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Category: Soul’s Slow Ripening

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Celtic Spirituality Retreat + Day 3 Mary Prayer Cycle ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, We continue this week with the release of our Day 3 Birthing the Holy video podcast that accompanies my book Birthing the Holy: Wisdom from Mary to Nurture Creativity and Renewal. Day 3 Morning and Evening Prayer take the themes of Star of the Sea and Vessel of Grace.  Here is an excerpt from Day 3 Morning: Opening Prayer Stella Maris, Mary, Star of the Sea, we look to the night sky to see your brilliance shining upon the world. Be with us as a guiding light and safe harbour on our journey of surrender and trust. Show

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The Spiral Year and the Celtic Seasons ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, Join Simon de Voil and me for an online retreat next Sunday April 23rd hosted by OneSpirit Seminary where we will be exploring the Spiral Year and the Celtic seasons.  This is an excerpt from my book The Soul’s Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred: Sacred Rhythms of the Earth The unfolding of the seasons was an overarching template for the Celtic imagination and spirit. There are significant feast days aligned with the equinoxes and solstices, then there are the cross-quarter days, which are the midway points between them and were part of the harvest cycle. 

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Abbey of the Arts CD and DVD Buy One Get One Free Sale

In partnership with Wisdom Council Member and Abbey teaching partner Betsey Beckman of The Dancing Word, Abbey of the Arts has produced a series of CD & DVD collections as another resource for contemplation, creativity, and movement. From now through January 30th by one CD or DVD and get a second CD or DVD of your choice for free. This sale applies to CDs and DVDs only, not digital albums. After you purchase your item, please contact us using the link in your order form or by emailing dancingmonk@abbeyofthearts.com and let us know which CD or DVD you’d like as your free gift.  View our

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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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The Soul’s Slow Ripening DVD now available!

In Fall 2018 Christine Valters Paintner released her book The Soul’s Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred which has been really well received as a wonderful resource to break open Celtic spirituality for the contemporary seeker. We followed that book up with our second album, The Soul’s Slow Ripening: Songs for Celtic Seekers (available from CDBaby as a digital download or CD), which includes twelve songs from wonderful musician friends to deepen your experience of Celtic tradition and prayer. We are delighted to announce we now have our DVD available, The Soul’s Slow Ripening: Dancing the Sacred

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Listen to Christine’s podcast interview on Awakened Woman Self-Care

In this podcast Christine explains why she chose the title The Soul’s Slow Ripening. It called to her because her approach, “… has always been organic and tied to the seasons. The contemplative approach to life is not a quick fix solution. It allows for the season to have its fullness.” Christine also speaks about her move to Ireland, a land rich in sacred history. She shares her stories of mystics and the magic of stones there. Click here to listen >>

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Allowing the Soul to Ripen and Unfold ~ A love note from your online abbess

St. Kevin Holds Open His Hand Imagine being like Kevin, your grasping fist softens, fingers uncurl and palms open, rest upward, and the blackbird weaves twigs and straw and bits of string in the begging bowl of your hand, you feel the delicate weight of speckled blue orbs descend, and her feathered warmth settling in for a while. How many days can you stay, open, waiting for the shell to fissure and crack, awaiting the slow emergence of tiny gaping mouths and slick wings that need time to strengthen? Are you willing to wait and watch? To not withdraw your

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