Category: Gay Spirit Visions

Gay Spirit Visions is committed to creating safe, sacred space that is open to all spiritual paths, wherein men who love men may explore and strengthen spiritual identity.

The Sacred Fool’s Journey

Gay Spirit Visions, Past Event, Spring Retreat

GSV Spring Retreat

April 21 – 23 2017
The Mountain Retreat & Learning Center
Highlands, North Carolina

The Sacred Fool’s Journey

“Whoever travels without a guide, needs two hundred years
for a two-day journey.”

-Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī

Our life’s journey comprises innumerable smaller journeys which in turn create and append our larger life’s journey.  Think of it as spirit’s spiral dance.

It is really easy to make decisions that direct our journey on autopilot; a consciousness based on the experience and knowledge of others. Autopilot keeps us safe on planes, but does little to enrich our spiritual lives that thrive on inquiry and openness. Unlike autopilot, spiritual journeys call us to be courageous as we choose our journeys and navigate their paths.

The Sacred Fool’s job is to be our guide; to buoy our courage and lift our spirits.

This Fool we will explore at the Spring Retreat, is not witless, fatuous or shortsighted.

Quite the opposite. Our Sacred Fool encourages us to embark on new journeys with our eyes, minds, and, most especially our hearts, open.  This Fool is filled with curiosity and calls us to explore ever-greater aliveness, a greater consciousness and deeper union with spirit.

The Sacred Fool is the very definition of generosity of spirit, filled with cheer and skillfully using laughter in the service of morphing fear into trust. GSV’s Spring Retreat is traditionally the lightest and most ebullient of its three yearly gatherings. This retreat will be brimming with the pleasures and the rewards of connecting through play.

Come to explore your courage and ours. Courage acknowledges the presence of fear and willingly engages it, while bravery requires little thought or consciousness and thus knows nothing of fear.
This is the courage of the drag queens and sissies who ignited gay liberation in the ’60s. This is the courage of the communities that came together in the ‘80s to care for each other and demand that the political and medical establishments take action to halt the AIDS pandemic. This is the courage that is at the core of peaceful resistance and the guiding light of non-violence; the courage that it took for you to come out and to come to GSV. This is the courage that will allow us to challenge all who would silence spirit.

The schedule will similar to last spring allowing big blocks of free time and/or the option to participate in community-led workshops.

[standout-css3-button href=”https://gayspiritvisions.org/annual-gatherings/spring-retreat/spring-register/”] Register Today [/standout-css3-button]

Registration for the retreat, begins at 3pm Friday. Following dinner, the Opening Circle begins at 7:30pm. Closing Circle begins after lunch on Sunday with a goal of finishing by 2pm.

We’ll have the option to stay at The Mountain from Sunday afternoon to noon on Monday. We’ll be the only group there, but there is another group that will be using the lodge arriving after lunch on Monday. You may sign up for the extra day when you register for the Spring Retreat. The price for the extra day includes meals. If fewer than 20 people sign up, you will receive a $20 refund and we’ll buy some groceries and prepare our own meals.  This extra day is not sponsored or supported by GSV.

 

Finally, please don’t forget the Spring Silent Auction that benefits GSV’s Financial Assistance Program. It’s really simple: You bring items that you value but no longer need and buy the treasures that speak to your spirit that were brought by others. All of the proceeds allow those with limited financial resources to join us.

Gary (Pleasure) Kaupman
Andy (Ann Dee) Foskey

2016 Fall Conference

Fall Conference, Gay Spirit Visions, Past Event

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.
super-hero

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>>

Visionary – Holidays, Spirit and Me: Spirit(s)

Visionary Journal

This is the fourth and final in our series of pieces on the theme of Holidays, Spirit and Me.

When Pleasure asked me to write about “spirit, the holidays, and me,” I didn’t know (and still don’t) that I would have anything much to say (without being completely cynical). Over the next few weeks, I meditated on my somewhat tumultuous relationship with spirit and ended up writing several short fragments, several of which, I collected into the poem, “Spirit(s)”. I hope you enjoy it! Love you, siblings!!

 

Spirit(s)

Sugar le Fae

Sugar le Fae
Sugar le Fae

1.
Meaning “to breathe” in Latin,
cognates of spirāre include:

respire   to breathe again
inspire   to breathe into
expire    without breathing

and, of course, from spīritus,
spirit   breath.

2.
He and I are reincarnated
spirits of little old ladies
who speak what they think
who dye their hair purple
who smoke and drink
and don’t give a shit
what other people think.
Who are we to argue fate?

3
Listen to “Spirit in the Dark”
by Aretha Franklin
and tell me that
“getting the spirit”
can’t mean in the same breath
“touching God”
and “in the mood.”

4.
When one of my best friends
finally got approved for her
knee osteotomy, we kept
our spirits up over her winter
recovery by making silly
videos of us singing Christmas
carols in wigs and dresses.

