September 2025 Newsletter
- The Contemplative Society
- Sep 1
- 4 min read
“The Great Spirit is in all things, he is in the air we breathe. The Great Spirit is our Father, but the Earth is our Mother. She nourishes us, that which we put into the ground she returns to us…." – Big Thunder Bedagi Wabanaki Algonquin
In This Month’s Issue…
Ponder a reflection in poetry from Milla McLachlan about Road Trip: California Summer 2025.
Last Call! For registration in TCS’s hybrid (in-person or online, your choice!) retreat with Heather Ruce, to be held over the dates of October 5-9, 2025 at Sorrento Centre, B.C. and also accessible via Zoom.
Watch and Learn, with TCS’s newest video: The Contemplative Society (TCS): Your spiritual home.
Consider Contemplative Activism in Challenging Times, an online retreat with Cynthia Bourgeault, to be held on November 29, 2025.
Connect with The Centre for Spiritual Renewal.
Encounter TCS’s new Favicon, our unique image on social media.
Road Trip: California Summer 2025
by Milla McLachlan
Be freeway now
cascading over sun-bleached hills
into the restless city
digest the swelter the
glare of glass and steel
carry the fast-flowing river of
human yearning and exchange the
striving aching gluttonous rush the
drive to be anywhere
but here
Be labyrinth now
bless the hands that built you
stone by stone no dead ends
your seven circles cruciform
welcome the feet of all who venture here
seeking the weighted stillness of the oaks
consent to crow’s harsh caws, the
far-off drone of aircraft the
howling eucalyptus and the
whispers of the Ponderosa pines
Be forest now
and still
your redwoods soaring high while
far below long roots entwine
steady the community of saints
listen to their congress as you
shield the marbled murrelet the wandering
salamander the northern spotted owl
embrace the morning dew
make rain
Be ocean now
and dance
receive the fiery ball of sun the greying
clouds and the courage of fishers
readying for the night
_______________
Artists: Milla McLachlan is photographer of the sunset and trees pictures.
Linda Lueng, of Mercy Center Burlingame, CA, USA is photographer of the labyrinth picture.
All photos have been used with the permission of the photographers.
Milla comments on the origins of the poem:
“The poem grew out of recent encounters: Words of Father Thomas Keating recorded in the film Invitation from God that I’ve been reading before my morning sit for several weeks: “The basic disposition in the spiritual journey is the capacity to accept all reality; God, ourselves, other people, and all creation as they are;” and stops on a recent road trip – a three-day silent retreat at Mercy Center in Burlingame, CA, a day among the redwoods and time along the southern Oregon coast. Acceptance comes slowly, but it grows!”
Milla McLachlan:
Milla is grateful for a meandering life journey in which the call has always been to see more widely, experience more deeply, and to weave together the spiritual impulse and the daily demands of work and life. Encountering Cynthia Bourgeault’s teaching while studying ecopsychology and integral theory in Colorado felt like a homecoming for Milla, and it continues to enrich and challenge her. Milla recently joined the TCS Board of Directors. She brings years of experience as a team leader, coach, and facilitator in social development efforts in the USA and Africa. She has a passion for poetry and the simple joys of long walks and baking good bread. Milla lives with her wife, Elizabeth, and two cats in Oregon, and enjoys being Ouma.
E-mail Milla at: admin@contemplative.org
TCS’s newest video: "The Contemplative Society (TCS): Your spiritual home.”
Click on one of the social media symbols below to access this new TCS video.
The Contemplative Society Presents…
Last call for our TCS community.
In-Person or Online (your choice! ) at Sorrento Centre, British Columbia, Canada.
Sunday 05 October (5 pm) to Thursday 09 October 9th (12 noon) 2025 (Pacific Time).
The Contemplative Society Presents…
Contemplative Activism in Challenging Times.
An online retreat with Cynthia Bourgeault.
Date: Saturday, November 29, 2025
Time: 10 am – 12 pm Pacific Time (PT).
This online live teaching time with Cynthia embraces the sacred calling to be “Contemplatives with grit!”
With Heather Ruce, online with The Centre for Spiritual Renewal.
For more information: > CLICK HERE <
Introducing…TCS’s new Favicon.
As your The Contemplative Society (TCS) community continues being active with social media, that medium requires an organization to provide a unique identifying image, called a favicon, to be placed within a small circle shown to the public. To meet this requirement, which the full-name logo of TCS has been unable to do, TCS developed a modernized version of our historic use of an image of St. Brendan the Navigator. With heartfelt thanks to Nicholas Fournie for sharing his design excellence with TCS. Look for TCS on social media through our new favicon identifier.
TCS is a non-profit society and registered charitable organization in Canada run by a volunteer board and a dedicated circle of contemplatives. It was formed in Victoria, BC, Canada, in 1997 to serve an emerging contemplative renewal and to support and spread the teachings of Cynthia Bourgeault and other distinguished Wisdom teachers. We lovingly carry forward this work, adapting to the changing needs of the present and future, while anchoring ourselves in the ancient Wisdom tradition.
We would love for you to join us as a member and to help sustain and build our offerings with a donation of any amount.
Our mailing address is:
PO Box 23031, Cook St. RPO
Victoria, British Columbia
Canada, V8V 4Z8
E-mail: admin@contemplative.org
Telephone: +1.250.381.9650
Copyright © 2025 – The Contemplative Society. All rights reserved.
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