Queer Bodies/Gay Spirit

September 28 – October 1, 2023

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC

4 Day/3 Night Package (Thursday through Sunday)

Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people) $285.00

Lodge or Duplex Cabin (double occupancy) $330.00

For All Rooms, Add Mandatory GSV Program Fee $100.00
Check out the Registration System for Optional Extra Nights Before and After the Conference

Register Now!

Convener: Jonny “Mothra” Gray
Keynote Speaker: Tim Miller

Greetings, Siblings!

This is the “last call” for participation and registration for the Gay Spirit Visions 2023 Fall Conference! Tim Miller, our keynote speaker, is excited to work with us on community building through the stories in our bodies. And our GSV siblings have really stepped up to offer a great slate of workshops.

If you are curious about the kind of work Tim Miller has been doing for the queer community, the following URL includes the Canadian documentary, “Tim Miller: Loud & Queer.” The documentary chronicles Tim’s work with gay men’s groups in New York City in the early 1990s. https://vitheque.com/en/titles/tim-miller-loud-queer

Important Information

The conference begins on Thursday, September 28. Check-in at The Mountain begins at 3:00 p.m. EDT. There will be an informal reception at 5:00 p.m., new attendee orientation at 5:30 p.m., dinner at 6:00 p.m., and opening ceremonies will commence at about 7:30 p.m.

The conference ends with lunch on Sunday, October 1. We anticipate lunch will be served between 12:30 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. If you don’t have to hit the road right away, you are welcome to stay after lunch and assist the various working circles with clean up, but we understand many of you may have a long commute.

Finally, you may be following the summer uptick in COVID-19 cases in some parts of the U.S.; so are the GSV Council and the Fall Conference Convener. GSV and The Mountain are currently following CDC guidelines for dealing with large group gatherings, which emphasize personal responsibility. Those guidelines and our plans can change; we will keep you notified if they do. As with other elements of GSV, we encourage you to attend the conference at your own comfort level. You are strongly encouraged to be up to date on your vaccines and boosters, mask if you need to, notify close contacts, and isolate if you have been exposed and/or test positive for COVID-19. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html

Scholarship Information and Application Deadline

Financial assistance in the form of scholarships is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is September 16. 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 16.

Registration

While the Fall Conference is currently full, we anticipate that some slots will be opening up. You are encouraged to join the waitlist by following the prompts on The Mountain’s registration system or call the registrar at (828) 526-5838 x218. No payment is required to join the waitlist.

The GSV Council has asked me to remind all who plan to register that single occupancy requests must be cleared with the Council and require a medical excuse. For private room consideration please email [email protected].

Registration closes Saturday, September 23 at 5:00 p.m. All questions about the conference should be directed to the Council ([email protected]) rather than The Mountain.

The GSV 2023 Fall Conference schedule is coming together, and our time together will be heartwarming, thought-provoking, and fun. I am so looking forward to seeing you all there!
Warmest regards,
Jonny “Mothra” Gray
2023 GSV Fall Conference Convener

Register Now!

Queer Bodies/Gay Spirit

September 28 – October 1, 2023

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC

4 Day/3 Night Package (Thursday through Sunday)

Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people) $285.00

Lodge or Duplex Cabin (double occupancy) $330.00

For All Rooms, Add Mandatory GSV Program Fee $100.00
Check out the Registration System for Optional Extra Nights Before and After the Conference

Register Now!

Convener: Jonny “Mothra” Gray
Keynote Speaker: Tim Miller

Dear Friends,

This may be the last official communication before the attendee letter drops next month.

As you consider attending and making travel plans, I wanted to offer some information that might be useful and offer some gratitude to those who have requested this information. First, the conference begins on Thursday, September 28. Check-in at The Mountain begins at 3:00 p.m. EDT. There will be an informal reception at 5:00 p.m., new attendee orientation at 5:30 p.m., dinner at 6:00 p.m., and opening ceremonies will commence at about 7:30 p.m.

Second, the conference ends with lunch on Sunday, October 1. We anticipate lunch will be served between 12:30 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. If you don’t have to hit the road right away, you are welcome to stay after lunch and assist the various working circles with clean-up, but we understand many of you may have a long commute.

Third, you may be following the summer uptick in COVID-19 cases in some parts of the U.S.; so are the GSV Council and the Fall Conference convener. GSV and The Mountain are currently following CDC guidelines for dealing with large group gatherings, which emphasize personal responsibility. Those guidelines and our plans can change; we will keep you notified if they do. As with other elements of GSV, we encourage you to attend the conference at your own comfort level. You are strongly encouraged to be up to date on your vaccines and boosters, mask if you need to, notify close contacts, and isolate if you have been exposed and/or test positive for COVID-19.
(CDC Guidelines: COVID-19 Prevention Actions)

Scholarship Information and Application Deadline

Financial assistance in the form of scholarships is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is September 16. 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 16.

Registration

Registration for the GSV 2023 Fall Conference is open now. The GSV Council has asked me to remind all who plan to register that single occupancy requests must be cleared with the Council and require a medical excuse. For private room consideration please email [email protected].

Registration closes Saturday, September 23 at 5:00 PM. 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 the Council ([email protected]) rather than The Mountain.

The 2023 Fall Conference schedule is coming together, and our time together will be heartwarming, thought-provoking, and fun. I am so looking forward to seeing you all there!

Warmest regards,
Jonny “Mothra” Gray
2023 GSV Fall Conference Convener

Register Now!

Queer Bodies/Gay Spirit

September 28 – October 1, 2023

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC

4 Day/3 Night Package (Thursday through Sunday)

Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people) $285.00

Lodge or Duplex Cabin (double occupancy) $330.00

For All Rooms, Add Mandatory GSV Program Fee $100.00
Check out the Registration System for Optional Extra Nights Before and After the Conference

Register Now!

Convener: Jonny “Mothra” Gray
Keynote Speaker: Tim Miller

Hello Friends!

You’ve seen the email about the GSV 2023 Fall Conference. We’ve got some good things planned already, and I am getting excited about the conference.

Call For Workshops

As usual, there are times on the schedule for break-out workshops and activities. If you have a break-out 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 for the conference program, 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 break-out workshops and activities to be more interactive and participatory than presentational.

Please email your proposal to me at [email protected] by August 15th. Ideas half-baked and in-process are also welcome.

Let’s see what we can cook up together.

Scholarship Information and Application Deadline

Financial assistance in the form of scholarships is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is September 16. 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 16.

Registration

Registration for the GSV 2023 Fall Conference is open now. The GSV Council has asked me to remind all who plan to register that single occupancy requests must be cleared with the Council and require a medical excuse. For private room consideration please email [email protected].

Registration closes Saturday, September 23 at 5:00 PM. 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 the Council ([email protected]) rather than The Mountain.

Jonny “Mothra” Gray
GSV 2023 Fall Conference Convener

Register Now!

Queer Bodies/Gay Spirit

September 28 – October 1, 2023

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC

4 Day/3 Night Package (Thursday through Sunday)

Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people) $285.00

Lodge or Duplex Cabin (double occupancy) $330.00

For All Rooms, Add Mandatory GSV Program Fee $100.00
Check out the Registration System for Optional Extra Nights Before and After the Conference

Register Now!

Convener: Jonny “Mothra” Gray
Keynote Speaker: Tim Miller

Theme

You are cordially invited to join us for the Gay Spirit Visions 2023 Fall Conference. Building on recent GSV gatherings addressing the power and place of story in our lives, our fall conference will dig deep into the connections between stories and bodies. We will ask ourselves: What are the stories we want to keep that connect us with others? How are these stories etched into our skin, muscle, and bone? How can we use these stories to locate spiritual insights in bodily experiences? Author and performance artist Tim Miller will guide us, as he has guided many other queer gatherings, to strengthen our community ties by sharing our experiences in artful, embodied, and ritualized ways.

Keynote Presentation: A Body in the O — Sex/Body/Self

Building off his recent book and solo performance, A Body in the O, Tim Miller offers reflections of the place of embodied experience, queer connections, and spiritual growth. Beginning with a day in 1984 when Miller scrambled up inside the O of the Hollywood sign and imagined the performance space tree house of his dreams (what would become Performance Space 122 in New York and Highways Performance Space in L.A.), A Body in the O journeys through the hoops of the Department of Homeland Security, a queer boy’s truth-telling, a performance at Performance Space 122 in 1980, and finally a wedding day in NYC in 2013, as Miller imagines the full possibility of performance that changes the world inside these wooden Os!

Workshop: Queer Body Maps

Our work will be a fun and charged exploration into creating and claiming the stories from our personal lives: from our dreams, obsessions, peeves, memories, and desires. We will be especially exploring that charged border between our bodies and society…our narratives and our politics…ourselves and others. Telling our OWN story doesn’t separate us from other people, it connects us.

The goal of the workshop is to share some pathways to create original story sharings from the tremendous energies and narratives that are present in our lives. Using our own memories and myths as a jumping-off point, we will see where a deep sense of personal story creates tellings that jump out from our bodies and conjure new queer communities.

Please bring your hearts and brains and hopes and fears. No performance experience is necessary.

Tim Miller

Tim Miller is an internationally acclaimed performance artist. Miller’s creative work as a performer and writer explores the artistic, spiritual, and political topography of his identity as a gay man. Hailed for his humor and passion, Miller has tackled this challenge in such pieces as Postwar (1982), Cost of Living (1983), Democracy in America (1984), Buddy Systems (1985), Some Golden States (1987), Stretch Marks (1989), Sex/Love/Stories (1991), My Queer Body (1992), Naked Breath (1994), Fruit Cocktail (1996), Shirts & Skin (1997), Glory Box (1999), US (2003), 1001 Beds (2006), Lay of the Land (2009), Rooted (2016), and A Body in the O (2019).

Miller’s performances have been presented throughout North America, Australia, and Europe in such prestigious venues as the Yale Repertory Theatre, the Institute of Contemporary Arts (London), the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He is the author of the books Shirts & Skin, Body Blows, 1001 Beds, which won the 2006 Lambda Literary Award for best book in LGBT Drama, and A Body in the O.

Miller and three other artists, the so-called “NEA 4,” successfully sued the federal government of the United States with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union for violation of their First Amendment rights and won a settlement where the government paid them the amount of the defunded grants and all court costs. Though the Supreme Court of the United States decided in 1998 to overturn part of Miller’s case and determined that “standards of decency” are constitutional criteria for federal funding of the arts, Miller vows “to continue fighting for freedom of expression for fierce diverse voices.”

You can find additional information about Tim’s work at his website, timmillerperformer.com

Jonny “Mothra” Gray

I am an associate professor of Communication Studies at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale where I specialize in Environmental Communication with a particular focus on arts-based environmental advocacy and education. The intersection of LGBTQ and environmental advocacy is also central in my work, fostering a keen interest in Queer Ecology. I have been attending GSV gatherings since the fall of 2016. I had originally hoped to convene with Tim Miller as the keynote speaker in the fall of 2020, but a global pandemic forced us to consider a more online-friendly conference keynote and theme. We are happy to finally share Tim’s incredible work and insights this fall.

In addition to my academic career, I am proud to serve my community as Sister Mothra Stewart, a member of the SOIL Sisters, a fully professed House in the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. My path into the Sisterhood began at the GSV 2017 Fall Conference — a reminder that the seeds we plant at these gatherings can yield some delicious fruit.

