Holy Wisdom Monastery

The Great Search 3
2025-05-01 16:00 - 2025-05-03 13:00 (America/Chicago) | Holy Wisdom Monastery, 4200 County Road M, Middleton, WI, 53562, United States
“The Great Search gathering is a reminder of the divine hospitality that calls us into a deeper relationship with God, with the Earth, and with each other. Filled with a kind of reckless love, one leaves feeling restored and committed to bringing hope and healing to all life. The combination of John Philip’s teaching, the spiritual practices led by Cami, and the peaceful and beautiful surroundings of Holy Wisdom Monastery offers a personal and community guide to contemplation and spiritual growth.”
–Catherine Maciariello, The Great Search 2, 2024 participant

The Great Search 3
We hope you can join us at Holy Wisdom Monastery for The Great Search 3 from May 1-3, 2025.
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 3 is the third 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 wisdom, the search for meaning, and the search for faith.
The teachings of this retreat are based on John Philip Newell’s new book The Great Search: Turning to Earth & Soul in the Quest for Healing & Home (especially Chapters 7, 8, and 9 drawing on the wisdom of Rabindranath Tagore, Etty Hillesum, and Edwin Muir).
The text for this three-year program is John Philip Newell’s new book The Great Search (August 2024). The shared prayer book for this program is Praying with the Earth.
The Great Search 3 can be taken as a stand-alone retreat or in conjunction with The Great Search 1 and The Great Search 2 which can be attended in any order and at any of our 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 – May 1

3:00 pm
Tour of Holy Wisdom Monastery and Grounds
Gathering Area

4:00-5:00 pm
Check-In/Getting Settled
Gathering Area

5:15 pm
Dinner
Dining Room

*6:30 pm
Evening Prayer (please enter in silence)
Assembly Room

*7:15 pm
Session 1: Introductory Presentation
Assembly Room

8:30 pm
Sacred Silence (until breakfast)

Friday – May 2

*8:30 am
Morning Prayer (enter in silence)
Assembly Room

9:00 am
Break

*9:15 am
Session 2: Teaching I (enter in silence)
Assembly Room

10:15 am
Morning Break

*10:45 am
Session 3: Spiritual Practice I (enter in silence)
Assembly Room

12:00 pm
Lunch
Dining Room

1:30 pm
Silence (Siesta/Reading/Walking)

*3:30 pm
Session 4: Spiritual Practice II (enter in silence)
Assembly Room

4:45 pm
Afternoon Break

5:15 pm
Dinner
Assembly Room

*6:30 pm
Session 5: Teaching II (enter in silence)
Assembly Room

7:30 pm
Wine & Cheese Reception & Book Signing
Gathering Area

Saturday – May 3

*8:30 am
Morning Prayer (enter in silence)
Assembly Room

9:00 am
Break

*9:15 am
Session 6: Teaching III (enter in silence)
Assembly Room

10:15 am
Morning Break

*10:45 am
Session 7: Thanksgiving (enter in silence)
Assembly Room

12:00 pm
Lunch
Dining Room

Leaders – John Philip Newell and Cami Twilling

John Philip Newell
John Philip Newell is an internationally renowned 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 also Scottish, he resides with his wife Ali in the ecovillage of Findhorn in Scotland. 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 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 new book, also with HarperOne, is The Great Search (August 2024), 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
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 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.
Dates/Times
4:00 pm, Thursday, May 1 – 1:00 pm, Saturday, May 3, 2025
Cost
$360/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 is now full.
We have a block of hotel rooms at Baymont Inn & Suites, 8102 Excelsior Dr, Madison, WI 53717, for $72 per night. Please contact the hotel directly to reserve your room at 608-831-7711. The block is under: Holy Wisdom – The Great Search.

View photos from 2023 and 2024

Register
Please register with the button below by April 24, 2025.
Cancellation policy – if you register but must cancel your registration, you can receive a 75% refund up until Apr. 24, 2025. After that, a 50% refund is available until the retreat starts.
