Welcome

I'm a Scottish sacred musician, interspiritual minister and singer songwriter now living in rural Vermont.  These songs & reflections are my soul's way of making sense of the beauty, vulnerability and endless richness of this human life. It's a gift and a pleasure to share them with you. 

Upcoming in early October

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Previous events

Deep Calls Unto Deep: A Contemplative Exploration of the Psalms in Our Life and Practice

(EDT, UTC-04) (EDT, UTC-04)

Online only

Join Abbey of the Arts for this experiential webinar with guides Simon de Voil and David Wallace. We will be learning about and engaging with the Book of Psalms through teaching, music, writing, and contemplative listening, with opportunities for sharing and for spiritual companionship. All spiritual wayfarers from any (or no) spiritual orientation or tradition will find wisdom, song, and practice to nourish their life’s journey.

Week 1 — An Intimate Encounter: Engaging with the Psalms as Living Poetry of Our Souls

Week 2 — The Psalmist as Spiritual Companion: Examining the Unique Gifts We Each Bring to The Psalms

Week 3 — The Fullness of Life: Discovering Our Shared Humanity

Week 4 — Embodying the Psalms: Serving as Anam Cara to All Beings.

Cost = $100 (you can pay a little less or more depending upon your income) https://abbeyofthearts.com/calendar/deep-calls-unto-deep/

Deep Calls Unto Deep: A Contemplative Exploration of the Psalms in Our Life and Practice

(EDT, UTC-04) (EDT, UTC-04)

Online only

Join Abbey of the Arts for this experiential webinar with guides Simon de Voil and David Wallace. We will be learning about and engaging with the Book of Psalms through teaching, music, writing, and contemplative listening, with opportunities for sharing and for spiritual companionship. All spiritual wayfarers from any (or no) spiritual orientation or tradition will find wisdom, song, and practice to nourish their life’s journey.

Week 1 — An Intimate Encounter: Engaging with the Psalms as Living Poetry of Our Souls

Week 2 — The Psalmist as Spiritual Companion: Examining the Unique Gifts We Each Bring to The Psalms

Week 3 — The Fullness of Life: Discovering Our Shared Humanity

Week 4 — Embodying the Psalms: Serving as Anam Cara to All Beings.

Cost = $100 (you can pay a little less or more depending upon your income) https://abbeyofthearts.com/calendar/deep-calls-unto-deep/

Deep Calls Unto Deep: A Contemplative Exploration of the Psalms in Our Life and Practice

(EDT, UTC-04) (EDT, UTC-04)

Online only

Join Abbey of the Arts for this experiential webinar with guides Simon de Voil and David Wallace. We will be learning about and engaging with the Book of Psalms through teaching, music, writing, and contemplative listening, with opportunities for sharing and for spiritual companionship. All spiritual wayfarers from any (or no) spiritual orientation or tradition will find wisdom, song, and practice to nourish their life’s journey.

Week 1 — An Intimate Encounter: Engaging with the Psalms as Living Poetry of Our Souls

Week 2 — The Psalmist as Spiritual Companion: Examining the Unique Gifts We Each Bring to The Psalms

Week 3 — The Fullness of Life: Discovering Our Shared Humanity

Week 4 — Embodying the Psalms: Serving as Anam Cara to All Beings.

Cost = $100 (you can pay a little less or more depending upon your income) https://abbeyofthearts.com/calendar/deep-calls-unto-deep/

POSTPONED - Celtic Christianity in Modern America

(PDT, UTC-07) (PDT, UTC-07)

Online only

New date is Tuesday August 29th.

This workshop is no longer in person and will be hosted on Zoom

Workshop description:
For a loosely woven spiritual tradition that took shape some 1400 years ago, Celtic Christianity has a surprising amount to teach about living a good life today.

Emerging from the clan and place-based cultures of Ireland, Britain, Wales, and Brittany, Celtic Christianity offers a very different ethos than the doctrine delivered by the imperial, patriarchal Roman Church. Some of the guiding principles we can draw from Celtic Christianity include:

  • Recognizing the living earth as the substance of Godde

  • Discovering Christ in the stranger’s guise (in creatures, creation, and fellow humans)

  • Learning to read the big book of Creation alongside the wee books of scripture

  • Awakening the soul through beauty and ritual

  • Cherishing the earth as an active spiritual practice

In this experiential workshop, Simon will incorporate song, storytelling, and both ancient and modern prayer to share his living version and vision of Celtic Christianity.

Cost is $20

(50% discount available for all who need this - use code 50OFF at checkout)

Offering sermon & song with Washington UU Congregation VT

(EDT, UTC-04) (EDT, UTC-04)

UU church, 2938 VT Route 110, Washington

This is an in-person event only as this rural summer-only church does not have wifi.

Sermon title: The Spiral Way The Celtic spiritual tradition is a spiral way, one that honors non-linear consciousness and intimately follows nature’s rhythms of rising and falling, fullness and emptiness. When we open ourselves to this way of being in relationship to time’s unfolding, we discover a profound wisdom that honors our own seasons of flowering and fruitfulness, as well as seasons of release, surrender, fallowness, stillness, and mystery. This talk will explore the holy days of the Wheel of the Year, and invite us to consider how we might use these touchpoints to live in a way that deeply honors both body and soul.

