I can’t think of a better way to start the season than a conversation with contemplative teacher, Carl McColman.

Have you ever wondered what Celtic spirituality is, exactly? I mean, we're familiar with Saint Patrick and Celtic music and nature-loving, but what's all the fanfare about? Why has the interest in Celtic spirituality exploded in the past decade?

Get ready for a real deep dive, ya’ll. From his childhood in oppressed Poland, to being an undocumented immigrant in the US, meeting Christ in India, and founding a new monastic community, Father Adam Bucko’s story has given him a razor-sharp vision into the meaning of life.

During this time of Advent - of darkness and winter in the northern hemisphere - our bodies are inclined to hibernate. We curl up by the hearth and wait, attentive to the life pregnant in the darkness.

Poetry and the Contemplative life share a lot in common. Both require an attentiveness to life, a depth of presence, a sort of immersion in reality.

Our guest host Karl Thienes puts Kelly in the hot seat to ask her all sorts of burning questions about interior life.

I’m excited to introduce to you a little-known poet, whose work deserves wide attention. (I’ve been sharing her writing with all of my friends!) She reminds me of a modern day Rumi or Hafiz. –And if you haven’t read Rumi or Hafiz, start there, and then pick up the work of our guest, Chelan Harkin!

What do the mystics mean by “divine union”? Why is suffering such a big deal for them - and what role does it play in our contemplative path?

In this episode, host Kelly Deutsch shares frankly about her difficulty accepting her chronic illness, while returning guest Karl Thienes shares his momentary identity crisis.

Today I have joined a unique guest who has spent much of his life as a hermit, and is now in charge of the cause for canonization of a Russian mystic.

I bet you haven’t heard of Catherine de Hueck Doherty.

If I have a spacious and spritely spirituality, Dr. Regis Martin is partially to thank. He was my first ever theology professor, and he opened my eyes to this magical universe so alight with wonder.

Tessa is a hermit with a crackling vitality. She prays the Jesus prayer while she’s swimming her daily laps and says that sometimes she talks too much (with a sparkle in her eye).

Fifty years ago, a young Matthew Fox asked Thomas Merton where he should go to study the mystics. What followed was a lifetime passion for Christianity’s mystical tradition, and its intimate, feminine, socially active, and uplifting spirit.

It is Victoria Loorz’s mission to help people not just care for the earth, but to fall in love with it.