|
The Winter Soulfest Retreat
February 5 to
February 12, 2011
Sayulita, Mexico
(north of Puerto Vallarta)
3 spots remain open
The Winter Soulfest is much more than a winter vacation as we share together activities that will restore your body and soul back to life thus providing a greater sense of well being and vigor. From the moment you touch down in sunny Mexico, you will be physically, emotionally and spiritually transported from the hustle and bustle of daily living.
This special retreat is held at the Haramara Retreat Center in Sayulita, Mexico, just 45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta. Haramara, a sacred Huichol word for "Mother Sea," offers seclusion, quietness and extraordinary beauty to create a spectacular setting for the inner and outer work of this week. |
|
The Erotic Body
Of Christ - Part One
March 17 to
March 20, 2011
Kirkridge Retreat Center
New on the calendar
Join our tribe of queer spirits for a radical, playful and passionate exploration of the deep erotic wisdom at the heart of the Christian mystical tradition. In this four-day experiential workshop, we will free the teaching of Jesus from millennia of distortion, begin to heal our own shame and fear, re-awaken our erotic spirits, and celebrate ecstatic Christian ceremonies which unite us with the divine.
This is a workshop for spiritual and erotic adventurers: gay and bi men who are willing to question their beliefs, feel their wounds, and explore their own erotic edges - a workshop for men who are willing to risk joy. |
|
Power, Pleasure & Play
April 28 to
May 1, 2011
Kirkridge Retreat Center
Don't we all want to feel powerful? Enjoy pleasure? Be playful? Join Kevin Kortan, Kai Ehrhardt and a community of fellow explorers, where you will have the chance to explore how the dynamics of Power, Pleasure, and Play shape and influence your body-mind-spirit, career, and relationships.
Under the experienced and attentive guidance of Kai & Kevin, a safe, supportive environment will be created so that you can explore, and uncover, your strengths, challenge your unproductive habits, and help you open to new ways of being. |
|
Intimacy and Eros
June 09 to
June 12, 2011
Kirkridge Retreat Center
Are you looking for greater intimacy in your life? Is something preventing you from fully enjoying the touch of another man? Do you want to better express yourself through touch? Are you wanting deeper and more meaningful relationships? Then this is the workshop for you! With Eros - the God of Love - as our inspiration for this weekend, you'll find yourself in the company of like-minded men who are sincere seekers. |
|
Welcoming Happiness, Discovering Joy
July 01 to
July 04, 2011
Kirkridge Retreat Center
Awaken to happiness - it's here in each moment. Yet many of us search for happiness outside of ourselves, or expect others to make us happy. And what's more, have you ever thought about what happiness really is? What are you looking for, anyway? Search no more. Choose to see the joy of this moment. Re-attune your ways of thinking and being in the world towards joy - a deeper-felt, peace-inducing, long-lasting sense of aliveness. In essence, welcome happiness and joy into your life rather than try to find it. |
|
|
Dear Spirit Journeyers,
I will keep this short and to the point. I hope you all had a joyous holiday season, filled with lots of laughter, love and light.
I look forward to making 2011 a year to remember for all of us by continuing to offer new, exciting and challenging events; events to stimulate our minds, our bodies and our souls.
As always, I love to hear what you would like Spirit Journeys to offer. So send me a note, or better yet, give me a call (800-754-1875) and let me know what would "light your fire" in the upcoming year.
And lastly, I invite anyone to write something to be presented in our monthly Special Offering section. Just contact me and we can discuss the details.
Until we have the joy of being together again, remember that the Universe is indeed conspiring for our betterment.
Much Love and Many, Many Hugs,
Howie
PS. There's a little discount coupon at the end of this newsletter that can be used for any three future Spirit Journeys events! |
|
Calendar Updates
Our Winter Soulfest Retreat in Sayulita, Mexico (just 45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta) is only about a month away and is the perfect chance to break up the gray skies of winter. Through powerful restorative practices such as movement, breath-work and meditation, we will unwind the stresses and strains of winter and bring the juices of life back into our bodies and do it while basking in the healing energy of a spectacular natural setting. (3 spots still open)
The response to Hunter Flournoy's "The Erotic Body of Christ" Workshop was fantastic and left many participants wanting more! We are repeating The Erotic Body of Christ - Part One in March (this time on the East Coast) and in September we are offering The Erotic Body of Christ - Part Two: The Seed of Christ, where we will kick it up a few notches and go even deeper into the Christian Mystic traditions.
Don't we all want to feel powerful? Enjoy pleasure? Be playful? Join Kevin Kortan, Kai Ehrhardt and a community of fellow explorers April 28 to May 01 for an opportunity to explore how the dynamics of Power, Pleasure, and Play shape and influence your body-mind-spirit, career, and relationships.
Both of our Journeys to Egypt are now sold out. If you would like to be placed on a waiting list for either journey, send me a note or give me a call, 800-754-1875. Here are links to these journeys: Wonders of Egypt April 8 to April 23 and Wonders of Egypt April 26 to May 11.
