Cultivating Women's Spiritual Mastery Post-conference Women's Retreat Valchiusella Valley, Italy
Three contemporary women spiritual masters
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Conference Focus The Turin conference and post-conference women's retreat in Valchiusella Valley embody a feminine participatory design, bringing women together from diverse spiritual paths and cultures to:
Who is this for? The conference and women's retreat are ideal for women seekers of all faiths and cultures, including ministers, nuns, priests, spiritually-oriented health professionals and scholars, philanthropists, students, educators, and laywomen on the spiritual path. Women of all spiritual faiths and cultural backgrounds are encouraged to attend. All conference sessions will be in English.
TO REGISTER AND FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK HERE
Scholarships available for post-conference retreat.Please e-mail us for an application at:
About Turin, Italy Turin is a magical city, famous for being the birthplace of quality chocolate, the host city of the 2006 Olympics, and for the infamous “shroud of Turin,” the alleged burial cloth of Jesus. Steeped in spiritual and mystical history, Turin is an ideal venue for this conference. Read more...
Vista of Turin from the conference site - Villa Gualino.
Vidracco, Italy The Karuna Spiritual Retreat Center is located in the quiet village of Vidracco, nestled in the foothills of the Alps about 50 km north of Turin in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. Aptly dubbed as “Tuscany without the tourists,” Piedmont features magnificent rolling hills and vineyards against the backdrop of Europe’s highest mountains, and is home to the “slow food” movement that has spread to more than 50 countries. Vidracco sits on the banks of a gorgeous river in the untrammeled Valchiusella valley, less than one hour’s drive from the mountainous borders of both France and Switzerland. The tranquil valley is dotted with shrines to the Black Madonna, the Christian symbol of the divine feminine. Vidracco is centrally located in the heart of Europe—just an hour and a half drive to the Matterhorn heading north (called Mt. Cervino on the Italian side), or the Mediterranean Sea heading south. A spectacular cable car ride that glides past Mont Blanc over the highest glaciers of Europe to Chamonix, France leaves from Courmayeur, an hour’s drive from Vidracco. The ancient Roman city of Aosta is 45 minutes drive to the north, and Turin is the same distance south. Milan is an hour and a half drive away.  Vidracco is also home to Damanhur, a spiritual intentional community famous for its remarkable underground Temples for Humankind (www.damanhur.com). The Karuna Spiritual Retreat Center is not formally affiliated with Damanhur, but conference participants are encouraged to take this opportunity to visit the Temples of Humanity, which have been dubbed the “Eighth Wonder of the World” by the Italian government. Damanhur received an award in 2005 from the United Nations as a model sustainable society. A special tour of Damanhur and the Temples of Humanity for conference participants will be organized on June 30 (between the conference and the post-conference retreat). Getting there: Automobile: Vidracco is an hour and a half drive from the Milan airport (Malpensa) and 45 minutes from the Turin airport. Rental cars are available at either airport. Train: Rail service is available from Milan or Turin to the town of Ivrea, which is 15 km from Vidracco (schedules and fares at www.trenitalia.com). From Ivrea there are taxis available, and limited bus service to Vidracco. More information and assistance is available upon registration.
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Who are the women spiritual masters of our time? How can they inspire women seekers and emerging female spiritual leaders to fulfill their own divine destinies? How can women on different spiritual paths support each other to overcome the challenges faced by all women on the spiritual journey? What is the prophetic voice of the feminine? How can women spiritual leaders bring forth this crucial voice --and cultivate the awakening of the divine feminine--so urgently needed at this precarious time in humanity’s evolution? Cultivating Women's Spiritual Mastery Although spiritual consciousness ultimately transcends gender altogether, women face unique challenges and obstacles in virtually every spiritual and religious tradition. As the 'divine feminine' is awakening across the globe, there is a need for women from diverse spiritual paths to join together and explore avenues for mutual support, mentoring, blessing, and empowerment. The conference organizers have invited three guest teachers who we believe are spiritual masters in their own right. Each has forged a unique spiritual path, true to her heart's calling, against formidable odds within her respective faith tradition. All three have directly confronted patriarchal injustice with love and truth, and surmounted major obstacles to achieve profound missions that would never have manifested, had they merely followed traditional religious and spiritual protocols for women. The Turin conference is offered free of tuition charge. Featured Presenters ~ Guest Teachers
Conference Facilitators: (click on photos for BIO's)
Cynthia Brix, MDiv, Satyana Institute, interfaith minister, co-author of Women Healing Women, (Hohm Press 2009).
