How might your life have been different if
there had been a place for you to go,
a place of women where
you learned of the eternal cycles
of life and death and rebirth
without judgment, fear and condemnation?

How might your life have been different if
you had been taught to watch
dawn emerge from darkest night?

How might your life have been different if
you had known from the beginning
that the ancient flow of life sings you
into your destiny,
one that can be heard only in the silence?

What if you had been taught
that the feminine soul of nature is wild,
willful, chaotic, earthy, sensual, sweet,
emotional, passionate and compassionate?

And you had been taught
this soulful nature is your fertile home,
without which you will wither?

What if you had been embraced by women
who knew such truths and danced with them
and dared with them
and walked the shadows unafraid
because their soulful natures were free?

This is the work of the August retreat at the Country Place. Nestled in this nourishing and private retreat center in the lush foothills of the Pocono Mountains, we will create for ourselves a place of women where we will honor our deep feminine nature. We will gather in a circle of creative women who are seekers of soul and passionate about the feminine journey. Together we will be warriors encouraging the darkness to reveal its secret gifts.

We are the wise teachers; we will lead one another through the shadows, knowing that without darkness we cannot know light, and without silence, we cannot hear sound.

Join us in this Place of Women and Journey
to Reclaim Your Deeper Creative Power!

"Because of this retreat, my relationship to my creativity has opened and deepened. I am now aware how positive and renewing going to the "dark side" can be. I don't believe I will be so afraid. I feel more creativity surging and emerging…" ~ Alida Sherman

Registration and Fees
Directions to the Country Place
Past Participants' Feedback

"We don't always know what makes us happy. We know, instead, what we think SHOULD. We are baffled and confused when our attempts at happiness fail...We are mute when it comes to naming accurately our own preferences, delights, gifts, talents. The voice of our original self is often muffled, overwhelmed, even strangled, by the voices of other people's expectations. The tongue of the original self is the language of the heart."

-- Julia Cameron

Love After Love
by Derek Walcott

The time will come, when,
with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door,
in your own mirror.
And each will smile at the other’s welcome,
and say, “Sit here, Eat. Relax.”
You will love again this stranger who is your Self.
Give wine. Give bread.
Give back your heart,
to itself,
to this stranger who has loved you
all your life,
whom you ignored for another,
but who knows you by heart.

The Creative Process, How and Why It Works

A New TeleSeminar from Emily Hanlon on April 24 at 1 pm eastern time.

You get an idea for a story. It comes in the proverbial spark of inspiration! It's a great idea. Inspired, really. You feel kissed by the Muse and can't wait to sit down and write. But ...

No sooner do you begin than your great idea, the visions, the excitement — the very Muse herself — vanish.

Still, you press on. You struggle to find the right words, the perfect first sentence or intro paragraph, but this only makes things worse. Feeling frustrated and confused, lost in chaos, you succumb to the mean-spirited taunts of the Inner Critic. "Who were you kidding anyway? You're not a writer. Look how easily you give up!" the Inner Critic gleefully spits out the poisoned darts. "The idea was stupid to begin with. Inspiration, my foot..."

This is the point where most of us give up.

We shouldn't.

Even a cursory review of the creative process tells us why. This confusion or what has been called the "chaos" is a vital part of the creative process. It is the right brain or intuitive aspect of the process, when all things are possible and nothing makes "rational" sense. In fact, the rational part of your brain, the part that looks for reason and order, is better off taking a nap when chaos reigns!

Creativity can no more do without the "chaos" than the earth can do without the winds, the rains, the snow and the sun.

However, the chaos or intuitive, right brain exploration is only one half of the creative process. By its very nature, creativity moves towards definition and completion. The right and left parts of the brain work in unison. They are equal partners in the dance of creativity.

Understanding the Creative Process Can Alleviate Writer's Angst and Change Your Relationship to Your Self and Others

The Creative Process: How and Why It Works!
TeleSeminar and audio download: $20. Register

Body Wisdom

In a recent women soul journeying workshop, we explored body wisdom. Kari Kilgore wrote this piece that was so moving, I asked her if I could reprint it here.

What my body said when I took the time to listen...

I am capable of doing the things you want to do, the things you need to do. I am capable of carrying you through life, and protecting you, and inspiring you. I am not broken, or flawed, or badly designed. I am a perfect expression of flesh made into living form to hold a spirit, and I am the perfect form to hold your spirit in this lifetime. I know you were told I'm bad, when you were younger, and some of the things that happened to you made it seem that was the truth. But I am not bad. You've spend most of your life believing that, and you don't have to anymore. Now you are strong enough to know the truth, strong enough to know the reality of the form you are in. I am not bad. I don't need to be punished. I don't need to be ignored. I don't need to be suppressed. Those ideas were given to you as a form of protection by people who didn't understand, and who were afraid to understand for themselves, much less for you. You did the best you could, certainly as such a young girl and young woman. You did the best you could. I am not resentful of what you've done or not done in the past. I'm excited by the attention and the time we're spending together now, the time we're spending getting to know each other and taking care of each other. I appreciate all of the good food and exercise and attention, I'm enjoying it, I'm thriving from it. I'm also enjoying giving you the peace and calm and inspiration you need, and that come naturally when we are in harmony. I'm able to support you through the things you want and need to do, and will become more so over time as we grow closer. I can give you insights into yourself, and your characters, that you've barely imagined so far. There are worlds within you, you know that to an extent, but there are also worlds within the body, experiences you've had and can have again, or things you've never even dreamed of. I am the perfect vehicle for you, the product of millions of years of evolution and perfection, a time machine that could not have been created at any other time by any other people, or for any other spirit. We were truly made for each other, and I'm looking forward to the long time we have together and what will come next for you. There is nothing to be forgiven. We are in the here and now, as we should be, and we'll move forward on this walk together.