Shrine Mont Conference Center, Orkney Springs, Virginia

Each year Illuman hosts a gathering of men, typically in New Mexico, that, in the past, we have called Soularize. This year's gathering marks a new beginning, with a new name, AWAKEN, and a new location on the East Coast, Shrine Mont, a retreat center nestled at the foot of the Allegheny Mountains in northwestern Virginia. Throughout our time together, we will gather as a community of hundreds of men for intensive inner work with the goal of reclaiming our hidden wholeness and interconnectedness within our own selves, with Spirit, and one another.

We are all born with innate resources that become increasingly hidden and disavowed through the conditioning of our dominant Western culture. As suppression, wounding, and trauma lead us into the ‘spell of separateness’, we lose access to our hidden wholeness and the gifts we all carry. Yet our longing and quest for healing does not disappear.

During our time together at AWAKEN, we will acknowledge and feel the grief of this long held separateness. Through the power of the elemental forces of nature (Earth, Water, Fire, Air/Wind) in shared rituals, we will awaken from this illusion of separation and reclaim our place as interconnected, beloved, and belonging. As we cultivate our vulnerable humanity in each other’s presence, we become vessels for the re-emergence of our hidden wholeness. This transformative process is not only self-healing, but also essential for the restoration of the entire interconnected Earth community, and the well-being of all of our descendants and ancestors. As separate beings we are diminished, but through our inter-BEing, we reclaim our kinship in true community and become powerful healing agents of change.

Our chief guides through this experience will be Lakota spiritual teacher Doug Good Feather, mystical poet Chelan Harkin, and (via pre-recorded address) Illuman founder Father Richard Rohr. Click here for more details on each of them.

There will also be several optional breakout sessions offered throughout the weekend with poets, playwrights, and spiritual teachers. Click here for more details on those.

See the full AWAKEN 2023 Schedule
 

We invite you to join us for this vital and courageous work!

• Super Early Bird (through April 30):  $500/person 
• Early Bird (through June 30):  $530/person
• Standard (through September 1):  $560/person

Three nights of on-site lodging at Shrine Mont (Thu-Sun) are included in your standard registration fee. Rooms will be shared with at least one other Awaken attendee. Each room has a private bath.

Housing at Shrine Mont is spread out among a number of small cottages and several larger hotel-style buildings. (Click here for a map of the grounds and, from there, click on the name of a particular House to see details and floor plans. Options include Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Norfolk, Richmond, Williamsburg, Washington, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.) The confirmation email you receive once you register for an on-site package will include a link to a form where you can sign-up for the building and room you wish to stay in.

If you wish to share your room with a particular roommate, you should coordinate with that person in advance and arrange for him to register at the same time so you are each able to sign up for the same room. If you do not arrange your own roommate, the other bed in your room will remain open until another man signs up for it (a great way to make new friends!). Rooms are first-come, first-serve, so be sure to sign-up for your room as soon as you register.

A limited number of handicap-accessible rooms are also available.

If you prefer to stay off-site, there are also a number of hotels and short-term rentals in the area. Click here for a list of nearby housing options. (Be sure to purchase the "Off-Site Registration" package when registering.)