Retreats, Rituals and Practices
with Anne Overzee
Photograph by Andrew Fusek-Peters
A Lenten (Quaresima) Rite of Passage – Mar/Apr 2025
Dancing with the Beloved - April 2025
Advent: an initiatory journey – Nov/Dec 2024
“Essentially we are all beings of light and on occasion we can glimpse each other’s radiant nature…”
Interspiritual Liturgies of the Heart
A Lenten (Quaresima) Rite of Passage
with Anne Overzee
Four online evenings leading up to Easter
March 3, 17, 31 and April 14
18.30 – 19.45 GMT; 19.30 – 20.45 CET
‘…How, while keeping it unaltered, do you transform (grass) entirely? Remaining grass it is light, and yet Light is not grass…And the grass becomes light; it is transfigured yet unchanged” (St. Symeon the New Theologian, 949 – 1022)
The name Lent (Quaresima) is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning ‘lengthen’ and originally referred to the time in the year of lengthening daylight, in other words, spring. In the Christian calendar the theme of light also has significance as we symbolically align ourselves with Jesus’ rite of passage through death into a fuller, transformed life. Icons and paintings convey his ‘risen body’ to us as a body of light.
Traditionally, this passage through our own ‘dying’ in Lent, as we surrender to the divine presence within us, is seen as a preparation for Baptism at Easter, through which we ‘rise again’ (resurgere, Latin, to rise again) in union with Christ.
In these four evenings we will have the opportunity to explore what Lent means or could mean to us personally in our own life and experience, through an unfolding sequence of lectio divina, visio divina, silent meditation and sharing from the heart.
It is designed as a sequence through which participants are invited to create their own rite of passage in the ‘wilderness’, over these weeks, using the creative arts and time in nature. However, it is also possible to participate without attending all four evenings. Everyone is very welcome!
Booking your place is essential.
Advent: an initiatory journey
Four online evenings leading up to Christmas 2024
November 28; December 5,12 and 19
6.30 – 7.45 U.K.; 7.30 – 8.45 CET
‘…and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.’ ( T.S.Elliot, Four Quartets)
Advent is a liminal time. We can pass through many different experiences, including longing, weariness and anticipatory joy. We cannot know what may emerge in us as we connect on different levels with the ancient story of Jesus’ birth during this particular advent; but we can surrender to the mystery, and wait and see.
It is possible that the early Church used this period as a preparation for Baptism, like Easter. So the initiatory aspect of advent (from adventus, the coming) is a traditional one.
In these four evenings we will have the opportunity to explore what advent means or could mean to us, through an unfolding sequence of meditations, readings and listening circles as we deepen into our personal and shared journeying.
Dancing with the Beloved
An interspiritual retreat with Anne Overzee
24-28 April 2025
Location: Santuario di Graglia Via Campiglie 1, Graglia 13895 (BI), Italy
This is a silent retreat with a daily contemplative structure which includes silent sitting and walking meditation, sharing and ritual.
The retreat is held in an ancient Christian Abbey which has exceptionally beautiful natural surroundings to support our practice.
Our days together provide an opportunity for personal experiential enquiry in relation to the theme, within the context of a co-created supportive holding field; and it is an opportunity to take time out of our daily commitments to simply ‘rest and be’.
‘Praise the Divine Lover with dancing,
with melodies and voice!
For the Beloved dwells within,
journeying with us through all our lives…’
(Psalm 149, translated by Nan Merrill)
In many spiritual traditions, the heart’s longing for wholeness is referred to in terms of ‘the Beloved’.
Perhaps what is common to the practices associated with these different paths is that the thread of devotion is found to be central to awakening the heart.
In this retreat we will explore together what the language of the Beloved means to each of us in terms of our own spiritual journeying; and how drawing on this imagery through visualization and meditation can support us in entering the mysterious ‘cave of the heart’.
