The Twentieth Annual Redwood Men’s Center

What helps us find true north on our compass? We’re all on a journey, at whatever age, even while our communities and world squabble. External forces push on us, constantly telling us what to do, where to go, how to be. Fear deflects our inner compass needle.  Let us hold to our true path again in a community of men seeking comfort, strength, inspiration and direction, as we explore our lives through mythology, ritual, art, grief, laughter, music, movement and deep conversation.

Over the last twenty years at this Conference, we have been mapmakers of Soul. We have learned that to find and trust our compass we must tolerate uncertainties and fears, and we have found a way to do this together. In fact, the only way is to do it together. Lodestones we have discovered along the way have included:

• Men have much to offer each other through their differences be they cultural, racial, sexual, political, spiritual, generational, or personal.
• Beauty and creativity, art and music, ritual and poetry are sources of inspiration, healing, and deep pleasure.
• Communication, relationship, and understanding among men form the foundation for a politics of peace and justice.
• We must continue learning how to creatively deal with conflict.
• The wounds of our fathers and their fathers have impacted our lives. Entering and grieving those wounds creates in us a masculinity of tenderness, wisdom, and generativity. Owning our own shadows is an essential step on our journey toward wholeness.

The conference, welcoming and supportive of all men ages, fifteen to a hundred, is very interactive and rich with dialogue. Personal stories are told; songs are sung; victories celebrated; grieving shared — all in a safe place full of honest talk and mutual respect.  There is time to hear ancient tales, meet in small groups, engage in healing ritual, sing gloriously together, play together, converse over meals, and sit in the silence of the trees. 

Many men return each year for the ongoing sense of brotherhood and community. The conference is particularly helpful for any man wishing to move out of the old wounding patterns which have shaped his life and relationships. Men in transition or undergoing significant life-passages often find meaning, strength and comfort. Many fathers bring their sons to welcome these young men into the rewards of a community that honors the authentic and the genuine.

Our Twentieth Anniversary

The themes of our past Conferences are like seeds for change which we have planted each year in the rich loam of our collective imagination.  These seeds continue to grow, inform, and inspire all who attend, as we continue together our pursuit of “new directions in male psychology.”  Touching upon the titles of some of our past Conferences, we see where we have been. Each year we have found “sanctuary” “in the kinship of men” and embraced the task of “rebuilding the world from the inside out.”

To a wondrous degree we have helped “restore soul in a culture of death,” supported “our healing selves,” witnessed our “turning points” in life, as we have expressed “our truth, man to man” and “brought forth our gifts.”  We have explored “longing, terror, and blessing” as we have found our way “home from exile” which so many of us have known.  We have found the medicine of “walking a path with integrity” and returned to our own communities “calling forth the vision and reshaping the world.”  “Weaving the fabric of community” we have supported “the soulful expression of each man’s life.” 

After twenty years of gathering to share our sorrows and our joy, of honoring every stage of man’s journey through life, we invite you to come home with us to this community of the heart.

Location

It is perhaps part of the disorientation of our times that this year’s Conference will occur in a different time and place than in years past.  Our beloved Camp Gualala has been sold and is no longer available to us. But we have been led to another wonderful meeting place in the Redwoods — by artesian springs in the Valley of the Moon, Glen Ellen, California, about 1 ¼ hours north of San Francisco — check it out at www.uccr.org/vom.htm. 

It is similar in feel and facilities to Camp Gualala, and has intriguing additions of its own. And since no other suitable sites were available for the Memorial Day weekend, we resolved to meet on the weekend before: Friday evening, May 21 – May 24, Monday noon. We cannot rest on the familiar, but must move on with what is essential and life-giving. 

Call Conrad Larkin at (707)566-7570 for details. Open to men of all ages, cultures and sexual orientations. Wheelchair accessible.

Open to Men of all cultures, ages and sexual orientations.

Space is limited.