GSV 2026 Spring Retreat Post 2

Spring Retreat

2026 GSV Spring Retreat

Transcending Traditions


May 15-17, 2026


The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC


Convener: John Marotta

Dearest Siblings,

The 2026 Gay Spirit Visions Spring Retreat is fast approaching. Your heartfelt invitation awaits you to personally experience Transcending Traditions May 15-17, 2026 at The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC.

Transcending traditions means moving beyond established customs, beliefs, or practices to innovate, find deeper meaning, challenge limitations, reinterpret the past, and create new forms while respecting foundational ideas.

May this gathering be a hearth. May we warm one another with honesty and kindness, and most importantly with your presence. This is where sacred memory meets living truth.

A Call for Workshops
Bring forth your ideas. What is it that strikes a passion in your heart to share? Let’s talk about your workshop ideas.

The “in the works already” workshops will touch on the following topics:
• World Café. A facilitated interactive conversation about the Gay Spirit Visions Mission and how our traditions support our vision and values. Very interactive, fun, and explorative!
• Let Your Kid Come Out to Play. A workshop to bring out our lighter and playful side. Includes cooperative games and play.
• Usui Reiki: A Japanese Healing Art. Experience this healing art form with an experienced Usui Reiki Master.
• Traditional Masculinity and the Trauma of Conformity. An interactive conversation on how poetry, images, and erotica have influenced and shaped our vision of masculinity and conformity.

Gay Spirit Visions, a Trailblazer to the Currency of the Future: Heart Energy. We come together with heart-centered energy to create a sense of belonging to a sacred community that celebrates connection and authenticity. We will invite you to share, if you wish, personal experiences that exemplify this lived reality. As the world is now opening to, and needing this consciousness, how are we cultivating this energy into our daily lives?
• Sacred Touch. Enhance your own personal level of how we interact as men of conscience.
• Tai Chi. A movement meditation. Invigorate your mind and body for peace and calm.
• The Body Compass: Embodying True North. Many of us learned to override our bodies in order to survive. This workshop invites participants to reconnect with the body as a source of wisdom, learning to recognize somatic signals of yes, no, and maybe as guides for boundaries, desire, and authentic living.

There is still room at the table for your amazing workshop! Contact me if you are drawn to facilitating a workshop. My email address is jm19562002@yahoo.com and my cell phone number is 828-388-3344. Please leave a voice message or text message if I cannot answer when you call.

Transcending Traditions fully espouses honoring a sacred past and building a courageous future. Please join us!

With great respect and humility,
John Marotta
Gay Spirit Visions 2026 Spring Retreat Convener

Accommodations


3 Day/2 Night Package (Friday through Sunday)


All pricing is per person


Double occupancy – Lodge or duplex cabin $270 + tax


Bunkhouse $230 + tax


Single occupancy $410 + tax


For All Rooms Add Required GSV Program Fee $35.00 per person

Scholarship Information and Application Deadline


Financial assistance in the form of scholarships is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is Friday, May 1, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET. 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 Friday, May 1, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Registration


Registration for the GSV 2026 Winter Meditation gathering is now open. Please begin the registration process on the Spring Retreat Registrationpage. All questions about registration should be directed to The Mountain – gsoffice@themountainrlc.org – Phone: (828)-526-5838. Registration closes on Friday, May 1, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Participants needing accessible accommodations are encouraged to register early.

Getting to The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center


The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center is located west of the town of Highlands, NC. For detailed driving information and transportation options, visit The Mountain Getting Here page. Note: If your transportation plans include flying, the closest and easiest airport to fly in and out of is Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) located in Fletcher, NC, just south of Asheville, NC.

Please note that there are no public transportation options from AVL that service The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center. You may wish to consider rental car services at AVL. The drive from AVL to The Mountain is approximately 2 hours, or longer if you are not accustomed to mountain driving conditions.

Register Now!

GSV 2026 Spring Retreat Post 1

Spring Retreat

2026 GSV Spring Retreat

Transcending Traditions


May 15-17, 2026


The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC


Convener: John Marotta

Dearest Siblings,

As convener for the Gay Spirit Visions Spring Retreat, May 15-17, 2026, I want to personally invite you to experience Transcending Traditions at The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC. Registration is open now. Please click on the link at the bottom of this announcement to register.

