From Soularize to AWAKEN, From Tamaya to Shrine Mont
Each year, Illuman hosts a gathering of men, typically in New Mexico and historically called Soularize. This year’s gathering marks a new beginning, with a new name, AWAKEN, and...
The MROP as a Spiritual Pilgrimage
For men going through a crisis or change and looking for something to give them perspective, I have often recommended going through a Men’s Rites of Passage. If they are interested,...
Remembering Bishop David O’Connell
Bishop David O’Connell, a native of Ireland with a heart for marginalized people and humanity’s needs, was murdered on February 18, 2023 in his home in a Los Angeles suburb....
Introducing the Illuman Content Sharing Library
The Illuman Content Sharing Library is a new online tool that will facilitate a process of content sharing, especially for articles that men discover and want to share with other Illuman...
One Man’s Rites of Passage
Note: To help you engage new men in conversation about considering an MROP, we will...
Young Men Wanted
by Joel Blunk, Illuman Weaver As the story goes, in 1914, farmed explorer Sir Ernest...
How to Speak With A Man About the Rites of Passage
If you haven't yet experienced the Men's Rites of Passage (MROP). please consider one of...
Adam Bucko — On How to Approach Other People
Fr. Adam Bucko spoke at the Illuman Watering Hole in December. He shared how a....
How to Talk About Illuman
by Jim Burns, Illuman Board Member Many men have told me some version of. "Illuman...
Soccer as a Metaphor for Secular Religion
In 2014, Brazilian liberation theologian Leonardo Boff wrote a piece with the title “Soccer as a Metaphor for Secular Religion. It was a reflection on the 2014 World Cup that...
Sadness by Dean Robertson
Sadness Sadness settles in like a ground fog. It penetrates all the little cracks and...
Attendees of the Wild and Precious Life Writing Retreat (Jan 2023)
The in-person Wild and Precious Life writing retreat was held in Beavercreek, Ohio, January 6-9....
A Blessing for the New Year
Beannacht A Blessing for the New Year On the day when the weight deadens on...
Looking Back, Looking Ahead
This past year, 2022, marked ten years since Illuman was first incorporated, birthed out of...
Images of Soularize: Awaken
Over 260 men from across the US, Canada, Mexico, and as far away as Australia, gathered on the Tamaya Pueblo in New Mexico, November 3-6, 2022, for Soularize: Awaken, Illuman’s...
Awakened at Soularize
by Jim Burns, Co-Convener, IllumanDC As with the Men's Rites of Passage, words are often...
Soularize Experience
Soularize Experience by John Hamlett They came by car, bus, train and plane from near...
Poetry from Soularize
We were blessed with poetry this year at Soularize. Each session began with an offering...
Going Deeper: Illuman Cohorts
There is no suuch thing as inner work resulting in personal transformation without serious self-examination...
Illuman Founder Richard Rohr Steps Back from Public Ministry
Fr. Rohr speaks at Soularize This past Thursday, the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC)...
Illuman in Brazil?
by Bob Juarez & Giovanni Perez, Illuman Wisdom Elders It's happening! Illuman en Español is...
Report on Retiro Nuestras Heridas
by Bob Juarez & Giovanni Perez, Illuman Wisdom Elders At the end of an extended...
The First Latvian MROP: Brothers Without Borders
by Terry Symens-Bucher, former Illuman Board Chair On August 24, 2022, fifty-one initiates and an...
The Spiritual Practice of Council
by Jim Burns, Illuman Communications Council Chair We help create men through the listening we...
Passion Circles - Current and New
Illuman recently launched a new kind of Virtual Council that we are calling Passion Circles ...
What Is Healthy Masculinity?
by Steve Hicken, Illuman Board Chair We've all heard about, spoken about, and pretty much...
Mental Health and White Privilege
This article is offered by Glenn Siegel, MD, an emeritus Illuman Wisdom Elder and current...
Following the Wild Goose toward Healthy Masculinity
by Mike Clawson, Illuman Administrator What do men need in order to be more whole...
If this is what the center is like, what’s it like on the edges
At the end of 2005 my spiritual director said to me, ”I want you to consider going to see Fr. Richard Rohr when he speaks at Holy Family in Inverness.” Now I had heard of...
MROP Homework
For some the quest to find themselves and what they are called to do, or at least find what honestly feels right, can take most of their life. A least that’s how it has felt for...
Befriending the Darkness and the Light
Written by Bill McElroy
Befriending the Darkness and the Light
Salvation
As the arch of the sun’s daily trek across the sky
slips lower and lower to the South
following...
Notes on the Journey…
When I was first introduced to Richard Rohr’s writings several years ago, it was like a whole new world opened up to me. As I read more and more of his books and the daily meditations,...
My Journey of Illumination So Far
It is aptly titled a journey as I certainly find myself in the middle of a quest that would make even Frodo and Bilbo nod approvingly in quiet, Hobbit admiration. But although I have...
