Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims,
This Friday, October 30th, we are hosting a mini-retreat for the Celtic feast of Samhain, and the Christian celebration of All Saint’s Day on November 1st and All Soul’s Day on November 2nd which begin a whole month in honor of those who have died. Wisdom Council members Betsey Beckman, Kayce Stevens Hughlett, and Te Martin will be your guides. Kayce offers the following reflection and invitation.
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Turning our Sight and Soul toward the Ancestors
I did not know the way, but I knew the answer was yes.
Do you know that response? The tingle that moves up your spine or the tickle around your heart? Perhaps your eyes begin to tear up or your pulse quickens? You hear a poem or receive an invitation and even though you don’t “know the way,” you know the answer is yes. Yes. This. There. That. I can only describe my own sensory perception, but my hunch is (if you’re still reading) that something here resonates or at least intrigues you.
YES was my response the first time not-quite-yet Abbess of Abbey of the Arts, Christine Valters Paintner, said “I’m going to do some ancestry work, would you like to join me?” YES! Even though I had no idea what that even meant. Some twenty-ish years later, I’m still not sure I can explain the “way,” but I do know my answer is still “yes” and I hope yours will be too.
On October 30, my longtime friend and teaching partner, Betsey Beckman and I, along with singer-songwriter Te Martin, invite you to come along on an ancestral exploration through the arts. For a couple of hours near the Celtic holiday of Samhain, we will hold space and offer simple, prayerful practices to explore our personal ancestries.
While many people hear the word “ancestor or ancestry” and think only of blood relatives, DNA, and the sort of family trees tangibly tracked through the centuries, I’m here to say, that is only one form of ancestry.
Exploring ancestry can be as simple as feeling the tug of places or landscapes you’ve never visited and following the desire to learn more.
Time, place, archetypes, symbol, and lineage hold our stories, our ancestry, our lore, and memory. Whether we understand it or not, we are in relationship with time and place before conscious memory. The song or thread that weaves through our days and lives. Recollection, blood, or starlight that whispers through a body, soul, and spirit. Known in the heart, perhaps not quantifiable or scientifically proven. Would my experiences with ancestry hold up in a court of law as evidence beyond a reasonable doubt? Nope, but does that make them any less real?
I could go on about my personal lexicon of ancestral exploration, but I’m here to invite you to come play and explore your own; to deepen your personal ancestral practices of listening, following threads, making art and holding sacred space for your beloved self and ancestors… whoever or however they may manifest.
Tell me, my friend: Where are you from? I hope you’ll consider joining us on October 30th. We’d love to see you there. No art or previous ancestor work required!
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I will also be teaching a 28-day e-course with Spirituality & Practice starting November 2nd. We will be encountering anchoress Julian of Norwich, Carmelite reformer Teresa of Avila, beguine Mechtild of Magdeburg, and Benedictine Abbess Hildegard of Bingen. Each week will have three lessons exploring one of these four wise women mystics and will invite you into specific prayer practices inspired by their wisdom and writing. A beautiful way to honor November, the month when we especially remember the wisdom of our holy dead.
Cultivating Seeds of Liberation Prayer Cycle
This week we release the video podcasts for Day 4 Morning and Evening Prayer on the theme of justice from the Cultivating Seeds of Liberation prayer cycle. The following is the opening prayer for evening written by Wisdom Council member Cassidhe Hart.
Healing God, we offer our day and all it contained to you. We confess the places we fell short of your justice, where we numbed ourselves to the pain in the world and in ourselves and failed in our calling to see through the eyes of the oppressed. Assure us of your loving forgiveness and your never-ending gift of beginning again. Ground us in the belovedness of the whole of creation and tend the seeds of liberation your love has planted within us.
View the podcasts for Day 4 Morning and Evening Prayer: Justice here.
With great and growing love,
Christine
Christine Valters Paintner, OblSB, PhD, REACE
Image: Paid license with Canva
