The New Orleans Men’s Center
Presents The 2009 Fall Retreat
The Breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.
THE NOMC FALL RETREAT WILL BE HELD -
October 23 thru 25, 2009
AT KING’S ARROW RANCH, HILLSDALE, MS.
WHAT TO EXPECT
We seek to provide a safe place for men to connect with themselves, other men, and the environment. Large and small group experiences, as well as some time alone, are planned. In our mythopoetic tradition, storytelling, poetry, drumming, and sharing from the heart can be expected.
Visit our web site: http://www.thenomc.org/retreats.html
PLEASE INVITE ANOTHER MAN TO COME WITH YOU.
THE THEME
We offer to each participant the opportunity to explore your life story as your soul sees it, in its deep, mythical, and sacred dimensions. To stimulate your preparation here are some ways to think about Your Story and Great Story (Myth).
I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive….Myths are clues to the spiritual potentialities of the human life. Joseph Campbell
Great Story is like a force field, charging the many incidents of our personal history
with meaning and significance….When we join Great Story we align our lives with evolutionary forces that carry us beyond old agendas into new ways of being…
When you are open to a sense of your own deeper story, “coincidences” multiply, suddenly there is energy for even tedious tasks; everything feels haloed with meaning.
Jean Houston
..what will shatter this world more certainly than anything else is the loss of the threads that connect the here and now to the “other world”….Unless enough men can gather together and hold the genuine threads of their lives so that the pattern of community and of elders can be seen, even temporarily, there’s no promise of healing waters ahead.
MAY THE OLD STORIES FIND YOU AND FILL YOU.
Michael Meade
I hope you will go out and let stories, that is life, happen to you, and that you will work with these stories from your life-your life-not someone else’s life-water them with your blood and tears and your laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom. That is the work. The only work. Clarissa Pinkola Estes
The destiny of the world is determined less by the battles that are lost and won
than by the stories it loves and believes in. Harold Goddard
It’s all a question of story. We are in trouble just now because we do not have a good story. We are in between stories. The old story, the account of how the world came to be and how we fit into it, is no longer effective. Yet we have not learned the new story.
Thomas Berry
WHEN
Arrive on Friday, October 23rd. Check in and cabin assignment will begin at 5 pm. Plan to arrive no later than 6pm in time for dinner, followed by our opening ritual which will begin at 7pm.
You may choose to arrive as early as you wish on Friday to check out the grounds, take a meditation hike, or even play a round of golf (green fees extra).
The retreat will end after lunch on Sunday.
DIRECTIONS TO KAR
King’s Arrow Ranch, Hillsdale, MS., is just east off exit 35 on I-59 North; 75 miles North of New Orleans and 30 miles south of Hattiesburg, MS.
In case of emergency, you can be reached thru the KAR phone # 601-796-3423.
Everyone, including veterans of this retreat, please see What to Bring below!
PRE-REGISTER VIA E-MAIL
We ask that you pre-register by October 16th so we can estimate lodging and meals required. To register, just reply to this email and let us know you will be there (retreat@mchsi.com).
If you do not have email, call one of the facilitators to register. A confirmation letter with more details will be sent upon registration. For confidentiality and privacy, information provided for registration will only be available to retreat participants.
COST
The cost of the retreat is $120, which covers all meals and lodging.
You can pay by check or cash upon arrival.
SCHOLARSHIPS
If you need financial assistance, please contact a facilitator. No one will be refused due to lack of funds.
NOMC PLANNING MEETING
After the closing ceremony on Sunday, a meeting will be held to discuss the next retreat as well as other business. This meeting is open to any attendee.
QUESTIONS?
Contact the facilitators:
Mickey Nodurft…….. 601-688-0432
Dan O’Neill………… 404-816-5647
Jim O’Neill…………. 504-427-8023
Keep Reading - one more item!
What to Bring!
Bedrolls/Sleeping Bags/Pillows/Towels
Limited snacks will be provided and feel free to bring your favorite snacks and non-alcoholic beverages
Please consider bringing your own drinking cups and water bottles so we are more environmentally friendly.
Materials to journal if you wish.
Anything you need to be comfortable in a rustic environment.
See website for more suggestions
http://www.thenomc.org/retreats.html