The Guild for Spiritual Guidance
June 2022 Newsletter
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Monthly Reflection: Turning
by Cari Keith
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Turning. Not the 3:30 am turning from side to back to side to front to side over and over again until I finally get up and give up on any further sleep. No, today was a very different kind of turning – one I voluntarily gave up sleep to experience. Summer Solstice, that brief pause in the turning, that marks the earth's greatest point of tilt toward the sun, a turning that brings us, in the northern hemisphere, the long, warm days of summer.
Standing at the ocean’s edge in the early dawn, I was keenly aware of the liminal layers I had stepped into, of the threshold encounters I was engaging. Behind me, visibly winking at a waning moon, were Venus and Jupiter. In front of me was a deep peach, turquoise, and magenta sky tossing colors over the rolling waves. In that moment I was on holy ground, a thin experience of threshold time – dawn, solstice, sea, and sand. I found myself on my knees in wet sand full of gratitude for the privilege of being exactly where I was. All too quickly, however, I discovered that I was equally aware of the national thresholds that I had also stepped into –thresholds that were also a part of me, thresholds where we collectively stand and wait – sometimes holding our breath.
In those solstice turning, tilting moments I couldn’t help but wonder which way we would turn. I couldn’t help but wonder how we as a people and a nation might step from the current threshold waiting on issues of gun control, climate change, racial justice, women’s bodily autonomy. I couldn’t help but wonder how our raised voices and choices would make a difference. In the hope brought on by an ever turning earth, I can only hope that collectively, we will be able to turn and tilt in the direction of well being for all. To that end, the Guild has intentionally designed programs to train and support those who are engaging in the work of moving toward such a goal.
Along with the Apprenticeship Program, our newest Guild programs (Supervision, Rewilding with Creation, and Dialogues in Racial Healing) have been created to assist us in deepening the skills necessary to listen in ways that lead to healing and understanding. These skills take practice, support, and community, and these programs have generated an active interest. We are already receiving applications for participation.
As Guild members, you are already a part of the process and practice of listening in ways that can help to move the world toward wholeness and well being. Come deepen and practice those skills in community by participating in one of the new Guild programs, or invite a friend to participate in the AP, or be a support or mentor to a participant, or provide financial resources so that others might participate in one of these skill-developing programs. Our tuition assistance program has been recently seeded with a generous donation. Every donation to this fund helps to increase the number of skilled people who are actively engaged in the process of helping to turn our world toward well being for all. We can listen each other into wholeness! The turning is happening; the possibilities are real…and really endless.
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Solstice '22
by Dora Janeway Odarenko, AP XXI
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And so today we celebrate
our tilting towards the sun.
We now are bare before
the increase of our light and heat.
Time was the solstice
was for joy and dancing on the green
with ribbons, wine and laughter,
careless through the night
into our longest day,
anticipating a fresh, high season.
Which is now a day of burning yellow, red,
withered green, garlands gone,
soil cracked from heat
the earth a dirt now caked
in furrows that will not nurse her seeds.
Elephants, who joy in daily baths,
beached, dead of thirst,
giraffes all limp and grounded,
dragged off so corpses
don’t draw jackels to the young.
On this long day, we are ignited
by our earth, aligned in facing
what we together have become;
lighted to be poems that draw us
from ourselves and brightly
into her and one another.
We can be sure of solstice,
intimacy of earth and sun.
We can’t be sure of what
we’re tilting towards.
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Late Breaking Guild Leadership Changes
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Steve Allen resigned as treasurer and chair of operations effective June 27, 2022. Steve has served the Guild on the board and as treasurer for many years. Moving forward, Kate Duncan, who had been assistant treasurer, will assume the role of treasurer, and Steve will mentor Kate.
Thank you, Steve, for your steadfast dedication and service to the Guild.
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Guild Establishes Scholarship Fund for Multiple Programs
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As you may have noticed in recent newsletters, the Guild for Spiritual Guidance has expanded its programming beyond the two-year Apprenticeship Program. Beginning in November 2023, the Guild will offer a one-year Supervision Program with a focus on depth psychology, and in January, the Guild will introduce a one-year program in eco-spirituality, called Rewilding with Creation. All of these programs are generating excitement, AND they cost money. A robust scholarship program is essential to our commitment to diversity and to assuring that no qualified applicant is turned away because s/he cannot pay. Toward that end, the Guild for Spiritual Guidance invites you to contribute to a scholarship fund for these programs. Expect an email with more details in the near future.
