It has been a busy and full summer on the Mountain. There has been an enormous amount of tending, watering, growing, weeding at all levels and I can feel that we are now ready to move into the season of harvest. It feels that Labor Day is arriving as the great metaphor for all that has transpired over the last couple of months.
Shawn and I were fortunate to attend two retreats this summer that blessed us both. My experience at the Wisdom School session with Marc Gafni comes from that place that is hard to articulate. I entered a deep, deep space where through the transmission of the dharma the gathered community was together evolving consciousness. A real WOW experience. We were also privileged to participate in the summer couples retreat, which was a full retreat, rich with laughter, story, deep sharing and connection and loving expansion arising out of the particular perfect alchemy of the group gathered that inspired and fed us all.
I would like to share with you more of the highlights of the summer at the Mountain:
- 28 new people came to the Mountain for the first time this July and August!
- Nance McGee moved to the Mountain in July and has taken up a large portion of running the retreat center and overseeing leadership and programs. Her presence and attention have been greatly appreciated.
- The Body Sacred community donated a brand new dishwasher for the kitchen! Wow!
- Women Loving Women celebrated 10 years of community on the Mountain with a full summer retreat.
- The teens and young adults participated in three retreats over the summer
- Over 30 people came together to celebrate and connect at both the Women’s Festival and the Family Festival.
- The Gender Outlaw community held their second retreat for this year.
- The longer extended Spirituality and Sexuality and Integrating Life Choices retreats were well attended and afforded more time to sink into the heart and land of the Mountain.
- So far there have been 298 responses to the Shalom Mountain community survey. What an amazing response! If anyone is still wanting to respond, do so now as we will be closing off on Monday morning to be able to post results in advance of the Labor day weekend to the whole community.
The Mountain Trustees along with consultant Trish Blain have been laboring intensely to develop the vision and plan for a Shalom Mountain owned by community members. We are excited to share with the community what we have gathered from the community surveys and ownership possibilities at Labor Day work weekend. Come join us for this significant time!
The fruits of our labor are upon us.
Victoria
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