Beloved Spiritual Direction
Welcome Beloved
LGBTQ & Allies this absolutely includes you!
Shawn Arbor, M. Div., CSD.
I am a Certified Spiritual Director. I received my Master of Divinity and Spiritual Direction Certification from Portland Seminary. My spiritual direction style is in the Quaker tradition, which includes deep compassionate listening, intentional moments of stillness rooted in silence, reflective open-ended questions, and a profound respect for your spiritual journey.
What is Spiritual Direction?
You can ask this question to a handful of folks and get many different viewpoints, because spiritual direction is like looking into a beautiful gemstone and seeing how the light jumps around in all its brilliance. This is the beauty of spiritual direction, because we can see that light through the diversity of so many different facets. Together through the art of spiritual direction we discover that our beautiful stories are truly heard, deeply listened to, and shared in a noninvasive way. I practice spiritual direction through my faith, compassion, wisdom, and love. In spiritual direction our awareness shifts to discovering the holy and the mystical in our everyday lives, thus drawing us closer to God (Triune They, She, He). (more information here)
Book your online Spiritual Direction
30 minutes- Free Consultation
Letâs meet. This is the first step to starting spiritual direction with Shawn. This is an opportunity to connect, ask questions, and share some basics about spiritual direction. Just click the button and choose what day and time works best for you. A zoom link will follow.
60 minutes- Spiritual Direction
Book your zoom spiritual direction with Shawn.
90 minutes- Spiritual Direction
Book your zoom spiritual direction with Shawn.
Her fee is on a sliding scale.
60 minutes session is $65-$95
90 minutes session is $96-$140
(Students letâs talk đ)
After the session you can send money via Paypal, Venmo, Zelle, or a check. Use this email: Belovedspiritualdirection@gmail.com to find Shawn on all the online options. QR codes link click here.
Monthly (on average) to allow time for the unfolding and reflection of your journey.
Most choose 60 minutes, but sometimes you may feel you want more time to be in spiritual direction. Shawn welcomes you to choose what feels best for you.
LGBTQ+ & Allies; Clergy; Seminary Students; Differently Abled; Health Care Workers; Grief & Loss; Deconstructing & Reconstructing; Spiritual Trauma; Life & Faith Transitions; Spiritual Disillusionment; Liminal Space Awareness; Spiritual Homesickness; Enneagram; Jungian Shadow Paradigm; Wanderers & Wonderers.
Simply put, ⌠No. Spiritual Direction is different. These other approaches can have their benefits. In Spiritual Direction the focus is not to give pastoral or therapeutic advice, or to diagnose anything. I see myself as a Spiritual Companion that gently comes alongside your spiritual journey you have with yourself, others, and God. Â
âWhen we risk sharing what hurts the most in the presence of someone who will not invade us or abandon us, we unexpectedly come upon within ourself the pearl of great price.â – Spiritual Director and Contemplative Christian, Dr. James FinleyÂ
Contemplative Christian
âA phrase I used a lot back when I first started teaching contemplation was the idea associated with Albert Einstein that no problem can be solved by the same consciousness that created it. It is so brilliant! It makes the case for contemplation almost better than anything.âŻÂ
I donât believe Iâm overstating it when I say that only the contemplative mind can help bring forward the new consciousness needed to awaken a more loving, just, and sustainable world. We need a practice that touches our unconscious conditioning where all our wounds and defense mechanisms lie. Thatâs the only way we can be changed at any significant or lasting level.
Because weâve got to be honest â the dualistic, calculating, and judging mind is almost exclusively the way most of us Western people think. This gives us false superiority, false security, and false righteousness. Is it any wonder why our culture, politics, and religion are in the state that they are in?âŻÂ
Nevertheless, I still have hope. I always will. More and more people are discovering contemplation as a way of being, reconciling, and bridge-building guided by their inner experience of God. Weâre not throwing out our rational mind, but rather weâre adding nondual, contemplative consciousness. When we have both, weâre able to see more deeply, wisely, and justly.âŻThis creates humble people, loving people, and patient people.â Fr. Richard Rohr
If this terminology is unclear to you, letâs have a discussion.
Another way of putting this isâŚwhere has Shawnâs spiritual path or sphere crossed with otherâs spiritual spheres in life and through spiritual direction while under the umbrella of Godâs grace?
The diversity of what it means to be Christian; Celtic Christianity; Interfaith; intentional spiritual gatherings like: womenâs sacred gathering groups; Queer Christian Fellowship conferences; Center for Action and Contemplation events; and beautifully unscheduled sittings around a campfire.Â
I have crossed paths with and received spiritual insights from: Buddhism; Hinduism; Judaism; Islamism; Taoism; and Unitarian Universalists.
My list also includes: Spiritual (not religious); Feminist and or Womanist Spiritual Traditions; Liberation Theology; âA follower of Jesusâ; Universal Uniqueness/Oneness Spirituality; Ecospirituality; and None-of-the-above God (They, She, He) Seekers âŚso far đ.
Belovedspiritualdirection@gmail.com
Just email Shawn, she will get an immediate notification and will acknowledge your message.