Welcome to Anne Cahill, Spiritual Director
Providing compassionate, intuitive, and non-judgmental
Spiritual Direction and Accompaniment
in a contemplative style
Sometimes,
Life brings more clouds than sunshine.
Do You....
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Question your faith and what or if you believe?
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Search for meaning in an illness, disability or other loss in yourself or a loved one?
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Wish to reconnect or grow closer to God?
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Seek to understand Spiritual or mystical experiences?
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Desire to broaden your understanding of the Divine?
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Have questions about your purpose or calling?
I listen with the ear of my heart to guide and accompany you in finding your unique pathway to your True self; your sacred center, where your life unfolds through Divine Guidance.
"At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us...It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody...."
-Thomas Merton, from Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, (New York: Doubleday), 1996.
My Services
1
Spiritual Direction
As a Benedictine- trained Spiritual Director, I listen with the ear of my heart to guide and accompany you in finding your unique pathway to your True self, your sacred center, where your life unfolds through Divine Guidance.
2
Guided Meditation
Some directees and others have asked to be led in guided or healing meditations as a form of contemplative prayer. I have also taught Centering Prayer. I trust and follow where the Spirit calls each person.
ABOUT ANNE CAHILL
My Training
In the Benedictine tradition of conversatio morum, I am a life-long learner. I have an MSW degree from the University of Kentucky, and I hold a Graduate Certificate in Spiritual Direction from St. John’s University School of Theology in Collegeville, Minnesota. I am an active member of Spiritual Directors International and embrace their guidelines. I meet monthly with my own Spiritual Director and participate in individual and peer supervision. I am grounded in a Benedictine contemplative-evocative approach to Spiritual Direction.
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You may be curious….
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What is Spiritual Direction?
Spiritual Direction is a process a person undertakes with a Spiritual Director/Companion as a means of growing into communion or harmony with God. Together, we explore what Spirit is unfolding in you. The signs from God are unique to each person. They come through one's lived experience, time spent in prayer, often in silence; time spent in nature, and through mental images, thoughts, and feelings. This process takes time. As one of my directees said so well: "Spiritual Direction is not an easy process, or should I say a quick process with easy answers. I see now it is slow and ongoing." By turning inward, noticing, discerning, and responding to these prompts, a person is drawn ever deeper into relationship with God, self, and others. God actively seeks this relationship with us, so to heed this call is sacred.
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What do you mean by contemplative presence?
Contemplative Presence in Spiritual Direction is an awareness and an attentiveness a director brings to the presence of God within the Spiritual Direction session, within themselves, and within the directee. Contemplative presence is an acknowledgment of how we each live into the Mystery, as God’s Spirit moves through one’s life, experiences, thoughts, feelings, and relationships. Contemplative presence provides an unhurried space. Like an empty vessel, as a Spiritual Director, I hold a safe and open space in each session. This contemplative presence allows a directee to attend to his/her own inner promptings, to the movements of the Spirit in the present moment and in a directee’s life. As a Spiritual Director, I am called to listen with the ear of my heart, to hold the contemplative space; to notice and trust in the work of the Spirit.
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What is an evocative approach?
An evocative approach to Spiritual Direction is different from a casual conversation with friends or family members. As a Spiritual companion, I am first and foremost, a listener. The evocative approach is a tool which allows me to remain in a learner’s stance. In practicing Spiritual Direction, I will ask open-ended questions, which you are invited to answer. Some questions are asked in order to clarify and to better understand what my directee is saying. I may gently bring our attention back to words that seem especially important, so we may explore a bit more. I will observe and notice feelings, as expressed through tears, facial expressions, or bodily movements. I ask these evocative questions from a place of openness and receptivity, and with an honest desire for better understanding and connection. A contemplative-evocative approach may include moments of silence, sometimes even long moments of silence, as we wait and pray and remain open to what arises.
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My Story
I have decades of experience with contemplation, and in those times when I have reached a deeper level of communion, I have had experiences of God, the Reality beyond All Reality. One cannot have an experience of God and remain unchanged. It is life transforming! These are mystical experiences which have led me to an ever-growing desire to be an instrument of Spirit, and my vocation as a Spiritual Director.
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As I reflect on my life, I have been a contemplative with a strong connection to the Spirit, and with gifts of intuition and knowledge from a very young age. I was strongly influenced by my Appalachian grandmothers who were very pious, and one was, indeed, a mystic as well. I was born in Portsmouth, OH near the confluence of the Ohio and Scioto Rivers. This area is called “the foothills” of the Appalachian Mountains and is the land of the Shawnee and their great leader, Tecumseh. The Appalachian culture is deeply rooted in the land. And like the Shawnee who walked this same land before me, I believe we are all connected in and with God's Creation.
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This deep dive into Christian mysticism cannot be separated from who I am as a Spiritual Director. "We must bring who we are." In that vein, I have been asked to lead some directees and others in guided meditations as one form of contemplative prayer. I have also served family and friends who requested me to lead them in healing meditations when they were suffering from illnesses. I have come to understand that these meditations are God’s way of speaking with them, and I am Spirit's humble instrument. Leading others in meditation is a part of my unique contemplative and intuitive style.
TESTIMONIALS
CONTACT
Get In Touch
I offer a free 45 minute consultation by Zoom or Facetime to answer questions and discern if we are to enter on this journey together. If you would like a free initial consultation, or if you have other questions, please fill out the form and I will respond as soon as possible.