Scholarship Information and Application Deadline

Financial assistance in the form of scholarships is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is September 16. 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 16.

Registration

Registration for the GSV 2023 Fall Conference is open now. The GSV Council has asked me to remind all who plan to register that single occupancy requests must be cleared with the Council and require a medical excuse. For private room consideration please email [email protected]

Registration closes Saturday, September 23 at 5:00 PM. 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 the Council [email protected] rather than The Mountain.

Jonny “Mothra” Gray
GSV 2023 Fall Conference Convener

Register Now!

Who do you think you are?

September 22 – 25, 2022

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

4 Day/3 Night Package (Thursday through Sunday)

Lodge (shared room) $315.00

Cabin (shared room) $315.00

Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people) $270.00

Register Now!

“A thought is harmless unless you believe it. It’s not our thoughts, but our attachment to our thoughts, that causes suffering.” — Byron Katie

Dear Siblings,

In just a few weeks, we will be gathering once again at The Mountain! You will be welcomed home to the summit of magical possibilities and embraced in nurturing serenity. Our time of introspection will be spent exploring the potential of our thoughts, those that guide our human development, and those we choose to create for our spiritual evolution. This journey called life is our creation and limited only by the constraints of our own making.

Remember an early childhood memory and how that is still with you today. Are you still scared of the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz? Do you still sleep with a light or TV on? Do you still have visions of people burning in hell? Do you still long to wear a crown and walk the runway? Have you reframed that memory to something that has enhanced your journey? You can spend a lifetime trying to forget a few minutes of your childhood.

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

With adulthood comes the realization that we have a choice in the thoughts we create. Thoughts created in the present moment and thoughts created long ago. In many ways reframing conditioned thoughts is a return to your essence. Your true self is right there, buried under cultural conditioning, other people’s opinions, and inaccurate conclusions you drew as a child and adult that became your beliefs about who you are.

Our keynote speaker will be David Ault. David is an award-winning author, leadership coach, and global education advocate. His books include the bestseller Where Regret Cannot Find Me and the multi-award-winning book The Grass is Greener Right Here. David is known by many in Gay Spirit Visions as the former Spiritual Director at Spiritual Living Center of Atlanta. He loves leading through example and abides by the motto that people would rather “see a lesson than hear one.”

COVID-19 and Monkeypox Information

To help make this event safe and healthy for everyone attending, please review the following hyperlinked documents:

2022 Fall Conference COVID-19 Safety Protocols
2022 Fall Conference COVID-19 Notice of Actions Taken
2022 Fall Conference COVID-19 General Liability Waiver
2022 Fall Conference Monkeypox Information

Please reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns.

Financial assistance, in the form of scholarships, is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is September 7. We hope that anyone who resonates with our mission and community, and who has a 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 a link to the GSV financial assistance application form. Remember, the financial assistance application submission deadline is September 7.

Make plans to return home to The Mountain in September, as you have been missed.

In gratitude,
Bill Harris
GSV 2022 Fall Conference Convener

Register Now!

Who do you think you are?

September 22 – 25, 2022

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

4 Day/3 Night Package (Thursday through Sunday)

Lodge (shared room) $315.00

Cabin (shared room) $315.00

Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people) $270.00

Register Now!

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Dear Siblings,

As the hot, sticky summer weather gives way to the temperate breezes of autumn, you are invited to come home to the magic of The Mountain. In this serene atmosphere, you will be surrounded by loving siblings to rekindle longtime relationships or spark new ones. During our time together we will explore who we are, identify what restrains us, and choose what we can unload to enhance our life journey.

Who we are and what we become are based on our thoughts! They include perspectives we bring to any situation or experience that color our point of view. Thoughts can be reactive and situational or grounded in willful awareness. While thoughts are shaped by life experiences, genetics, and education, they can be brought under conscious control. In other words, if we are aware of the thoughts that have formed our character and attitudes, we can choose to change them. We can change the tenor of our story and thereby enrich the quality of our journey.

“Thoughts lead to acts, acts lead to habits, habits lead to character – and our character will determine our eternal destiny.” – Ezra Taft Benson

Our keynote speaker will be David Ault who is currently walking the Camino de Santiago. David is an award-winning author, leadership coach, and global education advocate. His books include the bestseller Where Regret Cannot Find Me and the multi-award-winning book The Grass is Greener Right Here. He loves leading through example and abides by the motto that people would rather “see a lesson than hear one.”

You are invited to share your gifts during this retreat by proposing a workshop. We are looking for persons with topic-related ideas who desire to provide an interactive and informative workshop experience. Contact [email protected] with your ideas and questions.

COVID-19 Information

To help make this event safe and healthy for everyone attending, please review the following hyperlinked documents.
2022 Fall Conference COVID-19 Safety Protocols
2022 Fall Conference COVID-19 Notice of Actions Taken
2022 Fall Conference COVID-19 General Liability Waiver

Please reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns.

Financial assistance, in the form of scholarships, is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is September 7. Our hope is that anyone who resonates with our mission and community, and who has a 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 September 7.

Make plans to return home to The Mountain in September, as you have been missed. More information will be available in the coming weeks.

In gratitude,
Bill Harris
GSV 2022 Fall Conference Convener

Register Now!

Who do you think you are?

September 22 – 25, 2022

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

4 Day/3 Night Package (Thursday through Sunday)

Lodge (shared room) $315.00

Cabin (shared room) $315.00

Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people) $270.00

Register Now!

“Who you think you are each day, completely determines the universe you live in.”—Ram Dass

Dear Siblings,
Come together during the time of harvest. Celebrate your bounty; replenish your soul; examine your essence; acknowledge your gifts. Surrounded by loving siblings in a serene atmosphere, we will share time to reflect, inspire, and empower. Let us open the steamer trunk of who we are, see what is weighing us down, and what we can unload to enhance our journey through life.

Who we are and what we become are based on our thoughts! Thoughts are our ideas, opinions, and beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. They include perspectives we bring to any situation or experience that color our point of view. While thoughts are shaped by life experiences, genetics, and education, they can be brought under conscious control. In other words, if we are aware of our thoughts and attitudes, we can choose to change or discard them.

Let us first explore the experiences that formed our beliefs. By looking at our formative self, we can nurture our innocence and provide the encouragement we desire. We will then identify our created story and examine the constraints that may no longer serve us.

“Life is a journey, not a destination.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Pack lite, throw it in the overhead, grab a window seat, and enjoy the ride.”—Bill Harris

Our 2022 Fall Conference keynote speaker will be David Ault. Known by many at Gay Spirit Visions as a spiritual teacher from Spiritual Living Center of Atlanta, David is also an award-winning author, leadership coach, and global education advocate. He loves leading through example and abides by the motto that people would rather “see a lesson than hear one.”

You are invited and encouraged to share your gifts during this conference by proposing a workshop. We are looking for persons with topic-related ideas who desire to provide an interactive and informative workshop experience. Contact me at [email protected] with your ideas, dreams, and questions, and we will be glad to support you in the creative process.

Financial assistance, in the form of scholarships, is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is September 7. Our hope is that anyone who resonates with our mission and community, and who has a 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 September 7.

Make plans to return home to The Mountain in September, as you have been missed. More information will be available in the coming weeks.

In gratitude,
Bill Harris
GSV 2022 Fall Conference Convener

Register Now!

(Re)Directing Our Energies to Queer Worldmaking

September 23 – 26, 2021

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

4 Day/3 Night Package (Thursday through Sunday)

Lodge (shared room) $436.26

Cabin (shared room) $404.24

Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people) $372.21

Register Now

Dearest GSV Brothers and Siblings,

The magic of the Fall Conference is coming together, breath by breath, seed by seed, story by story. I have had the honor of speaking with many of our brothers and siblings over the last several months, hearing their laughter and words of excitement for our return to The Mountain. Indeed, our love is buzzing and the hope for sharing hugs is electrifying.

“Everything vibrates. Everything moves. Even when matter appears to be standing still, its atoms are moving. More important, the energy animating it is moving. Similar vibrations gather together.”
—Christopher Penczak

As I promised in my first call, this year’s Fall Conference will be a gathering of both old and new, past and future bridged in the present to reconnect with ourselves and each other in a space we call home.

We will engage in familiar rituals with a sacred fire and our beloved talking stick, weaving our hearts together in circles, small and large. We will revisit workshops of yore, breathing life into memories long since passed and energies needing renewal.

I mean, really. Who doesn’t love a good hands-on enneagram workshop? Or a body-centered performance breakout session? A little art, anyone? Wanna run some energy, or meditate, or exchange a massage? Perhaps do a deeper dive into some tango or tarot? Maybe you’d like to honor our ancestors while directing our energies forward during a Lingam Puja?

Are you also looking for some downtime to talk with one another? Or to “talk” with one another? To listen to each other’s stories in space and time, to feel each other’s energy in breath, intertwined?

Maybe you need a moment at Meditation Rock, or a contemplative pass through the Labyrinth? How about a gaze at the waning gibbous moon from atop the Fire Tower, or perhaps a special rendezvous in the Love Nest?

A dance? A musical soirée? A parade of beauties? A variety show? Let’s not forget some Faery chants.

We are the flow and we are the ebb.
We are the weavers, we are the web.
—We Are The Flow, Shekinah Mountainwater

My questions above serve as winks to what you can expect from our Fall Conference.

What else can you expect? A slightly slower pace—built-in breath breaks and coffee space for us to come and go as we need and as we please, to reconnect and to recharge.

What you can also expect, different from years past, is a memorial ceremony of one of our earliest founders—Ron Lambe. We will take time to honor Ron and his contributions to our tribe. We will breathe in statements from Peter Kendrick and Running Water Farm. We will take in songs and gifts from Ron’s time here on Earth. And we will make space to reflect on our futures with Ron and his guidance from the spiritual realm.

And you can always expect the love and the light of GSV family, shining together and fire-bridging from afar.

I call to you, dearest GSV brothers and siblings, to write up your stories of Ron from over the years. We would like to compile the stories and share them with our Gay Spirit Visions Oral History Project at Georgia State University. And we would like you to share them with us during his memorial ceremony. If you cannot be with us in body, email them to me and I will invite our brothers and siblings to read your stories in your honor.

I also call to each of you who will be coming together on September 23rd to join a working circle. Whether this is your 1st GSV gathering or your 32nd, we welcome your gifts and your energy in transforming The Mountain as our brothers, siblings, and ancestors have done before us.

Financial assistance, in the form of scholarships, is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is September 9. Our hope is that anyone who resonates with our mission and community, and who has a 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 September 9.

Our time is coming, dearest brothers and siblings. Prepare your long wing feathers and make space to circle around the boundless universe of the queer worlds you wish to create.

Blessed be,
Bumblebee (Greg Hummel)
GSV 2021 Fall Conference Convener
[email protected]

Register Now

Dear Brother Musicians,

We are seeking a cellist who will be attending the Fall Conference to assist in playing “Reverie” for piano and cello, composed by Ron Lambe, one of GSV’s founders. We hope to perform this as a way of memorializing Ron at the conference. If you are interested, please contact David Berger by email [email protected] or phone 614-579-2324.

