Upcoming + Recent Workshops and Gatherings
Saturday, January 15, 2022: How to be a Mystic: Emily Dickinson's Day Job
Saturday, January 15, 2022: How to be a Mystic: Emily Dickinson's Day Job
Saturday, January 15, 2022: How to be a Mystic: Emily Dickinson's Day Job
1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., EST
Zoom
In this casual writing workshop sponsored by Centering Space, we will explore mystical thought from a Judeo-Christian tradition, which will prepare us to dive into the puzzling delights of Dickinson’s poetry. Our conversation will inspire the creation of our own mystical poetry.
This session is writing intensive and will be guided by participants’ writing and ideas about the material.
No pre-reading is required: Come only with paper, pen or pencil, and a willingness to be surprised by the innate mystical sensibilities you yourself carry. We welcome both new and veteran writers, those interested in Dickinson or mysticism and anyone wishing to write for personal renewal.
Sunday, October 24, 2021: Job Description
Saturday, January 15, 2022: How to be a Mystic: Emily Dickinson's Day Job
Saturday, January 15, 2022: How to be a Mystic: Emily Dickinson's Day Job
11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., EST
Zoom
What would happen if instead of asking each other what we do, we asked, What are you here to do? What would your most ideal job description look like?
Lina Rodriguez, PhD, author, professor, and coach, will facilitate this writing workshop.
Join us to write, talk, and imagine. Leave with a promotion to your higher self.
Sunday, August 29, 2021: This Book Changed Me, Too
Saturday, January 15, 2022: How to be a Mystic: Emily Dickinson's Day Job
Four Session Series: How to be a Mystic. Sundays on Sept. 5, 12, 26, and Oct. 3.
11:00 a.m. t 12:30 p.m., EST
Zoom
Our session This Book Changed Me was so beautiful, we're gathering for Part 2, This Book Changed Me, Too. Come and let your book, poem, or song change us.
Just like last session, you have a small -- and fun! -- homework assignment! Please type a favorite paragraph, line, or phrase from your favorite book, poem, or song here.
We'll use everyone's chosen passages to generate writing and revelry in an eclectic community of listeners and activists, witches and mystics, delicious sinners and mischievous saints. Come!
All Institute sessions are perfect for both new and established writers, for anyone interested in books and beauty, for those wishing to start writing a book or to complete one. Come, and let your book change us.
Four Session Series: How to be a Mystic. Sundays on Sept. 5, 12, 26, and Oct. 3.
Four Session Series: How to be a Mystic. Sundays on Sept. 5, 12, 26, and Oct. 3.
Four Session Series: How to be a Mystic. Sundays on Sept. 5, 12, 26, and Oct. 3.
11:00 a.m. t 12:30 p.m., EST
Zoom
Join us for this four-part series to walk through four different poets' approaches to mystical insights: Rumi, Marie Howe, Emily Dickinson, and Helen Schucman. We'll use their work to unlock our own mystical poetry.
We start with Rumi's conversational mysticism in Session 1. We then pause with Marie Howe's feminist mysticism in her poetic tributes to Mary Magdalene and Mary, mother of Jesus in Session 2. The otherworldly grammar of Emily Dickinson's mysticism will puzzle and delight us in Session 3. These sessions will prepare us in Session 4 for perhaps the most radical mystical poetry of all, Helen Schucman's, best known for penning one of the English language's most quietly ferocious mystical documents, A Course in Miracles. She was also a closet poet.
Open-ended prompts will coax you to write poems from the voice of the everyday mystic inside you. Come. It's time.
We meet on four Sundays (Sept. 5, 12, 26, + Oct. 3) from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., EST.
If you attend all (4) sessions, please pay $25 per session. If you book less than four sessions, each individual session is $30.
Please register here.
Please reach out with questions to BenjaminBagocius@gmail.com.
Sunday, August 15, 2021: This Book Changed Me
Four Session Series: How to be a Mystic. Sundays on Sept. 5, 12, 26, and Oct. 3.
Sunday, August 15, 2021: This Book Changed Me
11:00 a.m. t 12:30 p.m., EST
Zoom
What book or poem changed you? What line, phrase, or paragraph made you feel understood, less alone, filled with new hope? Bring that line, paragraph, or phrase to this session, and type it on the google doc link here. if you can.
