Birthing the Holy Prayer~Dance~Video Release Party!

Thursday, November 30th

10-11am Pacific 

Come one, come all!  Join us on Zoom at Abbey of the Arts for a Release Party celebrating our newest prayer dance digital collection – Birthing the Holy: Dancing with Mary and the Sacred Feminine! The dances accompany Christine Valters Paintner’s book Birthing the Holy, its companion album, and Prayer Cycle.

As the seasons turn toward the threshold of Advent, we enter the mystery of darkness as gestation time for the light within.  The time is ripe for Mother Mary to lead us into the dance of prayer as a practice of birthing the holy in our lives and our world!

The Love of Thousands: Singing with Angels, Saints, and Ancestors is released!

Our newest album accompanies Christine Valters Paintner’s book The Love of Thousands: How Angels, Saints, and Ancestors Walk with Us Toward Holiness published by Ave Maria Press, 2023 and Love of Thousands prayer cycle. Songs on this album celebrate the presence of angels, call on the wisdom of saints Julian of Norwich, Clare of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, Mechtild of Magdeburg, and Angela of Foligno, and honor the gifts of our wise and well ancestors.

SpiritPlay Class in Seattle!

SpiritPlay has become a staple of Seattle’s InterPlay offerings! Now in our 23rd year, we have developed a wonderful community of faith and foolishness. This monthly LIVE series is for those grounded in Christianity who so long for the spontaneity of InterPlay to help us navigate the wild and whacky, sometimes rocky, humble and holy journey of our lives. We’ll be diving into the lectionary, exploring sacred stories, dancing through the cycle of seasons, singing our souls and improvising in prayer.  Calling all angels – let’s dance, play and pray!

8 Sessions meeting the second Tuesday (mostly) of every month – 9:30 – 11:45 am.
Begins October 10th!

Birthing the Holy Prayer Cycle Video Podcasts

I am delighted to announce the release of the Birthing the Holy Prayer Cycle video podcasts at AbbeyoftheArts.com! Each day you are invited to morning and evening prayer with the many names of Mary including: Queen of Angels, Virgin, Untier of Knots, Mustafia, Star of the Sea, Vessel of Grace, Our Lady of Silence, Our Lady of the Underworld, Mother of Sorrows, Greenest Branch, Theotokos, Mystical Rose, Madonna Protectress and Mirror of Justice. These prayers bring together the rich tradition of monastic prayer, the wisdom of ancient mystics, songs from our album compilations, embodied prayers to accompany each song, contemporary versions of the psalms, and poetry and blessings.

Testimonials

  • I just love Betsey’s music and dance. It’s a way of freeing the body with music and movement and getting closer to God. Thank you Betsey and colleagues — the videography was very well done.

    Marie Gibson

  • “During the workshop, Betsey told the story of the Creation using her whole body. When she got to the part about God blowing the breath of life into humanity, she used her whole body to blow the ‘breath of life’ into us. A radically new awareness broke through for me in that moment: I began …

    Sharie Bowman