Transformative Anger; Righteous Joy
An online retreat series with the Fierce Love of Mother Mary’s Magnificat
“Jump for Joy” by Corby Eisbacher
My soul proclaims the greatness of Love,
My spirit rejoices in Goddess, my savior!
-Mary’s Magnificat
Registration for this retreat is CLOSED. Please stay tuned for future retreats!
To be fully human, we need the confluence of all of our emotions, bringing us more deeply into our humanity, the pathway to divinity, and our potential to affect change in our lives and in the world. Certain emotions in certain bodies have too often been demonized, pathologized and silenced. Yet herein lies our superpowers, ready and needing to be released in health-full and whole-making ways. The energies of fire, water, wind and earth all reside in our emotions, those energies in motion that create the alchemy life requires. Often they interweave in ways we don’t expect— anger alongside joy; sorrow alongside love; grief opening to great life.
Mother Mary was and is a tremendous example for us in this being human, fully awake and fully alive in the landscape of her emotional life, allowing the rivers of human and divine being to merge within her. She too was silenced, her story rewritten in unhelpful ways for living, wild ones today. As we reclaim the truth of Her story— and our own— we open wells of wisdom and power.
In this retreat, we’ll look to Her and explore ways to embody Her example. We’ll examine and evoke the Magnificat– her prayer of power and justice as relevant today as it was 2,000 years ago– a poem song ripe with love, anger, prophetic voice, and promise. We’ll reclaim Her as guardian and guide for our life, a powerful ally in the ongoing transformations of our lives, in devotion to Life.
Details
WHAT
An online, 3-part retreat series including embodied soul practice, community connection, learning and reflection
Our weekly themes:
Week 1: Enter Mary’s Magnificat
Week 2: Explore Your Cauldron of Anger and Joy
Week 3: Expand this Fierce Love
WHEN
Wednesday evenings, Oct. 16, 23 and 30th, 6-8 pm Central Standard Time
*option to attend in live time or receive the recording
FOR WHO
This retreat is for femmes and thems: those who identify as women (she/her) and our non-binary siblings (they/them). We seek to center the unique experiences of this siblinghood around anger, joy and showing up in the world in emotional power. We encourage a “preferential option for the poor/ most vulnerable.” This means, when at all possible, we commit to centering, listening to, and lifting up the most marginalized and silenced voices– in ourselves and in the collective. While folks of all faith traditions and none are welcome, this work will be most resonant with those with some connection to Christianity— former, current, recovering, integrating, etc.
HOW MUCH
Sliding Scale: $58 supported // $88 standard // $108 supporting
*please don’t hesitate to ask about scholarship options
Embodied Soul Practice & Prayer. Community Connection.
Wisdom Sharing and Reflection.
This might be for you if…
You’re seeking allies, guidance and community of the Divine Feminine within the Christ-light lineage
You desire healing of patriarchal religious wounds and seek practical ways of reclaiming spiritual practice in Her
You need ways to feel, name and express your anger and sorrow while not leaving behind your joy and delight
You want to show up fully for these times we’re living in and be the change you wish to see
Registration for this retreat is CLOSED. Please stay tuned for future retreats!
Why Mother Mary as Spirit Guide and Ancestral Ally?
Isn’t she an outdated, co-opted tool of the patriarchal church?
Mother Mary is a powerful archetype and embodiment of the Great Cosmic Mother, Goddess Herself.
Like all archetypal energies, this is NOT about some being far away. The Divine Mother is showing us Her heart to call us into our own— to empower our lives for who we are and all we’re called to do and be in this lifetime. Her heart mirrors our own. Her love and liberation is ours.
It is true that she has been used and abused by sexist and misogynistic forces. She has been silenced and stifled and repressed— like the feminine in so many of us. Yet it seems that when you go right into this pain, when you dare to meet the truth of her diminishment, and yours, an equally great stream of power, presence and transformative grace is released. The place that has been distorted becomes the very site of great liberation.
For those of us who grew up in a Christian lineage (or whose ancestors did), Mother Mary is one of the ways Goddess, or the Divine Feminine, has been hidden in plain sight right in our midst. She is a potent way to come into relationship with the Divine Feminine without appropriating Her from another tradition.
Yet most importantly, Hers is a Presence that remains and draws closer in the most excruciating of circumstances, the most acute transformations. Nothing is too much for Her, and She has a way of meeting all Her people just where they are. To touch Her immense Love is to come into direct contact with the deepest reality of who you are— Love Herself.
Hi, I’m Erin
I’m so glad you’re interested in this work. The Divine Feminine is rising in unprecedented ways in our time, and I’m so grateful to be of service to Her return, particularly in the tradition of my origins, the Christ-light lineage. Rooted in Catholic Christian sacrament, spirituality, and social justice, I work in service to the reclamation and renewal of Sophia, the Feminine heart of Christ, in devotion to the liberation of all beings. I’m honored and excited to re-member and reweave this golden thread of Sophia Christ all the way from the Great Cosmic Mother Goddess into our lives today. I hold masters degrees in Catholic Education (U. of Notre Dame), Multicultural Ministry (Franciscan School of Theology) and Christian Spirituality (Graduate Theological Union) and over two decades of experience teaching, facilitating and leading retreats. I am also an embodied soul care practioner, yoga therapist, facilitator of embodied transformation, birth doula, theAlogian and writer. I live and love with my found family in the Dutchtown neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri.