Christine Valters Paintner's Blog, page 47

Give Me a Word 2022

In ancient times, wise men and women fled out into the desert to find a place where they could be fully present to the divine and to their own inner struggles at work within them. The desert became a place to enter into the refiner’s fire and be stripped down to one’s holy essence. The desert was a threshold place where you emerged different than when you entered.

Many people followed these ammas and abbas, seeking their wisdom and guidance for a meaningful life. One tradition was to ask for a word – this word or phrase would be something on which to ponder for many days, weeks, months, sometimes a whole lifetime. This practice is connected to lectio divina, where we approach the sacred texts with the same request – “give me a word” we ask – something to nourish me, challenge me, a word I can wrestle with and grow into. The word which chooses us has the potential to transform us.

What is your word for the year ahead? A word which contains within it a seed of invitation to cross a new threshold in your life?

Share your word in the comments section below by January 6, 2022 and you are automatically entered for the prize drawing (prizes listed below).

A FREE 12-DAY ONLINE MINI-RETREAT TO HELP YOUR WORD CHOOSE YOU. . .

As in past years, we are offering all Abbey newsletter subscribers a gift: a free 12-day online mini-retreat with a suggested practice for each day to help your word choose you and to deepen into your word once it has found you. Even if you participated last year, you are more than welcome to register again.

Subscribe to our email newsletter and you will receive a link to start your mini-retreat today. Your information will never be shared or sold. (If you are already subscribed to the newsletter, look for the link in the Sunday, December 5th email and at the bottom of each Sunday following).

WIN A PRIZE – RANDOM DRAWING GIVEAWAY ENTER BY JANUARY 6th!One space in the Virtual Celtic Pilgrimage: The Wisdom of the Irish Saints Brigid, Ciaran, & GobnaitFour people will win their choice of our self-study online retreats (with 15 to choose from!)One signed copy of Breath Prayer: An Ancient Practice for the Everyday SacredOne signed copy of The Wisdom of Wild Grace: Poems by Christine Valters PaintnerOne signed copy of Dreaming of Stones: Poems by Christine Valters PaintnerPlease share your word with us in the comments below

(and it would be wonderful if you included a sentence about what it means for you)

Subscribe to the Abbey of the Arts newsletter to receive ongoing inspiration in your in-box. You can choose daily, weekly, or monthly. Share the love with others and invite them to participate. Then stay tuned – on January 9th we will announce the prize winners!

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Sheila Carroll

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Sheila Carroll’s reflection, “Stories as Gifts—A Contemplative Practice.”

If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive. —Barry Lopez, Crow and Weasel

As contemplatives we look for ways to deepen our own spiritual lives and make ourselves more available to others. Story is one pathway to deepening our own pilgrimage and blessing the path of others we know and love.

On my friend Ralph’s seventieth birthday his house filled with friends come to wish him well. Ralph and I were old friends and I sensed this birthday was not an easy one. He was despondent about aging and, even more so, his unfulfilled dreams. Standing on the threshold of his elder years, the vista seemed bleak.

I told the story that I thought he needed, one that would inspire hope and give meaning to this moment in his life. The perfect choice was “Fortune and the Woodcutter,”1. a tale about loss and the return of Magic.

As my story unfolded, his eyes began to twinkle with an inner light. He was clearly pleased to have his concerns acknowledged in a safe but imaginative way. The ending had an implicit promise that all the pathways of his life will ultimately bring him wealth—perhaps not money but meaning.

It was balm for his troubled soul—and to the others present. Each could find their own place in the story.

Giving a story is an act of radical hospitality that invites the listener to “come home” to themselves. The act of giving a story can help someone reconnect to their soul’s deep purpose. Story builds community and offers a sense of belonging in the world. Stories by their very nature bring wholeness because they heal and give us glimpses into the truth we so desperately need in order to live.

Story As a Gift of Time and Meaning

The Sufi mystic, Idris Shaw told a story about two doctors, “Time and Pomegranates,” in which the young doctor went to a sick woman and prescribed pomegranates as the cure for her ailment. Sadly, she did not get well but only worsened.

The young doctor asked the older for advice. The elder said he would personally go and see the woman. A few days later the woman was completely well.

“What did you do to cure her?”

“I gave her pomegranates.”

“What! That is what I did and she did not get well.”

“Ah, said the older man, “I gave her something else as well.”

“Please tell me?”

“I gave her time, time and pomegranates.”

Stories can be a life-saving gift. We can’t know for sure. We can only trust the power of the story to be the medicine the person needs. Consider a person in deep despair and seeing no way out. Simply reading a story aloud to them or better yet, telling it is a gift of time and meaning that may well save them.

