THE CHERRY TREE PATHWAY

optional modules

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Alongside our two-year Spiritual Development and Ministry Training, we offer a series of optional modules, courses, retreats, and workshops that open new doors of exploration.

These offerings invite you to deepen your learning, engage with specific areas of spiritual practice, and connect with others in meaningful community. Each module is held in a space chosen with care, beautiful, nurturing venues where the surroundings themselves become part of the experience. Our gatherings are supported by a hearth keeper, who prepares nourishing food to ground the work and hold participants in warmth and care.

Open to current OneSpirit students, ministers, and all who feel drawn to these themes, the modules provide a flexible way to nurture your spiritual journey. From online self-paced courses to immersive in-person retreats, you choose the experiences that resonate most deeply with where you are.

Why Join an Optional Module?

  • Follow Your Curiosity – Select the topics that inspire and challenge you.

  • Connect in Community – Learn alongside others who share your interest and values.

  • Deepen Your Practice – Apply new insights to your personal and professional life.

  • Flexible Formats – Choose from online courses, residential retreats, or live workshops.

How to Take Part

We release details for new optional modules throughout the year. Each listing includes:

  • Dates and times (for live or in-person events)

  • Venue or online platform

  • Facilitator(s)

  • Fees and payment options

  • Any materials or preparation needed

Sign up by clicking on the buttons below each module!

Who Can Join?

Optional modules are open to:

  • OneSpirit Students (Birch & Cherry Tree Pathways)

  • All OneSpirit Ministers, both those on the ROSIM Professional Register and those who are not

January 2026: In-person Residential Retreat

Circling the Sun and Moon: Ceremonies of Love and Sacred Mystery

As the deep quiet of winter wraps the land and the first light of the year begins to stir, we invite you to gather in circle for Circling the Sun and Moon, a soulful retreat into the ancient, Earth-honouring ways of marking time, place, and connection.

Set amidst the breathtaking stillness of the Welsh hills, The Lodge offers the perfect sanctuary for this season of slowing down. Surrounded by wide skies, mountain air, and the hush of nature, it’s a space to rest deeply and return to what feels sacred. Our time together will be nourished by food lovingly prepared by our hearth keeper, who holds the warmth and hospitality of the gathering with care.

Rooted in the rhythms of the sun and moon, and in the sacred geometry of the directions, this retreat calls you home to your soul’s centre. Over three gentle days, we’ll share story, ceremony, stillness, and reflection, opening space to reconnect with the cycles that have guided humanity for millennia.

You’ll be guided to explore:

  • How ancient and universal maps, such as solstice cycles and compass directions, can offer grounding, meaning, and orientation in modern life

  • Nature-based ceremonies that renew your sense of connection to self, community, and the Earth

  • A deepened awareness of interbeing with the sacred presence that flows through all things

This retreat is both spacious and profound. Between meditative rituals, elemental connection, and shared storytelling, you’ll find moments for quiet contemplation, creative expression, and heartfelt conversation. Held within a hearth-space of warmth, reverence, and love, it is an invitation to pause, listen deeply, and honour the mysteries that shape our lives.

Investment (please note, fees include shared accommodation and all meals):

  • £360 – OneSpirit Students (Birch & Cherry Tree)
  • £384 – ROSIM members
  • £480 – Non-ROSIM ministers

Meet Your Facilitator: Annie

Annie’s passion for experiential spirituality and for the profound heart of humanity has led her, over the last three decades, into diverse faith paths, spiritual traditions and cultural communities. Through study but also relationships with friends, neighbours and colleagues, Annie has been touched by the privilege and challenge of being welcomed into others’ worlds. Annie shares this ongoing and self-reflective enquiry into how to really listen deeply to and connect with another in the Ministry training programme.

Alongside her tutor role at OneSpirit, Annie is currently engaged in a ‘grassroots’ voluntary ministry in a local urban project, where she is the ‘garden chaplain’ of a therapeutic gardening project for vulnerable members of the local community. Annie is drawn to this ministry through her lifelong affinity with the natural world and finds meaning in empowering others to share in cherishing and regenerating green spaces, particularly in improving the quality of life for all in urban environments.

