Inspiring Consciousness for Human Responsibility to The Earth
We offer sacred spaces for cultivating meaningful conversation, contemplation, and community. Through life affirming action, we co-create opportunities to deepen relationships and reciprocity with the Earth and all beings. About UsDonate NowCurrent Offerings
Learn More About The Courses & Programs Currently Being Offered
Our offerings focus on embodied eco-spirituality, end-of-life, and somatic well-being. Grounded in local W̱SÁNEĆ and Quw’utsun Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and principles of land stewardship, our experienced facilitators host regular weekly and monthly programs (online and in person), contributing to expanding intergenerational and cross-cultural communities of care.
Latest News
The Latest News at The Centre for Earth and Spirit
Introducing Conservation Burials
With increasing alarm about climate change, many of us are paying attention to lifestyle choices we make that contribute to this growing disaster. How we live makes a difference. So too with our...
Join the Centre for Earth and Spirit – Seeking a Treasurer and Director at Large
Join the Centre for Earth and Spirit – We are Seeking a Treasurer and Directors at Large to Inspire Consciousness for Human Responsibility to The Earth! The...
That Stuff
“Now you two don’t need to worry, as your father and I have taken care of all of that stuff”, my mother said matter-of-factly to my brother and I. For the first time in many years, my parents, in...
Upcoming Events
Join Us At One of Our Upcoming Events
Being Together
Being Together
deepen our roots, open our hearts | an opportunity to be together in somatic and spiritual resonance…
Better Together: Shared living, intentional community & creative connection
Better Together: Shared living, intentional community & creative connection
Earth and Spirit Café | Join us with a soothing beverage as we explore ways to tend the Earth and Spirit in these potent times. At Earth & Spirit Café
Make a Donation
Our Work Depends on Your Generosity
Your donation to the Centre for Earth and Spirit supports scholarships to attend our offerings, supports the development of new programs and experiences and helps us forge new collaborations.
You can make a one-time donation in any amount, or become a monthly supporter by checking the box for ‘Make this Donation Monthly‘. Thank you for your support!
Get Social!
Follow Us On Social Media
Ininiwizh #nationalindigenouspeoplesday #indigenouspeoplesday
#decadeofindigenouslanguages #anishinaabemowin #ininiwizh #memengwaa #milkweed #milkweedformonarchs #earthandspiritvirtual
Anishinaabemowin language spelling sourced from: Ininiwizh & Memengwaa | Milkweed & Butterfly. The Language Conservancy
In deep gratitude for those who shared an evening of reflection at The Art of Embodying Elderhood, Tuesday's introductory session of our newest offering... An invitation to explore 8 somatic portals that offer inquiry-based and embodied resources to meet opportunities for adulting (growing up), sometimes missed — by meeting the present with vulnerability, curiosity and a fierce commitment to future generations and the earth.
Thank you to those who showed up on Tuesday to delve into generative discussions about village-centred "adulting" and growing up, sharing your stories and wisdom!
FACILITATOR
Thank you to wizened Facilitator and Life-Cycle Celebrant @pennyallport for designing and leading us through this introductory somatic, nature-based experience, exploring human-kinding's relationships with weight and space, as we move through our life stages...
9 MONTH OFFERING - STARTS FALL 2022
Announcements of Fall 2022 dates for the full 9-month offering to come -- click link in bio or email us for more info: info@centreforearthandspirit.ca
Calling all earthing elders!!
“Elderhood does not arrive at a certain age. It is an embodiment which needs to be cultivated through conscious engagement and reverence for the cycles of life…. especially the often missed rites of passage of youth and adulthood. Conscious eldering is not a given, but rather a daily practice, which calls us to grow down to grow up.” ~ Penny Allport
As we find ourselves in the midst of a great transition that may feel groundless and shaky, many of us long for containers - sturdy and fleshy, gutsy and gracious, grounded and spacious - enough to hold our species in a time of deep transformation. With our brains in need of an upgrade, our hearts long for coherent and tangible practices to navigate this initiatory passage with gravity and grit...
#somatic #somaticexperiencing #onlinelearning #onlineclasses #earthwisdom #angelesarrien #clicklinkinbio #earthandspiritvirtual
Tonight! Join us at 6:30 pm Pacific for an introduction to 8 Somatic Wisdom Portals with Penny Allport...