We will use everyone's chosen moments to generate writing, conversation, and discovery.
This session is perfect for both new and established writers, for anyone interested in books and beauty, for those wishing to start writing a book, or for those wishing to complete one. Come, and let your book change us.
Sunday, August 1, 2021: Write to Dream
Four Session Series: How to be a Mystic. Sundays on Sept. 5, 12, 26, and Oct. 3.
Sunday, August 15, 2021: This Book Changed Me
11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., EST
Zoom
Langston Hughes’s poetry inspired a nation and a world with its elegance. Dreams, their promise, their potential, and their peril, should they be lost, figured prominently in his works. For Black Americans, the theme seemed particularly poignant as dreams were the only wealth available in many circumstances. Even Dr. Martin Luther King’s "I Have a Dream" speech called heavily on the imagery of his friend, pen pal, and erstwhile travel companion, Langston Hughes.
Join us to write and reflect on dreaming through adversity as a powerful and unassailable tool for renewal. Dr. Carl DuPont, assistant professor of voice at Johns Hopkins University, will lead the gathering.
WRiting + Conversation with Poet Fleda Brown
A Morning Emergence with Soul Forte
Recent workshops + Gatherings
The Canaanite Woman: Poetry that Addresses Disability
Write to Dream: Langston Hughes and the Peril & Power of Dreams
Write to Dream: Langston Hughes and the Peril & Power of Dreams
Saturday, July 31, 2021
1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m., EST
Centering Space, Lakewood, Ohio
Zoom
$15
Join us to stir up biblical history by revisiting a forgotten prophet: the Canaanite woman. In the Book of Matthew, this unnamed woman visits Jesus to speak with him about her daughter's disability. Our session together pays tribute to caregivers, especially mothers, who raise children with severe disorders.
Your thoughts and responses will guide our session together. I will read poems from my forthcoming book The Canaanite Woman, and we will write and share responses to the poems and to each other's ideas in a judgment-free expanse of wonder and surprise. Through a series of prompts, you'll be invited to write your own poem about disability and human immensity.
So come ready to write! Or just listen, knit, and drink coffee. Your presence is its own full response. Click here to register and to learn more, and please contact me with questions. I hope to see you there!
Write to Dream: Langston Hughes and the Peril & Power of Dreams
Write to Dream: Langston Hughes and the Peril & Power of Dreams
Write to Dream: Langston Hughes and the Peril & Power of Dreams
Sunday, August 1, 2021
1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m., EST
Zoom
Langston Hughes’s poetry inspired a nation and a world with its elegance. Dreams, their promise, their potential, and their peril, should they be lost, figured prominently in his works. For Black Americans, the theme seemed particularly poignant as dreams were the only wealth available in many circumstances. Even Dr. Martin Luther King’s "I Have a Dream" speech called heavily on the imagery of his friend, pen pal, and erstwhile travel companion, Langston Hughes. Join us to write and reflect on dreaming through adversity as a powerful and unassailable tool for renewal. Dr. Carl DuPont, assistant professor of voice at Johns Hopkins University, will lead the gathering.
Soul Salon: Love Him
Soul Salon: No Such Thing as a Person
Soul Salon: No Such Thing as a Person
Sunday, June 20, 2021
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., EST
Zoom
Suggested donation: $5-$30
Father's Day meets Gay Pride. Nothing else to do but love him. Join us to explore blastoffs and blocks to loving him in whatever form, whoever he may be. Walt Whitman's poetry will lead the way, and your own writing + poetry in response will steer us to the heart's common and surprising love.
Soul Salon: No Such Thing as a Person
Soul Salon: No Such Thing as a Person
Soul Salon: No Such Thing as a Person
Sunday, June 6, 2021
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., EST
Zoom
Suggested donation: $5-$30
What would it mean to drop identity like a towel and plunge into life wearing only True Self, our real birthday suit? We'll splash around in writing both by Hindu spiritual explorer Nisargadatta Maharaj and our own. We'll emerge from this sea soaking wet with each other's ideas about Great Mystery. We'll jot down what that's like by writing our own poems, and our hearts will splash us back.
