This fall, September 17 – 19, I’ll be leading a retreat called “Wonder, Wisdom, and Witness: The Legacy of the Beguines for Our Time.” Focused on the women whose movement inspired my novel Pillar of Fire, it will take place at the Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center in the beautiful Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. I hope you’ll consider joining me! Lydia Wylie-Kellermann, the center’s executive director, conducted the following interview with me about the Beguines and the retreat.

Lydia: Can you tell us a little bit about the Beguines?

Joyce: I love talking about the Beguines. Over two centuries, more than a million of these extraordinary medieval mystics lived together in spiritually empowering communities, yet very few people outside of Europe know about them. Boldly defying cultural mandates to be wives owned and subjugated by their husbands or nuns cloistered and controlled by the church, these audaciously creative women forged islands of radical freedom and compassionate hope.

The Beguines embraced and celebrated the Divine Feminine. They supported themselves by making lace and candles, baking bread and brewing beer. Educating and providing safe haven for girls, caring for people suffering with leprosy or dying, they were beloved by many and thrived—until their questioning of hierarchical power and resistance to injustice put them in the crosshairs of the Inquisition. They were charged with being heretics (i.e., women not under the control of men). The intense persecution they suffered included the martyrdom of Marguerite Porete, an author and perhaps the best-known of the Beguines, who was burned at the stake in Paris in 1310.

Lydia: What do you think the Beguines have to say to us in this moment?

Joyce: Although more than eight hundred years separate us in time from the Beguines, our worlds are remarkably similar. They lived in an era when the Holy Roman Empire was far-reaching in its oppressive power and the Crusades were fueling xenophobic fear and anti-Muslim hatred. Now, as then, the ideology of empire predominates and war rages without end, patriarchy asserts its will and intolerance escalates on every front, while the yawning chasm between the comfortable and the marginalized grows ever wider.

The Beguines learned that compassion is dangerous in an age of intolerance, and freedom a threat. They have a great deal to teach us about faithful persistence, rituals that feed life and grow courage, community as resistance to hierarchy, simplicity and works of mercy as antidotes to empire and catastrophic consumerism.

Lydia: What will this retreat be like?

Joyce: This retreat will be like a deep breath of fresh air, a slowing down and centering, a time to drink from ancient wells of wisdom and be nourished by new friends. As the autumn breezes begin to stir on the mountain, we will dive into the mystery of the Beguines. Through readings and rituals, by poetry and prayer, in chanting, sharing, and silence, we will get to know them and invite them to be our guides. Time will be provided for walking the trails, labyrinth, and sacred Columcille Megalith Park, for writing, resting, or meditating by the pond.

This retreat is timed to coincide with a partial lunar eclipse. On Tuesday evening, we will gather on a ridge with a magnificent panoramic view. By the glow of a bonfire, under the wonder of the eclipse, we will share in a ritual of remembrance and celebration. You are warmly invited to join us!

To learn more or register, click here: https://kirkridge.org/programs-container/165/wonder-wisdom-and-witness-the-legacy-of-the-beguines-for-our-time/