The doors to the Orphan Wisdom School opened in 2010 and in the years since then nearly a thousand people have been welcomed to the shores of the River of Abundance and Time, or attended the West Coast and Overseas cohorts. All of those School sessions were led by Stephen Jenkinson.
He often remarked that he was doing his part in culture work by trying to keep up with the honourable labours of his wife Nathalie and the fine folk she assembled as Scullery Royalty. Last year they closed the doors to the Orphan Wisdom School, as it once was.
Having foreseen big changes, she invited two dear Scholar friends to wonder with her about what to do with ‘the various recordings’, hundreds of them. She heeded their counsel so, last spring, with Khadija on as Manager, Nathalie assembled a small group of alumni for some dreamtime. By October they were ready to extend their welcome to a group of Scholars to find out if they were onto something, and were met with a resounding YES. So, well into January, they invited yet another small group of Orphan Wisdom Scribes to the Guesthouse. They spent many hours each day and nights in the Great Hall listening to Stephen’s voice. By evening candlelight they took note of etymologies, followed stories and tangents, and formulated questions, all the while tracking the arc of Stephen’s talk and the artistry there. This kind of togetherness was nourishment for the body and balm for the soul.
As the river ice begins to thaw and the trumpeter swans call, it’s time to open the curtains a little and unveil the early stages of what we’ve been labouring over these past months.
We invite you to come have a look!
The Scriptorium: Echos of an Orphan Wisdom
“The obligation of every generation is to consider the troubles of the times, orchestrate their spirit work accordingly, and in so doing bring some serious merit to bear upon that from which they derive, and upon those from whom they come. If enough people do that long enough, that’s what echo is. You don’t get it right away.”
– Stephen Jenkinson