When you do offer a story to someone in need, a word of caution; avoid telling the story recipient what you think the meaning is for them. If you respect your listener enough to tell the story, respect them enough to draw their own conclusions.

A disciple once complained, “You tell us stories but you never reveal the meaning to us.”

The master replied, “How would you like it if someone offered you fruit and chewed it up before giving it to you?”

No one can find the meaning for you. Not even the master.

Finding Story Gifts

Here are some suggestions for gathering and giving story gifts.

*Collect your favorite stories from readings into a notebook.
*Read any of Christine Valters Paintner’s books and note the stories embedded in them.
*Write or record stories of your life and give them as sacred gifts to loved ones.
*Be intentional about meeting a friend over tea and share memories of sweet past moments together.
*Call an aging relative and tell them a story of something you did together and what it meant to you.
*Use stories of the mystics and saints as part of your daily prayerful meditation.

Sources for Story Gifts

There are many wonderful collections; here are some of my favorites.

Thomas Merton, The Wisdom of the Desert, New Directions (1970).

William R. White, Speaking in Stories: Resources for Christian Storytellers, Augsburg Publishing House, (1982).

Idris Shah, Tales of the Dervishes: Teaching-Stories Over a Thousand Years, Isf Publishing (2019).

Steve Zeitlin, (editor). Because God Loves Stories: An Anthology of Jewish Storytelling, Touchstone Books (1997).

Sheila Carroll is a storyteller and narrative therapist who is steeped in the oral tradition of her Irish ancestors. Sheila uses the timeless art of story medicine to offer healing and hope to those struggling with illness, depression, post-traumatic stress, grief and loss.  Sheila believes passionately that now is the time each of us must find our unique voice and story—the soul’s fullest expression of itself.  Learn more about Sheila’s work at SheilaCarroll.com.

Notes

1. Allen B. Chinen, In the Ever After – Fairy Tales and the Second Half of Life. 

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Monk in the World Moving with Mystery DVD Now Available

We are delighted to announce that the new Monk in the World: Moving with Mystery DVD is available for pre-order. The Monk Manifesto is a set of 8 principles for contemplative, creative, and compassionate living. It is the Rule of Life for the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks community at Abbey of the Arts. We embrace the practices of Silence and Solitude, Hospitality, Community, Kinship with Creation, Work, Sabbath, Conversion, and Creative Joy. This DVD includes 14 prayer dances for every-body that embody the practices of the Monk Manifesto written by Christine Valters Paintner.

The DVD will begin shipping around December 15, 2021.

Pre-Order the DVD

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Advent Blessings! Please Join Us on Retreat ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims,

Tomorrow we begin a journey through my newest book Breath Prayer: An Ancient Practice for the Everyday Sacred. We are so excited to be diving deeply into this beautiful contemplative practice in community with our retreat starting tomorrow. I will be leading a weekly live Zoom session on Mondays (always recorded) with poetry, songs, and meditation. John will be reflecting on scripture passages which highlight breath and Amanda Dillon will be inviting us into sacred seeing with reflections on art that illuminate these passages. Wisdom Council member Jamie Marich will be inviting us into embodied practices each week. There will be reflection questions and a vibrant facilitated forum for sharing. 

I offer you an excerpt from my Breath Prayer book. Because we are entering into Advent and it is a time for lighting candles I share this prayer to offer as we ignite the sacred flame and behold what it illuminates in our lives. 

Lighting a Candle

I light a flame
to remember
all is sacred
here and now.

The act of lighting a candle creates a shift in intention and energy of the room. Most religious traditions use candles on their altars as a symbol of divine presence or a desire for illumination. For Shabbat services every Friday evening, the candles are lit to welcome the Queen of Sabbath who bestows her gift of rest freely.

In Christian churches for Advent, each week for four weeks, a new candle is added to symbolize the light growing in the darkness. In November candles are lit in remembrance of those who have died. In churches we light candles to represent the prayers we bring. The burdens may feel heavy at time, but fire has a way of purging and purifying.

If we want to create a special atmosphere, we dim lights and set out candles. Something about the warmth of flame rather than a light bulb touches something primal in us.

How often do we light a candle in our daily lives? There are so many opportunities – at the start of the day, as we sit down to meditate or pray, when we sit down to journal or make art, for a meal, when we take a bath, when having a conversation with a beloved one.

