Come create, reflect, respond.
The creative process offers a path where, just beneath the surface of artistic endeavor, the rhythm of prayer unfolds: senses awaken, mind focuses, heart opens & soul bestows her gifts.
WHAT TO EXPECT ~ A quiet setting dedicated to prayerful, creative work; good quality art materials as befit a spiritual practice; inviting art directions with freedom to create your own way; and time to ground and grow in a creating community.
“Art is that which invites us into contemplation.” – Thomas Moore
Come Create, Reflect, Repond!
Zoom Meeting Date:
Next Session: October 30th
Time:
Fee:
Facilitator:
Sr. Marie Angele Sanchez
“…the entire fabric of our lives is woven together with God’s life. There is no moment, no hour, no day when God is not with us.” –Mary C. Earle
Please join Eremos for a special Gala Thursday evening, November 4th from 7pm to 8pm via Zoom.
Featuring a special guest appearance by Mary Earle, author of The Desert Mothers and 9 other books of wisdom. Inspired by our founder Jean Springer’s passion for Desert spirituality, Mary will focus her talk on the wisdom of the Desert Mothers while also sharing poems from her latest book, Did You Sing Your Song.
Reconnect with your Eremos friends during our virtual cocktail party beginning at 6:15pm (before the official program begins at 7pm).
Our recommended cocktails are::
Champagne (of course!)
to celebrate all of your blessings; or,
Sparkling Apple Spritzer
(make your own with fresh apple juice + Austin’s own sparkling water, WATERLOO Original)
In addition to Mary Earle’s words of wisdom, our program will include friends of Eremos sharing how Eremos has been a source of silver linings through the years, the reveal of the first half of our 2022 program line up and the announcement of the winners of our Austin Celebration Raffle. Throughout our time together, memories will be shared, hearts will be inspired, and dreams for our next 25 years will be offered.
Free to attend.
(with suggested donation of $125 per person.*)
Make a Donation
*As a special thank you to every sponsor and donor-to-the-gala of $125 or more, you’ll receive a specially designed Eremos-Gala-in-a-Box that includes Edi’s Gourmet Truffles, an AustinNuts package of Texas Pecans, an Eremos specially crafted soy unscented candle to light for the gala, and a “split” of champagne (or sparkling cider – your choice) delivered to your door on the day of the gala.
Note: If you live out of state, we may need to make some substitutions to your gift box and will not be able to guarantee the delivery date.
$1225 Seraphim
$625 Archangel
$325 Angel
$175 Cherub
These Austin favorites are sure to satisfy your comfort food cravings and can be shipped anywhere in the continental US:
GRAND PRIZE The MAIN DISH: Award-winning Franklin BBQ (shipped via GoldBelly)
This package serves 10 people and includes:
1 Whole Brisket (each approx. 4.5 – 5 lbs.), 5 Sausage Links (1 lb. Total), and 1 Bottle Texas BBQ Sauce (15 oz.).
Brisket portions are 1/2 lb. Each Brisket measures approx. 8″ × 14″ × 3″.
VALUE: — $289 (shipping included)
FIRST PRIZE DESSERT: Amy’s Ice Cream Extravaganza!
Amy’s Ice Cream to get you through the holidays! Five pints of your preferred flavors of divine goodness shipped to your door.
VALUE: — $119 (shipping included)
SECOND PRIZE AUSTIN APPETIZER: Torchy’s Green-Chile Queso (11.5 oz jar) and Diablo Hot Sauce (6.7-oz bottle) + El Milagro of Texas “Totopos” Homestyle Corn Tortilla Chips (1 lb bag).
“Ask most homesick Texans to name their most-missed dish and you’ll hear ‘queso.’ A thick, creamy bowl of cheese dip is a welcome addition to any Mexican meal and arguing over the state’s best is as pointless as protesting double dipping. Everyone has a favorite, but one bowl that’s sure to never disappoint, and is guaranteed to turn any bag of takeout tacos into a special occasion, is the green-chile queso from ever-expanding Austin chain Torchy’s…” –FoodNetwork.com
Value: $30 (shipping included)
Total Value: $438!
(and Eremos covers the shipping!)
