Full Keynoter Lineup for Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul

View as Webpage

Share This Email

Full Keynoter Lineup

for Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul

LEARN MORE AND REGISTER!

Virtual and in-person options available

We welcome 23rd U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo for two keynotes in person and John Philip Newell for two keynotes virtually.

Joy Harjo - in person

“I can hear the sizzle of newborn stars, and know anything of meaning, of the ﬁerce magic emerging here. I am witness to ﬂexible eternity, the evolving past, and I know we will live forever, as dust or breath in the face of stars, in the shifting pattern of winds.” — Joy Harjo

Poets and Dreamers know the power of image to inspire, inform and transform. Joy is an internationally renowned performer and writer of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. She served three terms as the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2019-2022. The author of nine books of poetry, Joy Harjo, the first Native American to serve as US poet laureate, invites us to travel along the heartaches, losses, and humble realizations of her "poet-warrior" road. A musical, kaleidoscopic, and wise follow-up to Crazy Brave, Poet Warrior reveals how Harjo came to write poetry of compassion and healing, poetry with the power to unearth the truth and demand justice.

John Philip Newell - virtual*

Sacred Earth: Celtic Wisdom for Reawakening to the Sacredness of Earth

Sacred Soul: Celtic Wisdom for Reawakening to the Sacredness of Every Human Being

"The consequences of not remembering the sacredness of the earth and the human soul are

disastrous, both individually and collectively.

This is what we are living in the midst of today."

~ from Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul: Celtic Wisdom for Reawakening to What Our Souls Know and Healing the World by John Philip Newell

We are thrilled to have John Phillip Newell join us this Summer. His work is at the heart of the conference theme - Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul. Newell is a Celtic teacher and author of spirituality who calls the modern world to reawaken to the sacredness of Earth and every human being.

*Although he had hoped to be with us in person, John Philip's schedule requires that he be in Scotland at the time of our gathering. We are grateful that John Philip will be able to join us virtually!

Catherine Meeks - in person

From the Ashes of Oppression to the Sacred

How do you name the space sacred that you have been told does not belong to you? Oppression’s lie to the oppressed is that you do not belong here, thus you have no space, sacred or otherwise, in spite of the fact that the oppressed person is on the earth. The challenge to see beyond this lie requires deep interrogation and much intentional soul work.

Oppression’s lies have to be burned away by the fires of consciousness and the ashes can become a part of the pathway that leads to the sacred.

These featured keynoters will join us in person!

Larry Maze - in person

Implications for the Death of the Christian God

“Everybody’s gotta serve somebody. It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but everybody’s gotta serve somebody."

So sings Bob Dylan and it’s true! Whether we look or not, all of us are in service to whomever or whatever occupies the Center of our being.

The god-image long shaped by Christianity in America is dying if we go by the numbers of people still tending that image. I formally studied history and sociology before I studied theology. All of those disciplines suggest to me that such a shift at the center demands our attention. Where do we find ourselves as a new god-image is born?

Listen to Larry's keynote, Christian Mystics and Jungian Expressions from the 2009 Summer Dream Conference.

Kathleen Wiley - in person

Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul, Sacred Body

Honoring the sacred soul of the Earth begins by honoring the sacred soul of the body-mind. The body-mind is indelibly intertwined with the Earth, as soul permeates both. The recognition of the body-mind as an expression of soul, as embodied spirit, is key for relating to Earth as sacred. To consciously live from soul, we have to live with respect and care for the ground from which the self or ego emerges. Sacred texts affirm the sacredness of the earth and body-mind as creation is an expression of the Divine.

Each individual body-mind-ego embodies soul that is both specific to the individual and a ray of the divine soul. Connection to soul comes through the psyche which contains the totality of the life processes that are both conscious and unconscious and intersect in the body-mind. All expressions of the psyche via the body-mind, including dreams, bridge the soul within the subjective, personal self to the objective (non-personal) soul of the Earth. Join Kathleen in reclaiming the sacredness of your body-mind as a path of knowing soul that leads to respectful relationship for all bodies—your own, others, and the Earth.

Sheri Kling - in person

Sacred Sorrow: Loss and Longing in a Fully Lived Life

What do you do when life doesn’t turn out the way you’d hoped? When all your projects for love and success fail you? The world tells us that constant self-renovation programs and abundance manifestation mantras are the answer, but what if there is something sacred in being shattered? What if there’s holiness in the abyss? In this presentation, psycho-spiritual theologian Sheri D. Kling will offer an exploration of sacred sorrow.

Jerry Wright - in person

Psychological Mysticism

"We are born mystics / Emerging from the pregnant / Numinous darkness / Into the light of day / Assigned to be and become a light / Of consciousness and compassion / Our primary vocation / The rent for being alive

On this sacred soil."

- from a Mystical Path Less Traveled by Jerry R. Wright

Drawing on the Analytical Psychology of C. G. Jung and on various mystical traditions, Dr. Wright will propose a psychological mysticism that preceded, and now replaces, the historical theological mysticism that has been dependent on theistic god-images. Such dualistic, divisive images are no longer relevant for many people – nor necessary.

The presentation will explore an alternative spiritual path that has the character of a grounded, embodied mysticism that honors the universal experiences of the numinous. Psychological Mysticism could be a relevant and meaningful path for persons of all religious orientations, as well as for those who embrace no particular religion.

Such a perspective could contribute to the healing of the deep divisions that tear at our cultural, political, and religious fabric, and that threaten our species and sacred, global nest.

Two-Year Courses Space still available!

Virtual-only and in-person options available for both programs. Virtual program entry times are in the fall.

Spiritual Direction Training

The Spiritual Direction Training course is open to anyone with a desire to learn more about being with others on the journey to deeper spirituality.

LEARN MORE AND APPLY!

Dream Work Training

The Dream Work Training course is open to anyone with a desire to access wisdom and meaning from nightly dreams.

LEARN MORE AND APPLY!

2023 SUMMER DREAM AND SPIRITUALITY CONFERENCE | TWO-YEAR SPIRITUAL DIRECTION TRAINING |

TWO-YEAR DREAM WORK TRAINING