THE ROSE — Full Day Immersive Retreat Saturday

There is an energy that has been showing up across cultures, continents, and centuries under different names. The Guadalupe. Our Lady of Fatima. The Black Madonna. The Pietà. Mary, mother of Jesus, yes, but also something older and wider than any single religion. A feminine force associated with compassion, intercession, and the particular kind of grace that doesn't require you to earn it first.

This is not a theology class and it is not a Catholic retreat. You don't have to be religious to feel something when you look at her image or say her name. A lot of people who wouldn't describe themselves as believers find that she meets them anyway. The ones who grew up in the church and left it often find her the last thing they can still hold. The ones who never had a relationship with her at all sometimes find that surprising.

We spend the afternoon sitting with that energy deliberately. We look at who she is across traditions, what she carries in each of her forms and why those forms keep showing up regardless of geography or century. We work with the rose, her oldest and most consistent symbol, and we end by making your own rosary beads and learning to use them as a contemplative tool, a way of holding intention that belongs entirely to you outside of anyone else's rules about how it's supposed to work.

The central practice of the day is the petition letter. You write her a letter asking for a rose, not a metaphorical one, an actual one in whatever form she chooses to send it. You write what you actually want and what you are actually carrying and you ask plainly. Then you fold it and release it and you go home still watching. That part doesn't end when the day does. Some people get their rose the next morning. Some get it three weeks later in a way that stops them cold. Either way you'll know it when it comes and that's part of what makes this one of my favorite things I offer.

There are short meditations, somatic practices to take home, crafts (including gemstone beads and all components for making your personal rosary), good conversation, and a lot of room for people who feel aligned with the energy of Mary inside or outside any religion.

ALL are welcome.

All supplies included. Bring a notebook, a pen, water, and a yoga mat if you have one, but mats available if you don't.

Cost is $250 (Included in the Tier 3 and Summer Access Class Passes)