2026 Summer Dream and Spirituality Conference
Cosmic Community, Sacred Hope
May 27 – June 1, 2026
Early Bird Registration (save $50!) ends November 15, 2025
The 2026 Summer Dream and Spirituality Conference, Cosmic Community, Sacred Hope, calls us out of our doom scrolling and into Haden’s enriching, co-creative circle.
We’ll loose our imaginal powers through group dream work and creative embodiment.
We’ll expand our experience and skillset through vital workshops.
We’ll refresh our minds with inspiring keynote presentations.
We’ll heal division through far-ranging conversations.
We’ll sway and sing to beautiful music.
We’ll restore our souls.
As 2026 Featured Keynote Presenter Leigh Ann Henion, author of the other-worldly Night Magic, shares:
When moths circle lightbulbs, throwing themselves against sources of artificial light, they are likely aiming for the moon. When birds get caught in tunnels of light, they’re likely trying to read the stars. And when we throw ourselves against computers and tablets and phones as we scroll social media sites, we are likely attempting to reach the hearth fires that we, as humans, have always depended on.
And fellow 2026 Featured Keynote Presenter Gareth Higgins writes in his stellar How Not to Be Afraid:
Fear can be debilitating. The path toward overcoming it can be thrilling. It unfolds, one mind-expanding, heart-opening, body-invigorating, community-inducing, love-soaked step at a time.
So—let’s gather once again at the Haden hearth to share stories, dream dreams, and make manifest this beautiful world we can stir in ourselves and each other.
Our Invitation to Presence and Transformation
If you’ve never been to the Haden Institute Summer Dream and Spirituality Conference, what can you expect? One reflection we hear frequently about the conference is that participants leave feeling as though they have experienced community in a profound way. This is the heart of the conference.
For many years this has been an annual opportunity to gather and experience a broad offering of transformational teachings presented through …
Keynote messages … hear from a diverse lineup of presenters who bring deep expertise and passion for their topics to our community.
Daily workshop offerings … allow you to go deeper with a keynote speaker, find a session topic of great interest to you, or find a new area of interest to pursue.
Daily dream groups … led by trained, experienced dream work facilitators … open up opportunities for a potent encounter with dream symbols, messages, and holding the sacred space together to do this work. No dream work experience is necessary to participate.
A creative space … where you can engage with images that arise from the groups and the teachings through various creative processing modalities. Open the entire conference, with curated times daily, this dynamic center of creative embodiment is preserved as a welcoming space.
Optional daily spaces for worship, yoga, meditation, music, labyrinth walks, and more … so you can create the perfect rhythm and shape for these days away from your regular routines and responsibilities.
One Conference,
Two Powerful Formats
Over the years, Haden’s Summer Dream and Spirituality Conference has grown to include a virtual conference option. We’re delighted to say that over the last year, we’ve made significant improvements and upgrades to our camera and audio equipment, the platform for delivering the virtual participant content, and everything that goes into the virtual conference experience.
Whether you choose the immersive, in-person experience at Kanuga Conference Center in the heart of the gorgeous Western North Carolina mountains, or you choose to join us in the sanctity and comfort of your own space, with your own rhythms and rituals—it’s a powerful experience of community and connection.
Every participant will have access to recordings of the keynote and workshop presentations through the website for six months after the conference.
Ready to register for this year’s conference?
Early Bird Registration closes November 15, 2025. Save $50 on your in-person or virtual conference registration fee when you sign up today!
Explore This Year’s Lineup of Outstanding Presenters
Darkness as an Awe-Inspiring Place of Possibilities
Leigh Ann Henion is the New York Times bestselling author of Phenomenal and Night Magic. Her writing has appeared in Smithsonian, National Geographic, The Washington Post, and a variety of other publications. She is a former Alicia Patterson Fellow, and her work has been supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Her most recent book, Night Magic, was named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, and it was selected as an Editor’s Choice at Kirkus Reviews, Scientific American, and Reader’s Digest, among other outlets. The Minnesota Star-Tribune calls the book “a revelation” and suggests that “you’re likely to come away from Night Magic…educated and inspired.” The Wall Street Journal calls Night Magic “a gift…that might change the way you think about night.” And Publishers Weekly promises that the book “will fill readers with awe.”
How Not to Be Afraid
Gareth Higgins was born in Belfast, grew up during the northern Ireland Troubles, and now spends much of his time engaged in the work of transformative storytelling in the US, and Ireland. He writes and speaks about the power of storytelling to shape our lives and world, peace and making justice, and how to take life seriously without believing your own propaganda. He has been involved in peace-building and violence reduction in northern Ireland, addressing the legacy of conflict. He received a Ph.D. in Sociology from Queen’s University Belfast, and helped teach the world’s first graduate course in Reconciliation Studies at Trinity College Dublin. He also helped found the Wild Goose, New Story and Movies & Meaning festivals. Gareth leads retreats in North America and Ireland; and he founded The Porch Magazine.
Archetypal Grief
Dr. Fanny Brewster is a teacher, Jungian analyst, writer and spiritual counselor working with individuals and groups toward creating more satisfying and balanced lives. She is a revered presenter in the Haden Dream Work program, teaches at Pacifica Graduate Institute and the C.G. Jung Foundation of New York, as well as working with individuals in private practice. An author writing on culture, Jungian Psychology and creativity, she is also a published poet.
