Women’s Wisdom and Christianity
For the vast majority of human history, it has been a man's world. In spite of the advancements of recent decades in reclaiming feminine ways, we are still a culture defined by our allegiance to logic, analysis, scientific materialism and the superiority of "reason." Much of Christianity shares these masculine ideals, especially given that we worship the Divine almost exclusively in male forms. While these masculine ways of being are an essential part of the whole, the feminine must not be forgotten. Indeed, the feminine way must be brought again to its rightful and necessary place in order to restore a balance, giving us an integrated way forward into our future.
In this one-day workshop, we will examine and experience a more feminine approach to Christianity. We will be exploring a different perspective that includes embodied ritual, intuition and archetypes to access the Divine in ways not usually seen in mainline churches. We will explore archetypal stories of women in the Bible to help restore the necessary balance in Christianity as a part of the transformation of our whole culture.
RiverStone is currently offering this workshop through the Servant Leadership School associated with St. Hildegard's Episcopal community. The workshop is open to all. It will be held on May 14, 2011 from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. in Kleberg Hall, a part of St. George's Episcopal Church, located at 4301 N. Interstate 35. The cost is on a sliding scale from $30 to $60. A light breakfast and lunch is provided. If you would like to register, contact Daphne Levey at daphnellevey@gmail.com. Further information can be found on St. Hildegard's website, www.hildegard-austin.org.
If your church group would be interested in experiencing this one-day workshop, please contact us at daphnellevey@gmail.com. We will be happy to come to your group's meeting and give a presentation about the workshop.
Women's Rite of Passage
Women in indigenous cultures often go through rites of passage in order to enter into their full, sacred womanhood. These rituals serve to awaken women to a deeper understanding of female wisdom and of their connection to the feminine aspect of the Divine. Because the feminine has been repressed in our culture, such rites of passage have been lost, leaving modern women without an experience of their own unique sacred wisdom and power.
RiverStone's women's rites of passage is an invitation to women in our culture to explore through ritual trusting in something greater than themselves and reclaiming the deeper female ways of being in the world. Ritual intention and action are sustained in the Rites through the use of sacred space, silence, symbols, deep sharing and prayer, music, artistic expression, delicious food, beautiful clothing and communion with the natural world.
Two weekends:
Our women's rites of passage are contained within two separate weekends. These weekends are designed in such a way that attendance at one is not necessary for attendance at the other. Experiencing both, however, is the best way to enter fully into the Rites.
Reclaiming Eve:
The first weekend is entitled, Reclaiming Eve. It lasts from Friday evening through Sunday noon. In this weekend, we restore honor to Eve, as the Mother of All Living and to ourselves as her daughters. We attend to healing the ways in which Eve, our mother Earth and all women have been blamed, shamed and objectified throughout Western history.
Reclaiming the Feminine Divine:
The second weekend is entitled Reclaiming the Feminine Divine. It lasts from Thursday evening through Sunday noon. In this weekend, we reclaim two aspects of the Feminine Divine, the Dark aspect and the Wisdom aspect. For the first, we undertake a descent to heal the split between the Dark and the Light. For the second, we reclaim Wisdom through a re-emergence and re-integration of the Feminine Divine into the sacred marrow of our own lives.
We do not have any Rites weekends scheduled at this time. If you have a group of women who would be interested in exploring the possibility of engaging in the Rites, please call us at 512-462-1521. We would be happy to come and make a presentation to your group.
From Despair to Empowerment
Workshop
Being conscious in our world today involves awareness of unprecedented human
suffering and growing possibilities of global disaster. Living into this awareness
brings with it the dangers of despair, paralysis and a loss of faith in a benevolent
God. As the odds against planetary survival escalate, we need ways to deal with
our innermost responses so we can overcome our doubts, our psychic numbing and
our exhaustion to move out into the world as agents of change and hope.
RiverStone
offers this one-day workshop as a way through this despair to a feeling of
empowerment. Through personal sharing, guided meditation, art
and prayer, the workshop will help the participants to explore
a way through their pain for the world to find deeper levels
of faith, community, commitment, and hope.
If you would like to schedule this RiverStone workshop
for your group. Please contact us through our e-mail or call
us.
Silent Retreats
By special arrangement, RiverStone can host a silent retreat
for your group. Our silent retreats take place at Santa
Soledad, located just east of Giddings, Texas, in a remote
and peaceful setting. The cost of a weekend retreat is
$95 per person. RiverStone can accommodate a minimum of
5 and a maximum of 15 people for these rejuvenating retreats.
If you would like to schedule a retreat for your group,
please contact us through our e-mail us or call us.
Spiritual Direction
Some of the members of RiverStone offer either individual
or group spiritual direction. If you are looking for a
spiritual director, please consider contacting our members
through our e-mail or by calling us:
RITUALS:
Day of the Dead
The Day of the Dead is a Mexican custom with roots in both Aztec and Spanish
religious traditions. The essence of this feast is an invitation to join with
both the dead and the living in a celebration of the interconnectedness of
all life. The festival has other meanings as well. If fosters an acquaintance
with death. We come to understand death not as the enemy but as a natural part
of life, an intimate. It reminds us that life is fragile and that no matter
how important we may think we are in life, death will come for us all. The
feast allows for parody in portraying the futility of those who believe that
they can somehow save themselves. It emphasizes the call for social justice
and equality by reminding us of our ultimate equality in the face of death.
Lastly, the feast is a foretaste of the great messianic banquet at the end
of time when everyone is reunited with the Sacred in Love.
Every year, RiverStone offers an opportunity for
us to live into this interconnectedness of all life, the living
and the dead. Our ritual features the building of a Day of the
Dead altar, a communion with our beloveds who have departed this
earth and an communion with those of us still here, sharing Bread
of the Dead and stories from our lives, both past and present.
This ritual is celebrated at the end of October
or the beginning of November, around the time of the turning
of the year in the old European tradition, and All Saint’s
Day in the Christian calendar. More details will be forthcoming
as the time approaches.
Pesame
A vigil of remembrance and solidarity among women.
In certain regions of Mexico there is a custom in which, during
Holy Week, women join together in a vigil known as the Pesame.
The purpose of this lovely gesture is to accompany Mary, the
mother of Jesus, in her sorrow at losing her son to the forces
of violence and injustice.
Every year, RiverStone holds a vigil similar to
the traditional Pesame. We remember and honor Mary, not only
as a symbol of wounded motherhood, but also for her profound
significance to all people as a symbol of courage, receptivity,
faith, strength in adversity and steadfast love. In addition,
we will remember and honor all women everywhere who suffer the
effects of violence, injustice, ignorance, war, disease and poverty.
We will stand in solidarity with our sisters the world over and
pray for an end to violence and injustice in the world. |
