Chapter Development Council Releases

1. Kindness toward the More-than-Human World

I've been thinking about kindness. I've thought about kindness before, in terms of how we extend kindness to our sisters and brothers. It's just been over the last day or two that I have thought about extending kindness to the natural world—what we in Illuman sometimes call the more-than-human world. What happens to us when we really embrace the possibility of extending kindness to the created world around us?

2. Soularize 2021 Registration is now open!

The past year has been marked by pandemic, social and political unrest, the loss of life, and unprecedented separation and isolation. It’s been a time of discord, disruption, and disillusionment. Join us for Soularize 2021, as we come back together as men transforming men, shoulder to shoulder once again. We’ll reconnect in ways that offer healing and wholeness, new life and possibility for each other and the wider world. Our bodies carry wisdom and shame, trauma and holiness, bias and blessing—and they ache for reconnection. We’ll tend to them and to each other as we explore our relationships with other bodies, including the Earth and the deep union that is beneath. Through drumming, story, nature, and Council, we will re-embody inner work that makes a difference in the world. Learn more and register for Soularize 2021 and your hotel room on our event webpage.

3. Transitions in Illuman Staff Coming in 2022

We wanted to take this opportunity to let everyone know that Brad Pickel will be transitioning out of his role as Illuman Administrator at the end of 2021. He is continuing to fill the role and responsibilities in the coming months and will be supporting Illuman through this change. More information will be forthcoming regarding the process of identifying staff for Illuman moving forward.

4. Men’s Rites of Passage retreats underway!

Our brothers in the U.K. held their Men’s Rites of Passage (MROP) last month and planning and preparation for the next MROPs are underway. Ireland’s MROP will begin tomorrow, and September will include two MROPs, in the Czech Republic and in New Jersey. The last two MROPs in 2021 will be held in Australia and Northern California in November. We hope you will join us as an initiate or returning initiator.  

Visit our website to learn more about Illuman’s Men’s Rites of Passage and the need for male initiation rites.

5. Join these Illuman Events Coming Soon

You are invited to a workshop for the real spiritual lives of men. This workshop is sponsored by Ohio Illuman and will be led by Steve Robach, an initiated man from Illuman of Minnesota. Steve will guide us through WILD and WISE, the journal he created to help lead men along the Journey of Illumination.

– Session One –

– Session Two –

– Session Three –

– Session Four –

We will be meeting each of the four Saturday afternoons during September for two hours. Together we'll experience music, ritual and council as we explore the 38 meditations contained in WILD and WISE.

The cost of our entire workshop is $40. Registrants will receive a mailed copy of WILD and WISE as part of their registration fee. Scholarships are available and no one will be refused registration.

The Elders’ Rites of Passage (EROP) is a five-day intensive retreat that serves those beginning or already on the eldering journey. For some, the EROP serves as an entrance into the journey, and for others it is a deepening of work that has been ongoing for a long time. Using ritual, story, time in nature, Council, and image, participants are invited to harvest all that has been, sit with death, practice deep listening to the cries of the world, and discern what is theirs to do. The retreat is open to men in their 60s to 80s.

Please visit the Illuman of Washington website for more information.

Join our Brothers of the Indiana-Michigan Chapter to experience the bliss and freedom of the infinite mystery as well as to be able to recognize God in the ordinary moments of life. The pathless path adjusts one’s mindset to abide in the present moment, enjoy life fully, and receive the delight of being one with the Mystery here and now. Whether we are playing with our children, walking in nature, busily working on some project, or even frantically managing our households, Meister Eckhart’s pathless path grounds us in the stability of the divine through detachment. For Eckhart, daily life with all its typical rounds of work, recreation, eating, driving, and sleeping is our greatest spiritual practice.

We have long lived in the illusion that “Nature” is out there somewhere, as if we had to leave the real to find something different. This has led us to want to drink more water for our health while throwing the plastic bottle out the window along the road, or build an economy on an industry that cut down enough trees in one state to build the entire city of Chicago in another. This illusion has been costly, and we are just beginning to realize this. We are never not in nature. At the same time, we do need to leave the artificial world of civilization now and then to touch our wild roots in a forest or near a beautiful lake. This is what this retreat is about. It offers the opportunity to explore the wild beauty out of which “civilization” has come, to encounter a wild Mystery that we try to tame, both outside ourselves and inside. Come and join us on this adventure, along with our poet elder, Timothy McLaughlin, and Firekeeper Walking Star Martinez, both from New Mexico.

Special note: Men who travel to Soularize (October 21–24) may wish to come early and join us for this retreat. After Green Man Rewilding, you will have 3½ days to make the short journey from Aravaipa Canyon Ranch in Arizona to Bernalillo, New Mexico for Soularize.

Bob Kowal, an elder in Illuman of Washington, along with a few others from around the country, are putting together a support group for men dealing with prostate cancer. The group will be on Zoom and is open to all men. For more information and to get involved, email Bob Kowal.

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Illuman is an independent, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization whose vision is to see men transforming men and, through them, families and communities for generations to come. Our mission is to engage those seeking a life-long journey of spiritual transformation.