However, there is no need to wait for a letter to make a gift. Feel free to send your check to The Guild for Spiritual Guidance c/o Kate Duncan, 15 East Putnam Ave., #341, Greenwich, CT 06830-5424.
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Apply Now for Spiritual Guidance Supervision Program
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The Guild for Spiritual Guidance is offering a new one-year program called Spiritual Guidance Supervision with a Depth Psychology Orientation. The program will commence in November 2022, and the invitation to this program will be limited to Guild graduates in the initial year.
The supervision program invites those who are called to begin a private practice of one-to-one interfaith spiritual guidance or who are already engaged in practicing interfaith spiritual guidance to refine their skills as a spiritual guide. The curriculum utilizes a depth psychology focus as well as individual and peer supervision for aiding the practitioner to gain deeper perspective and awareness of self, and self in relationship to the guide.
The program is designed for those who are looking for support in their spiritual guidance practice; who are looking to grow in understanding of themselves and the ways in which they are present with their guidees; who are looking to deepen their skill with guidees; and who are desiring to deepen their understanding of depth psychology and its impact on their practice.
painting by Becky Nielsen
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Do You Know Candidates for the AP Program? Encourage Them to Apply
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APXXII is now forming, and there is still time to apply for the next cohort commencing in September 2022.
As Guild graduates, we understand the deep connections we make with one another during the Apprenticeship Program. For many of us, the Apprenticeship Program was a transformational journey.
Do you know someone who is longing for deeper spiritual connection? Please encourage that person to consider applying to APXXII. Just click on the button below to download the AP brochure.
painting by Becky Nielsen
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Connect with Nature and Other Guild Members at "Guild Day Apart"
July 28 in the Catskills at Kingswood Campsite
by Holly Moore
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Guild graduates (and significant others), we have a new summertime program! It is an opportunity to hang out with fellow Guildees in a beautiful setting in the Catskills, while participating in gentle and spacious programming. If that sounds good to you, join us for the day at Kingswood Campsite in Hancock, NY on July 28. Join in a Guild sharing circle, walk the labyrinth, participate in Stone Ministry, enjoy a campsite lunch and dinner, a campfire, and an evening vespers service. There will also be time for swimming, hiking, or boating.
If you’d like to spend the night, you can extend your experience by camping at a fully equipped campsite with other graduates or you can stay in a local hotel.
Details
Maria Pia Seirup (APXXI), Holly Moore (APXV), and Paul Carbone (APXVIII) will be your hosts for this event. We truly hope to see you.
Note: If you are feeling sniffly or unwell before coming, please take an at-home Covid test. All programming will be outside, including meals, so contagion risk is minimal. Masks are optional, but if you’d be more comfortable wearing one, please feel free to do so. If you chose to stay overnight in a group tent, we ask that you be vaccinated.
If you have any questions, please contact Maria Pia Seirup at 203.470.1337.
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Save the Date: September 10, 2022
Guild for Spiritual Guidance Annual Meeting
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Reserve September 23-25, 2022 for the Fall Graduate Guild Retreat
on "The Art of Seeing" at Wisdom House in Litchfield, CT
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"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with 'new eyes.’ ”
-Marcel Proust
Imagine a world where you could see with “new eyes.” The Art of Seeing with Carmen Lund is an art-making class with a spiritual objective. In this approach you are led to take a fresh look at familiar things. Using a process of discovery and paying attention is a game changer. Nothing will ever appear the same as before. Nothing will be mundane.
The natural will become miraculous and the everyday will be unique.You will develop a fresh sense of awe, wonder and gratitude for the natural world and God’s movement in the everyday..
“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” Pablo Picasso.
Over the weekend, you will be led in a series of exercises to express, elaborate and manifest everyday mundane reality and transform it into something special.
