Soul Friending
Soul Friending or spiritual direction is the process of companioning others on their spiritual journeys. This practice flows out of the desire for deepening into the sacred, generative Mystery at the heart of life. Such “spiritual companioning” has specific roots in Christian tradition, though more recently there is a body of practitioners arising from other faiths. Lorian’s perspective on soul friending offers an interspiritual approach well suited to those who are exploring a post-traditional spirituality not based in any one particular spiritual or religious tradition.
Directors in the Lorian Center for Incarnational Spirituality ‘Soul Friending’ program are grounded in values of sovereignty, mutual respect, responsibility and co-creativity with the Sacred in ourselves, in others and in the world around us. They come from different personal faith backgrounds. They understand contemporary spiritual journeys to be reflected in a whole spiritual ecology of experience: body, mind, heart, inner world connections and supersensible perception. As ‘soul friends’ they seek to witness and support clients as they unfold and deepen in their personal journey of recognizing, engaging and co-creating with the Sacred in their work and daily lives.
Who can benefit from the gifts of Soul Friending?
• Those who want to identify and trust their own experiences of the Sacred.
• Those who look to integrate spirituality into their daily lives.
• Those who seek to discern and make difficult choices.
• Those who desire encouragement and affirmation in their spiritual path.
• Those who yearn to deepen in relationship with the Sacred, with themselves, with others and the world.
" Put first things first. Turn to Me all the time. Wherever you are, turn to Me. Whatever you are doing, do it with Me. Have all your comings and goings with Me."
From "Come Closer", messages from the God within by Dorothy Maclean
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Meeting with a Soul Friend
The privilege and responsibility of a Soul Friend is to witness and companion you as you deepen your relationship with the Sacred. As a witness, we recognize you in your unique path of discovery, connection to and embodiment of the divine flowing in and through your life. As a companion, we encourage perspective and supportive reflection that can enrich your personal journey. This soul friending relationship takes place in the context of confidential, one-on-one or group sessions with a Soul Friend, usually once a month.
In Soul Friending you are invited to reflect deeply on the experiences of your daily life. Gradually you may be drawn into a closer relationship with the Sacred moving in and through your life path. Soul Friending is not so much about being “directed” as it is about being encouraged in your personal journey of deepening into the Sacred.
Soul Friends:
The following Soul Friends have Certificates of Spiritual Direction through the Lorian Soul Friending program. They offer Soul Friending services on a private basis. Please contact them directly to explore if a soul friending relationship is a right fit for you
Freya Secrest, MSD is a Soul Friend and founding
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Lucinda Herring, MSD is a Soul Friend/Spiritual |
Susan Sherman, MSD offers compassionate Soul |
Elizabeth Fowler, M.D. is a Soul Friend and p |
Kiri Sa |
Sára Rain, MSD, offers Spiritual Mentoring |
Companion, registered counselor, ordained minister and a certified Death Midwife/Home Funeral Guide. Her spiritual path is eclectic and inter-spiritual, drawing from both Western and Eastern traditions, and rooted in a co-creative relationship with the Earth and the natural world. She considers herself a “gatekeeper” for those who are facing key threshold transitions in life and provides soul/spiritual companionship and support, as well as meaningful ritual and ceremony to help navigate seas of change. 
Friending/Spiritual Companionship in northern Michigan. She draws upon a full life of embracing interspiritual practices and invites others to celebrate the Divine Sacred that is always present in the details of everyday life. Susan is experienced in integrative energy healing methods including bio-energetics, reiki, somatic transformation, esoteric healing, therapeutic touch and cranio-sacral therapy.
rivate Life Coach as well as one of the LCIS Soul Friend faculty. She worked as a primary care internal medicine specialist for over 25 years and is an ardent explorer of the somatic transformational process and of the integration of mind, body and spirit in health and illness.
ftler, MSD is a Spiritual Companion with an interspiritual focus accepting, respecting, honoring and appreciating all spiritual choices. She is a trained Circle Keeper and Facilitator in The Way of Council, Circles Of Ten, Restorative Justice, and Peacekeeper Game in small and large group settings. She’s been facilitating and training student and adult facilitators since 2003. Living in the moment, being mindful and growing compassionate relationships are ways she grows and encourages others to grow spiritually. 
to members of all faith traditions with a specialty in Earth-Honoring paths.
