Journey
Together
The Journey of Illumination involves five touchstones:
CENTERING
Show Up and Observe
Each day challenge yourself to make contact with your true Source, that which makes you come most alive.
GATHERING
Show Up, Share, and Listen
Regularly look for support and accountability with other committed brothers and listen to each other’s stories.
CONNECTING
Show Up and Share Life
Find other men with whom you can walk shoulder-to-shoulder through life’s highs and lows.
RELEASING
Show Up and Let Go
Living in the present requires us to release the past and let go of ways that no longer serve us.
SERVING
Show Up and Act
Honor the earth and serve the whole human community. Find ways to positively impact your family, community, and world.
Ready to take the next step on your own personal Journey of Illumination? There are a number of ways to start:
- Be initiated into the Journey at a Men’s Rites of Passage – an immersive experience of ritual, story, nature, connection, and more to help awaken you to the adventure and mystery of your own life’s purpose. Or return a second time to go even deeper through the Initiator Program.
- Find supportive connection with fellow men at a local Illuman Council Circle or join one of our Virtual Councils or online Passion Circles.
- Learn how to lead men in the practice of Council, through a Council Leadership Training Course.
Or continue below for blog posts, events, and book recommendations to help you along your Journey…
The Illuman blog has a host of inspirational content to encourage you on your Journey. Check out some of our latest posts below!
Upcoming Events
Illuman offers multiple events throughout the year, both online and through our local chapters, to help you deepen your spiritual journey. Take a look below or click here for our full calendar.
Opening to my deeper reality with the Enneagram
When:
October 31, 2024 @ 8:00 am – 3:00 pm
Where:
Lake Williamson Christian Center
To enter into sacred space with our ancestors and descendants, we will explore how our present reactions to the current[…]
PRACTICING PRESENCE: A Spiritual Intention (Online Workshop)
When:
October 7, 2024 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Where:
Online
We’re excited to announce a 10-week workshop beginning on Monday, October 7, 2024 (thru December 9, 2024). We’ll meet on[…]
Elders Rites of Passage
When:
May 6, 2025 – May 10, 2025 all-day
Where:
Johnsonburg Camp & Retreat Center
ELDER RITES OF PASSAGE Johnsonburg Camp & Retreat Center Johnsonburg, New Jersey May 6-10, 2025 Sponsored by the Illuman East[…]
Youth Drum Making Rite of Passage with Dads or Mentors
When:
October 5, 2024 @ 2:00 pm – October 6, 2024 @ 2:30 pm
Where:
The Art Center, Located on the Holly Family Village grounds in Brooklyn, MI
There is an African proverb that says: “If the youth are not initiated, they will burn down the village.” Witnessing[…]
SPIRITUAL REFLECTION
Suggested Reading List
Bill Plotkin - Soulcraft
Richard Rohr - Adam’s Return
Henri Nouwen - The Return of the Prodigal Son
James Finley - Merton’s Palace of Nowhere
Richard Rohr - From Wild Man to Wise Man
Since 1980, depth psychologist Bill Plotkin has been guiding women and men into the wilderness—the redrock canyons and snow-crested mountains of the American West—but also into the wilds of the soul. He calls this work soulcraft.
Based on decades of work, travel, and experience, Rohr, a Franciscan brother and best-selling author, unearths the complexities of male spiritual maturation and helps us to understand the importance of male initiation rights in both culture and the church.
A chance encounter with a reproduction of Rembrandt’s The Return of the Prodigal Son catapulted Henri Nouwen on a long spiritual adventure. Here he shares the deeply personal and resonant meditation that led him to discover the place within where God has chosen to dwell.
This one door is the door of the Palace of Nowhere. It is the door of God. It is our very self, our true self called by God to perfect union with himself. And it is through this door we secretly enter in responding to the saving call to ‘Come with me to the Palace of Nowhere where all the many things are one.
From Wild Man to Wise Man is a revised and updated edition of Richard Rohr’s earlier best-seller, The Wild Man’s Journey: Reflections on Male Spirituality.