Have you been looking for a sacred place to gather? You don’t need to leave your current place of practice, this path weaves with all other traditions….
The Cura Council offers 8 virtual gatherings per year, plus one teaching per month from the Care for Creation Curriculum, which is like a class devoted to creating your own Path of Practice. Our campus and ranch, MUSEA is physically located in Sonoma, California, yet our existing global community is located around the whole world and growing with each of you. In the future we hope that you will be able to gather in the regions where you live, guided by Intentional Creativity facilitators - who are graduates of MUSEA University Certification programs. And we hope to add a feature where children can come to the council. The evolution will be guided by the members of the council and who shows up to be a part of this emergent creation story.
I want to share with you the reason…
March 31, 2023
Dear Ones,
Hello, welcome, this is Shiloh Sophia. I want to share with you the reason for the Cura Council, and invitation to a new ‘church’ that is creatives, inclusive, emergent and embodied. I have been preparing for this invitation since arriving in the womb of my beautiful mother and in the womb of this beautiful earth.
We have walked many different spiritual paths in our lifetime, haven’t we? Some of us have an experience of other lifetimes and brought ideas with us from a time before this. Some of us, feel a connection to a future that hasn’t happened, yet but that is already occurring now as you connect with this invitation.
We are between the worlds people, people of earth and star and the intersection where we shape our own identity. Many of us find ourselves seeking a new path, something we can count on to evolve, that has ancient honoring roots and has an eye toward the future of the planet and the species. We feel a call to clan, tribe, circle, but may have challenges to find something that is just right for the ways we are amazing, and the ways are wild.
We may be seeking a creative spiritual framework to fit into, but we just don’t fit. We want to belong, but we seem strange, even to ourselves. Yes, they have called us misfits, but we know we are mystics in training. They have called us rogue, but we know the diagnosis of “artist” is more like it - whether or not we make physical art. We are artists of life! We know we exist between the Soul and the Body in this particular incarnation that we are now calling “Self” existing within a larger framework of Self. Ultimately we are seekers.
For many of us it hasn’t been easy to find sanctuary that evolves along with the way we evolve as human beings - and that we can be included in regardless of our cultural background or experience with traditional family origins. Those of us who attempt awakening start to notice so many issues with the traditions, customs and stories we have been offered. We just know something isn’t right. Stories just don’t add up.
Things like….the insistence on one way as the only way makes us question - how could that be so, when we are all from different places in the world? And just so that we are clear, most traditions arise from a sense of place geographically and move out from there. The idea that this is all about punishment and rewards starts to make us feel like we are in some kind of pre-destined trap, always trying to avoid and gain.
And then there’s the reality that the mother is secondary, whether you call her the Goddess, Mother Mary or any other of the other names of the Divine Mothers from within all traditions, she is not equal in the spiritual frameworks offered and insisted upon. And even in those where she is honored, the treatment of women in the congregations doesn’t align. The list goes on, and you have your own reasons. These are some of the reasons I have and that I have heard from working with tens of thousands of people in creative spiritual practices over the past 27 years.
March 31, 2023
Dear Ones,
Hello, welcome, this is Shiloh Sophia. I want to share with you the reason for the Cura Council, and invitation to a new ‘church’ that is creatives, inclusive, emergent and embodied. I have been preparing for this invitation since arriving in the womb of my beautiful mother and in the womb of this beautiful earth.
We have walked many different spiritual paths in our lifetime, haven’t we? Some of us have an experience of other lifetimes and brought ideas with us from a time before this. Some of us, feel a connection to a future that hasn’t happend, yet but that is already occuring now as you connect with this invitaiton.
We are between the worlds people, people of earth and star and the intersection where we shape our own identity. Many of us find ourselves seeking a new path, something we can count on to evolve, that has ancient honoring roots and has an eye toward the future of the planet and the species. We feel a call to clan, tribe, circle, but may have challenges to find something that is just right for the ways we are amazing, and the ways are wild.
