Posts by Leslie Pace
A Light in the Dark – Forgiveness and Apology in a Wounded World
This program invites us to meet the trials of our times with courage and
honesty. In an era of upheaval and fear, we ask: How do we source our own light in the dark? To do so, we must tend to the personal wounds that shape our relationships and the world around us. Through the Death Lodge practice, we reflect on what remains unfinished in our lives. Guided by the wisdom of the modern hospice movement and the Four Shields, we gather in councils, teachings, nature walks, and a 24-hour solo, exploring the grace of forgiveness and apology.
NM Mirroring the Four Shields of Human Nature: The Art of Story Telling and Listening
Telling one’s own story is an ancient art. Nowadays, we have forgotten how to listen and how to tell. Yet the very survival of our species depends on our ability to communicate with each other in such ways as to be mutually enriched by the telling and the listening. If we cannot tell with expression, our life is mute. If we cannot listen like a mirror, we cannot reflect back the wholeness of the four shields — the body, soul, mind and spirit of the teller. The best stories are about human nature — that is, the human of us which is, after all, nature in her basic manifestations as physical, psychical, rational, and spiritual. One of the best ways to create a four shields story, if not the best, is to put people in contact with nature in the raw.
Read MoreCO Women’s Fast – Remembering Ourselves Home
What is waiting to be known and honored in your life? Together, we remember a more intuitive, embodied way of being—one that honors the transitions we face and the wisdom they bring. As we step into the threshold of change, we release what we have outgrown and attune to what is emerging within us. By pausing, listening, and surrendering to the rhythms of the Earth, we reconnect with our inner knowing, restore what has been forgotten, and return with a gift back to our communities.
Read MoreNM Fall Vision Fast
In increasing times of unrest and uncertainty it can be a common human experience to gravitate towards more “certainty” rather than less. Yet, in the Zen tradition “not knowing” is most intimate. The natural world reminds us of this intimacy and offers us refuge. There is something waiting to find us but in order to be found…we sometimes must first admit we are “lost”…
Read MoreThe Great Ballcourt Initiation – Fall Fast
Death is the ultimate agent of transformation—be it a physical death or “the little deaths” encountered throughout life. Indigenous cultures developed rituals to aid and guide people through these stages of change and renewal, utilizing the power of death to enhance and intensify these experiences. For the Mayan people this ceremony was played out on…
Read MoreCA Summer Vision Fast
The modern day vision quest is a border crossing practice, an opportunity to reclaim our true place in the natural world. When one steps across the threshold and into the unknown wilderness, boundaries begin to dissolve and our vision begins to expand. The threshold place is a dreamscape, where we can hear, again, the voices…
Read MoreThe Young Adult Rite of Passage
You are our next generation of world leaders and stewards, our next generation of teachers and care-givers, of artists and scientists, of land tenders and culture curators. You will inherit a planet in immense and immediate need for your unique brilliance.
How are you being supported, right now, to explore your authenticity, to discover your purpose, to cultivate your gifts, to realize your belonging, to be prepared to inherit your future and to be recognized as an adult?
Read MoreThe Great Ballcourt Initiation – Spring Fast
Death is the ultimate agent of transformation—be it a physical death or “the little deaths” encountered throughout life. Indigenous cultures developed rituals to aid and guide people through these stages of change and renewal, utilizing the power of death to enhance and intensify these experiences.
Read MoreWalking Into That Good Night: Exploring Our Relationship With Dying & Death
Physical death is the ultimate rite of passage that we are preparing for on some level throughout
our life. Sometimes this “preparing” looks like denial; sometimes sudden illness or life-threats
surprise us into looking squarely at the inevitable truth. The more consciously we can turn our
attention to our mortality, the more able we are to turn our life’s focus toward that which truly
matters to us during this one precious lifetime.
CA Women’s Vision Fast
Perhaps you are one of the many women called to this ceremony. Maybe it is time to move deeper into the questions: What is asked of me? How do you source myself? How do I recognize the ancient myths guiding my life? What is drawing me toward the threshold? A descent, incubation, or an emergence? Is this a time of letting go or a time to reclaim? What do I offer in service to the greater?
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