Center for Babaylan Studies
KAPWA NILALANG
(Becoming Good Kin)
Center for Babaylan Studies Symposium
Recovering Our
Earth-Honoring
Traditions of Spirituality
August 23-25, 2024
Maryville Retreat Center | 18307 Taylor Lake Road | Holly, Michigan
At this time, we are sold out of all registration slots.
Complete this form if you would like to be notified when tickets become available.
Access our program brochure for an overview of the event.
Once upon a time
We scarcely now can remember
We were a people
Living well on the land
Each tribe—Ayta, Manobo, Ifugaw, Palawanon
(and lots more)
Rooted in our places of habitation
Knowing the languages
Of birds, plants, animals, rocks, and sky
Who taught us
Our songs, stories, dances, prayers
The unique particularities
Of our ways of being (human)
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They were our Elders, our Kapwa Nilalang
These more-than-human kin
Coming to us in dreams
Sharing their secrets, teaching
Not only respect, courtesy, generosity
But the wisdom of limits
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Thus, as humans, we were never alone
Generation after generation
They lived among us, our Kapwa kin
Keeping the seeds
Of real culture alive
Calling us back one more time
Into sacred relationship
About the Gathering
In this Symposium gathering, we invite you, our Kapwa in the diaspora, to join us as we open our hearts to re-learning once more this original way of being, its recovery, our only hope for the future.
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Together, we will delve into the following thematics (and more):
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Our Seed Inheritance
What is it that we have lost and how did we lose it?
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Exploring our Kapwa wisdom traditions of spirituality
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Understanding the trauma of colonial conquest and modern alienation and its impact on our sense of self and community
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​Regrowing Our Ancestral Seeds
What are ways to nurture the seeds of Kapwa indigenous understandings in the diaspora (on stolen land)?
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Nature/the “Wild” as our teacher
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Ethnoautobiography: Ceremonial steps to recovering sacred connection with our Indigenous Soul
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Honoring the animacy of all beings (including the tools we use in everyday life) and shifting our relation from one of enslavement to kinship respect and honoring.
Guest Teachers
Ate Leny Strobel
CfBS Co-Founder and Elder
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S. Lily Mendoza
On "Becoming Good Kin"
Lane Wilcken
Author & Cultural Tattoo Practitioner
S. Lily Mendoza
CfBS Executive Director
Lukayo Estrella
Wordslinger and Healer
Jim Perkinson
Educator, Activist, and Poet
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Lodging for the symposium is limited to about 60 participants. At the Maryville Retreat Center in Holly, Michigan, we are pleased to offer several lodging options. Early-bird and regular rates are listed, and they include programming, two nights of lodging (Friday and Saturday), meals, and snacks.
In addition, a "commuter" option is offered. This ticket type does not include lodging, but meals are provided. We have the capacity for 20 commuter attendees.
Please plan to arrive at the retreat center by 4 p.m. ET on August 23. It takes about an hour from the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) to get to the site. The symposium concludes after lunch on August 25.
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For registrants, we will provide support for coordinating rideshares from DTW. More logistical details are forthcoming.
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Questions? Email the Center for Babaylan Studies Core.
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Photo credit: Writhe-Billed Hornbill (Rhabdotorrhinus waldeni) | © Lorenzo Vinciguerra via eBird.
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