More Recent workshops
A Fresh Start. Again: A Spiritual Poetry Workshop to Revive, Refresh, + Renew, Part 2.
A Fresh Start. Again: A Spiritual Poetry Workshop to Revive, Refresh, + Renew, Part 2.
A Fresh Start. Again: A Spiritual Poetry Workshop to Revive, Refresh, + Renew, Part 2.
Sunday, May 23, 2021
Centering Space, Lakewood, Ohio
2:00 - 3:30 p.m., EST
Zoom
$15
Our first "Fresh Start" was such a joy, we're returning to begin again! Join us for a casual online gathering to read, revel in, and write poetry about fresh starts. Together we'll turn to poems about starting anew by Lisel Mueller and Major Jackson. A series of prompts will guide us to write and share our responses as well as our own poems in an informal space of openness, wonder, and fun.
So please bring a notebook and writing utensil. Come to write and share your ideas, or just listen, knit, or drink coffee. Let's gather together and learn from poetry and from each other the joy and release of a fresh start.
Please click here for more information and to register.
Soul Salon: The Eternal Maternal, Part 2
A Fresh Start. Again: A Spiritual Poetry Workshop to Revive, Refresh, + Renew, Part 2.
A Fresh Start. Again: A Spiritual Poetry Workshop to Revive, Refresh, + Renew, Part 2.
Sunday, May 23, 2021.
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., EST
Zoom
Donations appreciated
The Eternal Maternal was so immense we're returning for Part 2!
What is the eternal maternal to you? Helene called it "a depth of knowing that scalds and purifies." Chris called it "a smack to put you back in line." Tony called it "arrival at Union Station -- gate to Heaven."
Becky called it a "safety pin holding a star to the boy's heart." Tanja called it "seeing everything for the first time." Mara asked "Da fuq can't we get a break?" Irene called it "the space surrounding the 10,000 year-long shlong." Ben called it "the dream God had of his mother." The Eternal Maternal didn't call it anything and just smiled. All of this is delightfully subject to change in Part 2. Pull up a zoom chair and join us!
Soul Salon: The Eternal Maternal, Part 1
A Fresh Start. Again: A Spiritual Poetry Workshop to Revive, Refresh, + Renew, Part 2.
Soul Salon: The Heart is Always Adjusting
Sunday, May 9, 2021.
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., EST
Zoom
Donations appreciated
What is being born in you? Please join us for writing and conversation on the ways we are each pregnant with a Being that has chosen us as its guardian. With the writing of Thich Nhat Hanh and H.D., we're throwing a baby shower for the bouncing bundle of Beauty coursing within us. Join us. The gift you bring is yourself.
Soul Salon: The Heart is Always Adjusting
Fresh Start: A Spiritual Poetry Workshop to Revive, Refresh, + Renew
Soul Salon: The Heart is Always Adjusting
Sunday, April 25, 2021
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., EST
Zoom
Mountains shake, losing and finding their balance. So, too, the heart. Come to read, write, and revel in each other's ideas about the ascents and descents of the human heart. Rain or shine, the poetry of Else Lasker-Schueler will guide us across the summits.
Join us! Please send me an email in "Contacts" for the Zoom link.
Fresh Start: A Spiritual Poetry Workshop to Revive, Refresh, + Renew
Fresh Start: A Spiritual Poetry Workshop to Revive, Refresh, + Renew
Fresh Start: A Spiritual Poetry Workshop to Revive, Refresh, + Renew
Saturday, May 1, 2021
Centering Space, Lakewood, Ohio
1:00 - 2:30 p.m., EST
Zoom
$15
Join us for a casual online gathering to read, revel in, and write poetry about fresh starts. Together we'll turn to poems about beginning again by Jane Hirshfield, Kei Miller, and others to throw open discoveries about renewal. A series of prompts will guide us to write and share our responses as well as our own poems in an informal space of openness, wonder, and fun. So please bring a notebook and writing utensil. Come to write and share your ideas, or just listen, knit, or drink coffee. Let's gather together and learn from poetry and from each other the joy and release of a fresh start.
Please contact Centering Space for more information and to register.