Grounded and Centered in the Tapestry of Life
I received a sympathy card from a good friend after our only daughter, Elizabeth, died in 1998. The first time I read the card I wan’t sure I liked it, but I kept returning to...
IN-MI Elder Profile: Nick Simons
In most of the bars around Elkhart and Mishawaka my grandfather was notorious for his drinking and fighting. On his way out of one of the many bars that he was being permanently banned...
Keeping the Edges Hot
I am grateful to Richard Rohr for his counsel to men to “Keep the edges hot.” Those words are present in many of his writings. They are now an important shared reminder...
To be…or not to be…
This question, asked by Hamlet in Shakespeare’s play of the same name, seems to be the question men often ask when they discover their inner world of spirituality. In other words,...
Getting Away, Seeing Life Larger
One of the things I appreciate about Richard Rohr’s writings is that they help me see things from a different perspective. It’s so easy to get stuck inside the same day-to-day...
We are all powerless…
At the monthly men’s meeting I attend, part of our ritual is to share something we are powerless over. Telling a bunch of guys “I am powerless over…” is hard....
The Journey of Illumination – Practice in Focus
CENTERING PRAYER
“Show Up and Observe”
by Jack Given
Yahweh, as the name of God, was thought to be unspeakable but was, some maintain, to be breathed. Yah–weh...
Soularize 2018 with Bill Plotkin
Inhabiting Our Unique Psycho-Ecological Niche
Thursday, October 18–Sunday, October 21, 2018
Conveners Corner with Mark Infusino
Conveners Corner – March 2022
By Mark Infusino, Co-Convener of Illuman SoCal
Help Us Reach More Men on Facebook!
We need your help spreading the word about Illuman. Illuman uses Facebook to inform, educate, and promote our work. If you are on that platform, please Like our page if you have not...
Illuman’s Best-Kept Secret: The Initiator Program
The Illuman Initiator Program seems to be one of Illuman’s best-kept secrets. I participated in the east coast MROP Initiator Program this May because I’m a co-Convener...
Remembering Your Rites of Passage
I just finished my own Rites of Passage.
It seems strange to write this, since I’ve already been working as the Illuman Administrator since last November. For months,...
A Ukraine Refugee Fundraiser Update
Back in March, we offered you an opportunity to support Illuman brothers in the Czech Republic who are caring for refugees from the war in Ukraine. For the past several months these...
Fire
The following was offered by Illuman NorCal Convener Joe Gabaeff at Oracle 2022, our leaders gathering held in Potosi, Missouri.
The Work that Reconnects: An Oracle 2022 Update
A few weeks ago, just over thirty Illuman leaders gathered at Trout Lodge in the foothills of the Ozarks for our annual leaders gathering, which we’ve dubbed “Oracle”...
Prophet in Alaska
Each evening at Oracle 2022, our leaders gathering held in Potosi, Missouri, we gathered around “Grandfather Fire” to offer gifts of poetry, story, drumming, movement, and...
Water Poured
Each evening at Oracle 2022, our leaders gathering held in Potosi, Missouri, we gathered around “Grandfather Fire” to offer gifts of poetry, story, drumming, movement, and...
The Hudsons and the Scotts
Each evening at Oracle 2022, our leaders gathering held in Potosi, Missouri, we gathered around “Grandfather Fire” to offer gifts of poetry, story, drumming, movement, and...
I am made of Stardust
Each evening at Oracle 2022, our leaders gathering held in Potosi, Missouri, we gathered around “Grandfather Fire” to offer gifts of poetry, story, drumming, movement, and...
Easter Morning in Wales
Each evening at Oracle 2022, our leaders gathering held in Potosi, Missouri, we gathered around “Grandfather Fire” to offer gifts of poetry, story, drumming, movement, and...
It’s Just Grief
Each evening at Oracle 2022, our leaders gathering held in Potosi, Missouri, we gathered around “Grandfather Fire” to offer gifts of poetry, story, drumming, movement, and...
falling in front of us
Each evening at Oracle 2022, our leaders gathering held in Potosi, Missouri, we gathered around “Grandfather Fire” to offer gifts of poetry, story, drumming, movement, and...
‘Let’s See’
Each evening at Oracle 2022, our leaders gathering held in Potosi, Missouri, we gathered around “Grandfather Fire” to offer gifts of poetry, story, drumming, movement, and...
Gifts for Grandfather: Potosi Oracle-2022
Each evening at Oracle 2022, our leaders gathering held in Potosi, Missouri, we gathered around “Grandfather Fire” to offer gifts of poetry, story, drumming, movement, and...
Healthy Masculinity Across Borders (and a way to help Ukrainian refugees)
Just as many parts of the world gained cautious optimism that we might be turning the corner on COVID-19, the war in Ukraine erupted, destroying lives and property, and forcing over...
