A riot of color on the prairie welcomes you to seek and celebrate your own abundance. This summer retreat invites you sit with the lush growth of the season – on the prairie and in your own life and heart. It will hold space for attention to both. Conversations about the season, walks on the prairie, naps, art, movement, journaling, great meals and welcoming accommodations will all be a part of what you can expect when you arrive. A renewed connection to nature and to yourself, along with joy in the plentitude and abundance of the season are what you …
Wonder & Hope: A Courage & Renewal® Experience
Are you seeking ways to focus on positivity “these days”? Register and join us for a spacious weekend at Holy Wisdom Monastery for Wonder & Hope: A Courage & Renewal® Experience, May 29-31, 2026. Within the abundance of Holy Wisdom, our retreat sessions will focus on grounding ourselves within touchstones of presence, welcome, listening to our inner teacher, turning to the wonder of how grace moves in our lives, and carrying hope forward. Participants comment that “the welcoming spirit, the quiet, the art and poetry, the kindness and the experience of community” support their participation in a variety of experience during …
Sacred Queerness: Earth-Based Spiritual Retreat
SOLD OUT We are grateful for all of the interest in this event. Registration for this experience is currently full. You can join the waitlist with this link. Event Description Queer and Trans people are a sacred part of the Earth, always have been, and always will be. We invite LGBTQ+ people of all ages to join four local queer spiritual leaders and land stewards for a two-day, one-night healing retreat at Holy Wisdom Monastery. The retreat will hold time for writing and art, work with the restored prairie and savanna ecosystems that surround the monastery and an exploration of …
The Fire of Hope 1
In 2026, John Philip Newell begins a new series of retreats called The Fire of Hope to respond to the deep challenges of this moment, whether political, religious or environmental. Where do we draw spiritual strength to passionately say no to what is false and witness to what is true and of God? The Fire of Hope 1 is the first in a three-part series of annual retreats led by the Celtic teacher John Philip Newell and his colleague Cami Twilling in which we seek to nurture the fire of love, the fire of desire and the fire of courage …
Spring Emergence: A Seasonal Retreat
A faint gauze of spring green is appearing on the prairie’s winter browns, welcoming you to look for your own signs of new growth. What is emerging can’t be hurried, but calls for patient restraint and holding a space for quiet wonder. This spring retreat invites you sit with the first indications of a new season of life – on the prairie and in your own life and heart. It will hold space for your hushed anticipation and gentle tending. Conversations about the season, walks on the prairie, naps, art, movement, journaling, great meals, and welcoming accommodations will all be …
Grace & Reflection: A Courage & Renewal® Weekend
Grace & Reflection: A Courage & Renewal® Weekend Each renewal weekend will include creating a quiet, focused, and enlivened space — a Circle of Trust® — where personal, inner wisdom can be heard. There will be a mix of time spent in large group, small group, and individual reflection along with poetry, teaching stories, wisdom traditions, nature, and activities for exploration. We will use these experiences and other rich metaphors to symbolize and discover and explore life questions. Together, we will experience creating spaces in our lives to tend and nurture our desire to live fully with courage and resilience. …
Summer Stewards Reflection By Grace
We were immersed in monastery life. We attended prayer, ate meals with the sisters and other retreatants, and shared in chores. The fresh vegetables we harvested in the morning became the dinner we enjoyed in the evening. We helped with restoration efforts on the prairie and in the pines.







