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Abbess love notes

The Love of Thousands Prayer Cycle, Book, and Album Launch ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

“Walking, I can almost hear the redwoods beating. And the oceans are above me here, rolling clouds, heavy and dark. It is winter and there is smoke from the fires. It is a world of elemental attention, of all things working together, listening to what speaks in the blood. Whichever road I follow, I walk in the land of many gods, and they love and eat one another. Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands.” ―Linda Hogan, Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World

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Monk in the World Guest Post: June Mears Driedger

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for June Mears Driedger’s reflection Yielding to Emerging Life. I learned the story of Celtic Saint Kevin of Glendalough, the founder of the ancient Glendalough monastery, while on a Celtic pilgrimage with Abbey of the Arts in 2016. As the story is told, St. Kevin was praying with his arms outstretched in his monastery cell which was so small his right arm extended through the window. As he prayed, a blackbird nestled in his hand then began to

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Art and Spirituality

Awakening the Creative Spirit In-Person Retreat

Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education in the Expressive Arts (Northwest) April 21-26, 2024 – St. Andrew’s Retreat Center in Union, WA with Kayce Stevens Hughlett and Betsey Beckman We are excited to announce our only in-person retreat for 2024! Join Kayce Stevens Hughlett and Betsey Beckman for this five-day experiential intensive exploring tools for integrating the arts and imagination into spiritual direction and other healing ministries. This retreat is designed for those who are ready to explore the arts for yourself, for your work with others, and for the world.  Anyone called to the practices of soul care (mentorship, spiritual companion,

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Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Jill Ore

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Jill Ore’s reflection and poem on the contemplative practice of restoring a lighthouse. An offshore lighthouse provides the perfect place, space, and atmosphere for cultivating a contemplative practice. Set apart from the world, this century-old structure echoes timeless monasterial themes. Silence and solitude supply the fertile ground for exploring and tending the light within. Daily housekeeping chores and the physical labor of restoration work, accomplished by climbing endless flights of endless stairs, could be viewed as drudgery. Instead, these duties offer a glimpse

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September Tea with the Abbess

Note: Click CC to turn closed captions on or off. We had a delightful time at our September Tea with the Abbess gathering where we celebrated the Feast of the Archangels with an archangel meditation and movement video, looked at upcoming programs, and had a little Q&A chat. Registration for our Sustainers Circle closes Saturday, September 30th. There are several levels of programming to choose from if you have the means to do so. Your support helps us create free offerings such as the Prayer Cycles and book club, and affords us the ability to offer scholarships and financial assistance to keep

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Jean Wise

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Jean Wise’s reflection Linger with the Questions. For Christmas, my daughter gave me an online subscription to a story sharing software program. This package includes weekly story prompts for the recipient to respond and share a story from their life. At the end of the year, we would receive a hardcover book with all the stories collected in a legacy, keepsake compilation. Each Monday a thought-provoking, memory-stirring question pops into my email. What was your dad like

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Abbess love notes

Sustainers Circle, Abundance, and Gratitude

Gratitude Blessing Spirit of Generosity, we come to you with hearts overflowing with gratitude for your abundant creation. As we awaken each morning, help us to remember this day is a gift, this breath is grace, this life a wonder. Remind us with every flower we see, every act of kindness, every moment of connection to something so much bigger than ourselves, to whisper thank you. Cultivate in us a sense of awe and trust in your lavish grace. Let each word of thanks we offer expand our hearts until delight inhabits us and we know love as our sustenance.

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Dancing Monks Icon Series

Dancing Monk Icon Cards: Remnant and Extras Sale 

We know many of you love our dancing monk icons created by artist Marcy Hall and have appreciated having sets of cards produced. This has become a bit more challenging over time as we continually add to our collection of images and some of you have our original sets of cards (which came either in a plastic wrapper or a green gauze bag and were shipped from Ireland) and some of you have the boxed set (which came in a custom box with a printed guide and were shipped from Seattle in the U.S.).  Currently we are not going to

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Andrew Lang

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Andrew Lang’s reflection Opening our Posture to the Sacrament of the Present Moment. I sat atop the rocky Washington beach, watching the waves of the Puget Sound coming and crashing against the shoreline. Somewhere in the distance, a small boat had just steered itself through the passage, making its way to who knows where. The memory is faded by now, but I like to think it was the Victoria Clipper on its twice-daily trip, carrying people up

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Abbess love notes

Update on Writing Projects ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, I thought I would share with you some of the writing projects I am involved in at the moment. This has been a very fruitful time for books with my poetry collection Love Holds You coming out last spring from Paraclete Press, then The Love of Thousands on honoring angels, saints, and ancestors being published in August from Ave Maria Press, and I have a book coming out in January 2024 with Broadleaf Books titled A Different Kind of Fast: Feeding Our True Hungers in Lent which is now available for pre-order.  Right now, I am finalizing the edits to my

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