Upon hearing that most people in the U.S. have water piped into their homes, an African woman responded, “But how do the women speak to each other? If we didn’t talk at the village well, we wouldn’t know about our lives.” If you are a woman in that third stage of life (what shall we call it -- the Crone era?), please consider being part of this 8-week series. You will be invited to dig deeply into your own personal well of experience and wisdom. And together, we will create a “village well” as we share our stories. No writing experience is necessary. No grades! Just a safe space for writing, sharing, and connection.

Joyce Hollyday is a co-pastor and co-founder of Circle of Mercy, an ecumenical congregation in Asheville. She is the author of several books, including Clothed with the Sun: Biblical Women, Social Justice, and Us.

Monday, Oct. 6: Book of the Month discussion:  Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Monday, Oct. 13: Movie of the Month discussion:  The Visitor (was at the Fine Arts several weeks this summer, available now on DVD)

Monday, Oct. 20: Poetry Share. Everyone bring some of your favorite poetry to read (your own or anyone else's!).

Monday, Nov. 3: Book of the Month discussion: An Unspoken Hunger by Terry Tempest Williams

Monday, Dec. 1: Book of the Month discussion: The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew - Three Women Search for Understanding, by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner

No salons Dec. 29 or Jan. 5.

Monday, Jan. 12: Book of the Month discussion: Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Do you ever feel like just having a group to sing with? Here's your chance. Join Gaetana Friedman and Laura Collins as they initiate what we hope will become a monthly event at Holy Ground, an afternoon of joining others in soulful song. No performance, no auditions, no experience necessary. We'll bring some songs to get the group started, but others are welcome to bring along songs you'd like to share. Come open your lungs and heart as we lift our voices and our spirits together.

A Vision Quest is one of the oldest and most potent rituals still being practiced today. In the safety and beauty of the mountains just West of Asheville, near Max Patch, Tayria Ward, Ph.D. and Lynn English will lead a 3 1/2 day quest. The group will be provided with careful spiritual, psychological and physical preparation before spending one overnight in the wilderness questing for their vision. The final day will be spent in integrative follow-up. Weekend includes fresh-cooked gourmet vegetarian meals.

Tayria Ward has a Ph.D. in depth psychology, is a dreamworker, dialogue trainer, and works with oracular methods of communication. Formerly a minister, and then a professor for several years, her new book, Recovering the Indigenous Mind, is being readied for publication. She moved to North Carolina from Los Angeles in 2004 to start a retreat center in the mountains, in a location of wilderness and beauty conducive to the deep work of recovering indigenous sensibilities.

Lynn English, LPC, worked for many years as a counselor, specializing in addictions and family therapy. Over the past three years she has focused on doing more "soul initiation" and nature-based work, receiving training in mirroring and dream-work, and going on numerous Vision Quests herself. She spent the past year traveling the world, from Australia to the Yukon territories as part of her personal questing.

This women's book discussion group will be led by Sage Linden. The Chalice and the Blade by Riane Eisler, a phenomenal best-seller, has inspired people to envision a truly egalitarian society by exploring the legacy of the peaceful, goddess-worshiping cultures from our prehistoric past. She convincingly documents the global shift from egalitarian to patriarchal societies, interweaving new archealogical evidence and feminist scholarship. It is one of those magnificent key books that can transform us and initiate fundamental changes in the world.  Each week the group will read and discuss two chapters.

To register, call or email Sage Linden at 828-712-5549, culturalcreativevision@gmail.com

Rejuvenate, recharge, feel happy! Learn fun, hilarious and energizing ways to generate uplifting laughter from within yourself. Laughter really is the best medicine, as Dr. Madan Kataria, an Indian cardiologist and founder of this global movement for health, joy and world peace, teaches.  Research shows that laughter strengthens the immune system, reduces stress and elevates endorphins, while also stimulating the brain, boosting circulation and exercising muscles.   What's not to love about laughing?  Come breathe, clap, move and laugh.   No experience necessary.  The evening will not include yoga mats or floor work.  All ages and conditions are welcome.  If you can laugh, you can participate.

