Visit the Abbey of the Arts online retreat platform to access your programs:

Reflections

Filter

Community Contemplation & Creativity
(Fall Schedule)

For several years now the Abbey has offered a regular Poetry Party and last year we added in the Photo Parties. These have been invitations into your own creative expression through a particular theme and then sharing it with your fellow monks. We took a break from them over the summer but are excited to be bringing them back now. This autumn we are adding on two new features: Community Lectio Divina: Each month I will be posting a scripture passage or poem (and eventually some art and music) which you will be invited to pray with using the ancient

Read More

Join the Abbey Facebook Group for the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks!

Hello monks and artists!  We are opening up a Facebook group for the *Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks* and ongoing conversation (facilitated by Wisdom Council member Melissa Layer but I will also check in as I can).  We want it to be a place of connection and ongoing support for the contemplative and creative journey, and we will see what evolves.  Part of being a monk in the world is stepping into the possibilities and seeing what happens! To join you can go to this link (you will need to be logged into your Facebook account to see it) and click “Join

Read More

Wisdom Council: Guest Post from Trish Bruxvoort Colligan

I am excited to share another Wisdom Council guest post, this time from Trish Bruxvoort Colligan. I met Trish first virtually several years ago when she was blogging and felt immediate kinship to her presence and spirit, not to mention her beautiful music which I often use in retreat settings and in several online courses. It was a gift to finally meet her at the Spiritual Directors International conference in San Francisco where she and her husband Richard were offering their musical gifts. Trish is working on a new album called Wild Acre, which I know is going to be gorgeous because I

Read More

Creating Local Tribes of Dancing Monks

With the advent of the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks and the way this community continues to grow, I am finding myself called to listen to ways the Abbey can support you in creating your own small groups and gathering circles with others in your local community, for in-person dancing monk delight. 1. On all self-study and selected community online classes I am now offering a small group discount when you register together with others.  My hope is that this might encourage you to gather a small group of kindred spirits together and have a structured format of material to reflect on

Read More

Introducing the Earth Monastery Project

This week I want to introduce a very special project that has been incubating for a while.  It began as a desire to share the spirit of generosity at the Abbey in a more visible way while also making a statement about causes we believe are vital. The Wisdom Council, John the Prior, and I bring you the Earth Monastery Project.  This is a new small grant program designed to inspire and nourish you in creating projects rooted in contemplative wisdom and creative expression, that are of service to the community and the earth. How necessary it is for monks

Read More

Following an Ancient Call (a love note from your online Abbess)

To receive this love note straight to your in-box, subscribe here (and also receive a free gift!) Following an Ancient Call What if we could listen like the great salmon who goes about its ordinary life when suddenly something shifts. It does not come as a thunderous revelation, but a quiet knowing you have been preparing all your life to trust. The path lived until now no longer satisfies but the path ahead seems thousands of miles long, and your womb is heavy. There is no refusing this ancient call, and to know ourselves as not alone, but part of

Read More

Wisdom Council: Guest Post from Kayce Stevens Hughlett

This week, our Wisdom Council guest post is from my dear friend and colleague Kayce Stevens Hughlett.  Kayce and I first got to know each other years ago when she attended Awakening the Creative Spirit in its early extended version and then again when we offered it as an intensive. Friendship bloomed from there, along with co-collaboration in several forms, including leading a supervision group together in Seattle, co-leading a retreat on the archetypes, and our recent pilgrimage to Vienna (and of course her contributions to several online classes).  Read on for more from Kayce: “I know artists whose medium is life itself

Read More

Wisdom Council: Guest Post from Amber Andreasen

This week, our Wisdom Council guest post is from the lovely Amber Andreasen.  Amber has participated in several Abbey online programs including Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist and Practicing Resurrection through Creativity and Archetypes (which she mentions in her reflection) and has participated in our live intensive Awakening the Creative Spirit.  She has also been taking on a greater role in Abbey online retreats as a soul care presence and support for our participants. Read on for Amber’s reflections: It used to be That when I would wake in the morning I could with confidence say, “What

Read More

Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks (a love note from your online Abbess)

To receive this love note straight to your in-box, subscribe here (and also receive a free gift!) Dearest monks and artists, I have been engaged in much reflection and wonderful conversation with the Wisdom Council while I take my summer break from teaching.  Did you see the video last week of the Catholic bishops gathered in Brazil with the Pope dancing freely?  It was very inspiring, especially in light of what I have been pondering this summer. I have long wanted to articulate more clearly what this community is about, and so this week I bring you the Holy Disorder of

Read More

New Interview with Christine at Gentle Marketing

I am delighted to share a new interview with me at Joy Agcongay’s Gentle Marketing (as an introvert myself, her approach really resonates with me!)  Click over to her site to read on about some of my practices and how I nourish myself: I am a huge fangirl of AbbeyoftheArts.com! What is your background and how did your experience lead you to found the Abbey? Who do you think of reaching with this work? Thanks so much Joy!  It is such a delight to have folks who have been with me long-term and are committed to what the Abbey is about.  Most

Read More