Come together for an evening of prayer, meditation, and sacred expression with Bay Area spiritual community. 

We’ll gather at 3:30 pm, with no late admittance past 4 pm. Congregants will be smudged (incense cleansing) as they enter the Temple —a moment of threshold-crossing that shifts the mind/body/spirit into a sense of the sacred. As you enter the room, we invite you to place an item of meaning, or an offering, like flowers or an object of symbolic meaning for you onto the community altar. 

We sit on the floor with zafu cushions, and invite you to bring a low floor backjack or similar back support if you prefer. Limited chairs are available for those who have difficulty reaching (or returning from) the floor.

A half-gram of the Ninos will be offered for those who choose to take the sacrament, which is optional. We serve the sacrament whole with honey and a cacao bean, in the Mazatec tradition. We recommend fasting for at least a few hours before the circle to improve absorption and minimize stomach discomfort. 

Our prayer circle leaders, Andi Chatburn, Tim Willison, and Kelly Doughty and any other CSP ministers or ministers in training present will together call upon the seven directions, an invocation to build a strong, safe spiritual container. You will be invited to join in singing this prayer. 

Once the container is set, we will sit in meditative silence until the spirit moves someone to approach the altar and make an offering: a song, a prayer, presence, a story, a longing, a truth, a dance. Any expression offered in reverence and authenticity is welcome. 

The circle lasts between 3 and 4 hours. The silence and stillness can be disorienting for those who are new to this practice. The prayer circle is an opportunity to rest in an emergent, collective field of Spirit and listen for what moves in your soul as an insight or offering. 

We’ll emerge between 8 and 8:30 pm to share a potluck, with the gathering winding down around 9 pm. 

Please register and complete a short medical intake form here. If you have not yet signed a membership agreement with the Congregation, please do so through the link that will arrive in your email after registration. This link generates for all registrants—if you’ve signed an agreement in the past, we do not need you to do so again. 

Please reach out to Andi (andi.chatburn@sacredpractices.org) with any questions.