On February 20 through 23, 2025, ConVocation will celebrate its 30th year as a Michigan convention for magical people. First founded in 1995, ConVocation has been hosted in various hotels around southeastern Michigan before finding its new home in Ypsilanti in 2024. Moira Payne, ConVocation 2025’s Program Chair and President of the Magical Education Council of Ann Arbor, hopes this new home will be permanent.
Posts tagged #spiritual development
A Moment with the Wonder Twins
I recently met with Danielle Groth and corresponded with Vicky Lovell, two of the co-founders of Angel Whispers Healing Center in Dexter. Angel Whispers aids in helping individuals and families in mind, body, and spirit. They are in the process of moving into a new space on Baker Road that will be home to an even larger collective for grief care, acupuncture, reiki, worship, and other healing modalities.
Changing Our Minds--Kindness, Clarity, and Insight
Kindness, Clarity, and Insight is a collection of talks that the Tibetan Buddhist Dalai Lama gave in the USA and Canada more than forty years ago. With this and later books, the Dalai Lama brought Tibetan Buddhism and the situation in Tibet into prominent international awareness; he went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
Moving Meditations and Comparative Prayer Forms: An Exploration of Altering One's Consciousness Through Movement
One day while teaching Tai Chi—somewhere between forms—I was no longer cognizant of my body, my students, the studio, not even time! There was suddenly nothing except delightful whiteness, bliss, and an ethereal consciousness. When I came back to the immediate physical surroundings, I admitted to my students, “Ummmm I lost count. Was that two or three Part the Horse’s Mane?” We all laughed. Later, I recalled having had other similar experiences during movement as well as sitting/lying inert.
The Process of ‘Becoming’ Through the Diamond Approach – As Taught and Practiced by Lou Weir
The Diamond Approach, as taught and practiced by Lou Weir at the Ridhwan School in Ann Arbor, can be likened to the pupa stage of metamorphoses. It is a cognizant, individualized, un-becoming process through active inquiry (psychologically and emotionally). It is a process which transforms students to becoming their most beautiful, authentic selves.
Faith and Doubt
I was recently asked to speak at an event regarding the spiritual life. Several weeks prior to the event, I sat down to collect my thoughts and come up with a topic. Nothing came to me. I felt barren of ideas and inspiration. I tried to will myself to be inspiring. Of course, this didn’t work. I next grabbed books from my library regarding spirituality and began to cram. Some of what I ingested was momentarily inspiring, yet when I put the books down, I lost my excitement. I began to panic when I realized I was supposed to be spiritually uplifting in less than a week and I was so lost. My next strategy was to sleep (a lot)!
Weathering an Avalanche: Reflections On This Pandemic Year
I am writing this on the one-year anniversary of the first case of Covid-19 being diagnosed in Michigan. It is also the one-year anniversary of my mother’s memorial service. It was held here in Ann Arbor, at the church where I serve as a pastor. Her service was live cast on Facebook, a first for our little congregation. Family and friends tuned in from Hawaii, California, South Dakota, Arizona, Texas, Ohio, Maryland, and Florida. It was the first time in my 18 years as a pastor that I fully understood the value of live casting worship, an experience I and many of my colleagues have often considered too personal and intimate…too sacred maybe…for livestreaming on social media. It seemed so…televangelistic.
An Unexpected Journey
In 2016 my life started to transform. I was pregnant with my second daughter and I was joyous and terrified at the same time. My daughter’s father and I had been on and off for several years. He was in another relationship and I wanted to be with someone so badly. I believed if I were patient enough, kind enough, and quiet enough, he would pick me. Shortly after announcing I was pregnant, he admitted there was no choosing me, and the pregnancy would not change that. It was the biggest wake-up call of my life. For years I’d waited for him to choose me and make me a priority. The breakup slowly made me realize that I needed to choose and love myself. I gave birth in 2017 and committed to a journey of self-love, but it evolved into a deep spiritual journey.