We may be seeking a creative spiritual framework to fit into, but we just don’t fit. We want to belong, but we seem strange, even to ourselves. Yes, they have called us misfits, but we know we are mystics in training. They have called us rogue, but we know the diagnosis of “artist” is more like it - whether or not we make physical art. We are artists of life! We know we exist between the Soul and the Body in this particular incarnation that we are now calling “Self” existing within a larger framework of Self. Ultimately we are seekers.
For many of us it hasn’t been easy to find sanctuary that evolves along with the way we evolve as human biengs - and that we can be incldued in regardless of our cultural background or experience with traditional family origins. Those of us who attempt awakening start to notice so many issues with the traditions, customs and stories we have been offered. We just know something isn’t right. Stories just don’t add up.
Things like….the insistence on one way as the only way makes us question - how could that be so, when we are all from different places in the world? And just so that we are clear, most traditions arise from a sense of place geographically and move out from there. The idea that this is all about punishment and rewards starts to make us feel like we are in some kind of pre-destined trap, always trying to avoid and gain.
And then there’s the reality that the mother is secondary, whether you call her the Goddess, Mother Mary or any other of the other names of the Divine Mothers from within all traditions, she is not equal in the spiritual frameworks offered and insisted upon. And even in those where she is honored, the treatment of women in the congregations doesn’t align. The list goes on, and you have your own reasons. These are some of the reasons I have and that I have heard from working with tens of thousands of people in creative spiritual practices over the past 27 years.
This is an image of a women’s council and when it began for me- I am the one on the right in the hand-made dress. Shiloh, Janet Bollow, Janet Seaforth (Auntie), Bridget (Cousin), Sue Hoya Sellars (Mama 2), Lenore Thomas Straus (Guardian to Sue) and Caron McCloud Sonoma 1975
I am called to offer an alternate creativity spiritual path. But it isn’t alternative in the way that you need to leave anything you are doing unless you want to. We don’t have time nor do I have the inclination to spend time shaming, blaming and dismantling structures that have their place in the story of creation. Yet, there is a new creation story emerging in the hearts of those of us who truly want a connection with the Divine and we don’t want it to be moderated through the framework someone else provides as ‘the only way’.
This is where the idea quantum commons comes in. The commons is the central place in the village where the people gather, like a town square. Ours is quantum in that it exists in the cosmos, in the virtual space. The people who gather in the commons share in a common ground, when they gather, but all come from different orientations and neighborhoods and political believes, and just different.
What is common amongst us? What fabric does this create between us? This is our question, finding the common threads. At the same time however, even though we know that we are all one, this invitation is less about, bring all your deities and desires to the altar ~ and more about an altar that is co-created that is about our mutual care for creation, our relationship with earth, cycles, seasons and our orientation to our sense of place as a species and our relationship with ourselves and others. So yes we are all one and yes there is a common ground and there is a practice that exists between us that doesn’t require we believe the same things. There are some basic idea that would be good for us to agree on, and I am sure that we will come to those as we move on in our time together.
You are invited from my heart to yours, to The Cura Council, A Quantum Commons through 8 Ceremonial Gatherings for 500 years. It’s a big vision, the story must go on when I am not longer here and you are no longer here. As a part of the council you are invited to the gatherings, to engage with your creative spirit and to learn from the Care for Creation Curriculum which is a series of teachings that will be brought forward throughout the years, and evolve as we evolve. Teachings must evolve as the community evolves. The curriculum ask the questions about what it means to be Anthropos - a true human being.
People often ask me to speak on uncertainty and how to navigate it, but I would much rather talk about what is common between us and to design something we can actually count on. The power to create certainty for the village I serve, and to offer you to do the same, is one of our innate powers. The Power to Gather. To offer our time and teachings to ‘mend the sacred hoop’, and so we are, right here.
When I ask myself what my Great Work in the world is, and what I could create that would be blessing, this is the vision arose. I have been holding the space for a 100 year circle for 20 years, but the sacred assignment has changed to 500 years, it is inclusive of all genders or non-gender identifying, and basically this, The Cura Council is an ancient, emergent and futuristic creative spiritual path for seekers. Or…You might think of us as agnostic mystics with a wild streak that crave an experience of the sacred through embodiment. We desire ecstasy and practice in the ordinary.