Annie is an experienced spiritual accompanier/coach and qualified chaplain, with NHS training in mental health spiritual care in an interfaith context. She draws on a degree and MA from Cambridge University in Theology and Religious Studies and her professional formation as a teacher, undergirding her commitment to diversity and social justice issues of inner cities. Annie joined OneSpirit as a tutor in 2016 and is ordained. She enjoys working with classes in day workshops, residential and online contexts and is interested in how we form deep, mutually enriching connections through these different approaches.

With a side-line in mural painting and a prolific writer, Annie has published numerous books and articles offering reflections and ceremony resources, particularly about key interests in the Feminine Divine, deep ecology and the mystical heart of sacred texts.

Register Here

January 2026: Online Offering

The Sacred Art of Relating: Relationships and Presence as Spiritual Practice

  • Venue: Online, lovingly held in the evening via Zoom
  • Dates: 14, 21, 28 January 2026 
  • Facilitators: Monica Douglas + guest

At the heart of ministry, and indeed, of life, lies the way we relate: with ourselves, with others, and with the divine. The Sacred Art of Relating is an online offering that invites you to step into Conscious Communication as a living spiritual practice, one that nurtures presence, empathy, and wisdom in every encounter.

Over three evenings together, we will explore how to meet each person, moment, and conversation not just with skill, but with grounded awareness and sacred attention. Drawing on OneSpirit’s conscious communication framework, you’ll practise the art of showing up fully:

  • Listening with the whole body

  • Responding from presence rather than reactivity

  • Meeting difference with humility, compassion, and clarity

Together, we will create a rich, relational space where communication becomes more than exchange, it becomes a sacred meeting place. Whether you are ministering, facilitating, or simply deepening your daily interactions, this module offers tools and practices to strengthen the heart of connection.

Investment:

  • Free – OneSpirit Students (Birch & Cherry Tree)
  • £120 – ROSIM members
  • £150 – Non-ROSIM ministers

Meet Your Facilitator: Monica

Monica Douglas is a OneSpirit Minister, Spiritual Companion, experienced tutor and founder of The Wild Wisdom Oracle. She brings over 25 years of embodied spiritual practice, healing work and facilitation to her ministry.

With a heart-rooted presence and a deep respect for the sacred in all traditions, Monica supports people to connect with their Divine Beloved, in whatever form that takes, and to live from that connection in everyday life. Her work is dedicated to helping others allow themselves to be loved and to become love in action in the world.

As a OneSpirit tutor, Monica creates spacious, compassionate learning environments where participants can explore their callings, deepen their spiritual authority and be held in the beauty of shared inquiry. Her facilitation is grounded in presence, ritual and relational wisdom, drawing from her own interspiritual path and African Caribbean heritage.Monica’s wider ministry includes spiritual counselling, relationship coaching, grief and end-of-life work, and creating sacred spaces both online and in person where people can be witnessed, held and renewed.

She brings a sense of reverence, humility and joy to her ministry, believing that spiritual companionship and deep listening are essential tools for healing and collective transformation.

Sign Up Here

May 2026: In-Person Residential Retreat

Healing Our Relationship with the More-Than-Human World

    Venue: Ham Green House, Bristol 
    Dates: 11 – 13 May 2026
    Facilitator: Sarah MacDonald

    At the threshold of spring’s full blossoming, as the Earth moves through Beltane’s time of renewal and union, we gather to reconnect with the living world as sacred partner. This retreat invites us to move beyond “nature connection” and into a reciprocal, embodied relationship with the Earth and all forms of life.

    Held in a beautiful, nature-filled setting that embodies the spirit of Beltane, the land itself becomes our teacher, vibrant, abundant, and alive. Nourishing, home-cooked food prepared by our hearth keeper will sustain and ground us throughout our time together, offering warmth and care as we open to the season’s vitality.

