Confluence: noun: the junction of rivers
The Invitation
This is an invitation to you…
To whoever you might be right now,
To wherever you find yourself in your creative journey and your spiritual journey.
It is not for who you wish you were
or who you feel you should be by now…no, no, no…
This is for you, for who you are...now.
It is an invitation for the weary and the heavy and the wandering.
It is an invitation for the passionate and the full-of-life.
It is an invitation for the ones who still call their Faith a home
and the ones who can no longer do so.
It is for the deconstructing
and the reconstructing
and the “Blow-this-shit up, I can’t handle this any more”…ing. ha.
It is an invitation for the prolific creative and the dried-up dreamer,
for the curious and the searching,
for the depleted and the aching.
It is for the painters, the dancers, the movie-makers,
the sculptors, the poets, the writers, the musicians
and for the ones who don’t think they are creative
or those who had their creativity stolen from them.
To all of you we say…
Welcome.
Welcome Home.
We have crafted four days of intentional time-out together.
Intentional. Time-out. Together.
We invite you to come and slow down and create and dream and dialogue and learn and dance and taste…Oh to taste again…
We will eat together. We will create together. We will move together. We will listen together. We will seek to be present…together.
So bring your creative project and most importantly bring yourself…there is no one who is not welcome here. This retreat is inclusive and welcoming of all types no matter gender, spirituality, politics, sexuality, etc etc.
The Heartbeat
A CONFLUENCE is the place, the junction, where two or more streams merge together to form one. This is that place.
Where the stream of our Creativity, meets the stream of our Spirituality, meets the stream of our Physicality.
Creativity
Spirituality
Embodiment
Confluence
Creativity
This is a creativity retreat. That place in us that takes the invisible and crafts it into the physical. It is a time to work on whatever project you might be working on in the company of others. To talk it through with them. To see how their creativity might shape your own. There will be lots of time for you to work on your own individual creative projects and there will be a number of different creative workshops for you to learn new skills and to remember the heart of your practice. Do not fear though if you are not a practicing creative...this is a chance just to play.
Spirituality
This is a spiritual retreat. That place in us that yearns for something more, for a more spacious existence, for a more grounded existence, for a more connected existence. It is a time to slow down into some new rhythms, a time to listen, a time to sift through what might have been to find what you are being invited into. Joel and Liz, your retreat hosts, both come from a Christian background and have spent years working through their own faith journeys and thinking about the faith journeys of others...
Embodiment
This is a movement retreat. And we are not just talking about doing some yoga or pilates, although that will be part of it. We are talking about intentional and well-constructed process to draw us back into relationship with our own physicality. Geez, this can be a bit of scary thing. And that’s ok, we are ok with fear. But we are going to push past the fear together and seek to love our bodies well.
The Hosts
Joel McKerrow is
an award winning writer, speaker,
educator, artist, creativity specialist and, having performed for hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world, is one of Australia’s most successful, internationally touring, performance poets. Based out of Melbourne, Australia he is the Artist Ambassador for the aid and development organisation ‘TEARFUND Australia’ and was the co-founder of community arts organisation, 'The Centre for Poetics and Justice' (2010-2013). Joel was the third ever Australian representative at the Individual World Poetry Slam Championships in the USA and is a highly sought after speaker at conferences and festivals all over the world. He has four published books and four spoken word/music albums, is a successful play-wright and is a co-founder/host of the The Deep Place: On Creativity and Spirituality Podcast.
from The Deep Place Podcast,
Tearfund Australia & the MELBOURNE YOUNG WRITERS STUDIO.
Joel McKerrow
Joel McKerrow
Liz Milani
from The Practice Co.
Liz Milani is the Co-Owner and author The Practice Co. - Creating space for holistic and embodied spirituality. She writes inclusive devotions to lead you to your true self. A writer and a seeker committed to helping you discover a daily practice of meaningful, simple, cliché–free spirituality so that you can live a fulfilling and embodied life.
"We have always waited and asked for better windows, a truer lens, some ways to see the brightness and goodness that we somehow know is there. It is to this deeper, already knowing, that Joel McKerrow appeals. He draws us through a much better window.” (Father Richard Rohr).
"Hi, I'm Liz. A writer, film lover, and accidental rule-breaker. I've discovered that stories are LIFE and at any given moment you can change the script.…Not too long into our Practice Co. Instagram experiment, we found ourselves asking deeper questions around our faith. Everything we thought we knew; thought we had a handle on; thought was secure and for always; was challenged, questioned, and stripped bare. We experienced tragedy at home, and at work. We quit our jobs as Pastors, and started from scratch (faith and vocation) in our mid thirties. But through what felt like the death of all we thought we knew and would be, we found beauty and community…So, dear friend, come sit with me. Let's piece the stories together, yours, mine, and the Divine's. And watch the beauty unfold from such a magnificent tale."
The Two Retreats
The Confluence is an actual physical retreat, not an online thing. And, in fact, it is two retreats...Choose which best suits you. But whether you come to the retreat in NSW or VIC, we have very carefully chosen the location of these two retreats to not only be spaces for creating something, but also spaces to draw you into comfort and connection and harmony and slowing down. They are both STUNNING venues. Seriously….stunning. This is something that is important to us. The aesthetic and the tone of the space. There is also VERY limited numbers for the retreat as we want that small community feel and have venue limits too. SO GET IN QUICK!!
Three Night NSW Retreat
Noonaweena, Kulnurra
Thursday 11th August 2022
until
Sunday 14th August 2022
Join us for three nights at the stunning Noonaweena retreats on the Central Coast of NSW.
Three Night VIC Retreat
Cedar and Stone, Daylesford
Thursday 6th October 2022
until
Sunday 9th October 2022
Join us for three nights at the glorious Cedar and Stone, just out of Daylesford, VIC.
What you get
Luxury Accommodations for THREE nights
(PLUS use of all the facilities at your retreat venue).
Gourmet meals
(and seriously...food is important to us...these will be DELICIOUS!)
All main gathering sessions with Joel McKerrow and Liz Milaney.
All Creative Workshop sessions.
All movement/yoga sessions.
Access to talk things through with the two hosts over the retreat.
Access to the CONFLUENCE online community platform
for pre-conference and post-conference connections and learning.
NOTE: BYO your own creative gear.
Costing
For a full THREE DAY retreat and with the quality of accommodation, food and teaching and all that this retreat entails, we have still tried to keep the price as LOW as we can. This truly is an EXTRAORDINARY price for all that you will recieve on this retreat.
AND if you can't afford it in one lump sum,
you can pay over THREE MONTHS with a MONTHLY PAYMENT PLAN (On registration)
There are three ways for you to attend the retreat that affects your cost...
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Base Retreat Package
Single Add-On
Self-Accomodate
$999total
$1399total
$699total
with twin share Accomodation
Single room to yourself
with king/Queen size bed
Attend the retreat
but work out your own Accom.
Registration
Click on the below registration that applies for you.
You will then be taken to a registration page at www.ruzuku.com.
This is our online community platform and ticketing platform.
More info will be given to you upon registration
as to how to use the platform in the lead up to the retreat
Three Night NSW Retreat
Noonaweena, Kulnurra
Thursday 11th August 2022
until
Sunday 14th August 2022
Up-Front Payment
Payment Plan
$999
$1399
$699
$250x4
$350x4
$175x4
Three Night VIC Retreat
Cedar and Stone, Daylesford
Thursday 6th October 2022
until
Sunday 9th October 2022
Up-Front Payment
Payment Plan
$699
$175x4
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