Community Ministry Certificate FAQ
13 month-long modules placed in our online classroom will give you a brief introduction to these topics:
- Pagan history and variety, and theology basics
- Creating and leading ritual
- Diversity & cultural understanding
- Personal spiritual development and Ethics
- Serving people at various life stages
- Group leadership
- Addiction issues
- Domestic violence issues
- Lifework planning
There are no live class meetings – all media presentations, readings, web resource links and discussion lists are in our online classroom. With good internet access you can do this from anywhere in the world, any time of the day, 24/7.
Instead of a teacher, you will be assigned a faculty mentor who has experience in community ministry. That mentor will stay with you throughout your independent study, checking in with you regularly and giving you feedback and evaluations. Your mentor will also want to have phone or web meetings periodically.
When you register for the program you will submit a registration fee $20, then CHS will invoice you each month for $100. The work is self-paced, but you are expected to complete each module in the month so you can go on to the next. This means that if you are not finished with the CMC after 13 months you will continue to be charged for $100 each month until you complete the program.
If you drop out or must take a leave there is no refund. When you return, you may not be reassigned to the same faculty-mentor. If you do not pay your monthly tuition on time, your access to the classroom may be discontinued.
There are a few books that you must purchase on your own. Many of the readings will be posted in your classroom.
We have found over the years that our original plan for the student to spend a full month on the material in that section is the best, so no, you must spend thirteen months on your CMC.
The laws are different in each state. It will give you education from a respected source, and you will be better prepared to offer this service to others.
An MDiv is a full graduate degree, comparable to any graduate degree you would receive at a university or other seminary. It is often required for professional chaplaincy or paid congregational ministry. The Community Ministry Certificate is not a graduate degree or professional licensure. It is designed for the many individuals who are doing work in their own community and who need an introductory program to help them with the skills and knowledge essential to such work. You do not need a college degree in order to enter the CMC program.
Following award of your Community Ministry Certificate, you are entitled to add the initials CMC after your name. You may request that your name be listed on our web site at this page. Also, if you have received your Community Ministry Certificate from Cherry Hill Seminary, you may commission a ministerial stole. A deep green stole with the embroidered Cherry Hill Seminary official logo is exclusively designated for our Community Ministry graduates. Contact the office for more information.
Not at this time. Cherry Hill Seminary offers the highest quality Pagan-focused education at the best prices available anywhere. But we do this on a limited, donation-dependent budget. Based on the current tuition rates for other seminary programs, we believe that we offer quality distance education at a reasonable tuition rate.
Register as soon as you decide to take this step. Since the program is for independent study, there are no dates for classes, just your individual progress through the modules.
Only a few. Most readings are provided in the online classroom. You can find out what books you need ahead of time. There are a few books that you must purchase on your own. Many of the readings will be posted in your classroom.
Cherry Hill Seminary expects each of our students to take responsibility for knowing the information contained in the Student Handbook and our website, including all policies that affect your program of study. While faculty advisors are always available to assist and advise, you are expected to monitor your own progress toward the degree or certificate of your choice. Most importantly, this is a self-directed program and you are responsible not only for proper completion of assignments, but for interacting with your Faculty-Mentor and responding to their guidance.
Rewilding the Soul Ecospirituality Certificate FAQ
While many Pagan and ceremonial magic traditions honor nature and the elements, ecospirituality takes a different approach. Rather than working primarily with established ritual systems, deity forms, or magical correspondences, this program focuses on direct, embodied relationship with your specific place—the actual plants, animals, landforms, and seasonal cycles of your bioregion. Participants learn to listen to the land itself and allow spiritual practices to emerge from these living relationships. Ceremonial practitioners are welcome and may find their existing practices deepened through direct earth connection, but this program does not teach formal magical systems or ritual structures.
Students are admitted into a cohort, with a minimum size of six persons. The program is divided into 4 seasonal sections and includes weekly live sessions with contemplative practices between sessions.
20 live virtual classes meet for 90 minutes each. 16 small group meetings are on alternate weeks.
