Writing Your Sacred Journey
Stories to Transform Self and World
Hidden within your life experiences is a wellspring of hope, wisdom, truth, and connection. Painful memories reveal ultimate values; fragmented memories make way for unity; languageless memories find voice. Writing is one way to draw from this bottomless, life-giving source. By creating stories of your past, you can re-create your present and find agency for a meaningful future. If you want, your inner story can move the inner life of a reader, passing the gift of transformation forward.
Join Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew to explore the art and practice of spiritual memoir writing. Each session will give participants the opportunity to write, time for conversation, inspiration from model writers, and insights about craft, content, and practice. These monthly practice sessions are meant for writers of all levels, including absolute beginners. New participants are encouraged to take Elizabeth’s introduction to spiritual memoir workshop or read Writing the Sacred Journey. Because practice sessions are not consecutive, you can drop in as you’d like. Over three years, the curriculum covers the significant aspects of the craft of writing memoir, common themes, and the invitations to transformation inherent in the practice.
Writing Your Sacred Journey
Guided by Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew
In Person: Monthly on fourth Fridays (except Holiday times) from 1:30-3:30 p.m. (1/26, 2/23, 3/22, 4/26, 5/24, 6/14)
4101 Harriet Avenue in Minneapolis
Online: Monthly on fourth Mondays from 6:00-8:00 p.m. CT (1/22, 2/26, 3/25, 4/22, 5/20, 6/17)
January: The Blessed Body
Our bodies are trustworthy sources of memory and wisdom. Together we’ll write from our bodies, about our bodies, to our bodies, and with our bodies as a practice of welcoming the Spirit. We’ll also delve into sensory description as a literary technique that invites the reader deep into our experiences.
February: Cultivating Love
“What goes on in your innermost being is worthy of your whole love,” Rilke told the young poet. Writing memories can be an expression of this love. We’ll grapple lovingly with our past, practice writing as a loving act, and open ourselves to receiving love through the creative process.
March: Living the Questions
Questions pry open possibilities, expose alternatives, ask that we see through new eyes, motivate, open us to love—and are a writer’s best tool. We’ll explore questions as portals into memory and instruments of revision.
April: Characters: Real People in Two Dimensions
The people in our lives, including ourselves, become characters in our memoir. Yikes! How do we represent others both honestly and respectfully? We’ll learn about character development and how good craft practices—that is, creating complex portraits—are also loving practices.
May: Faith in Writing
With intention, creative writing can exercise and strengthen faith—in ourselves, in the creative process, and in our Source. Shrada, the Sanskrit word for faith, means “the power to hold into one.” We’ll practice lending this power to our memories.
June: Perspective and Insight
All memoir is a dialogue between past and present, between the “character” you were then and the “narrator” you are today. We’ll practice using the reflective voice in memoir as a way to invite perspective and insight.
Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew
Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew is a wisdom teacher and writing coach dedicated to facilitating creative emergence.
As a writer she elicits the spirit’s movement within stories; as a teacher she supports transformation within writers and on the page. She received her MFA in creative nonfiction from Hamline University, her spiritual direction training from the Center for Spiritual Guidance, and her contemplative formation from the Center for Action and Contemplation’s Living School. You can connect with Elizabeth at www.spiritualmemoir.com and www.elizabethjarrettandrew.com.