Years later, no longer needing
a walker, she could finally
accompany me to the faerie
mountain, where in faerie
tradition, she named herself
Felda Spirit and was welcomed.

5.
Just last week at a teddy bear party,
I played impromptu duets with Blue-
bird, who, topping my Heart
and Soul, turned every note blue.
Spirit can perhaps be conjured,
but tastes best when it’s not lured.

Sugar le Fae (aka Zach Matteson) is a poet, teacher, song writer, photographer, and Radical Faerie. Dozens of his poems have been published by journals in the States and Canada. He currently resides in Nashville, TN

Visionary – Holidays Spirit and Me: The Christmas Heart

Visionary Journal

This is the third in our series of four pieces on the theme of The Holidays, Spirit and Me.

 

Doug Emerson
Doug Emerson

The Christmas Heart

Doug Emerson

I believe I first really got in touch with Spirit on Christmas Eve 1982. My roommate, a handsome man with such unbelievable eyes that his nickname became Blue, or Your Royal Blueness, and I were trying to manage to make it through the season. Money was short and friends were dying from AIDS. It just looked dismal.

Blue came home Christmas Eve in the afternoon with an unexpected bonus from his part time job. That led to the development of an event that became legendary. It began simple enough, we went to see if we could score a Christmas tree cheap. While we walked we chatted about how we could somehow give all of our friends a memorable holiday.

The scheme was hatched. I was sent to get champagne and snacks. Blue started calling friends with an invite our “First Christmas” party. By that we meant guests showed up at midnight to a party that was the first one on Christmas.

[pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]About 4am, all of my beautiful brothers began to go home. Blue and I were ultimately left exhausted cuddling on the couch. [/pullquote]

We didn’t think we could pull it together and when it was midnight had come with no visitors, we had resigned ourselves to drink until we were out of our minds with cheer. Then the door buzzer went off. The first of over 60 men entered our small apartment to share love, humor and memories of friends here and gone.

About 4 a.m. all of my beautiful brothers began to go home. Blue and I were ultimately left exhausted, cuddling on the couch. Holding each other in that wonderful embrace of love and companionship that touched the spirit and gave the room a wonderful special feel and light.

That was the night that I really understood the meaning of family and the spirit that touched each of us that blessed night.

Aho




Doug will be spending this Christmas in Atlanta, GA. He hopes to share time with GSV family and renew and expand the circle of love and service. And says, “I continue to be grateful to you all in allowing me to shine.”

Visionary – Holidays, Spirit and Me: Uh oh, It’s Majick

Visionary Journal

This is the second in or series of four articles on the theme of The Holidays, Spirit and Me

 

Uh oh, It’s Majick

Whispurring Pussy (Joe)

I remember when it was magic…

Joe Kiser
Joe Kiser

The time of year for which days were marked off the calendar. There were two of these times-of-year.  Summer break and Christmas. Now I’m not talking about the Twelve Days of Christmas countdown. This was different. As I sit here today, I can honestly say that I do not know what other little boys got excited about around Christmas. Perhaps watching football games with their dads.  Perhaps going hunting with their dads.  None of that for me. For me, the countdown was to the day my mom and I pulled out the boxes of Christmas decorations and began turning our mundane living room into a magic kingdom.

As time pushed me into the realm of puberty and eventually adulthood, I found a bitterness for the Holidays. Oh, the magic is gone. During this time, I often found myself depressed and feeling very alone. I now know it was, in part, bi-polar depression. I was also struggling with the self-acceptance of being a  gay man.  During this time, I dreaded the Holidays. I longed for a way to escape, a way remove myself from life for two months or so.  I hated seeing family during this time. I felt guilty for not feeling happy.   I began to resent the Holidays.

I began the process of coming out as a gay man in my thirties.  I experienced anger from family members for coming out. I was told I was selfish for coming out, that I was being influenced by the devil.  Holidays became even more difficult. There were times I refused to visit family during the Holidays.
[pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]And with this new-found self-appreciation, I have found, dare I say it, happiness. Happiness within myself.[/pullquote]

Today, my bi-polar depression is well managed, thanks to those fine folks at Pfizer pharmaceuticals.  And with lots and lots of therapy, I am downright happy to be gay. I am gay in every sense of the word. I am 51 years old and have the highest sense of completeness that I have ever had. And with this new-found self-appreciation, I have found, dare I say it, happiness. Happiness within myself.

I no longer dread the Holidays. I find joy in celebrating the Holidays with my family of choice. I now spend time with my biological family without dread.  Though some of them continue to struggle with my being gay, I now know that struggle is theirs and not mine. I have begun to regain a sense of wonderment, a sense of hope.

If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.

 

In mid-December, Whispurring Pussy will be vacationing with Santa in Key West for some last minute naughtiness. Upon his return, Whispurr plans to spend the Holidays with family and friends lapping up vast quantities of Egg Nog while watching his favorite Holiday classics ‘Home for the Holidays’ and ‘Sordid Lives’.