Module 1: Sacred Belonging to Place
March 18 – May 13, 2026
- Session 1: March 18
- Session 2: April 1
- Session 3: April 15
- Session 4: April 29
- Session 5: May 13
- Small groups: March 25, April 8, 22, May 6
THREE-WEEK BREAK: Weeks of Mon, May 18, May 25 & Jun 1, 2026
Module 2: Embodying Earth Soul
June 10 – August 5, 2026
- Session 1: June 10
- Session 2: June 24
- Session 3: July 8
- Session 4: July 22
- Session 5: August 5
- Small groups: June 17, July 1, 15, 29
THREE-WEEK SUMMER BREAK: Weeks of Mon, Aug 10, Aug 17 & Aug 24, 2026
Module 3: Wild Earth Spirituality
September 2 – October 28, 2026
- Session 1: September 2
- Session 2: September 16
- Session 3: September 30
- Session 4: October 14
- Session 5: October 28
- Small groups: September 9, 23, October 7, 21
TWO-WEEK BREAK: Weeks of Mon, Nov 2 & Nov 9, 2026
Module 4: Sharing Earth Gifts
November 18, 2026 – February 3, 2027
- Session 1: November 18
- Session 2: December 9
- Session 3: January 6, 2027
- Session 4: January 20
- Session 5: February 3
- Small groups: November 25 (US Thanksgiving week) or December 2, December 16, January 13, 27
Note: No live sessions on December 23 or December 30 (holiday weeks)
Live sessions meet Wednesdays for 90 minutes 12:00pm Eastern / 9:00am Pacific
Small group sessions are encouraged to meet the same day and time on the off weeks, but the small groups can set their own agreed-upon day and time.
This is a live course via Zoom. While the sessions will be recorded and shared with participants, this course is not one that can be taken fully asynchronously.
Tuition is $1800 for the full program, with payments of $450 at the beginning of each module.
Dr. Jeffrey Keefer. Click to learn more about him.
Module 1: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Module 2: The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief by Francis Weller
Module 3: The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World by David Abram
Module 4: Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in Without Going Crazy by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone
Spiritual Direction Certificate FAQ
Students are admitted into a cohort, with a minimum size of ten persons. The two-year program is divided into 4 quarters and includes live online meetings with lectures, discussion, case studies, role playing and guest speakers, covering the following content.
- 6 hours per month for online discussions and assignments for submission.
- 5 hours per month for face-to-face meetings with the whole cohort/small groups/a study-buddy
- 1 hour per month for your spiritual director
- 3 hours per month for reviewing material
- Budget time throughout each core for interviews, one retreat per core, a book per core, an elective, an ethics course ( then during year two, seeing seekers and a supervisor.)
This program is for people who
- Have some theological background
- Are looking for a cohort-based virtual community of international learners
- Teachers from Pagan, indigenous, Catholic, Sufi, neuro-diverse, gender-diverse (and more) wisdom
- Grounded in earth-relating traditions
- Want to focus on building a community of accountability and support
- Celebrate the knowledge you are whole, holy and worthy
Admissions are rolling (year-round) with new cohorts beginning in the fall or spring when a minimum enrollment is reached.
Tuition is $3000 for the full program, with quarterly payments of $375 due at the beginning of each quarter.
The cost of the “second course of your own choosing.”
The cost of the spiritual companion/supervisor you meet with (outside of CHS).
SPIDIR PROGRAM CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
A Two-Year Journey in Spiritual Companionship
Welcome to the SpiDir program! This two-year online spiritual direction training follows the Heart of Sacred Tending (HoST) series—four semesters that guide you from witness to professional spiritual companion.
THE DEVELOPMENTAL ARC: FROM DUCK TO SPIRITUAL COMPANION
The program uses a developmental metaphor to describe your growth:
• Semester 1: Rubber Ducky → Golden Retriever
From passive witnessing to holding presence with loving regard
• Semester 2: Golden Retriever → Community Member
From presence to presence-with-justice (accountable companionship)
• Semester 3: Community Member → Spiritual Friend
From accountable companionship to resilient, trauma-informed spiritual caregiving
• Semester 4: Spiritual Friend → Spiritual Companion
From caregiver to professional companion with vocational clarity
PROGRAM LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By completing this program, you will:
1. Enrich your spiritual life and theological awareness through engagement with spiritual practices and self-reflection, developing a solid grounding in your own spiritual framework.
2. Discern and articulate a personal commitment to spiritual companionship, forming a clear identity as a Spiritual Companion with understanding of distinctions between spiritual direction and other helping professions.
3. Cultivate sensitivity and skill in the art of spiritual companionship, integrating ethical and compassionate practices with a focus on experiencing and facilitating vulnerability.
4. Develop deep, contemplative, and compassionate listening skills to support explorers effectively, being attentive to their stories, journey, yearnings, and presence.
