The Guild for Spiritual Guidance

July 2022 Newsletter

Monthly Reflection

Summer grace and beauty to all. As part of our Guild community, you often come to mind as I daily consider not only what it is we practice, but those who invite and encourage a Guild way of being in, and engaging with, the world. 

You immediately came to mind as I listened to John Phillip Newell on Sunday. He was visiting Cape Cod, and Alice DeNormandie and I were privileged to hear him.  “Our goal,” said Newell, “is to work to increase the awareness of the sacredness of all humanity and of our planet and universe.”  This recognition of the innate sacredness of all, has been forgotten, according to Newell.  

My first thought as I listened, was, “an awareness of the sacred that permeates all life has not been forgotten by the Guild!” The Guild community works as individuals in community, as program presenters, and as justice collaborators to bring to consciousness a deep recognition of the sacredness of life, of all matter and all that matters. Through the wisdom of our founders and the ongoing work of our members, we have long been engaged in exactly this work – a work that is essential to the life and well being of our planet and human family. 

Last week, you received an email inviting you to financially support a new scholarship initiative so that the Guild might offer assistance to those who bring to the program a diversity of thought which can only develop when we experience the differences that remind us that sacredness has no boundaries – we are all in all, all one, all living with different skin, gender identification and sexual orientation, economic challenges, educational options, and unique neighborhoods. There are applicants for the AP and other Guild programs who are waiting for assistance, who would challenge our assumptions and deepen our awareness of the immensity of all that is sacred. None of us engages Guild programs on our own. Such depth of learning is always a collaboration and willingness to engage the unfamiliar. Widening our mind’s understanding always happens within the context of widening the circle of those communities in which we participate.  

Eckhart Tolle writes, “When you go deeply into the present, gratitude arises spontaneously….” I stood at sunrise this morning and felt that deep gratitude for being as I felt the wind on my face and delighted in the passionate colors of the warming sky. The world is too much in need of the tending of consciousness that leads us to deep gratitude and an awareness of the sacred all around. The Guild is equipped and ready to encourage just this development. Be a part of  extending the awareness…

Checks – any amount - can be sent to Steve Allen at 13 Skyline Drive, Unit 11, Fishkill, NY 12524.    

Guild Leadership Changes

This month, Cindi Mitchell resigned from the board of the Guild for Spiritual Guidance and from her position as corresponding secretary due to health reasons. Cindi has served on the board for many years and helped to shape the Guild’s website. Thank you, Cindi, for your steadfast devotion and support. 

Last month, the newsletter reported that Steve Allen had resigned as treasurer of the Guild. Steve resigned his position as chair of operations, and he resigned from serving on the board; however, Steve continues to serve as treasurer of the Guild while he mentors Kate Duncan, the assistant treasurer, to become treasurer. We apologize for any confusion.

Scholarship Fund 

Format and Cost of New Spiritual Guidance Supervision Program
Has Been Modified

The Guild has made some changes in format and fee structure to the new one-year program in Spiritual Guidance Supervision with a Depth Psychology Orientation. Our in-person meetings at Wisdom House are reduced from three weekends to one opening weekend only, thus enabling travel expenses to be reduced as well as tuition thus enabling travel expenses to be reduced as well as tuition.  If you considered the program before, but did not think you could commit because of the number of in-person weekends or the cost, you may want to reconsider. 

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.

Updated information about the program design will be posted on the website soon.

Do You Know Candidates for the AP Program? Encourage Them to Apply

"Guild Day Apart" at Kingswood Campsite has been cancelled.

Reserve September 23-25, 2022 for the Fall Graduate Guild Retreat

on "The Art of Seeing" at Wisdom House in Litchfield, CT

Explore the Natural Cycles of the Earth Community with “Rewilding with Creation: Living the Rhythms of the Seasons” to Begin January 2023.

• 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? 

Assisi: A Pilgrimage of Peace

by Paul Kimmerling and Rev. Br. Mark D’Alessio

At one time, challenges to peace were local. Now, with global communication and travel, almost any challenge becomes global and affects us all. This serves to emphasize the interdependence of all things, the benefits of fostering peace in our age, and the growing call for peacemakers. With this in mind, and heart, we invite you to join us on Pilgrimage in May 2023 to Assisi, Italy – the City of Peace.

Since the late 1200’s, Franciscans have considered Assisi their birthplace and spiritual home. Thousands of friars and sisters have lived and prayed here since the time of Francis and Clare. And, because of these two spiritual luminaries, Assisi has received countless millions of pilgrims – from many walks of life and spiritual traditions. 