Consider finding time each day to light a candle – to mark your prayer time, your mealtime, bathing, or some other activity you want to sanctify. Make a commitment to this act daily – both the lighting of the candle as well as the practice it accompanies. 

This simple act signals to us that we are crossing a threshold, deepening our awareness of how the sacred is present here, now, always. This is true in all moments, but certain ritual acts help us to pause and remember, to pay attention. In some ways it is the physical equivalent of the breath prayer – a way to remember that the holy is here now. Lighting a candle simply magnifies what is already true and amplifies the prayer we say with our breath. 

Your prayer each day might be simply to light a candle for five minutes and repeat the breath prayer gently to yourself during this time. Decide on when you will incorporate this practice into your daily rhythm. Find a candle you love, or a simple beeswax one will do. Begin with a few deep, quiet breaths as you light the lighter or strike the match. As you touch the flame to the wick offer this prayer:

Breathe in:I light a flame
Breathe out:to remember
Breathe in:all is sacred
Breathe out:here and now.

Once the flame is lit, sit for several minutes just repeating this prayer while gazing on the flame. Let the flame be an anchor for your attention along with the words you are speaking. Breathing in say I light a flame, breathing out say to remember. The root of the word remember is re-member, which means to make whole again. Our loving attention and awareness reminds us of our original wholeness. 

Continue the prayer breathing in, all is sacred, breathing out, here and now. The Sufi poet Hafiz writes: “Now is the time to know that all you do is sacred.”[1] And St. Benedict prompts you to remember that each moment of time is sacred, each person you encounter is sacred, and each object you interact with is sacred too. 

I recommend resting into this candle-lighting breath prayer for five minutes before transitioning into whatever sacred activity you were lighting the candle to mark. 

You might also call on this prayer in moments when you don’t have a candle available but are in need of reminding of the sacredness of all moments. You can light a candle in your imagination, calling forth the flame of love in your heart which St. John of the Cross describes in his poetry. This flame burns perpetually, but we can make it a practice to tend it and connect with it in quiet moments so we can remember it is always present when we need it. 

To hear me speak more about the ancient practice of breath prayer, listen to the Ruah Space podcast where I was interviewed this week.

Please join us tomorrow for the Breath Prayer companion retreat for Advent. Melinda will also be leading us in a lovely slow yin yoga practice on Thursday to help us honor the slowing rhythms of winter. And next Saturday is my retreat Birthing the Holy on the wisdom of Mary and the sacred feminine for our journey. 

With great and growing love,

Christine

Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE 

PS – My poem “Waxing and Waning” was published in the Bearings journal online. Click here to read the poem.

[1] “Today” by Hafiz. The Gift: Poems of Hafiz, translated by Daniel Ladinsky. Penguin, 1999. 

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Please send us your input for our Book Club

Greetings dear monks and mystics!

While we’re taking a short hiatus to honor Claudia’s need for time and space to grieve we thought we’d check in with all of you about how our Lift Every Voice Book Club can better suit your needs. We are very committed to continuing this work in one form or another as it is so vital to these times and we have been deeply enriched by it and are hungry for more.

WE’D LOVE YOUR INPUT ON THE FOLLOWING: 

1. Do you find the *monthly video conversations* between the author, Claudia, and myself helpful? We started adding the audio files so you could listen while doing other things. What would make these more helpful? Would you prefer it to be released as a podcast format?

2. Do you find the *daily quotes and questions* posted here in this group helpful?

3. The two times we offered a *community conversation* time it was lovely but a very small group involved. Is there another way you’d feel more engaged in the conversation? Or is the video and/or daily quotes enough? 

4. Would you be interested in a 3 or 4-day retreat online where we bring in our various featured authors (and perhaps some others) to lead 90-120 minute sessions which include contemplative practice? Or a series of mini-retreats throughout the year?

5. Other suggestions? 

Please feel free to send us an email or leave a comment below.

With gratitude in advance for your feedback and suggestions. 

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Monk in the World Guest Post: CJ Shelton

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for CJ Shelton’s reflection “Stitches in Time.”

As a working artist and monk-in-the-world, solitude and quiet are essential and over the past year, multiple pandemic lockdowns have provided plenty of both. Such an unexpected gift of time has allowed me to wrap myself in a self-made cocoon of reflection, to paint more and embark on art projects that might not otherwise have had room to grow.

Along with tending my creative “seeds”, another activity that has provided considerable presence during the pandemic’s downtime is the rather old-fashioned craft of counted cross-stitch. Its rhythmic process of pulling threads in and out, and over and under, is something I have found very meditative and comforting.

