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We have many Resources for personal or group retreats...
We have a knotty-pine Gathering Space, Labyrinths, Medicine Wheel, Wailing Wall, Cosmic Walk, Library, Spiritual Midwifery, Retreat Facilitation or Co-Facilitation, and 135 acres of diverse and gentle Forest, Wetland and Creek!
Retreats
Individual Personal Retreat � Self-Guided or with Spiritual Midwifery.
Small Group Retreat (1-12) for your own group process. Gathering space is provided.
make a reservation
Spiritual Midwifery - Spiritual Midwifery is a process of assisting you to become more conscious and skilled in paying attention to your spiritual journey. It consists of a one and a half hour session with Julie Keefer, incorporating prayerful intent, compassionate inner listening and reflection, dialogue, body awareness, and imagery.
To schedule a Spiritual Midwifery session, call Julie Keefer at (231)884-2789. The suggested donation per 1.5 hours is $50 - $60.
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The Loft
Our gathering space. We have a collection of teas, a pot for warming water, and mugs. There is a television, DVD player, VCR, and stereo available for individual or group use of your own media, or you may borrow from our library.
We ask that shoes be removed before entering in remembrance of the sacred.
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Facilitation/Co-Facilitation for Retreats
Facilitation for Retreats � Themes
- Women's Spirituality
- Using Archetypes for Self-Knowledge and Empowerment
- Listening With the Heart/Contemplative Prayer
- Walking Labyrinths
- Embodied Spirituality
- Activating the Inner Compass/Wheel of Life Teachings
- Ecospirituality
- Unmasking the Powers Within/Mask Making
- Creating Prayer Sticks
- Tools of Inner Awareness and Healing
We suggest a donation of $50 to $60 per person per 24 hours. Group and family rates are available. The appropriate donation for an extended or sabbatical stay will be determined individually. Gift certificates are available.
We request a non-refundable deposit of $50 per person to hold retreat space.
Spiritual Midwifery sessions are available by appointment. Suggested donation, $50 - $60 per 1 1/2 hours.
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I will change your name
You shall no longer be called
Wounded
Outcast
Lonely or
Afraid
I will change your name.
Your new name shall be
Confidence
Joyfulness
Overcoming One
Faithfulness
Friend of God
One who seeks my face.
-- Voice from a MorningStar Guest Journal
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 Labyrinths
For over 800 years the Chartres Cathedral labyrinth pattern has been used as a spiritual tool to deepen one's experience of divine presence. Unlike the maze, which was designed to fool and confound, the Chartres labyrinth is designed mathematically and theologically to enhance each person's spiritual experience and has just a single path leading into the center and back out again.
The MorningStar labyrinth was created after the one in Chartres and is set in a meadow at the end of our 120 acres. It is 87 feet in diameter and made of stones from the local countryside and lovingly put together by many MorningStar friends. It is open day or night to our retreatants. Others may use it upon request, and a small donation would be appreciated.
 How to Walk a Labyrinth
The labyrinth is best walked with an intention, such as the desire to let go of what distracts you from hearing inner wisdom, or an important question that you want help with. The center is the place to listen, to rest in the arms of love before  going back out into the world refreshed, trusting that what is truly needed will be provided... in its right time. As you step out of the labyrinth at the end of your walk, it is good to have a prayer or gesture of thanksgiving and then to journal, sing, dance or act in some way to concretize your experience.
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The Wailing Wall 
Cosmic Walk - We have laid out on the land a spiral of stones representing the entire 14 billion years of the cosmic and evolutionary journey. This contemplative walk is a powerful way to more fully realize the spans of time in the unfoldment of the universe and Earth as we understand it.
Library - We have an extensive collection of books, videos, and tapesets available. Topics range from the Mystics to women's journeys to psychology to spirituality, and sometimes all of the above! The Loft has a stereo, TV, DVD player, and VCR available for your use.
Medicine Wheel
We have a stone medicine wheel laid out on the land, with a fire pit in the center. The medicine wheel is a universal, archetypal symbol of change and growth, both of the Earth's four seasons, and our own seasons of birth, life, death and rebirth. The beginning in the East reflects morning, spring, birth to early adolescence. The South reflects the mid-day, summer, maidenhood to early adulthood. The West represents afternoon, autumn, adulthood, motherhood to midlife. The North is night, winter, elderhood and wisdom years.
The Medicine Wheel also represents MorningStar's four directional values through:
East: Devotion to paying attention to Wisdom's teachings
South: Simplicity for living sustainably with the Earth
West: Wholeness through the transformational journey toward integrating mind, body, soul and spirit as One
North: Creative service as we seek to authentically embody our values in the world.
Suggestion on using the Medicine Wheel
The medicine wheel can be used by first setting an intention to approach it in a sacred, prayerful manner for guidance. Then you may walk around it, inside or out, until you have a sense of which direction is calling you. Spend time meditating and seeking guidance on the meaning of this direction to your life; or spend time in each quadrant meditating/listening.
The wooden box contains some questions for each direction and a journal.
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