Rewild your sense of wonder and rediscover how nature provides sacred guidance through life's circular and seasonal journey. Rewildling retreats & pilgrimages are a response to the longing to deeply connect with the sacred, surrounding and within the wild world.

Weaving words that reconnect and deepen one to nature, Mary writes from within the wisdom of creation spirituality and the peregrination tradition, both which invite ways of being that bring humanity into a deep sense of belonging to the world and one another. 

All of us need guidance at some point in the Journey. Waymarkers comes alongside individuals and groups who long to experience personal transformation through soulful travel, and those who desire to participate in the cultivation of the culture of a place.  

“Mary DeJong is the next Wendell Berry; however instead of writing from a farm, her voice is rooted in an urban forest.”
— Dwight Friesen, The Parish Collective 
 
The heady and magical days of Spring are fully alive in our backyard! Fairy houses are being created and tended, fresh picked herbal teas are steeping, and the children are happy and whole! This annual scene inspired the intro to my essay with #theotherjournal on Hildegard of Bingen and the sacred service of entheogenic plants. May you rediscover a sense for the Sacred right in your own backyard too! And may this delightful practice of building fairy houses never end... #entheogenicplants #entheogens #sacredecology #numinousnature #hildegard #hildegardvonbingen #herbalremedies #fairyhouses #rewildingwonder #rewildingworship
I had the opportunity to head east to the woods this morning with this bright light. She teaches me how, and who, to see with such clarity. I’m grateful to have her as my guide 🙏 #rewildingwonder #rewildingwheel #sacredforest #sacredwild #sacredecology #forestwisdom
Urban wild. This unfurling friend was roadside along an arterial that rarely sees cars stop. While I’m taking this picture, grateful for the presence of my fern-totem, a car pulls up behind me and a voice calls out my name. @reyaborn a dear soul-sister I haven’t seen in ages is there! Woman! It was medicine to see you!! #urbanwild #numinousnature #synchronicity #wayfinders #swordfern #fiddleheadferns
Getting clarity and integrating intentions on this sacred walk this morning in #victoriabritishcolumbia that was complete happen chance, and yet not really. That a labyrinth was just minutes from our lodging on a morning when I most needed it was serendipitous. Grateful for how walking this path sets the soul straight! #labyrinth #victoriabritishcolumbia #victorialabyrinth #waymarkers #holypath #sacredpath
I've been asked recently how I "came up" with the name Waymarkers. • The name Waymarkers comes from the themes of the exilic journey in the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, a journey that guides Israel back to her homeland. In Jeremiah 31:21 there is a command to set up way marks, collected items from the natural world believed to likely be heaps of stones, or pole-like trees, put upon the path to guide the traveler through wild and spacious landscapes. Here there is a sense that the natural world is coming alongside the traveller to provide guidance, wisdom, and a sense of direction towards a place of belonging. • That there are inherent markers along our path inspired the title of my book Waymarkers, a guide book fashioned after the vade mecum of old, accompanying the pilgrim through every step of the sacred journey to Iona, Scotland. • There is still a deep longing in our Western culture to wander towards these wild and sacred places and to have this wayfairing lead to deep meaning, renewed ways of seeing, and back to our own sense of grounded belonging to this Earth and the communities in which we live. Where are the markers within creation that mark your path? Can you discern those features within the natural world that are set up to guide your way? • Waymarkers exists to provide accompaniment along your personal path of spiritual formation so to receive guidance from your particular places, cultivating a sacred perception of the soul and wild nature. • #waymarkers #guideposts #sacredecology #numinousnature #revelatoryworld #sacredcreation #ecotheology #rewildingwonder #reeildingworship
Nine women said YES to the Call to make a sacred pilgrimage to Iona, Scotland this July with Waymarkers and I couldn't be more honored to be present as one of many guides to their journey. And while I may be their facilitator, these women in many ways will be my teacher. I cannot wait to learn from them about how they experienced the Call. Did it whisper? Did it wail? Did it wait patiently with undeniable presence until an affirmative response was given? • I hope that you too may learn and benefit from their journey! • ✨Calling by Nancy Shaffer "When you heard that voice and knew finally it called for you and what it was saying—where were you? Were you in the shower, wet and soapy, or chopping cabbage late for dinner? Were you planting radish seeds or seeking one lost sock? Maybe wiping handprints off a window or coaxing words into a sentence. Or coming upon a hyacinth or one last No. Where were you when you heard that ancient voice, and did Yes get born right then and did you weep? Had it called you since before you even were, and when you knew that, did your joy escape all holding? Where were you when you heard that calling voice, and how, in that moment, did you mark it? How, ever after, are you changed? Tell us, please, all you can about that voice. Teach us how to listen, how to hear. Teach us all you can of saying Yes.” #ionapilgrimage #sacredjourney #celticpilgrimage #ionascotland #heatheredhills #holyhills #celticspirituality
