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Wisdom Schools & Retreats

"Wisdom Schools are a format for integral learning that's based in some of the deepest roots for transformation and change in the Christian tradition. Wisdom schools are about awakening the yearning for a different kind of presence in the world and then developing the skills and the knowledge base to apply that, to transform your own life and the life of people around you."

 

--Cynthia Bourgeault

Upcoming Retreats

  • And so we begin again. . . 2024 Online Retreat
    And so we begin again. . . 2024 Online Retreat
    Sun, Dec 31
    Online Retreat
    Dec 31, 2023, 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM
    Online Retreat
    Dec 31, 2023, 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM
    Online Retreat
    “In out-of-the-way places of the heart, Where your thoughts never think to wander, This beginning has been quietly forming, Waiting until you were ready to emerge.” - John O' Donohue ​

Past Retreats

  • The Web of Life: A Retreat for Contemplative Solidarity
    The Web of Life: A Retreat for Contemplative Solidarity
    Mon, Nov 20
    Loon Lake Lodge & Retreat Centre
    Nov 20, 2023, 6:30 PM PST – Nov 23, 2023, 12:00 PM PST
    Loon Lake Lodge & Retreat Centre, 14500 Silver Valley Road, Maple Ridge, BC V4R 2R3, Canada
    Nov 20, 2023, 6:30 PM PST – Nov 23, 2023, 12:00 PM PST
    Loon Lake Lodge & Retreat Centre, 14500 Silver Valley Road, Maple Ridge, BC V4R 2R3, Canada
    How do contemplatives engage the world when forest fires, floods, and political uproar are happening in our own backyards? How do we stand in contemplative wisdom and be present in depth to the beauty and suffering inherent to the web of life on this blue-green planet?
  • Wisdom School: Wisdom Rhythms & Conscious Relationships
    Wisdom School: Wisdom Rhythms & Conscious Relationships
    Fri, Aug 11
    Burlingame
    Aug 11, 2023, 7:00 PM PDT – Aug 16, 2023, 7:00 PM PDT
    Burlingame, 2300 Adeline Dr, Burlingame, CA 94010, USA
    Aug 11, 2023, 7:00 PM PDT – Aug 16, 2023, 7:00 PM PDT
    Burlingame, 2300 Adeline Dr, Burlingame, CA 94010, USA
    In any moment, regardless of how significant or insignificant it may seem, we can offer ourselves as instruments, vessels, means by which worlds beyond can enter into this world, which has often been termed by several traditions ‘mixtus orbis.’
  • Wisdom School: Movements as Prayer
    Wisdom School: Movements as Prayer
    Mon, Jul 31
    St. Francis Retreat House
    Jul 31, 2023, 6:00 PM PDT – Aug 04, 2023, 12:00 PM PDT
    St. Francis Retreat House, 3918 Chipman Rd, Easton, PA 18045, USA
    Jul 31, 2023, 6:00 PM PDT – Aug 04, 2023, 12:00 PM PDT
    St. Francis Retreat House, 3918 Chipman Rd, Easton, PA 18045, USA
    Together we will pray these Sacred movements with all three centers of knowing, noticing their devotional impact and the way in which they grow and enhance our work with our second body, our Kesdjan body.
  • Abide in the Mercy: A Silent Wisdom Retreat
    Abide in the Mercy: A Silent Wisdom Retreat
    Fri, May 26
    Burlingame
    May 26, 2023, 3:00 PM PDT – Jun 01, 2023, 12:00 PM PDT
    Burlingame, 2300 Adeline Dr, Burlingame, CA 94010, USA
    May 26, 2023, 3:00 PM PDT – Jun 01, 2023, 12:00 PM PDT
    Burlingame, 2300 Adeline Dr, Burlingame, CA 94010, USA
    " As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love." (John 15:9) In many of Jesus' sayings we can find an invitation to a deeper contemplative way of being, so relevant for our Centering Prayer. 'Abide in my love', for example, can also be translated as 'abide in mercy'
  • Accompanying Jesus and Mary Magdalene
    Accompanying Jesus and Mary Magdalene
    Sun, Apr 09
    The Centre for Spiritual Renewal
    Apr 09, 2023, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM PDT
    The Centre for Spiritual Renewal , Langley BC
    Apr 09, 2023, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM PDT
    The Centre for Spiritual Renewal , Langley BC
