Wild Goose Chase

Annie Heppenstall points us towards finding God in all aspects of daily life and in the natural world around us. She provides prayers, reflections and practical suggestions on such topics as how to create sacred space in the home and how to use contemplation and prayer in relation to times of the day, days of the week and the seasons.

The book’s many resources for individuals and groups include body prayers, bead prayers, a covenant of salt, shrine-making, contemplations for various daily activities, and a leaderless Eucharist.

Writing from a Christian perspective but drawing on several other traditions as well, and emphasising an ecological outlook, the author brings out the spiritual within everyday, simple things, to help us live a life grounded but aligned with spirit.

Annie Heppenstall has a degree in Theology and Religious Studies from Cambridge University, is involved in lay ministry in the church and works as a primary school teacher specialising in music, art and religious education. She is the author of Reclaiming the Sealskin: Meditations in the Celtic Spirit, also published by Wild Goose Publications.

221 pages

Review from James Woodward (author: Valuing Age: Mission & Ministry Among Older People, Praying the Lectionary, Public Life & the Place of the Church, and others)

This is a real gem of a book! It is full of treasure and rather like reading a cookery book, one gets the sense that the author is fully immersed in the exciting process of what it means to explore our spirituality in the everyday business of life. The writing has emerged out of practice.



The title is an evocative one. The book provides a wide range of resources to help the reader or group explore the journey that each of us makes as we seek to live ordinary life in a spiritual way. It challenges us to move out of our comfort zone of the over-familiar, to learn new ways of shared living and reflection, in order to dig deeper into the timeless depth of feeling and spiritual energy. Can we discover new ways of enabling our soul's journey to discover the God of love?

There are two reasons for the title. First, its focus is on birds and their significance. Birds often appear as spiritual beings sent by God to communicate divine messages. So seven chapters deal with the Raven; the Dove; the Cockerel; the Eagle; the Phoenix; the Sparrow and the Swallow; the Swan and the Wild Goose, as a way into dealing with a variety of spiritual themes, including God in the ordinary; seeking and finding love; communions; communication and meeting our needs.

Second, the title reminds us of the dangers of controlling the spirit within established religious institutions! We are always searching, unsettled, questioning, open to change and movement and transformation. This is a radical gospel that demands much more than we can give and is often more liberating and exciting than we allow for.

The book opens these themes up in a very practical and challenging way. The book deserves to find its way into all the wrong sorts of hands for all the right kinds of reasons!

James Woodward