Sacred Earth Retreat: series of four sessions

To Love Our Sacred Earth Retreat Series

This four-session series explores teachings within the writings of cultural historian and geologian Thomas Berry as they interweave with the wisdom of nature-centered mystics and of nature-inspired scientists.

Each session is two hours long and includes a contemplative break. For those who participate in-person at The Well, you are welcome to stay the rest of the afternoon to process and reflect in a retreat style fashion, for an added cost.

If you wish to register for the whole series (for a discounted rate), sign up below.
To register for individual sessions, and for more information on each session, please go to the specific session page (click on the session number).

Session 1:
Teilhard de Chardin’s “Mass on the World” meets Thomas Berry’s Cosmic Liturgy and Celebration
Wednesday, Apr 10, 10 AM – 12 PM (CT)  time zone converter

The “Mass on the World” is one of Teilhard de Chardin’s most mystical and poetic writings. His grand vision was the Eucharist and the Sacred Heart of Christ as the radiating center of the universe. For Teilhard, we live in the bosom of a great cosmic Eucharist.

Thomas’ vision is the entire universe as the primordial sacred community.  He observed that we’ve developed celebrations for seasonal events (e.g., solstices and harvest) and liturgies, ceremonies, and traditions marking religious stories of faith (e.g., Christmas, Ramadan, Passover, Easter).  But we’ve not yet begun to acknowledge and celebrate the moments of grace in our grand cosmic liturgy. For example, how might we celebrate the 1^st generation star whose death as a supernova gave rise to the birth of our Sun, to Earth, life, the first flowers, consciousness, and so forth?

Session 2:
Thomas on Guidance, and the Self-Healing of Earth, meets Janine Benyus on Biomimicry
Wednesday, May 15, 10 AM – 12 PM (CT)  time zone converter

“The powers of healing, the powers of regeneration, the powers of renewal are rooted in the primordial realities of the universe, the Earth, and the human species.”  Thomas Berry

This is mirrored within the contemporary wisdom of biomimicry as articulated by natural science writer and innovation consultant, Janine Benyus.  Biomimicry looks to the authentic spontaneities within the wild for solutions – solutions that emulate nature’s ways.

Session 3:
Hildegard’s Viriditas Meets Thomas Berry’s Spirituality of Earth
Tuesday, Sep 17, 10 AM – 12 PM (CT) time zone converter

A focus on Hildegard of Bingen’s concept of Viriditas, the greening power of God, merging with reflections on Thomas’ essay “The Spirituality of Earth” – Earth’s processes expressing an abiding numinous presence, an intrinsic spiritual quality from the beginning.

“We should be listening to the stars in the heavens and the sun and the moon, to the mountains and the plains, to the forests and rivers and seas that surround us, to the meadows and the flowering grasses, to the songbirds and the insects and to their music especially in the evening and the early hours of the night. We need to experience, to feel, and to see these myriad creatures all caught up in the celebration of life.”     Thomas Berry

Session 4:
Francis of Assisi and Thomas Berry on Intimacy with Nature meet Suzanne Simard on New Ways to See and Know a Forest
Friday, Oct 4, 10 AM – 12 PM (CT)  time zone converter

Francis communes and prays within nature and writes his psalm of praise Canticle of the Creatures.

Thomas has an early mystical experience in a meadow which shapes his orientation in life.

Forest scientist, professor, Suzanne Simard pays deep attention to forests and discovers new understandings of their social network and hidden instructions for healing.

Each encounter reveals growing bonds of intimacy and communion, intuitive and experiential knowing – even a sense of shamanic evocation – that strives to protect the intrinsic wisdom of nature.

This retreat is In-Person and on Zoom. Retreat Director is on Zoom.

Zoom participants will receive Zoom sign-in information via email
upon registration + a reminder the day before the program.

Cost: $150 series / $40 one session.

For those attending the retreat in-person, you may choose to add an additional $150 per series or $40 per session to stay after each session in retreat fashion, with lunch included and the use of a quiet space in The Well for the afternoon. 

Retreat Director: Maureen Wild, SC

Maureen Wild’s graduate studies focused on Living Cosmology and Sacred Ecology, leading her to create many educational programs and retreats. She served as Director of two spirituality-based ecological learning centers: Genesis Farm, NJ, and the Centre for Earth and Spirit, BC, which she co-founded. Maureen has helped foster the international network Sisters of Earth since 1994, and is among those featured in the book Green Sisters: A Spiritual Ecology (2007). Blessed with many great teachers, one most enduring influence was Thomas Berry, who challenged all to live a resolute life of Great Work that protects, rather than ruins, Earth.

Maureen is the 2023 recipient of The Well’s Sacred Universe Award.