Welcome to Oak Abbey!
Thank you for visiting! Named in honor of my beloved Soul Friend, Saint Brigid of Kildare, I hope you will find some inspiration and comfort here. You are most welcome to sit by Brigid’s Hearth with me and sip some tea, struggle, heal, grow, and celebrate the Mystery. I’m so glad you are here!
My name is Cheryl Anne Maris and I have been spinning my inner and outer experiences into words from the time I learned to form letters on the page. Whether listening, reading, pondering, praying, singing or writing; my life has been a love affair with words. I am a sporadically published poet, singer/songwriter, and liturgist.
Over the last 30 years I have facilitated Celtic spirituality groups, women’s circles, and creative writing groups; both in person and online. With a background in Celtic and Contemplative studies and music, I have served in parish and itinerant ministry.
My greatest joy is spending time with my family and friends. Along with human kin and my granddoggy, Koji, I count all manner of flora and fauna (and beings that only I can see!) among my family and friends. I live a simple, semi-monastic life in the weird, wild world, where I currently work in the field of healthcare to the best of my ability as a person with lifelong chronic illness and pain. Just enough grace for each day; for which I am incredibly grateful. I am presently (v e r y s l o w l y) writing a spiritual memoir.
A kind note from my son, who helped make this space possible for me:
“ This is Cheryl’s son—I’m briefly interjecting here to toot her horn. As long as I can remember my mother has been writing. The prolificness is hard to capture. In helping her spin this project up I was shocked to login to previous blogs and see just how many poems she had written, and how consistently. This is in addition to writing published elsewhere, or to Facebook, or what remained in journals.
Although this Substack is new, her commitment to her writing practice has been ongoing for decades. For it to finally have a home brings me immense joy excitement.”— Jon-Kyle Mohr
Regardless of your level of engagement, I am glad you’re here! To learn more, take a look at my introductory entry:
Deep Peace and Gentlest Blessings,
Cheryl Anne
