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Abbess love notes

Crossing Identity Boundaries ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, We are delighted to welcome Dr. Luther E. Smith, Jr. who will lead the Crossing Identity Boundaries: Where Hope Enlivens Us to Life retreat this Friday, November 21st. Luther offers this reflection. The spiritual journey takes us to our hearts and the hearts of others as we pursue and experience the beloved community that God dreams for us. The journey entails crossing identity boundaries—the boundaries of other persons, and our reception of persons crossing our identity boundary. Encouraging journeys across identity boundaries is the work of hope. The retreat will highlight exercises (things we can do) to clarify our own identity

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November 16, 2025

Monk in the World Guest Post: Felicia Murrell

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post from the community. Read on for Abbey Wisdom Council member Felicia Murrell’s reflection on the path of love. Loving is the ability to see the Beloved in everyone around us.   —RAM DASS, Vedanta (Hindu) There are all kinds of ways of being in the world. For me, that way is Love. More succinctly, it means that I aspire to walk the path of Love in such a way that the truth of who I know myself to be is in harmony with the way I live

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November 12, 2025
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The Love of Thousands ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, My book, The Love of Thousands, came out two years ago because of my deep belief in the presence, support, and witness of the angels, saints, and ancestors.  At its foundation, it is a journey of opening our hearts to the love of all those sacred beings who dwell in spiritual form across the veil. Our western minds may tell us that what we see is all there is, but the religious and mystical imagination knows a deeper truth. Various religious traditions have taught about the existence of angels, saints, and ancestors for millennia. The

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November 9, 2025
Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Kate Kennington Steer

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Kate Kennington Steer’s reflection, poem, and artwork on the elements. I am currently spending a year exploring the elements in the company of the Kinship Photography Collective.  My practice group (a special mix of people who are able to meet on zoom during the day in the U.S. and Canada so I can join with them here in the U.K.) are exploring each element by paying attention to the land-based calendar of the Celtic Wheel.  Thanks to the cultural background

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November 5, 2025
Abbess love notes

The Interconnectedness of All Things ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, We are entering what the ancient Celtic tradition calls the dark half of the year. The feasts of Samhain, All Saints’, and All Souls’ Day coincide as we make a journey of descent into the gifts of darkness. Tomorrow, November 3rd, Simon de Voil and Polly Paton-Brown will lead our Contemplative Prayer Service on the theme of Mycelium.  Mycelium is the beautiful, root-like, branching, underground network of fungal systems that act, in part, as a communication highway for plants. Trees in particular communicate with one another through this mycorrhizal network, sharing information essential to their health and the health

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November 2, 2025

Monk in the World Guest Post: Tom Delmore

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Tom Delmore’s poems Sparse hay does not a savior make and Ascension Thursday ~ Heal Thyself. These two poems come on the heels of retirement and a shift in writing. What is God calling me to in this craft? I began to see this as words jumped onto the page that seemed part of the poem but out of place, but not wrong. “A push the envelope moment” that sent shutters of not what I think but

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October 29, 2025
Abbess love notes

Samhain and the Grace of Descent ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, We live in times when it often feels like everything is coming undone. The Celtic hinge points of Autumn Equinox, Samhain, the Winter Solstice, and Imbolc offer the wisdom of living into a rhythm that honors the importance of times of rest as essential to our personal and collective wellbeing. This Friday, October 31st begins the Feast of Samhain. Simon de Voil, Jamie Marich, and Polly Paton-Brown will lead us in a mini-retreat to deepen into the wisdom of the season. Samhain marks one of the two great doorways of the Celtic year. The Celts divided the

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October 26, 2025

Monk in the World Guest Post: Liuan Huska

I’m delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Liuan Huska’s reflection A Holy Shitshow: Being Present to Sickness and Dying. This article is adapted from a post from Liuan’s Substack newsletter: Becoming Whole.  I’m not sure how else to describe the last few months. My mom has been in and out of the hospital five times with complications from stomach cancer. Our car has been in and out of the mechanic four times, not to mention the time my husband and neighbor fixed the catalytic converter at

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October 22, 2025
Abbess love notes

Spiral of the Work ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, We are so delighted to be welcoming Lydia Violet and Te Martin who will lead an online program based on The Work That Reconnects, created by Joanna Macy, on Tuesdays from October 21st – November 11th. This work is so vital in our challenging times, offering us a pathway to be able to name our gratitude, process our grief, be inspired, and offer ourselves in service.  The following is an excerpt from Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects:  The Spiral of the Work Over the years, we have come to

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October 19, 2025

Monk in the World Guest Post: Karen Southall Watts

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Karen Southall Watts’s reflection Sturdy Shoes and an Open Mind. My practice is not new or unique. In fact, I suspect that long before the Transcendentalists began tramping about the woods of New England in the 1800s, humanity was well-versed in the spiritual connection of a nature walk. I know I am not the first to discover the thick quiet of a lonely copse of trees, or the brilliant joy of a rabbit or deer bounding across your path.

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October 15, 2025