Forthcoming Retreats
Get a glimpse of the contemplative experiences we are preparing for you. These upcoming retreats are in the planning stages, designed to continue our shared exploration of the Christian Wisdom tradition. Stay connected to be the first to know when registration opens.
Looking to register for current retreats? Click here.
Save the Date
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September 24th, 2026: "The Sacred Feminine in a Fractured World," with Cynthia Overweg
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October 24th, 2026: "Formed by Silence: Seminarians Experiencing the Tradition of Contemplative Prayer", In Honour of Constance Irene Burns, with Nicholas Fournie and Therese Descamp
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November 5th, 2026: "Why Ritual? The relationship of stability and openness in contemplative prayer", with Paula Pryce
Cynthia Overweg
Cynthia Overweg has been facilitating retreats and educational programs for over twenty-five years. Her work is influenced by the profound teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff, J. Krishnamurti, the world’s great mystics, and the non-duality that underpins contemplative Christianity and the Wisdom Traditions of the East. She also draws from her own inner experience and a life-long study of Christianity and Buddhism, sometimes integrating similar threads of compassion and the realization of Oneness that are also fundamental in Sufism and Hinduism. Her work includes meditative programs on Hildegard of Bingen, Teresa of Avila, Julian of Norwich, Mary of Nazareth, Mary Magdalene, and visionary women of Eastern traditions.
"The Sacred Feminine in a Fractured World"
An Online Retreat with Cynthia Overweg
Thursday 24 September 2026, 6:30-9:00pm Pacific Time
"As God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother."
Julian of Norwich
“We are all meant to be mothers of God.”
Meister Eckhart
The Sacred Feminine and Sacred Masculine are regarded as equal and complementary divine energies that are beyond gender and form. Conceptually, it is the Feminine Principle that gave birth to the matrix of all life, and it is through Her that the whole of creation is nurtured and sustained. Hildegard of Bingen put it this way: “She is so bright and glorious that you cannot look at her face...but she is with everyone and in everyone.” The mystery of the Sacred Feminine dwells deep in the hearts of both women and men. She invites us to give birth to the inner transformation that dissolves the illusion of separateness from each other, from nature, and from the unconditioned love that underpins the whole of life.
Yet for centuries we have not understood or embraced the transforming power of this silent, receptive and compassionate Presence within us. The conscious restoration of the Sacred Feminine is imperative if we are to heal the trauma of accelerating global divisions and violence, and end the destruction of precious ecosystems that sustain life on Earth. This online retreat has four segments: An overview of the Sacred Feminine through time; Mary of Nazareth and the birth of the Christ consciousness; the Sacred Feminine as represented in the work of Hildegard of Bingen; and the significance of the Sacred Feminine in today’s world and within ourselves. Time will be time set aside for questions/answers/discussion.
Registration coming soon...
Formed by Silence: Seminarians Experiencing the Tradition of Contemplative Prayer
In Honour of Constance Irene Burns
An Online Retreat with Nicholas Fournie and Therese Descamp
Saturday 24 October 2026, 9:00am - 2:00pm Pacific Time
This retreat is designed to move participants from intellectual study into direct spiritual experience, bridging the gap between theological education and the transformative practices of the Christian Wisdom tradition. Grounded in the 14th-century classic The Cloud of Unknowing, the program will guide participants through a theological and experiential arc: from apophatic self-emptying (Centering Prayer) to somatic integration (The Welcoming Practice).
The pedagogy follows a "practice-first" model. We begin immediately with Centering Prayer, allowing students to experience the Christian discipline of kenosis (self-emptying) before analyzing it. To ground this experience historically, we will feature a guest keynote (45 min + Q&A) from a recognized teacher (e.g., Therese Descamp) on The Cloud of Unknowing, validating the practice not as a modern invention, but as part of the Western contemplative canon.
The second half of the retreat reveals the theological fruit of this silence: Divine Therapy. We will explore how resting in God allows hidden emotional debris to surface, not to be analyzed, but to be met with Incarnational love. Facilitator Nicholas Fournie will introduce the Welcoming Practice as the somatic companion to silence, a method for physically "welcoming" these surfacing realities and integrating them through the body. This structure presents "Divine Therapy" not merely as a psychological tool, but as a bona fide Christian spiritual discipline of dying and rising with Christ in daily life.
*Please note registration for this event is intended for participants aged 40 years and under.
Nicholas Fournie
Raised with a background in Buddhism, he later explored Gaudiya Vaisnavism and Eastern Christian spirituality before finding a spiritual home in the Western Wisdom tradition. He studied Eastern Christian spirituality at Trinity College, Toronto, and now works with the Contemplative Society as our Communications Coordinator and leads centring prayer circles in Calgary.
Rev. Dr. Therese Descamp
Therese holds a BS in psychology from Portland State University, an MDiv from Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, and a PhD in Biblical Studies with a concentration in cognitive linguistics from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. She has taught graduate school courses in two inter-religious seminaries in spirituality, biblical studies, feminist studies and cognitive linguistics. She was ordained in the United Church of Christ, admitted to the United Church of Canada, and has worked with groups in these churches as well as the Anglican Church, the Episcopal Church, and the Presbyterian Church. Therese has co-taught retreats with a Zen Buddhist priest; co-ministered with a Jewish rabbi; and first learned meditation from a Sufi teacher. She was long listed for the 2023 CBC Nonfiction award, and her publications include Hands Like Roots: Notes on an Entangled Contemplative Life (Santos Press, 2025); a newspaper column about spirituality that doesn’t use the word “God,” one book on cognitive linguistics, and numerous scholarly and popular magazine articles.
Why Ritual?: The relationship of stability and openness in contemplative prayer
An Online Retreat with Paula Pryce
Thursday 05 November 2026, 6:30-8:30pm Pacific Time.
Ritual is God’s gift to humanity.
Whether formal liturgy or intentional living, ritual exists in every culture as a conduit to the Divine beyond our own imagination. Ritual provides an anchor that steadies us in a the fluid, often unsettling world of moving beyond the ordinary and expected.
This online retreat will explore how people everywhere have turned to ritual as a source of renewal, but also a less benign means of social control. Our focus will turn to how contemplative practices combine attention to the body, refinement of the senses, and a willingness to enter the unknown. With Divine consent, these disciplines can become the agents of human transformation.
The retreat will include contemplative practice to facilitate exploration of the teachings.
Registration coming soon...
Dr. Paula Pryce
Dr. Paula Pryce is a cultural anthropologist whose research explores silence, ritual, and contemplative traditions across cultures. Her publications include The Monk’s Cell: Ritual and Knowledge in American Contemplative Christianity. Having been raised in an interreligious household, Paula has studied and practiced meditation and other contemplative rites since childhood. She lives in Vancouver BC, where she leads retreats, facilitates contemplative prayer groups, and writes in a variety of genres. Paula regularly contributes reflections to The Contemplative Society website.