An Apprenticeship with Sorrow - Wk 6 - The Fifth Gate

This 7-week journey is a peer supported space exploring an Apprenticeship with Sorrow: using Francis Weller’s book The Wild Edge of Sorrow and his Five Gates of Grief we are reminded grief should not be a private burden but honoured as a natural and necessary part of being human. A communal process that can bring us home to ourselves and each other.

Facilitated by Somatic Therapist Ali Rose, assisted by Georgina Holt at The Soma Rooms Chepstow, this group is being offered into the community without charge in an act of what Weller calls ‘soul activism’. Bringing the change we wish to see in the world, our hope is that through gathering in grief we begin the slow but necessary process of weaving ourselves back into connection with each other and the wider web of life.

Weller’s book reminds us that no-one is exempt from the grief of our times as we face a complexity of crisis; personal, societal  and planetary.  Weller is clear, that to avoid collapsing under the weight of our sorrows we must take up an apprenticeship with grief, so it can be metabolised into something medicinal for our communities.

This 7-week peer support circle aims to offer a compassionate space to explore and express the many forms of grief we carry. Using Weller’s framework of The Five Gates of Grief we acknowledge grief in its widest sense to include; Everything We Love, We Will Lose / The Places That Have Not Known Love / The Sorrows of the World / What We Expected and Did Not Receive / Ancestral Grief.

Over the 7 weeks we will explore the Five Gates through reading, reflection, and sharing. Together we will practice the skills of deep listening; we are not here to  fix or offer advice but through our presence seek to reclaim the healing power of community. In the words of James Hillman, ‘not to fix what was broken but to have what was broken blessed’.

Please note this is not a therapy group but a peer-held space guided by shared agreements, deep listening, and mutual respect in which we will each take responsibility for our own process.This circle is open to anyone seeking a supportive space to tend their grief, whether rooted in personal loss, life transitions, collective sorrow, or ancestral wounds. You may want to consider if you have enough support beyond the group to resource you through the 7 weeks and beyond.

No previous experience with grief work is required however this process is likely to be most helpful for people who have some experience of self-reflective practice.

Dates/Times: Monday evenings 7.00-9.00pm at The Soma Rooms, Welsh St, Chepstow

Please not, that whilst there is no charge for attending you are asked to commit to attend all the sessions.

Week 1 September 29th -  Introduction:  Grief as an Initiation

Week 2 October 6th - The First Gate: Everything We Love, We Will Lose

Week 3 October 13th - The Second Gate: The Places That Have Not Known Love.

Week 4 October 20th - The Third Gate: The Sorrows of the World

Week 5 November 3rd - The Fourth Gate: What We Expected and Did Not Receive

Week 6 November 10th - The Fifth Gate: Ancestral Grief & Communal Ritual

Week 7 November 17th - Integration and Carrying Forward

Booking: To register your interest contact Ali ROSE by email ali@thesomarooms.co.uk

Ali ROSE is a body-oriented Somatic Therapist whose work combines dialogue, clothed bodywork and movement, offering an integrative approach to body-mind wellbeing. Resonating with Francis Weller’s phrase of soul activism and feeling her own grief for the world too much to hold alone she feels her own healing journey lies in gathering in circle with others.