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Reflections

Category: Monks and Mystics

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Seven Gates of Mystical Wisdom for Lent ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims,  As someone with chronic illness, I became entranced when I discovered that many of the medieval women mystics also dealt with their own experiences of serious illness. Hildegard of Bingen is thought to have suffered from migraines, Clare of Assisi possibly from multiple sclerosis, Julian of Norwich was brought to the brink of death from illness, among many others.  While there are many portals to the liminal realm, including dreams and creative expression, illness remains one of the most powerful. I want to make clear from the start that there is a significant difference

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The Medial One and the Women Mystics ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, For Lent I am so excited to finally share the wisdom of seven medieval women mystics who lived through their own challenging times.  These visionaries received their insight and images from waking dreams, voices, and bodily sensations that often overcome them in the moment. Toni Wolff, who was Carl Jung’s colleague, first called this way of knowing “medial.” She described the medial woman as one who stands in the liminal realm, receiving visions for personal and collective healing. While Wolff calls this archetype the “medial woman,” I prefer to change it slightly to the “Medial One” to

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Threshold, Liminality, and the Way of the Mystic ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, For Lent this year we will be offering a retreat that focuses on 7 of the medieval women mystics, to see what wisdom they have for us. These were women who lived in their own dangerous times and many of whom struggled with experiences of illness as well.  The medieval women mystics have fascinated me since my time in graduate school when I was invited to deepen my study of them. Hildegard of Bingen seized my imagination first, a mystic and visionary, writer and composer, preacher and healer, she was one example of many of a

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The Path of Devotion ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, This Friday, February 14th, our Program Coordinator Melinda Thomas is leading a mini-retreat on Bhakti Yoga and the Inexpressible Delights of Love. Read on for her reflection on bhakti yoga and the path of devotion. There were times in my early yoga days when I heard people talk of their singular focus on the Divine Beloved. I could not relate. When I read of the Christian mystics who had their own singular gaze on the Beloved, I could not relate. Instead I felt rather inadequate. So why then, do I want to offer a retreat

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Dancing Monk Feast Day: St Clare of Assisi

Sunday August 11th is the feast of St Clare of Assisi (1194-1253). We are pleased to offer a reflection, creative prompt, and prayer to guide your celebration of this remarkable saint. We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become.  Clare was born and raised in Assisi, where she lived her entire life. She was the oldest daughter of a local nobleman but gave up her wealth and position to follow a life dedicated to prayer and service. While Clare is often known as a friend of Saint Francis, she was a spiritual force all her

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Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Dearest monks and artists, Today is the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order.  The spirituality of Ignatius has played a huge role in my own unfolding. When I started undergraduate studies at Fordham University in philosophy I was at best agnostic (and the daughter of two agnostics raised in a completely non-religious household). My required course in Liberation Theology amazed me that I had not heard of this deep commitment to justice in the Catholic Church before. My service work in the South Bronx with at-risk youth and also in environmental restoration led me

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Summer Sabbatical and Self-Study Sale

Blessing for Sabbath*Sanctifier of holy rest,on the seventh day you paused,laying down the work of creationand entered into sacred stillness.Let us remember we were freed from slaveryin Egypt and you continue to call us to be people of liberation.Kindle in us the strength to say noto a world of perpetual busyness.Inspire us to set aside our plansand goals to receive the lavish giftof rest for ourselves,to rediscover the Paradise within.Let the Sabbath be a time of profound renewal,a gushing forth of the holy well,a time of intimate connection with You,and a rekindling of our sacred desires to be of service.Sustain

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