Wild ritual: Martin Shaw

26 March 2026, The Tablet

His major premise is that we have lost initiatory rituals, and remain forever stuck in affective adolescence. We are, spiritually, not fully grown.

We are probably familiar with the call, often repeated and described as imperative, to recover the mythical character of Christian belief. This is all well and good, and easy to agree with; but what, in practice, does it mean? What do we need to do? Martin Shaw wants to show us. For years, Shaw has run wilderness retreats, using storytelling and myth to encourage personal change; he is now an Orthodox Christian.

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