(Re)Directing Our Energies to Queer Worldmaking

September 23 – 26, 2021

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

4 Day/3 Night Package (Thursday through Sunday)

Lodge (shared room) $436.26

Cabin (shared room) $404.24

Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people) $372.21

Register Now

Dearest Brothers and Siblings,

Almost two years has passed since our tribe gathered in the ways that we had become accustomed for over three decades. In the meantime, we adapted as our kind has always had to do. We did our best to hold virtual space for each other; we were led by gifted conveners who worked boldly and tirelessly to create spaces for us to continue the journey of bringing our sexual and spiritual selves into conversation with each other during a time when many of us were otherwise isolated from our kind. The time has come for us to come together again. We will reconvene in-person this fall at The Mountain, September 23-26.

Breathe with me.

This fall will be a mix of old and new, a sort of homecoming to a place we’ve always known was ever-present in our bodies, even when we knew the physical realm could not maintain or sustain our tribe. Our focus will be on that which has been a through line of every GSV gathering, yet never officially named in our gatherings’ titles: Energy. And while I’m sure this gathering will be different from any other gathering, in some of the ways that every gathering is different, much of what we know as GSV will be reawakened with the energies of every brother and sibling who came before us. With hope and intention, we will rekindle and rejuvenate GSV with the energies of every brother and sibling who we have yet to meet.

How might we intentionally—spiritually—(re)direct our energies to create the worlds and realities we have always needed, yet may have never known the deep-seated necessity of such worlds beyond our own?

This fall will be a bridge of past-present-future in ways that only gay and queer bodies know. We will focus our energies on coming home to ourselves and each other, while continuing the work of creating worlds for ourselves and each other in spaces and places not designed for us and our communities. We will honor our pasts—and all the messiness that comes with our pasts—to free up our energies from tiresome drudges that only hold back our progress as gay and queer energetic entities moving through multiple planes of existence. And we will do so in ways that are both familiar and uncomfortable, affirming and challenging, reconciling and forgiving.

Cami Delgado, the 2019 Thirtieth Anniversary Fall Conference convener, ended his first conference announcement letter with a Margaret Mead quote that I have always adored: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” We have been changing worlds since the moment we began radiating energy. When we come together, again, with purpose and intention, we will foster a space necessary for us all to do the work we have always been doing: building queer worlds. I cannot begin to express how excited I am to gather with you, again, from the welcoming rituals in the afternoon of September 23 to the closing heart circle from 11 a.m.–1 p.m. on Sunday, September 26.

To do this, though, we must also continue to be mindful of and diligent against external forces that make gathering difficult. We will need all of us working together to create and sustain the safest conference that we can possibly manage. And so, for the safety of all, please read and understand The Council’s messaging on gathering during what we hope will be the late-stage of this current global pandemic. We will be gathering in a limited capacity based on what The Mountain can sustain at this moment in time, so register early. Consider reaching out to brothers and siblings with whom you can room comfortably and safely. And as noted elsewhere, vaccinations will be required to attend the fall conference. Please get vaccinated early if you plan to attend.

If you are attending and are interested in sharing your gifts with our community, please feel welcome to reach out to me at [email protected]. If the conference theme calls to you, I look forward to chatting with you about a workshop you might host. Our brothers and siblings have been asking for some more hands-on activities (of course they have been!), and so I especially welcome workshops that give our brothers something to do with their hands…

Financial assistance, in the form of scholarships, is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is September 9. Our hope is that anyone who resonates with our mission and community, and who has a 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 September 9.

My hope is that we can hold space for each other as we have always done. And my sincerest hope is that many of us will be able to hold each other, once again, in ways that elevate our energies, both individually and collectively.

Registration is now open, brothers and siblings. With love and virtual hugs!

Blessed be,
Bumblebee (Greg Hummel)
GSV 2021 Fall Conference Convener

Register Now

GSV 2020 Fall Virtual Conference

Resilience through Recounting

September 24 – 27, 2020

Register here

Greetings GSV Siblings,

This is not the conference I originally envisioned. Well, you know, life happens, and pandemics are a (thankfully, rare) fact of life.

As COVID-19 necessitated changes to how we do just about everything, I faced a familiar mix of resistance and excitement in planning for the fall conference. On bad days, I can’t face the challenges. On good days, I see so many fruitful possibilities.

I want this conference to be a space of sharing a similar mixed bag of experiences. We are full of so many stories. Some are about accomplishments. Some are about disappointments. Some are written on our bodies in scar tissue and wrinkles. Some soar up from our deepest spiritual center.

I don’t know what happens next; that is part of living in a story. Maybe you are eager for the end; maybe you want it to go on forever. Either way and at all points between, there is opportunity for recall, recounting, and resilience.

We tell our stories not just to record what happened, but to sing ourselves into being. And this is the story about the time we held our annual fall rituals online. Lean in. Listen. Share.

Our Conference Schedule

This is the schedule (below) in its pared down form. There is a more detailed and constantly updating version of the schedule at the link provided. There, you will find bios for all our presenters and more details about our workshops and presentations.

Mindful of best practices and advice for an online conference, I have endeavored to leave empty space on the schedule so that we don’t spend the weekend just teleconferencing. To the best of my ability, I have tried to schedule with the different time zones of attendees in mind.

I took note of feedback from the Spring Retreat Gathering to make sure small groups were part of this conference, both to honor our fall traditions and to provide more intimate virtual groupings to share in.

I have also worked to provide asynchronous content to facilitate different registers of engagement. Each day begins with a downloadable semi-guided meditation. You may sit with that at the usual early morning hour, or you can take advantage of that whenever you wish.

Similarly, I have set up several murals for the conference. One is linked at the bottom of this page and includes a more detailed conference schedule. That mural is “read only” but will contain links to other murals and content that you can interact with and add to. I chose this platform because it is relatively easy to use, with hopefully clear guides for how to add content and interact with the provided material. If you have questions about how to use it, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Take Care of Yourselves

Take breaks when you need to. Connect with others on your own platforms when you need to. Get up out of your chair and move around when you need to. Use the white spaces in the schedule as you need to. Drink lots of water. I know we aren’t at The Mountain, but we still need space for self-care.

I believe that stories heal and help us. But I also know that healing can take a lot out of us. And some stories, whew! You need a moment, right?

Additional information about Guardians, pop-up sessions, ways to connect, etc. will be shared on the fuller schedule mural link. That is a work in progress and will be continually updated throughout the conference. We will also email out connecting information for the Zoom sessions to the attendees. Enjoy!

Registration is now open. The GSV program fee is $50. In addition, a donation to The Mountain would be greatly appreciated due to their loss of income caused by coronavirus and subsequent cancellations.

Blessed be,
Jonny/Mothra, Convener, Fall 2020

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Conference Schedule

Thursday, 9/24
7-9 pm EDT
Welcome and Heart Circle

9:30-11 pm EDT
Self-Pleasure
With Mahan-Kalpa Khalsa

Friday, 9/25
Early Morning
Downloadable Daily Meditation

11-12:15 pm EDT
Yoga
with David and Teddy Jones
Or
Enneagram Circle
with Tim Flood

2-3:15 pm EDT
Small Groups

4-5:15 pm EDT
Embody Your Inward Sage
Guided by Andrew Ramer
Or
Archangel Gabriel brings us Inspiration/Creativity/Boldness
With Pete Cossaboon

7-9 pm EDT
Telling Our Stories
Panelists: Jonny Gray, Greg Hummel, David Manning et al.

9:30-11 pm EDT
Lingam Puga
With Mahan-Kalpa Khalsa

Saturday, 9/26
Early Morning
Downloadable Daily Meditation

11-12:15 pm EDT
Small Groups

2-3:15 pm EDT
Keynote Address
Padraig O Tuama

4- 5:15 pm EDT
Introduction to Rainbow Awakening
With Damien Rowse
Or
Mindful Doodling
With Jeff Beacham

7-9 pm EDT
“Making Masks Fun Again!”
Online Variety Show and Masquerade

9:30-11 pm EDT
Open Zoom Room – To do with as we please

Sunday, 9/27
Early Morning
Downloadable Daily Meditation

10-11 am EDT
Small Groups

11:30-1 pm EDT
Closing Circle and Farewells

GSV 2020 Fall Virtual Conference

Resilience through Recounting

September 24 – 27, 2020

Register here

Greetings GSV Siblings,

I am getting so excited about our upcoming fall conference, “Resilience through Recounting.” Folks are stepping up and offering some amazing workshops that I think fit well with our theme and online format. And I am thinking a lot about how stories are helping me cope with this ongoing pandemic.

As I have been busy putting my college courses online this semester, I have been struck by the importance of narrative framing. With fall fast approaching, I realized I really didn’t want to teach online. I spent a lot of time this summer teaching myself how to do it. Very quickly, an important message from a colleague sank in: don’t focus on what you can’t do online, focus on what online teaching allows you to do really well. Such a simple piece of advice, but so profoundly helpful! As I met my students in teleconferences or on discussion boards, I avoided saying how we would be covering this material if we were in person. Instead, I approached them with excitement about the different ways of engaging our material that the online platforms would allow.

I want to pass this insight on to you. Our fall conference will not be what we have come to know, expect, and cherish in our time together on The Mountain. But if we let it, it can be amazing in its own way. It will be its own kind of conference, and it will come with opportunities that an in-person gathering cannot allow. I am getting very excited about that!

I am working with the GSV Council to provide some fall conference experiences additional to the Zoom rooms. We are figuring out how to hold the silent auction online. I am pursuing some ideas for sharing spaces and asynchronous interactions that feature exploring our stories together.

Perhaps most exciting is our keynote speaker, Pádraig Ó Tuama. When we realized the fall conference needed to be online, we challenged ourselves to find an exciting speaker who could contribute to our theme. Since travel wasn’t an issue, we reached out “across the pond” to find an excellent practitioner of resilience and reconciliation who makes poetry and storytelling central to his work. Padraig is, quite simply, an amazing human being, and I am so happy he agreed to join us. It is worth noting that he was already aware of our organization and was eager to join us this fall. If you would like to know more about Pádraig, I highly recommend this TED Talk.

I am looking forward to seeing you all online in just under a month. I am eager to add this year’s fall conference to our treasure trove of stories we tell about ourselves and how we persevere even in the face of challenges.

Registration is now open. The GSV program fee is $50, for which financial assistance is available. In addition, a donation to The Mountain would be greatly appreciated due to their loss of income caused by coronavirus and subsequent cancellations.

Blessed be,
Jonny/Mothra, Convener, Fall 2020

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Keynote Speaker: Pádraig Ó Tuama. Irish poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama’s work centers around themes of language, power, conflict, and religion. Working fluently on the page and with groups of people, Pádraig is a skilled speaker, teacher, and group worker. He is the author of four volumes of poetry: Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community, In the Shelter, Sorry for your Troubles, and Readings from the Books of Exile. From 2014-2019 he was the leader of the Corrymeela Community, Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation community. He is based in Belfast, Ireland.

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Convener: Jonny Gray (Mothra). Jonny has been coming to GSV since 2015. When he isn’t being a fabulous if large moth dancing around the sacred GSV fire, he pays the bills by being a professor of Communication Studies at Southern Illinois University, where he specializes in arts-based environmental advocacy. He is also the host of the weekly show, Isn’t It Queer, which broadcasts on local community radio (WDBX) and is released as a podcast.

