- This event has passed.
Embracing the Transition – A Passage Experience for Elders. (Southern VT)
September 1, 2022 - September 5, 2022
Guided by: Sparrow Hart-
Workshop Embracing the Transition – A Passage Experience for Elders
$1,000.00
Our Last Chapter: Earth… Eternity… and No Regrets
Indigenous cultures offer us a compelling vision of the “third chapter” of human life, where integrity, purpose, and intention cohere in a passionate embrace of what it means to be alive. As the body and ego diminish, Soul and Spirit can be embodied as master and sage, generating and gifting active wisdom and compassion to a yearning world. The struggles of a lifetime may recede, and our true nature as conscious and loving beings is revealed to us.
The elder’s journey has traditionally been taken as a rite of passage. Passage implies a movement — the end of one thing and the beginning of something else. The endings associated with aging can be stark and challenging. Elders have endured the passage of time, and time’s passage can result in loss… loss of the wonder experienced as a child… the loss of friends, family, lovers, power, prestige, strength, social validation, or dreams that were once so important…
The poet Mary Oliver speaks of the “black river of loss, whose other side is salvation.” What this means for each of us, and how that might be lived in our elderhood, will be central to our exploration.
An experience of passage through elderhood requires that the rules, roles, and routines of normal life be left behind. In simple and profound ways, we’re ushered into an unmediated encounter with life, primal reality. In so doing we can experience a resetting of our compass, a reconnection to core truths and commitments that are alive and ready to guide us now.
We will affirm the terror and wonder, the agony and ecstasy of human experience. Supporting each other in facing what’s ending — or what needs to end in order to live fully — we will share processes for opening to what wants to emerge, what demands to live through us in the time we have left.
With the aid of poetry, song, dreams, ritual, and soulful community we will go to Nature – the world which created us – to find aspects of our own nature that long to be cultivated and lived in order to complete our journey without regret.
In this unique Embracing the Transition: A Passage Experience for Elders, we will live into the inevitable transition, finding our way of being fully alive. Traditional provisions of solitude and fasting will be individually modified to fit our capacities, but the deep intention of our gathering will be bold and uncompromising: “living as if our last.” As the wheel inevitably turns, how will we live?
Directions
Address:
130 Banning Road
Putney, Vermont
05346
Interstate 91 runs north-south from New Haven, Connecticut through western Massachusetts and half-way up the eastern side of Vermont. You should be able to find your way to it with any New England map. Take exit 4 in Vermont and follow the signs to the center of Putney.
As you come to the center of town, you will be on route 5 (Main St.), heading north. When you arrive at the center take a left at The Putney General Store and head up the hill on Westminster West Road. Follow Westminster West road for 1 mile. You will pass the elementary school on your right and you will take the first left turn after the school. (West Hill Rd.)
Stay on West Hill Road. At the 1.4-mile point there is a fork in the road where there is a left up to the Putney School. You stay right. Continuing on West Hill, until you are about 2.5 miles from where you turned off Westminster West road, there will be a road off to the right marked Putney Mountain Road. Take that right.
The road will fork almost immediately. Stay right. Proceed up Putney Mountain Road for 1.6 miles and you will see a road on the right marked Banning Road. Take a right on Banning Road and go for 0.6 miles. There will be a charcoal house with blue trim on the right. It’s close to the road. The mailbox will say “Sparrow Hart.”
If coming by plane or bus: The nearest major airports are in Hartford, CT, Manchester, NH, Boston, MA, and Albany, NY. There are smaller airports in Burlington, VT and Keene, NH, the Keene airport being the closest. There is a bus service from any of these airports, and from most cities in the New England /New York area to Brattleboro, VT. Brattleboro is approximately 10 miles south of Putney. If you make arrangements in advance, we can most likely pick you up at the bus station in Brattleboro.
If you have any difficulty, you can leave a message with Sparrow — 802-387-6624
We look forward to seeing you!!
Our program will begin at 1:00 PM on September 1 and finish the afternoon of September 5th.
Food and Lodging
Food:
Food will be provided, and we’ll share preparation and clean-up responsibilities for breakfasts and dinners. Lunches will consist of sandwich and other items put out on a table in a “fix-your-own” fashion with no formal plans for a group meal. If you have any special needs or requirements around food, please let us know. Feel free to bring your own snacks or treats.
Lodging:
Our program will take place in and around a lovely hilltop home with fields and views of far mountains. Lodging will be a mix of camping with options for beds inside at a reasonable fee. If you plan to be camping, please bring a tent, sleeping bag, and some kind of sleeping mattress or pad. There are spaces inside for an extra fee, and these will be dormitory style, 2-3 beds per room with a shared bath. The beds will have a mattress, bottom sheet, and pillow, so please bring a sleeping bag or bedding. We can also provide a tent for your stay for $25, please let us know ahead of time as quantities are limited.
What to Bring
What to bring:
Bring appropriate clothing. We will be spending time outdoors each day, so bring clothes that will keep you comfortable. Light boots, sun hat, rain gear recommended. Sunscreen and bug spray may be helpful.
Bring whatever personal toiletries you require, a writing pad or journal, pen or pencil, flashlight, etc.. There will also be an (optional) overnight solo, so bring a sleeping bag and some kind of sleeping mat if you plan to take advantage of this.
We will have an altar to remind and connect us to sacred space, and you can add your energy there by bringing whatever sacred or ritual objects are important to you. Photos, power objects, drums, guitars, etc. are also welcome.
A full list of what to bring will be sent after enrollment, so you can ignore the “Gear List” below.
Leave a Reply