Sanctuary: Interfaith Spiritual Care

For those who work with dreams and the deep imagination. I highly recommend this new work by one of my great teachers of the past few years. Dr. Stephen Aizenstat Dream Tending

JOIN US FOR THE FREE
THE IMAGINATION MATRIX BOOK LAUNCH

Hosted by Dr. Kelly Sullivan Walden
Host of Shift Network’s The Dream Summit

The free event will be live-streamed on Tuesday, October 24th, 2023 from 4:00 to 5:30 PM PT.

In an exciting and unprecedented event, renowned author and scholar Stephen Aizenstat, Ph.D., will share insights from his new book THE IMAGINATION MATRIX, in conversation with Dr. Kelly Sullivan Walden from the Shift Network.

Together, they will dive deep into the groundbreaking themes of this visionary book. You have the power of imagination already inside of you. Find out how you can harness this limitless resource to change your life, your community and the world in positive ways.

Register on our website: https://dreamtending.com/imagination-matrix-book-launch/

Just a little something I wrote about Dream Tending for the weekly newsletter...

Today’s Tending Tuesday is brought to you by Kathie McCutcheon, Dream Tending Mentor, member of The Academy of Imaginal Arts and Sciences, Interfaith Minister, Chaplain and Spiritual Director.

In the Dream Tending approach, we are encouraged to establish and deepen relationships with the living images of the dreamtime and deep imagination. The same principles that apply to maintaining and enjoying healthy, happy and fulfilling relationships with our intimate friends and partners also apply to the relationships we forge with the figures who make themselves known to us through our dreaming psyche. Intimacy in all relationships is established with trust, truth-telling and the willingness to be vulnerable, to let ourselves be seen and known while we seek to know the other.

In my opinion, the most intimate relationship we can ever have is with our soul companions of the imaginal realm. They see us and know us in all of our light and shadowed aspects and they only have our best interests at heart. They want to guide, heal and bring us to wholeness. As we tend living images, we are simultaneously held, supported and encouraged while being challenged to our next evolution. Just as we evolve, our images evolve along with us. Just as people move in and out of our lives for a season and a reason, so too do the figures of imagination. The skills and practices of Dream Tending help us to nurture our relationship with dream and imagination. Our relationships with the companions of soul nurture us in all ways - in body, mind and spirit.

Questions for further reflection:

Am I taking the time I need to fully tend my dreams to come into relationship with my own living images?
Am I intimately getting to know the figures of the dreamtime and allowing them to both support and challenge me?
How can I nurture and deepen my relationships with my beloved soul companions?
We are relational beings - interconnected and interdependent in all ways. Tending and being tended by living images brings us into beautiful relationship with all that is.

Thank you for being a part of this community of Dream Tenders,

Kathie McCutcheon
Interfaith Minister, Chaplain, Spiritual Director
Dream Tending Mentor
https://dreamtending.com/tending-tuesday/

There is much that needs tending in our own lives and in the world. We have to tend to our physical bodies; our survival needs for food, water, sleep, and movement. Medical caregivers tend to us when we are sick, hurt, or frail. Marriages, partnerships, family relationships, and friendships need continual tending so that they may be sources of love, comfort, and guidance. Those who depend on us; partners, children, family, community members, patients, clients, customers, and students, all need our careful tending in specific ways. We need to tend to our livelihoods, our vocations, and our careers with attention, care, and skill. Our emotional lives need constant tending as we face the inevitable peaks and valleys in life. We must nourish our own happiness and tend to our wounds and deepest needs as we grow and evolve and find meaning in our experiences. Our dreams, visions, and plans for the future need tending so that we may achieve our purpose in life. We replenish and nurture our souls and spirits by tending our relationship with whatever we consider to be holy, sacred, and deeply important to us. In community and in our everyday lives we tend to the greater values of truth, justice, peace, and love, so we can build a better world for all. We tend to a lot!

To tend is to look after, watch over, care for, to attend or wait upon, to serve, to minister to. There is a sense of gentleness, a sense of loving kindness, a certain care, a certain patience, presence, tenderness, compassion implied when we say we are tending to something - whether that is something tangible like a garden or a fire or someone like a child or a person in need.

To tend our nighttime dreams and deep imagination in the way of Dr. Stephen Aizenstat's Dream Tending requires that same care, patience, presence, tenderness, compassion, and devotion.

As we dream tend, we must quiet down, shift into a more attuned state of consciousness, listen deeply, and watch closely as we allow the images to come to life and develop relationship with them.

To tend dreams and imagination is to be in a continual, reciprocal cycle of give and take. To be engaged in a deeply intuitive, gentle process that requires mindful effort and practice. It is in that relational, reciprocal field where soul comes alive and we come into a beautiful space where we are touched by the intelligence, insight, wisdom, and energy of the deep psyche. We sense past, present and future. We sense Essence, Being, and Mystery. We sense the soul of the world and our own soul. We are resourced by the power in and of our dreams and imagination to be better able to tend to our own physical, emotional, and spiritual lives, and to tend to the tasks, responsibilities, causes, and relationships we value most with more attentiveness, presence, gentleness, care, and tenderness.

Dr. Stephen Aizenstat has given us the most wonderful gift of Dream Tending. A lifetime practice worthy of your dedication and devotion. I encourage you to join our community in an offering that calls to your heart at this time.

Kathie McCutcheon
Interfaith Minister/Chaplain, Mentor of the Academy of Dream Tending

Another beautiful wedding at The Oaks at Salem photographed by the wonderful Ariel Kaitlin Photography

My beautiful dream tending community at our celebration dinner after 4 years of training together!

Congratulations again to our mentors of the program! This group has been through four certificate programs and has built the tightest, most supportive community along the way. It’s amazing to see where their dreams have led them! 🤍

Amazing Painting and Process Tesh Parekh Fine Art What a beautiful keepsake from their day.

Campbell and Alex. Tonight’s live painting! Watercolor. Love Campbell’s dress and hair! Many thanks to for all the help today!

https://kevsbest.com/best-marriage-celebrants-in-raleigh-nc/?fbclid=IwAR35lhAauKcAogGc48ofwpONCRmDkgbQ1_RbG7yR8KccUWXQwETCntxP45c

A nice surprise!

5 Best Marriage Celebrants in Raleigh, NC List of the best Marriage Celebrants in Raleigh, NC providing you with services to help you celebrate your very special day.

Love and a green suit on this St. Patrick's Day!

My second wedding on 2/22/22 at 2pm! at the beautiful Arrowhead Inn Bed and Breakfast

May this global peacemaker rest in peace.

May we all learn to listen like . ❤️

A beautiful December wedding in North Carolina. The day couldn't have been more perfect at The Oaks at Salem Beautiful Gallery Dani Elizabeth Photography