    Through guided practices including sit-spot meditations, somatic awareness, gentle movement, and creative exploration, we’ll be invited to deepen into:

    • How we sense, feel, and communicate with the living world around us

    • Ways to hold grief and longing for the ecological crisis while cultivating hope and renewal

    • How ritual can offer healing, reconciliation, and gratitude between humans and the wider web of life

    This retreat is experiential, spacious, and emotionally supportive, with practices designed to regulate the nervous system and honour the tenderness of awakening. It offers both a threshold for personal renewal and a deepening of our shared ministry as Earth-conscious beings.

    Investment (please note, fees include shared accommodation and all meals):

    • £360 – OneSpirit Students (Birch & Cherry Tree)
    • £384 – ROSIM members
    • £480 – Non-ROSIM ministers

    Meet Your Facilitator: Sarah

    Sarah was fortunate to encounter T’ai Chi aged just 16 and she’s been practising ever since. T’ai Chi led to Qigong, a related Taoist practice which includes meditation, healing, creativity and spiritual development. She is now a respected teacher of the Hua Gong style. Wishing to find a stronger means of embodying the benefits of her practice in the world, she joined OneSpirit and was ordained in 2014.

    She served as a mentor for the class of 2017. The healing practice led her to explore health in all its forms and she holds an MA in Health Education. She has worked extensively in the voluntary sector, supporting people with addictions, mental health issues, homelessness and a history of offending before joining the Bristol Cancer Help Centre in 2003. She is now responsible for developing psycho-spiritual education programmes for people with cancer, and for training and accrediting facilitators to run them.

    She has an abiding interest in holistic health and healing, a strong call to sacred activism and an abiding love of the wild. She lives in Bristol with her husband and 3 teenagers.

    Join Us Here

    May 2026: Online Offering

    Deepening Your Spiritual Practice: Fire and Renewal at Beltane

      • Venue: Online, lovingly held in the evening via Zoom
      • Dates: 20 & 27 May 2026 (evenings via Zoom)
      • Facilitators: Monica Douglas + guest

      Beltane marks a season of blossoming, creative energy, and sacred vitality. This online module invites you to rekindle the fire of your spiritual practice, finding both grounded steadiness and vibrant renewal as you step into the bright season of growth.

      Through guided meditations, reflective exercises, and gentle, embodied practices, we will:

      • Explore the balance between stillness and vitality in personal practice

      • Connect with the seasonal energy of Beltane to inspire renewal and creativity

      • Identify and gently navigate inner obstacles, bringing fresh energy to ministerial and personal paths

      Each session weaves together ceremony, reflection, and peer connection, creating a supportive community space to deepen and sustain your spiritual life.

      Investment:

      • Free – OneSpirit Students (Birch & Cherry Tree)
      • £120 – ROSIM members
      • £150 – Non-ROSIM ministers

      Meet Your Facilitator: Monica

      Monica Douglas is a OneSpirit Minister, Spiritual Companion, experienced tutor and founder of The Wild Wisdom Oracle. She brings over 25 years of embodied spiritual practice, healing work and facilitation to her ministry.

      With a heart-rooted presence and a deep respect for the sacred in all traditions, Monica supports people to connect with their Divine Beloved, in whatever form that takes, and to live from that connection in everyday life. Her work is dedicated to helping others allow themselves to be loved and to become love in action in the world.

      As a OneSpirit tutor, Monica creates spacious, compassionate learning environments where participants can explore their callings, deepen their spiritual authority and be held in the beauty of shared inquiry. Her facilitation is grounded in presence, ritual and relational wisdom, drawing from her own interspiritual path and African Caribbean heritage.Monica’s wider ministry includes spiritual counselling, relationship coaching, grief and end-of-life work, and creating sacred spaces both online and in person where people can be witnessed, held and renewed.

      She brings a sense of reverence, humility and joy to her ministry, believing that spiritual companionship and deep listening are essential tools for healing and collective transformation.

      Apply Here