Washington Conference on Religion and Psychology

Speaker for 2026: Marcelle Martin

Marcelle Martin is a Quaker writer, teacher, workshop leader, and retreat facilitator supporting direct experience of God's presence and the Spirit-led activity that comes from it.

Marcelle is s a member of Swarthmore (Pa.) Meeting, which has recognized her ministry of spiritual nurture among Friends. She is the author of “Our Life Is Love: The Quaker Spiritual Journey” and “A Guide to Faithfulness Groups”, as well as several Pendle Hill pamphlets. She lives in Chester, Pa., with her husband, Terry. Website: Awholeheart.com. Her latest blog posts are When the Healers are Sent Away, the Prophets Must Rise and Drawn Deeper into Forest at   awholeheart.com.  

Her new Pendle Hill pamphlet is Guidance and Revelations in Dreams

Interest Groups

Interest Groups are small groups in which you can enrich your experience of the Plenaries either through discussing the material or by allowing different and creative processes to give you space to absorb the subject matter of the Plenaries.

Interest groups are currently in the planning stage but here is a list of the proposed topics:

• Parsing the Plenary

• Quaker History

• Art Making

• Dreams

• Shamanism

• Do it yourself i.e. alone time

Topic for 2026: “Finding the Shining Center”

Both Quaker spirituality and Jungian psychology point toward the same deep truth: there is a living Center within, a luminous Presence that grounds, heals, and guides.

To live in growing awareness of this Center, we must also come to know what resists it—the patterns of fear, attachment, and shadow that keep us from the fullness of Light.

At this Conference we will consider the transforming process that Friends have called the Refiner’s Fire: the inward movement through which the Light reveals and burns away what blocks love, drawing us toward closer union with the Divine at the heart of all things. We will reflect on a dream of C. G. Jung that speaks of the journey toward the Center, and consider what fosters the experience of a gathered meeting, when hearts are knit together within a divine Presence. Such moments give us a glimpse of the deeper reality in which all are joined.

Participants will also be introduced to Focusing, a gentle practice of inner attention that helps us listen to the felt sense, the quiet, embodied knowing that carries wisdom from the soul. Using this method, each person will have an opportunity to explore a personal dream or inner image and to listen for the guidance it offers. Through sharing from the heart and opportunities to worship together, we will invite the Light to meet us where we are and unite us more consciously with the shining Center within and among us.

Schedule for 2026

Eastern Standard Time

Dates will be Feb 6-8, 2026

Friday, February 6, 2026

7:00 pm - Zoom opens

7:30 - 9:00pm 1st Plenary session - Finding the Center, the Refiner’s Fire, and Transformation

9:00 - 9:15pm Break

9:15 - 9:45pm Interest Group Introductions

Saturday, February 8, 2026

11:00am - 12:30pm 1st Interest Group Meeting

1:30 - 3pm 2nd Plenary session - The Felt Sense, Focusing, and the Gathered Meeting

3:15 - 5:00pm 2nd Interest Group Meeting

5:00 - 7:00pm Break

7:00 - 8:30pm 3rd Plenary Session - Divine Revelations and Using Focusing With Our Dreams

Sunday, February 8, 2026

11:00 - 12:30pm 3rd Interest Group Meeting

1:00 - 1:30pm 4th Plenary Session What The Tender Heart Knows

1:45 - 2:30pm Meeting for Worship Sharing and Closings - click here to learn more about Silence in Quaker Meetings

2:30 - 3:30pm Planning Committee Meeting for 2027 - all are welcome.