Resilience through Recounting

September 24 – 27, 2020

While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay
There are frail forms fainting at the door
Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say
Oh, hard times, come again no more
(From: Hard Times Come Around No More, Traditional)

Hard times. Many of us have been here before; many will be here again–but not all of us, and none of us in the same way. We know sickness at the door. We know incompetence at the highest level and dealing with such sickness only makes it worse. Both seem out to get us and see us suffer and die. Or, at least, that’s one way of telling the story.

Stories link us in networks of shared understanding if not always agreement. They help us learn about things we haven’t directly experienced. Stories give us a frame to hang the ambiguous on so that it starts to make sense. They make the uncomfortable a little more palatable when seen through the frame of familiar narrative structures. Ah yes, we say, I know this story.

When we cannot gather together in person, when we cannot hug and otherwise explore each other with sacred touch, when we cannot raise our voices together in song or generate steam from our bodies entwined in pulsing dance, we still have stories.

This fall, Gay Spirit Visions invites you to a COVID-19-compliant online gathering to connect as we are able. We come together to tell and to listen to one another’s stories, for stories, too, are a powerful medicine. How are we weathering this storm? How is it familiar? How is it strange? Are there other stories that arise from our current situation that we want to give space to?

Circle ‘round. Listen up. What I have is a story …

Many events conducive to sharing our stories are already being planned, including an online talent show, panels consisting of some of our best homegrown storytellers, an online silent auction, and opportunities for discussions in small groups. As always, our members’ willingness to provide workshops and activities is strongly encouraged and appreciated. If you have something you want to contribute or present, please contact the Fall Conference convener, Jonny Gray (a.k.a. Mothra).

Registration information and suggested donation options will be handled through The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center registration platform. Details will be coming soon.

Jonny Gray,
Convener
2020 GSV Fall Conference

Spiritually Sourced Activism

a landmark conference and 30th anniversary celebration

September 19 – 22, 2019

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center ~ Highlands, NC

Beloved GSV Tribe of Beautiful Men:

It’s countdown! Can you feel the buzz? Registration is high. Everybody’s talking about the conference, planning, preparing, and all psyched up…

Never before has a GSV event been more relevant than this conference given the dark times we are now living in. This is a spiritually challenging moment in American history and we as spiritually awakened men are called to rise in inspired ways, so let’s talk about how we are going to shine a bright light on these darker times.

There will be dynamic spiritual empowerment in our workshops and rituals. Raymond Rigoglioso, Toby Johnson, Hunter Flournoy, Mahan Kalpa Khalsa, Peregrine, Jim Stratton, Peter Cossaboom, Tim Flood, and Rocky Beeland are just some of those offering uplifting and inspiring workshops.

There will also be revelry and plenty of it. How can you have spiritually sourced activism if you don’t charge your heart-center battery with celebration? Wait until you experience the high voltage energy of this year’s rituals, dance, cabaret sing-a-long, walk of beauties, variety show, sacred touch, and yoga amidst the loveliness the Altared Spaces Work Group has sprinkled throughout The Mountain.

So, click on the link below to register for this year’s fall conference and remember to also…
* Pack splashy and creative wardrobe, rain gear, a flashlight, and hiking shoes.
* Bring items to donate to the silent auction as well as cash, personal checks or credit card to make purchases.
* Bring a very special gift for the small group gift giving ritual.
* Bring your drums and percussion instruments for the drumming circle.
* Sign up for the talent show in advance by contacting Dev at [email protected].
* Send favorite song suggestions for the Friday evening dance to Kevin at [email protected].

Vibrational hugs now, fleshy hugs in two weeks,

Cami Delgado
Convener – GSV 30th Anniversary Fall Conference

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Meade, American anthropologist.

Link to REGISTER NOW!

Spiritually Sourced Activism

a landmark conference and 30th anniversary celebration

September 19 – 22, 2019

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center ~ Highlands, NC

Register for Fall Conference

Beloved Gay Spirit Visions Tribe:

Come join us for a magical celebration of GSV’s 30th anniversary conference! For thirty years Gay Spirit Visions has created safe, sacred space where gay men can open their hearts, heal within, grow spiritually, and form heart-centered bonds that nurture and uplift their spirits.

Never before has GSV been more relevant given the times we are living in now. This is a challenging moment in American history. How are we going to shine a bright light on these darker times? Are we going to respond to tomorrow’s headlines with self-defeating pessimism, or with vigorous spiritual empowerment and activism? What’s really at the core of America’s spiritual malaise, and how do we become a powerful healing presence in the midst of it?

This conference will be a conversation on this current challenge. We’ll explore the underlying spiritual misalignment that creates the daily events we see, hear and read about in the media. We’ll have conversations about inspired activism, sacred activism, and activism by other names — all activism emanating from a spiritual source as a response to today’s events. This conference WILL NOT be a conversation on bipartisan politics, individual politicians, or the outer crust and everyday discourse we see, hear, and read about in the media.

This conference will also be an anniversary celebration — a way to thank GSV for offering us three decades of spiritual magic. Thus, we invite you to join us in ritual, ceremony, dance, singing, parading, and performing. Spiritually sourced activism replenishes itself with joy, humor, music, dance, creativity, and childlike merriment … and there will be plenty of that!

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

RAYMOND L. RIGOGLIOSO – KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Raymond L. Rigoglioso is the founder and executive director of Gay Men of Wisdom and author of the book Gay Men and The New Way Forward. Former GSV keynote speakers Toby Johnson, Will Roscoe, Jon Stasio, and Mark Thompson have offered positive reviews of Gay Men and The New Way Forward. Raymond’s work and vision are more relevant and urgent now than ever before.

SILENT AUCTION

The Silent Auction offers a wonderful opportunity to take home a lovely gift. As part of GSV’s ongoing effort to help offset the cost of gatherings for those facing financial hardship, the Financial Assistance Committee organizes silent auctions to benefit the Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund. More information about the Silent Auction will be included in the next conference announcement.

SACRED TOUCH

“The body is the temple of your soul.” ~ Osho
You’ll have opportunities to experience unspeakably delicious levels of sacred touch in a series of safe, masterfully guided sessions.

FRIDAY EVENING DANCE

Bring outrageous costumes and prepare to dance like no one’s watching at our traditional Friday evening dance. GSV brother Kevin “Baby Bull” Biacsi will be our DJ. Choose two songs that you would like to have included in the dance and submit your request to Kevin at
[email protected].

CABARET SOIRÉE SING-ALONG

Belt out one show tune after another at our now traditional cabaret soirée sing-along with David Berger at the piano. This could be more fun than binge watching “Glee.”

PARADE OF BEAUTIES

Take it to the runway! Strike a pose! Bring on your splashy and creative attire, dazzling costumes, high-voltage drag, and anything else you’d like to wear (or not wear!). We’ll need several volunteers to assist performers with makeup and hair.

VARIETY SHOW

Be a star! There’s no business like show business, and you’re guaranteed to glow at our variety show. Fear not to appear onstage because you’ll have an audience from heaven rooting for you.

I hope you’ll be there!

Cami Delgado
Convener – GSV 2019 Fall Conference

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Meade, American anthropologist.

Watch your email inbox, the GSV Facebook group, and gayspiritvisions.org for more information about the 2019 Fall Conference. If you’re ready to register, click here.

Spiritually Sourced Activism

September 19 – 22, 2019

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

Beloved Tribe:

This year we are celebrating Gay Spirit Visions’ 30th anniversary … time for a great celebration! Never before has the organization been as relevant as it is today.

We are living in unusually challenging times. Our society is experiencing an unprecedented spiritual malaise. It manifests in the outer crust of everyday political discourse but has its roots at a much deeper level. GSV’s 2019 Fall Conference will be a series of conversations on our society’s deeper spiritual misalignment and how we, as spiritually awakened gay men, can respond in a spiritually sourced way downloading guidance from higher realms.

For centuries humans have faced challenging social and political scenarios. Some of them chose to tune in to a higher frequency, a higher intelligence, and responded to those scenarios from a spiritual perspective. They have left us a rich legacy. Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, the Vietnamese monk Thích Nh?t H?nh, and our own Martin Luther King Jr. faced deplorable circumstances and had every reason to become hateful and vindictive. They didn’t. They opened up, tuned in, and downloaded inspiration for guidance as to how to move forward and respond to the darkness with light.

Our conference will NOT be a conversation on bipartisan politics. It will not be a conversation about individual politicians. Nor will it be a discussion of the outer crust and everyday discourse we read about in the media.

The conference will explore ways of invoking and tuning in to spiritual inspiration, guidance, and solutions that empower us to create a world that is fair, inclusive, caring, and respectful of the earth and all sentient beings. We will explore how present social and political conditions can be seen as a call, a very loud call, for deeper healing, personal healing, and collective healing. Call it inspired activism, sacred activism, or any other name, it is activism emanating from a spiritual source.

So let us have conversations on reaching out to spirit, opening to spirit, and receiving from spirit, so that we may move forward as empowered creators of a better world. Let’s share ideas, let’s cross-pollinate thought, and enrich each other’s understanding of the loving community we are.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Meade, American anthropologist.

RAYMOND L. RIGOGLIOSO – KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Raymond L. Rigoglioso is the founder and executive director of Gay Men of Wisdom. He is the author of the book Gay Men and The New Way Forward. In his book, Ray assists the reader in realizing how he serves and heals humanity and frees and enriches the human spirit. Former GSV keynote speakers Toby Johnson, Will Roscoe, Jon Stasio, and Mark Thompson have offered positive reviews of Gay Men and The New Way Forward.

Ray is a certified Life Coach through the International Coach Federation. His professional background includes more than two decades as a writer and editor for non-profit organizations in New York City and Boston. He co-founded the Danbury Area Gay and Lesbian Youth Group where he facilitated groups. After graduating from the New School in 1991, Ray went on to work at New York City’s Gay Men’s Health Crisis. Ray’s work and vision are more relevant and urgent now than ever before.

ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT INFORMATION

PRESENTATIONS

Please send proposals for workshops, panel discussions, or any other format to [email protected]. All presentations should support the conference theme.

SILENT AUCTION

As part of GSV’s ongoing effort to financially support brothers who would like to attend our gatherings, the Financial Assistance Committee organizes silent auctions to benefit GSV’s Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund. More information concerning the silent auction will be included in future conference announcements.

FRIDAY EVENING DANCE EVENT

GSV brother Kevin “Baby Bull” Biacsi will be our Friday evening dance event DJ. Kevin requests that you send to him the titles of your top two favorite songs that you would like to be included in Friday evening’s dance event. Please e-mail your request directly to Kevin at [email protected].

THE PARADE OF BEAUTIES

Take it to the runway! Bring on your splashy and creative attire, dazzling costumes, high voltage drag, and anything else you’d like to wear (or not wear)! And bring on the make-up!

VARIETY SHOW

Be a star. There’s no business like show business and at GSV’s variety show you are guaranteed to glow. Have no fear about appearing onstage, this is the audience from heaven!

Cami Delgado
Convener – GSV 2019 Fall Conference

Watch for future e-mails and posts about the 2019 Fall Conference. In the meantime, register now!