Welcoming Our Gods Back Home: The Wisdom of Psychological Mysticism
Jerry Wright, D.Min. is a Jungian psychoanalyst, teacher, and writer. He is a senior training analyst with the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts, and serves on the faculty ofthe Haden Institute. An experienced conference and retreat leader, he has also led pilgrimages to sacred sites in Iona, Scotland, Ireland, Peru, India, Greece, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. He is the author of A Mystical Path Less Traveled: A Jungian Psychological Perspective (Chiron, 2021), Reimagining God and Religion, Essays for the Psychologically Minded (Chiron, 2018), and the forthcoming book, Welcoming Our Gods Back Home: The Wisdom of Psychological Mysticism (Chiron).
Communal Collaborative Dreaming
Author of Dream Language; Director and Past President of the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD) and director of the DreamScience foundation for research grants. Recipient of IASD Lifetime Achievement Award. Former Corporate VP for IBM Global Telecommunications. Former instructor of dream studies and adjunct faculty at Sonoma State University, Cal.; Scottsdale Community College, AZ.; and Richland College, TX. Host of the DreamTime Radio series. Training in Gestalt Therapy and Humanistic psychology. Author/Editor of 4 dream studies books and published in 9 others plus 4 scientific journals. BS – University of Dayton 1966; MS – Southern Methodist University 1972. www.dreamscience.org
Community Collaboration in Dark Times
Tony Caldwell is a Jungian analyst in private practice, taught at the University of Mississippi, is a former Director of College Ministry at Oxford-University United Methodist Church in Oxford, MS, and is a presenter in both the Spiritual Direction and Dreamwork programs of The Haden Institute. He is a member of the Memphis-Atlanta Jungian Seminar and the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts. As a public speaker, human rights activist, project facilitator, town hall moderator, and workshop leader, Tony has partnered with The William Winter Institute For Racial Reconciliation, The Human Rights Campaign, The W.W. Kellogg Foundation, The Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. When not practicing analysis, Tony can be found performing original music and co-owning Caldwell Guitars Nashville with his son, Silas.
Imagination as Social Commons
Mary Ellen Lough is a poet, homesteader, mother, community organizer, wildcrafter, and grows herbs and flowers for ritual and ceremony. She is the owner of Appalachian Sacred, celebrating folkcraft and women’s relationship to the land.
She teaches wild poetics, deep image work, and revelationary practice as the Poet-in-Residence at The Haden Institute. She has also taught under grants from the NC Arts Council and NC Humanities Council, working with veterans of war, in homeless shelters, substance abuse centers, and peer supported mental health. She began Farmhouse Poetry at her beloved old house, and now hosts it virtually. She has trained with and written for The Institute for Poetic Medicine. Her writing has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in Poetry, and has been performed by multidisciplinary artists at the MATA Festival in NYC.
Dreaming During Dark/Hopeful Times
Howard Addison is an Associate Professor Emeritus of Temple University. A Haden graduate, he directs the Graduate Theological Foundation’s Jewish Spirituality Graduate Programs and was a founding teacher of Lev Shomea, the first North American Jewish Spiritual Direction training institute. His books include The Enneagram and Kabbalah, Show Me Your Way, Jewish Spiritual Direction, and Seeking Redemption in an Unredeemed World.
Music by River Guerguerian, Lindsey Blount, and Chris Rosser
River is a multi-percussionist/composer/educator. He has been inspiring audiences with his colorful and innovative percussion for over thirty years. Whether collaborating with world-class symphonies, studio artists or creating his own dynamic explorations of rhythm, his devotion and attention to the vibrant life of the drum reverberate with the listener. He has performed in prestigious concert halls in 30 countries, and has recorded on over 300 albums and film soundtracks. In 1994, River sold all possessions, left civilization, and lived in a wildlife sanctuary in the Himalaya Mountains for 5 years. River is the Music Director of the Odyssey Community School, and he is the founder of Asheville Rhythm, which has produced the Asheville Percussion Festival since 2012. He conducts rhythm and sound exploration workshops throughout the country. You can hear his lyrical style with his world jazz group Free Planet Radio, and other ensembles he curates. Visit him at ShareTheDrum.com
Lindsey is an American folk and jazz vocalist born and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida. Her interest and passion for music led her to Boston, where she completed her studies at Berklee College of Music. After finishing her degree, she married and relocated to her new home in Freiburg, Germany. She currently splits her time between teaching at the Freiburg University of Art, Design, and Music (hKDM) and The Jazz und Rockschule. She enjoys songwriting, performing, exposing her youth choir to Motown, and cooking with her husband, Jan. Her EP, Some of the Lovely, vol. 1, was released in March 2023.
Chris is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, composer and producer from Asheville, NC. As a solo performer, he has released four recordings, including the latest A Thousand Hands. He and the world fusion trio, Free Planet Radio, toured 20 cities in China in 2016, and have released four recordings, including the latest Stillness. He also tours internationally in the bands of Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Rhonda Larson, and Lizz Wright. In 2017, Rosser received a NC Arts Council Composer Fellowship. Rosser has produced/engineered over 200 CD’s for other artists in his recording studio, and has composed music for national commercial spots, and TV shows on Animal Planet, TLC, OWN, PBS and more. Visit him at www.chrisrosser.com
Conference Fees, Lodging Rates, and Cancellation Policy
Below, you’ll find some general information, pricing for the conference and lodging, and more. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us directly: office@hadeninstitute.com or call 828-693-9292.