Category: Spring Retreat

From Vulnerability to Intimacy: Exploring the Threshold

May 12-14, 2023

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC

3 Day/2 Night Package (Friday through Sunday)

Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people): $190.00

Lodge or Duplex Cabin (double occupancy): $220.00

Single Occupancy (private room): $340.00

For All Rooms add Mandatory GSV program fee: $35.00

Register Now!

On the threshold, the entire past and the endless future rush to meet one another.
—Gunilla Norris

Dear Siblings,

The time of our Spring Retreat gathering is getting closer and the anticipation of being with you all is growing stronger. I am eager and excited to share mutual experiences of intimate and vulnerable conversations during our time together. I hope you are eagerly anticipating this as well.

As a reminder, our opening time together on Friday evening will honor our GSV traditions, followed by simple, meaningful conversations, and gentle touch; tea and biscuits may even be involved!

On Saturday you will be invited into experiences that will allow you to explore the thresholds we cross as we journey from vulnerability to intimacy. These will include clothed sacred touch, an exploration of sacred wisdom, and a discussion of how our identity is itself a threshold into deeper intimacy. Finally, there will be an invitation to have a socially nude experience through boundary setting and ritual. On Saturday evening we will share in drumming and camaraderie around our sacred fire.

Throughout the weekend there will be plenty of unstructured downtime to allow you an opportunity to encounter The Mountain and our siblings in whatever way you desire.

I know many of you may be expecting organized higher levels of sacred and erotic touch during our time at The Mountain. To be clear, the Spring Retreat will not have an organized massage event, puppy pile, dedicated intimacy space, or other types of higher-level touch opportunity. What you will have, if you wish, is an opportunity to seek and create higher levels of touch on your own—good practice for being vulnerable, intimate, and asking for what you need from your siblings. It is, perhaps, a different way of encountering the presence of your fellow siblings and the energy of The Mountain.

Financial assistance, in the form of scholarships, is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is April 30. We hope that anyone who resonates with our mission and community, and who has the desire to attend, can join us at our gatherings. To that end, we offer financial assistance through the Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund. Please go to the Financial Assistance page on the Gay Spirit Visions website for more information about financial assistance (scholarships) and for a link to the GSV financial assistance application form. Remember, the financial assistance application submission deadline is April 30.

Registration is now open via the GSV website, so please join us. To inquire about the availability of private rooms, which are available on a limited basis, please call The Mountain office at (828) 526-5838.

So, come—enter into your vulnerability and discover intimacy. Come—stand on your thresholds and listen to how they are calling you deeper into new manifestations of yourself. Come—your siblings and The Mountain await you.

Douglas Argue
GSV 2023 Spring Retreat Convener

Register Now!

From Vulnerability to Intimacy: Exploring the Threshold

May 12-14, 2023

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC

3 Day/2 Night Package (Friday through Sunday)

Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people): $190.00

Lodge or Duplex Cabin (double occupancy): $220.00

Single Occupancy (private room): $340.00

For All Rooms add Mandatory GSV program fee: $35.00

Register Now!

On the threshold, the entire past and the endless future rush to meet one another.
—Gunilla Norris

Dear Siblings,

I am very excited to be the convener for the Gay Spirit Visions 2023 Spring Retreat and look forward to sharing our experiences of intimacy and vulnerability as we explore the various thresholds we will encounter while moving from vulnerability to deeper intimacy — with ourselves, with each other, and with the Divine.

Our opening time together on Friday evening will honor our GSV traditions, followed by simple, meaningful conversations, and gentle touch; tea and biscuits may even be involved!

On Saturday you will be invited to attend workshops that will offer more exploration of the thresholds we cross as we journey from vulnerability to intimacy. These will include clothed sacred touch, an exploration of Sufi wisdom, a discussion of our shadow selves, and an exploration of how our identity is itself a threshold into deeper intimacy. Finally, there will be an invitation to have a socially nude experience through boundary setting and ritual. On Saturday evening we will share in drumming and camaraderie around our sacred fire.

Throughout the weekend, there will be plenty of unstructured downtime to give you an opportunity to encounter The Mountain and our siblings in whatever way you desire.

Financial assistance, in the form of scholarships, is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is April 30. Our hope is that anyone who resonates with our mission and community, and who has the desire to attend, can join us at our gatherings. To that end, we offer financial assistance through the Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund. Please go to the Financial Assistance page on the Gay Spirit Visions website for more information about financial assistance (scholarships) and for a link to the GSV financial assistance application form. Remember, the financial assistance application submission deadline is April 30.

Registration is now open via the GSV website, so please join us. To inquire about the availability of a private room, which are available on a limited basis, please call The Mountain office at (828) 526-5838.

Come — enter into your vulnerability and discover intimacy. Come — stand on your thresholds and listen to how they are calling you deeper into new manifestations of yourself. Come — your siblings and The Mountain await you. Aho!

Douglas Argue
GSV 2023 Spring Retreat Convener

Register Now!

