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
    • About the Abbey
    • About Christine Valters Paintner
    • About John Valters Paintner
    • About the Wisdom Council
    • Monk Manifesto
    • Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks
    • Subscribe to Our Love Notes
    • Website privacy notice
  • 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
    • Live Programs: Pilgrimage & Retreats
      • Monk in the World (Ireland)
      • Writing on the Wild Edges (Ireland)
      • Vienna Monk in the World (Austria)
      • Hildegard of Bingen (Germany)
      • Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts (Northwest)
    • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color Book Club
    • Community Online Retreats
      • The Spiral Way:
        Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination
      • Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers (Lent 2021)
      • Dancing with Fear in Troubled Times
      • Novena for Times of Unraveling
      • The Two HT’s-Harriet Tubman and Howard Thurman-on Being Free
      • Writing Into Bloom
        with Christine Valters Paintner
      • Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life (Spring 2021)
      • Poetry and the Sacred Garden of the World:
        An Online Writing Retreat
    • 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

Uncategorized

Earth Monastery Mentoring Project & Peer Support (New Program)

In April 2020 Christine Valters Paintner's book Earth, Our Original Monastery is being published by Ave Maria Press. The book explores concepts like earth as the original cathedral, scripture, saints, spiritual directors, liturgy, icon, and sacrament through wisdom of the Christian mystics and the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. Like most of Christine's books there is a rich array of experiential exercises (both contemplative and creative) included in each chapter that lends itself well to a retreat experience.

We have a companion album of songs being released shortly as well and we are in the process of creating a cycle of morning and evening prayers rooted in these materials with songs, dances, poetry, and visual inspiration. The climate crisis is the most important issue of our time and we would love to offer contemplative and creative resources to help cultivate greater intimacy with the more-than-human world.

An Invitation to Retreat Leaders, Spiritual Directors, Pastors, Adult Religious Educators, & Small Group Facilitators

Christine is looking for folks interested in leading a series of seven (7) retreat days between October 2020 (Feast of St Francis) and April 2021 (Earth Day) on this material locally with your own churches, communities, congregations, and retreat spaces. You would also have some flexibility in adapting the format to your needs both in terms of content and amount of time for each retreat, but Christine's support will be built around this monthly structure.

What we are imagining:

Each monthly retreat or small group gathering would focus on one of the chapters from Christine's book (Earth as Original Cathedral, Scripture, Saints, Spiritual Directors, Icons, Sacraments, and Liturgy).  You would be responsible for locating your site and doing your marketing, although we can compile a geographic list of all the programs taking place to our website.

Christine would offer you (the program leaders) 7 monthly live webinars (recorded for those unable to join live) where she would give an overview for that month’s theme and retreat, provide a suggested outline and sequence, and answer any questions you have. We would also have a private discussion forum where the webinars take place, the recordings are available for viewing, and where you would be able to post and share with one another. We are imagining that the peer support you offer to one another will also be a valuable part of this experience.

At the moment we are looking at scheduling the monthly webinars on Mondays at 4 p.m. Ireland time (11 am Eastern time) with the first on October 5th. These will be recorded. It is not required that you attend live, although would be great if many of you are able.

Requirements and Fees

  • Apply now by sending Christine an email indicating your interest, your background in ministry, and where you see yourself leading this series of programs.
  • Commit to joining the mentoring group by July 1, 2020.
  • Once you commit, you register for the 7-week online companion retreat to the book we are offering for the general Abbey of the Arts community in July-August of this summer. All materials there will be available to you forever. Cost will be approximately $150. Partial scholarships are available if cost is a hindrance. Registration will open soon.
  • Everyone in the group you are leading that attends the series of retreats be asked to purchase their own copy of Christine's book (rather than photocopying pages as handouts). Depending on the group size, you may be able to arrange a bulk discount for multiple copies directly with Ave Maria Press.
  • You are welcome to charge for your program. If you do then we would ask that you give back 10% of your total program fee each month to Abbey of the Arts to help support Christine's time and this work. This will be on the honor system.
  • If you are not charging for participation in your program, then we suggest a $100 donation to Abbey of the Arts to help support costs for this mentoring program. (This is in addition to the cost to register for the online companion retreat above). If you are unable to pay the suggested fee then we can negotiate whatever works for your financial situation. We do want to make this accessible to everyone who is interested in participating.
  • Complete a one-page evaluation midway and at the end of the program to see how things went, how participants engaged, etc. to give us feedback on how the process is going.

Because this is an experiment we may shift how things work as we go along if there seems to be a better way to support all of you. We are excited about the possibility of this mentoring model as a way to bring our resources to more people.

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Leave a Comment January 30, 2020

Upcoming Programs

The Spiral Way:
Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination

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

Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers
Retreat for Lent 2021

February 17-April 1, 2021
with Christine & John Valters Paintner and Betsey Beckman

Recent Reflections

  • Celtic Spirituality and the Spiral Way ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • 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

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