Last Call to Have Fun

September 27 – 30, 2018

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center ~ Highlands, NC

4 day / 3 night package (Thursday through Sunday)

Bunkhouse $324.18 | Cabin $380.22 | Lodge $418.65

5 day / 4 night package (Wednesday through Sunday)

Bunkhouse $398.90 | Cabin $473.63 | Lodge $524.87

Dear Men Who Love Men,

Many of us will soon gather at The Mountain for our annual fall conference. If you plan to attend but aren’t registered, please
click here to register now. We’ll send an email that explains how to prepare for and what to bring to the conference to all registrants around September 12th.

Our keynote speaker will be artist Patton White. Patton will present “Insatiable Curiosity/Radical Collaboration” as a two-part experience, asking deep questions and seeking answers. In the first session, we will get in touch with our bodies and creative energies by examining a dance/movement technique developed by Lawrence and Anna Halprin called RSVP Cycles. In a later session, we will work in small groups to create brief performances that embody the collaborative investigations that have happened during the weekend. These sessions will serve as bookends, of sorts, for the work that takes place throughout the weekend.

About Patton White

Patton has been working as a multidisciplinary artist for over 40 years. He has designed costumes, created installation sculpture, video art work, and photography, and has choreographed and danced since the late 1970’s. He has worked as an independent artist and has been a part of many performing ensembles, including Beacon Dance, Core Dance, Dance South, Ruth Mitchell Dance Theatre (now Georgia Metropolitan Dance Theatre), The Georgia Ballet, and many others. For the past decade he’s focused on improvisation as a performance technique and the intersection of social dance and dance for the stage. As a member of Alternate ROOTS since 1997, he believes passionately in the arts as a tool for social justice.

The fall conference workshops will address ideals set forth by one of history’s most insatiable curious gay artists: Leonardo da Vinci. These are some examples:

To test our questions and to demonstrate our thoughts we will create poetry and embrace our gender outsiderness.

To exalt in our sensuality and how we experience the world we will honor and adore our bodies and participate in sacred healing touch.

To celebrate ambiguity and paradox we will examine faith versus reason and question whether the beliefs we developed as children were based on faith or reason.

To cultivate grace, beauty, and spirit we will communicate answers to deep questions using motion storytelling and body language, practice yoga, and examine the male nude through drawing.

To learn how to embrace a balance of logic and imagination, and art and science, we will embrace the spirit of Peter Pan and Euclidian geometry, examine how things fly, and create flying objects.

To recognize and appreciate the connectedness of all things and phenomena we will explore the roots of our compassionate hearts and minds and examine our stories to go beyond the work of the ego.

To embody persistent empowerment we will acknowledge the cultural significance and importance of the role of the gay man as a leader, prophet, and healer for our tribe and community, and we will create personal symbols of empowerment to use in our daily lives.

Evenings at the conference will continue exploration of the theme of insatiable curiosity. On Friday evening we will have a contra dance (a communal-style folk dance that’s easy to learn and needs no experience) with live musicians. An expressive dance with recorded music will follow. There will also be opportunities to sing, perform, and find your drag persona with a cabaret sing-along, talent show, and the ever-popular Parade of Beauties.

The conference will be supported by:
• The opening and closing rituals that call upon the forces and ideals of hope to guide us in the work that we do.
• A community altar that represents the ambiguity and paradox that we find in the world.
• Heart circles that allow us to meet in sacred space, be fully present with one another, and share openly, honestly, and lovingly about our conference experiences.
• Small group meetings that allow each of us to feel acknowledged and supported while we share and discuss confidentially how our conference experience fits with (or challenges) our personal spiritual journeys.

Financial Assistance

We want anyone who resonates with our mission to be able to attend our gatherings. The Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund was created to help offset the cost of a GSV gathering so that attending does not impose undue financial hardship. For more information and to apply for assistance,
click here. Financial assistance applications must be submitted no later than September 16 th.

We’d like to thank everyone who’s given generously so that others may find sanctuary and space at our gatherings. Your tax-deductible donations are needed to sustain the financial assistance fund. Visit
GaySpiritVisions.org and complete the DONATE TODAY section on the right side of any web page.

In conclusion, please bring to the conference your affection for men who love men and your insights about how our being gay allows us to question society’s expectations and replace our subservience with insatiable curiosity.

With loving intentions,

Randy Taylor
GSV 2018 Fall Conference Convener

Register for the 2018 Fall Conference

Sweet Brothers in Spirit,

We have a special treat in store for you after this year’s Fall Conference! Many of you have recorded interviews for the GSV archives housed at Georgia State University, and some of you have donated programs, photos, and various assorted items to this collection. Now we’re going to gather while we’re still basking in Fall Conference afterglow to take a trip to the archives!

On Monday, October 1st (the Monday after the Fall Conference concludes) we will gather at the Chamblee Marta Station at 9:15 a.m. and board the 9:34 train for GSU. After spending a few delightful hours at the GSU Archives, wandering through the past, looking at our organization’s history, and, perhaps, identifying brothers in pictures we will share a late lunch together before returning to our default lives.
Brothers may leave at any time, and it’s an easy walk to the GSU MARTA station for those who need to get to the airport or other destinations.

If you would like to host an out-of-town GSV brother on Sunday night, or if you are an out-of-town GSV brother needing a place to stay Sunday after the conference, feel free to arrange that at the Fall Conference or send a note to [email protected] and we’ll see if we can help.

Call for Workshops

September 27 – 30, 2018

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center ~ Highlands, NC

4 day / 3 night package (Thursday through Sunday)

Bunkhouse $324.18 | Cabin $380.22 | Lodge $418.65

5 day / 4 night package (Wednesday through Sunday)

Bunkhouse $398.90 | Cabin $473.63 | Lodge $524.87

Dear Brothers in Spirit,

The GSV 2018 Fall Conference overall goal is to investigate how the gift of gayness includes curiosity. When this curiosity becomes insatiable we can change the world (see the invitation to the conference for more detailed information).

If you will be attending and would like to present a workshop that fits the overall theme of the weekend, please do the following:

Make sure your idea matches one of the goals or the theme of the gathering.
Through this curiosity we will explore the following:
• Find ways to test or prove the answers to our questions.
• Exult in our sensuality and how we experience the world.
• Create ambiguity and paradox.
• Cultivate grace, beauty, and spirit.
• Balance logic and imagination, art and science.
• Recognize and appreciate the connectedness of things and phenomena.
• Embody persistent empowerment.
We will use Leonardo da Vinci as a model that embodies these ideals.

Please provide the following information:
• Your full name
• Email address
• Phone number
• Workshop title
• Area of the theme to which the workshop connects or explores
• Objective of the workshop
• Description (include the format for the workshop, e.g. hands-on, lecture/talk, discussion, etc.)
• Time needed for completion
• Specific requirements (meeting space, setup, audio/visual, etc.)
Send the information to [email protected].

Your proposal will be reviewed and considered for the Fall Conference based on the match to the conference goals. I want to confirm workshops by August 20, so please get them in by August 15. Thank you for your willingness to share your experiences and curiosities with your GSV brothers.

Randy Taylor
2018 Fall Conference Convener

Register for the 2018 Fall Conference

Fall Conference Tier Pricing

Sweet Siblings in Gay Spirit,

I hope summer is treating you well and that you’re looking forward to gathering with us again for the Fall Conference in September!

Many of you have noticed that you have more pricing options for this year’s Fall Conference than you’ve had before, with the cost being determined by your housing choice. This is something The Mountain does for other groups, and the GSV Council wanted to see if this would work for our community. We are mindful of the fact that our conferences — wonderful as they are — can be hard to fit into a budget. Our goal in moving to this tiered pricing structure is to make the Fall Conference more affordable for more people. This price structure could be the difference between a man being able to attend the Fall Conference or staying home. Or it could be the difference between a man being able to stay the extra night or not.

Last year the cost of the standard 4 day/3 night Fall Conference was $405.65, regardless of where you were housed. This year you get to choose from three price tiers, which are determined by your housing choice. Staying in a bunkhouse will cost $328.18, which is $77 LESS than last year’s Fall Conference. Staying in a cabin will run you $380.22, and if you opt to stay in the Lodge you’ll pay $418.65. Again, these prices are for the standard 4 day/3 night event; staying the extra day will, as it always has, cost a bit more.

We also think this system is fairer. In previous years, housing was randomly assigned, and you wouldn’t know until you got up to The Mountain whether you were staying in the Lodge, in a cabin, or in a bunkhouse. This way you’ll be able to choose the housing option that best suits your needs.

I hope this sheds some light on why we moved to the new pricing structure. Please bear in mind that this is an experiment. We will be asking for your feedback in the post-conference survey, and we look forward to hearing about how this pricing structure works (or doesn’t work) for you.

Here are a couple of points to keep in mind when registering:
• We recommend registering early if you know you want to stay in the Lodge; those rooms go quickly.
• If you want to have a particular roommate, be sure to coordinate with that individual to make sure you both have the same housing option in mind.
I hope to see you at the Fall Conference!

Gourmet hugs,

Nightshade
Presiding Elder, Gay Spirit Visions
On behalf of the GSV Council: Wendell, Tony, Doug, Randall, Bill, Mahan-Kalpa, Jason, and Dandy
[email protected]

Register for the 2018 Fall Conference

Insatiable Curiosity

September 27 – 30, 2018

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

4 day / 3 night package (Thursday through Sunday)

Bunkhouse $324.18 | Cabin $380.22 | Lodge $418.65

5 day / 4 night package (Wednesday through Sunday)

Bunkhouse $398.90 | Cabin $473.63 | Lodge $524.87

Dear Brothers,

By recognizing ourselves as evolving gay spirits we are forced to question the norm. This questioning opens the world and allows our curiosity to expand and be a force that can guide us throughout our life. We begin to become curious about phenomena beyond our love for men. We question what we have been told about sensuality, beauty, ambiguity, science, compassion, and the world of the spirit. By being this ‘outsider’ we have a unique perspective on the world and can share that perspective with others. Some cultures value this perspective, and others do not.

With this curious perspective also comes a responsibility to go beyond being curious. It is one thing to ask the question and another to seek an answer. The process of seeking is the process of revelation and empowerment.

When one considers who we have become, one often looks to those who have come before and have inspired us. We have individuals from our past, and we have those who are larger than us who came down through history. We can choose to select the role models to further our individual growth and inspire us toward the realization of our potential. In “Bazar’s Book of Genius – And How to Unleash Your Own,” the person who rated highest in “Originality,” “Versatility,” “Dominance of Field,” “Universality-of-Vision,” and “Strength and Energy” is a gay man — Leonardo da Vinci.

Through our insatiable curiosity we find ways to test our questions and demonstrate our thoughts. We exalt in our sensuality and how we experience the world. We celebrate ambiguity and paradox. We cultivate grace, beauty, and spirit. We balance logic and imagination, art and science. We grow to recognize and appreciate the connectedness of all things and phenomena. We embody persistent empowerment. These are the ideals that encompassed the life of Leonardo, and these are the ideals that will be the driving force for our time together at the Fall Conference.

We will gather at The Mountain to ask questions, celebrate, and enliven our insatiable curiosity.

Be prepared for Pageantry and Artistic and Scientific Expression. Bring material for artistic expression — poetry, musical instruments, art supplies.

