Hospitality / Radical Inclusion

We provide a shelter for our collective work as we converge on pilgrimage. At our table there are many chairs, and all are always and already welcome.

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Deconstruction

We come from multiple backgrounds from high church to no church, but we have all gone through our journeys of letting go of what we thought we knew. We are a safe place to grow and unknow. We live out questions without demanding answers. We're allergic to apologetics. We have all been raised with a particular framework for navigating life’s mystery, and in one way or another have been led out beyond that framework into deeper waters stirring with possibility and truth. There is no smooth way for one's reality to die.

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Esoteric Christianity

The inner wisdom of the Christian lineage provides a basis for our conscious effort to wake up. And such an inner journey does not exclude rigorous disciplines and contemplative practices from a wide range of streams. We work with the teachings of people like Mary Oliver and Richard Rohr, Rumi and Rilke, Simone Wei, G.I. Gurdjieff and Cynthia Bourgeault, the Desert Mothers and the Celts. With any luck you already have already passed judgment on some names from this list, and so come up against your certainty already...

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Practical Work and Wild Earth

Earth grounds us and offers work for our bodies. We seek to know ourselves as we steward and care for the Land where we gather. We embody what we learn through sweat and labor, that we may know from the Whole, and not just the mind. We reject an exclusively mental, theory-fueled approach to spiritual life. Practical work is the art of bridging inner and outer life. 
 

Experiential learning.

Common language and contextual understanding cultivates a rich culture of hands-on education. We learn tools for inner development, to cultivate a subtle, alive presence on the planet, in our relationships to others and ourselves. We foster impartial observation of ourselves which marks a genuine path to emotional intelligence—that we might respond in life rather than react.

 

Vulnerability and Freedom

We risk being vulnerable with one another and in so doing touch freedom from judgement, and judging. We attempt to speak from our actual experience rather than podcasts. We basically are becoming idiots in the eyes of the world, joining in community together. It's not happening over there in the Lord of the Rings, it's happening here, right Now.

 

Solitude, Silence, Rest

We are familiar with silence and intentional rest, with pursuing solitude free of screens, with relief from our screaming thoughts.

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Creative Expression

Building on the land with our hands. Creating music, writing, cartography, sacred dances, unusual liturgies... We are a community learning more and more about how to work with all different expressions of creativity, and have no idea what might be next. We are committed to keeping our community moving and growing as each year it seems like something has been suggested that everyone hops on board without a slight hesitation, incredibly supportive—although there is something uniquely special to a group of resonant voices singing haunting chants around a campfire. 

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Work

In the effort to "Know Thyself" we consistently verify the tools we use against the results of our inner spiritual work. We pledge to Do The Fucking Work. To take the headlong plunge into Life.