"In our grasshopper and salamander days,
who among us didn't ask why
the grasshopper could jump so far—
or why the salamander had black dots on its orange body...
We lived by wonder, for by wondering we were able
to multiply a growing consciousness of being alive."
—Richard Lewis, Living by Wonder
This retreat is designed especially for pairs of one adult and one child (ages 10-16). The retreat includes:
Join us for our traditional "non-traditional" Stations of the Cross at Rolling Ridge on Friday, April 18; this is the walking meditation we have done here for more than a decade, through the sacred spaces and forest paths in and near the Retreat House. The details of the script for this change every year but the core remains the same: re-visioned Stations created lovingly and prayerfully from gathered pieces of our lives (and always visually compelling), time for walking mindfully and in silence together through the springkissed forest, opportunities for speaking aloud the cry from our hearts, and finally a gathered community waiting in darkness and hope.
We'll begin with a simple Lenten meal of soup and bread at the Retreat House at 5 pm, followed by the Stations (probably beginning around 6).
Retreat Leaders: Julie Gabrielli and Lindsay McLaughlin
Cost: $210 (scholarships available).
Much has been spoken about the hero's journey, but what of the heroine? Is she the one who waits, like Penelope, endlessly weaving and unweaving, for the hero to return? Is she merely the place that people are trying to get back to, or does she have a journey of her own? The answer, carried deep within the stories of women around the world, and throughout time, is a resounding yes.
This heroine's journey wends a profoundly different path: circular, growing, embracing, expanding, learning. Yet often as women we have been grabbed time and again by a hero's story that just doesn't fit us, and we wonder why something in our lives feels off.
"There are questions that can make or unmake a life, questions that have patiently waited for you, questions that have no right to go away." -- David Whyte, Sometimes
In the depths of winter's hibernation, are there questions waiting patiently for us to notice, hold, discern?
We invite you to join other men from our region for a "wilderness wandering" on February 28-March 1 at the Still Point Mountain Retreat at Rolling Ridge in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Let the natural world draw us into those spaces that are frozen in our consciousness.
We will begin with a shared evening meal between 6-7 pm on Friday night.
The time will include a series of individual and group interactions, wandering in the wilderness on Saturday, and conclude late Saturday afternoon with another communal meal.
The cost for the night will be $25 . Bring food for yourself and to share with others. The event is limited to 12 men, so be sure to sign up now!
We come into the stillness like snowfall, the air alive with angels, every blessed flake singular and mysterious, what's outside quiet now, and changing form. Quickening, we breathe silence. Presence holds our lives in hush. Light dazzles. Listening, we learn to answer. — Jeanne Lohmann
Gather at Rolling Ridge Study Retreat for Friday Vespers, followed by 7:00 pm dinner and Compline. Arrive Friday after 1:00 pm. Retreat ends following Terce/closing blessing at 10 am on Sunday.
I long to slip into cracks of silence where breath is connected to spirit and spirit to wind and a sense of oneness resonates in my core — Karyn D. Dedar
Gather at Still Point Mountain Retreat for Friday Vespers, followed by 7:00 p.m. dinner and Compline. Arrive Friday after 1:00 p.m. Retreat Ends 10:00 a.m. Sunday. Gathered participants will follow Prayer of the Hours until Sunday morning, interspersed with ample times for silence and rambling in the winter woods, warming around the fire, reading or writing in the library, reflecting through art, and enjoying one another in community. Come away and rest.
The Lord's prayer is a practice and template for the spiritual journey.
This 8-week retreat is designed for immersion in the spirituality of the Lord's Prayer, uncovering the richness and depth that can inform your spiritual unfolding. Each week concentrates on one line from the Lord's Prayer and incorporates insights from the story of the Hebrew exodus from Egypt and from the Beatitudes to uncover the template of the spiritual journey that is embedded in the prayer.
The season of Advent is an annual invitation to quietly reflect on what gives us hope as we hear again the ancient prophetic stories of light in the darkness, of dreams, of stars, and angelic visitations. The mystery and wonder of these echoing images bring us to new awareness of the gift and power of story to heal and transform.
Yet often the quiet song of the nativity narratives and other essential stories is muffled by the raucous, strident drumbeat of our modern distorted and consumer-skewed worldview. This retreat is designed to help each of us turn away for a time from the dissonant chords of what’s not working in our lives and open to the new stories that want to be born among us.
Please join us for the Annual Meeting of Rolling Ridge Study Retreat Community on November 9th, 2013 from 10am-4pm
Gathering at this time of year is an opportunity to mark the seasons of our life together. We will welcome new residential community members, honor transitions of people on the board, and look ahead at new possibilities and fledgling dreams. Come prepared to share stories of individual and group experiences during this past year as we weave a narrative of the intersection of nature and spirit that is the gift of this place and this many-faceted community.
Bring a dish to share for a potluck lunch.
In the afternoon we?ll have time to walk in the woods, reconnect with friends, help set up fencing for our sheep for winter, and deepen the bonds that nurture us.
This is Animus Valley Institute's popular five-day experiential plunge into the wild depths of Soulcraft; a synergistic set of nature-based practices designed to evoke the life-shifting experience of soul encounter. Your soul is your true self, those qualities that most deeply define and express who you are and the unique gift that you were born to bring to the world, a world so much in need of the socially transforming contributions of initiated, actively engaged adults. To encounter the soul is to discover the mystical image you were born with, which reveals the path to your greatest personal fulfillment as well as the essence of your true service to society (the cross-cultural wisdom traditions say these are one and the same).