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Grace Schireson
Jerry Wennstrom and Marilyn Strong

In the late 1970's, Jerry Wennstrom was a rising star in the New York art world when he decided that, in order to truly live, he must take the ultimate leap of faith. He destroyed his large body of art, gave away all his possessions and spent the next ten years wandering, seeking, listening and trusting. He is author of "The Inspired Heart: An Artist's Journey of Transformation" and the subject of Parabola and Sentient Publications documentary videos, "In the Hands of Alchemy" and "Studio Dialogue." Jerry lectures and offers film presentations internationally and writes monthly articles for Inferential Focus, a New York City think tank and consulting firm. Having come full circle, Jerry has created an entirely new body of art - reborn from an unconditional soul. Marilyn Strong holds a BA in Religion and Adult Education and an MA in Spirituality and Culture. She is a skilled creator and facilitator of adult spirituality programs and workshops. She is also a counselor, an ordained interfaith minister, ceremonialist, a vocalist, and a certified Death Midwife. She provides coaching and information on natural death care and services to families as a home funeral guide, including music for bedside vigils, sacred dying rituals and memorial services. She has also produced a CD of chants, Songs for Sophia. Jerry and Marilyn have been working together and exploring the inner and outer sacred marriage for the past 20 years.













Exploring the Creative Potential in Challenging Times
Jerry Wennstrom and Marilyn Strong
August 12 - August 16, 2009


Program fee $90

We are at a time when the world is changing radically beneath our feet and many of us are looking for healthy reference points that might help us access the solid ground of a vital new direction. The old forms and ways we used to control our lives just a short time ago, are no longer working for us. In the metaphoric and cyclical "death phase," when the moon emits no light at all, it is time to surrender external controls and turn inward for the grounding and guidance we need to move forward into a new phase of our lives.

In this workshop we will help participants work with the transpersonal and Universal aspects of surrender illustrated by Jerry's personal leap into the void that his journey entailed. The deeper mythos of his journey is a workable template -- a "given" to anyone willing to be fully present in turning into the moment of their current experience. We are, however, at a different place now. Leaping, as Jerry did in 1979, is now the rule of the day. We are collectively being bumped over into a larger collective void by the circumstances of a rapidly changing world. It is often the artists, the poets or anyone who has remained open and sensitive to spirit of the times, who are the first to decipher the code of the creative new direction being offered to us.

In the 5 days we will be together we will consciously work to challenge the fears and limitations that hold each of us back from engaging life fully. We will help participants decipher the language of a larger mythos a language that speaks its wise and healthy truth in both the light and in the darkness of our experience.

We will explore ways to surrender and embrace the blossoming new reality yearning to express itself through each of us as individuals. Releasing our fears through sacred ceremony is a reverent, sacred process that we will share and explore in the safety and comfort of a supportive group. We will open to the joyful solid grounding that is our birthright and dialogue creatively with the mystery that, given a chance, delivers life sanctified, back into our hands.

www.handsofalchemy.com