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Reflections

Category: Abbess love notes

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Update About In-Person Programs ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks and pilgrims, Now that the pandemic seems to be (at least temporarily) subsiding many of you are looking for meaningful travel opportunities. We decided early on in 2022 to cancel all of the in-person programs we had scheduled. There were several reasons for this — it takes an enormous amount of work to plan for these pilgrimages and to keep having them delayed the last couple of years hasn’t been sustainable for us so we have chosen to focus our energy in other directions for the time being. The pandemic is still ongoing and new variants can emerge

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March 8, 2022

The Many Faces of Mary ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, Next Saturday I am leading a retreat on three of Mary’s names or titles: Untier of Knots, Our Lady of Silence, and Madonna Protectress. When we explore the many ways Mary has been experienced, we open ourselves to those gifts within ourselves as well. Mary calls us to find the place within where we can loosen our constrictions, the sanctuary of the heart where we can rest in deep silence, and the courage to create strong boundaries and utter the sacred no to all that depletes us and takes out energy away from our sacred yes.  This

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March 6, 2022

The Saints in Walgreens ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, Ash Wednesday is this week and we will embark on our Lenten journey The Love of Thousands: Honoring Angels, Saints, and Ancestors.  Many of you feel a deep kinship with Abbey of the Arts because of our love of mystics and the saints and the ways we cultivate connections to those wise guides beyond the veil. This happens in many ways including pilgrimage, presence, and . . . relics. Relics may seem just like that – relics of another era, but these bits of clothing, hair, nails, and bones of the saint that have been revered

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February 27, 2022

The Love of Thousands Lent Retreat ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, Ash Wednesday is March 2nd and when will embark on our Lenten journey The Love of Thousands: Honoring Angels, Saints, and Ancestors. Two significant things about this retreat – first it is content I am working on for a book that will be published in fall 2023 around some of my favorite topics.   The second is that I will be having a major surgery in March and will be recovering through April, so we are only hosting one live session for the community to begin the journey. The rest of the content will be delivered through written

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February 20, 2022

Midrash and the Psalms ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, Next Saturday, February 19th we are delighted to welcome Wisdom Council member, musician, and psalmist Richard Bruxvoort Colligan to lead a Midrash Lab on Psalm 23. Richard’s music is featured on our CDs and in many of our retreats. Midrash is the practice of bringing sacred imagination to a scriptural text to engage it on a deep and personal level. Read on for Richard’s introduction to midrash practice celebrating God as Midwife. As a student of the psalms, one thing that keeps me enthralled is the wildly diverse models and metaphors for the Holy One. Shepherd, Holy City, Gardener, Warrior, Night Song… 

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February 13, 2022

Exploring the Wild Land Within – A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, We are delighted to be returning to our monthly Lift Every Voice book club exploring contemplative voices of color and enriching our perspective on the mystical tradition. Our featured book for February is The Wild Land Within: Cultivating Wholeness through Spiritual Practice by Lisa Colón Delay and she joined Claudia Love Mair and myself for a video conversation. (You can also now listen to these episodes as audio podcasts and view the weekly reflection questions on the book page and in the Facebook group.)  As always it was very meaningful to discuss the book with the author and help break

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February 6, 2022

Join Us for a Virtual Celtic Pilgrimage ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, Tomorrow is the eve of St. Brigid’s feast day, a threshold time in the Celtic imagination where the doors to the Otherworld open wider and we are invited to rest into this liminal space and listen for our heart’s true calling.  As the pandemic continues on, many of you have asked us if we would consider creating a virtual pilgrimage. We are delighted to invite you into this sacred space with us. Nine days of giving yourself the gift of dwelling in time outside of time and letting your imagination bring you on a journey of

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January 30, 2022