Note! This page is for registering for specific brotherhood circles, retreats, and other events. Those registering for meet-ups should go directly to our DC Meet-up site here. If you are registering for meet-ups in Los Angeles, you should go to this site. To register for the Fresno meet-up, click here.
Register below for
• Jonathan’s Circle Live
• Retreats
• Weekend Events
• Brotherhood Circles
• Training
Jonathan’s Circle Live
Searching For A Father
Men’s Lifelong Quest
September 24
9 PM Eastern 8 PM Central 7 PM Mountain 6 PM Pacific 5 PM Alaska 3 PM Hawaii
September 25
2 AM London, Dublin, Lisbon 3 AM Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Berlin 5 AM Tbilisi
11 AM Sydney, Brisbane
One father said to his sons, “I know I have wounded you. I don’t know how or when or where.” One son of his three countered that his father had never wounded him. The father replied, “If I haven’t wounded you, I have not done my job as a father.”
Fathers don’t really have to try to wound their sons. It is inevitable. A great problem is that the wounding sometimes is not born of love, as for example a wound inflicted in a rite of passage. Such wounds are typical in the rituals of tribal societies in which young men are initiated by their elders into adulthood by a ceremonial, symbolic, but very real physical wound. In the Western world, we have another problem. Distant fathers, insecure fathers, fathers dealing out shame to their sons for perceived failures and inadequacies inflict wounds that cripple, stifling growth and impeding male maturity. As a result, huge numbers of men wander through life looking for the affection, approval, and the intimacy that they never found from their fathers.
Older men sometimes long for sons, and younger men sometimes seek the fathers they didn’t have or had and lost.
Join Frank Dunn and Michael Kerosky in exploring some
of the ways we are used to looking at age levels and differences among men,
taking into account the father-son dynamic. We see it anytime we're fascinated
with portrayals of fathers and sons, whether socially approved or not. But we
know it more deeply in the wounds we, boys and daddies alike, carry around in
our bodies and souls, wounds that our fathers inflicted. We also know it from
the profound affection for, yearning for, and possibly our desire to emulate
our fathers and older men in general.
Because, like it or not, our culture in the West has been dominated by male god
imagery for millennia, all of this gets mixed up in our search for or dislike
of the “gods” on whom we project our issues of power, inclusion, fear, and
love.
• Explore how the boy in you seeks the companionship, affirmation, and love of a father.
• Ponder how your own relationship with your father and father figures affects the decisions you make and the way you live.
• Learn some ways of compensating for gaps in father-son relationships, or possibly mending those relationships.
We hope you’ll be with us.
To Join Our Conversations
- pay whatever you can of the suggested fee ($15) [payment and other donations can be made here]
- Register
- familiarize yourself with Google Hangouts [this site may help]
- have a webcam and working microphone
- Google hangouts work much better with Chrome, which we recommend you use
- you'll get a link by email at least an hour before the conversation begins
- hit the link when you get it and join us
It is our purpose to make all our events accessible to all men, excluding none for lack of funds. Give as you are able, and make it possible for someone else to participate. Tax deductible donations may always be made on our home page in the side bar.
Retreats
“Season for Shedding, Season for Peace”
September 13-15
“Season for Shedding, Season for Peace” is a weekend at Zebulon’s Grotto in King William, VA, a premier spot for a getaway replete with pool, hot tub, fire pit, lake, nature trails, and good food.
Arrive on Friday evening, September 13, by 6:30 (later if necessary) and commit to staying through Sunday, September 15, through lunch. We’ll be reflecting on the autumnal equinox just around the corner as a transition from summer to autumn and thus a season for shedding and the beginning of a season of reflection, a time for the windswept heart. It is all part of the rhythm of spiritual awareness and erotic energy. For both spirit and sexual vitality we need time for casting off what hampers and cramps us, and we need as well some occasions to look inward listening to where the Soul is leading us.
Cost of the weekend is $250, which includes 5 meals (Saturday breakfast, lunch, dinner, Sunday breakfast and lunch) and accommodations (first come, first served) in either guest quarters, main house basement, tree house, or rented tent. Guest quarters, main house, and tree house are shared space. If you bring your own tent, the total cost is $150. Annual membership at Zebulon’s Grotto is required and is a separate fee ($25 per person for the calendar year 2019). Save 4% of the retreat cost [online payments include a handling charge] by making a check payable to Jonathan’s Circle and mailing it to Frank Dunn, Jonathan’s Circle, 1328 Park Road NW, N° 32A, Washington, DC 20010.
Both registration and release forms must be filled out, emailed or printed and mailed to Jonathan’s Circle before September 8, 2019. Cancellations after September 10 will result in a forfeiture of $60 except in cases of serious emergency, at the discretion of the retreat leader. Registration is complete when both forms and the fee have been received.
Weekend Events
See our events page for full descriptions of weekend events.
Brotherhood Circles
No brotherhood circles are open at the present time. If you are interested in beginning a brotherhood circle, contact us here.
Training for Facilitators (Leaders)
To inquire about and register for training to be a facilitator of brotherhood circles, events, and meet-ups, contact us here.”