Like any project, cross-stitch follows a process: multiple threads need to be sorted, separated and aligned with their corresponding symbols, then correctly stitched into their proper places according to a pre-determined pattern. Each individual thread eventually weaves its part in a greater overall picture, one that is not immediately visible, but rather slowly revealed, stitch by stitch.

Along the way tangles need to be straightened out, mistakes un-picked and redone, and sometimes one simply gets disoriented by counting and recounting all those tiny little squares. Progress can seem very slow until at some point, when the fabric is spread out, you finally see just how much has been accomplished and recognize how each tangle represents a challenge worked through and each mistake something learned. The finished piece becomes all the richer for these lessons in patience and persistence.

During the pandemic I have completed numerous small cross-stitches but one large piece is still ongoing. When my mother passed away eleven years ago, among her craft things I discovered a kit she had started but never completed. The image is of a mother wolf and three pups which I suspect she chose because it reminded her of herself and her own three children.

Whether it was intuition or the gift of extended evenings, as the pandemic began, I decided it was time I finally completed it for her. To pick the project up where my mother left off felt like a sacred act, so I found myself asking for her blessing and her guidance, because oddly, there was no photo of what the finished piece should look like.

The piece is quite large and challenging so needless to say it requires patience. And I am still working on it – both the piece and the patience.

When the going gets tough, I put it aside and tackle something smaller. Or sometimes a pause is necessary to solve a problem, such as when I realized I was running out of embroidery floss. Perhaps my mother had mistakenly used three strands of thread instead of two, since along with no photo, there were no instructions either. Regardless, several trips to the craft store – lessons in patience themselves – have been required to find matching colours.

Over time I have also noticed how different my stitching is from my mother’s. On the front of the piece, this is barely noticeable; my work seamlessly merges with hers. The reverse, however, is a different story. The stitching done by my highly organized mother is distinctly unique from my own and, surprisingly, a lot “messier”. Which makes me think how much cross-stitch is like our lives.

The front represents what we show to the world, the side of us that bravely goes about our day-to-day, appearing for all intents and purposes “well put together”. The backside reflects our inner world, with all its uncertainties, its loose ends and second-guessing. It is bound to look a bit messy. Because life is messy. Our thoughts are messy. Self-doubts, anxieties, frailties, and other human foibles are always present, although sometimes not always apparent to others.

Times of challenge, especially, require that we put on a brave front. My mother survived World War II in London, England during the Blitz, so as I have stitched, I have felt her gently reminding me of what she lived through and of the resilience of the human spirit. Her experience helps put our pandemic challenges in perspective and in the wolf cross-stitch she has left a map of how to navigate such long and perilous periods in time.

We have many such maps available to us, made by both the living and those now in Spirit, but it is up to us to figure out how to complete the section of the journey assigned to us. Completions and new beginnings are rarely abrupt. Any transformative passage is usually preceded by a period of “stitching” and while the destination may be unclear at times, it is in our nature to eventually find our way.

So, I continue to patiently persevere through the wolf cross-stitch as well as other creative endeavours, because whether it is a global health threat, a seed beneath the ground, a painting or a cross-stitch, everything has its rhythm and its season.

Like those who have gone before, we too will eventually look back on the pandemic and our current challenges and see them as stitches in time, threads woven into the fabric of a much bigger picture. However big, or small, or messy, those stitches won’t be nearly as important as the maps and messages we too will leave behind, hidden within the threads of our lives, to one day be picked up and woven by others into theirs.

CJ Shelton is an Artist and Educator who inspires and guides others on their creative and spiritual journeys. Through her art, teaching and shamanic practices, CJ helps reveal the meaning, magic and mystery of the Great Wheel of Life. To learn more about CJ and view her work visit DancingMoonDesigns.ca.

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Embrace the Sacred Feminine ~ A Love Note From Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims,

I am in the final editing stages of my next book Birthing the Holy: Wisdom from Mary to Nurture Creativity and Renewal which will be published in April 2022 by Ave Maria Press. I love all that this project has inspired – another compilation album of songs we are working on and the next week in our Prayer Cycle series – all coming in the spring.  In the book I focus on 31 of Mary’s names or archetypes which offer windows into those qualities we can call upon in ourselves as well. The sacred feminine is not at the expense of the masculine. We need both in healthy balance to one another. The feminine values qualities of intuition, dreaming, receiving, and resting among others. We all hold the feminine and masculine within ourselves. Mary offers us many faces of this sacred feminine presence and can help us to cultivate a slower, more intentional way of being in the world. 