Dianne Grove, MS, LPC, spiritual psychotherapist, co-founder Epiphany Center, Center for Integrative Therapy
Karambu Ringera, Ph.D., peace proactivist and women’s human rights advocate.
Post-Conference Women's Retreat Building on the energy and inspiration of the Turin conference, a five-day retreat for women is offered after the conference at the Karuna Spiritual Retreat Center in the pristine Valchiusella Valley, 50 km (30 miles) north of Turin Conference participants are encouraged to attend the intensive retreat afterward, which will provide a powerful forum for women to explore key issues and insights deeply in a beautiful setting. Retreat activities will include meditation and prayer, dynamic inquiry and dialogue, dream work, yoga and movement, creative artwork, and open space for participants to self-organize around their particular passions and interests. Retreat facilitators: Cynthia Brix and Dianne Grove (see bios above) Guest Presenters: (click on photos for BIO's)
Anne Scott, author of Women, Wisdom, and Dreams (Nicasio Press, 2008), who will facilitate dream work.
Franziska Richter from the Valchiusella Valley who will present on the Black Madonna, and lead a visit to shrines in the valley.
Aviva Gold, founder and author of "Painting from the Source", who will lead a creative artwork session.
Post-conference retreat cost is $395 (USD), which includes tuition, lunches and dinners during the five-day event. Early registration price is $350 for payment in full by May 1st. Limited scholarships are available, please contact us for an application. Space is limited; please register early for this auspicious gathering. Hope to see you in Italy! Benvenuto in Italia!
TO REGISTER AND FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK HERE
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Satyana Institute This conference and women's retreat are part of a new project launched by the Satyana Institute to support the cultivation of women's spiritual mastery, and to evoke the prophetic voice of the feminine across different spiritual traditions. Our intention is to serve a strong need among women on diverse spiritual paths that to our knowledge is not met by any existing organization or network. The purpose of this project is to foster intimate spiritual mentoring, authentic transformation, and mutual empowerment of emerging women spiritual leaders -- in collaboration with established female spiritual masters -- across the faith traditions. | |
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo is a British-born Buddhist nun from India who secluded herself in a cave at thirteen thousand feet in the Himalayas, where she lived in spiritual retreat for twelve years. She meditated twelve hours each day, and slept for three hours a night, sitting upright in a meditation box. She faced unimaginable cold, wild animals, floods and rockfalls, and almost died twice. When she came down from the mountain, Tenzin Palmo founded the Dongyu Gatsal nunnery in northern India to train nuns in the spiritual practices that had been denied women for centuries, and to revive the Togdenma lineage. She has led spiritual retreats around the world. This conference is her final appearance in her last tour of the West. Her books include Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on Practical Buddhism (Snow Lion Publications, 2002) and Three Teachings (KMSPKS Monastery, 2000). For an inspiring account of Tenzin Palmo's life, see the best-selling book Cave in the Snow (Vicki Mackenzie, Bloomsbury, 1999). Visit 
Sister Lucy Kurien is a Catholic nun and founder of the Maher project for battered and destitute women located near Pune, India. Since its inception eleven years ago, Maher has provided refuge to more than 1,350 women, at least half of whom would have likely been murdered, committed suicide, or starved to death were it not for this project. Home to 100 women and 400 children, Maher is an interfaith community that honors all religions and strongly repudiates caste distinctions. Female staff are formerly-battered women who once took refuge at Maher and are now highly effective healers and care-givers. Maher offers compelling testimony to the power of women to overcome some of the most appalling patriarchal social conditions on Earth. Sister Kurien’s work is featured in a new book, Women Healing Women (W. Keepin and C. Brix, Hohm Press, 2009). Visit 
Swami Ambikananda Saraswati is a Hindu sannyasin, and founder of the Traditional Yoga Association in the UK, She also founded the MUKTI project to raise funds for two orphanages in India, and the Anahata Touch Healing system. She left South Africa during the Apartheid regime and settled in England and India, where she continued to pursue her spiritual path while raising her children. Her guru Swami Venkatesananda was a renowned Sanskrit scholar and Vedic authority who encouraged her to study Sanskrit and deepen her understanding of the Vedas and philosophical schools of India. After his death she was initiated into the sannyasin order by Swami Chidananda Maharaj, widely known as "The Sage of the Himalayas.” She is Chaplain of the Hindu Temple in Reading, England. Her books include translations of the Katha Upanishad and the Uddhava Gita, as well as Healing Yoga, Principles of Breathwork and Age with Spirit. Weblinks: 
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