As winter gathers and the days shorten, in this final episode of the season, Marina reflects on the Rowan tree, the act of wintering, and the hidden life beneath stillness.  

Here are some of her reflections:

• The Rowan as a winter guardian, its bright berries offering sustenance and protection in the dark months.
• The solstice as a time of descent, when we enter the heart’s cave and tend the inner fire that keeps us alive through uncertainty.
• How stillness and retreat restore our capacity to listen, dream, and notice what truly matters.
• The importance of reworking our stories — how memory, identity, and imagination can evolve with the seasons.
• The denials that shape our modern crisis: of planetary limits, of our entanglement with the living world, and of our own vulnerability.
• How fear and defensiveness rise in turbulent times, and the invitation to find gentler, more connected ways forward.

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com