Bring fashion, garb, costumes, and makeup for the talent show, dancing, music making, and daily promenades.

Bring your love for men who love men.

“Heaven sometimes sends us a being who represents not humanity alone but divinity itself.” — Giorgio Vasari, speaking on da Vinci in “The Lives of the Artists (1550).”

Randy Taylor
2018 Fall Conference Convener

Register for the 2018 Fall Conference

GSV 2017 Fall Conference

Pariah Magic: Gifts of the Outsider

September 21 – 24, 2017

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

4 Days / 3 Nights: $405.65 (conference only, all inclusive)
5 Days / 4 Nights: $496.39 (arrive a day early + conference)

* Prices include taxes and program fee. *
The Conference begins at 5:00pm on Thursday and ends at 2:30pm on Sunday.
Registration starts at 3:00pm on Wednesday and Thursday.

Part III
Pariah Magic: Gifts of the Outsider

(This is Part III of a series, for Parts I and II click here)

 

Sweet Men of the Tribe,

This year’s Fall Conference, Pariah Magic: Gifts of the Outsider, is shaping up to be truly memorable on many levels!  We are premeditating joy and building delight! Sacred mischief is being planned and magic is afoot! The outsiders are coming together to create a spectacular, magical space beyond default reality, and we would love for you to join us!

As you have likely noticed by now, our keynote speaker is the brilliant Hindu drag nun (and YouTube sensation!) Sister Unity. In addition to our usual dance and “Talent” Show, we will be having a drum circle, a musical revue led by David Berger, a gorgeous Mabon ritual by Peregrine (Michael Chavez), and no fewer than three Sacred Touch events led by Mahan-Kalpa. We have an embarrassing wealth of workshops for the mind, the body, and the spirit led by Bob Strain, Nightshade, Tim Flood, Todd Humphrey, Bumblebee, and several others. Pariah status has never been so enviable!

If attending the Fall Conference would cause you undue financial hardship, the Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund is available to help. To apply for financial assistance, click here.

Registration has been brisk, and we are rapidly pushing up against our attendance cap, so registering now will be doing yourself a kindness.

I hope to see you up amidst the magic of The Mountain!

Sincerely (and with epic levels of enthusiasm),

Your humble Convener,
Nightshade

Register for the Fall Conference>>

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GSV 2017 Fall Conference

Pariah Magic: Gifts of the Outsider

September 21 – 24, 2017

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

4 Days / 3 Nights: $405.65 (conference only, all inclusive)

5 Days / 4 Nights: $496.39 (arrive a day early + conference)

* Prices include taxes and program fee. *

Part II

Pariah Magic: Gifts of the Outsider

(This is Part II of a series, for Part I click here)

 

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Dear Brothers,

Pariah Magic: Gifts of the Outsider will celebrate the blessings we receive from being outsiders to the mainstream culture. We will consider the gifts we gain personally, those we share with our fellow exiles, and those we are able to share with our communities thanks to our outsider perspective. We will also contemplate forms of activism that improve the lives of other outsiders.

It is easy enough to dwell on the challenges and pain of not fitting in. Early on, especially, we may long to be “normal.” We may overlook the blessings we receive that the “normal” folks never experience. As wise, witchy Aunt Frances asks in the movie Practical Magic, “When are you going to realize that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage!”

To some, outsider status — life in the brambles — becomes a spiritual calling. With time and experience, we may come to find that it is our unique blessings and perspectives that provide us with our reason for existing; we realize that those same qualities that make us outsiders also give our lives meaning. We are necessary in that way that shamans have always been necessary; we are the conduits of grace from the Outside. As Frank Zappa said, “Without deviation, progress is not possible.” We are that necessary deviation, and if, in the name of normality, conformity, or comfort, we abandon our strange angels, our mischievous devils, and our inner weirdos, then we have silenced precisely the portions of ourselves that we are here to express, share, and live most fully.

On the yonder side of normal, we have woven a community amidst the brambles’ thorny canes and built a culture. We have grown resilient through challenge. We have grown wise in banishment. We have learned, through necessity, a queer form of alchemy that transforms exile into artistry, isolation into solitude, and pain into wisdom. Upon receiving these insights, we transmit them to others in our tribe and bestow them, eventually, to the world at large. By so doing, our small tribe’s visionaries have contributed to culture in ways that far exceed our numbers.

Please come join us for this discovery and celebration of our hard-won gifts! We will be waiting for you amidst the trees of that magical place, The Mountain, where hugs are abundant, where compassion flows like an ocean, and where all of you is welcome.

Bring garb for the “Talent” Show.

Bring garb (and drums) for the Drum Circle.

Bring garb to dazzle and seduce!
Register for the 2017 Fall Conference

 

 

 

 

 

Nightshade (Kraig Blackwelder)
2017 Fall Conference Convener

Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund

The Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund is available to help facilitate the presence of those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to join us due to lack of funds. If you require financial assistance to attend the conference, click here.

If you previously applied for assistance (or thought you did) and haven’t received a response, please complete the application again. We apologize for any inconvenience. Applications must be submitted by Sunday, September 10th. 

As you prepare to come to The Mountain, keep in mind that a Silent Auction Fundraiser will be held during the conference to benefit the Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund. To participate simply select items of value that you no longer need, register them here by Wednesday, September 20th, bring them with you, and come prepared to bid on the treasures brought by others.

To make a tax-deductible gift by credit or debit card, visit gayspiritvisions.org and follow the DONATE TODAY instructions on the right side of the page.

On behalf of the GSV Council and the men who benefit from your donations, thank you!

Register for the Fall Conference>>

GSV 2017 Fall Conference

Pariah Magic: Gifts of the Outsider

September 21 – 24, 2017

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

4 Days / 3 Nights: $405.65 (conference only, all inclusive)

5 Days / 4 Nights: $496.39 (arrive a day early + conference)

* Prices include taxes and program fee. *

Part I

Pariah Magic: Gifts of the Outsider

Dear Brothers,
As a tribe, gay men are no strangers to the pain of outcast status. The thorns of alienation have pierced us all. We are more than casually familiar with the sting of loneliness and despair. At certain times and in certain places we have been obligated to hide our lives, our love, and our gifts behind a tangle of strategic illusions – or suffer the consequences.

Thrown as we’ve been into this briar patch, we’ve had the uncomfortable privilege of cultivating extraordinary lives of otherness and vision. We have taken long, meandering tours of Neverland and Oz and returned with souvenirs and insight. We have been down stranger rabbit holes than Alice ever imagined, and Spirit has cordially invited us to develop alternative gifts – some as personal (and useful) as gaydar, resilience, and empathy, others as grand as music, literature, and culture itself. How can we not celebrate?

Pariah Magic: Gifts of the Outsider will be both an acknowledgment of the burdensome nature of our gifts and a celebration of the queer joys of exile. Over the course of the conference, we will consider the gifts, obvious and subtle, that have flowed to us due to our outsider status. We will cultivate gratitude for these sometimes-challenging gifts. We will seek out opportunities to share our gifts with others, and we will discuss ways of assisting and defending those who may not yet see exile for the gift that it is.

We will gather together in a magical place atop The Mountain to take stock of the gifts that have flowed to us while we have walked the path of otherness. In our exile, we have become poets and warriors, firekeepers and shamans, faeries and philosophers, dancers and dreamers, tricksters and healers, explorers and mentors.
How can we not celebrate?

Bring garb for the “Talent” Show.

Bring garb (and drums) for the Drum Circle.

Bring garb to dazzle and seduce!

As you prepare to come to The Mountain, please keep in mind the Silent Auction that benefits GSV’s Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund. It is as helpful as it is simple: Bring items of value that you no longer need, and come prepared to bid on the treasures that speak to your spirit that were brought by others. All proceeds help facilitate the presence of men who otherwise wouldn’t be able to join us due to lack of funds.

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Sister Unity, a drag nun since December 1995, is a founding member of the Los Angeles Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Inc. In her 22 years in bright orange habit, she has manifested in six states plus the District of Columbia, has exorcised and blessed the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, the National Office of AIDS Policy, and the Dolby Theater, home of the Oscars. She has performed seven weddings including one on the first day marriage became legal in California in June of 2008. She and the Los Angeles Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence subsequently led many of the protests against the Prop 8 ban on gay marriage until it was overturned. She has performed and lectured at UCLA, Loyola Marymount University, Occidental College, and Wesleyan University. Her 10 years of YouTube contributions feature over 80 videos with content including Hindu mythology, LGBT fairy tales, humor, philosophy, spirituality, and LGBT rights and activism. Sister Unity has practiced Hinduism and meditation since before becoming a drag nun and derives her name from Sanskrit.

Bennett Schneider: As a Sister of Perpetual Indulgence, Bennett has written hundreds of rituals, blessings, exorcisms, and performances. He teaches by combining ritual, spirituality, gay history, queer theory and theater in a variety of contexts that have included: UCLA, the Lee Strasburg Theater Institute, Radical Fairy gatherings, the California Men’s Gathering, and Highways Performance Space. He studied meditation, yoga, and philosophy at ashrams in India, New York, and California. Being born to a Shakespeare teacher and Bozo the Clown made him a lifelong theater practitioner performing with the queer theater company “Fabulous Monsters” as well as onstage with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and in various television shows, music videos, and commercials. This summer he was invited to teach meditation in Nida, Lithuania.

Watch for Part II in our next post. In the meantime, register now!

Register for the 2017 Fall Conference

 

 

 

 

 

Nightshade (Kraig Blackwelder)
2017 Fall Conference Convener

Registration and Information about the 2017 Fall Conference should be available by mid June

The information below is from the 2016 Fall Conference

Superheroes

Unlocking your secret superpowers
to live whole-heartedly and change the world.

Greg Walloch, Keynote Speaker

September 22 – 25, 2016

At The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

Three Nights: $398.90
Four Nights: $489.64

My Dear GSV Family,

The Gay Spirit Visions 2016 Fall Conference is less than 2 weeks away! If you haven’t registered yet, and you’re planning to come, there’s still time to register. Please don’t delay any further because spaces are filling up fast and we just have a few openings left.

And if you weren’t planning to come, but just needed a little push, this is it! We’re going to have a fantastic time at The Mountain this year and you don’t want to miss it! Please register today!

Our theme, Superheroes: Unlocking Your Secret Superpowers to Live Whole-Heartedly and Change the World, has created a lot buzz. In addition to our fabulous keynote speaker, Greg Walloch, our team leaders and workshop presenters are putting together a great weekend that will be fun and engaging. For those of you who are first-timers, you’ll learn why GSV gatherings are so special, and for those longtime attendees, we have a few surprises in store for you.

In the coming days there will be additional announcements, including a “what to bring” announcement, so keep watching the GSV website, our Facebook page, and your e-mail inbox.

Remember, check-in begins at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 22nd (on Wednesday the 21st if you are registered for early arrival). We’ll have a welcome reception at 5:00 p.m. and dinner at 6:15 p.m. The conference will officially start with our opening ritual at 7:30 p.m. The conference will wrap-up by 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 25th.

I’m getting really excited to see all of you at The Mountain and I look forward to fellowship, heart-centered work, playtime, and of course heartfelt hugs.