5. Gain familiarity with diverse modalities and methods, learning when and how to use tools such as discernment, dreamwork, Enneagram, and various spiritual practices, with emphasis on reflective support.
6. Explore the history of spiritual companionship and spiritual journeys across diverse traditions, with particular focus on Paganisms and your own tradition(s), approaching each with humility and curiosity.
7. Understand and engage in somatic integration, embodiment, and creative expression as essential elements of holistic spiritual companionship.
8. Deepen and articulate a relationship with the sacred, recognizing its presence in self, others, and the world, while integrating justice, equity, and compassion into spiritual practice.
9. Learn approaches for working with specific populations, understanding their unique spiritual needs and perspectives, with focus on establishing clear personal and professional boundaries.
10. Establish ethical foundations and professional practices, committing to supervision, accountability, and community care, while cultivating a sustainable, heart-centered spiritual companionship practice.
SEMESTER 1
Sacred Tending & Presence
PRIMARY FOCUS: Hospitality, Presence, and Embodiment
DEVELOPMENTAL SHIFT: From witnessing to holding presence with loving regard
WHO THIS IS FOR:
Students of spiritual direction, members of spiritual traditions and religious communities, and folks who want to show up for their friends and family. Completing this semester makes you a better friend.
SCOPE OF PRACTICE AFTER SEMESTER 1:
You can:
• Listen with deeper presence
• Ask better questions
• Hold space without fixing
• Notice when someone needs professional support
You are NOT yet ready to:
• Present yourself as a spiritual director/companion
• Set up formal appointments
• Work with people in crisis
• Take responsibility for someone’s spiritual journey as their designated guide
SECTIONS & KEY TOPICS:
Special Focus: What Is Spiritual Direction?
• Introduction to spiritual guidance around the world
• Three ways of understanding spiritual direction work:
– Spiritual companioning with interior exploration support
– “Couples therapy for you and your divine(s)” focused on relationship repair
– Creating safer space to explore spiritual practices and gifts
Never Forget, Always Remember: Hospitality, Ethics, and Consent
• Power, boundaries, ethics, consent, hospitality
• Introduction to ethical care, self-reflection
• Foundational ethical framework
Section 1: A Very Good Place to Start
• Your Spiritual Home (exploring your own tradition, beliefs, and practices)
• Focusing
• Communication tools
• Language of the Sacred (many names for the divine)
• What is spiritual practice? Types of spiritual practice
• Formation: Your current identity as a helper, carer, or spiritual person
Section 2: History and Sources
• Sibling Faiths: Desert Mothers and Fathers, Mysticism
• Naming emotions
• Stages of faith
• Praxis and introduction to embodiment
• Holding sacred space (connection to radical hospitality)
• Altars and shrines
• Support vs. Challenge model
• How much structure?
• Formation: Your tradition, practices, and current spiritual practice(s)
Section 3: Prayer and Attending to What Is
• Sibling Faith: Catholic (Ignatian Exercises, St. Teresa of Avila)
• Deep listening
• W.A.I.T. (Why Am I Talking?)
• Spiritual typing systems
• Introduction to prayer (body prayer, prayers and blessings)
• Formation: Your relationship with prayer
Section 4: Embrace the World
• Sibling Faiths: Celtic Christianity, Druidry
• Apophatic and Cataphatic, Via Positiva and Via Negativa
• Immanent/Transcendent
• Poetry and Lectio Divina
• Anam Cara (soul friendship)
• Session structure and holding space
• Third Chair (making space for the Sacred)
• Forest bathing and nature
• Formation: Encountering your emotions
Section 5: Telling the Story
• Sibling Faith: Judaism and Midrash
• Listening for story
• Storytelling
• Myth
• Enneagram (as typing system and storytelling framework)
• Spiritual autobiography
• Formation: Your spiritual story
SEMESTER 2
Spiritual Care for a Changing World
PRIMARY FOCUS: Lineage, Justice, and Accountability
DEVELOPMENTAL SHIFT: From presence to presence-with-purpose (accountable companionship)
WHO THIS IS FOR:
Building on Semester 1, this semester is for those deepening their practice, developing cultural humility, and learning to work with justice and accountability in spiritual companionship.
SCOPE OF PRACTICE AFTER SEMESTER 2:
After completing Semesters 1 and 2, you are ready to BEGIN practicing as a student, with supervision. Before you see your first seeker:
• Establish a supervision relationship
• Complete practice sessions with peers using the verbatim process
• Know your referral network
• Have your intake process ready
• Be clear about your scope of practice and boundaries
You can accompany others with clear covenant that you are acting as a student and they are supporting your learning journey. You must have appropriate support and accountability.