Transcending traditions means moving beyond established customs, beliefs, or practices to innovate, find deeper meaning, or challenge limitations, which we often see in art (blending old styles with new), spirituality (seeking direct experience over ritual), and social contexts (artists breaking barriers). This experience involves reinterpreting the past, integrating diverse influences, and creating new forms while respecting foundational ideas, all of which are often shown in books, exhibitions, discussions exploring culture, art, and personal growth.

What this can mean for you:
• Honoring the past without being trapped by it
• Evolving cultural, artistic, or personal practices for a new era
• Blending heritage with innovation
• Choosing growth over unquestioned norms

A Call for Workshops
Do you feel compelled to bring forth a workshop that aligns with or complements the thoughts and concepts mentioned above? If so, I would love to talk with you about your workshop ideas. Interactive, participatory, and experiential workshops work better than presentation/talk types of workshops. Our goal is to help participants come away from the workshop experience and the retreat itself with an enhanced understanding of “transcending traditions.”

Please contact me if you are interested in facilitating a workshop. My email address is jm19562002@yahoo.com and my cell phone number is 828-388-3344. Please leave a message if I cannot answer when you call.

“Transcending traditions” is a truly rich, bountiful, and forward imagining process, a bit poetic, a little rebellious, and a little respectful.

I look forward to seeing all of you and experiencing a transformative gathering.

With great respect and humility,
John Marotta
GSV 2026 Spring Retreat Gathering Convener

Accomadations


3 Day/2 Night Package (Friday through Sunday)


All pricing is per person


Double occupancy – Lodge or duplex cabin $270 + tax


Bunkhouse $230 + tax


Single occupancy $410 + tax


For All Rooms Add Required GSV Program Fee $35.00 per person

Scholarship Information and Application Deadline


Financial assistance in the form of scholarships is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is Friday, May 1, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET. 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 Friday, May 1, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Registration


Registration for the GSV 2026 Winter Meditation gathering is now open. Please begin the registration process on the Spring Retreat Registrationpage. All questions about registration should be directed to The Mountain – gsoffice@themountainrlc.org – Phone: (828)-526-5838. Registration closes on Friday, May 1, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Participants needing accessible accommodations are encouraged to register early.

Getting to The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center


The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center is located west of the town of Highlands, NC. For detailed driving information and transportation options, visit The Mountain Getting Here page. Note: If your transportation plans include flying, the closest and easiest airport to fly in and out of is Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) located in Fletcher, NC, just south of Asheville, NC.

Please note that there are no public transportation options from AVL that service The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center. You may wish to consider rental car services at AVL. The drive from AVL to The Mountain is approximately 2 hours, or longer if you are not accustomed to mountain driving conditions.

Register Now!

GSV 2026 Winter Meditation Post 3

Winter Meditation

2026 Winter Meditation

REGISTRATION CLOSES this Friday, January 2nd!


Keeping Our Joy (While the Dumpster Burns)


January 16-18, 2026


The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC


Convener: Snowdancer (Jim Becker)


Register Now!

SEE BELOW FOR REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Dear Brothers and Siblings,

This is the “final call” for the 2026 Gay Spirit Visions’ Winter Meditation gathering. We are in the final stages of planning the weekend and we have a great weekend ahead of us. I hope those of you who feel called to be there will register soon. I know if you choose to join us, an entire community will be waiting to welcome you.

The Mountain is a magical place, and each season holds its own charms. Having been raised in the Upper Midwest, I come to this time of year with no reservations as to the cold, crisp air. It has been my pleasure over the years to call The Mountain my retreat center of choice. Through Gay Spirit Visions and my affiliation with the Unitarian Universalist tradition, I’ve spent many moons in this sanctuary. With what has transpired in our country over the last year, I know I have been torn any number of ways. With that in mind, it is time to be called back into right relationship with self and others that know and love us. Thus, the title and focus of our January 2026 gathering:

Keeping Our Joy (While the Dumpster Burns)

We will deepen into joy and pleasure for their own sake, but also because joy strengthens us for the generational work to liberate a society. And joy protects us from the slings and arrows of capitalism as it unleashes creative vision and problem-solving.

