Witnessing Our Grief
A Book Club Grief Circle exploring
The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief by Francis Weller
Eight Wednesdays, alternating weeks
July 15, 2026--October 21, 2026
In-Person and Virtual options
"At the center of my sorrows, I have felt a presence that was not mine alone."
~ Susan Griffin, p. 137
Join us: arrive in this sacred place where we will hold ourselves, be held, and provide witness to one another's explorations and transformations in grief.
This compassionate invitation is a doorway to meet us where we are in our grief processes; whether you’re spiritual, curious, questioning, or grounded in traditions, this book honors all beliefs and welcomes all hearts.
Each hour of our Grief Circle sessions will offer time for contemplation, reflection and discussion of the book, and an enrichment activity bringing in other resources. Participation can look like many things, including quiet attention, reflective conversation or sharing personal offerings of lived experience--silence is also welcome.
Come as you are, and let’s explore what it means to nourish our grief-filled spaces—one breath, one page, one beautiful step at a time. 💛
Let this be the season you choose you.
📘 Why This Book?
In Francis's Own Words
“Where there is sorrow,” wrote Oscar Wilde, “there is holy ground.” Grief offers a wild alchemy that transmutes suffering into fertile ground. We are made real and tangible by the experience of sorrow, adding substance and weight to our world. We are stripped of excess and revealed as human in our times of grief. In a very real way grief ripens us, pulls up from the depths of our souls what is most authentic in our beings. It is the broken heart, the heart that knows sorrow that is also capable of genuine love.
Grief has always been communal, always been shared and consequently has traditionally been regarded as a sacred process. Too often in modern times our grief becomes private, carrying an invisible mantle of shame forcing our sorrow underground, hidden from the eyes that would offer healing. We must restore the conversation we need to have concerning the place of grief in our lives. Each of us must undertake an apprenticeship with loss.
Join us as we share our stories of loss, both personal and communal, and where they can be held within the healing embrace of community.
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We will explore our Apprenticeship with Sorrow through the Five Gates of Grief
Gate One
Everything we love. we will lose
Gate Four
What we expected and did not receive
Gate Two
The places that have not known love
Gate Five
Ancestral grief
Gate Three
The sorrows of the world
📅 Logistics
8 Wednesdays
7/15, 7/29, 8/12, 8/26, 9/9, 9/23, 10/7, 10/21/26
In Person at Om Nohm Bakery, Fredonia NY: 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. EDT
Virtual 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. EDT
12 participants max
Full Course ~ $160. If you’re experiencing financial hardship, contact us for an alternate fee scale.
Let this be the season you choose you.