Sister Death and Samhain Pilgrimage
Blessings on this All Hallow’s Eve! I love this time of year as the darkness of the world grows, inviting me into more contemplative space, more rest, more dreamtime, more mystery. This time of the thinning of the veil also invites me to reflect on death as a spiritual practice. As the world turns inward […]
Does Your Heart Long to Journey to Celtic Lands? ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, These northern hemisphere days when the nights grow longer and the sun lower in the sky is my favorite time of year. I especially love that the sun rises later and later so I am able to get up on calm mornings and stand at the threshold of sea and […]
Join Us On a Virtual Pilgrimage to Ireland ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, We are thrilled to be offering a second virtual Celtic pilgrimage starting a week from tomorrow which will be the eve of Samhain and the Feast of All Hallows. Journey with us over nine days as we deepen into Celtic wisdom and hear the stories of Kevin, Ita, and Enda. Each day’s […]
Hildy Tail ~Balaam & the Talking Ass
This week we are featuring one of our Hildy Tails. This series of essays were composed last year for our Sustainers Circle. They were dictated to John by the Abbey’s mascot, Hildy the Monk-ey. Hildy is a bit of a free spirit who likes to entertain and doesn’t normally feel constrained by conventional story structure […]
This Here Flesh ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, Next Saturday, October 22nd I will be leading a retreat for Spirituality & Practice on The Wisdom of the Body: Contemplative Practices for Deep Listening. Buddhist teacher Reginald Ray describes the body as “the last unexplored wilderness.” For the desert monks of the Christian tradition, the wilderness is the place where we […]
Blessing on the feast of Francis of Assisi
Blessings on this feast of Francis of Assisi! In 2019, John and I had the joy of traveling to Assisi on pilgrimage to walk in Francis’ landscape. It was such a gift to connect more deeply to this amazing human being and his sister-in-spirit Clare. Francis witnesses to our call to sacred joy, to holy […]
Join Us For The Mystical Heart and Hildegard ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
St. Hildegard Strolls Through the Garden Luminous morning, Hildegard gazes at the array of blooms, holding in her heart the young boy with a mysterious rash, the woman reaching menopause, the newly minted widower, and the black Abbey cat with digestive issues who wandered in one night and stayed. New complaints arrive each day. She […]