SECTIONS & KEY TOPICS:
Special Focus: The Relevance of Spiritual Direction for being a community member
Spiritual Care in a time of Authoritarianism
An Ethic of cultural sharing
Building a Community of Accountability and Support
Section 1: Where You Come From
• Sibling Faiths: Muslim, Sufi (with special attention to cultural respect)
• Cultural sharing vs. appropriation framework
• Lineage, authority, and accountability
• Chant and movement
• Formation: Your spiritual lineage and what you have permission to share
Section 2: Cultural Humility
• Sibling Faiths: Afro-Diasporic traditions (Ifá, Santería, Vodoun)
• Theodicy (the question of evil and suffering)
• Ancestor work
• Devotion to deity
• Formation: Your relationship to cultural humility
Section 3: Engaged Faith
• Sibling Faiths: Reclaiming, Wicca, Neo-Paganism
• Spiritual bypassing and toxic positivity
• Social justice and spiritual practice
• Grounding and centering practices
• Body scans
• Formation: Your relationship to purpose, justice and action
Section 4: Weaponized Faith
• Sibling Faiths: Heathenism (and its reclamation), Confucianism
• High-control groups and cults
• Authoritarianism in spiritual contexts
• Getting free and reclaiming spiritual sovereignty
• Decolonizing relationship with the sacred
• Ethical ritual-making
• Formation: Your experiences with religious authority
Section 5: The Way of Discernment
• Sibling Faiths: Hellenic, Religio Romana, Roma tradition
• Discernment practices and processes
• Companioning discernment
• Clearness committees
• Different types of knowing, Divination
• Formation: Your relationship with certainty and doubt
Integration & Covenant
• Review of Semesters 1 and 2
• Intake process and creating covenants
• Introduction to supervision (peer and professional, individual and group)
• How to find a supervisor
• What to expect in supervision
• Forming peer supervision groups
• Preparing for supervision (verbatim and FQF)
• Red flags in supervision relationships
Appendices include:
• Social justice, cultural appropriation, decolonizing, anti-oppression
• Framework for cultural sharing
• Grief for not having a culture
• Detailed supervision guidance
SEMESTER 3
Ethics, Trauma, and Emergent Care
PRIMARY FOCUS: Whole Self and Resilience
DEVELOPMENTAL SHIFT: From accountable companionship to resilient, trauma-informed spiritual caregiving
WHO THIS IS FOR:
This semester assumes you have completed Semesters 1 and 2 and are actively practicing student spiritual companionship under supervision. The material on trauma, crisis, and psychological frameworks requires both foundational formation AND ongoing consultation with supervisors and colleagues.
SCOPE OF PRACTICE AFTER SEMESTER 3:
You are working with seekers under supervision, developing trauma-informed awareness and crisis response skills. You understand your limits and know when to refer or consult.
SECTIONS & KEY TOPICS:
Special Focus: Trauma, Wounding and Emergent care
Religious Wounding
Trauma Informed Practice
Community Trauma
Moral Injury
Section 1: Containers and Holding
• Sibling Faiths: Ceremonial, Occult, Kemetism [Ritual containers and support]
• Creating and maintaining sacred containers, Ritual
• Holding space for difficult emotions
• Small Group Work
• Formation: Your relationship with boundaries and containment
Section 2: When the World Comes Undone
• Sibling Faiths: Gnosticism, Esoteric Christianity, Pantheism, Panentheism
• Introduction to trauma-informed spiritual care
• Spiritual Emergencies, Dark Night of the Soul
• Trauma responses and nervous system
• Grounding techniques for crisis
• Spirit Guides
• Formation: Your theology of suffering and crisis
Section 3: At the Edge
• Sibling Faiths: Buddhism, Zen
• Suicide awareness and response
• Theological Questions and Frameworks
• Meditation
• Labyrinth, Pilgrimage
• Formation: Your edges and limits
Section 4: The Many Within and Around Us
• Sibling Faiths: Hindu traditions, Yoga philosophy
• Family systems theory and non-anxious presence
• Internal Family Systems (parts work)
• Attachment theory as lens for spiritual relationships
• Working with relationship dynamics
• Prayer beads (rosary, japa mala)
• Formation: Your relational patterns/Genogram
Section 5: Mind, Medicine, Meaning
• Sibling Faiths: South American traditions (with attention to plant medicine contexts)
• Mental health diagnoses and spiritual experience
• Psychoactive substances and spirituality
• Spiritual emergency vs. psychiatric emergency
• Dreamwork
• Active imagination
• Journaling practices
• Psychodrama
• Formation: Your identity as spiritual caregiver and relationship with the sacred
Appendices include:
• Robust treatment of responding to active suicidality
• Referral networks and resources
SEMESTER 4
The Integrated Companion: Vocation, Sustainability, and Professional Practice
PRIMARY FOCUS: Vocation, Creativity, and Professional Ethics
DEVELOPMENTAL SHIFT: From spiritual care provider to professional companion with vocational clarity
WHO THIS IS FOR:
For professional spiritual care providers wanting continuing education and those about to claim their identity as professional spiritual companions. This semester prepares you to launch your practice (or integrate sacred tending into your ministry or other caring profession) and to call yourself a professional.
