Dear Wisdom friends,
I know that many of you are beginning to arrange your fall and winter schedules and are trying to figure out which on-the -ground CB retreats will work best with your particular interests and experience base. With that in mind, I thought I’d walk you through some of the highlights of my fall and early winter teaching schedule. Most of these events are now posted on both Wisdom Waypoints and cynthiabourgeault.org, but here’s the quick summary:
October 2-7, Claymont (Charles Town, West VA). This will be the usual fall gathering (a little early this year) of the core group that has been working together at Claymont for the past three years. The theme will be The Care and Nurture of Second Body, and the work will have its usual Gurdjieffian flavor, featuring conscious labor (and yep, no doubt some intentional suffering), movements, Gurdjieff exercises, plus a deeper dive into the Building Kesdjan body material I first aired in Stonington last summer. It’s not exactly a closed retreat, but will be most compatible for those of you who are already experienced in this branch of the Wisdom Work and comfortable with the Fourth Way ambience. If you want more information about this retreat, email Cynthia using the contact form on Wisdom Waypoints.
November 12-17, Garrison Institute (Garrison, New York): Holding our Planet. This will be a mostly silent teaching retreat with a more traditionally contemplative format and an interspiritual ambience. It’s intended for mature contemplatives of all spiritual walks who are deeply concerned about the crises imperiling our planet (cultural, ecological) and wish to bring “skillful means” from a deeper spiritual level. Core practices such as surrender, impartiality, right timing, imaginal exchange, and spiritual generativity will be practiced with an open heart and quiet mind. This larger retreat is suitable for all with a basic sitting practice under their belts and a willingness to work in this fashion. It is NOT for those are polarized, overly agitated, or compulsively verbal.
December 11-15 (dates not exactly set yet). How many of you would be interested in a small Ground Luminosity retreat at my new small retreat/house in Rockland, Maine during this classic “thin space” week in Advent? Twelve is about our optimal number, but the right twelve could make some beautiful advent music.
The Desert in the Desert of Our Own Times Redemptorist Renewal Center, Tucson AZ. NEW DATES: This Wisdom School will no longer take place in 2024. The new dates are February 20th-25th, 2025. We will be returning to the perennial wisdom of the Desert fathers and mothers in this quintessential desert setting, considering how they speak to the impasse of our own times. This retreat will be coordinated by Heather Ruce and is not yet officially open for registration, but if you’re interested, do pencil in the dates.
There will probably also be the usual Gurdjieff birthday gathering in Claymont bracketing the traditional January 13 feast. Stay tuned!
Farther Afield
For those of you traveling (or resident) in Europe, note that I’ll be doing three separate events there this fall. September 11-17 will be the annual John Main seminar with the World Community for Christian Meditation at Bonnevaux Abbey, near Poitiers. I will be co-presenting with Andrew Harvey and Laurence Freeman on the theme of New Wineskins. Should be some pretty strong new wine! I return to Europe, this time to Scandinavia, to do a week of teaching on Mystical Hope in Denmark (October 15-20) and an Introductory Wisdom School in Norway (October 23-28). Details are all up and posted on my events calendar.
Online
And don’t forget the online courses. The big new release this fall is my online Wisdom School on An Encounter with Evil, filmed last April at Valle Crucis and beautifully crafted into e-course format by Robbin Brent. It’s a self-paced format; purchase and begin at any time. And Center for Action and Contemplation continues to make available seasonal offerings of my Introductory Wisdom School, Mary Magdalene, and The Divine Exchange.
Happy pick and choosing! And hope to see you soon in some school, course, or retreat!
Blessings, Cynthia
NOTE: This blog was originally posted on Cynthia’s personal website, cynthiabourgeault.org. To comment on this post, visit the original post on Cynthia’s site.