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The Quest for Healing and Home – The Great Search 2

The Quest for Healing and Home – The Great Search 2
We hope you can join us at Holy Wisdom Monastery for The Quest for Healing and Home – The Great Search 2 from May 9-11, 2024.
In 2022 John Philip Newell began a second series of annual retreats to address the deep spiritual yearnings of this moment in time and to help give birth to new beginnings in our lives and world.
The Great Search 2 is the second of a three-part series of annual retreats led by the Celtic teacher John Philip Newell and his colleague Cami Twilling in which we explore the search for awareness, the search for spiritual and physical wellness and the search for love.
The teachings of this retreat are based on John’s forthcoming book The Great Search: Turning to Earth and Soul in the Quest for Healing and Home, especially Chapters 4, 5, and 6, drawing on the wisdom of Carl Jung, Julian of Norwich and Jelalludin Rumi. Until the book is published, The Rebirthing of God is the recommended reading and Praying with the Earth is the shared prayer book for this retreat.
The Great Search 2 can be taken as a stand-alone retreat or in conjunction with The Great Search 1 and The Great Search 3 which can be attended in any order and at any of the participating retreat centers across the country or online.
For more information about John Philip Newell, Earth and Soul or The Great Search initiative, visit https://www.earthandsoul.org.
For more information about the retreat at Holy Wisdom Monastery, contact Pam Shellberg at pshellberg@holywisdommonastery.org or 608-836-1631, x126.
Schedule
Thursday
| 4:00-5:00 pm | Check-in/Getting Settled | |
| 5:15 pm | Dinner | Monastery Guest Dining Room |
| 6:30 pm | Evening Prayer (please enter in silence) | Monastery Assembly Room |
| 7:15 pm | Session 1: Introductory Presentation | Monastery Assembly Room |
| 8:30 pm | Sacred Silence (until breakfast) |
Friday
| 7:00-8:30 am | Breakfast (continental for those staying at Holy Wisdom Monastery) | Retreat & Guest House (RGH) Dining Room |
| 8:45 am | Morning Prayer (enter in silence) | Monastery Assembly Room |
| 9:15 am | Break | |
| 9:30 am | Session 2: Teaching I (enter in silence) | Monastery Assembly Room |
| 10:30 am | Morning Break | |
| 10:45 am | Session 3: Spiritual Practice I (enter in silence) | Monastery Assembly Room |
| 12:00 pm | Lunch | Monastery Guest Dining Room |
| 1:30 pm | Silence (siesta/reading/walking) | |
| 3:30 pm | Session 4: Spiritual Practice II (enter in silence) | Monastery Assembly Room |
| 4:45 pm | Afternoon Break | |
| 5:15 pm | Dinner | Monastery Guest Dining Room |
| 6:30 pm | Session 5: Teaching II (enter in silence) | Monastery Assembly Room |
| 7:30 pm | Wine & Cheese Reception and Book Signing | Monastery Gathering Area |
Saturday
| 7:00-8:30 am | Breakfast (continental for those staying at Holy Wisdom Monastery) | RGH Dining Room |
| 8:30 am | Morning Prayer (enter in silence) | Monastery Assembly Room |
| 9:00 am | Break | |
| 9:15 am | Session 6: Teaching III (enter in silence) | Monastery Assembly Room |
| 10:15 am | Morning Break | |
| 10:45 am | Session 7: Thanksgiving (enter in silence) | Monastery Assembly Room |
| 12:00 pm | Lunch | Monastery Guest Dining Room |
Dates/Times
4:00 pm, May 9 – 1:00 pm May 11, 2024
Cost
$340/person, includes program and meals, Thurs. dinner, Fri. lunch and dinner, Fri. book signing and reception, Sat. lunch; does NOT include lodging.
Limited scholarships are available. Please contact Pam Shellberg at pshellberg@holywisdommonastery.org or 608-836-1631, x126.
Lodging
Lodging is NOT included in the price of the retreat.
- Lodging at Holy Wisdom Monastery during the retreat is now full.
- We have a block of rooms for the retreat reserved at the Baymont Inn, 8102 Excelsior Dr, Madison, WI, seven miles away from the monastery. The rooms will be held until Apr. 9, 2024.
- $199/night + tax, includes continental breakfast (it is graduation weekend at UW Madison, so rates are high, and many hotels are full this weekend).
- To reserve your room at the Baymont Inn, call 608-831-7711 and ask for the Holy Wisdom – The Great Search block.
Leaders
John Philip Newell is a Celtic teacher and author of spirituality who calls the modern world to reawaken to the sacredness of Earth and every human being.
Canadian by birth, and a citizen also of Scotland, he resides with his family in Edinburgh and works on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2016 he began the Earth & Soul initiative and teaches regularly in the United States and Canada as well as leading international pilgrimage weeks on Iona in the Western Isles of Scotland.
His PhD is from the University of Edinburgh and he has authored over 15 books, including his latest award-winning publication, Sacred Earth Sacred Soul, which was the 2022 Gold Winner of the Nautilus Book Award for Spirituality and Religious Thought of the West. His forthcoming book (August 2024), also with Harper One, is The Great Search, in which he looks at the great spiritual yearnings of humanity today in the context of the decline of religion as we have known it.
Newell speaks of himself as ‘a wandering teacher’ following the ancient path of many lone teachers before him in the Celtic tradition, seeking the wellbeing of the world. He has been described as having ‘the heart of a Celtic bard and the mind of a Celtic scholar’, combining in his teachings the poetic and the intellectual, the head as well as the heart, and spiritual awareness as well as political and ecological concern.
Cami Twilling, based in Colorado, is the Director of Earth & Soul (a Celtic initiative of study, spiritual practice and compassionate action inspired by the teachings of John Philip Newell). As well as heading up the overall work of Earth & Soul, she facilitates the spiritual practice component of the Earth & Soul Annual Retreats. In addition to leading mountain and urban retreats, she has led international pilgrimage groups to Iona in the Western Isles of Scotland and work teams to Guatemala to build houses in communities that have suffered from political strife and economic hardship. Cami is passionate about the relationship between spirituality and action and believes that spiritual vision and practice can play a vital role in helping to heal and transform our lives both individually and together.
View 2023 Photos
Register
Please register by May 1, 2024.
There is a 75% refund for cancellations until May 1, and a 50% refund for cancellations after May 1 until May 9, 2024.



















