Reflecting Creatively on Julian of Norwich: a two-day online retreat | 14th/15th November 2025

A DATE FOR YOUR DIARY  |  MORE DETAILS LATER

Friday evening, 7.30pm
Saturday, 9.30am-4.00pm with a break over lunch

This weekend, our Greek Orthodox brothers and sisters commence their Nativity Fast, a prolonged period of preparation for Christmas similar to the Western season of Advent, which begins this year on November 15th. To help us focus on the holiness of this time, writer and editor Sarah Law is hosting a two-day online retreat, exploring creative ways of approaching Julian of Norwich.

Sarah writes, 

“We will be using the recently-published anthology, All Shall Be Well: Poems for Julian of Norwich, to consider a range of creative spiritual practices. Each of the three online sessions will concentrate on a specific approach: 

• what we know of Julian’s life, her times, and her anchorhold;
• images of the Divine found within Julian’s own writing, the Revelations of Divine Love;
• well-known, and less well-known, phrases found within the Revelations. 

Each session will include discussion of individual poems within the All Shall Be Well anthology and prompts for creative reflection and some personal writing if wished. Each session will also include time for participants to share their work if they wish, or to share thoughts more generally. 

It is hoped that we will be joined by some guest writers from the anthology, who will give us an insight into their own connection with Julian.

In addition, there will be times of silence, and liturgy reflecting both Julian and the Orthodox Nativity Fast.  

Participants will be offered some suggested reading beforehand and should have access to a copy of All Shall Be Well: Poems for Julian of Norwich (Amethyst Press) and to the Revelations of Divine Love (any edition).” 

The book is available from the Friends or, of course, from other providers.  No prior experience of creative writing is required, and attendees are not obliged to produce any creative pieces but, for those who would like to, Sarah will be happy to read and consider your work for a potential future publication.