Soul Salon: Authority
Fresh Start: A Spiritual Poetry Workshop to Revive, Refresh, + Renew
Fresh Start: A Spiritual Poetry Workshop to Revive, Refresh, + Renew
Sunday, April 11, 2021
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., EST
Zoom
There's no election for the Soul, because it's already won. Join the victory party! Acceptance speeches will be provided by the poetry of Helen Schucman and Emily Dickinson. We'll make some noise by listening to each other's insights and writing our own poems.
Join us! For more information and to pop in, please visit the "Soul Salon " menu link above, or send me an email: https://benjaminbagocius.com/contact
Soul Salon: Path of the Fall
And Also With You: A Conversation on Spiritual Poetry
And Also With You: A Conversation on Spiritual Poetry
Sunday, March 28, 2021
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., EST
Zoom
Who said falling has to be scary? Join us as we plunge into the divine nothingness of who we are with poetry by Lisel Mueller and Lucille Clifton. Live to write your own poem about it.
Join us! For more information and to pop in, please visit the "Soul Salon " menu link above, or send me an email: https://benjaminbagocius.com/contact
And Also With You: A Conversation on Spiritual Poetry
And Also With You: A Conversation on Spiritual Poetry
And Also With You: A Conversation on Spiritual Poetry
Monday, March 22, 2021
Bard College, Dean's Hour at a Distance Series
3:30 - 4:30 p.m., EST.
What is spirituality? What is spiritual poetry? Where would you begin the conversation? I will facilitate a wide-ranging conversation about spiritual poetry for Bard College's series "Dean's Hour at a Distance." The session will be interactive and led by participants' thoughts and feelings on the topic. I'll read poems from my forthcoming books "The Gospel According to B." and "The Canaanite Woman," and we'll also dive into poems by Mohja Kahf and Naomi Shihab Nye and share ideas their work opens for us. Through a series of prompts, participants will write their own poems, perhaps reimagining a sacred story or offering a reflection on what spiritual poetry means to you.
Soul Salon: Whichever Path
And Also With You: A Conversation on Spiritual Poetry
Companions on the Journey: A Conversation on Amanda Gorman's Poem "The Hill We Climb"
Sunday, March 14, 2021
11:00 a.m. -12:30 p.m., EST
Zoom
"Which way should you go?" might be the wrong question. Join us as we follow the sentence-paths of Deborah Bagocius and Thich Nhat Hanh. We'll read a little, write a little, listen, and exchange ideas, all in a spirit of openness and wonder. The ideas we share may lead you right into the thicket of your own new poem.
For more information and to pop in, please visit the "Soul Salon " menu link above, or send me an email:
https://benjaminbagocius.com/contact
Companions on the Journey: A Conversation on Amanda Gorman's Poem "The Hill We Climb"
Companions on the Journey: A Conversation on Amanda Gorman's Poem "The Hill We Climb"
Companions on the Journey: A Conversation on Amanda Gorman's Poem "The Hill We Climb"
Monday, February 8, 2021
Centering Space, Lakewood, Ohio
7:00 - 8: 30 p.m.
Zoom
$15
At the end of Amanda Gorman's poem written on the occasion of Joe Biden's presidential inauguration, she reminds us of who we are: Light. Join the conversation to explore unshakable truths shared by this modern-day poet prophet and unfurl ideas about what it means to be human light. Through a series of reading variations and discussion prompts, we'll turn to Gorman's poem to let the glimmers in our minds, imaginations, and hearts shine open.
Mystical Mary: The Poetry of Marie Howe
Companions on the Journey: A Conversation on Amanda Gorman's Poem "The Hill We Climb"
Mystical Mary: The Poetry of Marie Howe
Center for Spiritual Deepening, Alexandria, Virginia.
Thursdays from November 2020 through January 2021.
7:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Zoom
Sometimes the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Mary was likely the first person from whom her son Jesus learned to witness mystical reality. Marie Howe's poem series "Poems from the Life of Mary" invites us on an incredible journey into Mary's mystical consciousness. Though it appears Mary does mundane activities -- looking out a window, getting water at the well, or paddling in a boat -- she sees and thinks as God would, with nearly unimaginable insight at once uncompromising and tender. Join us to read Howe's poems written in the voice of Mary, and shake up everything you thought you knew about looking out a window.