With love and laughter,

Thunder
2016 Fall Conference Convener

Read More About the 2016 Fall Conference>>
Register for the 2016 Fall Conference>>

Registration and Information about the 2017 Fall Conference should be available by mid June

The information below is from the 2016 Fall Conference

Superheroes

Unlocking your secret superpowers
to live whole-heartedly and change the world.

Greg Walloch, Keynote Speaker

September 22 – 25, 2016

At The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

Three Nights: $398.90
Four Nights: $489.64

My Dear GSV Family,

It is with great excitement that I announce who our keynote speaker is for the Fall Conference.

Greg Walloch is an internationally renowned comedian, writer and storyteller whose live solo shows have toured in Moscow, Toronto, Vancouver, London, Ireland, Germany, Australia, Poland, Scotland, Tel Aviv and in various festivals across the United States. As an openly gay artist with a disability, he uses humor to expose cultural and social fault lines. Greg is best known for his comedic autobiographical stories which deal with events from his own life in a style characterized by sharp wit, poignancy, and sexuality.

Greg is passionate about bringing together community through storytelling. He strongly believes that sharing our personal narrative has the power to change not only our own lives, but the lives of those around us. He regularly teaches concepts from his master class The Alchemy of Storytelling. Some of Walloch’s engagements have included the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University, George Washington University, University of California at Berkeley, New York University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Loyola Marymount University, Newton High School of the Performing Arts in Sydney,Australia, Escuela Campo Alegre in Venezuela, and The Calhoun School in New York City, among others.

Greg hosts the popular monthly live meta-food storytelling show Eat Your Wordswhich can currently be seen every first Thursday of the month at The Standard, Hollywood, California. He currently resides and works in Los Angeles, California.

I’ve long followed Greg’s career and am so thrilled to have him joining us on The Mountain in September. I hope you all are as thrilled and excited as I am.

If you haven’t registered yet, please do so this week or next to ensure you have a spot. Additional details are forthcoming.

Much love to all of you,
Thunder (Mark),
Fall Conference Convener

Read More About the 2016 Fall Conference>>
Register for the 2016 Fall Conference>

Registration and Information about the 2017 Fall Conference should be available by mid June

The information below is from the 2016 Fall Conference

Superheroes

Unlocking your secret superpowers
to live whole-heartedly and change the world.

September 22 – 25, 2016

At The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

Three Nights: $398.90
Four Nights: $489.64

My Dear GSV Family,

During the early morning hours of June 12, 2016, a gunman entered the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killed 49 members of our LGBT community, and injured another 50. The media as well as politicians continue to debate what the Orlando incident means in regard to gun control, terrorism, and homeland security policy. But we in the LGBT community knew all too well that at the core of this horrible incident was another hate crime targeting our community. In the weeks following the Orlando incident, and after the vigils and the grieving, many of us are left questioning if we are ever safe. Many of us are wondering how to handle the anger we have at the ongoing racism and homophobia that spurs such terrible tragedy. Many of us are asking “how are men of spirit to respond to such a thing?”

After many months of planning, the focus of our 2016 Fall Conference has shifted and solidified in the wake of the Orlando tragedy.

Over the course of three days we will come together and work toward unlocking our secret superpowers. How will we be doing this? We’ll be doing this through skill building, storytelling, meditation, movement, love, and fellowship. Each and every one of us has at our core the heart of a superhero. We’ll be working to unlock our superhero gifts, remove blockages, and reconnect in ways we’ve never done so before.

Many of your brothers are already working hard to create the 2016 Fall Conference and they share a commitment to create a safe space that encourages personal growth, community connection, hard work, and a lot of fun. As we are finalizing workshops and activities, opportunities remain for additional offerings and input. If the theme of the conference speaks to you and you’d like to present something, or you just want to get involved in making it all happen, please drop me a line at [email protected]. And of course, there will be free time in the schedule should spirit move you to present something once you are at The Mountain.

Over the coming weeks we’ll be sharing more about the theme, activities, and our keynote speaker. We’ll elaborate on which of your favorite fall activities are returning (although with a new spin) and we’ll also have some surprises in store. Watch this page, your email, and/or the GSV Facebook page for announcements and updates!

In the meantime, registration for the GSV 2016 Fall Conference is now open. Please consider registering today! Early registration will assure your spot at this life-affirming and life-changing conference.

Yours in Spirit,
Mark “Thunder” Zumbach
Convener, 2016 Fall Conference

Read More About the 2016 Fall Conference>>
Register for the 2016 Fall Conference>>

Dear Brothers,

Thank you for registering for the upcoming 2015 GSV Fall Conference, positive anticipation is rising daily. Can you hear the drum roll? The rustle of yards of fabric?

We in the entertainment committee certainly can, and are inviting you to sign up for the 2015 talent show. Performance art is a form of healing, of growth, of sharing and bonding with brothers and as the conference theme suggests, this may well be the wildest show ever!

Some of you are visual artists, not performers. We’re looking for several visual artists to do signs announcing the different acts. Can we count on you? Let us know.

For the performers, the sign-up sheet will be posted on the bulletin board of the Commons Room (behind the dining room). Please sign up ASAP to assure a spot and please keep in mind the following:

• Acts must be no longer than 6 minutes. After that, a swarm of stage faeries will make you disappear, it won’t be pretty…we promise.
• Attending rehearsal is mandatory; no act can appear without rehearsal.
• For piano accompaniment, please send your sheet music to David Berger in advance [email protected] and schedule one-on-one rehearsal time upon arrival.
• If you’re using a musical track, please present it to the sound tech at rehearsal.
• Acts work best when enhanced with costumes, props, music, and movement. Keep this in mind as you prepare your material.
• Freedom of expression requires that both performers and audience keep an open mind and a sensitive heart; we ask that everyone be mindful of this.

See you at the Mountain!

Cami

In addition to the two sessions by our Keynote Speaker, Buddy Wakefield, we have four conversations that will be moderated by members of our tribe. The topics are derived from conversations at conferences over the past few years and from online postings that generated significant interest. You’ll be able to attend two of the following conversations:

The Discomfort and Safety of Surviving
with host Scott Dillard

Since the advent of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, many of us have lost a good number of friends, family, and partners. Some of us have carried on our lives as we witnessed the passing of those we loved and also worried for our health at the same time. Still others have wondered, “Why them and not me?” It is a sort of survivor’s guilt that makes us wonder about our own mortality, the fairness of life, and how we continue to live with loss.

We will engage in a conversation that seeks to honor those we lost, those we carried for, and our own sense of self in these most trying of times. This is more than a chat. We will do some writing, some sketching, some storytelling that uncovers the emotions we each feel as survivors of the plague. Come prepared to share at our own level of comfort and to contemplate the shared sense of community that living through this has meant.

 

The Discomfort and Safety of Aging
with host Joe Kiser

As I move from one decade to another, I have experienced many changes on many fronts…and backs. How I experience life has evolved. Emotionally, physically and spiritually. From wild to mild and back to wild again. As my body, mind and spirituality evolve, I am presented with opportunities to embrace, deny or adapt. Additionally, questions have arisen for me. What responsibility, if any, do i have for the next generation? What, if anything, can I offer to future generations?

During this session, I will share some of my experiences and the impact of my decisions and reactions. I would also like to hear the experiences and expectations of others.

 

The Discomfort and Safety Around the Gender and Sexuality Continuum
with host Greg Hummel

Man, woman, straight, or gay. Do you remember when these were our only options? For some, these identifiers are enough. But for many of us, these labels are limiting and leave us left out of the conversation. At a time in history when women like Caitlyn Jenner and Laverne Cox are creating (much needed) ripples in our social fabric, we sometimes find ourselves struggling to keep up. Come join me in confronting our discomfort around gender identity and sexuality. Together we can create an even safer GSV environment and a safer world.

 

The Discomfort and Safety of Victimization and Oppression
with host Hunter Flournoy

Join us for a discussion of our experiences of victimization and oppression, and how we perpetuate these experiences even within our own community by oppressing each other, and projecting the role of oppressor onto each other. Explore how we can step off of the drama triangle and empower ourselves and each other.

I embraced an opportunity to experience the spoken-word artistry and storytelling of Buddy Wakefield at an event in Greensboro during his recent World Tour. I wrangled Thunder Zumbach into joining me. I was immediately enamored of Buddy’s authenticity, his openness in sharing his story, his passion for language, and his willingness to be comfortable in his discomfort. The World Tour stopped in Tampa where I encouraged Tim Flood to experience this delicious dance of words and emotion. When I checked my knowingness (in my own dance with Wild Mind, doubting myself plays its role), Tim said, “YES.” Thunder said, “Oh my, YES!” (I figured spirit was saying “YES.” Who has a world tour and stops in Greensboro?)

Most importantly, Buddy said, “YES!” I truly believe if you join us in September you will too! Click on the link below for more information about Buddy, our keynote speaker for 2015, and for highlights of the program for the GSV 2015 Fall Conference: Trusting the Wild Mind: Confronting Discomfort in Our Search for Safety.

 

About Buddy Wakefield

“Buddy Wakefield aims to cause a disarming de-haunting of accidents. He is pursuing a career in judgment suspension but sometimes wants to blend in so badly he forgets his purpose and worries that everyone else is doing it right, or wrong. He once sat on top of the whole world and told it jokes about the ocean until everybody crumbled into tattoos of bakeries. It smelled good. Felt right. We laughed. So much. Sometimes, he studies propellers because they can make themselves invisible. Buddy has collected enough humongous titles to be crushed under their weight. There are no stunt doubles performing the accidents in his work, or the bursts of beast in his behavior. There is a recurring theme in his nightmares where he wakes up only to realize that whatever supposedly awful thing was stalking him was really just trying to help. His interests include cephalopods, chopping wood and untrembling, unless trembling is imperative to a successful dance move.”

Visit Buddy online at buddywakefield.com >>

My Dearest Brothers,

Not long ago I wrote to let you know that registration for the GSV 2015 Fall Conference had opened. In just two months we will join together again at The Mountain to continue the work that was started more than 30 years ago at Running Water Farm. The previous ten months have flown by for me; I guess it’s true that time flies when you are having fun. The greatest gift for me in this time has been the visioning and planning and sacred space I have shared with so many of you as Trusting the Wild Mind: Confronting Discomfort in Our Search for Safety has evolved from concept to the transformative experience I hope you will share with me.

Wild Mind is the primal instinct to live, to celebrate, and ultimately to embrace the truth of our being. Wild Mind is the root of our peace, the fierceness of our passion, the wellspring of our joy, and the voice of our power. Stand hand-in-hand in our sacred circle of men who love men. Together, with whatever willingness is possible, we can consciously lean into our discomfort and have the authentic, honest conversations that our souls crave.

Like all the work of GSV, this endeavor may be a stand-alone experience for some. For me, Trusting the Wild Mind: Confronting Discomfort in Our Search for Safety is an intersection of ideas from our previous three fall conferences; it continues the arc of Storytelling as a Spiritual Practice (2012), The Kingdom Within (2013), and Waking Up in Community (2014). This year, come and be present with the stories you carry about comfort and discomfort. Come explore the intimacy of self-trust and unravel this idea of feeling safe. Come explore the story of yourself, the story of community, and the story of how, to the extent we can (or are willing to) release any suffering over being safe in ourselves or with one another.

