Your Online Monastery for Your Spiritual Practice

Are you listening?

Growing up in New York City, my favorite place was The Cloisters (a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art with art from medieval European monasteries). I had fallen in love with the aesthetic dimension of monastic tradition long before I understood what that way of life really meant. The art, architecture, music, and illuminated manuscripts all made me swoon. It wasn’t until graduate school that I really did begin to understand and fall further in love. Hildegard of Bingen was my entrypoint. Always having had a love of art and spirituality, I wanted to know more about this incredible woman who

June 5, 2009

Beauty and Spirituality

Have you checked out Patheos yet? (the great new site exploring different religious traditions) I will be contributing to them regularly on the topic of art and spirituality and my latest article is here — Beauty and Spirituality — so pour yourself a cup of tea and contemplate the role of beauty in your own spiritual practice and then head on over to this week’s Poetry Party for more creative inspiration!

June 4, 2009

Moon Jellies Halleluiah

June 4, 2009

Visual Meditation: Light & Shadow

** Make sure you visit this week’s Poetry Party on Shadow & Light (these are a few more of the images from my photographic journey last week)** ______________________________________________ © Christine Valters Paintner at Abbey of the Arts: Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts Become a fan of the Abbey on Facebook, follow this blog on Facebook, friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter

June 3, 2009

Invitation to Poetry: Light & Shadow

Welcome to our 36th Poetry Party! I select an image and suggest a theme/title and invite you to respond with your poems or other reflections. Add them in the comments section and a link to your blog (if you have one). Make sure to check the comments for new poems added and I encourage you to leave encouraging comments for each other either here or at the poet’s own blog. ADDED NOTE: Mister Linky is acting kind of funny and not loading properly and slowing down the loading of my blog, so for now we’re doing this the old-fashioned way and posting the poems

June 1, 2009

Visual Meditation: Reflections

I went on a journey to the Seattle Aquarium yesterday and in addition to my favorites of sea otters and moon jellies, I found myself captivated by reflections and children pressed up against the glass to see more clearly. What do you see? © Christine Valters Paintner at Abbey of the Arts: Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts Become a fan of the Abbey on Facebook, follow this blog on Facebook, friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter

May 30, 2009

Sacred Mountain

The great, gashed, half-naked mountain is another of God’s saints. There is no other like him. He is alone in his own character; nothing else in the world ever did or ever will imitate God in quite the same way. That is his sanctity. -Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation These mountains — Mount Baker and the Sisters and Shuksan, the Canadian Coastal Range and the Olympics on the peninsula — are surely the edge of the known and comprehended world…. That they bear their own unimaginable masses and weathers aloft, holding them up in the sky for anyone to

May 29, 2009

Awakening the Creative Spirit

Spring is the season when the earth awakens after her long slumber. It is the season associated with the element of air and breath. That moment of inhale, of breathing in the fullness of divine life, is the moment of dawn when the sun scatters the long night and the day begins. It is always such a privilege to do this work. I am so incredibly blessed to be able to offer this kind of transformative space for others, to have wonderful women with whom I work and facilitate, and to welcome in participants longing to dive deep and discover what

May 28, 2009

Six Word Memoir

lucy is inviting us to consider what six words would make up our memoir in this moment. Mine are: urban monk bearing witness to beauty I’d love to hear what your own six word memoir would be. Feel free to share it in the comments or at your own blog.

May 26, 2009

Soultribe Interview

The lovely Rachelle at Magpie Girl interviewed me for her series on creating Soultribes (a generous soulcare community). Go over and read about my own experience of creating and sustaining a small group for deep soul work and then share some of your own wisdom. Make sure you also read yesterday’s Sacred Artist Interview with Patricia Ariel. _______________________________________ © Christine Valters Paintner at Abbey of the Arts: Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts Become a fan of the Abbey on Facebook, follow this blog on Facebook, friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter

May 26, 2009

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Are you listening?

Beauty and Spirituality

Moon Jellies Halleluiah

Visual Meditation: Light & Shadow

Invitation to Poetry: Light & Shadow

Visual Meditation: Reflections

Sacred Mountain

Awakening the Creative Spirit

Six Word Memoir

Soultribe Interview

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