The Dark Night of the Soul and Spiritual Direction – November 2018

Soul Stream is pleased to announce a continuing education opportunity for Spiritual Directors:

The Dark Night of the Soul and Spiritual Direction

Saturday, November 17, 2018 – WORKSHOP IS NOW FULL. REGISTRATION CLOSED.

The Dark Night of the Soul carries almost a mythic heaviness! As you consider it, what are your own thoughts, feelings, or experiences of the Dark Night of the Soul? What challenges do you meet when accompanying directees who might be experiencing the Dark Night? Often directors are afraid of the Dark Night and seek to offer false encouragement, advice and other suggestions to keep people from facing it directly.

This day is an opportunity to pay special attention to the themes of the Dark Night of the Soul in a very hopeful way and to explore some of the important ways we as directors can be of assistance in accompanying others who are experiencing the Dark Night in their own journey with God. The facilitators hope that the participants will not only discover a clearer understanding of the Dark Night but also learn to trust the love that God is offering in this experience

“For Teresa and John, the dark night – indeed all of life – is nothing other than the story of a love affair: a romance between God and the human soul that liberates us to love one another.”
— Gerald May, The Dark Night of the Soul, p. 12

“Dark Night is not primarily some thing, an impersonal darkness like a typical situation or just stressful psychological condition, but someone, a presence leaving an indelible imprint on the human spirit and consequently on one’s entire life.”
— Constance FitzGerald, quoted by Gerald May, The Dark Night of the Soul, p. 96

DATE/TIME: Saturday, November 17, 2018 9:45am – 4:00pm

LOCATION: SOMA: 2468 Scotia Street, Vancouver BC. Scotia Street is just east of Kingsway at Broadway. Inside the door labeled SOMA, take the stairs going down and go through the door at the bottom of the stairs

Registration fee: $100

Early bird registration (prior to October 1, 2018): $75.00

Please bring a bag lunch. Tea, coffee and snacks will be provided for both morning and afternoon breaks.

Once you have registered you will receive confirmation with attached essential pre-workshop reading and parking information as parking can be challenging in this neighbourhood.

About our presenters:

Andrea Kastner
It is Andrea’s honour and joy as a spiritual director to accompany people who are seeking a quiet place to listen together for how God’s Spirit is drawing them into intimate relationship in the midst of the joyful and painful realities of their everyday life.

Significant influences on her journey include engagement in feminist and economic justice movements, academic teaching, and time as a novice in a women’s Anglican contemplative religious community.  She continues to discover deep riches in welcoming the little dyings and deaths that come in ordinary life, including in aging.

Andrea’s spiritual direction training was through SoulStream.  Her calling is to a life of prayer for the world and an aspect of her vocation is part-time co-facilitation in the spiritual direction training program.  She is also one of the founding partners of the Soulstream Community.  She delights in reading Japanese mysteries in translation, gardening, and being with her daughters and their families.

Jeff Imbach
Jeff is one of the founding partners of SoulStream, a dispersed contemplative community whose mission is to nurture contemplative experience with Christ leading to inner freedom and loving service.  He has offered spiritual direction for many years and is the author of two books: The Recovery of Love: Christian Mysticism and the Addictive Society, and the award winning book, The River Within: Loving God, Living Passionately.  He also edited the book, Words of Hope and Healing: 99 Sayings by Henri Nouwen.  Among other things, Jeff’s heart sings with the joy of creation and the gift of helping others discover the presence of God in their deepest longings!