Check out our Calendar of All Events for other upcoming workshops, retreats and journeys. |
|
 This Month's
Special Offering
Long time Spirit Journeys facilitator and Life Coach Hunter Flournoy shares his passion and deep understanding for the Christian Mystic tradition in a wonderful and very informative article: "Embracing A Sensous God".
|
|
SpiritFund Information
As you can see, our scholarship fund is pretty low. Anything you can donate would be greatly appreciated by those needing our help financially. You can support SpiritFund with direct donations or by buying items at SpiritWear. To date seven people have benefited from your generosity.
Donations and applications for scholarships can be made online at the SpiritFund page. On the SpiritFund page you will also find a list of Frequently Asked Questions that should explain everything about the scholarship program.
Total Donations Last Month: $0.00
Profits from SpiritWear Sales Last Month: $15.00
Total Income to Date: $2582.00
Total Expenses to Date: -$110.00
Total Net SpiritFund Income to Date: $2472.00
Number of Scholarships Offered: 35
Total Number of Scholarships Accepted: 7
Total Amount Awarded: $2425.00
SpiritFund Balance: $47.00
"The scholarship that I received gave me the opportunity to experience a truly wonderful, spiritual event that has left its mark on my heart, where it will remain for years. Attending this workshop has given me the opportunity to follow through on a goal that I've had for a long time, and has given me the courage to pursue other dreams and goals." - A comment from one of our scholarship recipients. |
|
January's Special Offering
Embracing A Sensous God
by Hunter Flournoy
Sensuous. Erotic. Utterly compelling. The old stories tell us that to clasp his feet, to meet his gaze, to drink in the nectar of his breath, even to brush against the hem of his robe, was to be infused with a holy erotic power that could heal your deepest wounds forever. This was the man called Yeshua, known to us today as Jesus. And this is what we are called to become.
Although Yeshua's words have been distorted by centuries of violence and institutionalization, the overwhelming love and transfiguring light of his life continue to call us from the sleep our half-living. In the earliest days, the apostles Paul, Mary, and John fought to keep Yeshua's message from being literalized and assimilated into the dominant culture. Later, as Constantine consolidated power under the banner of Christianity, Yeshua's followers fled into the deserts and mountains, preserving the teachings and initiatory practices that facilitated this process of theosis, or incarnating the One, that Yeshua taught - teachings and practices that are still preserved today by mystics, monks and crypto-christians, that we explore in our Erotic Body of Christ workshops.
The central revelation of Yeshua was this: the great mystery, the transcendent force of life that kindled stars and set the oceans crashing against the shore, can incarnate in every single human being. In carnus, in this animal body, in the blood and meat of it. Yeshua made this point quite graphically, to the shock of many of his disciples, and horrified the rabbinic culture of his day. He challenged every purity code, violated the Sabbath, and overruled the dietary and sexual mores of the society he lived in.
Yeshua insisted that the holy of holies was never in the great edifice of the temple in Jerusalem: the holy of holies is the human heart. The only law, he said, is a passionately uncompromising love. The only sacrament is the act of giving ourselves completely to each other, in the act of sacred relationship. Really giving ourselves: our possessions, our bodies, our time and energy, and most of all our love. Giving up everything that holds us back from our world: our attachments, our cherished beliefs, our very sense of self. Giving ourselves to life, in a great act of kenosis, pouring ourselves out into the world, until the Spirit of Life pours through us in a great river. We become one with Yeshua, not by receiving him, but by giving ourselves.
This is not a movement away from the world: it is a movement towards it. Not a flight to transcendence, but a radical act of incarnation. Not a denial of sex, but a full-bodied, earthy ripening of our erotic and sexual energies. If the body is the temple of God, and the heart its holy of holies, union with God is to be found only here. All the shame, doubt, fear and judgment that weigh down our bodies, all resistance to feeling, all holding back from the world, all pseudo-erotic substitutes for ecstasy, must be surrendered if we are to experience the full incarnation of God in our bodies, and give ourselves in ecstatic union to the whole world.
As the structures of institutional religion tremble, collapse, and transform in our own time, the erotic power of Yeshua's message is being rediscovered. Queer folk, who have always found our deepest spiritual connection in erotic experience, are stepping forward to proclaim the holiness of our bodies and the divinity of our lovemaking. We are giving voice to a glorious world that has been defiled and desecrated, crying out for justice and stewardship of the earth. Ours is the voice of Yeshua in our times, calling the people from the slumber of self-medication, to radical life.
Whatever you have been taught, you are holy. Your body, your desire, your tenderness and passion are sacred. Your life is a gift to the world, and if you were to give yourself completely to your own life, anyone clasping your feet, meeting your gaze, drinking in the nectar of your breath, even brushing against the hem of your clothes, would be infused with a holy erotic power that could heal their deepest wounds forever.
Why not be that?
Hunter |
|