On December 4th I will be leading a mini-retreat for the wonderful people at Spirituality and Practice where we will be exploring three of Mary’s faces – Virgin, Our Lady of the Underworld, and Mystical Rose as we go on a journey from call to incubation to holy birthing. 

Here is an excerpt from my forthcoming book on Mary as Virgin:

We begin with the title of Mary as Virgin, because it is perhaps one of the most familiar and most often used names for her other than Mother. The Annunciation which appears in the Gospel of Luke is the most well-known stories of Mary and has been painted thousands of different ways. An angel appears to a young woman and issues her a life-disrupting invitation. In art, Mary is shown with varying expressions – surprise, fear, joy, peace – depending on the artist and what moment of the encounter they are choosing to illuminate. 

When the angel Gabriel visits Mary, she is given a choice rather than a demand. This is perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the story, that God allows her complete agency in the decision she makes. She is being called to partner with the divine to bring a holy child into the world. Mary is active both in her openness to the choice and saying yes to the angel’s invitation, as well as surrendering to the divine desire: “Let it be done to me.” This is an aspect of the sacred feminine at work – this holy yielding to what is being offered. The divine unfolding is dependent upon Mary’s full “yes.” Contemplative teacher Cynthia Bourgeault highlights that in this moment, it is God who waits upon Mary.

Jungian analyst Marion Woodman described the virgin archetype as having less to do with physical intactness and purity, as it does with emotional wholeness and sovereign power. The Virgin archetype is whole, belonging to herself, and impregnated with divine love. “She is who she is because that is who she is.” She is free of the dictates of family and culture. The Virgin reconciles all opposites within herself and has everything she needs within to bring new things to life. 

Theologian Elizabeth Johnson describes the archetype of virgin this way: “More than a biological reality, being a virgin indicates a state of mind characterized by fearlessness and independence of purpose. Whether wife or mother, the virgin retains an inner autonomy. . . When this becomes the lens for interpreting Mary’s virginity, the resulting image can function spiritually and politically to encourage women’s integrity and self-direction.” This can be a much more empowering image of Virgin than we have traditionally received where Mary is often upheld as an impossible model of femininity. 

Devotion to Mary as Virgin means being drawn to the power she contains within herself and radiates out generously to the world. We are drawn to her because she is a mindful and loving presence who reflects this gift back to us. She empowers us to find this independence of purpose and autonomy within ourselves. 

The Virgin archetype invites us to integrate both the feminine and masculine energies within us, cultivating a deep connection to the divine within, and open ourselves fully to our own inner resources. She reminds us that ultimately we do not rely on anyone else for our sense of power and presence in the world other than the divine spark within. She insists that we have full consent over the direction our choices take us. 

Sadly, the church tradition around virginity has held quite strongly to Mary’s perpetual physical virginity as the dominant aspect of her being. The early church’s upholding of the status of virginity as a holier kind of human state has often led to scorn for the physical, material, and sensual world. Mary has been used to uphold a model of femininity that is very restrictive and rejecting of the beauty and sacredness that sensuality and sexuality can offer to our lives. The shadow is what remains unconscious. All archetypes have a dark or shadow side which can be harmful when acted from without seeing clearly. For example, in the monastic tradition there has been an elevation of the path of virginity to a point that the body was often denigrated. It can encourage a dualistic approach to the world where body and soul become divided from one another.

Rather, the Virgin Mary calls each of us to consider our own innate wholeness. What are the messages we receive from family and culture that tell us we are somehow incomplete unless we lose weight, become more productive, earn more money, gain more success? Claiming the Virgin archetype means not questioning our worthiness and knowing that with every invitation, we hold the power to say yes or no. So many of us feel stretched thin by too many commitments and we forget that with every yes we respond with means we are also saying no to having enough energy for something else that might be important to us. Often this means self-care is necessary without apology and the nourishment needed to deeply replenish ourselves, avoiding burnout, and being of service in the world. 

If you’d like to make some time during Advent to invite Mary to guide you more deeply into your own journey of holy birthing please join me on December 4th. 

(And if you’d like to go more deeply into Breath Prayer as a companion retreat experience to my book, we are starting a 4-week series on November 29th.)

More ways to celebrate Advent with us below including a lovely yoga class with Melinda, a contemplative prayer service with Simon and me, and a retreat I am leading for Spirit of Sophia Center on The Spiral Way and Celtic Spirituality. See details below.

With great and growing love,

Christine

Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE

Image credit: © Kreg Yingst (you can ) 

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Monk in the World Guest Post: John Spiesman

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for John Spiesman’s reflection “A Threshold Journey.”

