Star Gazer W51

What a Thoughtful Gift! 2025 Star Programs

It’s always refreshing to hear how someone is "gifting" the registration for a Star retreat weekend or special event to someone they love. The opportunity to get-away for a while—to recharge, pray, discern, heal, learn, grow—what a thoughtful gift! We hope you’ll take some time to browse through our 2025 program offerings, and consider gifting yourself, a friend, or family member, a faith formation opportunity in 2025.

Making time with God on retreat, in prayer, or in spiritual formation,
is the best investment to grow your relationship with God,
to widen the vision of my eyes and heart,
and to open up to the Holy Spirit’s transforming power.

www.starofthenorth.ca/programs

Early Registration Prices Ending January 1st

On this side of Christmas day, it’s always a bit of challenge thinking ahead to the new year. Often in the bustle leading up to year-end, a newsletter such as this might get lost in your inbox. With that in mind, we’ve extended the early registration deadline on a number of our January 2025 programs. Please take a minute to consider one of these upcoming formation opportunities.

Wilderness: The Journey to Wholeness — A 3-Month Formation Module
Weekend, January 24-26, 2025 —  Friday 6:30 pm - Sunday 4:30 pm
Friday/Saturday, February 21-22, 2025 — Friday 6:30 pm - Saturday 4:30 pm 
Saturday, March 15, 2025 — 9:00 am - 4:30 pm 

Early Registration (by January 1st): Live-in $870 | Commuter $780 | Online $690
Register at 780-459-5511 or at www.starofthenorth.ca/wilderness

The Star of the North offers a faith formation program called Aurora Living open to Christians willing to engage in the inner work of integrating contemplative prayer and social practice. The program is now into it’s fourth year, and we’ve been privileged to have folks from all different professions, traditions, and walks of life join our community.

Aurora Living is now accepting applicants for our winter module–Wilderness: The Journey to Wholeness–which starts January 2025. We continue to invite you consider engaging other life-long learners in a contemplative community at the intersection of faith and contemporary issues such as creation care, justice & reconciliation.

Each 3-month Aurora module is offered both in-person or online and includes an opening retreat weekend plus two Saturday retreats, smaller Wisdom Circle gatherings, monthly online resources and optional spiritual direction. The presenters for this module include: 

• Deb Rolfes, a Hebrew scripture scholar with Newman School of Theology, will lead our opening weekend retreat on What Happens in the Old Testament? Becoming the People of God.
  
  
• Rabbi Luara Duhan-Kaplan, the Director of Inter-Religious Studies at Vancouver School of Theology, will give a session on Interfaith Outreach in Polarized Times, as well as a Saturday retreat entitled Exodus: Ecology, Leadership & Reconciliation.
  
  
• Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI, award-winning author and spiritual theologian, will join us for a morning on the theme of The Wilderness as Transforming Us.

Teachers, community builders, and lay-leaders have found that Aurora Living provides grounding and growing in the Word of God, “Laudato Si” Care for Creation, community building, contemplative prayer, and justice as right relationship. Aurora Living is informative, formative, and transformative, with a focus on spiritual exploration more than doctrinal orientation. The program provides a rich exchange and learning experience about current faith and justice issues, most significantly the TRC Calls to Action, within a spirit of respectful dialogue. The monthly wisdom circles are proving to be an effective way of teaching communal skills of listening, speaking and discerning through personal and intellectual sharing to integrate the rich content of the process. Inclusive of everyone, we invite you to join us on this journey of hope and action! You can find out more about the upcoming module at www.starofthenorth.ca/wilderness 

What Happens in the Old Testament? Becoming the People of God 
Friday, January 24 at 7:00 pm to Sunday, January 26 at 1:00 pm
Early Registration (by January 1st): Live-in $355 | Commuter $285 | Online $230
Register at 780-459-5511 or at www.starofthenorth.ca/becoming 

Join master teacher Debbie Rolfes in discovering and embracing a way of reading the Old Testament that affirms both the merciful and loving nature of God and the joy of knowing that God acts in history to bring salvation to all creation. Explore the history of Israel as told in sacred scripture and trace the evolving understanding of who God is and what it means to be the people of God. 

Living Collaboratively: Inclusive Inner Listening Series with Yvonne Racine
5 Thursdays, starting January 30 from 1:30 – 3:00 pm
Early Registration (By January 1st): $150
Register at 780-459-5511 or at www.starofthenorth.ca/living

Based on the Four Voices of Spiritual Discernment work of Cynthia Bourgeault, this workshop series will uncover the perspective and tools you need to experience a more collaborative way of living with the often-conflicting voices within. Learn to identify and incorporate the parts of our being that tend to pull us apart when decision-making gets tough. The four voices which provide the inputs we need for effective discernment can also be used for broader perspective when exploring new ideas— serving as a pathway to greater inner peace. 

Some of the benefits of working with the Four Voices:

• Better discernment regarding life decisions of all kinds.
• Greater understanding and clarity about life issues.
• Pathway to greater inner peace.
• Change the way you listen to the voices of others, who may have very different perspectives from yours. 

FACILITATOR

Yvonne Racine is a Certified Spiritual Director, Grief Recovery Specialist and Ordained Minister (Retired). Her passion is the quest for wholeness and being in service particularly to those who are committed to the realization of their Divine Nature. Yvonne has an extensive history of spiritual and personal development and has been participating in and leading workshops and courses for over 35 years. Her philosophy is that the divine indwells every one of us. Since the divine is infinite, the evolution of consciousness is an ongoing process, so she sees herself as a perpetual student of life and truth.

DATES

• January 30 - Overview & The Survivor Voice
• February 6 - The Seeker Voice
• February 13 - The Visionary Voice
• February 20 - The Harmonizer Voice
• February 27 - Tips for Application & The Law of Three

STAR OF THE NORTH IS A REGISTERED C.R.A. CHARITY *108008871RR001