Charissa's Spiritual Adventure
UPDATE MARCH 18th, 2019
Everyone, this campaign is concluded and closed. Thank you all for your gifts! If you wish to continue to give to me,
please use this link:
Help Charissa Transition
The pictures there of me are quite old, and I will be updating them soon...but that link goes directly into accounts that link to help the LGTBQIA community, particularly in the area of mental health.
Thank you all for your kind generosity.
Charissa
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Hello everyone. I am Charissa White.
I am seeking to attend a spiritual retreat in Washington for 5 days.
It is an experiential in-depth intensive exploration of means and processes by which the creative arts and spiritual imagination can be integrated into the discipline of spiritual direction and other healing ministries.
I believe that there is a hunger for spiritual things in our world today that is matched only by the desperate need to be more deeply rooted in spirituality as a culture than we ever have been.
We are trapped by our treasure...
We are possessed by our possessions...
We cannot love our neighbor as ourself because we are alienated from ourself and simultaneously both hate ourselves and are stuck to ourselves in that parody of self love known as narcissism.
I think there is a way out...but that way is actually inward. We must go in to get out. We must seek God, in deep and ancient ways.
When we encounter the Holy we encounter the deepest wells from which we spring and manifest into this world. These encounters are deeply entwined with symbol, with image. Their language is the language of dreams...and to understand them, to speak back, we must be able to speak that language.
The discipline of Spiritual direction tends to these encounters as a gardener tends a garden, and even as a gardener's effectiveness is enhanced by diverse tools, so too is our inner garden made more fruitful with access to and mastery of the many available tools in the field.
The disciplines of The Inner Journey are the lynch-pin of transformation that we so desperately need individually and corporately.
I have deep longings to maximize my skills in helping others connect with the Divine in the deepest places of their hearts. Attending this Retreat will be of great benefit in assisting me with this.
The retreat offers tools and training that will deeply enhance listening to and engaging with the inner symbolic life. It will help develop my skills through working with the arts and the imagination.
Together with the instructors and other participants, we will explore the healing power of such tools as guided imagery, body awareness, dream work, ritual, poetry, journal writing, visual art, movement, song, and storytelling.
We will seek to enrich our own spiritual lives and our work in spiritual direction by accessing another language with which to encounter the divine presence within.
Bluntly...I need some help in answering this call. It has come to me with that rare combination of passion so great that I weep in contemplation of participating in this, and simultaneouly feeling scared SPITLESS! I genuinely feel as though if I do not answer this call of God on my life, I shall forever deeply regret missing this special opportunity.
I have never done anything like ask for funds before...the fact I do so now is a direct measure of my deep sense of call and my even deeper passion to participate.
The cost of attendance is $1700...and I am seeking help in raising $1500 of that cost. This amount will cover my transportation to and from, and the overall cost of the retreat covers all food, lodging, and all supplies needed in the creative expressions as we work through each day.
It also provides me with 33 hours of continuing education credit that will be of help vocationally.
Won't you please consider an investment? It will release its fruit in my life and the lives of all I encounter for the rest of my days.
I am so grateful for your consideration.
In Grace and Love,
Charissa