Finding a rainbow of color within the natural world is a fun and playful challenge I’ll extend to myself and children while out on a hike or walk. Yesterday we were playing on a lake shore beach and the environs at first glance appeared pretty grey. This practice elicits joy as we begin to see more carefully and attune to who else is there! Thank you @iseetheking for playing with us! #naturerainbow #ecotherapy #ecotheology #deepecology #sacrednature #sacredecology
Emergence! New Life! The Living Earth proclaims the patterns of the Paschal Mystery: life comes out of the dark places of descent. #ecotheology #sacredecology #paschalpattern #cosmicchrist
Within the Celtic tradition, to make pilgrimage was to seek after the place of one’s resurrection, the place was a location where God’s will for a pilgrim would be revealed and fulfilled. On this Easter Sunday, it seems appropriate to lean into this resurrection theme and the questions we bring to the journey. • • Make a commitment to yourself and your community to rediscover the divine will for your life and make pilgrimage to Iona, Scotland! Discover what sacred mystery remains in the tomb (the deep soul-places that have felt inaccessible, lost, and broken) for you, your life, and your future! Registration for this journey closes soon. Don’t delay! • • #iona #ionascotland #celticpilgrimage #ionapilgrimage #rewildingwonder #rewildingworship #celticspirituality #heroinesjourney
While on Iona, one rewilds their worship by singing matins with the corncrakes and taking in the maritime wind as sacrament. Engaging the liturgical services provided by the Iona Community at the Iona Abbey is also meaningful. This is one of the oldest religious centers in Western Europe. Come walk in the cloisters, echoes of the past and hope for the future whisper within these walls. • • Come sing. Come pray. Come be healed and whole’d on Iona! Registration closes for the 2018 Iona Pilgrimage on April 1! #iona #ionacommunity #ionascotland #celticpilgrimage #ionapilgrimage #rewildingworship #rewildingwonder #celticspirituality #ionaabbey #columba
While on Iona it is easy to be called to be silent with the stones and the sea. The wind here too is extraordinary and invites one to balance all the prayers and practice with play, an activity we take seriously on pilgrimage! A good journey helps us find the lost and scattered bits of ourselves, returning us back into wholeness. Because of the burdens of life, play can often be forgotten in exchange for responsibility. • • Come play with us pilgrims on Iona this summer, a kind of play that will remind you of who you are and who you are meant to be! Registration closes for the 2018 Iona Pilgrimage on April 1! • • #ionascotland #iona #ionapilgrimage #celticpilgrimage #holyplay #sacredelements #rewildingwonder #rewildingworship #sacredecology #celticspirituality
The highest point on Iona is a hillock called Dun-I. ‘Dun’ is Gaelic for hill, and “I” is what Iona was once called. This is a holy hill, a place upon which it is said that the Celtic goddess Bride (St. Bridget) herself came to bless the waters that gather and flow from this high place. Pilgrims climb to Dun-I for the wonderful panoramic views of the many other Hebridean islands, for the perspectives it offers, and to receive refreshment and life’s reorientation from this sacred spring, known as the Well of Healing or Tobar nah Aois. • • What new perspective do you desire? Of what do you need healing? Come, let us climb Dun-I together, receiving that which this holy hill might offer. Spots are still available for the Iona Pilgrimage and registration closes on April 1, 2018. #ionascotland #celticpilgrimage #rewildingwonder #rewildingworship #deepecology #celticspirituality #waymarkerspilgrimage #hebridesislands
These are stones on the north end of Iona, the white-sanded-beach-end where Waymarkers pilgrims make themselves their home while on the holy isle. These are storied stones, formed through a millennia of moving mountains and surging seas. The narratives contained within these stony slabs will be read to us by Fiona Menzies, who lives on the island and who has a doctorate in its geology. Through the arc of Deep History, she shows us the sacred story of Iona’s formation, meaningfully connecting it to our lives today. Here we learn to remember why our places matter; this muscle memory is exercised here and becomes empowered to see our homescapes when we return renewed. • • Come to Iona to remember yourself back into wholeness through the unique experience of this particular storied landscape! Spots are still available for this summer’s Iona Pilgrimage and registration closes on April 1, 2018. #ionabeach #ionastones #ionanorthbeach #ionageology #sacredecology #storiedland #celticpilgrimage #ionapilgrimage #rewildingwonder #rewildingworship #deeptime #sacredevolutionarycosmology #heroinesjourney #ionacommunity #ionahostel
This week I am going to be sharing pictures of the sacred wild that exists on the Holy Isle of Iona. I have been guiding pilgrimages to this site for fourteen years and I’m honored to be doing so again this July. Registration for this journey closes this Sunday, April 1. • • Curious? That may be The Call inviting you to cross the threshold into the wild and precious cathedral of creation! Questions? Ask them! I’d be honored to guide you through an inquiry to discern if this journey is for you. • • More information can be found in my profile! • #ionascotland #pilgrim #pilgrimage #celticpilgrimage #sacredwild #labyrinth #columbasbay #waymarkerspilgrimage #heroinesjourney #thecall #archetypaltravel #transformativetravel
We wrapped up the Spring Equinox with a fire and sharing an evening meal of pancakes around it. May this Spring ignite your transformative creativity! #rewildingwheel #rewildingyear #rewildingwonder #springfire #sacredelements #deepecology #ecotheology #sacredcurcuit