{"id":3938,"date":"2026-01-17T17:46:32","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T17:46:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/?p=3938"},"modified":"2026-03-28T09:39:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T09:39:40","slug":"the-rewilding-yearbook-a-12-month-journey-to-discover-the-wild-within-you-by-eleanor-cheetham-and-maddy-winterbrook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/2026\/01\/17\/the-rewilding-yearbook-a-12-month-journey-to-discover-the-wild-within-you-by-eleanor-cheetham-and-maddy-winterbrook\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Rewilding Yearbook: A 12-month journey to discover the wild within you\u2019 by\u00a0Eleanor Cheetham\u00a0and\u00a0Maddy Winterbrook"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018\"\"<\/p>\n

Verbena, 2025<\/p>\n

ISBN:978-1446315712<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reviewed by Debbie Rabia<\/em><\/p>\n

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

The Yearbook is an invitation to personal rewilding, described by Maddy and Eleanor as a search for a deeper relationship with both the Earth and the self. I was already subscribed to the online Wild Academy founded by this book\u2019s authors when their first publication, the Rewilding Yearbook, launched. I was already impressed by their \u2018Rewilding Wheel\u2019 framework and their fresh, contemporary language. While the Wild Academy is specifically for women, the Rewilding Yearbook is for us all and I recommend it. I was intrigued to learn that the Yearbook\u2019s authors had both independently graduated to Bardic grade Druidry and spent a year living \u2018off-grid\u2019, prior to developing the concept of rewilding the self. Just a few years ago, they founded the Wild Academy which offers a community where women experience a cyclical, nature-based path of \u2018untaming\u2019 or authentic self-discovery and empowerment.<\/p>\n

The path of personal rewilding may variously be described as esoteric, sacred, spiritual, holistic. It is immersive, experiential and familiar to fellow-travellers on an eco-spiritual pilgrimage. I am particularly encouraged by the openness of the language. I know GreenSpirit members who remain uncomfortable with the word \u2018spirit\u2019, for example. Rewilding students are encouraged to seek the most personally meaningful language. The Yearbook is contemporary, accessible and word-rich in its approach. I find the Rewilding Wheel framework used in this book fascinating. Based on the Wheel of the Year, it explores a calendar of correspondences including the thirteen native trees of the Tree Ogham and Jungian archetypes which expand upon the Earth Mother in her many guises. We learn about the lunar cycles and animal guides and are introduced to seasonal \u2018soulscapes\u2019. I use both the Yearbook and online resources in my local GreenSpirit group celebrations of the Wheel of the Year festivals.<\/p>\n

Maddy and Eleanor refer us to the collective \u2018greening of the self\u2019 called for by deep ecologist, Joanna Macy. They see our decisive moment or Great Turning, as a shift towards the cultivation of the wild self. The Rewilding Yearbook points us to the \u2018fork in the road\u2019 faced by humanity:<\/p>\n

\u201cSlowly, but surely, we\u2019re beginning to question the long-established interpretations of what it means to be human\u2026. We\u2019re challenging the cultural narrative that places humans at the top of the hierarchy and defines\u2018nature\u2019 and \u2018the environment\u2019 as separate and other; a resource to be dominated and exploited\u2026<\/p>\n

In its place, a rewilded perspective is unfurling that positions humans as an equal part of the interconnected web of life and also embraces the land beyond our walls and windows as our home.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018 Verbena, 2025 ISBN:978-1446315712   Reviewed by Debbie Rabia ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3938"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3963,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938\/revisions\/3963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}