Christine Valters Paintner befasst sich mit kontemplativer Praxis und kreativem Ausdruck, was ihre tiefe Auseinandersetzung mit spiritueller und künstlerischer Erforschung widerspiegelt. Ihre Schriften beleuchten tiefe innere Reisen und inspirieren die Leser zu persönlichem Wachstum und kreativer Entdeckung. Als Online-Äbtissin und produktive Autorin überträgt sie die Weisheit des klösterlichen Lebens durch ihre Literatur und Retreats in die heutige Welt. Ihr Ansatz verbindet geschickt alte spirituelle Traditionen mit der Praxis eines lebendigen künstlerischen Lebens.
Exploring the theme of grief, the author shares her journey through loss and the concept of the "midwinter God," representing the perceived absence of divine presence during dark times. The book encourages readers to embrace spiritual growth by accepting the wisdom found in holy darkness and humility. It suggests that this darkness is not just a void but a fertile ground for spiritual renewal, inviting readers to approach their struggles with courage and vulnerability, ultimately leading to a sense of wholeness and joy.
"Discover your truest hungers and your deepest spiritual reserves as Christine Paintner, aka The Online Abbess, shares 6 unique fasts helping reveal harmful patterns and re-orienting us toward nourishing fulfillment. Drawing on desert wisdom and contemplative practice, Paintner helps us enter our own journey of spiritual growth"--
Exploring the impact of saints, ancestors, and angels, this book encourages readers to recognize both the conscious and unconscious influences these figures have on their lives. It offers a retreat-like experience within everyday life, focusing on healing ancestral wounds while fostering relationships with these spiritual guides. Led by Christine Valters Paintner, the text delves into Christian and Jewish teachings, Celtic wisdom of Samhain, and various cultural practices surrounding ancestor reverence and remembrance.
Through personal reflections and poignant poetry, the author invites readers to reconnect with the enduring presence of love amidst life's challenges. By highlighting the beauty and wonder of the Creator's gifts, the book serves as a guide to navigating pain, loss, and uncertainty, encouraging a journey of discovery and hope.
Christine Valters Paintner, abbess of Abbey of the Arts, introduces us to the spiritual practice of breath prayer and offers beautiful poem-prayers for walking, working, dressing, cleaning, sitting in silence, doing the dishes, living in community--breathing the divine into our daily lives.
Exploring themes of hope, desire, and the wisdom of mystics, the poems reflect the enduring aspects of life inspired by the poet's experiences in Ireland. With an incantational quality, they invite readers to perceive the world in deeper ways. Rooted in the practice of silence and lectio divina, the verses transform everyday life into a sacred text, emphasizing the beauty of changing seasons, love, and wild places.
The distorted view of the perfect female body created by popular culture, television, movies, and the media often causes women to become uncomfortable with their own bodies. Christine Valters Paintner, popular author of nine books and abbess of the online retreat center Abbey of the Arts, draws from Celtic, desert, and Benedictine traditions to help women connect with their bodies through writing, visual art, and movement. In The Wisdom of the Body, Christine Valters Paintner focuses on the true meaning of the Incarnation--God became flesh--and points to the spiritual importance of appreciating the bodies God gave us. Each of the book's ten chapters is a mini-workshop designed to lead us to new ways of being in relationship with our bodies. Starting with the senses and shifting toward emotions and desires, Paintner explores their role as thresholds to discovering the body's wisdom. She draws from Christian tradition to offer principles and practices such as stability, hospitality, and gratitude to lead us on a journey that ends with a sense of deep peace and self-acceptance. Through expressive arts and creative movement, Paintner demonstrates a new a language and way of integrating and sharing our discoveries. By exploring the lives of women in the Bible and in the Christian tradition--including Eve, Mary, Hildegaard of Bingen, and Amma Syncletica--Paintner introduces us to companions that accompany us on our journey.
In this first book to explore photography as a spiritual practice from a
Christian perspective, Christine Valters Paintner builds on the process of
contemplative creativity introduced on her popular website Abbey of the Arts
and in her book The ArtistA fs Rule. She considers how a camera can enable one
to see with A gthe eyes of the heart.A h
Lectio divina, which means sacred reading, is an ancient contemplative
practice of listening deeply to the voice of God in sacred texts. Drawing on
her own experience as a monk in the world, Christine Valters Paintner breaks
open the movements of this spiritual practice. She makes them accessible to
the contemporary reader.
Timeless and contemplative sayings from the earliest Christian sages of desert spirituality can be a companion on your own spiritual journey. The desert fathers and mothers were ordinary Christians living in solitude in the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Arabia who chose to renounce the world in order to deliberately and individually follow God's call. They embraced lives of celibacy, labor, fasting, prayer and poverty, believing that denouncing material goods and practicing stoic self-discipline would lead to unity with the Divine. Their spiritual practice formed the basis of Western monasticism and greatly influenced both Western and Eastern Christianity. Their writings, first recorded in the fourth century, consist of spiritual advice, parables and anecdotes emphasizing the primacy of love and the purity of heart. Focusing on key themes of charity, fortitude, lust, patience, prayer and self-control, the Sayings influenced the rule of St. Benedict and have inspired centuries of opera, poetry and art. This probing and personal SkyLight Illuminations edition opens up their wisdom for readers with no previous knowledge of Western monasticism and early Christianity. It provides insightful yet unobtrusive commentary that describes historical background, explains the practice of asceticism and illustrates how you can use their wisdom to energize your spiritual quest.