SCOPE OF PRACTICE AFTER SEMESTER 4:
You have completed substantial formation, maintained supervision, and gained experience working with seekers. You are ready to establish or deepen professional practice with clarity about your identity, ethics, and sustainability.
SECTIONS & KEY TOPICS:
Special Focus: Professional Skills
Business Skills as Spiritual Practice
Section 1: Embodied Beings
• Sibling Faiths: Animist traditions of Northeastern and Central Europe (Slavic, Siberian, Ainu)
• Ecstatic embodiment and trance
• Sexuality and spiritual companionship
• Transference and countertransference
• Working with couples
• Creating sacred containers online
• Business Formation: Virtual practice considerations
Section 2: Maps, Milestones, Memories
• Sibling Faiths: Animist traditions of Oceania and the Americas
• Working with elders (including elder abuse awareness)
• Aging and life stages
• Death, dying, and grief
• Rites of passage
• Spiritual maps
• Mandalas
• Life review
• Business Formation: Setting up your practice (defining what you do, who you serve, how to reach your people)
Section 3: Angels Fly Because They Take Themselves Lightly
• Sibling Faiths: Faery tradition, Taoism, Shinto
• Working with children, youth, and young adults
• Working with families
• Play and sacred playfulness
• Laughter yoga
• Music as spiritual practice
• Business Formation: Money, finances, and diversification (charging for sacred work)
Section 4: Sacred Diversity
• Sibling Faith: Eastern Orthodox Christianity
• Spiritual companionship with neurodivergent individuals
• Working with disabled seekers
• LGBTQ spiritual companionship
• Rephrasing ableist language
• Visual art and Zentangle
• Business Formation: Ethical marketing and administration
Section 5: Recovery and Spiritual Independence
• Sibling Faiths: Humanist, atheist, agnostic perspectives
• Spiritually Independent seekers
• 12-step recovery tradition
• Creating your own spiritual path
• Business Formation: Working with groups and organizations, Sustainable Systems
Appendices include:
• Working with groups and organizations
• Ethical business coaches
• Professional resources
PHILOSOPHICAL PILLARS THROUGHOUT THE SERIES
The entire program is grounded in seven core philosophical pillars that appear throughout all four semesters:
1. HOSPITALITY – Creating spaces of radical welcome, belonging, and safety
2. LINEAGE – Honoring wisdom traditions while respecting cultural boundaries
3. ACCOUNTABILITY – Commitment to supervision, peer support, and ongoing formation
4. CONSENT – Ensuring ethical engagement and respecting boundaries
5. JUSTICE – Integrating equity, compassion, and social awareness into spiritual practice
6. EMBODIMENT – Recognizing that spiritual companionship happens through whole, embodied beings
7. CREATIVITY – Honoring diverse expressions of spirituality and supporting seekers’ unique paths
PROGRAM STRUCTURE & PEDAGOGY
Before matriculation and throughout the program, you are expected to see a spiritual companion monthly.