Carmen Lund is a graduate with the Guild for Spiritual Guidance (AP XX) and a visual artist whose paintings have been exhibited and collected in the US, Asia, South America and Europe. She also teaches painting and is a transformational life coach. The common thread in each of the areas is her creative approach to problem-solving both on and off the canvas.
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Explore the Natural Cycles of the Earth Community with “Rewilding with Creation: Living the Rhythms of the Seasons” to Begin January 2023.
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Guild members and friends, come delve into the natural cycles of the earth and our embedded experiences of them in a new year-long Engaged Wisdom program, Rewilding with Creation, starting in January 2023.
The following questions lie at the heart of the Rewilding with Creation program:
- How do we participate in the natural cycles of the earth community?
- How do we develop and support our capacities to co-create with the earth?
- Is there one consciousness embedded in creation?
- How do we relate to the synergy of the deep cycles of the earth?
- How do we receive and celebrate that relatedness?
The program covers four modules of three months each: Season of Dormancy to Quickening from January through March; Season of Life Bursting Forth from April through June; Season of Harvest from July through September; and Season of Preparation for the Dark from October through December.
Participants will explore their local bioregion, journal about their experiences with nature, and employ contemplative practices.
Guild member, environmental educator, and longtime staff member with the Vermont Wilderness School Amy Hyatt will lead the program.
Look for more details in future e-Newsletters and on the website.
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Join Us on a Pilgrimage to Assisi, May 2023
by Paul Kimmerling
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Join the pilgrimage, “In the Footsteps of Francis and Clare,” to call forth what is deepest within you as you experience the marvels of Assisi. In the tradition of the Guild’s four strands, you will be introduced to Assisi and the countryside of Umbria in an intimate one-of-a-kind experience honoring all faith traditions. You will be invited into the stories of Francis and Clare as a pathway for touching the human and divine in us all.
Single and double rooms are available. ALL are welcome! For full details, click on the button below or contact your pilgrimage facilitators, Paul Kimmerling and Br. Mark D’Alessio, at guildpilgrimageassisi2023@gmail.com
Photo above is of the Basilica of St. Clare, Assisi, Italy. |
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Join the Virtual Coffee Cafe Tuesdays at 10 am
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Guild graduates, if you love the idea of connecting with friends from your Apprenticeship Program and other Guild graduates, join the Coffee Café every Tuesday morning at 10 am. There are people who would love to see you and reconnect.
There is no cost to attend the Coffee Café.
Join us via Zoom:
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Silent Meditation Thursdays at 6:30 am
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Every Thursday morning at 6:30, Guild members gather for time together in quiet. There is no program as such. Log on as close to 6:30 as you can, settle in, breathe, and sit together with our Guild family, holding the world, the Guild, our lives in holy space. The meeting closes around 7:00 with a reading. You are welcome any Thursday morning.
For more information and the zoom link please email Holly Moore at: hollynelmesmoore@gmail.com
There is no cost for these meetings.
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Upcoming Programs at Wisdom House
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Wisdom House is an interfaith retreat and conference center presenting programs in spirituality, wellness, the arts, and ecology, while offering hospitality to academic, civic, nonprofit, and business organizations. Wisdom House hosts in-person weekends for the Guild Apprenticeship Program and Graduate Guild Retreats.
Check out these upcoming programs at Wisdom House
- Summer Directed Retreats, various dates
- The Road Not Taken, July 16
- Surrendered: The Grace of Spiritual Awakening, July 29-30
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Upcoming Courses at Deep Time Network
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The Deep Time Network is dedicated to orienting humankind to the great story of evolution as our primary context, and learning from it so we can make the best choices possible.
- Quantum Wisdom: Essential Insights from a Revolutionary Science, August
- Deeptime Leadership and Personal Empowerment, September through June
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Writers and Artists Wanted
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Would you like to write a reflective piece for the newsletter? Would you like to share your poetry, artwork, or remembrances of what made the Guild such a special experience for you? Would you like to write a profile of a Guild member for the newsletter? If so, please contact Lou Anne Bulik.
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You’re receiving this because you’re a member of the Guild or a Guild member has recommended you because of shared interests. We hope you enjoy hearing from us, but if you would prefer not to receive this, then feel free to unsubscribe at any time. Shalom. Salaam. Peace.
June 2022
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