Ticket price: Only $25 per ticket. (5 FOR $100)
Ticket price: Only $25 per ticket (a PDF of your ticket will be e-mailed to you) or five tickets for $100. Ticket Sales close at midnight on November 3rd, 2021. Opportunity to win one of three prizes: Grand (Brisket), First (Ice Cream), or Second (Queso + Chips).
Items are shipped or delivered to your door (or to a loved one). Orders must be placed within 90 days of winning.*
Winners announced at the end of our virtual gala on November 4th, 2021 at approximately 8:00pm Central.
*Winners of the Grand Prize of Franklin BBQ Brisket + Sausage may have to wait a few months for their delivery (they sellout quickly). Eremos will place your order as soon as possible after discussing delivery with you.
Savoring the Unfolding Day
“To make friends with the hours is to come to know all the hidden correspondences inside our own bodies that match the richness and movement of life we see around us.” —David Whyte
Eremos has been exploring the theme of 2021: Unfolding: Being Present to Life, in a myriad of ways throughout this trying year.
What could be a better model of unfolding for us than the way the day and night present themselves?
It may well be one of the most ancient practices of humankind: acknowledging and responding to the daily rotation of our planet and the Hours that ensue. The rise and fall of the day is something given to us even in the most disruptive of times.
Spend this day in a poetic retreat savoring each Hour and the way it displays itself in your personal environment. Learn from both perennial and personal wisdom the gifts, challenges, and creative responses each Hour offers. Let this guide you to a more harmonious alignment with Time and transform your daily routine into a more nurturing, appreciative, and invigorating passage. Remember how to participate in the sacred unfolding.
No experience with writing or poetry is needed.
Principles and practices of Poetic Medicine will be shared that have encouraged every age and level of writer to claim poem-making as a birthright form of heartfelt expression. Please bring a story (or poem), a photograph and/or object, about a time of the day or night that resonated most with you.
Date:
Time:
Location:
Note: There will be plenty of time away from the screen.
Fee:
(two partial scholarships available) Limited space. Register early!
Facilitator:
Cathey Capers
An Exploration Of A Way Of Being In The World
We truly welcome new participants at any time, so please join us!
In a fast paced, conflictual world, it is difficult to find an anchor that keeps us centered on what is most important and draws us to live in ways that are personally authentic, intentional, compassionate and spiritually sustaining.
This on-going Eremos offering provides an opportunity to explore the rich tradition of Benedictine spirituality as a way to enrich the spiritual depth and meaning of our lives and as a guide to everyday living.
This meeting will be from 11:30 to 1pm while we are meeting virtually. Meetings will begin with a short noon-day prayer, silence and then we will focus on a different Benedictine theme or teaching, looking at these from the perspective of this unique and challenging moment. Appropriate short readings will be provided and discussed.
From Betsy Aylin, convener: I am convening this group to have companions in exploring the Benedictine way. My first exposure to Benedict’s Rule was in seminary in 1978, and I kept returning to it through the many changes in my life. A decade or more ago, on a visit to St. Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado, I was conferring with Fr Micah, one of the monks, expressing my sense of peace and at-home-ness at the monastery and bemoaning the difficulty of visiting the monastery so far from home. Hearing my longing, Fr. Micah suggested that I look into becoming a Benedictine Oblate. After some research I found Osage Monastery (now a retreat center) in Oklahoma and there I became an Oblate, committing to a life-long exploration of what it means to follow Benedicts path in a world very different from his. One aspect of the Benedictine path is that it is communal—lived with others. So I am drawn to make this offering to share the journey with those who are similarly interested.
Zoom Meeting Date:
Next Session: November 17th
Time:
Investment:
Facilitator:
“It is a gentle, tender invitation,
this call to create within ourselves
a Monastery of the Heart.
It is the call to go down deep
into the self
in order to find there
the God who urges us
to come out of ourselves
to do the work of God,
to live in union with God
in the world around us……we will find that God stands waiting
to sustain us,
and support us,
and fulfill us
at every turn.”By the Invitation by Joan Chittister
Betsy Aylin
You’re invited to experience
deep camaraderie, and open communication through the Eremos Contemplative Men’s Group
Where do men go to talk about things that matter so much: values, life purpose, relationships, spirituality?
So often, men feel compelled to “go it alone”. It is part of our upbringing and identity. But we also have a competing call to community, to companionship on the journey … a place where we can describe our vision, acknowledge our fears, accept grief and heal wounds.
