About Sacred Listening
Do you long for something profound, sacred, or mystical?
Perhaps you’re on a path of self-realization or Godde-love. Deepen your sense of self as part of and completely intimate with the Great Divine Nature (Spirit/Universe).
Do you carry questions such as:
• How do I find out who I am- all of me?
• When I am still, what arises within me?
• How do I genuinely serve others?
• How do I like others to listen to and witness me?
• Why did we come to be?
• Where do we go when we die?
• What is our true purpose in this life?
• Who is a true companion to me?
• What breaks my heart?
• What makes me feel alive – body and soul?
• How can I grow my sense of Spirit/Energy/Beyond?
• Where do I go from here?
I hold your unique exploration with immense love.
This Sacred Listening tradition has historically been known as Spiritual Direction, but I don’t direct you. Direction comes from our sacred listening for the direction the Spirit calls in you. Only you decide what is true and right for you.
I offer poignant reflective questions, sincere compassion, and a cultivated energy of Spirit in me to hold a special sacred container for you.
If you’re drawn to this field, you can check out We Listen for the Essence, by Spiritual Directors International. Or contact me to ask how I can support the divine nature alight in you.
Each of us is amazing, our journey precious, and to be celebrated. If you seek a more amazing life, I’m with you!
Is sacred listening for you?
A. Some people seek communion with a form of Divinity or self-realization.
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This communion feels weak, distant, fraught, or interrupted by adult life events, childhood wounding, or current local/global challenges. Or it feels good, but incomplete.
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God/Spirit/Nature/Source/Zero/Divinity is totally and absolutely in love with you and ready to help you feel completely cared for, valuable, and belonging to this earthen community.
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How do you get there? What is your path?
B. There’s a human practice that reaches back thousands of years, currently called Spiritual Direction or Sacred Listening. It’s like being with a soul coach or mentor. Have you tried it?
(We seek progress in life that isn’t based in external success but to an inner alignment with deep truth of Divine calling.)
I could help as you row the boat into the sea or across the river toward the shore of abiding in Love/Trust/Communion.
What paths does Shannon support?
There are many fruitful paths toward wholeness that I work alongside. Buddhist lineages aim to know true nature. Yogic paths practice loving Brahman (Is-ness) and knowing our atman (individual self) as All (Self). Christian lineages seek Christ’s inclusive heart. Sufis orient toward love, harmony and beauty. Neo-pagan and Hindu lineages worship the divine in many elemental and deity-specific forms.
Other spiritual and philosophical paths seek to navigate life from an inner core self. Jungians call this a deep self that relates with the transpersonal.
I serve diverse paths, with a commonality of striving for an integrated, fulfilling life that seeks ever deepening understanding and love.
Every person, no matter their tradition, also has a unique personal path. I can co-pilot closer toward your ideal or toward the mystery with you.
What do you call the not-quite-completely-nameable life Essence? Or how do you relate to the unity of the world?
We can honor how truth is resonating in you and inviting you forward.
Seeking Divine Love
a sacred listening small group
6 sessions, 75 minutes each.
In a container of world spiritual traditions that offer lamps for the path (prayers, songs, poems), we listen. Sacred listening is for the beyond, the deep within, the untouchable, yet always pervading.
Do you want to clarify, heal, or grow your relationship with the Divine, and support others on their divine journeys?
This is about our real, raw struggle of life and the sacred divine spurting through every pore. This is about the juncture of torn and whole, hurt and love, savage and uncertainty. To challenge and stoke us out of deadness, to an utterly illuminated stillness inside of bonfire flames. This is about coaxing out our truth, passion, and center from behind the charade parade. To dig for hidden treasure, to encounter the gifts of tuning in.
This group may be a fit for you, if you:
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Are spiritually homeless
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Are home-rooted but love interspiritual convergences on the divine
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Seek the profound, or are drawn to mystics
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or
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Want more connection time with divine love.
Rough times call for deep roots.
Mundane times call for deepening roots.
We need deep connection to Source.
This container of connection will be facilitated by Shannon, who is embodied, wild in nature, and also extremely centered. Shannon has a Master of Divinity degree and has facilitated groups for 20 years.
What will happen?
Each week we will use the same framework for tuning in, with the elements coming from a different tradition. I will share a prayer, song or practice, and poem from one of my spiritual paths: yoga, sufism, Buddhism, mystical Christianity, and nature. (The 6th week will be crafted after we're together- it could include elements from your tradition.)
The bulk of the time is spent in individual reflection- both silent and verbal sharing.
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How does the poem or selection speak to you?
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What is being tugged at or revealed in you?
We ask each other deepening questions to illuminate each person's truth and direction on their path.
We witness and honor, like fence posts holding together the field of love.
This lectio divina method has been used in spiritual direction groups to listen for the direction of Spirit in each person.
You can always take what you like and leave the rest (as in, work with what speaks to you, and edit or drop what doesn't land well for you). There is no "goal" or "supposed to know" ending. It's a non-judgmental exploration of your unique connection.
You seek your Divine with group support.
Samuel Beecher said about the last group:
“Participating in the Divine Journeys series was a transformative experience. I appreciated the safety of the container that was cultivated, which allowed for authentic connection and growth.
The integration of group sharing, individual reflection, and partner exercises, combined with the thoughtful use of music, art, and dialogue, empowered me with practical skills and meaningful insights.
It was a rare and powerful opportunity to explore and integrate personal and collective processes in a supportive and creative space.”