I have been thinking a lot about thresholds in this challenging and uncertain time of global pandemic. A threshold is the space between — something old and new, between an end and a beginning, between something known and unknown.  This time for me has been a time between old and new, between an end and a beginning, and between something known and unknown. This time has encouraged me to wonder what happens when I approach a threshold, what and who will I be as I approach the threshold, as I walk through the threshold, and on the other side of the threshold.   I know I have generally resisted not only these thoughts but accepting this as a threshold time for me because of the unknown.  In my humanness I definitely (many times) approach the unknown with reluctance, even though I well know that one of the constants of my humanity is CHANGE. I have come to believe that this time I am experiencing is truly a thin time and am reminded that something new and beautiful is unfolding in me and throughout the Earth. I am filled with awe, wonder, and gratitude.  This is truly a time of death and resurrection –AND all its opportunities for soul work. 

Picture: Dream a New Day. November 20, 2020 ©John Spiesman

During this time of global pandemic, I have been drawn to Christine’s book, The Soul’s Slow Ripening, in which she states that thresholds demand that we step into the in-between place of letting go of what has been while awaiting what it still to come (p. 3). What a unique call this is for a man entering life’s fourth quarter, pondering and reflecting on all that has come before. What could possibly be left to ripen in a fourth quarter soul, I’ve wondered. Then I remind myself that eternal time of the soul is not linear, and the pandemic the Earth has experienced is a mere blink of the eye in the non-linear time of the Universe.  I have worked extremely hard to do as Christine suggests – to release my need to control the outcome of this time, and to allow this time to be a threshold time for me just as it is for our beloved Earth. 

This threshold time has become a time of discernment for me. I ponder who I was before March of 2020, and anticipate who I can be in the last months of 2021, or in 2022. I have learned to savor this time between to think about possible next steps in my earthly journey – a season has perhaps come to an end – and just what might that mean – Just what is a liminal time, and how has this past 19 months been liminal?  I think the most difficult part is being in a time between and knowing that there are things that must be let go so that I can continue to grow and evolve in my own consciousness, depth, and life journey. This letting go, I know, leads to rebirth.

I wonder what could happen if, during this time of uncertainty, confusion, and fear, I (and we collectively) could allow a time of rich and graced transformation to enter the picture?  Would some of our anxiety and fear disappear if we were able to look at this time as an in-between time, and let go?   What might happen if we stayed grounded, centered, connected to the Earth and Universe while searching for a sign of something new to begin to come forth?  

Jungian Analyst Angeles Arrien reminds us that throughout time, thresholds and gates have been symbolic of passageways into new worlds. She notes that these symbols are imprinted in our psyches and announce the possibility of new life or even a new identity. Arrien says that gates and thresholds offer “an opportunity for communion between different worlds: the sacred and profane, the internal and external, the subjective and objective, the visible and invisible, and the waking and dreaming.” (p. 9*) This has certainly caught my curiosity as these months have continued to linger on – and just about each of Arrien’s examples hold true for me – I am clearly passing from a pre-pandemic to post-post pandemic world whether I like it or not, and there is definitely a new identity on the horizon as I begin to emerge – one in which I am so much more aware of the sacred, the internal, the invisible and the dreaming – filled with gratitude for having that opportunity for communion between these two worlds in which we find ourselves. I have been able to discern perhaps for the very first time just what communion is – with the universe and with all creation – and find myself holding space for myself, for others, and for the Earth as something new is being birthed. Arrien suggests that a threshold is the place or moment where transformation, learning, and integration occurs, while a gate is the place of protection and testing, essential before the entry to the threshold – so perhaps part of this Covid-19 experience has been the gate, and part the threshold – definitely something to continue to ponder as I process the test and protection, the learning and the transformation with gratitude and hope. 

Christine’s discussion of Seasons of a Lifetime (Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life) makes me yearn for that rhythm of life that has been true. I am reminded that For Everything there is a Season (Ecclesiastes 3:1), and have learned that within and between seasons there can be tension – perhaps the tension of being at a gate….. or perhaps the tension of approaching a threshold…. Or even a tension of living between. I feel strongly that collectively these past months have brought us all into this tension – definitely grief and joy together, and for me, the tension of old and new – of cleaning my personal house and discerning what my interior self might look like when the Earth is borne anew in its post-pandemic form, and most essentially, ponder as Christine suggests, “What is it the season for?” (p.87). What a gift this has been, an opportunity of and for slow discernment. My prayer is (for myself and all the Earth) that this practice will be ours together.

 I spent many, many days dreaming a new day, and in closing, offer this poem.

