Nick Welsh, Shop Manager of The Iona Community Welcome Centre on the Isle of Iona, shares her monthly book recommendations. This month Nick has expanded her vocabulary!
A friend recently introduced me to a word I had not heard before, merism. It means a figure of speech where the whole is expressed by naming some of its contrasting parts or extremes.
She was using the word as part of a meditative practice. We were to think of an example of merism, then list all the component parts we could think of in between.
I chose dark and light and I spent a very beautiful time imagining all the things that come between these two opposites. My list included:
Twilight, starlight, sunlight, sunbeam
Clarity, dusk, dawn, moonlight,
Glimmerings, sunrise, sunset
Moonrise, moonset, northern lights
Shooting stars, fireworks, glaring hot sun
Shadows, safety, sheltering.
It read like a poem (maybe not a very good one!) but what struck me most was how many of these images were backdrops to the dark. Light is most beautiful when seen against a dark background.
I worked night shifts as a nurse for over 20 years. My favourite time of the night was just as the first hint of light came into the dark, and the birds began to sing. It is a liminal time, a time of possibilities and beauty and change.
I love winter for the long nights, candles and fire light, Christmas sparkle, a clear starry night and the snap of cold, with the privilege of being able to retreat into a warm space when needed. But most of all I love winter for the drawing in on oneself, quiet contemplation and the sense of renewal and refreshing both body and mind and soul. And for the celebration that the birth of Christ brings, the light of the world.
Book recommendations
- Light of the World: Daily Readings for Advent by Peter Millar
- Whispers of Light by Joy Mead
- After Advent by Janet Lees
- Meister Eckhart’s Book of Darkness & Light: Meditations on the Path of the Wayless Way by Jon M. Sweeney and Mark Burrows
If you would like further book recommendations, or have any recommendations for me, please feel free to email me at [email protected]
Photo credit: Iona Community/ B Forsyth
USA North East