Beginning the Great Search: A Virtual Day Retreat with John Philip Newell & Cami Twilling

Beginning the Great Search:

A Virtual Day Retreat with John Philip Newell & Cami Twilling

Saturday, October 26, 2024

9:00 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.

On Zoom

Plan now to join us for a very special 1-day retreat, in which the wisdom teachings of John Philip Newell and the spiritual practices of Cami Twilling inspire us in this time of transition toward a spirituality of intimacy with Earth rather than a spirituality of alienation from Earth, and a vision of interrelatedness and harmony instead of religious and political division. The retreat focuses on the main themes of John Philip’s ground-breaking new book The Great Search: Turning to Earth and Soul in the Quest for Healing and Home (HarperOne, August 2024).

Registration includes admission to all parts of the retreat as listed in the schedule.

Retreat Schedule:

8:45 - Participants start gathering on Zoom

9:00 - Morning Session begins

• Welcome, Introduction
• John Philip Newell live presentation
• Spiritual practice led by Cami Twilling
• Time of reflection and Q&A in whole group

11:15 - Break, lunch

12:45 - Afternoon Session begins

• John Philip Newell live presentation
• Spiritual practice led by Cami Twilling
• Time of reflection and Q&A in whole group

3:15 Retreat ends

Cost is $75.00 per person. Due to this low fee for a day-long retreat, we ask that those who plan to share a Zoom screen please register separately and pay $75 each. This virtual day retreat includes all the content originally planned for an in-person event with John Philip Newell — an event canceled by the host venue due to the impacts of Hurricane Helene. The venue and the Center want to honor the N.C. governor's request to discourage unnecessary travel into Western North Carolina while critical recovery efforts continue. All current ticket holders for the canceled event will be automatically admitted, free of charge, to the Oct. 26 Virtual Day Retreat.

Registrants will receive a Zoom link and further details on or near Oct. 19.

John Philip Newell is a teacher and author who calls the modern world to reawaken to the sacredness of Earth and every human being. He is widely recognized as an international authority on Celtic spirituality. Canadian by birth, and a citizen also of Scotland, he resides with his family in Edinburgh and works on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2016, he began the Earth & Soul initiative. He teaches regularly in the United States and Canada as well as leading international pilgrimage weeks on Iona in the Western Isles of Scotland.

His PhD is from the University of Edinburgh and he has authored over fifteen books, including his award-winning publication, Sacred Earth Sacred Soul, which was the 2022 Gold Winner of the Nautilus Book Award for Spirituality and Religious Thought of the West. His new book, also with Harper One, is The Great Search, in which he looks at the great spiritual yearnings of humanity today in the context of the decline of religion as we have known it.

Newell speaks of himself as “a wandering teacher” following the ancient path of many lone teachers before him in the Celtic tradition, seeking the wellbeing of the world. He has been described as having “the heart of a Celtic bard and the mind of a Celtic scholar,” combining in his teachings the poetic and the intellectual, the head as well as the heart, and spiritual awareness as well as political and ecological concern.

Cami Twilling, based in Colorado, is the Director of Earth & Soul (a Celtic initiative of study, spiritual practice and compassionate action inspired by the teachings of John Philip Newell). As well as heading up the overall work of Earth & Soul, she facilitates the spiritual practice component of the Earth & Soul Annual Retreats. Previously she was the head of Contemplative Spirituality and Youth Ministry at Trinity UMC in downtown Denver. She has studied meditation in the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition of Shambhala and received Spiritual Direction certification from the Hesychia School of Spiritual Direction in Tucson, Arizona. In addition to leading mountain and urban retreats, she has led international pilgrimage groups to Iona in the Western Isles of Scotland and work teams to Guatemala to build houses in communities that have suffered from political strife and economic hardship. Cami is passionate about the relationship between spirituality and action and believes that spiritual vision and practice can play a vital role in helping to heal and transform our lives both individually and together.

We are grateful to Transylvania County Tourism Development Authority for their invaluable support.