So much of our religious and spiritual language centers on images of sacred light and ascent. But without the pathway of holy darkness and descent we bypass essential aspects of our deepening journey toward greater wisdom. Our spirituality becomes shallow and brittle.
In mythic traditions the archetype of the underworld journey is a time of powerful initiation that calls us to make a conscious descent in those seasons of our lives when loss or uncertainty arrive and engulf us with grief or unknowing.
We all have seasons in our lives where we feel as though we have been abducted into the Underworld. It is a very disorienting time as we suddenly are without our usual bearings or securities. But the more we resist, the longer these seasons become intractable. We feel more stuck, more listless, more overwhelmed.
This stripping away calls us to consciousness, to make the journey without numbing or distracting ourselves. When we are able to offer ourselves this grace, and release our need for certainty, we are slowly transformed.
Join Christine Valters Paintner for the two-hour mini-retreat originally offered on October 19, 2024. This will be a time of teaching, reflection, creative expression, and meditation. Christine will consider mythic images of Inanna from Sumerian myth and Persephone from Greek myth, alongside Our Lady of the Underworld and the Christian mystical path of the dark night of the soul. Together we will reclaim holy darkness and learn to embrace journeys of descent in service of the new life that arises from this fertile ground.
Please dress comfortably for gentle movement and bring a journal, pen, and some colored pencils, markers, or crayons. Consider also bringing something that is a resource for you, like a prayer shawl, some stones, prayer beads, or a companion animal (any or all of these)
Christine Valters Paintner is the online Abbess of Abbey of the Arts, a virtual monastery and global community which integrates contemplative practice and creative expressions. She is profiled in S&P’s Living Spiritual Teachers Project, and we have reviewed many of her books on spirituality, the arts, and poetry. Christine lives on the wild edges of Ireland with her husband John and dog Sourney.
This mini-retreat is a wonderful way to spend two hours! To register, click on the subscribe button below.
Available On-Demand
(choose your own start date and frequency)
$50.00