    Holy Saturday marks Jesus’ journeys into the heart of the earth in which he not only encounters the most constricted, cut off and hurt states of human consciousness in the collective false self but allows love to reach them and weave them into the whole. Meanwhile Mary Magdalene, the Tower, keeps ..
  • Holy Week Silent Wisdom Retreat: Accompanying Jesus and Mary Magdalene through the Paschal Mystery
    Holy Week Silent Wisdom Retreat: Accompanying Jesus and Mary Magdalene through the Paschal Mystery
    Mon, Apr 03
    Bethlehem Centre
    Apr 03, 2023, 5:30 PM PDT – Apr 06, 2023, 12:00 PM PDT
    Bethlehem Centre, Nanaimo, Canada
    Apr 03, 2023, 5:30 PM PDT – Apr 06, 2023, 12:00 PM PDT
    Bethlehem Centre, Nanaimo, Canada
    Holy Week is more than a series of events surrounding the final days of Jesus’s earthly life that we are to commemorate. We can enter this sacred week from the inside as a way of mutual accompaniment in which we are concurrently embodying the postures of Jesus and Mary Magdalene through this timeles
  • Lenten Day Event in Victoria: Preparing to Accompany Jesus and Mary Magdalene through Holy Week
    Lenten Day Event in Victoria: Preparing to Accompany Jesus and Mary Magdalene through Holy Week
    Sat, Apr 01
    Multifaith Centre
    Apr 01, 2023, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM PDT
    Multifaith Centre, Victoria BC, Canada
    Apr 01, 2023, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM PDT
    Multifaith Centre, Victoria BC, Canada
    On this Lenten Day, we will prepare ourselves to enter Holy week from the inside by embodying the postures of Jesus and Mary Magdalene through this timeless passage. Let’s join together in community to learn and practice Wisdom, weaving in the transformative currents of surrender, three centered . .
  • Wisdom School: The Encounter with Evil ZOOM OPTION
    Wisdom School: The Encounter with Evil ZOOM OPTION
    Fri, Feb 17
    Burlingame
    Feb 17, 2023, 6:00 PM PST – Feb 22, 2023, 12:00 PM PST
    Burlingame, 2300 Adeline Dr, Burlingame, CA 94010, USA
    Feb 17, 2023, 6:00 PM PST – Feb 22, 2023, 12:00 PM PST
    Burlingame, 2300 Adeline Dr, Burlingame, CA 94010, USA
    “From time immemorial Wisdom Schools have emerged in times of global crisis or on the cusp of great leaps in human consciousness in order to help shepherd our planet through the transition." ― Wisdom Waypoints, Cynthia Bourgeault
  • And so we begin again...
    And so we begin again...
    Sun, Jan 01
    Online Retreat
    Jan 01, 2023, 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM PST
    Online Retreat
    Jan 01, 2023, 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM PST
    Online Retreat
    Online Morning Reflective Retreat: The year is almost over and a new year is just about to spring forth. This shift to a new year marks a threshold that has been entered into as a moment to pause, ponder and prepare, to learn something about ourselves and about what life is telling us as we begin..
  • Mercy Center Burlingame presents... Leaning Into Blessing: An Advent Online Retreat
    Mercy Center Burlingame presents... Leaning Into Blessing: An Advent Online Retreat
    Fri, Dec 02
    Leaning Into Blessing
    Dec 02, 2022, 4:00 PM PST – Dec 04, 2022, 12:00 PM PST
    Leaning Into Blessing
    Dec 02, 2022, 4:00 PM PST – Dec 04, 2022, 12:00 PM PST
    Leaning Into Blessing
    "The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before...So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon."
  • Fall Triduum ONLINE Wisdom Practice Retreat
    Fall Triduum ONLINE Wisdom Practice Retreat
    Mon, Oct 31
    Online Retreat
    Oct 31, 2022, 4:30 PM PDT – Nov 02, 2022, 6:00 PM PDT
    Online Retreat
    Oct 31, 2022, 4:30 PM PDT – Nov 02, 2022, 6:00 PM PDT
    Online Retreat
    ****The ZOOM Link will be sent out again 1 hour before the start time**** We often focus on spring’s Paschal Triduum, from dusk on Holy Thursday through dusk on Easter Sunday, as a chance to move inward and journey with Christ through our own passage of death to life. . .
  • Wisdom School: Three Centered Presence and Transformation of Consciousness
    Wisdom School: Three Centered Presence and Transformation of Consciousness
    Thu, Aug 25