We want to know about you
Specifically, we want to know how Illuman can better support your personal and spiritual development. To that end, we invite you to follow this link to update your interests, information,...
Introducing the New Illuman Administrator
Originally published in the January 2022 Drumbeat.
At the end of 2021, Brad Pickel, our beloved Illuman Administrator for the past 8 years, stepped down from his role. It’s...
Love and Gratitude for Time Well Spent
A farewell from the previous Illuman Administrator, Brad Pickel. Originally published in the November 2021 Drumbeat Newsletter.
Find out what happened at the Illuman Leadership Meeting
April 6th – 10th, Bob Colaresi and I traveled to Oracle, AZ for the annual Illuman (Formerly MALEs) Leadership Meeting. Personally, while I had attended most of these meetings...
Men’s Rites of Passage for 2019
Below is a listing of the Men’s Rites of Passage opportunities for 2019.
Learn more about the Men’s Rites of Passage Program on our MROP web page.
Gratitude Day with Jared Adams
Gratitude Day – Saturday, November 23, 2013
9 – 1 PM, St. Paul’s Hall, Carmelite Spiritual Center, Darien, IL
Reflections from a Father for Gen Alpha
by Sergio Lopez
Last October, just a few weeks before my thirty-fifth birthday, my wife surprised me with the incredible news that, after twelve years of marriage, we will finally...
The Enchanted Mirror
A poem by Michael Whitman
(Written at Soularize 2017 and the “Do I Matter” retreat 2017)
IN-MI Elder Profile: David Wenger
One day in middle school we were given an assignment to design our own tombstone. This assignment had a lasting impression on me as I can still picture the room and the chair with a...
Facing Our Fear
Thirteen years ago, our seven-week-old Siamese kitten dealt with fear the first time she met our 80-pound yellow Labrador retriever. She ran away as fast as she could for about three...
Be Not Afraid
More than any phrase in the Scriptures, I can identify with this one on my daily walk. I have been a priest for over 35 years and while I love the ministry, as an introvert, I am pushed...
Soularize 2015 Report
I was blessed to be able to travel to New Mexico in November with 180 other men, fellow travelers on the spiritual journey, to gather for Soularize 2015. As I reflect back on my experience,...
…getting involved in the men’s spirituality.
As I began getting involved in the men’s spirituality movement several years ago, one of the big aha moments for me was when I learned about the male archetypes. Robert Moore...
IN-MI Elder Profile: Mike Whitman
It is my honor to introduce myself as one of the elders for the Indiana/Michigan M.A.L.E.s chapter of Illuman. Life began for me in 1947, in Flint, Michigan. I am the oldest of nine...
The Journey of Illumination – Practice in Focus
GATHERING
“Regularly look for support and accountability with other serious brothers”
“Do not absent yourself from the gatherings of the brethren” –...
From the IN-MI Convener
Reflecting on the past three months, I am grateful for new connections that have been made between men in our chapter—by taking time away to retreat with each other, and by taking...
Unmet Needs. The modern musician’s cologne
Reflections on a MROP
So I’ve been pondering, since laying down music so the seed could die, a lot of how the kingdom is so counter-intuitive to our way of thinking. More...
Almost 9 Minutes
ALMOST 9 MINUTES
(REMEMBERING MEMORIAL DAY 2020)
By Michael Whitman
The Enchanted Mirror
A poem by Michael Whitman
(Written at Soularize 2017 and the “Do I Matter” retreat 2017)
IN-MI Elder Profile
In this brief autobiographical profile, I’m not going to offer the traditional narrative. Instead, I’ve selected a few themes that I hope will speak to you, my Brothers,...
MROP – 2 years later
Dear Brothers…
Part of our preparation for the MROP was, no doubt, a cocktail of prayer, anxious thoughts and playing out all sorts of ‘hypotheticals’ to see if...
Sadness and Joy
Sometimes I find myself wondering if this “Men’s Work” is real, but not today. My 19 year old son is leaving home tonight for Nicaragua to do a year long service...
Reflections on MROP // Rick and Ed
Rick Eby – Goshen, Indiana
MROP – September 18-22, 2013
Krislund Camp near Madisonburg, PA
Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, June 20 – July 1, 2016
For Initiated men and their significant others.
Click here to download Brochure and Registration Form PDF
Whirling
Each evening at Oracle 2022, our leaders gathering held in Potosi, Missouri, we gathered around “Grandfather Fire” to offer gifts of poetry, story, drumming, movement, and...
The Call of Night
Each evening at Oracle 2022, our leaders gathering held in Potosi, Missouri, we gathered around “Grandfather Fire” to offer gifts of poetry, story, drumming, movement, and...
In the jug of your wound…
The following was offered by Illuman Board Member and Wisdom Elder Ned Abenroth at Oracle 2022, our leaders gathering held in Potosi, Missouri.
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