Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

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    • Prayer Cycle
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    • About Christine Valters Paintner
    • About John Valters Paintner
    • About the Wisdom Council
    • Monk Manifesto
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  • Books
    • Breath Prayer:
      An Ancient Practice for the Everyday Sacred
    • 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
    • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color Book Club
    • Community Online Retreats
      • Harriet Tubman and Howard Thurman-on Being Free
      • Writing Into Bloom
        with Christine Valters Paintner
      • Revelations: The Mysticism of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe
      • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: A Weekend Retreat Online
      • The Spiral Way:
        Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination
      • Sacred Balance:
        Aligning Body and Spirit Through
        Yoga and the Benedictine Way
    • 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)
      • Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers
        (SELF-STUDY)
      • 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 (SELF-STUDY)
      • 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
    • Live Programs: Pilgrimage & Retreats
      • Writing on the Wild Edges (Ireland)
      • Hildegard of Bingen (Germany)
      • Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts (Northwest)
  • Calendar
  • Reflections
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Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Kayce Stevens Hughlett

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series. Read on for Wisdom Council member Kayce Stevens Hughlett's reflection on her path of becoming a monk in the world.

When I first met Christine Valters Paintner at a Seattle coffee shop in the spring of 2006, there was no Abbey of the Arts. No official dancing monks or manifesto. The “Awakening the Creative Spirit” program was one year old. If anyone had called me an artist or even creative at that time, I would have laughed it off as silly and impossible. The only writing I’d done was Julia Cameron’s morning pages, plus term papers for my recently acquired Masters in Counseling Psychology. In my family of origin, art was only in museums and a waste of time for those unwilling to color inside the lines. Travel was always within driving distance or a domestic flight. No way was I a pilgrim. My passport had one stamp: England.

My earnest monkhood began that fall of 2006, although the life journey had begun 50 years earlier. Monkhood greeted me in a simple and singular moment when I took one deep breath within a safe circle of witnesses and said aloud,

I am the pain of the world, covered with blue scarves & white.
I am the beauty of the world, bare-shouldered with upswept hair.
I am the fire of the world, burning with desire and hope.
I am the joy of the world, reaching toward the heavens.
I am.

In that moment I was exquisitely held. Divine – connected – blended with the Universe – no separation. God and I were one. Inside that parish room on Capitol Hill, I knew that I knew. My life had shifted, my eyes were opened, and I had finally seen my whole self … if only for a moment.

The moments between then and now have been immense and mundane. Monkish experiences and not. Ah, to see the Eiffel Tower for the first time and know she is a symbol of my feminine strength. To witness a coal black butterfly dance across my notebook on my 60th birthday and hear the greeting from my dear departed father. Ritual. Writing. Rest. Feet on boggy ground in the Burren, arms widespread to the raging wind. Watching the last breath of my beloved dog, Curry, leave his body. Hearing my Alzheimer-riddled mother say, “You remind me of my daughter, Kayce.” The crush of 200,000 pilgrims in Lalibela, Ethiopia to celebrate Timket (Epiphany). Exquisite silence in those underground churches and the holiness of praying with a woman dressed in white, ruby red slippers beside her, a blue shawl wrapped around my own shoulders. Trees that cried out to me in the forests of Croatia when I swore I couldn’t take another step. Spirit tapping on my shoulder inside a Balinese temple. Dark shadows swooping through the night. Lightening in Oklahoma. Putting flame to flint on sticks of incense, offering up prayers of lovingkindness. Drawing my first Tarot card, fearing I’d be struck by that childhood lightening, but instead seeing myself once again in word and image, feeling God’s spirit inside and around me.

Throwing out the rules. Traveling alone. Studying multi-cultures and rituals. Leading and sharing with other pilgrims. Writing pages and pages of curves and scratches, pouring my soul onto the page. Trying to make sense of it all. Picking up stones and feathers because I swear they wave to me from their resting places. Experiencing a deep resonance when I met my buffalo-hide drum for the first time. With each resounding beat, I heard my ancestors speak to me inside the tiny shop in Portland … all because my internal whispers issued an invitation to Go see a man about a drum and I did.

In my role as monk in the world, I feel, follow, and experience the weight, whispers, and wings of life around and within me. I dance with the elements of earth, wind, fire, and water. Bursting with energy when the season calls and burrowing in like a badger on my own divine time. I am an artist! I write books and read poetry, paint with watercolors, collage, dance in my living room, practice yoga. I share the confidence of Greek goddesses and once proudly declared, I am Persephone, when a Zeus-like man threatened my well-being. And when I’m feeling weak and weepy, you could mop me up with a soggy tissue.

Being this monk in the world morphs and changes day by day, but one thing remains the same: My innate ability to listen and be present in the moment and find meaning in symbols. Yes, I meditate and pray and send lovingkindness into the world on a regular basis. Mainly, however, I first remember my breath … especially … essentially … in these challenging times. Breath is my direct line to the Divine … to the great I am … to myself. Breath is my pathway to being a monk in the world.

PLEASE NOTE: Kayce is facilitating an online program – Zoom program – Simple Practices for Extreme Times – on Saturday, April 4th through St. Placid Priory. Click here to register>>


Kayce Stevens Hughlett, MA LMHC is a tender, a healer, and an artist of being alive who believes in everyday magic and that complex issues often call for simple practices. Her 2019 memoir, SoulStroller: experiencing the weight, whispers, & wings of the world won the prestigious Nautilus Book award and Chanticleer’s Journey award. Co-creator of SoulStrolling® ~ a movement for mindfulness in motion, and creator of the SoulStrolling Inspiration Deck. A member of Abbey of the Arts Wisdom Council and co-leader of Awakening the Creative Spirit (Space Available – Fall, 2020)  KayceHughlett.com

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Leave a Comment March 18, 2020

Upcoming Programs

  • Writing Into Bloom with Christine Valters Paintner
    • May 1, 2021
  • Revelations: The Mysticism of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe
    • May 13, 2021
  • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: A Weekend Retreat Online
    • May 15, 2021 - May 16, 2021
  • View All Upcoming Programs

Recent Reflections

  • St. Kevin Holds Open His Hand and Radical Hospitality ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Monk in the World Guest Post: Greta Kopec
  • Monk in the World Podcast + Harriet Tubman Mysticism ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color – April Video Discussion and Book Group Materials Now Available
  • Hildy Tails 12: Is ait an mac an saol ~ by John Valters Paintner

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