GSV 2025 Winter Meditation Post 1

GSV 2025 Winter Meditation Image

Seasons Change

January 17-19, 2025


The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC

3 Day/2 Night Package (Friday through Sunday)


Lodge or Duplex Cabin (double occupancy) $240.00


Single Occupancy (private room) $380.00


For All Rooms Add Required GSV Program Fee $35.00

Register Now!

Seasons Change

Please join me for Gay Spirit Visions’ Winter Meditation gathering, January 17-19, 2025, at The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center. During our time together, we will consider, meditate on, and share two things – the metaphorical seasons of our lives and the literal seasons of earth – and how they both are changing.

We often view, experience, and frame our lives through the metaphor of the seasons – the spring of youth through the winter of later life. No matter where we are in this progression, we soon come to know, sometimes to our wonderment and joy, often to our bewilderment and dismay, that our personal life seasons inexorably convey us forward. It is a mysterious journey that encompasses the entire universe of experience – yearning, expectation, joyous surprise, and unexpected loss and challenge. While we often feel a sense of certainty when we’re young, this is an illusion that we learn as we age. In fact, living brings with it increasing uncertainty as we move through spring, summer, fall, and into winter.

What was once known becomes unknown. Meeting ourselves in the seasons often requires effort, emotion, and spiritual strength. It is a hero’s journey, really.

As stage and backdrop against which the seasons of our lives play out, the source of our metaphor – the seasons of the earth – have been until recently remarkably stable, predictable, and entirely accommodating of our expectations and trust, affording us a sense of safety, allowing the illusion of unchangeability. The seasons are catalyst, muse, and inspiration, feeding the seasons of our lives a chord with which to tune our personal, even our spiritual, seasons.

Human-influenced climate change has been with us for some time. Does anyone not remember what the seasons were like earlier in our lives and see, feel, and know in our bones how they have changed? What was once known becomes unknown.

Many questions arise along these twining threads.

• How do we perceive the changes in our life’s seasons and in earth’s seasons?
• How do these perceptions and our personal experiences of the changes influence our corporeal, emotional, and spiritual selves?
• How have our senses of safety, trust, and faith been altered?
• Do we mourn the loss of what once was – the wonder, energy, freedom, and opportunity of youth; the deep snow in winter that now rarely visits, the nourishing sun and warmth of summer without withering extremes, or rains and winds gentler than we now know?
• Is there a connection – whether troubling and difficult or energizing and inspiring, or both – between the changes in our bodies and the unexpected changes occurring in the earth’s seasons?

These questions are the heart of this year’s Winter Meditation gathering. It is an invitation to deepen into these questions. We will offer time and space, and meditative, physical, and emotional room for whatever may come rising to the surface. In the dim light of deep winter, amid the warmth of our lodgings, common spaces, and those of us assembled, we will create safety. Come willing to contemplate with courage and share your thoughts, feelings, insights (both beautiful and terrible), fears, and joys, to mix in strange alchemy in the cauldron of Gay Spirit Visions.

Financial assistance in the form of scholarships is available. Our commitment is that anyone who resonates with our mission and community, and who has the desire to attend, can join our gatherings. To that end, we offer scholarships through the Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund. Please go to the Financial Assistance page on the Gay Spirit Visions website for more information about scholarships and for a link to the Gay Spirit Visions financial assistance application form. Please note that the financial assistance application submission deadline is Friday, January 10, 2025.

Please also note that Gay Spirit Visions currently plans to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 guidelines in effect at the time of the gathering.

Registration is now open via the Gay Spirit Visions website, so please join us. Register early so that The Mountain will know how many cabins to heat up! Private rooms are available on a limited basis. Please note that the registration deadline for this gathering is Friday, January 10, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Karma
John Schendel
GSV 2025 Winter Meditation Convener

Register Now!

Register: Winter Meditation

GSV 2024 Fall Conference Post 3

Where Are Your Feet?

