Seed Deep Abbey Community
A shared life of contemplation, formation, and becoming
“Contemplation is a long, loving look at what really is.”
Who We Are
The Seed Deep Abbey Community is a private, online gathering space for women in the second half of life who are walking the path of healing, spiritual formation, and identity restoration.
It is an intentional space where women are invited to slow down, tell the sacred truth about who they are, who they want to become, and be companioned as they grow into wholeness and belovedness.
The Abbey is not a place to be fixed.
It’s not a place to perform.
It’s not a place for the “right answers”.
It’s a place of formation through:
contemplation
listening
reflection
prayer
story
silence
practice
presence/stillness
sacrament
Come as you are - unsure, weary, longing, hopeful - and let your life be held with care.
Why Seed Deep Abbey?
This community was born out of lived experience.
In the midst of menopause, the devastating loss of my 22-year marriage, and the complete unraveling and renovation of my identity, I discovered something painful and clarifying:
The Church did not know how to accompany a woman my age through a profound, spiritually forming rupture.
What I needed in that season was not answers, advice, or Bible quotes.
I needed:
Acceptance
Compassion
Presence
Companionship
Loving challenge
Encouragement
Witness
Grace
Instead, I mostly encountered a body unsure of what to do with me.
In some places, I experienced silence.
In others, stigma.
And at times, outright judgment.
Astoundingly, there was little language in the Church for the deep spiritual work unfolding beneath the surface of my life - the grief and anger, the undoing, the radical reformation of self underway. The structures around me were not built for alchemizing loss into transformation and resurrection.
It was only when I found a gracious, spiritually and relationally safe community that I began to make sense of what had happened. There, my story was received, not rushed. My questions were not shut down but were encouraged and honored. My pain was treated as holy ground, not a problem to solve.
In that space of contemplation, attentive listening, and faithful presence of God and others, healing began because my story was finally witnessed.
The Seed Deep Abbey Community exists because too many women walk through the most formative seasons of their lives without spiritual shelter. It exists to offer what I needed then, and what so many women need now:
A place where life’s upheavals are recognized and embraced as opportunities for spiritual growth.
A place where loss is not stigmatized or rushed.
A place where identity can be safely dismantled and reshaped with care.
A place where becoming is honored as much as believing.
A place where questions and doubts are welcomed, not feared.
A place where healing unfolds through faithful presence and compassionate witness.
This community is my response to that need.
The Seed Deep Abbey Community is shaped by the conviction that we are healed in relationship, that our stories are holy ground, and that becoming whole requires being witnessed with deep reverence.
The Abbey might be for you if…
You love God, but your relationship with Him feels anxious, distant, or striving rather than safe and restful.
You were shaped by parents who were emotionally unavailable, inconsistent, critical, or absent, and you sense how that history still affects your relationships and faith.
You are capable and faithful, yet spiritually tired and emotionally lonely.
You tend to over-function in relationships while quietly neglecting your own needs.
You feel uncertain how to speak honestly about anger, grief, or disappointment without fearing rejection.
You sense that much of your identity was formed around pleasing, surviving, or being “good,” and you long to discover who you are beneath that.
You are navigating a season of upheaval — menopause, divorce, relational rupture, or spiritual disorientation.
You want a faith that can hold complexity and nuance, loss, and change without rushing you toward answers.
If any of this feels familiar, you are not broken, and you are not alone.
This community exists for you.
Our Shared Life
The Seed Deep Abbey Community is the relational hearth of the Abbey, supporting women on their spiritual journey along the Seed Deep Way.
Our shared life is shaped by contemplative rhythms and practices:
Contemplative practices (Lectio Divina, Lectio Musica, Visio Lectio, or Bibliodrama)
Contemplative and Intercessory Prayer
Musical worship
Bible study
Book studies
Journaling
Artistic practice
Liturgical celebrations (Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter)
Sacramental and embodied practices
Online formation and healing courses
Group or individual spiritual direction
Retreats
Service to others
Regular online and in-person gatherings
Anything else the Holy Spirit inspires
Explore Abbey Memberships
Tier 1
$29/mo
The Oblate
The Oblate Circle is for the woman who feels drawn to Seed Deep Abbey and simply wants to come close for a while. Here, you are welcome to sit in the garden, listen, learn, and find your footing without pressure or expectation.
This circle offers gentle rhythms of reflection, prayerful presence, and community conversation where you can be nourished, seen, and held — whether you're weary, curious, or quietly hopeful. Each month you will receive a written reflection and journaling exercise rooted in the season or liturgical rhythm, something to hold and return to in the quiet of your own time and pace.
Throughout the month, weekly thread prompts will draw you gently into conversation with other women in the community, and a curated contemplative resource library is yours to wander whenever you need grounding, inspiration, or simply something to pray with. Leslie is present in the community feed, walking alongside you — and from time to time, may show up with a surprise live gathering, a coffee hour, or a short mini-retreat, unannounced and unhurried.
It is a soft beginning, a safe place to rest and reconnect with your soul before deciding where your journey may lead next.
(Free 7-Day Trial)
Tier 2
$69/mo
The Postulant
The Postulant Circle is for the woman who senses a deeper yes rising within her. Here, you step more intentionally into cultivated rhythms, guidance, and spiritual formation — ready to be shaped by something more than curiosity alone.
This is a space of intentional structure, thoughtful teaching, shared reflection, and soulful companionship as you allow your story, faith, and identity to be tenderly shaped and strengthened for the journey ahead. Each month you will receive a substantive teaching, a formation practice to carry into your days, and a dedicated space within the Postulant Circle to share, reflect, and be witnessed by women walking the same path.
You will gather monthly in a live circle for guided reflection and teaching, and carry with you all the gentle foundations of the Oblate level — the seasonal reflections, weekly thread prompts, and curated resource library — now held within a more intentional container.
Tier 3
$99/mo
The Novitiate
The Inner Sanctum
The Novitiate Circle is for the woman ready to live this journey in a more intimate and committed way. In this circle, you will be part of a small, stable cohort where trust is built over time, stories are held with care, and nothing is rushed.
Expect bi-weekly 90-minute live formation circles with teaching, contemplative and embodied spiritual practices, and shared reflection that invites honesty, courage, and deep listening and response. Between gatherings, you will be accompanied by a small pod of women — three or four companions walking the same path — who will hold you, pray with you, and witness your unfolding in the spaces between.
This is a space for deeper healing, discernment, and calling. Here you will be guided through a personal Rule of Life development process, to create a daily rhythm with God that is truly your own. Quarterly retreat days will mark the turning of the year, and a beautiful formation journal will be yours to chronicle the journey as it unfolds. Each month you will submit a companion check-in, that Leslie will respond to personally in writing.
A dedicated prayer thread and exclusive Novitiate community feed keep this circle intimate and protected, a sanctuary within the sanctuary.
This is serious formation, for the woman committed to becoming the new creation in Christ that she already is.
Cohort opens twice yearly. Application required for admittance.
A Heartfelt Invitation
If you are longing for a way of growing that feels gentle, honest, and deeply rooted in God’s presence…
If you are weary of carrying your spiritual life alone…
If you sense that something in you is ready to be tended rather than pushed…
🕊️ You are welcome here.