Offering sermon & song with Washington UU Congregation VT

(EDT, UTC-04) (EDT, UTC-04)

UU church, 2938 VT Route 110, Washington

This is an in-person event only as this rural summer only church does not have wifi.

Title: Bardic Blessing: Song as Prayer.
According to Greek mystic Pythagoras, “The highest goal of music is to connect one’s soul to their divine nature.” More than mere entertainment, music is a powerful agent for transformation, both personal and collective; song can call us into opening, attune our hearts to a shared rhythm, and stir us to deepen our connection with self, other, and the divine. In this service, Rev. Simon will explore the power of breath and voice to awaken the soul and foster deep connection with the sacred.

This Church service is in person but I will be preaching and sharing music remotely via zoom; all are most welcome. 10am Pacific time zone. Details can be found here https://suquamishucc.org Join on zoom = https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8711889085 Watch on FB = https://www.facebook.com/suquamishucc

Title: I Am Not a Mistake - Meeting God as a Queer Soul

A God that doesn't include us all is too small to believe in.
Growing up queer and non-binary, I was introduced to a God that didn't have room for me, and a church that didn't believe in me.

As I aged and grew into my transgender identity, I was blessed to meet another God entirely: a God who is in and of every single one of us. A God who delights in our gorgeous variety. A God who speaks through radical love and hospitality. A God who invites us into not just affirmation but joyous celebration of all sexuality, all genders, all families, all love. Come meet that God with me.

Taizé-Inspired Sacred Chant

(EDT, UTC-04) (EDT, UTC-04)

On zoom

Join Rev Simon Ruth de Voil for this Taizé inspired service of contemplative chanting that honors the Christian & Jewish traditions.

Taizé is an ecumenical abbey in France with an emphasis on simplicity, reconciliation, and kindness. In the 1950s the prior commissioned a composer to set many of the core teachings into simple chants that the pilgrims and youth who flock to Taizé could participate in voicing. The result was the birth of a new form of monastic chanting that is beautiful, meditative, accessible, and sings to the heart of the Christian tradition.

https://abbeyofthearts.com/calendar/taize-inspired-sacred-chant-june23/

Iona & the Papar monks (with poet Kenneth Steven & musician Simon de Voil)

 — (EDT, UTC-04) — (EDT, UTC-04)

Zoom event

Simon de Voil and Kenneth Steven, musician and writer respectively, share on the theme of Iona's pilgrim monks the Papars. Iona has been part of who they’ve become and what they believe, and in this time of sharing poetry and song they will talk together about what inspires them about these early Celts monks.

Link to the replay of this event https://www.crowdcast.io/c/iona-papar

This 90 min experience workshop will be online and in person. Scholarships will be available to both the public and members of SDI.

Workshop description: According to Greek mystic Pythagoras, “The highest goal of music is to connect one’s soul to their divine nature.” More than mere entertainment, music is a powerful agent for transformation, both personal and collective; song can call us into opening, attune our hearts to a shared rhythm, and stir us to deepen our connection with self, other, and the divine.

In the Celtic Bardic tradition, music is understood to be a divine gift, intrinsically linked with community-based rituals and with individual spiritual practice. Music belongs to and arises from each of us, regardless of our training—we all carry soul-songs. This participatory workshop will consist largely of shared music and shared contemplative silence, including the opportunity to experience audio divina, deep listening as a form of prayer, and to optionally join in chanting and song, exploring the power of breath and voice to awaken the soul and foster deep connection.

https://www.sdicompanions.org/sdi-events/conferences/conference-2023/workshops-a/#a9

Workshop: The spiral year - Celtic wisdom of the seasons

 — (EDT, UTC-04) — (EDT, UTC-04)

Online event hosted by OneSpirit Learning Alliance

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION: The Celtic spiritual tradition is a spiral way, one that honors non-linear consciousness and intimately follows nature’s rhythms of rising and falling, of fullness and emptiness. When we open ourselves to this way of being in relationship to time’s unfolding, we discover a profound wisdom that honors our own seasons of flowering and fruitfulness, as well as seasons of release, surrender, fallowness, stillness, and mystery. It empowers us to live in a way that deeply honors both body and soul. This is a radically counter-cultural way of being in the world.

This is an online event facilitated by Dr. Christine Valters Paintner & Rev. Simon Ruth de Voil

Price: General Public: $ 100.00 | One Spirit Graduates and Students: $ 90.00

https://www.1spirit.org/workshops/live-workshops/spiral-year

Workshop on Celtic Christianity

 — (EDT, UTC-04) — (EDT, UTC-04)

Kanuga, 130 Kanuga Chapel Drive, Hendersonville, NC 28739

Workshop title - Celtic Christianity: Finding Our Home in This World

Rev. Simon de Voil will lead us in a day retreat on the beautiful grounds of Kanuga exploring the topic of Celtic Christianity. This is an in-person event.

Ticket and more information https://www.eventbrite.com/e/celtic-christianity-finding-our-home-in-this-world-tickets-565673102477?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

All events are Eastern Time (USA) unless otherwise specified