September 26 – 29, 2024

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC

Convener: ChaseR

4 Day/3 Night Package (Thursday through Sunday)


Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people) $300.00 + 6.75% tax = $320.25


Lodge or Duplex Cabin (double occupancy) $345.00 + 6.75% = $368.29


For All Rooms, Add Required GSV Program Fee $100.00


Check out the Registration System for Optional Extra Night Before (Wednesday Night) and/or After (Sunday Night) the Conference

Register Now!

Celebrating Gay Spirit Visions

Work on the 35th annual Gay Spirit Visions Fall Conference is progressing at a rapid pace now!

I am happy to inform you that we have a special guest presenter: Summer Minerva. They will be with us during the conference and will be screening their film Summer Within.

Summer Minerva is an Italian-American author, performer, educator, and filmmaker. Their passion for immersion into diverse cultures started when they were just a New York City kid in a multilingual, multicultural neighborhood. Their ever-present curiosity led them to the University of Miami, where they received a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies and Journalism, after studying abroad in Brazil, and circumnavigating the world on a ship. They then pursued a Master of Science degree in Education and taught at the elementary school level in New York City public schools. They speak Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian fluently and have co-edited Italian Trans Geographies for State University Press of New York (SUNY Press), released in 2023. Their autobiographical feature documentary film Summer Within (2024) has won prestigious awards in the United States and in Italy, including the Laceno d’Oro International Film Festival’s Spazio Campania “Chiara Ragione” Best Movie award. Summer is currently touring with a one-person performance called Tombola Bingo which premiered at The Australian National University in the summer of 2024. They have presented their work at many prominent institutions including the New-York Historical Society, Harvard University, New York University, New School University, Southern Methodist University, Colby College, Gibney: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, and many others. Summer currently works as an executive functioning coach for people with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and publishes regularly on Substack.
Summer Minerva

We have an incredible lineup of workshops and breakout sessions. Below is a working list of topics:
• Naked Yoga
• Presencing with the Enneagram
• Sharing Me Now – A Guided Autobiography
• Living Your Dying – End of Life Considerations for GBTQ Individuals
• Diving Into Your Ecstatic Body and BDSM Subspace
• Sound: A Meditative Bridge to Insight and Healing
• Super Sensual Sensation: Impact Play
• Living Breath Practice
• Self-Pleasuring and Multi-Orgasmic Practice
• The Relational Bond – Intimate Connection Through Conversation and Presence
• Embodied Spiritual Surrender
• Great Sky Circles – Mystical Sufi Traditions
• Breath Full Movement

A special hybrid event for online participation is being considered: Grounding In Our Sacred Chosen Bodies

Panel Discussions:
• Being an Ally to Indigenous People
• Keeping It Up All Year!
(Groups That Live GSV Year-Round and How They Do It)

I invite you to make origami cranes to bring to The Mountain and display. I am hoping for 1000 paper cranes. Below is a link to the story The Story of Sadako Sasaki and the Thousand Paper Cranes. You will also find links on how to make a paper crane. So, now is the time to begin your journey to The Mountain. Write down your prayers, intentions, and hopes, and fold them into the paper cranes you make. Many of you have already begun your journey.
The Story of Sadako Sasaki and the Thousand Paper Cranes (YouTube Video)
How to make a paper crane – Origami Crane Step by Step (YouTube Video)
Origami: Crane [tutorial] (YouTube Video)

Join us around our council fire, listening deeply in our heart circles, sharing meals, experiencing workshops, practicing gender freedom and expression, talent shows, dance, small groups, and a thousand other ways of being together.

I look forward to being with you in 25 days!

ChaseR
GSV 2024 Fall Conference Convener

Scholarship Information and Application Deadline


Financial assistance in the form of scholarships is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is September 5, 2024. We hope that anyone who resonates with our mission and community, and who has the desire to attend, can join us at our gatherings. To that end we offer financial assistance through the Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund. Please go to the Financial Assistance page on the Gay Spirit Visions website for more information and for a link to the GSV financial assistance application form. Remember, the financial assistance application submission deadline is September 5, 2024.