Certified Laughter Yoga Instructor, Hara Marshi, will be happy to lead you in this healing and hilarious evening.  No joking!  Limited to 15 participants.

Anne Welsh, a former Holy Ground board member and frequent presenter at Holy Ground events, will read from and sign her newly published book, Held in the Light. Written together with Joyce Hollyday, another former board member and current teacher at Holy Ground, this memoir tells the story of Norman Morrison, who in 1965 immolated himself on the steps of the Pentagon as a protest against the Vietnam War. It also tells Anne's story of her life-long journey, as his widow, to recover from the wounds left by his act and to make meaning of it all. The book is "a poignant and haunting story about war and its many victims, about conscience and faith, about suffering, healing and the quest for peace."

Join us as we host a process of reflection and life-integration known as the OIKOS Project. Begun by Bill and Sylvia Everett in the mid-1980s, it has helped hundreds of people wrestle with how to put their work and family life together in response to their core values and the claims of the land they live in. All of us struggle with how to integrate these crucial aspects of our lives, but our culture provides no integrative language for this fundamental task. This inter-active workshop will provide tools and language to generate a thought-provoking conversation.

The OIKOS Project is an effort to respond to this need by stimulating our imaginations and providing a circle in which to reflect on these relationships with new words and wider vision. It arose not only out of Bill’s teaching in family ethics, ecology, and economics, but also out of Bill and Sylvia’s own struggles to reconstruct these relationships in mid-life. During Bill’s academic career it gave rise to extended research and publication. In retirement (yet another concept to put under the OIKOS lens!) he continues to offer this experience because of its enduring attraction and usefulness.

Bill Everett taught Christian social ethics for over thirty years before retiring in 2001 to focus on writing and woodworking. After seven books and some fifty articles in English and German on a wide range of ethical subjects, he turned to fiction writing and poetry with the publication in 2008 of Red Clay, Blood River, a story told by Earth of connections between America’s Trail of Tears and South Africa’s Great Trek. In the past eight years he has also built a number of round communion tables and other worship furniture. Some of his pieces are in the newly renovated chapel at Mission Hospital in Asheville. For more about Bill and his wife Sylvia’s work visit their website at www.WisdomsTable.net.

Bringing together the mineral, rock and structure elements of the earth, geologist Gordon Pirie will lead us on an exploration of the earth history of the Blue Ridge Mountains. This hike is a repeat of Gordon's popular adventure last fall. Previous participants commented, "We so appreciated Gordon's bubbly enthusiasm -- presenting information as if he'd just heard about it and couldn't wait to share it with us, convinced that what he was saying would have as profound an effect on us as it had on him."

Due to Parkway closures and in order to facilitate easier communication, this year's group will travel together in one van. Limited to 12 participants.

Perhaps the greatest stumbling block on the spiritual path to happiness is truly to forgive the one who has hurt you. In every religion we are told to forgive our enemy, turn the other cheek, offer up our love. But HOW exactly to do it? And what if the person I need to forgive is myself? How do I forgive?

This workshop combines lecture, discussion, story-telling, and participatory exercises to explore the difficulties of forgiving and the tools to be acquired. It is designed for anyone, male or female, who wants to heal dark areas, no matter what level of spiritual practice, because we are all beginners in the practice.

Author of 12 books, Sophy Burnham is a mystic, Reiki Master, healer and seer. She has distinguished herself as a novelist, journalist, nonfiction writer, playwright, and spiritual teacher. Her works include three bestsellers, A Book of Angels, Angel Letters, and The Art Crowd.

A frequent public speaker and presenter, she has appeared often on TV and radio, both at home and abroad, including Oprah, Larry King Live, CBS morning news, To Tell the Truth, Good Morning America, the Today Show and scores of others. She has written award-winning stage and radio plays, as well as documentary films.

On Sunday, following her weekend workshop, Sophy will be offering one-on-one sessions with several people for 1/2 hour or one hour spiritual readings. Priority for these sessions will be given to participants in the workshop. All sessions must be scheduled ahead of time and the schedule will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. This is a unique opportunity to spend quality time with a nationally recognized mystic and intuitive.