Each semester includes:
• Sibling Faith Chapters: Introducing wisdom traditions with historical/contextual overview, key practices, and considerations for companions (covered with cultural humility and “Note to Reader” caveats about depth limitations)
• Core Skills and Concepts: Foundational competencies for spiritual companionship
• Spiritual Practices and Arts: Experiential practices including meditation, prayer forms, creative expression, and embodied practices
• Formation Topics: Personal reflection exercises inviting you into deeper self-awareness
• Case Studies: Real-world examples (anonymized/composite) to apply learning
• Practicum: Experiential invitations to deepen your own spiritual life, and practice spiritual companioning with members of the cohort and (pro-bono) seekers
• Resources for Further Exploration: Additional reading and learning pathways
The curriculum emphasizes:
• Multi-spiritual approach honoring diverse traditions
• Trauma-informed, justice-oriented practice
• Ethical engagement with clear boundaries
• Integration of head, heart, and hands
• Supervision and accountability as essential
• Sustainable, heart-centered practice
Monthly time estimate: Plan for 10-12 hours/month
Breakdown: 3 hours class, 1-2 hours small group, 1-2 hours buddy, 2-3 hours readings, 2-3 hours assignments
THREE WAYS OF UNDERSTANDING THIS WORK
Throughout the program, we explore spiritual direction/companionship through three complementary definitions:
1. Spiritual companioning with support for interior exploration – Accompanying someone as they explore their inner spiritual landscape
2. “Couples therapy for you and your divine(s)” – Supporting the repair and deepening of someone’s relationship with the sacred
3. Creating safe space to explore spiritual practices and gifts – Providing hospitality for spiritual experimentation and discovery
WHAT MAKES THIS PROGRAM UNIQUE
• Developmental approach that meets you where you are and guides clear progression
• Deep engagement with diverse spiritual traditions (not just Christian or Buddhist)
• Explicit focus on justice, cultural humility, and decolonizing spiritual practice
• Trauma-informed from the ground up
• Integration of business/professional formation throughout
• Strong emphasis on consent, ethics, boundaries, and accountability
• Recognition that spiritual companionship is both art and skill
• Requirement for supervision, peer support, and praxis
• Preparation for sustainable professional practice
BY THE END OF THE PROGRAM
You will have:
• A solid grounding in your own theology or spiritual framework
• Clear understanding of distinctions between spiritual direction and other helping professions
• Capacity for deep, contemplative listening
• Familiarity with diverse spiritual traditions and practices
• Trauma-informed awareness and crisis response skills
• Established supervision and accountability relationships
• Professional identity and ethical framework
• Practical skills for launching and sustaining your practice
• Clear sense of your unique gifts and who you serve
Most importantly, you will have developed presence, vulnerability, and the capacity to hold sacred space for others’ spiritual journeys with skill, humility, and loving regard. We look forward to journeying with you. You are whole, holy, and worthy—and so is every seeker you will accompany. The lead instructor is available by email or appointment. Email Amy Beltaine abeltaine@uuma.org
(syllabus https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fhC7YfF6–_kJDA8y5Ae0kd_tz48-DlQG79_DBn_jY4/edit?usp=sharing )
Our Spiritual Direction Certificate Program Chair and primary instructor is Rev. Amy Beltaine, M.Div. Amy is a graduate of Unitarian Universalist Meadville Lombard School for the Ministry, Amy is a professional Spiritual Director and Supervisor, serving on the coordinating committee of the UU Spiritual Direction Network, and recent President of the Covenant of UU Pagans.
Click to learn more about her.
Each student will read 5-9 books over the course of the two-year program. Click here for a sampling of books recommended. The actual list used for the course is dynamic. Books are added as they become available
Writing As A Spiritual Practice Certificate FAQ
As part of Cherry Hill Seminary’s mission to empower spiritual leadership and scholarship, our students’ meaningful written expression is an important tool. Writings developed in the CWSP program–
- Support student participation in community events as a ritual leader;
- Encourage the articulation of theological thinking;
- Enhance personal spiritual practice;
- Produce quality reading material for children and/or young adults; and
- Create meaningful fiction and non-fiction to benefit the wider reading public.
During your time in the group you will–
- Develop a personal devotional practice of spiritual writing.
- Develop proficiency in writing in several styles/genres/modalities.
- Produce work in several styles/genres/modalities of writing as a spiritual writing practice.
- Produce at least one publishable piece per module.
- Demonstrate editing and self-editing skills on your own and others’ work.
Biweekly classes with a once-a-week critique group for 10 months, then weekly individual meetings with the instructor and the once-a-week critique group for 2 months.
Our 2026 cohort will begin June 1, 2026.
Tuition is $1500 for the full program, with quarterly payments of $375 due at the beginning of each quarter.
*Spiritual Writing Journal* by Rev. Diane Gallagher Cacciato [info to come\
Perfection of the Morning by Sharon Butala
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
Diane Gallagher Cacciato, MA. Click to learn more about her.