Registration


Registration for the GSV 2024 Fall Conference is open now. The GSV Council has asked me to remind all who plan to register that there are a maximum of six single occupancy accommodations. If a positive GSV and Mountain experience is contingent upon single room accommodations, please email [email protected] for single room occupancy request consideration.

Registration closes Wednesday, September 18, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. ET. We remind you that recent fall conferences have reached capacity long before registration closes, so you are encouraged to register as soon as possible. All questions about the conference should be directed to [email protected] rather than The Mountain.

Register Now!

GSV 2024 Fall Conference Post 2

Where Are Your Feet?

September 26 – 29, 2024

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC

Convener: ChaseR

4 Day/3 Night Package (Thursday through Sunday)


Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people) $300.00 + 6.75% tax = $320.25


Lodge or Duplex Cabin (double occupancy) $345.00 + 6.75% = $368.29


For All Rooms, Add Required GSV Program Fee $100.00


Check out the Registration System for Optional Extra Night Before (Wednesday Night) and/or After (Sunday Night) the Conference

Register Now!

Treewalker

Where Are Your Feet?

One of my mentors while I was on the GSV Council was Treewalker. This photo, taken by Lem Arnold, has the qualities of an icon. The photo radiates Treewalker’s energy, presence, joy of life, and also his feet! He would remind those serving on the Council that the GSV Fall Conference is like a spinning top toy. We all put energy, intention, prayers, and work into preparing for the Fall Conference. It is like winding up a spinning top toy. All of us are winding that spinning top right now — those of us that are planning to attend and those of us that are supporting from afar. In 56 days, on Thursday evening, September 26, 2024, we will let go of this spinning top and watch it spin across The Mountain and into our lives.

Join us around our council fire, listening deeply in our heart circles, sharing meals, experiencing workshops, practicing gender freedom and expression, talent shows, dance, small groups, and a thousand other ways of being together.

Together we will explore ideas and practices around the ideas of mindfulness, awareness, and presence. Experiences offered will include yoga, breath, sound meditation, storytelling, dance, body work, panel discussions, singing, and others. My intention, hope, and prayer is that there will be specific practices that you will want to take back with you when you leave The Mountain.

I invite you to make origami cranes to bring to The Mountain and display. I am hoping for 1000 paper cranes. Below is a link to the story The Story of Sadako Sasaki and the Thousand Paper Cranes. You will also find links on how to make a paper crane. So, now is the time to begin your journey to The Mountain. Write down your prayers, intentions, and hopes, and fold them into the paper cranes you make. Many of you have already begun your journey.
The Story of Sadako Sasaki and the Thousand Paper Cranes (YouTube Video)
How to make a paper crane – Origami Crane Step by Step (YouTube Video)
Origami: Crane [tutorial] (YouTube Video)

Call For Workshops


As usual, there are times in the schedule for breakout workshops and activities. If you have a breakout workshop or activity you would like to facilitate (and, well, you are planning to attend the conference), please send me the following information:

• Your name (as you would like it listed in the conference schedule)
• The title of the workshop/activity
• A brief description of the workshop/activity for the conference schedule, facility/set-up requirements, and an explanation to help me understand what you want to do

I can’t guarantee I can accept all submissions, but I’ll do my best to provide a variety of options. Remember: we like these breakout workshops and activities to be more interactive and participatory than presentational. Please email your breakout workshop/activity proposal to me at [email protected] by August 15th, 2024.

ChaseR
GSV 2024 Fall Conference Convener

Scholarship Information and Application Deadline


Financial assistance in the form of scholarships is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is September 5, 2024. We hope that anyone who resonates with our mission and community, and who has the desire to attend, can join us at our gatherings. To that end we offer financial assistance through the Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund. Please go to the Financial Assistance page on the Gay Spirit Visions website for more information and for a link to the GSV financial assistance application form. Remember, the financial assistance application submission deadline is September 5, 2024.

