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The Soul’s Slow Ripening DVD now available!

In Fall 2018 Christine Valters Paintner released her book The Soul’s Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred which has been really well received as a wonderful resource to break open Celtic spirituality for the contemporary seeker. We followed that book up with our second album, The Soul’s Slow Ripening: Songs for Celtic Seekers (available from CDBaby as a digital download or CD), which includes twelve songs from wonderful musician friends to deepen your experience of Celtic tradition and prayer. We are delighted to announce we now have our DVD available, The Soul’s Slow Ripening: Dancing the Sacred

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September 9, 2019

Monk in the World: Hospitality 1 – A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, During this Jubilee year of sabbatical we are revisiting our Monk Manifesto by moving slowly through the Monk in the World retreat materials together every Sunday. Each week will offer new reflections on the theme and every six weeks will introduce a new principle. Principle Two: I commit to radical acts of hospitality by welcoming the stranger both without and within. I recognize that when I make space inside my heart for the unclaimed parts of myself, I cultivate compassion and the ability to accept those places in others. “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ,

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September 8, 2019

Notes from the Jubilee: Ancestral Pilgrimage to Latvia

During this sabbatical year I have several ancestral pilgrimages planned and we are traveling back now from the first one to Latvia. A few months ago I asked Olga Tomchin of Genealogy Yenta to help me with some research and she found an article online about an oak tree that was planted in 2017 for my great grandfather. It turns out that he was the first Chief Justice of the Latvian Supreme Court when the independent state was formed after World War I and for their centenary celebration they decided to honor his memory in this way. My father was born

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September 5, 2019

Monk in the World Guest Post: Cathy Warner

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Cathy Warner’s reflection “Two and a Half Horsepower Zen.” A few months ago I ran an extension cord across the backyard, plugged in my mini-wood chipper, dragged downed limbs and small dead trees into a pile, stood in a sunny spot, and fed branches one at a time into the hopper where a whirling blade chipped, shaved, bit, and spit the cedar, rhododendron, and maple into a heap of garden muesli. Often when gardening or cleaning house,

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September 4, 2019

Monk in the World: Reflection Questions and Blessing (Silence and Solitude) ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, During this Jubilee year of sabbatical we are revisiting our Monk Manifesto by moving slowly through the Monk in the World retreat materials together every Sunday. Each week will offer new reflections on the theme and every six weeks will introduce a new principle. Principle One: I commit to finding moments each day for silence and solitude, to make space for another voice to be heard, and to resist a culture of noise and constant stimulation. Spend some time in quiet reflection on the following questions. You might take out your journal and pen and free-write in response

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September 1, 2019

Featured Poet: Joel McKerrow

Last spring we launched a series with poets whose work we love and want to feature and will continue it moving forward. Our next poet is Joel McKerrow whose work is inspired by liminal spaces.  You can watch Joel’s poem videos and read more about the connections he makes between poetry and the sacred. Joel McKerrow- WIND (with Spike Mason). from Joel McKerrow on Vimeo. Themes of His Work I have just finished working on a book, a creative non-fiction all about the spiritual journey. Its called WOVEN: A Spirituality for the Dissatisfied and is being published in November. So a

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August 28, 2019

Monk in the World Suggestions for Practice (Silence and Solitude) ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, During this Jubilee year of sabbatical we are revisiting our Monk Manifesto by moving slowly through the Monk in the World retreat materials together every Sunday. Each week will offer new reflections on the theme and every six weeks will introduce a new principle. Principle One: I commit to finding moments each day for silence and solitude, to make space for another voice to be heard, and to resist a culture of noise and constant stimulation. Just for today claim a window of time – even ten minutes is enough to begin – and rest into an

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August 25, 2019

Monk in the World Guest Post: Anne Knorr

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Anne Knorr’s reflection,”Ebb Tides.” Walking along the rocky shoreline during ebb tide, an eighty-five year old man named Billy Proctor can often be seen in tall black rubber boots looking for treasures washed ashore.  It is a ritual he has observed since childhood and over the years he has collected a myriad of hidden jewels; large aqua-marine glass buoys, chiseled arrow heads, ancient metal jewelry from the “original people” as he calls them, colorful bottles of all

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August 21, 2019

Poetry and the Sacred Garden of the World Participant Poems: Carol Everson

Last spring a sweet gathering of creative souls joined with us for our retreat Poetry and the Sacred Garden of the World in Chartres, France. We had a wonderful group of participants and I am delighted to share some of their poems. Pour a cup of tea and savor for a while. From Carol Everson Ode to Nurses’ Aides Here’s to the handler of bedpans and colostomy bags whose fingernails grow fertilized by feces. To the bather and dresser and undresser and put-to-bedder who wishes sweet dreams to the departing. To the listener to stories told a thousand times, who

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August 19, 2019

Monk in the World Guided Meditation by Christine (Silence and Solitude) + AUDIO ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dear pilgrims, monks, and artists, During this Jubilee year of sabbatical we are revisiting our Monk Manifesto by moving slowly through the Monk in the World retreat materials together every Sunday. Each week will offer new reflections on the theme and every six weeks will introduce a new principle. This week we pray Lectio Divina with a text from Psalms. You can listen an audio recording of the practice below. We will be praying with this text: Be still and know that I am God – Psalm 46:10   First Movement – Lectio: Settling & Shimmering For now, find a comfortable

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August 17, 2019