Over the centuries, Assisi has been known as “The City of Peace” – buoyed by Franciscan ideals such as service to those most vulnerable, affirmation of the unique worth of each person, appreciation for beauty, and reverence for all creation. Demonstrating these values during World War II, the citizens of Assisi played a heroic role in saving the lives of 300 of our Jewish sisters and brothers. You can learn more about these efforts during our pilgrimage next year when you visit Assisi’s Museum of Memory, 1943-1944. You can also experience, from the comfort of your chair before leaving on Pilgrimage, a fascinating and moving documentary about this effort — “My Italian Secret.” It features the renowned Italian cyclist Gino Bartali, who repeatedly risked his life to save others back then. These ideals continue through today, and Assisi has been the site of inter-religious conferences, as well as popular demonstrations to foster peace and justice. Memorably, in 1986, the United Nations International Year of Peace, 100 leaders of diverse faiths and spiritualities gathered in Assisi in recognition of the vital role of the world’s religions to promote a spirit of peaceful mutual understanding and practice. They followed in the footsteps of Francis and Clare, just as we will on pilgrimage in May 2023.

Inter-religious Understanding and Practice
To help us contemplate how the Franciscan ethos has nurtured the City of Peace, it’s helpful to recall the teachings and lived experience of Francis himself. Born into a successful cloth-trading family of the rising merchant class, Francis knew first-hand what his father’s wealth could buy him – radiant clothing, indulgent nights on the town, and a handsome suit of armor before he went off to join a military effort. He also knew well the tensions between two competing strata of Assisi society – the landed nobility, the historic seat of power, and the cash-rich merchants who wanted their share of town governance. In fact, Francis would spend a year in prison after taking part in a battle between those two factions. Finally, he knew the deprivation of those who fell outside these two power-hungry factions and was known to give generously to those who begged money of him.

We may not know the inner experience of Francis’ conversion from a life of privilege to a willing embrace of poverty. But we can witness what he has said and done:

• At a time when status and wealth were the prime social determinants, he chose to call himself and his followers “little brothers.” In being the least of all, they would be a threat to no one and potential friends to all. 
• Francis and his followers chose to release all possessions, so that they had nothing to defend. As he himself said, “If we had any possessions, we would be forced to bear arms to protect them, since possessions are a cause of dispute and strife.” 
• In abandoning societal distinctions and prejudices, the early Franciscan community worked with lepers, those who were completely outcast from society as it was structured then.
• Unlike the clergy of the day, who would often reinforce dogma and/or threaten eternal punishment, Francis approached his preaching as an opportunity to speak about loving others, sharing time and resources, and conversation about the depth of meaning in his own life and our interdependence with each other.

Practicing Peace
Francis’ spiritual practice encourages us to seek the ultimate, essential interconnectedness and nested dependence of all things. It also dared to speak out against the principalities and powers that entrapped his age and culture (and still entrap ours), that perpetrated violence against each other and our planet home. His spirituality prompted him to embrace “the other” and make peace.

What we today call “pluralism” or “crossing the aisle” is especially modelled by Francis’ famed encounter with Sultan Malik al-Kamil during the Fifth Crusade. Although their meeting did not end the Crusade wars, they experienced a mutual respect and their different faith traditions. In the words of spiritual activist and author, Shane Claiborne (see the link below), we can take much from Francis’ approach, “In an (our) age of religious extremists, Francis offers us an alternative. We have seen religious extremists of all stripes…distort the best that our faiths have to offer and hijack the headlines with stories of hatred…but Francis invites us to become extremists for grace, extremists for love.”

• To read more about this historical event: St. Francis, Pray for Us by Shane Claiborne

• If you’re interested in a DVD set and study guide: In the Footprints of Francis and the Sultan A Model for Peacemaking by Kathleen A. Warren, OSF  

Francis’ historical peace-making extends into the realm of myth. In the famed legend about the wolf of Gubbio, Francis is said to have brokered a peace pact between a marauding, hungry wolf and the people of Gubbio. The result? The wolf agreed to harm neither the people nor the animals of Gubbio; and the people agreed to feed the wolf. By the way, you can experience Gubbio with us during Pilgrimage B (see the link below), when we venture beyond Assisi to visit four storied locations of Franciscan significance – Gubbio, La Verna, Greccio, and Perugia.

If we want to foster peace in the spirit of Francis, how might we proceed? Here are some practices:

1. Practice “loving kindness” meditation. Loving-kindness meditation (aka, ‘Metta’ meditation) is a way to extend loving generosity to ourselves and others, including those from who we feel estranged.
2. Listen in an open and respectful way that embodies a willingness to be changed by the truth expressed by another.
3. Live without grasping tightly to individual attachments and concerns, including doctrine and dogma, thereby cultivating freedom to serve with a depth of care and concern for others.
4. Join a pilgrimage and become part of a community of seekers committed to personal learning and transformation

Sharing experiences from the day in the Piazza del Comune, Assisi

Join the Virtual Coffee Cafe Tuesdays at 10 am 

Silent Meditation Tuesday Evenings and Thursday Mornings

For more information and the zoom link please email Holly Moore at:  hollynelmesmoore@gmail.com

 Upcoming Programs at Wisdom House

Upcoming Courses at Deep Time Network 

• Quantum Wisdom: Essential Insights from a Revolutionary Science, August
• Deeptime Leadership and Personal Empowerment, September through June

Writers and Artists Wanted