Registration


Registration for the GSV 2024 Fall Conference is open now. The GSV Council has asked me to remind all who plan to register that there are a maximum of six single occupancy accommodations. If a positive GSV and Mountain experience is contingent upon single room accommodations, please email [email protected] for single room occupancy request consideration.

Registration closes Wednesday, September 18, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. ET. We remind you that recent fall conferences have reached capacity long before registration closes, so you are encouraged to register as soon as possible. All questions about the conference should be directed to [email protected] rather than The Mountain.

Register Now!

GSV 2024 Fall Conference Post 1

Where Are Your Feet?

September 26 – 29, 2024

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC

Convener: ChaseR

4 Day/3 Night Package (Thursday through Sunday)


Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people) $300.00 + 6.75% tax = $320.25


Lodge or Duplex Cabin (double occupancy) $345.00 + 6.75% = $368.29


For All Rooms, Add Required GSV Program Fee $100.00


Check out the Registration System for Optional Extra Night Before (Wednesday Night) and/or After (Sunday Night) the Conference

Register Now!

Come, Come, Whoever You Are

Come, come, whoever you are!
Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving.
This is not a caravan of despair.
It does not matter that you have broken your vow a thousand times,
Still come,
And yet again,
Come.

Whatever your race, class, culture or color,
serostatus or sexual wounds.
Whatever you struggle with, heart, mind, body or soul …
Still come.

Whether you’re gay, bi, questioning, queer, or transgender,
single or partnered, poly or simply perplexed;
religious or atheist, spiritual, awestruck,
addicted, recovering, or reaching for heaven on earth.
Whether outrageous or quiet, flamboyant or shy, prophetic or peaceful,
elder or newcomer or somewhere between …
Still come.

We welcome your sorrows, we welcome your joys.
We welcome your hunger, we welcome your gifts.
We welcome your stories, questions, and yearnings.
We welcome you home!

~ChasR after Hunter Flournoy after Rumi~

The call has gone forth! In 86 days, we intend to gather together with 90 other kindred souls for the 35th annual Gay Spirit Visions Fall Conference. We will spend about 69 hours together around our council fire, listening deeply in our heart circles, sharing meals, experiencing workshops, practicing gender freedom and expression, talent shows, dance, small groups, and a thousand other ways of being together.

Together we will explore ideas and practices around the ideas of mindfulness, awareness, and presence. Experiences offered will include yoga, breath, sound meditation, storytelling, dance, body work, panel discussions, singing, and others. My intention, hope, and prayer is that there will be specific practices that you will want to take back with you when we leave The Mountain.

I invite you to make origami cranes to bring to The Mountain and display. I am hoping for 1000 paper cranes. Below is a link to the story The Story of Sadako Sasaki and the Thousand Paper Cranes. You will also find links on how to make a paper crane. So, now is the time to begin your journey to The Mountain. Write down your prayers, intentions, and hopes, and fold them into the paper cranes you make. Many of you have already begun your journey.
The Story of Sadako Sasaki and the Thousand Paper Cranes (YouTube Video)
How to make a paper crane – Origami Crane Step by Step (YouTube Video)
Origami: Crane [tutorial] (YouTube Video)

Scholarship Information and Application Deadline


Financial assistance in the form of scholarships is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is September 5, 2024. We hope that anyone who resonates with our mission and community, and who has the desire to attend, can join us at our gatherings. To that end we offer financial assistance through the Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund. Please go to the Financial Assistance page on the Gay Spirit Visions website for more information and for a link to the GSV financial assistance application form. Remember, the financial assistance application submission deadline is September 5, 2024.