Sára is a certified leader of the Dances of Universal Peace, studies and celebrates many world religions. With an inter-faith perspective, she seeks to support each individual on his/her unique Spirit journey. Every human being can invite The Divine more fully into every aspect of life and living, and Spiritual Mentoring can support that process. Sára has been facilitating community rituals, chant circles and Spirit-centered events for 16 years in Colorado. She does offer Spiritual Mentoring by phone.
Consultants, Counselors, & Coaches
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Julie Spangler is a human relations counselor and Personology practitioner. She is a mother of four and a parent education instructor. She began her spiritual work at the Findhorn Community in Scotland where she was primarily involved in visitor education and was a singer in “The New Troubadours.” She is also a founding member of the Lorian Association and has served as one of its faculty. 
Rue Hass provides profoundly lighthearted strategies for unsticking stuck stuff to transform pain of past experiences into gifts and resources for the present; to restore and anchor a sense of personal excellence; reconnect body, mind, heart and spirit and dissolve stress, performance anxiety, or trauma around learning.
Deborah Koff-Chapinis the creator of The Process of Touch Drawing which is demonstrated on her website. Visit it to learn about the simple yet profound process of Touch Drawing, view some of Deborah’s work, and tap into a network of practitioners who teach and use the Touch Drawing process in their own lives and work. You can find all the resources you need here to start Touch Drawing on your own. Resourcing Retreats
Home resource retreats are offered in two forms by Freya Secrest and are set up by contacting the Lorian office, 425.374-7069 or info@lorian.org. The cost is $125 for a one-day or $195 for a two-day mentored retreat. The overall context of these retreats is interspiritual, and respectful of all spiritual traditions; this work is intended to complement and enrich one’s existing spiritual traditions and practices.
Home Pilgrimage: A Place to Live and a Spirit to Live By
The Home Pilgrimage uses David Spangler’s Homecrafting book with readings, exercises, and guided reflection times designed to build connections with land, home, self and hospitality. Price Includes Homecrafting Textbook and link to a videoed talk by David, with ½ hour orientation and a daily one hour mentoring session.
Resource and Discovery: The Art and Heart of Wholeness
The Resource retreat uses spiritual autobiography and reflective, incarnational practices in identity, blessing, holding and emergence to deepen our relationship with the spirit of wholeness within ourselves and within life. Price includes Embodying Eden by Jeremy Berg, and a link to “The Doorways” reflective exercise led by Dorothy Maclean, with ½ hour orientation and a daily one hour mentoring session.
The goal of these retreats is to empower an individual in their ability to be in a state of connection, wholeness, safety and belonging in their own life and being, in order to be one who can co-create a state of wholeness in the larger world around. Resourcing retreats may be undertaken on a personal basis without connection to any other program. They serve anyone interested in integrating their spiritual connections into their daily life awareness.
Freya Secrest, MSD
Freya is a Soul Friend and founding faculty member of the Lorian Center for Incarnational Spirituality (LCIS). She was one of the original co-founders of the Lorian Association at its inception in 1974 and is also an ordained priest in Lorian. She has followed an interspiritual, incarnational approach in her personal study and practice for more than thirty years. Freya is a teacher with LCIS and works with both individual and groups in her soul friending practice.
e-mail: freyasecrest1@msn.com
“This program offers an inclusive and comprehensive approach that includes all of the dimensions of my life - work life, relationships, body, psychology, creativity, spirituality, nature and inner realms. What other program does this?”
EF, Program Participant
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