Dream a New Day

Dream a New Day
Joy, Sorrow, Hope?
Dancing together at sunrise
The Universe awakens

Joy, Sorrow, Hope?
The Dream Maker knows
The Universe awakens
A gift revealed

The Dream Maker knows
Connection with Divine
A gift revealed
Isolation, Despair or Hope?

Connection with Divine
Dancing together at sunrise
Isolation, Despair or Hope?
Dream a New Day


Some of my favorite books:
Arrien, A. (2007). The Second Half of Life: Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom. Sounds True. Louisville, CO.
Valters Paintner, C. (2021). Sacred time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life. Sorin Books. Notre Dame, IN.
Valters Paintner, C. (2018). The Soul’s Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred. Sorin Books. Notre Dame, IN.

John Spiesman has journeyed in formation as a spiritual director, and in dream work through The Haden Institute. Formed in the Jungian Mystical Christian tradition, he welcomes and accompanies journeyers who long for a deeper relationship with the Divine.  John’s interests include spiritual symbols and ritual, church wounds, vocational calls, the Celtic Anam Cara and Celtic Spirituality, the sacred masculine journey, the empath’s journey, as well as intuitive dream work, and dream work in psychotherapy.  John has been a career educator, and currently serves as a Licensed Independent Social Worker, pastoral counselor, spiritual companion and dream worker in Ohio, USA. He can be reached through his website: www.spsj.care. 

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Monk in the World Video Podcasts (Creative Joy) ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims,

It is with great joy that we share our final video podcasts for morning and evening prayer in the Monk in the World prayer cycle. Our last principle of the Monk Manifesto is Creative Joy! This principle is about cultivating our practice of being a dancing monk in the world and allowing wonder and delight to guide our days. If you’ve been enriched by these free resources for prayer, please consider offering a donation to help support our continued development of the prayer cycle. We are grateful for the generosity of this community. 

As the season of Advent approaches, we invite you to join Betsey Beckman and Kathleen Kichline next Friday – Saturday, November 19-20th for a mini-retreat Once Upon a Time in a Town Called Nazareth. This will be a time of Sabbath to journey with the young Jewish girl, Mary as she encounters the Angel Gabriel and says “yes!” to God’s call. Through creative practices, ritual, and imagination, we will explore how God calls each of us to the gift of incarnation and invites us to the birthing of new life. It’s a wonderful way to enter Advent and practice the principle of Creative Joy! Below is a reflection by Betsey and Kathleen.

Advent comes around each year and offers such a lovely chance to contemplate Mary as a vessel of incarnation and invitation to us all.  Luckily, we (Kathleen Kichline and Betsey Beckman) have discovered that this is a subject the two of us are equally passionate about!  Hosting Once Upon a Time in a Town Called Nazareth. has become an annual live event, and this past year we discovered our retreat adapts to life online beautifully, surprising even us with how meaningful, intimate, and beautiful it can be.  

Sabbath is a subject near and dear to Abbey aficionados and has recently been explored by Rabbi Zari Weiss in her retreat at the Abbey.  For our retreat, framed by the beautiful rhythms of Shabbat, we enter the “once upon a time” story, and go back to a time before the world knew of how God’s unique incarnation on Earth would take place, before the Christ’s inbreaking changed history forever.  Friday evening sets the stage, as we join in welcoming Sabbath just as a young Jewish girl would have done in her small first-century town in Palestine.  With Mary, we enter a time of not-knowing, and expectant waiting within our own lives.  On Saturday morning, all heaven breaks loose!  We witness how God’s messenger in angelic form visits this young girl asking her to be a part of the Divine plan.  Her remarkable response and our invitation to do the same, is explored through story-dance, art, poetry, and prayerful reflection.  This timeless moment becomes incarnate again, here, and now in our lives and world.  

Both Kathleen and I (Betsey) know the terrifying and awe-inspiring moments of experiencing Spirit in our lives, and we share a common passion for responding with courage and humility.  If you’ve attended many events at Abbey of the Arts, you will know that my response includes carefully cavorting across mountaintops and through monasteries, playfully dancing with life and inviting you to join in!  I am delighted to introduce you to my friend and colleague, Kathleen Kichline, who has journeyed deeply into the scriptural stories of women and finds inspiration there to live her own life’s “Amen.”  She has a gentle, thought-provoking approach to the stories in Scripture that teases meaning out and invites the listener in.  I am excited about her forthcoming book: WHY THESE WOMEN? Four Stories You Need to Read Before You Read the Story of Jesus. 

