Wisdom House Retreat Center To Offer Three Events September 12

Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center at 229 East Litchfield Road in Litchfield will present “Earth Wisdom: Spirit, Soil, Sacred Search”, an offering of three distinct events, on Saturday, September 12 between 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

“Each of these events will explore and celebrate the wisdom of planet Earth with a focus on Earth Spirituality, a celebration of Earth Soil with a Land Conservation Easement sign unveiling ceremony, plus an introductory Artist Talk on a highly-visual photo gallery reflection on people’s Sacred Search for a place to live,” explains Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center Executive Director Deborah Kelly.

“Earth Wisdom: Spirit” will be a workshop, “Spiritual Visions of Reality”, presented from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. by Senior Lecturer and Research Scholar at Yale University John Grim, Ph.D. who will explore the insights and vision of Thomas Berry and Teilhard de Chardin. The co-founder and director of the Forum on Religion at Yale University, Dr. Grim will draw from his new biography of American “geologian” Thomas Berry to explain Teilhard’s deep influence on Berry as well as both thinkers’ similarities and differences. Dr. Grim has appointments at Yale University in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, the Yale Divinity School, and the Department of Religious Studies and Center for Bioethics. He directs Yale’s program in Religion and Ecology and organized conferences of World Religion and Ecology for the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School. The cost for the workshop, which includes lunch, is $30/person.

“Earth Wisdom: Soil”, a ceremony from 1:30 to 2:00 p.m., will celebrate the conservation easement of 54 acres of conserved land by the Daughters of Wisdom at Wisdom House in collaboration with the non-profit Litchfield Land Trust. The conservation easement will protect the 54 acres from development and thereby, protect its natural soil, ecosystem, streams, native wildlife, and birds that depend on this land. The Daughters of Wisdom will continue to “own” the land which will be protected in perpetuity. Ceremony presenters will include Deborah Kelly, Wisdom House Executive Director, John Markelon, Litchfield Land Trust President, and Rosemarie Greco, DW, former Wisdom House Executive Director. Guests are asked to gather outside the Farm House overlooking the Labyrinth where the Land Trust Easement sign will be unveiled. Attendees are asked to wear face masks and observe social distancing during this free event.

“Earth Wisdom: Sacred Search” will feature a free Artist Talk with “A Place for You” photographer Lee Cantelon of Northfield, Connecticut from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Mr. Cantelon’s internationally-impactful “A Place For You” exhibit features photos taken during his three years of travel throughout Nigeria to document women and girls rescued or released from being held hostage by the Boko Haram. Mr. Cantelon’s photos are of displaced women and their children who are victims of Fulani violence. “Understanding the meaning of being ‘internally displaced’ is the theme of the exhibit showing how people search for security and peace in both their external and internal world here in the West and the far reaches of the world,” states Lee Cantelon.

Face masks and registration for each event will be required. To register, call Wisdom House at 860-567-3163, or visit www.wisdomhouse.org. Social distancing protocols will be directed for each event.