The Cosmic Walk is a narrative template and ritual for telling the story of the universe in an embodied way. It was developed by Sr. Miriam MacGillis at Genesis Farm in New Jersey in the 1980s and has been shared and modified by many people around the world since. Essentially, we walk a timeline of the history of the universe, either in a spiral format or as a journey across the landscape, telling the story of the universe while reflecting on and feeling into the many events across its 13.8 billion year history that have led to this moment. It’s a powerful process that brings the learning of our heads down into our hearts and bodies to feel the immensity of the cosmic history of which we are all each a part.

Cosmic Walking at St Mark's youth service, Canada

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The Cosmic Walk process is educational, engaging, and heart-opening, telling a story of the universe in an epic format that interweaves people, places, and environments in a common thread that includes everyone and everything as part of its cosmic journey. This process connects our lives to the origin of the universe and reveals the sacred magnificence and cosmic connections of everyday life. It provides a context for our lives that has meaning and purpose and also connects us to potential sources of guidance towards how we might discover and share our own gifts with the world as part of this cosmic journey.

Cosmic Walk in the Utah wilderness, 2005

I am currently offering the Cosmic Walk in two formats. The first is as a community ritual, where we walk the 13.8 billion year journey of the universe together around a spiral timeline, as an expression of gratitude, appreciating all of the gifts of the universe we have received from the birth of the universe until this moment. This can take place in a space across of at least 30 feet, either indoors or outside, and for groups of up to 30 people. It can be done in as short a time as 90 minutes, or as a half- or full-day workshop with additional material and context presented before and after the community ritual.

Please contact me about offering a Cosmic Walk ritual for your group.

Illuminated cosmic walk at night

The second form of the Cosmic Walk that I offer is as a storytelling journey across the landscape, walking and talking together a scaled distance through the countryside, reflecting on the immense stretches of time that have taken place over the history of the universe. The story we tell together in our walking is the story of the living landscape that surrounds us as well as our own participation in it. It’s a wonderful experience to be outside interacting with the living world while learning about its history and creativity. This outdoor journey can be of any length, scaled to the needs of the participants. The longest Cosmic Walk I have done to date was 13.8 km through the beautiful mountains of the Czech Republic, with each km representing one billion years of cosmic history, and each meter walked representing 10,000 years!
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Please contact me about offering a Cosmic Landscape Walk for your group.

Steve leading a Cosmic Walk in the beautiful Czech countryside

Above is a 2020 documentary in Czech and English describing our Cosmic Walking event through the Bedskydy Mountains in the Czech Republic

Discussing cosmic history and its importance for daily life on our Cosmic Walk

Walking together and talking about cosmic history

More information on the Cosmic Walk and its variants can be found on these websites:

https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/eco-catholic/cosmic-walk-ritual-celebration-universe-story
https://www.universewalk.co.uk/
https://pagaian.org/articles/cosmic-walk-script/