I have a background as a Reverend, Artist, Storyteller, Educator, and Futurist, so if you put all those together it weaves right into this word, a word I have been avoiding, Ceremony. Ceremony is something I have been practicing my whole life, and I have been avoiding it because the commitment just seemed to big, and I felt like - Who am I do to do this? And I felt like Maryanne Williamson’s askes us - Who are you not to do this? So I am initiating 8 ceremonial gatherings based on the wheel of the year, which are the cycles of time on earth for 500 years. I hope we will form a true Council of Wise and Wild ones to have ceremony, celebration, conversation, continuity and revolution.
The idea of Cura, is a person who cares for the soul of the village, one who cares, is curative and in nature, is a a kind of a curator, which is to design and organize. Yet there’s another level of Cura, at MUSEA University when a Cura becomes fully engaged in the Guardianship of their Sacred and Great Work in the world, they become a Curate. A Curate is an emergent invented archetype that we are exploring as we learn together. We have a small group of people studying to be Curates, who are being trained in Intentional Creativity and who I hope will take over this circle in the years to come and participate in them now, this circle is also providing the opportunity to study with me specifically to meet with me in real time while they study Intentional Creativity®.
Intentional Creativity is to basically we be intentional about wat we create, whether that is making a bowl of soup, or a painting, or a song or taking a walk in the park, or weaving a blanket for a child or getting dressed in the morning. We are all intentional all the time, but what we are saying is, let’s be intentional about being intentional. This idea is ancient because it exists in all of our Indigenous cultures, all of our ancestors made what they made with love.
To become a part of The Cura Council, subscriptions are offered by scholarship for those who choose, and by tithe for those who choose, because it is a very real and true investment for me and the community that I work with to bring this to you. No one who wants to come will be excluded - and there will be some conditions - as long as you come with respect, have open eyes and an open heart ready for consciousness raising. This is a circle rooted in consciousness and those who desire to be awake - and the way that we define awake is - as awake as your soul is willing to be at any given time.
Together we will experience ceremony that honors our souls and somas - bodies, we will be offering a dance of access through creativity, movement, prayer and transmissions by myself and by others, who are connected with earth and cosmos who are in the in betweens.
I have been in circle since I was 5 years old and I know I am here to gather us. My mother Caron had a vision that I would call this kind of circle right before she walked into her future. I will never forget hearing her voice as she explained this particular sanctuary. The sanctuary doors opened to the Cura Council is the 2nd year anniversary of her walking onto her future. So yes, I feel guided by the internal soul prompting of my Ancestors. You don’t just decide to call a 500 year circle on your own, it’s just too much work and it’s too big for me and I am going to need help. help. I am being helped and when you join us and become a part of the council - you are affirming the vision of our need to gather in sacred containers throughout time.
I used to joke with Carmen Baraka, Spirit Warrior, the Native American Elder in our community “Do I have a sign on my back that says, Ancestors, pick me” She said: “Yes you do, but not because you are special, but because everyone else said no, which is what makes you special, and so it is yours to do, no one else is going to do it, baby” And a whole bunch of other things that she shared with me about why she felt this job, this sacred assignment was mine to do. So here I am, honoring the call of the Ancestors, the Elders, The Art Matriarchs of our community and inviting you.
This message is for those of you who are new, who are curious and wondering what it is all about and I just can’t wait to tell you. My heart fills with love and joy to be able to offer this at this time. I am also scared. Scared of the commitment, scared of what it will mean, I’m scared that people will come that will challenge us and try to take us down, those fears are not greater than my hopes. And for whatever reason I am being filled with faith and hope, and I desire to share this faith and hope with you. Each one of us will find our own way to be self-expressed and develop our own path of practice and the Cura Council is how we come together. I look forward to being with you in sacred space and sacred time as we gather through the cycles of the year.
Much love. This love is real. This love is happening right now. This love is at the center of all our choices. And this love is being shared with you should you choose to receive it and return it to us. Thank you for listening and thank you for caring. Care and compassion are at the root of CURA.
Love to each of one of you,
Curate Shiloh Sophia
Love to each of one of you,
If you are new here... An Invitation to a new ‘church’ that is creative, inclusive, emergent and embodied.