This 2-hour online experience, open to ALL, offers inquiry based and embodied resources to meet opportunities for adulting (growing-up), sometimes missed -- by meeting the present with vulnerability, curiosity and a fierce commitment to future generations and the earth.
Bring your yoga mat or a comfy blanket, water and your current state of being ❤💧🌲✨😌
Click link in bio and go to Calendar -- or find us on Eventbrite to learn more!
We welcome your questions: info@centreforearthandspirit.ca
Sliding Scale $35-22
#elderhood #somatic #celebrant #onlinespirituality ##earthandspiritvirtual
What a gift to witness these two oboodashkwaanishiinyag (dragonflies) emerging from their months-long nymph stage in the lake waters... ✨
Look for the more recently emerged beauty, to the left, on the tree bark! ❤🌲
#Anishinaabemowin #decadeofindigenouslanguages #dragonfly #waterislife #earthandspiritvirtual
#orchid #flowerstagram #earthandspiritvirtual
The beauty of potential, blossoming forth... ❤🌈🌸
#peony #flowerstagram #Anishinaabeterritory #earthandspiritvirtual
Calling all earthing elders!!
“Elderhood does not arrive at a certain age. It is an embodiment which needs to be cultivated through conscious engagement and reverence for the cycles of life…. especially the often missed rites of passage of youth and adulthood. Conscious eldering is not a given, but rather a daily practice, which calls us to grow down to grow up.” ~ Penny Allport
As we find ourselves in the midst of a great transition that may feel groundless and shaky, many of us long for containers - sturdy and fleshy, gutsy and gracious, grounded and spacious - enough to hold our species in a time of deep transformation. With our brains in need of an upgrade, our hearts long for coherent and tangible practices to navigate this initiatory passage with gravity and grit.
Join us for an introduction to the 8 somatic portals that offer inquiry-based and embodied resources to meet opportunities for adulting (growing up), sometimes missed — by meeting the present with vulnerability, curiosity and a fierce commitment to future generations and the earth.
Many questions arise:
• Will we engage in this global initiation to restore our species to its humble place in the mystery of all creation?
• Will we accept descent and dissolution with embodied reverence for every living being, responsible to — and for — one another?
• Will we meet this time with curiosity and interest for repair and care for the life-ing and death-ing required of us?
These portals make no promises yet offer a real opportunity for initiation — both self and community-engaged. We can become the earthed and embodied elders we are called to be!
Join us Tuesday, June 7th, 2022 6:30 – 8:30 pm PDT with optional ½ hour until 9:00 pm for deepening connections and spacious inquiry
Cost (sliding scale): $35 - $22
Registration: Eventbrite #clicklinkinbio
On Zoom in real time – no recording.
No one turned away for lack of funds - contact us!
Facilitator Penny Allport is a Certified Life-Cycle Celebrant, Metaphysical Minister, Funeral Celebrant and Home Funeral Guide, poet and wordsmith, yogini and Continuum Movement facilitator www.movingceremonies.com
#elderhood #spirit #earthandspiritvirtual
#fleabanedaisy #Anishinaabeterritory #earthandspiritvirtual #flowerstagram #farmlife
“Most people don’t really see plants or understand plants or what they give us...so my act of reciprocity is, having been shown plants as gifts, as intelligences other than our own, as these amazing, creative beings – good lord, they can photosynthesise, that still blows my mind! – I want to help them become visible to people. People can’t understand the world as a gift unless someone shows them how it’s a gift.”
| Robin Wall Kimmerer |
From: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/23/robin-wall-kimmerer-people-cant-understand-the-world-as-a-gift-unless-someone-shows-them-how
#RobinWallKimmerer #Indigenousknowledge #Potawatomi #indigenouswomxn #BraidingSweetgrass #decadeofindigenouslanguages #earthwisdom #flowerstagram #Anishinaabeterritory #theguardiannewspaper #earthandspiritvirtual
#patternsinnature #earthandspiritvirtual #flowerstagram #Anishinaabeterritory #springflowers
Join us tonight for an interactive session on Conservation Burials, with Centre for Earth & Spirit Board Member Sylvia McMechan.
Have you ever considered green/natural burial for yourself or a loved one? Bring your questions and curiosity to this safe space for sharing and learning!
