This formational walk prepares you to be
and to step into your own MODALITY of inter-spiritual leadership.
And, this offering is here at the edge of what is.
This walk is emergent formation. As in, we're pulling from what has come before, and bringing that essence into relevant context of the now.
Spiritual companionship is as ancient as we are. It has always been.
It's as simple as hearts facing hearts.
And, it's amazing what it takes to truly follow the call -- to allow ourselves to be so bare and here. With ourselves. With each other. With all that is More-Than-Human.
This offering has just enough structure to be guidepost, and to recognize the tenants that underpin the spirituality of the current western context, the energies that ride underneath.
And, it is open enough for you to RESPOND to your calling, and navigate with your inner compass.
Soul Friend is for you who hear the call to be an inter-spiritual companion and community minister.
That might look like:
Recognizing the spiritual care dimensions in your service work. Tattoo artists, yoga teachers, reiki practitioners, photographers... all you service industry babes are so often holding space for others hearts and stories.
You're being asked to officiate weddings or hold ceremonial space. People are bringing their dreams and callings and inner life stories to you. You naturally found yourself being a "heart with ears."
Maybe you've looked at spiritual direction programs, seminary programs, counseling programs... and yet, something holds you back from applying.
What I know from following the breadcrumb trail of my own calling, is that the "energy of encounter" has not led me into MORE defined spaces, it has led me into LESS defined spaces. This program is for you who are brave and willing to walk into the unknown, and to more fully occupy the shape of your own calling. This is a formational process, but not so you can do exactly what I do, or become something you're not -- but to recognize MORE of yourself, and practice encountering another through less filters.
This requires bravery because the system desires and often requires definition -- and what we're doing is only barely touching the edge of the box of definition with our fingernails. We're the ones willing to DWELL at the fringe. To listen to the emergent needs, and to create and respond, to unwind and re-weave, to be WILDLY caring presence with few tethers to outer expectation.
An opening circle will happen in June and October to welcome new cohort members, be in ceremony together and create/revisit our living agreements.
Wherever you are in the program material, bring it! Bring your golden nuggets, your questions, the shimmers and the shadows. Each person on the call will get undivided attention from Meg - AND the juicy benefit of witnessing others growth arcs and hearing their perspectives and teachings.
We'll bring it into depth, practice what we're talking about, lean in closer with folks on the walk beside us, nourish ourselves with rest, delicious food, and more.
Each quarter you're in Soul Friend, you'll receive a 75 minute session with Meg to bring the material in deeper, receive direct care and attention to what's arising for you in this formational process, a look at what your practice might look like as your self concept expands to include community minister and Soul Friend.
To complete Soul Friend, candidates will be required to fulfill 25 hours of Practicum. This can look like:
1:1 sessions
Circle / Group Work
Community Service in a way that clearly brings the tenants of Soul Friend into practice.
We'll discern if this ceremony and celebration is virtual or in person (or both). *Note - To facilitate marriages outside of Washington State, you may need a co-ordination or to become a notary.
Soul Friend can be completed within a year, or take as long as you need to deeply integrate this framework into your life and practice. Access to active standing within the program is granted with annual membership. Each year includes access to the non-downloadable materials, 4 sessions with Meg, 2 retreats and all other benefits. PDF's and some other assets can be downloaded for forever access. All program components need to be completed with integrity before ordination.
Rev. Meg Vellejos Mccoy
My private practice has developed through earning my BFA at Maine College Of Art, training in healing modalities, chaplaincy training through the Chaplaincy Institute Of Maine, a lifetime of gathering in wisdom circles and many years of study with incredible teachers and elders such as Elder Teacher David Lonebear Sanipass, Kate Joyner, Animas Valley Institute, Sandra Chaussee, The 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, Elder Jackie Major, Christine Valters Paintner, Peggy Brick, and more. In addition, I’ve been in practice for nearly 20 years, and have learned A LOT from being in it beside incredible teachers and soul friends in community.
The call to this work for me is by and large to assist our great re-membering of true friendship and community, collaboratively creating a tone of skilled peer companions and to participate in the re-wiring of spiritual care being a “power with” dynamic, versus “power over”.
This body of work pairs with all kinds of callings.
Within the very first cohort of Soul Friend we had a lawyer who brought the tone of Soul Friendship into how she companions survivors of domestic abuse, and a youth advocate who skillfully companions sheltered teens. We also had a Contemplative Artist and a Dharma Dominatrix, both bringing this framework into the care they offer the community.
Soul Friend can pair with what you’re already up to — and, it can be a starting point for folks yearning to turn towards companioning others with integrity and spaciousness as a “presence of presence”.
Skills We’ll focus on developing:
Mirroring/Spiritual Companionship - listening to another’s story without projection or interpretation or fixing. Having ears to hear the shimmers - both dark and glimmering gems within a share and offering voice to those reflections with consent. Being “hearts with ears”.
Practice - creating and/or sustaining regular/daily personal practice(s) that water spirit and body and being.
Voice work in a spiritual direction - We will have an informed and held container for folx to practice sharing thought, sermon, words of change and words of Spirit.
Ceremony - We will have an informed and held container for folx to practice creating and offering ceremonies: wedding, funeral. naming, divorce, grief, etc.
Ethics/navigating conflict/subtle dynamics + right relationship
20 topics relevant to navigating the current Western spiritual context from a non-clinical practitioner's perspective - From dreamwork and creativity, to Social Justice as Spiritual Practice and navigating Dark Night.