Todd Humphrey, 2015 Fall Conference Convener

View a PDF of highlights from the 2015 Fall Conference >>

GSV 2015 Fall Conference

Trusting the Wild Mind:
Confronting Discomfort in Our Search for Safety

September 17 – 20, 2015
at The Mountain, Highlands, NC

Four Days: $398.90
Five Days: $489.64

 

My Dearest Brothers,

After many months of planning I am excited to announce that registration for GSV’s 26th Annual Fall Conference is now open. Many of our brothers already have the conference on their September calendars. Others are more spontaneous when deciding if they’ll attend. In whichever group you belong, I hope to see you at The Mountain. While it’s fresh on your mind, I encourage you to register today!

When thinking about the times I have joined together with my tribe – the brothers of GSV – I discover memories of the most transformative and heart-opening experiences of my life. The many men already at work on the 2015 Fall Conference share my commitment to creating a space that allows and encourages personal growth and community connection. Spiritual discernment and the intention to co-create a safe space for heartfelt communication guide the formation of our upcoming gathering: Trusting the Wild Mind: Confronting Discomfort in Our Search for Safety.

Over the next few months you’ll learn more about the theme and our keynote speaker (he studies propellers because they can make themselves invisible). You’re going to find out about our intentional conversations that were prompted by our community chats, workshop opportunities, and other fun activities for our gathering (including a hat and wig social!). Watch your email for updates … and please consider registering today! We have in the last ten years never fallen beneath the anticipated number of attendees; early registration will assure your spot!

Are you willing to trust the wild mind? Come explore the edge of your comfort zone, engage with your tribe of amazing brothers, and possibly uncover your authentic voice.

 

Todd Humphrey
Convener, 2015 Fall Conference

 

Read More About the 2015 Fall Retreat >>
Register for the 2015 Fall Retreat >>

Brother,

Gay Spirit Vision’s Fall Conference is just a few days away. Our conference theme is Community and I am very excited to be in the community of a group of men that I first encountered fourteen years ago. As this is our twenty-fifth anniversary, we will look back at what we have created and where we might be headed.

As you prepare to make the trek to The Mountain, I would love you to be thinking about what it is you bring to this community and what this community has given to you. We will gather together to contemplate who we are, what we come together for, and where we want to go next.

I hope you are all anticipating a meaningful, full, and delightful conference. I know I am.

I await your arrival with hugs, good will, and an open heart.

Love,

Scott Dillard
Convener, Fall Conference 2014

 

Preparing for the Conference

Please take a moment to read about our time together and what you might consider bringing with you in preparation for this weekend, especially if this is your first time with us.

• If You’re New: Preparing for Your First GSV Event >>
• About the GSV 2014 Fall Conference >>
• Directions to The Mountain >>
• Reminder: Preparing for The Mountain >>
• Reminder: About Safe Space >>

This weekend’s conference will start with a social time on Thursday at 5:30 pm in The Commons next to the dining room and will end with lunch on Sunday starting at 1:00 pm. You may check in as early as 3:00 pm on Thursday afternoon.

 

What Will I Need?

Small Group Gift
Come with a small gift that has some personal meaning to exchange during your small group ritual. Some folks purchase something, others bring something from home or something found along the way.

Altar Object
Come with something to place on the altar; something that might represent your intentions for the retreat, some memory you hold dear, or a way to honor an ancestor.

Clothes for Movement
Come ready to move; bring clothing in which you will feel good doing so.

Talent Show
Come with sheet music or anything that might be necessary for your talent show performance.

Optional Items
Consider bringing any of the following optional items you may choose to share with our circle: personal writing journal, sketch pad, drums for drumming and other instruments, photos, sacred objects, floor pillows, night light, rain gear, layers and varieties of clothes, shoes for indoor/outdoor, for changing activities, water bottle and/or travel mug.

Silent Auction
Consider making a donation to the Silent Auction to benefit the GSV Scholarship Fund. Bring one item you wish to donate and complete an auction form when you register, or download and bring the completed form with you.

Alcohol & Non-Prescription Drugs
Please leave all alcohol and non-prescription drugs at home.

As part of our ongoing effort to financially support brothers who would like to attend our gatherings, the Scholarship Committee organizes annual silent auctions to benefit GSV’s scholarship fund.

Please consider donating an item for the Fall 2014 Silent Auction that a brother might enjoy taking home with him at the end of the Fall Conference. To donate:

1. Complete a donor form.
2. Bring your item with you to The Mountain (or coordinate delivery with someone attending the conference).
   

When you arrive at The Mountain, please bring your donation to the Silent Auction display area. The Silent Auction will likely be displayed in the basement of the Tree House, and you can ask for more information when you check in at registration.

Complete a donor form >>
Read more about the Silent Auction >>

Community-led workshops are one feature returning to this year’s conference that we haven’t seen in a while. Our workshops will be facilitated by extremely capable and knowledgeable brothers and each workshop will be offered twice so you can attend more than one. I know that these men will make your time in the workshop worthwhile.

In addition to our community-led workshops, John Stasio will be offering a workshop for the entire gathering that will further explore his keynote address on Community.

Scott Dillard, 2014 Fall Conference Convener

 

Beginning Again…Reflections of Life on the Edge

Dennis Van Avery

The gift of a tragedy is that it can take you to a space in your life where you have never been before; a place to begin again. Our “tragic” experiences remain our own: a loss of Self, a life with HIV, a loss of dear love, growing old, an addiction, or leaving the world of work.

In this workshop, we will focus on our own journeys during a guided process. Using silence and sharing in a mutually supportive manner, we will reflect on: : awareness, blame, courage, help, humility, the losses, the cracks, and the Openings.

 

Beyond Gay Marriage:
Alternate Forms of Family Life for Gay Men

Pat Boyle

How do you say family for gay men? The institution of heterosexual marriage has a long history grounded in property rights for the male and submission/assent by the female party.  The roots of this institution go back several millennia. Although modern western ideas of marriage have moved more toward the partnership concept and greater equality, there are serious hangovers in many areas both legally and in traditions.  In many US religions, there is still a clause about “obey and until death do us part.” It is usually the female who is the party with less power.  Since most gay men are raised by heterosexual couples or single parents, much of the unconscious as well as conscious thinking about marriage is based on the dominant cultural norms.  Although a strong case can be made that heterosexual marriage has been a failing institution for at least 100 years, many gay men are now basing their committed relationships on that model.  The push for legal gay marriage can be seen as acculturating a minority group into the dominant culture.  However, for many, if not most, gay men, the current heterosexual model of marriage and family does not seem appropriate, functional, or even desirable.  Fortunately, there are other evolving models, some of which have been around for a while in quiet ways.  This workshop will examine alternate ways of conceiving of gay family, including partnering, open relationships, polyamorous lifestyles, communal families, and ways of developing a chosen family.  Really, it is all about getting and giving the love that we need.

 

From Plague to PrEP: The Evolution of HIV Within Our Community

Bob Strain & David Salyer

Condoms, safer sex, Rock Hudson, ACT UP, drug cocktails, undetectable viral loads and barebacking…. HIV has been part of our consciousness since those first cases of AIDS were identified in 1981. How well have we navigated fear, stigmatization, and overwhelming loss? Is HIV the elephant in the room at GSV? Do people living with HIV feel invisible here?

If you’re ready to share ideas, opinions, and experiences about life with the virus, then join us for a guided conversation about all this and more—including slut shaming and the revolutionary emergence of PrEP, the pre-exposure prophylaxis pill that blocks the transmission of HIV.

The session is open to anyone, infected or affected by HIV.

Greetings, Brothers.

For the past six months, I’ve been contemplating last fall’s introspective question, “Who am I?” and, looking forward to September, considering the outward question, “Who are we?”  To help us explore this question, I’ve been working with the theme of Community and have invited keynote John Stasio of Easton Mountain to speak about his own experiences of how men participate in spiritually healthy community.

As this year’s convener, I want to invite you all to come and share, play, and grow with us; we’ve been preparing space for you at this year’s Fall Conference.

About the Conference

There will be a number of familiar aspects at the conference I think you’ll enjoy. One feature I’m particularly excited about is the return of workshops. I’ve asked a number of men to offer workshops relevant to the community that have been a part of our talk over the last year. Some of our topics include: HIV/AIDS and how it continues to affect our community, the creation of alternate forms of family, and how tragedy can be seen as a “gift” in our lives.

In addition to the workshops, we will continue our tradition of small group meetings, an evening dance, and a talent show. I’ve also done my best to leave free time each day for men to explore the mountain, rest on the porch with friends, and offer spontaneous workshops, experiences, and events.

Most of all, I want you to know that what makes the Fall Conference so special is you. What do you bring to this community? What would you like to share? What has this community meant to you and what has it given to you? These questions will guide our journey during our time together in September.

I look forward to greeting each of you as you arrive at The Mountain.

 

Love,

Scott Dillard
Convener, Fall Conference 2014

John Stasio will keynote GSV’s 25th anniversary Fall Conference. Entitled The Call to Community; waking up in the company of others, John’s keynote will explore who we are in community by sharing his own journey and his beliefs about the universal desire and need all people have for community.

John will also examine the construct of “gay community” and outline the skills we each need to develop to maturely participate in and generate community.

As part of our time together, John will help develop this idea with discussion points for what makes a psychologically and spiritually healthy community – both in general, and specifically for queer folk.

About John

John Stasio  is the founder of Easton Mountain. His vision for social justice, interfaith spirituality and the potential of a spiritual community of gay men began at a young age and motivated him to begin Easton Mountain. In 1989 he founded Brothers Together, Inc. to promote community, spiritual growth, healing and transformation among men who love men. Prior to establishing Easton Mountain in 2000, John worked as a body-centered therapist and workshop facilitator. John was a member of the Jesuit Urban Center’s Urban Ministry team where he provided spiritual direction and bodywork to people living with HIV/AIDS. He is a former seminarian and member of the Catholic Worker Community. John’s undergraduate studies at Boston College focused on Philosophy and Theology and their application to contemporary social challenges. He received the Lisle Fellowship in 1987 to study non-violent social change at the Gandhi Peace Foundation in New Delhi India and then stayed on in India to work with Mother Theresa’s sisters at the home for the dying in Calcutta. While in India he met Dom Bede Griffiths with whom he had a powerful connection and remains committed to promoting interfaith dialogue. Additionally he seeks to apply the principals of Spiritual/Global Psychology, studied at the Concord Institute under the direction of Tom Yeomans, to his work for social change, in his own life and in his work with others. He splits his time between sharing a home with his partner and a golden retriever in Albany and retreating to his cabin in the woods of Easton Mountain.

Visit Easton Mountain online >>

Twenty five years ago a small group of men came to The Mountain to create an annual gathering of men who love men. They came to share their spiritual insights, to connect, to play, to grieve and heal, to love, and to explore. In the years since then, Gay Spirit Visions has grown. We have shifted our models of leadership. We have included more and more men. We have expanded to have not one, but three annual conference. There are groups that meet in locations throughout the country between conferences to keep the energy of conferences alive.

This year we invite you to come and celebrate the past twenty five years and to explore who we have become. Who are we as a community of men who love men who contemplate the spiritual in our lives? We will come together in ritual, workshop, and small groups to continue the journey that that small group of men started twenty five years ago.

Bring your talents, your stories, and your heart.