Navigating the Global Dark Night of the Soul
of Spiritual Directors and Companions
SDI Online Conference
May 8-10, 2024
Made possible with support from the
Navigating the Global Dark Night of the Soul
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Spiritual Companioning in the Global Dark Night of the Soul
"In lament, our task is never to convince someone of the brokenness of this world; it is to convince them of the world’s worth in the first place. True lament is not born from that trite sentiment that the world is bad but rather from a deep conviction that it is worthy of goodness.”
- Cole Arthur Riley
Keynote Speaker for SDI’s 2024 Virtual Conference
Our conference theme this year is “Navigating the Global Dark Night of the Soul of Spiritual Directors and Companions.” We will create an opening and a field for spiritual directors and companions to listen, and speak, into the hardships, struggles, and opportunities we have encountered over the last few difficult years. Unfortunately, the world’s circumstances don’t seem to be improving, but rather, progressively worsening in many ways. So we will need particularly effective tools to address empathy fatigue, burnout, and the very same afflictions that can ail all of us at any time: isolation, loneliness, despair, and loss of meaning and purpose.
Keynote Presenters
Kaira Jewel Lingo
Pádraig Ó Tuama
Cole Arthur Riley
Join us May 8-10, 2024!
Let us come together to listen and share insights, fostering a supportive community to navigate these complex times.
"If we can figure out how to be embodied and know what our bodies are telling us we can find out way back to each other."
"Part of why we don't protect what we have is because we're not really alive to it–we don't really see the beauty of our world.
"You can only really have equanimity if you really care."
- Kaira Jewel Lingo
Keynote Speaker for SDI’s 2024 Virtual Conference
In this conference, we’ll practice:
- Listening to our keynoters speak to how to process and use stress to our advantage as spiritual directors and companions
- Learning new tools to deal with trauma, empathetic fatigue, and burnout
- Communing with one another in a variety of creative ways including:
- An array of rituals and contemplative practices
- Group spiritual direction and companioning
- One on one spiritual direction and companioning
- Extensive participation in breakout groups to collectively process the messages of our keynoters, along with many other topics of common interest to our community
- Embodiment practices, and musical interludes
- Special affinity groupings, including for international (non-US) members, spiritual direction formation program leaders and spiritual companion mentors, as well as BIPOC and LGBTQ-specific communities, among others
- Many other opportunities to engage!
"In the beginning there is darkness. It is the womb out of which we are born. Darkness may be the blessed dimming of ego-driven striving, a destination and condition of safety and repose. In this state of trusting refuge, the light of divine revelation, which pierces but does not castigate the darkness, may finally be seen. This is a mothering darkness that nurses its offspring."
- Barbara A. Holmes
Special Early Pricing
Registering now will not only secure your spot but also grant you a $100 discount on registrations and you’ll receive a $30 store credit. (Valid until February 5.)
“Why worry if you can do something about it? And why worry if you cannot do anything about it?”
- Shantideva
Cancellation Policy
- Refunds (less a $75 non-refundable registration fee) will be provided with written notice prior to March 4th, 2024,
- On or after March 4th, 2024, up to and including April 1st, 2024, SDI will issue 50% refunds (calculated after deducting the $75 non-refundable registration fee),
- Refunds will not be issued after April 1st, 2024.