Sacred places
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/c075e0e5-ce54-4079-bce5-9573acbdbe03/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Memoir
idea
My three decades alone, basking in the company of a mountain
I live alone in a mountain cabin. Is my solitary life an indulgence, a form of madness or a route to spiritual fulfilment?
by Susanne Sener
![Aerial view of a swimmer in a blue swimming pool with marked lanes, water ripples, and reflection. Only one swimmer is visible in the middle lane.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/80e00b50-5da9-42aa-953f-c946c9c8a2ac/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Sacred places
idea
I swim to think and to stay afloat in an ever-wetter world
‘The Beames my Bones, my flesh the plankes’: in pools, I glimpse the future of our terrestrial bodies in an ocean world
by Steve Mentz
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/03020a2e-4604-4ed8-a416-3268fd2014f5/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Poetry
film
Irish hills, folk music and David Whyte’s poetry form a fleeting, meditative moment
Directed by Andrew Hinton
![Tree with colourful rags and trinkets tied to branches, overlooking a scenic lake and green landscape in the background.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/16ea5cf4-8079-40f9-8992-bce29f5b68f8/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Sacred places
idea
Paganism is a potent force in Ireland’s conservation movement
Long-held beliefs in an ‘Otherworld’ inhabited by wrathful fairies are now driving a resurgence in Irish eco-activism
by Juju Lane
![Ancient stone carving of a woman standing beside intricately decorated circular patterns and floral motifs, with ruins in the background.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/fc9d7b41-a55e-463d-b5f5-f710cff5906d/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Sacred places
idea
Why Indian Buddhism has gardens, not monasteries
Wishing trees, jewels, unfading flowers – what place do these sensual pleasures have in the ascetic life of Buddhist monks?
by Simran Agarwal
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/06607d6f-c78c-426f-9b73-2475d182389b/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Sacred places
film
From the rhythms of the dying day to a cosmic journey of transformation
Directed by Simon Feat
![A woman and child stand on a barren, fire-ravaged landscape with scorched trees and hills in the background under a cloudy sky.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/97184871-df6b-425f-9d2e-828d3e35b06e/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Sacred places
idea
Our children will need to find the beauty in our burnt planet
How will our children find beauty in a world rapidly breaking into what observers call a spectacle of unremitting loss?
by Stephen J Pyne
![Mountain landscape with a winding dirt path, large rocks, green hills and a cloudy sky.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/19e4f408-2eac-429f-afc0-797093f8eef1/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Sacred places
idea
Nan Shepherd delved into a queer erotic kinship with nature
In the Highlands, Nan Shepherd found an erotic kinship with nature: ‘The Living Mountain’ a core text for queer ecology
by Melissa Matthewson
![Person standing on rocky coastline with a cooler in a cart, looking out at the ocean waves.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/84b4c254-39bf-47c9-b06e-bb2f8178e907/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Sacred places
film
We were born in paradise: seaside stories from a mysterious spot in Mexico
Directed by Mariano Rentería Garnica