Registration


Registration for the GSV 2024 Fall Conference is open now. The GSV Council has asked me to remind all who plan to register that there are a maximum of six single occupancy accommodations. If a positive GSV and Mountain experience is contingent upon single room accommodations, please email [email protected] for single room occupancy request consideration.

Registration closes Wednesday, September 18, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. ET. We remind you that recent fall conferences have reached capacity long before registration closes, so you are encouraged to register as soon as possible. All questions about the conference should be directed to [email protected] rather than The Mountain.

ChaseR
GSV 2024 Fall Conference Convener

Register Now!

GSV 2024 Spring Post 3

Spring 2024

On The Precipice

May 10-12, 2024

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

3 Day/2 Night Package (Friday through Sunday)


Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people): $200.00


Lodge or Duplex Cabin (double occupancy): $230.00


Single Occupancy (private room): $370.00


For All Rooms add Mandatory GSV program fee: $35.00

Register Now!

Hello Siblings!

We are just a few weeks away from being together for our Gay Spirit Visions 2024 Spring Retreat. I cannot wait to see everyone back “home” at The Mountain! If you have not already registered, please do so very soon. The registration cut-off date for our Spring Retreat is Sunday, May 5, 2024, at 5:00 p.m.

Our GSV Winter Meditation gathering reminded us that our life journey has taken us on many paths. Sometimes those paths have been amazing and other times those paths may have taken us to challenging situations. Often those times may find us on a precipice. This can be very scary and feel very lonely. We may not know what to do or how to move forward.

You may have recently faced your own precipice, or maybe you are on a precipice right now. It is indeed a time of tremendous growth and definite change. One reason it may feel so difficult is because we feel we are facing this alone. However, remember this – you are not alone! You have found your tribe, and we can negotiate the precipice together.

This spring let’s discover together how we can find strength, love, and support. These precipice moments are critical and set us up for positive growth. We will talk about what we see as we stand on our precipice, how we can stand together, and what we have learned from those experiences.

My hope is that during our time together you will experience enlightenment, peace, love, and maybe some new ways of processing your own precipices. Allow me to gently remind you that it’s okay to get a little uncomfortable while exploring your precipices with new thoughts and ideas. It is also okay to have a little fun and find humor in those challenges. Both help us move to new levels of awareness and growth. Who better to do that with than your tribe?

We will have workshops that will be exciting and challenging. We will have workshops that will be fun and playful, and we will have workshops that will guide some introspective moments. There will be opportunities to share your story of your own precipices if you choose.

Workshops will be led by some amazing GSV participants!

Mahan-Kalpa Khalsa – “Sacred Touch Massage” and “Sexual Kung Fu”
Roger Custin – “Finding the Light in Grief”
John Marotta – “Game of Self Discovery”
Kyle Keane and Bill Harris – “The Joy of Aging”
Additionally, we will have:

Popup Workshops
Our GSV Sacred Fire in the Fire Ring
Morning Meditation
Labyrinth Walk
Cuddle Time
After Hours Cookie and Tea
I am very excited about what has come together and am putting some finishing touches on the schedule for the weekend. As always, you can connect and participate as much as you want and need. And if you need some alone time, know that we understand and will honor this form of self-care.

Financial assistance, in the form of scholarships, is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is April 26, 2024. We hope that anyone who resonates with our mission and community, and who has the desire to attend, can join us at our gatherings. To that end, we offer financial assistance through the Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund. Please go to the Financial Assistance page on the Gay Spirit Visions website for more information about financial assistance (scholarships) and for a link to the GSV financial assistance application form. Remember, the financial assistance application submission deadline is April 26, 2024.

Please note that GSV currently plans to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 guidelines in effect at the time of the gathering.

In conclusion, please know that you are not alone, for we have each other and there is great strength in our GSV tribe. I cannot wait to see you in a few weeks.

Sending love and peace to you all,
Darin Topham
GSV 2024 Spring Retreat Convener

Register Now!