June 2026 - Indoor Gathering

Written By Ancient Hearts Collective .

June Message: Longing & Belonging | The Soul’s Journey

✧ Listen to the gathering recording here.

GATHERING MESSAGE

✧ This June, we are exploring a beautiful, grounding truth: that the longing we feel isn't a problem to be solved or a wound to be healed, but rather the soul’s most honest language pointing us toward a belonging that already exists. During Sunday’s gathering, we wove together threads from several wisdom traditions to explore the longing inherent in our inner life. From Sufi mysticism and Rumi’s imagery of the reed flute, we learned that the very ache we feel is proof of our closeness to the divine, remembering that we only yearn for what our deepest self already recognizes as home. Moving into Celtic mysticism, we sat with John O'Donohue’s concept of the Anam Cara, remembering that the most faithful friendship available to us is the one between the self and our own soul. We also touched on the idea of caol áit (keel-awtch) or thin places, recognizing that sitting humbly and openly with our longing is itself a sacred threshold for transformation.

We then shifted our perspective away from modern individualism toward Indigenous animism, which views each of us as the living tip of a vast, unbroken ancestral root system where belonging is something we simply remember. This is tied closely to the Celtic concept of dúchas (doo-khus), which honors our deep, cellular connection to our land of origin, the native ground that permanently shapes us and travels within us wherever we go. And finally, we remembered that our ancestors live on within our unique qualities and resilience, and that we fundamentally belong to ourselves, to this circle, to the earth, and to an ancient river of ancestral love.

PERENNIAL WISDOM SOURCES

✧ SUFISM

✧ INDIGENOUS

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

✧ To bring this wisdom from our minds down into our bodies, we engaged in a three-round embodied practice. We began by visualizing our land of origin, breathing in the sights and scents of our childhood native ground to ground ourselves in that permanent inner landscape. In the second round, we traced our awareness backward through time, feeling the vast, unbroken river of historic human lives that endured and loved imperfectly just so we could be here today. For the final round, we focused on soul presence, drawing inward the luminous soul light that John O'Donohue says surrounds and holds our physical bodies. We closed our practice with a collective blessing, reminding one another that our longing is a compass, our ancestors are our companions, and we are never as alone as we might believe.

✧ Revisit and listen to this guided practice beginning at minute 36:43 in the gathering recording.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

✧ On Longing: Where do you feel longing right now, and how can you treat it as a compass rather than a problem to solve?

✧ On Land of Origin: How did your own land of origin shape you, and how do you carry it with you?

✧ On the Ancestral Thread: What personal quality is a gift from those who came before you?

✧ On Soul Presence: What does it feel like to remember your body is held within your soul, and can you return to that awareness any time?

NEXT GATHERING:

  • JUNE NATURE GATHERING - June Message: Longing and Belonging | The Soul’s Journey

    • Sunday, June 28th, 10am-Noon

    • Location: TBA

    • What to know/how to prepare:

      • Wear shoes for walking and layered clothing for the weather

      • Suggested Donation: $10

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • We are currently seeking a Music Director and Heart Leaders to help co-lead gatherings. A Heart Leader is someone who contributes their talents and wisdom to the community. We are seeking…

    🌿 Musicians and singers to help lead the musical portions of our gatherings and to collaborate on composing anchoring music for the community. 

    🌿 Teachers of the world’s traditions to infuse our gatherings with wisdom as we dwell in the deep questions that arise in our lives.

    We welcome voices from a variety of traditions, including (but not limited to):

    ⪼ Buddhism, Sufism, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Taoism, and Christianity.

    ⪼ Earth-based and Indigenous traditions with ancestral lineages from all corners of the world.

    🌿 Trained leaders of universal spiritual practices like spiritual inquiry, meditation, forest bathing, sound bathing, and more.

    To celebrate the many paths to truth, and the many ways of knowing, we are seeking vibrant leaders to help us co-create a space of unity, reverence and love. If you are trained, certified, ordained, or a scholar (have a Major/Minor) in one of the above traditions or practices, we invite you to join us in sharing your tradition. *Note: No formal training is necessary for musicians and singers. Send an email to contact@ancienthearts.org to inquire.

  • Our Community Support Request form is LIVE on the website, under the Giving Back tab here. This is a gentle way to let the Ancient Hearts community know that you’re navigating a difficult time or could use some extra support right now.

  • Founding Members: If this is the community you’ve been seeking and you want to help sustain us, we invite you to consider becoming a Founding Member in 2026. We hope to welcome 30 Founding Members into our Founding Circle this year. Learn more and reach out to contact@ancienthearts.org with any questions you have.

Ancient Hearts Collective . https://ancienthearts.org
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May 2026 - Indoor Gathering