Our men’s 90-minute gatherings offer an atmosphere of confidentiality, trust and acceptance where men can find a sense of mutual accountability in a regular time dedicated to community and contemplative practice.
Date:
Next Session, November 18th
Time:
Fee:
Location:
Facilitator:
What happens at each gathering?
We share the events of our lives. We focus on a common theme for reflection. We spend some time in contemplative silence. We offer each other our insights and responses and bless one another in parting until we meet again. While the format might vary, these core elements serve to connect our individual stories to a shared whole. We invite you to join us.
We meet the Third Thursday of the month at 7:00 p.m. and lasts about an hour and a half.
Our history: The men’s gathering was started by Eremos founder Jean Springer over 10 years ago, and is now continued by Doug Fritzsche, MDiv., a spiritual director located in South Austin, who attended Jean’s groups for many years. More information about Doug is available at www.spiritual-directions.com. The meetings are held at Doug’s office, 2111 Dickson, Suite 10, Austin, TX 78704.
Doug Fritzsche, MDiv.
A Message from facilitator, Rev. Doug Fritzsche:
So, if you wonder how “men” and “spiritual” and “virtual” work together in a sentence…So did I. We tried it out. The real joy of the meeting was that it allowed attendance of one of our former members who has moved out of state. The physical separation was not so awkward now that we all have some experience with Zoom. And our time for reflection, then coming together to share insights, was much the same as before — except in the comfort of our own homes. Please join us in the zoombarium.
You’re invited to experience
a quiet morning of contemplation in community.
During this time of the pandemic, our Eremos North group is gathering virtually on Zoom every few months on the last Saturday of the month at 10:00 am for 90 minutes.
Experience the simple, profound gifts that the spaciousness in this ‘time out’ can give you.
Whether it’s to be present to God’s love and call, to hear your inner wisdom, or to rest your weary spirit in quiet company, come and be awhile.
While each morning will have its own flow, a typical in-person experience would be: Gathering (10 minutes), Group Theme Discussion (20 minutes), Community Silence (30 minutes), Individual Contemplative Time Inside or Outside (trails & park next door) (1 hour), and Group Reflection & Closing (30 minutes). Virtually, your host, Leslie Wagner, has adapted this format to create a beautiful experience of connection with each other and time for reflection.
If interested in finding out about the group and the next scheduled meeting date, please EMAIL US HERE and will get back to you asap.
Zoom Meeting Date:
Time:
Facilitator:
Leslie Wagner, Eremos Board Member
An Advent Retreat with Joan Stockbridge
“The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before…
So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder.
There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing.
For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon.”
–Jan Richardson Night Visions, Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas
Please join us for a morning away from holiday worries and the to-do list. With Joan Stockbridge as your expert guide, tune into your heart to be present to what’s stirring in your soul.
Drawing upon Advent themes of pondering and waiting, Joan will share the wisdom of poetry, creative processes, and more to help you explore questions like “What is stirring in you? What new life is waiting to be born? What is on your horizon?” There will be optional opportunities to share in small groups and in the whole circle. The pace will be contemplative, with a sense of spaciousness.
Come, rest, gaze inward, and explore. Experience some grounding, calm, and a sense of new life waiting to emerge. Depart with an inner sense of hope, strength, and resilience as you prepare for a new beginning.
Date:
Time:
Location:
Fee:
Facilitator:
Joan Stockbridge
The Being with the Divine Series
with Dr. Michelle Ami Reyes
Due to illness, this event has been rescheduled for Thursday evening, December 9th
As an Indian American Christian woman, Michelle Ami Reyes is no stranger to adapting herself to fit in with others. What first appeared to be a self-preservation response to her environment was revealed over time to be a strength of cultural adaptability. Author of Becoming All Things: How Small Changes Lead To Lasting Connections Across Cultures, she invites us to dive into the power of Paul’s words: “I have become all things to all people.”
Whatever your faith tradition, Dr. Reyes will offer a unique biblical perspective on how we can build lasting connections across cultural divides – whether we’re meeting across the church aisle, the zoom screen, or the holiday dinner table.
“Cultural accommodation will always be difficult because there will always be risks. You are stepping outside your comfort zone and making yourself vulnerable…” –Michelle Ami Reyes, PhD.