7 pm Pacific Time
We meet on Zoom for an hour and fifteen minutes of audio-visual presentation + Q&A
Bring a soothing beverage to the Earth & Spirit Cafe!
By donation
www.centreforearthandspirit.ca
#clicklinkinbio #conservationburial
#greenburial #naturalburial #onlinespirituality #onlinesupport #deathcafe #earthandspiritvirtual
We are still obsessed with this early spring beauty - ojiibik - Bloodroot!
Traditionally the orange-red sap was used by First Peoples as a dye.
As with any Indigenous plants, please respectfully seek knowledge from First Nations Elders and plant knowledge keepers in your region ❤
One suggestion is to cultivate your own Indigenous plants if you intend to harvest...take only pictures from the forest and leave these beauties to proliferate for years to come!
#ojiibik #bloodroot #anishinaabeterritory #traditionalplants #earthandspiritvirtual
Grieving the loss of our oldest #whitepine here on #Anishinaabeterritory ...
#trillium #Ontariostorm #ontariostorm2022 #thunderstorm #earthandspiritvirtual
“To create one's world in any of the arts takes courage”
~Georgia O'Keeffe
Born: November 15, 1887, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, United States
Died: March 6, 1986, Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States
#georgiaokeeffe #iris #flowerstagram #love #earthandspiritvirtual
CONSERVATION BURIALS:
Burial Practices that nourish the land AND reduce our eco-footprint!
Thursday May 26th 2022 - 7:00-8:15 pm (PDT)
Join Sylvia McMechan, Board member, Centre for Earth and Spirit, for an interactive session exploring Conservation Burial. Conservation burials are gaining new popularity as we consider ways to lighten our ecological footprint. As in life, we can make choices to leave the earth in better shape than we found it.
“Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.”
~ Mary E. Frye
Death is not something we want to think about most of the time. And it’s not something we talk about much either. But here’s the thing: it happens to each one of us at the end of our lives. We can ease the path for people we leave behind by thinking and talking about our ending before it happens. And we can make a positive contribution to the environment by planning for a natural burial.
Have you considered a natural burial for yourself or your loved ones? Come enjoy a conversation about this! Yes, enjoy. Bring your questions and curiosity! You’ll be in good company.
Suggested Contribution: $10.00 – $20.00. Please email for more information (nobody turned away for lack of funds)
Registration: Through Eventbrite to receive Zoom link. Please feel free to invite a friend!
About Earth & Spirit Café: We offer monthly drop-in gatherings where we host a guest speaker exploring knowledge that honours our dance of relationship with Earth and Spirit. A diversity of topics includes: reciprocal land use, respect for Indigenous ways of knowing, tending death with consciousness, and inspirational change-makers. We invite you to bring your questions and queries!
The Earth and Spirit Café is hosted by experienced facilitators, holding heart-based space — Renate Ringer & Alice L. Meyers.
Upcoming Earth & Spirit Café Offerings:
June 23rd 2022, 7 pm PT – Co-housing, Intentional & Multi-generational Communities - Linda Hunter
Visit our website (link in bio) for more information.
As our journey continues, may we remember... 'an open heart is an open mind' (Dalai Lama XIV)
#selfawareness #wellnessjourney #earthandspiritvirtual #dalailama #flowerstagram
#sacredmoments #lilac #flowerstagram #spring #earthandspiritvirtual
#beechtree #budding #earthandspiritvirtual
Acknowledgement
With Deep Respect, We Honour And Acknowledge That…
As board members of the Centre for Earth and Spirit, we live, learn and create together on unceded W̱SÁNEĆ, lək̓ʷəŋən (Esquimalt and Songhees Nations), Quw’utsun territories, and the Blackfoot Confederacy (Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta). Together, we recognize Canada’s dark history and the long shadow of colonialism that continues to impact the lives of Indigenous People every day. Through our personal work, offerings and collaborations we aspire to embody and act in ways that honour Indigenous peoples’ long-standing relationships with land, to be honest and willing to meet the presence of intergenerational trauma and impacts of colonialism in all people, and to humbly accept our responsibility as settlers in this process of relationship repair. With accountability and respect, we endeavour to walk with all of creation in meeting the sorrows and grief of the past here in the present, where our future lives.