The following is provided by the Danish Wisdom convening team who hosted Cynthia Bourgeault October 18-23, 2021 at Løgumkloster Refuge, Monastery and Church, Denmark.
Our gratitude to Helle Skaarup, Director of Løgumkloster Refuge, and Nini Praetorius, retreat co-organizer, for sharing this exquisite account.
This was the second retreat Cynthia Bourgeault gave in this beautifully situated and well-maintained monastery in southern Jutland in Denmark near the border to Germany. It was built in 1173 by Cistercian monks and provides an imminently suitable framework for Christian contemplative teaching and work. Løgumkloster Abbey is a member of The European Charter of the Cistercian Abbeys and Sites.
At her first visit in 2019 Cynthia gave a retreat on “Jesus as a Spiritual Master” for a group of active spiritual seekers and teachers who offer courses and activities in Christian spiritual practices such as meditation, Lectio Divina, contemplative prayer, mindfulness, and pilgrim journeys. The retreat with Cynthia was so gratifying and inspiring for all of us that we invited her to a second visit – this time round to give a retreat on her revolutionary new book: The Eye of the Heart. Thankfully, Cynthia accepted the invitation, and a group of 40 specially-invited, highly-motivated spiritual teachers, familiar with Cynthia’s earlier work and well-informed in the content of Eye of the Heart, participated in this newly held retreat.
In 15 fascinating and transmission-filled teachings and with her imminent storytelling skills, Cynthia recounted the never-ending evolutionary development of “Worlds” and Consciousnesses – from the unmanifest energetical through to the light Imaginal, the heavy earth realms and beyond, and their complex upward and downward dynamisms. Suddenly, as by a stroke of magic, all of it became a vivid and living reality. And so, things so difficult to fathom with an earthbound linear time and “material” causality perspective swiftly became totally obvious, meaningful, and convincing when realized from the radial/spatial time and non-dual synchronous being spilling over to the earth world from the Imaginal realm. At the end of the retreat the scaffolding maps of Worlds and Realms metamorphosed inward into something subtly and palpably heartfelt, leaving us with this surprising glimpse of hope that, yes, we were indeed the same “pieces” in a united collective whole, now equipped with tools by which to contribute energies to the necessary transformational shift of the present downward evolutionary course. It felt as a personal shift, a new life, a new vision and knowing – and indeed a rekindling of faith. It was intense, a lifetime condensed into 5 days. At the departure the retreatants were, as they put it, seriously and gratefully “shaken up” – and unknowingly wondering where and how the integration of it all would leave them.
We at Løgumkloster refuge and monastery in Denmark are ready to be part of the international wisdom work of yours and to assist in the network building and strengthening still further the Imaginal force of the work we are collectively trying to do.
Helle Skaarup
Director of Løgumkloster Refuge
Nini Praetorius
Retreat co-organizer
Thank you for this moving account of your journeys on the retreat. I am again shaken by the clarity of the gift of the reality of the different worlds Cynthia offers. It was a joy to read and I felt the experience palpably.
Very happy to hear the magical reflections. Certainly thrilled when any part of the globe sees the brilliance of these teachings for the first time. Thanks for sharing this good news.
Sincerely,
Marty Schmidt
Hong Kong