Quakers Healing Circle Epistle
May 22, 2026
To All
Friends everywhere,
In greeting, let us introduce the Quakers Healing Circle with our mission statement: “We practice healing, with divine assistance, as a spiritual expression of love through many modalities. We are led to create a circle of healers; open to all, supporting one another, ever enlarging the reach and strength of our healing community. In the spirit of continuing revelation, we open to the mystery of healing love that draws us ever deeper into this sacred calling.”
For the weekend of April 17-19, 2026, 27 Friends from across 5 yearly meetings met in-person at Powell House, the NYYM retreat center in upstate NY, to participate in the Quakers Healing Circle (QHC) gathering. The QHC is the manifestation of a leading. Our intention for the weekend was to build community and strength the network of support among Friends with a spiritual practice of healing; we succeeded.
Friends delighted in this opportunity to share conversation and healing work. We listened to each other’s stories of leadings and modalities. We offered and received healing work in the ballroom and library, which we had transformed into an intentional sanctuary with massage tables, calming music, one-on-one healing sessions, deep listening, and silent prayer. We experienced the vibrant energy of a sacred space where Spirit leads and Grace flows in.
The structure of the weekend included presentations and play. There were teachings on best practices, ethics, boundaries, and support in healing work; there were talks on “Spiritual Discipline and Practices in These Hard Times” and “Quaker Healers throughout History.” Friends alternated these weighty topics with lighthearted activities: laughter, affectionate touch, hugs, circling up and sending love energy by holding hands, and a spontaneous dance party before lunch.
This weekend was the second gathering of the QHC. The first was held at Gunpowder Friends Meeting, MD, in March 2025. In the year between the first gathering and the second, interest, enthusiasm, and attendance in QHC had increased. So it made sense to spend time visioning the QHC forward. It emerged that Friends would like to have an annual QHC in-person gathering, regular Zoom gatherings, and a newsletter. Friends felt very passionate about bringing healing centers to their yearly meetings and healing ministry to their monthly meetings. There was great interest in how to coax our meetings to name and hold accountability for gifts in healing ministry. We discovered that many Friends — who identify themselves as carrying gifts in healing ministry — do not, in fact, receive support or acknowledgement from their home meetings. Friends reflected keen interest in outreach, especially to young adult Friends with curiosity about healing.
One way to bring a healing ministry to a monthly meeting is to offer a meeting for healing in the manner of Friends. There was an explanation of a meeting for healing. Under the care of grounded elders, Friends sat in a close circle around an empty chair in the center; to ask for healing touch or healing prayer, a person would go to the center, sit in the empty chair, and give permission to touch. Then other Friends would lay on hands or pray silently, as led by Spirit. Friends had a moving experience of powerful healing energy made possible by this simple arrangement.
Among the benefits Friends felt this weekend were: a frank exploration of the role of wounded healer, fellowship with other healers, a joyful coming-together of old and young, a connection with Friends from many different places, and finally a greater clarity about our leadings to offer healing work.
In Friendship,
Greta Kirk Mickey (Gunpowder Friends Meeting, Baltimore Yearly Meeting)
Leslie Manning (Durham Maine Meeting, New England Yearly Meeting)
Kathy Slattery (Orchard Park Meeting, New York Yearly Meeting)
Buffy Curtis (Mohawk Valley Meeting, New York Yearly Meeting)
Abby Burford (Chatham-Summit Meeting, New York Yearly Meeting)
If you would like additional information about the Quakers Healing Circle please contact Greta Kirk Mickey at greta.mickey@gmail.com.