During our time together, we will experience joy in six different modes:
• Permission: We will practice allowing ourselves to experience joy and begin healing from negative words and messages that tell us our joy is frivolous, unnecessary, or selfish.
• Presence: We will learn what it is to show up for ourselves, to not abandon ourselves to the rages of despair.
• Play: We will play! Who knows what we will do? Let’s be creative! Perhaps practice laughing yoga? Bring your favorite arts/crafts/writing elements. Crayons and markers are enthusiastically welcome.
• Pleasure: We will explore the opportunities pleasure offers us every day.
• Power: We will stretch our joy muscles and see how they help us make change in ourselves and the world.
• Purpose: We will play with the idea that joy can lead us to a sense of lighthearted, caring, compassionate purpose.

I hope you will join us as we choose to enlighten each sojourner.

Warmly,
Snowdancer Shadowshield (Jim Becker)
Convener, GSV 2026 Winter Meditation

Registration


Registration for the GSV 2026 Winter Meditation gathering is now open. Please begin the registration process from the Register Nowpage. All questions about registration should be directed to The Mountain – gsoffice@themountainrlc.org – Phone: (828)-526-5838. Registration closes on Friday, January 2, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET.
Participants needing accessible accommodations are encouraged to register early.

Accomadations


3 Day/2 Night Package (Friday through Sunday)


All pricing is per person


Lodge or Duplex Cabin (double occupancy) $240 + tax


Single Occupancy (private room) $380 + tax


Bunkhouse $200 + tax


For All Rooms Add Required GSV Program Fee $35.00 per person

Scholarship Information and Application Deadline


Financial assistance in the form of scholarships is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is Friday, January 2, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET. 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 Friday, January 2, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Getting to The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center


The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center is located west of the town of Highlands, NC. For detailed driving information and transportation options, visit The Mountain Getting Here page. Note: If your transportation plans include flying, the closest and easiest airport to fly in and out of is Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) located in Fletcher, NC, just south of Asheville, NC.

Please note that there are no public transportation options from AVL that service The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center. You may wish to consider rental car services at AVL. The drive from AVL to The Mountain is approximately 2 hours, or longer if you are not accustomed to mountain driving conditions.

Register Now!

GSV 2026 Winter Meditation Post 2

Winter Meditation

2026 Winter Meditation

Keeping Our Joy (While the Dumpster Burns)


January 16-18, 2026


The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC


Convener: Snowdancer (Jim Becker)


Register Now!

SEE BELOW FOR REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Dear Brothers and Siblings,

Please join me for Gay Spirit Visions’ Winter Meditation gathering January 16-18, 2026, at The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, North Carolina. The Mountain is a magical place, and each season holds its own charms. Having been raised in the Upper Midwest, I come to this time of year with no reservations as to the cold, crisp air. It has been my pleasure over the years to call The Mountain my retreat center of choice. Through Gay Spirit Visions and my affiliation with the Unitarian Universalist tradition, I’ve spent many moons in this sanctuary. With what has transpired in our country over the last year, I know I have been torn any number of ways. With that in mind, it is time to be called back into right relationship with self and others that know and love us. Thus, the title and focus of our January 2026 gathering:

Keeping Our Joy (While the Dumpster Burns)

We will deepen into joy and pleasure for their own sake, but also because joy strengthens us for the generational work to liberate a society. And joy protects us from the slings and arrows of capitalism as it unleashes creative vision and problem-solving.

During our time together, we will experience joy in six different modes:
• Permission: We will practice allowing ourselves to experience joy and begin healing from negative words and messages that tell us our joy is frivolous, unnecessary, or selfish.
• Presence: We will learn what it is to show up for ourselves, to not abandon ourselves to the rages of despair.
• Play: We will play! Who knows what we will do? Let’s be creative! Perhaps practice laughing yoga? Bring your favorite arts/crafts/writing elements. Crayons and markers are enthusiastically welcome.
• Pleasure: We will explore the opportunities pleasure offers us every day.
• Power: We will stretch our joy muscles and see how they help us make change in ourselves and the world.
• Purpose: We will play with the idea that joy can lead us to a sense of lighthearted, caring, compassionate purpose.

I hope you will join us as we choose to enlighten each sojourner.