Some of us may find that although it seems contradictory, practising within this seemingly dualistic framework can help us ‘merge’ with our primordial non-dual state of awareness, which is a deep well of resource: a ‘place’ we can rest in; a state of being in which it is easier to ‘dance’ with the ups and downs of daily life.
Participants need to be familiar with silent retreats and with sharing in groups; and at a time of enough resource and balance in their lives to be comfortable with being in this context. Each participant needs to commit to attending the whole retreat, and through booking is agreeing with the Code of Conduct and Ethics for Retreat Participants.
For Booking: please visit Associazione Progetto PienEssere APS (or contact Anne)
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Danzare con l’Amato
Un ritiro interspirituale con Anne Overzee
dal 25 al 28 Aprile 2025
Il ritiro inizia alle 9.30 del 25 Aprile e termina alle 12.30 del 28 aprile con il pranzo
presso il Santuario di Graglia , Via Campiglie 1, Graglia 13895 (BI), Italia
Questo è un ritiro in silenzio con una struttura contemplativa quotidiana che include la meditazione seduta e camminata, la condivisione e il rituale. Il ritiro si svolge in un’antica abbazia cristiana circondata da un ambiente naturale molto bello, per sostenere la nostra pratica.
Le nostre giornate di ritiro offrono un’opportunità per una ricerca personale esperienziale riguardo il tema, nel contesto di un campo di sostegno co-creato; e in un contesto del tempo libero dai nostri impegni quotidiani nel quale possiamo semplicemente riposare ed “essere”.
“Lodate il Divino Amante con la danza,
con melodie e voce!
Perché l'Amato dimora dentro di noi,
E viaggia con noi attraverso tutte le nostre vite...”.
(Salmo 149, interpretazione di Nan Merrill)
In molte tradizioni spirituali, il desiderio di interezza del cuore viene chiamato“l'Amato”.
Forse ciò che accomuna le pratiche associate a questi diversi percorsi è che il filo conduttore della devozione è centrale per il risveglio del cuore.
In questo ritiro esploreremo insieme il significato che il linguaggio dell'Amato ha per ciascuno di noi in termini di cammino spirituale e come l’attingere a questo immaginario attraverso la visualizzazione e la meditazione possa aiutarci a entrare nella misteriosa “caverna del cuore”.
Alcuine di noi possono scoprire che, sebbene sembri contraddittorio, praticare all'interno di questo quadro apparentemente dualistico può aiutarci a “fonderci” con il nostro stato primordiale di consapevolezza non duale, che è un pozzo profondo di risorse: un “luogo” in cui possiamo riposare; uno stato d'essere in cui è più facile “danzare” con gli alti e bassi della vita quotidiana.
I partecipanti devono avere familiarità con i ritiri silenziosi e con la condivisione in gruppo; e devono trovarsi in un momento di risorse e di equilibrio sufficienti nella loro vita per sentirsi a proprio agio in questo contesto.
Ogni partecipante deve impegnarsi a partecipare all'intero ritiro e, attraverso la prenotazione, accetta il Codice di condotta e di etica per i partecipanti ai ritiri.
Per iscrizioni: visitare il sito dell' Associazione Progetto PienEssere APS
Some Past Retreats
Earth: Mindfulness and the seduction of Pride (Italy, 2015)
Water: Mindfulness and the seduction of Anger ( Italy, 2015)
Fire: Mindfulness and the seduction of Desire ( Italy, 2015)
Air: Mindfulness and the seduction of Jealousy ( Italy, 2016)
Space: Mindfulness and the seduction of Ignorance ( Italy, 2016)
Mindfulness and the seduction of our Emotional Energies (Italy, 2017)
Waves of Blessing (Italy, 2022)
Entering the Mystery (Italy, 2023)
Wonder; opening the eyes of the heart ( italy, 2023)
Letting go in Love ( Italy, 2023)
Longing and Belonging ( Italy, 2024)
Coming Home (Italy, 2024)