2021 Spring Retreat Online
Our Spring Retreat was virtual this year.
Saturday, June 5, 2021 at 10:30 AM – 6 PM Eastern time
Our keynote speaker was Nan Lundeen.
Nan’s spiritual roots run directly into Mother Earth, and her writing life has focused on honoring, celebrating, and advocating for Earth, our home. Gretchen Ohmann, Co-convener, Continental Unitarian Universalist Women and Religion, describes Nan’s book of ecopoetry, Gaia’s Cry: “Nan’s collection speaks of all the glorious aspects of Mother Earth and her inhabitants, the heartbreak at her destruction, and hope—elusive hope—in the courage of individuals, and the magic of seeds.” Nan’s ecopoems and essays are published on the sabbats at Patheos.com and her poetry and fiction in literary journals.
She welcomes opportunities to nurture nature writing, such as creating a student-written newsletter at Brookview Montessori School in Benton Harbor, MI, which her grandson attends, and where lower elementary students report on their environment and how to be better stewards of Earth.
During her 30 years as an award-winning newspaper reporter, she informed the public about environmental issues at every opportunity.
2019 Fall Retreat
OCTOBER 11-13, 2019 at DeKoven Center, Racine, WI
We chanted and were enchanted with Kellianna!
An American pagan singer/songwriter, she is internationally renowned for her powerful performance of song and chant inspired by myth, magic, sacred places, and ancient times. With guitar and vocals, she brings to life stories and sagas of the Gods and Goddesses. With primal frame drumming and soaring vocal chants, she honors the Earth and the Ancestors. www.kellianna.com
The theme of the weekend was Connection and Healing. We celebrated the direction North, and the element Earth. It was a fun weekend filled with music and activity. On Friday evening, we joined Jenny Ross to watch the documentary She's Beautiful when She's Angry about the American Women's Movement in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
As always, we reconnected with old friends and made new ones.
On Saturday we started morning with Gong Meditation with Heather Poyner. Enjoyed the keynote and her early afternoon workshop. Chose an afternoon workshop: Sound Meditation with Dawn Frase, The Positive Power of Anger with Jenny Ross, or Medical Cannabis with Heather McMeekan. Enjoyed the Lake Michigan shoreline and the beautiful grounds of the DeKoven Center. Saturday evening included Open Mic and more games and conversations. Sunday morning, breakfast and our closing ritual.
2019 Spring Retreat
Calming Waters in Turbulent Times
Geri Schrab, author and artist, returned! Speaking of her artwork of rock art (petroglyphs and pictographs), she says:
The painting gives me balance, it gives me voice. This is how they weave together, my court reporting and painting rock art. A karmic pattern of my soul, I am a record-keeper.
My passion is deep and strong. The Native American lives that were disregarded, lost in the creation of this country, were real. Their tears were as salty and wet as yours and mine. They loved their children and the land; many lost both, their loved ones and the land beneath their feet.
My perspective is not only of an artist, but also that of a woman. When I enter a cave or sacred site that has been vandalized, my discomfort is primal and visceral. There is a reason ancient people venerated places where the outer landscape enters the inner realms of Mother Earth. To see these sacred places vandalized echoes disrespect for the feminine in her many forms.
Spring retreat was May 31 - June 2, 2019 at Pilgrim Park in Princeton IL
- 2018 Fall Retreat
- 2018 Spring: Finding Your Voice
- 2019 Summer Retreat
- 2018 Summer Retreat
- 2017 Summer Retreat
- 2017 Fall Retreat
- 2017 Spring Retreat
- 2016 Fall Retreat
- 2016 Spring Retreat
- 2015 Spring Conference
- 2014 Fall Conference
- 2014 Spring Conference
- 2013 Fall Conference
- 2013 Spring Conference
- 2012 Fall Conference
- 2012 Spring Conference
- Lake Geneva Fall Conference Notes
- Fall 2022 Retreat with Selena Fox