A THREE YEAR RETREAT: July 2019 - July 2022
For the Benefit of All Beings

Coming home from a winter in Mexico, 2019, and preparing for my one-year solitary retreat, I was moved to follow a deeply held desire — to go into THREE YEARS of solitude. Despite another birthday coming up in July, I was feeling better than I have in six years after three severe concussions and a long recovery. I said  If not now — when?

I was inspired to read an analogy in The Monk and The Philosopher by Matthieu Ricard, a Tibetan monk. He wrote of how short solitary retreats can be like a spade turning over the earth. One year in solitude can dig a good hole but with three years, you might find water.

I know very well how tremendously difficult a long solitary retreat can be. I have been there, alone with just my thoughts, my practice and the wilderness, in extremely rustic conditions. But I also remember what I wrote at the end of my New Zealand year:

To let go, be purged, purified, washed by the night rain, seen-through by the full moon; to be liberated, freed, let loose from samsaric bonds of suffering. To step out anew, refreshed. All this I have learned over twelve months in solitude.

And I’m ready.

I am further inspired to do this by JetsumaTenzin Palmo who writes:

In this time of darkness, with its greed, violence and ignorance, it’s important that there are areas of light in the gloom, something to balance al the heaviness and darkness. To my mind, the contemplatives and solitary meditators are like lighthouses beaming out love and compassion on the world. Because their beams are focused, they are very powerful. They become like generators and are extremely necessary.

I cannot do this alone however. I very much need the support of others, emotionally, spiritually and perhaps even financially. For this three-year retreat, I have 36 months of rent to pay and more. And so, my friend has said, if you make it easy, others will want to support you efforts. For this reason, we created a section called  “How Can I Help”.

I welcome all your good wishes. I will have a postal address, to be in touch in a limited way. But  there will be no email or Facebook postings. I hope to do this FOR YOU if you will open that door to my solitary hut. Deep gratitude for being there with me.

YEAR ONE: KENTUCKY

I will be following the waxing moon in mid-July to Cedars of Peace in a small town in central Kentucky – one hour south of Louisville to stay a year alone, in a 10’ x 15’ hermitage built in the 1970’s for contemplative Catholic nuns and recently refurbished. The seven huts on a secluded part of the Loretto property are now used by writers, artists and religious solitaries seeking retreat.

Cedars of  Peace is situated in a cedar forest on 780 acres of farm land managed by the Sisters of Loretto in the town of Loretto / Nerinx, just twelve miles from the Abbey of Gethsemani where theologian Thomas Merton wrote of solitude in the 1950's/60’s. I found Loretto, and this deeply spiritual valley of four monasteries, on-line under a website called TAT Foundation where this note pulled me in:

“Cedars of Peace is a cluster of seven cabins located in a wooded area about a half mile from the main Motherhouse buildings. Cabins are available for individuals wanting a place of deep quiet and solitude. Most retreatants stay for two-six nights, although some stay up to a year.” “Economical”

It is my first long retreat in the USA and my family and friends are delighted that there will be no visa worries and delivery of vitamins pills can be done to a post office box. I will have a secluded (though not isolated) hut with a screened porch to view bird and squirrel activity. The room is somewhat smaller than my New Zealand lodging since it includes a toilet and shower INSIDE,in addition to a small twin bed, little closet, small desk and one chair, as well as a woodstove, two gas-burner stove and even a small electric refrigerator this time. Its definitely not as rugged as my beloved Abaya Hut on that high precipice in New Zealand. I do have a forest labyrinth and small chapel house behind the hut also.

The little hermitage I have been given for my 365 days is significantly called Grace Hut or Adhisthana in Pali (the name of our Triratna centre in England)!! How auspicious.

YEARS TWO and THREE: MISSOURI, October 1 2020 – July 2022

Realizing that my continued retreat needed to be in the USA since two-year visas for Spain, the UK, New Zealand and even Canada are not easily available for an American, I corresponded with forty-three different retreat centers and monasteries. Waiting patiently for replies, I found only TWO which could take me for my remaining two-year retreat. One was in the rolling hills of central Missouri, an hour southwest of St. Louis and 300 miles from Cedars of Peace in KY.

Windridge Solitude, Lonedell, MO was the dream of five enthusiastic women formerly Dominican and Pallotine Missionary Sisters. Called to form the Companions of the Infinite Love, a post-Pentecost Spirit-inspired group, their mission is spiritcare and earthcare. Silence and solitude are strongly balanced in their lives with a dedication to caring for creation, providing a nurturing environment for others who seek solitude.

Beginning in 1995, six cottages with modern conveniences have been built on the 160 acres of vast meadows and deep forests with the support of donors and endowments. The cottages come well equipped and while many visitors stay for one or two weeks and return again and again as modern life allows, there are some retreatants who stay for three-months or longer. When the Sisters heard that I wanted an uninterrupted retreat for meditation and reflection they were delighted to work out a plan to do grocery shopping and food runs and allow me to remain in deep silence for up to two years. I could not have found a more enthusiastic or supportive group. I go into Visitation Hut Octover 1, 2020 for my second and third years of retreat, with deep joy and gratitude.

I will be able to receive mail and welcome a note of support.

Kiranada, October 1, 2020–July 2022
Windridge Solitude
1932 West Linda Lane
Lonedell, MO 63060