Hearthside: A Manifesto
Hearthside Rhythms is about returning heart to hearth.
A homecoming.
To groundedness, comfort, and connection.
In times gone by, the hearth was the centre of life. It provided warmth, light, a place to cook, and a cosy gathering spot.
Symbolising community, it was where stories were shared, rituals upheld, and bonds strengthened, making it the cherished centre of household life.
Artwork commissioned by me and created by Grace Taylor for Hearthside Rhythms
There is a sense of deep knowing in the word ‘hearth’.
It feels elemental, old, alive, resonant like the vibration you feel of a drum, cell deep, long after the sound has echoed.
It conjures an image of a cosy fireplace, the sounds of embers crackling and hissing, the faint lingering of woodsmoke, and the sense of being warmed, cradled from the darkness that lurks outside the firelight.
Hearth returns us to our nature.
It returns us to the Latin ‘educere’ which means to lead out or to bring forth. Educere is not concerned with learning from an expert, but rather, with the inner experience which is guided outwards.
Hearth shepherds us back to our innate knowing of how to cultivate a heart led home; an essence that embraces our household.
It is not dependent on physcial space.
Your hearth is brought forth from your heart — it can go wherever you go.
YOU are the knower. YOU are the cognoscente for your family, embodied with the responsive breadth of knowledge patchworked together over generations. It is not the same as my knowledge, though it is equally complex and varied.
This is being hearthside — intuitive rhythmicity.
So much of our focus in this world is outwards, and yet, without our hearth, our heart, our home, life lacks depth and meaning. Returning heart to hearth is about recognising the value of this quintessence and those hearth keepers that keep the fire burning.
Once we can rekindle heart into hearth, then perhaps we can begin to lead it out, fire cupped gently against the winds of discord, back into the world.
A re-illumination.
A remembering that we are nature; our stewardship of our own hearts and hearths is an apprenticeship for caring for the original hEARTH.
Are you ready to become a sacred steward of your own heart and hearth?
Warmest,
Rachel x