Where Are Your Feet?
September 26 – 29, 2024
The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC
Convener: ChaseR
4 Day/3 Night Package (Thursday through Sunday)
Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people) $300.00 + 6.75% tax = $320.25
Lodge or Duplex Cabin (double occupancy) $345.00 + 6.75% = $368.29
For All Rooms, Add Required GSV Program Fee $100.00
Check out the Registration System for Optional Extra Night Before (Wednesday Night) and/or After (Sunday Night) the Conference
Register Now!
Come, Come, Whoever You Are
Come, come, whoever you are!
Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving.
This is not a caravan of despair.
It does not matter that you have broken your vow a thousand times,
Still come,
And yet again,
Come.
Whatever your race, class, culture or color,
serostatus or sexual wounds.
Whatever you struggle with, heart, mind, body or soul …
Still come.
Whether you’re gay, bi, questioning, queer, or transgender,
single or partnered, poly or simply perplexed;
religious or atheist, spiritual, awestruck,
addicted, recovering, or reaching for heaven on earth.
Whether outrageous or quiet, flamboyant or shy, prophetic or peaceful,
elder or newcomer or somewhere between …
Still come.
We welcome your sorrows, we welcome your joys.
We welcome your hunger, we welcome your gifts.
We welcome your stories, questions, and yearnings.
We welcome you home!
~ChasR after Hunter Flournoy after Rumi~
The call has gone forth! In 86 days, we intend to gather together with 90 other kindred souls for the 35th annual Gay Spirit Visions Fall Conference. We will spend about 69 hours together around our council fire, listening deeply in our heart circles, sharing meals, experiencing workshops, practicing gender freedom and expression, talent shows, dance, small groups, and a thousand other ways of being together.
Together we will explore ideas and practices around the ideas of mindfulness, awareness, and presence. Experiences offered will include yoga, breath, sound meditation, storytelling, dance, body work, panel discussions, singing, and others. My intention, hope, and prayer is that there will be specific practices that you will want to take back with you when we leave The Mountain.
I invite you to make origami cranes to bring to The Mountain and display. I am hoping for 1000 paper cranes. Below is a link to the story The Story of Sadako Sasaki and the Thousand Paper Cranes. You will also find links on how to make a paper crane. So, now is the time to begin your journey to The Mountain. Write down your prayers, intentions, and hopes, and fold them into the paper cranes you make. Many of you have already begun your journey.
The Story of Sadako Sasaki and the Thousand Paper Cranes (YouTube Video)
How to make a paper crane – Origami Crane Step by Step (YouTube Video)
Origami: Crane [tutorial] (YouTube Video)
Scholarship Information and Application Deadline
Financial assistance in the form of scholarships is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is September 5, 2024. 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 5, 2024.
Registration
Registration for the GSV 2024 Fall Conference is open now. The GSV Council has asked me to remind all who plan to register that there are a maximum of six single occupancy accommodations. If a positive GSV and Mountain experience is contingent upon single room accommodations, please email [email protected] for single room occupancy request consideration.
Registration closes Wednesday, September 18, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. ET. 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 [email protected] rather than The Mountain.
ChaseR
GSV 2024 Fall Conference Convener