From Vulnerability to Intimacy: Exploring the Threshold

May 12-14, 2023

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC

3 Day/2 Night Package (Friday through Sunday)

Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people): $190.00

Lodge or Duplex Cabin (double occupancy): $220.00

Single Occupancy (private room): $340.00

For All Rooms add Mandatory GSV program fee: $35.00

Register Now!

On the threshold, the entire past and the endless future rush to meet one another.
—Gunilla Norris

Dear Siblings,

I have often been intrigued by the line between vulnerability and intimacy — just how vulnerable do I need to be to have authentic intimacy? You are invited to join me at the Gay Spirit Visions 2023 Spring Retreat to explore the various thresholds one can find during the process of moving from vulnerability to intimacy. We will engage with each other to learn more about making our way through our thresholds — “the magnitude or intensity that must be exceeded for a certain reaction, phenomenon, result, or condition to occur or be  manifested” — and enter deeper into vulnerability and intimacy.

Financial assistance, in the form of scholarships, is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is April 30. Our hope is that anyone who resonates with our mission and community, and who has the desire to attend, can join us at our gatherings. To that end, we offer financial assistance through the Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund. Please go to the Financial Assistance page on the Gay Spirit Visions website for more information about financial assistance (scholarships) and for a link to the GSV financial assistance application form. Remember, the financial assistance application submission deadline is April 30.

Registration is now open via the GSV website, so please join us. To inquire about the availability of a private room, which are available on a limited basis, please call The Mountain office at (828) 526-5838.

Douglas Argue
GSV 2023 Spring Retreat Convener

Register Now!

From Dirt to Dynamic

May 13 – 15, 2022*

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

3 Day/2 Night Package (Friday through Sunday)

Lodge (shared room) $210.00 plus tax

Cabin (shared room) $210.00 plus tax

Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people) $180.00 plus tax

Register now!

Registration closes Tuesday, May 10

Dear Siblings:

Soon we will gather at The Mountain and embrace the energies and entities conspiring for our continued joy. Breathe in deeply and take in the idea that you are worthy and loved in grace.

You have been told in the past that there are certain requirements for you to be loved. This is simply not true. You are loved simply because you exist.

You are a part of all that is, so to not accept love for yourself is the same as not loving everything. The reason it feels bad to love one thing and not love another is because that is not the truth about love.

We all have a decision to make. Do I exist in a universe that collaborates for my peace and joy or not? In one case you live as though everything is a miracle, in the other, nothing is a miracle. Which choice benefits you the most?

Life is a gift. A miraculous gift that is given to us one moment at a time. Occasionally the wrapping paper the gift comes in is very unattractive. But there is a precious jewel enclosed in every moment of existence.

We will learn during our time together how we can take our past and reframe it to bring us new life. We have wisdom because of our past. What we have come through has given us the strength and knowledge to truly soar in the present and into the future.

Let us all come together as a family. Let us combine our grand wisdom. Let us empower ourselves through community and connection. It is our calling to love the world uniquely, to empower it, and to show it a new way so that everyone can find peace, joy, and love.

Love, Peace, Release,
“Angel” Pete Cossaboon
GSV 2022 Spring Retreat Convener

Register now!

Registration closes Tuesday, May 10

* May 13 — Registration starts at 3 PM and Program starts at 6 PM
May 15 — Program ends after noon lunch

From Dirt to Dynamic

May 13 – 15, 2022

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

3 Day/2 Night Package (Friday through Sunday)

Lodge (shared room) $210.00 plus tax

Cabin (shared room) $210.00 plus tax

Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people) $180.00 plus tax

Register now!

Hello GSV Family!

Well, spring is officially here, although I don’t know that Mother Nature got the message!

Our 2022 Spring Retreat will be here before you know it, and I am so excited for all of us to gather. This retreat will be an opportunity for us to learn from each other, to connect with the powerful forces at The Mountain, and to tap into our own wellness and wisdom.

Accommodations are filling up fast, and this will be a wonderful way to make 2022 a year of dynamic healing and growth. Conflict is a part of the natural order of the world, and we will be looking at how to take all the negative we are surrounded by every day and transform it into energy for the future. Think of it as energy recycling!

Mother Earth is a perfect teacher of how to take the discards of the past and transform them into resources for future growth. How can our pain, disappointments, and failures be our most prized possessions? We all have the opportunity to take wisdom from life’s lessons. Wisdom is priceless, since it cannot be purchased for any amount of money.

The Serenity Prayer asks us to know the difference between what we can and cannot change. Hidden in that message is our ability to change our relationship with what we can and what we cannot change. If we change our relationship with what bothers us to a point where it no longer bothers us, is it still a problem?

Each of us truly has the ability to make the decision of what we focus on and what the meaning of everything is. These two decisions either make us a powerful voice in our own life or powerless to outside forces.

Financial assistance, in the form of scholarships, is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is April 29. 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 April 29.

Please note! This retreat will fill up quickly. Register today and let us join together and create a whole new world starting with each of us.

Let us gather, recognize each other’s power, and tap into our own innate strength.

Love, Peace, Release,
“Angel” Pete Cossaboon
GSV 2022 Spring Retreat Convener

PS:
I made a video describing the retreat