Reclaiming the Sacred through Story 

These times we are in. These times we are in. These times we are in. 

Robert Bly said “Reclaiming the sacred in our lives naturally brings us close once more to the wellsprings of poetry.”   Without story, without words, without sacared texts, we would only be silent in the sacred and not able to share our hearts in a way to connect with each other through understanding, invoking peace and reverance.

During this holy season, when many of us are gathering together with friends and family,  and the world seems upside down and divided, it’s our job as storytellers to find the holy and the hope inside our everyday lives through our Sacred Soul Stories. The next four session writing course is exploring the sacred through miracles, ceremonies, sacred places and prayers to heal the world.  We’ll be calling in the holy and the healing together, writing stories to impact each other as sacred gifts to share together in our intimate writing groups.

Recognizing the Miracles

Through interfaith ministers Berry Behr and Audri Scott Williams, and bestselling author Debra Engel we will explore definitions of miracles, and those extraordinary events in our own lives that cannot be explained. When we posted about a class about miracles, we received dozens of messages of everyone wanting to tell me their miracle story!  Through the inspiration and wisdom of our spiritual leaders, we will all be guided to write our own miracle story, call in a miracle or create our own miracle.

Writing is mystical, but we have to show up

Writing memoir and poetry based on our life stories has the ability to unpeel layers and change the writer and the reader. Writing true stories is really about bringing wholeness to each experience.  Perhaps we are trying to make sense of loss, the life cycle and our own place in the world.  Perhaps we are trying to heal something inside – the part of us who feels orphaned or disconnected.

Writing has such a mystical element to it, but it’s also about showing up. Writing in our community is part of showing up for your own writing and the magic of the other writers in your group who will influence your craft and feed yur stories by revealing the truth in their stories.

“To encounter the sacred is to be alive at the deepest center of human existence.

Sacred places are the truest definitions of the earth;

they stand for the earth immediately and forever;

they are its flags and shields.

If you would know the earth for what it really is,

learn it through its sacred places.

At Devil’s Tower or Canyon de Chelly or the Cahokia Mounds,

you touch the pulse of the living planet;

you feel its breath upon you.

You become one with a spirit

that pervades geologic time and space.”

― N. Scott Momaday

Topics explored in the 4- session course include*:

Miracles

Beginnings of stories don’t necessarily begin with a birth story – maybe your story begins with a wedding, a divorce, a death or a diagnosis. In the opening class we will explore beginnings through othe memoirs and all the time in your life that felt like a new beginning.  I remember telling a famous screenwriter the end of my story, and he grabbed my shoulders and said – that’s your beginning!

Sacred Places

American Indian poet N. Scott Nomaday said to encounter the sacred is to be alive at the deepest center of human existence. Sacred places are the truest definitions of the earth. If you would know the earth for what it really is, learn it rhough sacred places.  To encounter the sacred is to be alive at the deepest center of human existence. At Devil’s Tower or Canyon de Chelly you touch the pulse of the living planet; you feel it breath upon you. This week we will explore sacred places where you have gone for connection and personal transformation.

Beyond the Veil

Nothing is more sacred than birth and death, and the holiday season and coming New Year seems to bring up all the grief, as memories of those no longer with us come flooding in through music, dance and traditions. When we understand the dead are often still part of us, and sometimes still with us, we can go beyond the veil and tap into their wisdom and the world beyond this world in our earthly bodies.

Prayers for Peace

Everybody prays, everybody always has, and there is no end in sight.  Author Tyler Staton reminds us “story is the precious gift that thrusts spirituality from the theoretical into the grit and honesty of the everyday world.” Prayer seems to be instinctive, a part of human nature, and it has power and is known to heal. Through prayer we are asking God, but we are also changing the vibration of the world. This week, we will write our own prayer for Peace in the World.

*All topics subject to change (except Miracle Dec. 15th class)

DECEMBER 15th MIRACLE PANEL: THE MIRACLES THAT INFORM OUR LIVES

Three extraordinary women discuss miracles – their personal miracles and the miracles they have witnessed in the work they have done in the world, and invite us to write our own miracle stories. This is part of the four session course, an event available to all writers taking the course.

Rev Berry Behr is an ordained Interfaith/Inter-spiritual minister currently serving as Global Interfaith Ambassador for the Emissaries of Divine Light, for whom she co-ordinates multifaith, multicultural, peace-building events aimed at promoting an inclusive society based on understanding, compassion, and respect.

Berry is a current Board member of Religions for Peace South Africa.