New Suns Cohort – Closing Retreat and project sharing

“There is nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns.” — Octavia Estelle Butler

This year-long, in-depth program is inspired by Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. Throughout the cohort, participants will learn alongside Butler’s unforgettable protagonist, Lauren Olamina, a visionary organizer whose clarity and courage offer a powerful lens for this uncertain time. Together, we will explore what these novels can teach us about reading the present, imagining a life-giving future, and supporting one another so our communities can endure and shape what comes next.

Over the course of the year, we will come together in several ways:

• Opening Retreat: Searching for New Suns: Engaging the Prophetic Wisdom and Imagination of Octavia E. Butler, June 12-14, 2026
• Monthly Zoom calls on third Mondays, July 20, 2026-May 17, 2027, 7-8:30pm ET
• One additional retreat of your choice, based on your specific interests and project
• Closing Retreat and project sharing, June 11-13, 2027

Each participant will be supported in bringing a project to life that is shaped by the novels and the cohort experience. This might be a zine, an art or theater piece, an organizing project, a piece of writing, or something else entirely. The form and scope are yours to define.

To deepen the learning and support project development, a range of optional retreats will be offered during the year. Possible topics include the theology of the Parables, imagination practices, writing, engaging conflict in high-pressure situations, healing practices, grief practices, disability justice, printmaking, popular education, speculative fiction, and survival skills. Participants may also choose a private two-night retreat for reflection, planning, or focused project work.

As we move through a full year together, we will study the conditions around us, practice adaptation, and ride the waves of change in community.

Space is limited; apply today!

Benefits of the program

• Deeper insight into the conditions we are living through and strategies for navigating them
• Provocations toward spiritual and intellectual growth
• A network of deepening relationships with diverse Octavia-inspired seekers, organizers, and creatives to navigate the conditions alongside you
• Support for building local communities of resilience, recovery, and resistance
• Encouragement and space for pursuing your art and organizing projects
• Catalysts for exercising your own prophetic imagination
• Unlimited nerding out on visionary fiction!

Who is this for:

• Spiritually curious seekers looking to make meaning of this moment in community
• People who believe writing and art matter and want to explore how that is true
• Creatives seeking new ways of being, making, doing, and living
• Realists who want to prepare for what is coming
• Lovers of Octavia Butler’s work who want to nerd out with others about it
• Creators who want support and accountability around a project they are working on around these themes
• Practical theologians curious about Butler’s Earthseed “God Is Change” theology
• Anyone who feels called to something in this moment and would like support stepping into it

Included in the program:

• Three two-night, three-day, facilitated retreats in the Pocono Mountains
• All meals plus snacks at the three retreats
• Eleven facilitated Zoom sessions
• Unlimited growth in community!