Your Online Monastery for Your Spiritual Practice

The Thinnest Veil

Last Saturday I attended a concert of the Seattle Choral Company called “Celtic Nights” which marked the upcoming feast of Samhain on November 1st. Samhain is the beginning of a new year in Celtic tradition and is primarily a celebration of ancestors and harvest. It is considered one of the great doorways of the Celtic year which is divided into the seasons of dark and light and is connected to the holidays we may celebrate today — Halloween, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day. The music was sublime and one piece in particular moved me deeply called An Caoineadh, which is

October 30, 2007

Prayer for Evening

The image is my view from the hermitage over the Hood Canal toward the Olympic mountains. -Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts

October 29, 2007

Sacred Arts Ring

I have been neglectful of my lovely web ring lately, not making the rounds to see what creative things are happening in the blogosphere. So I hereby resolve to make this a more regular part of my reading and blogging activity. Look for an every-other-week highlights (alternating with the Poetry Party) of what is happening among these artist friends. Do you want to join the fun? The ring description says: “This ring welcomes artists of all mediums who are rooted in a faith tradition or spiritual practice and who use the arts to explore mystery and meaning. You might be

October 29, 2007

Ache and Delight

The week before last was the fourth anniversary of my mother’s death and I shared here before that I have been feeling called to walk willingly into some dark places. It turns out that the anniversary was also the day I had to end a friendship. Friendship to me has always been sacramental and so not something I treat lightly. This friendship had actually been over for some time, but it took until now for us to realize that we each still have old wounds that have never been healed, despite our previous efforts. It feels good to have some closure, but it was a

October 27, 2007

The Color of Silence

***Make sure you visit this week’s Poetry Party either by scrolling down past this post or by clicking here — as usual it is an amazing array of sacred words that keeps growing*** “Hear blessings / dropping their blossoms / around you. ” -Rumi -Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts (photos of the dahlias at Volunteer Park in Seattle)

October 25, 2007

Tea Time

***Make sure you visit the Poetry Party either by scrolling down past this post or by clicking here*** “Come along inside… We’ll see if tea and buns can make the world a better place.” –The Wind in the Willows I love the tradition of tea in the afternoon, especially high tea. Something about taking time to slow down, sip tea, and talk with friends is so counter-cultural that I think making time for tea can be a revolutionary act in our world of busyness and fast food. Bill Huebsch in his lovely book A New Look at Grace: A Spirituality of

October 24, 2007

Invitation to Poetry: Beauty of Broken Things

Welcome to our 6th Poetry Party. These are posted every other Monday. I select an image and suggest a title and invite you to respond with your poems, words, reflections, quotes, song lyrics, etc. Leave them in the comments and I’ll add them to the body of the post as they come in along with a link back to your blog if you have one (not required to participate!) Feel free to post the poem along with my image below on your blog with a link back to this post. Please invite your readers to come join the party too! I’ve

October 22, 2007

Your very flesh shall be a great poem

Preface to Leaves of Grass (excerpt) Love the earth and sun and the animals,despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,stand up for the stupid and crazy,devote your income and labor to others,hate tyrants, argue not concerning God,have patience and indulgence toward the people,take off your hat to nothing known or unknown,or to any man or number of men,go freely with powerful uneducated persons,and with the young, and with the mothers or families,re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book,and dismiss whatever insults your own soul;and your very flesh shall be a great poem….

October 18, 2007

Perilous Dark Path of True Prayer

“We seldom go freely into the belly of the beast. Unless we face a major disaster like the death of a friend or spouse or loss of a marriage or job, we usually will not go there. As a culture, we have to be taught the language of descent. That is the great language of religion. It teaches us to enter willingly, trustingly into the dark periods of life. These dark periods are good teachers. Religious energy is in the dark questions, seldom in the answers. Answers are the way out, but that is not what we are here for.

October 17, 2007

Fear and Freedom

“Fear is the cheapest room in the house. / I would like to see you living / In better conditions.” -Hafiz “Move from within. / Don’t move the way that fear wants you to. / Begin a foolish project. / Noah did.” -Rumi I smiled yesterday when lucy commented about my journey of fearlessness because this subject of fear and freedom has been on my heart a lot lately. There is something very liberating about living into the freedom I am being invited to and not letting fear dictate the choices I make. Most of the time I am

October 14, 2007

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

Reflections

Filter

The Thinnest Veil

Prayer for Evening

Sacred Arts Ring

Ache and Delight

The Color of Silence

Tea Time

Invitation to Poetry: Beauty of Broken Things

Your very flesh shall be a great poem

Perilous Dark Path of True Prayer

Fear and Freedom

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