Simply Silence: Winter

An age-old prayer tradition for contemporary pilgrims
February 27 - March 1, 2015
Friday evening supper through Sunday lunch
Still Point Mountain Retreat near Harpers Ferry WV

View from Still Point deck in winter

Gather at Still Point Mountain Retreat for Friday Vespers, followed by 7:00 p.m. dinner and Compline. Arrive Friday after 1:00 p.m. Retreat ends following lunch on Sunday. Gathered participants will follow contemporary Prayer of the Hours, interspersed with generous time for silence and rambling in the winter woods, warming around the fire, reading or writing in the library, reflecting through art or your own contemplative work, and enjoying one another in community. Come away and rest. A warm, comfortable log cabin and kindred spirits await.

Retreat include six delicious home-style meals, a contemplative library and art materials. Retreat Fee: $185.

It's easy to register:

The Gift of Story

A retreat for Advent and the Winter Solstice
December 5-7, 2014
Friday supper 6 pm - Sunday lunch
Rolling Ridge Study Retreat

Traditionally the liturgical season of Advent is a time to reflect inwardly on what gives us hope, while on a planetary level the earth's northern hemisphere awaits the solstice, marking the moment after which the sun's light will lengthen each day, pushing back the darkness. It is a time immersed in story: of stars, angelic visitations, dreams, and journeys, as well as generosity and compassion in less exalted realms: gifts left on doorsteps or in shoes or stockings, feasts for the poor, tales of elves and sugarplums told round the warmth of a burning Yule.

Yet we live in a time when the deeper possibilities of these stories are largely ignored and discredited. We are surrounded instead by a different story, one of separation: between us and nature, spirit and matter, reason and intuition.

Wilderness Wandering and Quarterly Men's Gathering

December 5-6, 2014
Friday 6 pm - Saturday 6 pm
Still Point Mountain Retreat at Rolling Ridge

"Wilderness wandering is perhaps the most essential soulcraft practice
for contemporary Westerners who have wandered so far from nature"
-- Bill Plotkin, Soul Craft

As men, we need three things to grow in our spiritual journey: intentional heart connection with other men, a daily contemplative practice, and regular immersion in wilderness.

We invite you to join other men from our region for a "Wilderness Wandering" on December 5-6 at the Stillpoint Retreat at Rolling Ridge in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, beginning on Friday night with a shared potluck dinner between 6-7 pm followed by a reflection period. Saturday will serve as an intentional extended period of solitude in nature without distraction, incorporating an opportunity for fasting, prayer, solitude, observation, and journaling. This is not for the faint of heart. It is for those men who want to be intentional about their spiritual journey.

Shalem's Contemplative Voices Award

Honoring Cynthia Bourgeault
Sunday, November 16, 2014
4-6:30 pm

The Shalem Institute's Contemplative Voices Award was created to honor those individuals who have made significant contributions to contemplative understanding, living and leadership and whose witness helps others live from the divine wellspring of compassion, strength, and authentic vision. 

Cynthia Bourgeault is a modern day mystic, Episcopal priest, writer, and internationally known retreat leader, who divides her time between solitude at her seaside hermitage in Maine and a demanding schedule traveling globally to teach and spread the recovery of the Christian contemplative and Wisdom path. She is the founding director of both The Contemplative Society and the Aspen Wisdom School.

Advanced Wisdom School with Cynthia Bourgeault

Gurdjieff for Christian Contemplatives: An Intensive Exploration of the Holy Trinity and the Law of Three
November 11-16, 2014
Tuesday dinner - Sunday lunch
Claymont Society for Continuous Education in Charles Town, WV

This Advanced Wisdom School will be an intensive exploration of the Holy Trinity and the Law of Three, based on Cynthia's new book which is required reading for this Wisdom School.

Two years ago Cynthia provided an introductory immersion in Gurdjieff work and Gurdjieff movements to Christian contemplative seekers, exploring core ideas and practices largely unfamiliar to mainstream Christianity but with a deep affinity with mystical Christianity and a profound capacity to resolve theological logjams and move practice to a deeper, more integrated place. Topics explored included: reciprocal feeding, the Law of Three, the original enneagram, essence and personality, three centered awareness, attention, and self-remembering.

Annual Meeting

Rolling Ridge Study Retreat Community
November 8, 2014
10 am - 4 pm
Rolling Ridge Study Retreat

Save the date!  More information to come.

Spiritual Practices from the Gurdjieff Work with Cynthia Bourgeault

An E-Course by Spirituality and Practice
November 3-28, 2014

G. I Gurdjieff (1866-1949) was an enigmatic, Armenian-born spiritual teacher whose one-of-a-kind spiritual teaching has been a quiet force in Western spiritual history for nearly 100 years. Now Spirituality & Practice is pleased to offer you a rare opportunity: a practical, hands-on exploration of Gurdjieff's powerful spiritual practices minus the intellectual speculation and secrecy! This one-month e-course led by renowned teacher Cynthia Bourgeault will plunge you right into the heart of these transformative practices.

Sacred Fire

The Art of Creating Nature-Based Ritual and Ceremony, with Jim Hall and Cheryl Hellner
October 17-19, 2014
Friday dinner - Sunday lunch
Rolling Ridge Study Retreat

"As long as there is one to sing and one to dance,
one to speak and one to listen, life will go on.
— Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation

To live in a sacred way is to live in a world where everything is alive, everything has soul, and everything speaks to us. Could it be that the deepest gift the human ones can give, at this moment in Earth's evolving life, is our gift for ritual and ceremony: our stories, our dances, our gestures, our songs?

In this retreat we will explore the art and practice of creating ritual and ceremony — ceremonies to mark significant life passages, to honor our grief, to celebrate the seasonal gifts of creation, to pray for healing, and daily rituals to express our gratitude for the gift of life.

Much of our time will be spent outdoors:

The Permaculture Rewilding Intensive: Part 1

Take the first step to learn the Rewilding Design System and begin to understand the language of nature!
September 19-21, 2014
Friday dinner - Sunday lunch
Rolling Ridge Study Retreat

What: Susquehanna Permaculture's ReWilding School presents the Permaculture Rewilding Intensive, Part 1. Email joshua.and.katherine@gmail.com to register.

The Rewilding Design System has been developed by merging the techniques and wisdom of indigenous land management & community building with the ingenuity of permaculture design. Rewilding is the process of nurturing wild resources & ecosystems back to health by minimizing the devastating effects of modern, global, industrial culture. Humanity is absolutely dependent on natural, wild resources & systems, so rewilding is not limited to remote rural areas, but is needed everywhere, even in the heart of the city!

Restorying

Cultivating personal, cultural, and planetary stories for a new era
September 12-14 (or 15), 2014
6 pm Friday - Sunday (or Monday) Lunch
Still Point Mountain Retreat near Harpers Ferry WV

"It is all a question of story.  We are in trouble now because we do not have a good one" -- Thomas Berry

We have always lived by a story that told us how we got here, why we are here, and what God and the Universe were up to. Today, the old story, a story of our separation from nature, of the separation of spirit from matter, of reason from intuition, isn't working. The signs are everywhere as we struggle with economic havoc, violence, injustice, environmental degradation, and depression.

As Thomas Berry suggests, the task of our time is to discover and to inhabit new story from the personal to the planetary level. A new story is waiting to be born, but has not yet emerged. We live in a time between stories.

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