What I Gained from Tacheria

Many people ask me what I got from my experience with Tacheria.

Oh my, what a question!

It is so hard to put into words because it is subtle shifts that change my way in the world. And spirituality is very personal, so this is my story.

I embarked on Tacheria, having very little religious background but having dabbled occasionally in spiritual readings & events.

I didn’t know what I wanted from Tacheria but I wanted to explore spirituality and what my spirituality is and could be. I didn’t know if I wanted a regular practice. I asked myself, what is faith, my faith?

As I said in my graduation speech, "Tacheria far surpassed anything I didn’t know to expect."

I gained awareness.

In big and small moments. When I look at the mountains every day, I marvel at their beauty. But now it is not just a moment of gratitude for nature, it extends into awareness that I am in the presence of much bigger than my life, my world, I am connected and sacred like the mountains, all people, animals. So, I have a “spiritual connection”

I gained community.

The people and sessions at Tacheria came from all different backgrounds, faiths, and goals, but we were bound together with sincerity and open hearts to share our thoughts and what spirituality meant to us. Whenever we see each other there is such a gush of warmth and connection that will always be there. And it has extended to a community for spirituality beyond the 2 years of Tacheria.

I gained knowledge.

Of many different approaches to spirituality from AAA to Jewish mysticism, but the impact was not just knowing these approaches but to form a basis to have our discussions and develop my own sense of spirituality.

I adapted the Body Prayer of Julian Norwich at the graduation of Tacheria to express my changes and I share it with you here.

AWAIT

• I await the moments of awe and gratitude which now seem more numerous and available

• I await the time of spirituality in community – both planned gatherings and the presence

  of the world with me in those moments of awe.

ALLOW

• I allow those moments of awe to linger and deepen to recognize the presence of the Sacred, Divine

• I allow that change, transitions are happening.

• And with that, I allow that my hope can and will spring up.

ACCEPT

• I accept that the change feels anxious, fearful and uncomfortable.

• I accept that my hope may seem pollyannish to others but I have come to know that it is

• my foundation.

ATTEND

• I attend to that I am called to practice being the candle of light that may light others.

• That in sharing my spirituality (publicly which is new for me) I can affect conversations, thoughts of mine and others, encouraging love, welcoming the stranger.

Tacheria Cohort 2023-2025 Trish Harris (Assistant), Susan Friese, Christine Deborah, Ethel Lee-Miller, Stephanie Retrum, Gail Gail Koshland, Aida Flores, Mariana Canetas, Barbara Banks, Betty Stauffer (Director)

Love, Gail