Can music play a role in caring for individuals and families during major life transitions? Is there a place for both spiritual and clinical practices during end-of-life care? Can music enable us to authentically care for someone when there are no expectations of "getting better"? Join members of the Philadelphia Threshold Singers and Penn Medicine Hospice to explore how music may be used, both clinically and mystically, to care for those who are struggling—some with living and some with dying. Learn how a compassionate, interdisciplinary team of volunteer singers, music therapists and hospice workers can radically change the experience of some of life's most difficult transitions.

Threshold Singers are small groups of volunteers who gather to gently sing at bedsides, memorial services, and other thresholds of life in over 200 communities around the world. The voice is the perfect vehicle to convey compassion and comfort for those who are struggling or in transition. The Philadelphia Threshold Singers sing weekly at local hospices, and are also available to sing at other bedsides as well as memorial services. When invited, two to four singers come to sing simple, restful songs to comfort, support and honor both those at the threshold of life, as well as their families and caregivers. The Threshold Singers offer bedside singing as a gift, with no charge. However, donations are graciously accepted to support and enable their work to continue.

Melissa Srolovitz is a board-certified Music Therapist at Penn Medicine Hospice. Her master's degree from Colorado State University focused in Neurologic Music Therapy. In conjunction with her years of working with terminally-ill patients and families within hospice care, Melissa has also worked clinically with 'medically-fragile' children and adolescents, as well as with the geriatric population.

Eric Trumbower is Director of Volunteer Services at Penn Medicine Hospice. He is also Director of Camp Erin, an overnight bereavement camp for children and teens ages 6-17. Prior to Penn Medicine, Trumbower served for five years as Relief Manager at the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House where he managed operations and staff for a 45-room facility. "At Ronald McDonald House," Trumbower states, "I found myself increasingly focused on the act of living. I saw what it takes to continue to live in the face of tremendous obstacles. With the help of a loving community, children with debilitating illnesses can still play and sing, parents can still laugh, and families struggling to make ends meet can still share each other's company and celebrate life. This is what I encourage volunteers at Penn Medicine Hospice to keep at the forefront of their minds every day as they visit with patients and families."

Everyone dreams, but what do we make of those dreams? Why are dreams so different? Do they have meaning? Saints, shamans and mystics have long held that dreams have spiritual significance. Carl Jung and others have developed theories. But, what do we do with these dreams? Our panel will first share different approaches to the philosophy of dreams and different techniques for working with them. Then they will share some of their own personal and mystical experiences from dream work. There will also be time for questions and discussion on how to understand and work with dreams.

DAVID LOW, PhD has over 20 years of teaching, researching and working with dreams, and conducts dream groups in the area. Research shows that dreams are important for sleep and brain function. David will discuss biological, psychological and spiritual dream theories, and different methods of working with dreams both for insight into practical questions or all kinds, as well as for resolving deeper emotional and spiritual issues.

MAX RIVERS is a counselor with over 15 years of experience working with clients, couples, and members of the healing community. He has specialized in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Ericksonian Hypnosis to help clients un-program their limiting beliefs, and has experienced how dreams can play a role in this development.

CYNDI SMITH has been an empath and psychic medium from early childhood. In addition to her role as mother of three and grandmother of six, she has counseled individuals for over 20 years on how to use dreams in their personal and spiritual lives.

A place for interested persons to regularly gather and share their experiences in a safe and supportive environment. If interested or to lean more contact Janet at mather@contemporarymysticism.org.

If love is really all we need—in fact, all there is—why hasn't love ever been enough to make suffering go away? Viewed through the "mystical lens" we can discover startling new views of love and its connections to the origins of suffering within each of us. Mary Reed, who considers herself an "accidental" mystic, will show us a profoundly healing view inside Divine Love. This view brings us from the primordial state of pure Love, into creation and separation where a version of love developed which is the opposite of Divine Love—thus all the suffering. However, now she is seeing an acceleration back into the oneness of unitive BEing, also known as "Christ consciousness." Her experiences are both an invitation and a road map to returning to the Divine wisdom and love that already abide deep within us.

Reared in the Southwest with no religious or spiritual background, Mary spent most of her career directing global healthcare programs and creating nonprofit partnerships throughout America and Africa. However, eighteen years ago Mary's life was changed when an unexpected mystical journey began leading her to question the origins of existence and everything most people take for granted. The revelatory experiences which followed, combined with her miraculous recovery from a nearly fatal suicide attempt, led Mary to abandon an executive life in Washington, DC for a monastic life in the Himalayas. Mary's book, Unwitting Mystic: Evolution of the Message of Love, was a finalist in The Indie Spiritual Book Awards in 2015 and is currently in development as a feature film.