishing you gentle wise decisions, softness and care for when things are rough, easy auspicious happenings, and some joyous good humour.

Llew, Jess and Cailin, the Black Mountain Meditators

Dear meditators,

Cailin here.

I’m writing from Manchester, where I am staying with my parents during a time of transition. On the weekend we went for a walk in the Peak District, a place home to windswept moorland, rock carved into dramatic ridges, and rolling hills. I remember it as a moody landscape, somehow simultaneously lush and stark. A teary sky, wet rock and the ground verdant from all the rain creates a symphony of grey and green, with splashes of soft purple where the heather blooms. Upon this visit though, I was taken aback by a totally different palate. The sky was a crisp blue, the river glinted as we crossed the stepping stones, and the leaves hung like jewels from the trees. My dad remarked that the autumn is particularly beautiful this year. 

It’s poignant that the leaves, which produce this vibrant display of joyful colour, are in fact in the process of dying and falling away. As we reach Samhain - the cross quarter day that falls between the Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice - around us the trees are in the process of relinquishing what is no longer needed, and reminding us that letting go is beautiful. I am reminded of a koan that our dear friend Mathew shared last year, at a gathering in London:

A monk asked Ummon, “What will happen when the leaves fall and the trees become bare?”

Ummon said, “Golden Wind!”

Morning Meditation

Samhain marks a shift into a darker, quieter period. An appropriate time to gather in and to reconnect with our inner worlds! If you would like some company whilst sitting with yourself, our free morning meditation continues as usual Monday - Friday between 7:30 and 8am (UK).

Do get in touch if you’d like to join and don’t have the zoom link: blackmountainmeditation@gmail.com

Cosmic Calendars

Our very own Jess creates gorgeous calendars with intricate hand-painted illustrations, and they are now available for 2025!

The 12 month Zodiac calendar includes a hand-painted illustration for each star sign, and the moon calendar displays all the lunar phases for each day of the year.

They’re so delicately made and uplifting to glance at all year round, making a great gift for yourself or a loved one.

Here are links to find out more and to purchase:

www.jessicarisingstudio.com

instagram: @jessicarisingstudio

Dharma Sessions 

“The deepest pleasure comes from riding the line between commitment and detachment.” adrienne maree brown

From Llew: Our Pleasure Activism group wrapped up with a beautiful afternoon practice session last Sunday. On our cushions we leaned into some of the key meditative themes that arose in our study, such as the pleasure of connecting with senses, loving, feeling, ‘living from within outward’. We journaled together about how to bring more pleasure into our lives, and how to make our work for others more pleasurable. Thank you all for coming!!

The next sequence of Dharma Sessions will begin Sunday 5th January 2025, focusing on the Tao Te Ching - and especially Ursula K. Le Guinn’s magical translation. This ancient, precious wisdom text will make for rich study and insight. A book to ask for through the festive season perhaps? And certainly a strong yet soft way to begin 2025. Drop us an email if you know you’d like to be looped in with this.

Much love and cozy warmth,

Cailin and the BMM team x

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