Join us for this enlightening conversation with Michelle Ami Reyes as we move into the holiday season – a time filled with opportunities to welcome and open to the cultural traditions of those with different perspectives on the Thanksgiving holiday as well as different “season of light” celebrations. Leave inspired to adapt to the cultures you have the privilege of encountering.
“Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”
—I Corinthians 9: 19-23
Leave inspired to adapt to the cultures you have the privilege of encountering.
Date:
Time:
Fee:
Location:
Facilitator:
Michelle Ami Reyes, PhD
About the “Being with the Divine” Series:
Our world will never go back to the way it was in early 2020. Many are exhausted and grieving losses, wondering where God or the Divine is as we continue to grapple with tremendous change. As a contemplative community open to people of all faith traditions and walks of life, we’re reaching out to spiritual leaders of a variety of faith traditions to invite them to share with us their sense of the Divine in this turmoil and a contemplative practice that helps them be with God, especially in these stressful times. Scholarships are available for this event.
…great poetry speaks truth in a universal language that crosses cultural boundaries and speaks directly to the human heart with a precision and force that prose can rarely aspire to. –Roger Housden
Immerse Yourself in the Wisdom of Poetry and pen the words Your Soul Longs to Share.
A Quarterly Gathering that invites poetry to help us unpack the theme for Eremos in 2021, Unfolding: Being Present to Life. How can poetry help us attend to and articulate our experience of the present? Drop below the surface of events to listen for personal meaning and feeling.
Join facilitator Cathey Capers for our last session in 2021 on December 14th.
This session will include poetry and wisdom attuned for what is alive in our community and that offer insight or an invitation into Presence. Our time together includes silence, reading poetry, personal reflection, and invitations to write and share.
Poetry in community gives us the opportunity to reconnect with our authentic selves, to be witnessed by others, and to bear witness for others. No prior experience reading or writing poetry is required. Sharing your thoughts and writing is always by invitation.
I make deep claims about the benefits of poetry. I say it surprises us in ways that are healing. I believe it is surprising in large part because the words of a poem come alive in silence and in the space that surrounds a poem. I believe this joining of spacious silence with words is where the voice of the soul flourishes.
–John Fox, poet, author, and founder of the Institute for Poetic Medicine.
Come join us for this respite for the spirit, food for the soul, gift for the heart that time immersed in poetry can bring!
Date:
Time:
Location:
Fee:
Facilitator:
Cathey Capers
An Exploration Of A Way Of Being In The World
We truly welcome new participants at any time, so please join us!
In a fast paced, conflictual world, it is difficult to find an anchor that keeps us centered on what is most important and draws us to live in ways that are personally authentic, intentional, compassionate and spiritually sustaining.
This on-going Eremos offering provides an opportunity to explore the rich tradition of Benedictine spirituality as a way to enrich the spiritual depth and meaning of our lives and as a guide to everyday living.
This meeting will be from 11:30 to 1pm while we are meeting virtually. Meetings will begin with a short noon-day prayer, silence and then we will focus on a different Benedictine theme or teaching, looking at these from the perspective of this unique and challenging moment. Appropriate short readings will be provided and discussed.
From Betsy Aylin, convener: I am convening this group to have companions in exploring the Benedictine way. My first exposure to Benedict’s Rule was in seminary in 1978, and I kept returning to it through the many changes in my life. A decade or more ago, on a visit to St. Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado, I was conferring with Fr Micah, one of the monks, expressing my sense of peace and at-home-ness at the monastery and bemoaning the difficulty of visiting the monastery so far from home. Hearing my longing, Fr. Micah suggested that I look into becoming a Benedictine Oblate. After some research I found Osage Monastery (now a retreat center) in Oklahoma and there I became an Oblate, committing to a life-long exploration of what it means to follow Benedicts path in a world very different from his. One aspect of the Benedictine path is that it is communal—lived with others. So I am drawn to make this offering to share the journey with those who are similarly interested.
Zoom Meeting Date:
Next Session: December 15th
Time:
Investment:
Facilitator:
“It is a gentle, tender invitation,
this call to create within ourselves
a Monastery of the Heart.
It is the call to go down deep
into the self
in order to find there
the God who urges us
to come out of ourselves
to do the work of God,
to live in union with God
in the world around us……we will find that God stands waiting
to sustain us,
and support us,
and fulfill us
at every turn.”By the Invitation by Joan Chittister