Category: Fall Conference

GSV 2022 Fall Conference: Last Call

Fall Conference, Gay Spirit Visions

GSVFallRetreat2022

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
Fall Conference
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!

GSV 2022 FALL CONFERENCE: WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

Fall Conference

GSVFallRetreat2022

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!

GSV 2022 Fall Conference: Who do you think you are?

Fall Conference

GSVFallRetreat2022

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!

GSV 2021 Fall Conference – Last Call

Fall Conference

GSV 2021 Fall Conference

(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

GSV Seeking Cellist

Fall Conference

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.