Warmly,
Snowdancer Shadowshield (Jim Becker)
Convener, GSV 2026 Winter Meditation

Registration


Registration for the GSV 2026 Winter Meditation gathering is now open. Please begin the registration process from the Register Nowpage. All questions about registration should be directed to The Mountain – gsoffice@themountainrlc.org – Phone: (828)-526-5838. Registration closes on Friday, January 2, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET.
Participants needing accessible accommodations are encouraged to register early.

Accomadations


3 Day/2 Night Package (Friday through Sunday)


All pricing is per person


Lodge or Duplex Cabin (double occupancy) $240 + tax


Single Occupancy (private room) $380 + tax


Bunkhouse $200 + tax


For All Rooms Add Required GSV Program Fee $35.00 per person

Scholarship Information and Application Deadline


Financial assistance in the form of scholarships is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is Friday, January 2, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET. 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 Friday, January 2, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Getting to The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center


The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center is located west of the town of Highlands, NC. For detailed driving information and transportation options, visit The Mountain Getting Here page. Note: If your transportation plans include flying, the closest and easiest airport to fly in and out of is Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) located in Fletcher, NC, just south of Asheville, NC.

Please note that there are no public transportation options from AVL that service The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center. You may wish to consider rental car services at AVL. The drive from AVL to The Mountain is approximately 2 hours, or longer if you are not accustomed to mountain driving conditions.

Register Now!

GSV 2026 Winter Meditation Post 1

Winter Meditation

GSV 2026 Winter Meditation

Keeping Our Joy (While the Dumpster Burns)


January 16-18, 2026


The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC


Convener: Snowdancer (Jim Becker)


Register Now!

SEE BELOW FOR REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Dear Brothers and Siblings,

Please join me for Gay Spirit Visions’ Winter Meditation gathering January 16-18, 2026, at The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, North Carolina. The Mountain is a magical place, and each season holds its own charms. For many, winter at The Mountain is about cozying up in The Lodge or in a cabin with our tribe and contemplating the stillness of the season.  

For myself, since the 2024 election, I’ve been caught up in turmoil, confusion, anger, resentment, frustration, loathing, and any number of other emotions. There came a time when I had to change or I would go off the deep end.

For our 2026 Winter Meditation gathering, we will address the challenge of keeping our joy while all around us we find chaos or confusion. Thus, the title of our 2026 Winter Meditation gathering: Keeping Our Joy (While the Dumpster Burns)

There will be six sessions for the whole group interspersed with smaller breakout groups. The sessions will focus on:
• Permission
• Presence
• Play
• Pleasure
• Power
• Purpose

We will deepen into joy and pleasure for their own sake, but also because joy strengthens us for the generational work to liberate a society. And joy protects us from the slings and arrows of capitalism as it unleashes creative vision and problem-solving.

Won’t you join me and other seekers as we reconnect with our joy? I look forward to seeing you at The Mountain in January.

Warmly,
Snowdancer (Jim Becker)
GSV 2026 Winter Meditation Convener

Registration


Registration for the GSV 2026 Winter Meditation gathering is now open. Please begin the registration process from the Register Nowpage. All questions about registration should be directed to The Mountain – gsoffice@themountainrlc.org – Phone: (828)-526-5838. Registration closes on Friday, January 2, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET.
Participants needing accessible accommodations are encouraged to register early.

Accomadations


3 Day/2 Night Package (Friday through Sunday)


All pricing is per person


Lodge or Duplex Cabin (double occupancy) $240 + tax


Single Occupancy (private room) $380 + tax


Bunkhouse $200 + tax


For All Rooms Add Required GSV Program Fee $35.00 per person

Scholarship Information and Application Deadline


Financial assistance in the form of scholarships is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is Friday, January 2, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET. 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 Friday, January 2, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Getting to The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center


The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center is located west of the town of Highlands, NC. For detailed driving information and transportation options, visit The Mountain Getting Here page. Note: If your transportation plans include flying, the closest and easiest airport to fly in and out of is Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) located in Fletcher, NC, just south of Asheville, NC.

Please note that there are no public transportation options from AVL that service The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center. You may wish to consider rental car services at AVL. The drive from AVL to The Mountain is approximately 2 hours, or longer if you are not accustomed to mountain driving conditions.

Register Now!