The Cave of the Heart:
A Six-Week  Depth Psychology Online Seminar
on The Archetype of the Anchorite
Tuesday Evenings 7:00 pm-8:30 pm
​May 12- June 16, 2020
Sliding Scale: $150.00- $300.00

​"Listen my child, with the ear of your heart"
- 6th Century Rule of Saint Benedict

What does it mean to  remain anchored in the depths of one's heart in the midst of chaos and cultural change? The ancient tradition of the Anchorite can teach us so much about  how to  thrive in the midst of  disease,  disaster and  upheaval.

The great monastic tradition  of the West began in the deserts of Egypt in the 4th century and spread to  the remote mountains of France and the British Isles. In the Middle Ages, these  places were islands of creativity where  art, music, science  and literature all flourished. In these secluded places , a rhythm of life  emerged  that nourished a spirit of contemplation and illumination-- and even joy.

 
Amongst the women who are most known to us from  Medieval history, two stand out as beacons of resilience. Hildegard  of Bingen (1098-11 79)  was enclosed in a monastery at the age of 8. In her extraordinary long life, she was composer, artist, theologian, botanist, natural healer, spiritual director, abbess, and counselor to politicians and religious figures alike. 
In the 14th century, Julian of Norwich lived a full life as a wife and mother in England before her family was destroyed in the Black Plague. Surviving a near death experience, she elected  to become a voluntary anchorite, and remained enclosed inside two tiny rooms attached to a local church where she  "prayed without ceasing" for the welfare of the world for the rest of her life. Despite her bleak background and enduring confinement, Julian went one to write the first work in the English language penned by a woman. Her Revelations of Divine Love is a magnificent guide to finding serenity and peace in the midst of darkness and suffering and ends, astonishingly, with the utter conviction that "All shall be well".

In thus eight week creative seminar,  we will  encounter the  Archetype of the Anchorite- a deep spiritual seeker whose time of confinement yields profound wisdom, creativity and contentment.  Guided by the lives and words of Hildegard and Julian, we will find a rhythm of our own during this time of enclosure so that we can embrace the transformative  spiritual potential  of our times and connect more deeply to our hearts.

 Each class will begin with ritual and lecture, with suggestions for engaging in Jungian depth psychology processes. The second half of each class  consists of sharing  our journaling, collage, art making  on the Archetype of the Anchorite. 
Selected passages from the writings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, HIldegard of Bingen and Julian of Norwich will also  inform our gatherings each week and will be sent out for further contemplation.



Week One:  The Anchor of the Heart
Altar,  Ancestors, Nature and Symbols; How to create Sacred Space

Week Two: The Heart's Flowering and Abundance
Identifying the pathways of consolation and desolation; Veriditas and Ariditas- where we are green and juicy and  where we become bitter, dry and hard of heart; Wisdom of the Desert Fathers and Mothers

Week Three:  The Song of  the Heart
Practices of Music, poetry and chant

Week Four:  Seeing with the Eyes of the Heart
An introduction to  icons, art meditation and Visio Divina

Week Five: Listening with the Ear of the Heart
Lectio Divina and  Holy Listening

Week Six:  The Rhythm of the Heart
 Finding a daily and seasonal  pattern that nourishes the heart and keeps you balanced

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HIldegard of Bingen, Birth of the Cosmos

Hildegard of Bingen, Choirs of angels