    Burlingame
    Aug 25, 2022, 6:00 PM PDT – Aug 30, 2022, 12:00 PM PDT
    Burlingame, 2300 Adeline Dr, Burlingame, CA 94010, USA
    Aug 25, 2022, 6:00 PM PDT – Aug 30, 2022, 12:00 PM PDT
    Burlingame, 2300 Adeline Dr, Burlingame, CA 94010, USA
    “From time immemorial Wisdom Schools have emerged in times of global crisis or on the cusp of great leaps in human consciousness in order to help shepherd our planet through the transition." ― Wisdom Waypoints, Cynthia Bourgeault
  • Centering Prayer and Oneness
    Centering Prayer and Oneness
    Sun, May 22
    Burlingame
    May 22, 2022, 6:00 PM PDT – May 28, 2022, 12:00 PM PDT
    Burlingame, 2300 Adeline Dr, Burlingame, CA 94010, USA
    May 22, 2022, 6:00 PM PDT – May 28, 2022, 12:00 PM PDT
    Burlingame, 2300 Adeline Dr, Burlingame, CA 94010, USA
    "Contemplation...is not a special gift. It is simply seeing from the perspective of oneness, or in other words, from the level of our spiritual awareness. It can indeed be practiced, and over time, with sincerity and persistence, it becomes an abiding state of consciousness.” ― Cynthia Bourgeault
  • Mystical Hope Retreat
    Mystical Hope Retreat
    Fri, Apr 01
    Trinity Episcopal Church
    Apr 01, 2022, 7:00 PM – Apr 02, 2022, 5:00 PM
    Trinity Episcopal Church, 1500 State St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, USA
    Apr 01, 2022, 7:00 PM – Apr 02, 2022, 5:00 PM
    Trinity Episcopal Church, 1500 State St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, USA
    With everything that is going on in our individual lives and the world it is easy to lose touch with the hope so desperately needed at this time. During this Retreat we will explore the teachings of Cynthia Bourgeault from her important book 'Mystical Hope.' 
  • And so we begin again...
    And so we begin again...
    Sat, Jan 01
    Online Retreat
    Jan 01, 2022, 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM PST
    Online Retreat
    Jan 01, 2022, 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM PST
    Online Retreat
    Morning Virtual Retreat: This year is coming to a close. Another year of both gift and challenge, joy and sorrow, old and new. The transition to a new year marks a moment that has been entered into as a time to pause, ponder and prepare, to acknowledge weariness and readiness to begin again. . .
  • Leaning Into Blessing: An Advent Silent Retreat
    Leaning Into Blessing: An Advent Silent Retreat
    Fri, Dec 03
    Burlingame
    Dec 03, 2021, 4:00 PM PST – Dec 05, 2021, 12:00 PM PST
    Burlingame, 2300 Adeline Dr, Burlingame, CA 94010, USA
    Dec 03, 2021, 4:00 PM PST – Dec 05, 2021, 12:00 PM PST
    Burlingame, 2300 Adeline Dr, Burlingame, CA 94010, USA
    "The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before...So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon."
  • Mystical Hope Wisdom Practice Retreat
    Mystical Hope Wisdom Practice Retreat
    Multiple Dates
    Fri, Nov 05
    Los Olivos
    Nov 05, 2021, 4:00 PM PDT – Nov 06, 2021, 6:30 PM PDT
    Los Olivos, Box 39, 2901 Nojoqui Ave, Los Olivos, CA 93441, USA
    Nov 05, 2021, 4:00 PM PDT – Nov 06, 2021, 6:30 PM PDT
    Los Olivos, Box 39, 2901 Nojoqui Ave, Los Olivos, CA 93441, USA
    We'll explore the teachings from Cynthia Bourgeault on the Imaginal Realm and her important book 'Mystical Hope.' This material will be surrounded with a rhythm of silence, chanting, centering prayer, conscious work, reflection, movement, attention exercises, and sharing from the heart.
  • Fall Triduum Wisdom Retreat
    Fall Triduum Wisdom Retreat
    Sun, Oct 31
    Online Retreat
    Oct 31, 2021, 4:30 PM PDT – Nov 02, 2021, 6:00 PM PDT
    Online Retreat
    Oct 31, 2021, 4:30 PM PDT – Nov 02, 2021, 6:00 PM PDT
    Online Retreat
    We often focus on spring’s Paschal Triduum, from dusk on Holy Thursday through dusk on Easter Sunday, as a chance to move inward and journey with Christ through our own passage of death to life, the process at the heart of the Christian wisdom tradition of dying before you die. It has become a . . .
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