'I thought the earth remembered me,
she took me back so tenderly,
arranging her dark skirts, her pockets
full of lichens and seeds.
I slept as never before, a stone on the river bed,
nothing between me and the white fire of the stars
but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths
among the branches of the perfect trees.
All night I heard the small kingdoms
breathing around me, the insects,
and the birds who do their work in the darkness.
All night I rose and fell, as if in water,
grappling with a luminous doom. By morning
I had vanished at least a dozen times
into something better.'
~ Mary Oliver
About
BIOPHILIA Mentorship™
A year-long rite of passage, carried by wind and rooted in stone, shaped by the elements, the soul, and the old turning of the year.
A year-long, one-to-one online mentorship
Beginning in November at Samhain, the Celtic New Year
Three places offered each year
Attention has a way of changing how a life is lived, often quietly at first, almost imperceptibly, as what once felt automatic begins to slow and what has been shaping your life begins to come into view. There is a gradual recognition of where you are standing, how you are moving, and of the deeper patterns that have been informing that movement over time. From there, something begins to open, and a different way of living becomes available, one that is less driven and more considered, more attentive to time, to place, and to the reality of your own lived experience. This is where the work begins.
BIOPHILIA Mentorship™ is an intimate, one-to-one online journey for those seeking a steadier rhythm beneath the noise, a return to elemental time, to land-rooted learning, and to a way of living that is grounded and real. It is designed to be entered from wherever you are based, allowing the work to be woven into the life you are actually living and the place you actually call home.
It unfolds across the eight seasonal thresholds of the year – Samhain, Winter Solstice, Imbolc, Spring Equinox, Bealtaine, Summer Solstice, Lúnasa, and Autumn Equinox – and follows the turning of the year as a living mythology. Each threshold carries its own elemental force, archetypal movement, and field of experience, and through these, the work deepens gradually, with each season offering a different way of listening, responding, and growing.
How the mentorship unfolds
We meet once each month for a three-hour session, held in shared space, at a natural pace, and carried through the spoken word. Each meeting is shaped by the season, by the land, and by what is present in your life at that time, allowing the work to remain responsive rather than fixed.
At the close of each session, you receive three invitations, one for the land, one for the soul, and one for the creative or therapeutic self. These are not assignments to complete, but points of entry, ways of continuing the conversation with the work in your own time and in your own way. You may find yourself walking at dawn, gathering materials from the land, writing, reflecting, or sitting quietly with what is unfolding. Over time, these processes begin to settle into the body, and what was once understood conceptually becomes lived and recognised more deeply.
As the months move on, patterns begin to show themselves with greater clarity. There is less need to force change, and more capacity to remain with what is present, to understand it, and to respond to it with steadiness. Without a way of working with these patterns, they tend to repeat.
This mentorship follows the Celtic Wheel of the Year as its framework, an ancient mapping of time drawn from long observation of land, weather, and seasonal change. It offers a way of understanding both inner and outer life as part of the same movement, allowing you to work with cycles rather than feeling carried by them.
The work is ecological and psychological in equal measure. It develops a form of literacy, an ability to recognise what is happening in your own life, to understand timing, and to make decisions from a place that is grounded and clear. In this way, BIOPHILIA, meaning a love of life, becomes something lived rather than spoken about, expressed through relationship with place, with pattern, with presence, and with the deeper threads running through your own experience.
We draw on eco-psychology as a remembering, pointing to the interwoven nature of the human psyche and the living world, and to the ways in which inner and outer life move together through cycles of change. This is a slow literacy in what is already present within and around you.
Over time, this begins to shape how you live. It influences how you make decisions, how you recognise what is yours and what is not, how you move through change, and how you understand your place within the wider pattern of your life.
Through the year, we work with practices that are simple and direct, including wildcrafting, creative expression, natural healing, and ceremonial engagement with the living world. These are not presented as techniques to master, but as ways of paying attention, of entering into relationship, and of learning through experience. The work is carried through listening, through story, and through the spoken word, in keeping with the oral traditions from which it comes.
Who this is for
This work meets you where you are, and it does not depend on prior knowledge of Irish tradition, nor on where you live, or which hemisphere you are in. The rhythms we work with can be observed anywhere, and what matters most is your willingness to pay attention, to listen, and to remain with the process over time.
It is suited to those who are ready to engage more directly with their own life, to recognise what is shaping it, to meet change as it comes, and to take responsibility for how they move through it. The work unfolds slowly, over months rather than moments, and it asks for consistency more than intensity. The depth of the work reflects the level of engagement you bring to it.
Each person’s experience of the mentorship will be different, shaped by their own life, their own pace, and what is present for them at any given time. There is no fixed path imposed from the outside. Instead, a sense of continuity develops gradually, and direction becomes something that is recognised rather than constructed.
This is a committed, one-to-one relationship, and the depth of the work depends on sustained attention on both sides, held over time.
This kind of sustained, one-to-one work over time is uncommon.
For this reason, three places are offered each year, allowing the work to remain direct, relational, and fully attended.
I offer this mentorship from within a living Irish tradition in which season, story, and place remain closely held, where the turning of the year is still understood through lived experience rather than abstraction. These teachings are not borrowed or assembled, but carried through the culture and landscape in which I was raised.
At the same time, the patterns we work with are not confined to one place. Wherever there is land, weather, cycle, and change, these rhythms can be observed. Wherever there is breath, there is rhythm, and wherever there is rhythm, there is a way of knowing.
The next mentorship cycle begins in November, aligned with Samhain, the point in the year when attention turns toward root, depth, and what is not immediately visible.
Applications
Applications are now open, and if you are ready to step into the next cycle of BIOPHILIA Mentorship™, you are invited to complete the application form via the button below. As part of this process, you will be asked to speak to what is drawing you to the work, what you are meeting in your own life, and how you sense this year-long rhythm may support the way you are living.
Once your application is received, we arrange a quiet telephone conversation together. This is not a formal interview, but a mutual listening, a way of discerning whether the timing, the depth, and the rhythm of the work are aligned. A decision is made within one week of this conversation.
Three places are offered each year, and this keeps the work direct, relational, and fully attended.
If you recognise yourself in what is written here, now is the time to step forward and apply. The work begins with that step.
Exchange
This mentorship moves at the rhythm of seasons, not at the pace of the marketplace, and is held as a year-long, one-to-one commitment shaped by time, attention, and sustained relationship.
To honour both accessibility and integrity, a tiered exchange model is offered. Each tier reflects a different level of financial capacity, while the depth of the work, the time given, and the attention held remain the same.
Acorn – €1,495
A grounded entry point that makes the mentorship accessible while honouring the time, depth, and presence it requires.
Sapling – €1,745
A sustaining contribution that supports the continuity of the work and helps to keep the lower tier available.
Oak Heart – €1,995
A contribution that extends beyond the mentorship itself, supporting scholarships, cross-cultural exchange, and the wider continuity of this body of work.
Across all tiers, the offering remains the same, twelve months of steady, seasonal practice held one-to-one.
This is a non-refundable commitment, reflecting the depth, time, and shared responsibility that the work asks of both mentor and mentee.
The application is the first step in the process.