It is a joy for Kathleen and me to work together and inspire one another.  The bond between us and the immediacy of our interaction has become a tangible part of the retreat itself.  This year, our retreat will take place before Advent begins and will hopefully set the stage for a rich season of joy and reflection.  We are so pleased this year to invite the community of Abbey of the Arts on this journey to Nazareth and back again through the gift of Sabbath. 

With great and growing love,

Christine

Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Kathleen Deyer Buldoc

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Kathleen Deyer Buldoc’s reflection “Window of Hope.”

I soften my gaze as I stare out my study window, looking beyond what is to what was and what is yet to come.

My mother is dead, lost with hundreds of thousands of others to Covid19. She fought her way to the end, as stubborn in dying as she was in living. Dementia stole most of her memory, but it didn’t steal her will to live.

This window frames a garden. Beyond the garden is a gated fence, and beyond the gate, a meadow. Spring is working its magic today, the earth bursting with new life. Such a metaphor for the old aphorism, life goes on. It’s nearly five months now since Mom died. Thank God for hospice, who made sure we could sit vigil with her at the end.

I never dreamed that holding a hand could act as an intersection between heaven and earth; an attachment between two people standing at the portal, one hovering, not-quite-ready to cross over the threshold; the other firmly grounded on this side of the opening. Like the ghost pains from an amputated limb, I still see and feel Mom’s hand in mine; can still smell the Jergen’s Lotion I used to massage that hand during her last days.

My mother loved this window where I sit today. When I walked her through our new home ten years ago she looked out at the spring garden, lushly blooming with daffodils, lilacs, and a profusion of dame’s rocket. She turned to me, her face aglow, bouncing on the balls of her feet. This is it! This is yours! Yours, Kathy! All yours!

I thought she meant the house and garden, but I’ve come to believe she meant this room, this window, this view.

It’s taken me ten years to claim this room as my own. A room for writing and dreaming and praying. A room where I do the work of reflecting on who I am, on whose I am, on what the events of life might mean. For ten years we used it as a guest suite, part of our retreat center, Cloudland, where we welcome friends and strangers alike to spend time alone with God. This room seemed perfect, with its window view of the garden, its second window looking out over the fields. My room could wait, I thought. My room could wait.

Dementia was just beginning to work its insidious way through Mom’s brain as she stood at this window ten years ago. Today, looking back, I remember how I thought her words a little strange as she bounced up and down, clapping her hands. What does she mean, I wondered, it’s yours, Kathy, all yours?

Mom enjoyed working when she married my father in 1951. Her salary helped put him through college. But once I was born she did what the majority of women did in the 50’s. She became a full-time homemaker. I chose the same path when my first-born came along. My vocation as a writer came a few years later, and as a spiritual director, several years after that.

Sitting here today, looking out my study window, my attention is attracted to movement in a tree far off in the meadow. It’s a large woodpecker, pounding rhythmically at the walnut tree. What perseverance it needs to gather its food from such hard wood. The same perseverance we need as moms to find a place of our own when raising a family, especially those of us with children with disabilities or mental illness. Even later in life, when our children are gone, we can still find ourselves putting everyone else—even strangers—first, because that’s what we’ve been taught to do.

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My mother never found that room of her own in her home, but she did find it in her garden, where she puttered endlessly after my father died at the tender age of 49. Mom was just 48. She often told me that planting seeds—cosmos, marigold, zinnia—gave her hope. I believe that’s what she saw for me as she danced in front of this window all those years ago. Hope. She caught a glimpse of the future me sitting here, watching the seasons come and go—spring, summer, autumn, winter—one following the other without fail. She glimpsed the hope of dancing daffodils in the spring, wildflowers setting the meadow aglow in the summer, brilliant leaves in autumn, and snow blanketing the fields in winter.

My mother knew I needed a place of my own, after 25 years of raising a son with autism. She knew I needed a window like this to act as a portal into the future as I stepped into the danger and mystery of who I might yet become.

I soften my gaze as I stare out my study window, looking beyond what is to what was and what is yet to come. I hear my mother’s voice clearly. This is it! This is yours, Kathy! All yours!

I never dreamed that the memory of holding my mother’s hand could act as an intersection between heaven and earth. All that exists between heaven and earth is here, in this room, in this present moment, framed by a window of hope.

Kathleen Deyer Bolduc is a spiritual director, author, and founder of Cloudland, a contemplative retreat center. Her books, including The Spiritual Art of Raising Children with Disabilities, contain faith lessons learned parenting a son with autism, and finding healing and restoration through the spiritual disciplines. KathleenBolduc.com

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