Spiritual Life Weekend Retreats

Soul Growth Retreats
Created and Guided by Lucinda Vardey

The following experiential weekend retreats can be offered to groups of 8 to 36 as "stand alone" retreats or as part of a progressive series over a few years.

Lucinda Vardey can offer these retreats to anyone who is interested in deepening their soul growth either to existing spiritual groups or through sponsorship.

Contact Lucinda Vardey about these retreats e mail ciao@dallaluce.com

Let Go, Let God - A Retreat About Surrender
The Freedom in Forgiveness - Healing the Hurts to Move Forward
Know Your Own Soul: A Creative Retreat on the Essence of Self
The Heavenly Path: Walking the Way of Your Life's Destiny
Godward - Going Forward with God A Retreat on Active Surrender
The Fire of Love Moving to the Heart of the Divine

1) Let Go, Let God - A Retreat About Surrender

In all spiritual teaching, there is recognition and acknowledgment of dependence. We cannot control when we are born, our personalities, or when we die. As we come to spiritual consciousness and recognize this dependence, we are called to surrender. This retreat offers some ways of comprehending Surrender and how to incorporate this paramount virtue into our daily lives and to grow spiritually through the practise of it. There will be opportunities to explore who or what each of use are called to surrender to.

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2) The Freedom in Forgiveness - Healing the Hurts to Move Forward.

Forgiveness is not something we do, it's something we discover. During this retreat there will be opportunities to focus on the process forgiveness takes as well as defining what needs forgiveness in our own lives - for ourselves and for others. There will also be time to put this forgiveness into practice in order to heal some hurts from our pasts.

"The act of forgiveness...is the process of truly becoming human." Jean Vanier

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3) Know Your Own Soul: A Creative Retreat on the Essence of Self

There is much to learn from our souls and much care to be given to their wisdom. This retreat offers exercises in creative awareness of the deeper part of ourselves, our eternal essence. Through exploring elements of movement, myth and metaphor, the unique stories, symbols and messages in our souls can be discovered and expressed, to help us define our true place in - and contribution to the world.

"To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."- I Corinthians 12:7

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4) The Heavenly Path: Walking the Way of Your Life's Destiny

We are called by God to live a life of simple bliss, joy and happiness and yet we frequently prevent ourselves from doing so through fear of change and responsibility to the status quo, inner struggles over our desires (our heads mostly ruling our hearts), and never having enough money. This retreat will help define, trust and give voice to your heart's needs and your inner wisdom, to help prepare the ground for you to be able to courageously step onto the heavenly path. In this process you will be made aware of the challenges and resistances, including the negative forces which emerge when one steps forward, how to transform and learn from these and to negotiate partnership with what denies us our bliss.
Also there will be exercises to help you on the path to what it is uniquely yours, to embrace and claim this treasure and share it with others.

"Happiness consists in finding out precisely what the 'one thing necessary' may be in our lives, and in gladly relinquishing the rest. For then, by a divine paradox, we find everything else is given us together with the one thing we needed." Thomas Merton

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5) Godward - Going Forward with God A Retreat on Active Surrender

Going Godward in our lives is about learning and practicing the necessary virtues that need to accompany a more advanced form of surrender - i.e. discernment, humility, patience, reverence and mindfulness. All these virtues are what makes up the consecrated life; that everything we do , everything we are is offered as a living consecration to God's will in a deeper more meaningful way. This retreat explores all aspects of consecration of grace and of living awareness of God's wishes, how to recognize them, how to accept them, how to liberate and free ourselves from limiting expectations and desires, and open ourselves to the glory of God's ways. As a result, we become less ourselves and more of God.

"All your heart's desires
Let go of them without regret
Always your deepest longings
Will be fulfilled in a mystical way,
Know that God loves empty hands."

Werner Bergengruen

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6) The Fire of Love Moving to the Heart of the Divine

This final retreat brings those who have traveled through the other retreats in preparing, purifying and clarifying the needs and purposes of their souls to enter into the most intimate, fullest and loving peace and warmth of the heart of the Divine as they have come to know it through their inner explorations. This entering into the abode of Self in the highest degree of opening oneself to the friendship and intimacy of divine love will advance each person to a life of continuing- and continual spiritual nourishment. We will celebrate the homecoming of each soul to the everlasting partnership, where no separation and disunity exist, to dwell in the place where all needs and desires and longings are finally met and fulfilled, flames dancing in the fire of divine love.

"Nothing is more practical than finding God; that is falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. Pedro Arrupe."

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Lucinda Vardey

Fruit that will Last: Finding and Living Your True Work: A retreat for women.

This 2 day retreat is for women wishing to renew their careers, change their work, take time out, explore concepts of intention behind their work, find their true work and find meaning in what they do as an extension of who they are. There will also be a chance to view their work and daily lives in relation to a meaningful spiritual practice. Through sharing on dedication, prayer, meditation, movement and ritual, participants will be provided the space to:-

explore the feminine concept of work, as well as work as vocation and prayer
learn how to define and offer one's needs and virtues,
recognize the opportunities for giving and receiving,
identify the need for change or re-prioritizing,
learn techniques for incorporating a spiritual discipline into one's daily life,
define the intention of one's chosen work and find ways of protection and support in carrying out one's intention.

"Unless your work is interwoven with love, it is useless." Mother Teresa

For more information contact Lucinda Vardey at ciao@dalluce.com