Please read on for an exclusive extract from the Ripening audiobook, and for Ripening and related events in May and June. This email is likely to be cut short by your email provider – so do click on the title to read the full thing in your browser, and to ask a question or leave a comment.

I don’t want to write about the state of the world; there are stories out there that just don’t grow any richer and deeper with their retelling. It’s not that I want to turn my face away from it all either, but I’d always rather focus my energies on what little I might be offer in response, rather than how it’s all going terribly wrong. In our Nostos online community earlier this week (more of which below) I shared a quote from the Stoic philosopher Epictetus, who – even though I too am capable of joyously embracing a philosophy of life which can be roughly translated as ‘Just get a grip, will you?’ – I find to be only marginally less irritating than other Stoics (that’s a whole other article for another day, possibly entitled ‘Why Marcus Aurelius makes me want to spit’). It was from Book III of his Discourses, which has an interesting section on one of the core ideas in Stoic philosophy: its insistence that we let go of what we can’t control.

The section is entitled ‘That we should not become attached to things that are not within our power’, and in it Epictetus argues (among other things) that the appropriate response to grief can be found by approaching it not just in a spirit of passive acceptance, but instead an active embrace of the ephemerality of all things, even those we love the most. When the things – including youth and good health – and people we love vanish, then – or, more topically, when the world we love begins to disintegrate around us – we can accept the loss with gratitude for their presence in our lives and the beauty and nourishment they offered us during the time they were present. In this way, Epictetus reminds us on the one hand that nothing is really ours to control, and on the other hand to focus on the place where we are now: the place where we have at least some agency to influence outcomes. And so he tells a young student who’s worrying about what’s happening in another place, and what news he’ll find in a letter he’s expecting from there:

‘Isn’t it enough for you to be unhappy where you actually are, but must you be unhappy too beyond the seas and by correspondence? Is that the security in which your affairs stand?’ (Robin Hand translation.)

Which, I have to admit, did make me laugh (and it’s not often that a Stoic – or any philosopher, for that matter – has made me laugh).

It’s important to say that Epictetus wasn’t trying to say we shouldn’t engage with the world: that would be very un-Stoic indeed. He was simply trying to suggest that we remain fully present to what we love while we love it, even when anticipating its loss; and that we focus on the place where our feet are presently planted, and on changing the things that we have the power to change. Is that the best possible answer to everything we’re grappling with today? I don’t know for sure, but all my instincts tell me it’s a very good start indeed.

And meanwhile, it’s (mostly) spring, here in the Beauteous Vale. The oystercatchers are back, and my great loves the lapwings too. There’s wild garlic in abundance down by the river and an army of broody little birds sizing up the thick ivy on the front wall of our house. Not everything is broken, and I’m grateful for all the beauty in this place where I’m lucky enough to have planted my feet.

I’m grateful to my publishers for offering my subscribers this five-minute extract from the audiobook of Ripening, which I recorded up in Edinburgh in January. And if you enjoy it, you can find an Audible preorder link below.

Here’s what we have sorted right now:

April 27, 5pm (UK time), online via Zoom. Author Spotlight with Loralee Scott of Pacifica Graduate Institute: Ripening: Why Women Need Fairy Tales Now. Register for free here.

May 12, 7pm. An Evening of Fairy Tales and Folklore with Dr Sharon Blackie. Seed Talk, Cecil Sharp House, London. Tickets here.

May 19, evening. Ripening: Why Women Need Fairy Tales now. Topping & Co, Bath. Tickets here.

May 21, 1–4pm. Ripening: Why Women Need Fairy Tales now. Event via Alternatives at Glastonbury Town Hall. Tickets here.

May 22, 6.30pm for 7.30pm. Ripening: Why Women Need Fairy Tales now. Ashburton Arts Centre, via Craftmongers. Tickets here.

September 28, 7pm. Topping & Co, Edinburgh – details coming soon.

September 29, Topping & Co, St Andrews – details coming soon.

Although there a couple more events in the offing, that’s pretty close to the final list, as I’m reluctant to spend any more time on the road this year. Anything else will be highlighted here in future monthly newsletters.

June 13 – 14. Keynote talk at the Spiritual Ecology Festival 2026, St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, London. Information and tickets here.

June 25 – 28. Talk on the mythic imagination at The Realisation Festival, St Giles House, Dorset. Information and bookings here.

We’ve had a rich and thoughtful start to our explorations in the Nostos online community, and it’s been a pleasure to see more men joining us, as well as my usual quota of wonderful women. I do have to say, though, that as I spend more time in the world of philosophy, it’s become quite clear to me that it definitely needs to cultivate the feminine a bit more! That’s not to say that there aren’t some fine women philosophers out there, but goodness me, the entire discipline is still deeply left-brained. It’s all pure intellectualising, even among those who claim to be interested in philosophy as a way of life. Mostly, they appear to mean philosophy as a way of intellectual life!

As a kind of antidote to all that, what I’m trying to do at Nostos, by weaving together threads from philosophy and depth psychology, is bring the soul back into it – and of course the anima mundi, the world soul of ancient philosophical tradition, was always conceived of as feminine. I’m also interested – heaven forbid – in bringing the body back into it, too. So if you fancy coming along for the ride, you can find out more by clicking on that nice blue button below.

For those of you still thinking of booking on our November retreat who are wondering what Broughton is like, and what the ambience of such an event is: here’s a short video recorded during my last retreat there, back in February. This remarkable old well sits under the beautiful Broughton Hall, way down in its cellars. To say that it has a unique energy would be an understatement. Here, you can see how the lovely Broughton team candle-lit the way down so that pilgrimages could be undertaken by retreat participants. You can be sure that there’ll be plenty of well magic and well stories in November, too.

It was a pleasure to speak about the impetus for Nostos with Brian James, for his very fine ‘Howl in the Wilderness’ podcast. If you’re still wondering what Nostos is all about, do have a listen.

Many of you will know of my love for English folk singer and songwriter Emily Portman’s beautiful selkie song, ‘Grey Stone’, which also makes a cameo appearance in Ripening. I’m delighted to say she has a new album coming, along with a new song, Fox’s Song, which explores midlife transformation and which was inspired by the opening story, ‘The Woman Who Became a Fox’, in my last book Wise Women. Listen here: