Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

  • Welcome
    • Prayer Cycle
      • Introduction to the Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle
      • Day 1 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Cathedral
      • Day 2 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Scriptures
      • Day 3 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Saints
      • Day 4 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Spiritual Directors
      • Day 5 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Icon
      • Day 6 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Sacrament
      • Day 7 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Liturgy
      • Prayer Cycle Leader Resources
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    • About Christine Valters Paintner
    • About John Valters Paintner
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  • Books
    • Sacred Time:
      Embracing an Intentional Way of Life
    • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: Poems
    • Earth, Our Original Monastery:
      Cultivating Wonder and Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature
    • Dreaming of Stones: Poems
    • The Soul's Slow Ripening:
      12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred
    • The Wisdom of the Body:
      A Contemplative Journey to Wholeness for Women
    • Illuminating the Way:
      Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics
    • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
      Eight Practices for the Journey Within
    • Eyes of the Heart:
      Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice
    • The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom
    • Desert Mothers and Fathers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings Annotated & Explained
    • Lectio Divina–The Sacred Art: Transforming Words and Images into Heart-Centered Prayer
    • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements
    • Awakening the Creative Spirit:
      Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction
    • Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening & Awareness
  • Poetry | Art | Music
    • Music + DVD
    • Poetry by Christine Valters Paintner
    • Poetry Videos
    • Dancing Monk Icons
    • Other Art Collaborations
      • Monk in the World art series by Kristin Noelle
      • Saints & Animals art series by David Hollington
      • Sacred Time art series by Alexi Francis
      • Mary block print art series by Kreg Yingst
  • Programs
    • Walk the Ancient Paths: Pilgrimage
      • Monk in the World (Ireland)
      • Writing on the Wild Edges (Ireland)
      • Poetry and the Sacred Garden of the World (Ireland)
      • Vienna Monk in the World (Austria)
      • Hildegard of Bingen (Germany)
    • Live Programs and Spiritual Retreats
      • Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts (Northwest)
    • Community Online Retreats
      • Dancing with Fear in Troubled Times
      • The Two HT’s-Harriet Tubman and Howard Thurman-on Being Free
      • Writing Into Bloom
        with Christine Valters Paintner
      • Novena for Times of Unraveling
      • Poetry and the Sacred Garden of the World:
        An Online Writing Retreat
      • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color
      • The Way of the Hermit:
        A Spiritual Survival Guide for Dark Times
        with Kayleen Asbo, PhD
      • The Spiral Way:
        Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination
      • Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers (Lent 2021)
      • Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life (Spring 2021)
    • Self-Study Online Spiritual Retreats
      • Creative Flourishing in the Heart of the Desert:
        An Online Retreat with St. Hildegard of Bingen
      • Dreaming of the Sea:
        A women’s discernment journey through the story of the Selkie
      • Earth, Our Original Monastery
        A Companion Retreat to the Book (SELF-STUDY)
      • Exile and Coming Home:
        An Archetypal Journey through the Scriptures
      • Eyes of the Heart:
        Photography as Contemplative Practice
        (Companion retreat to the book)
      • Honoring Saints and Ancestors:
        Online Retreat for the Season of Remembrance
      • Lectio Divina:
        The Sacred Art of Reading the World
      • A Midwinter God:
        Making a Conscious Underworld Journey
      • Sacred Rhythms of Sky, Sun, Sea & Stone:
        A Creative Retreat with the Elements (SELF-STUDY)
      • Sacred Seasons:
        A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year
      • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
        Eight Practices for the Journey Within
        (a companion retreat to the book)
      • The Soul's Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seekers of the Sacred (a companion retreat to the book)
      • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire
      • Watershed Moments
        in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
      • Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist:
        A 12-Week Companion Retreat to The Artist's Rule
      • The Wisdom of the Body:
        A 10-Week Online Companion Retreat to the Book
      • The Wisdom of Mary and the Sacred Feminine
  • Calendar
  • Reflections
  • Contact

Earth Monastery Project

Earth Monastery Project Update:
Monarch Butterfly Waystation

monarch

The Earth Monastery Project is a partnership between the Abbey and carefully selected applicants, who will receive resources to complete a Project which nourish an earth-cherishing consciousness and cultivate a vision of the earth as our primary monastery. The EMP is a small grant project funded by donations, income from Amazon Associates program, and through a percentage of fees from Abbey online courses.

Rev. Dr. Martha Brunnell is one of our grant recipients for her project establishing a Monarch Waystation and native wildlife habitat among broad fields and winding roads in northern Illinois adjacent to the Mayfield Congregational Church UCC, where she is the pastor.

The Abbey Wisdom Council was drawn to Martha's proposal because the Waystation offers a place rest and birthing for the butterflies as an act of what Martha described as "an act of ecological hospitality" as they "help sustain the wonder of the annual monarch
migration, recognize our role in the web of life, and develop a contemplative
space in creation for others to join us."

Our grantees from the fall cycle are midway through their projects and so offer their reports which we are excited to share an excerpt from what Martha shared with us.


Prairie Oasis: Mayfield Monarch Waystation by Martha Brunnell

I have begun collecting various butterfly and monarch resources and have already made use of several of them in worship.  I have started to listen for and seed a future retreat/workshop on Monarchs, Milkweed, Metamorphosis, and Migration.  I anticipate our annual fall outdoor worship in early September will be held around the young waystation rather than in its typical location elsewhere on the grounds.  The fall equinox will likely be when we choose to officially dedicate the waystation.  We will have several intergenerational events at church during this summer.  They will draw spiritual and educational content from our monarch waystation underway and will include a banner project.

It will take two to three years for the waystation, like any garden, to be solidly established.  We are dreaming about signage and educational materials we will have on site and about deliberately encouraging a web of waystations all over the county.  We may consider becoming part of the international quiet garden movement.  In this movement, quiet garden spaces are intentionally open to be shared with the public at designated and advertised times.  The earth monastery metaphor is appropriate for us.

If the winter had not been as difficult and long as it has, we would have begun preparing the land weeks ago.  The snow should soon be gone.  Then the first actual gardening step will be to cover the waystation ground with a heavy plastic.  It will kill all the invasive plants currently growing there.  By the end of the grant cycle this summer, the initial shrubs, plants, and grasses will be planted, the pathway will be laid out, and benches ordered and maybe even in place.  Your grant last fall was the impetus for us to put a dream into action.  All evidence suggests that the window of opportunity to impact this magnificent monarch migration is right now, or the time will pass.  The shrubs and plants purchased with your grant money along with plant and seed donations from others in the county will lay the groundwork for financial and plant contributions over the next several years while the waystation matures.

Yesterday afternoon, I stood at the window overlooking the waystation site.  There was a male pheasant with two female pheasants cavorting about the yard.  Pheasants are ground nesters.  Will they settle in our soon-to-be garden/waystation/oasis?  As it goes for monarchs in the county, it will go for other pollinators too.  With a garden growing into a more secure environment for the pollinators, the entire ecosystem will strengthen and diversify, all within sight of our eyes and heart. Thank you for the wonder!


They also had a wonderful article published about their project in their local newspaper: “Stewards of Nature: Mayfield planting a prairie to help monarch migration." We will be sharing more from Martha and the Monarch Waystation at the end of the grant cycle as well.

Applications for our next round of Earth Monastery Project grants are now being accepted through April 3oth! We welcome your proposal! Please see this link for details and feel free to email us with any questions.

Would you consider making a donation to this work and support future projects which nourish an earth-cherishing consciousness? (Go to the bottom of this page for the payment link – credit cards accepted)

 

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2 Comments April 2, 2014

Upcoming Programs

The Way of the Hermit:
A Spiritual Survival Guide for Dark Times

January 22-24, 2021
with Kayleen Asbo, PhD

The Spiral Way:
Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination

Hosted by the Rowe Center
February 1-21, 2021
with Christine Valters Paintner, PhD

Recent Reflections

  • Hildy Tales 3: Ní heolas go haontíos ~ by John Valters Paintner
  • Humility + Join us today for live prayer! ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales 2: Tús maith leath na hoibre – by John Valters Paintner
  • New Book Club for 2021: Lift Every Voice ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales One: Dia dhuit, is mise Hildy! by John Valters Paintner, Your Online Prior

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