Tag Archive | Divine Mother

Celebrating Women’s Day Among the Redwoods

Mar21

redwood forestBefore read­ing from my book, Birthing God: Women’s Experiences of the Divine, I walked with a friend through the red­woods sur­round­ing Stillheart Institute in Woodside, California. As we descended the trail, I ran my fin­gers over the plush, green moss coat­ing the rocks along the path. I rel­ished the spongi­ness of the for­est floor beneath my feet. I hugged one of the younger red­woods, encir­cling it with my arms and star­ing up at its branched, lofty spire as it dis­ap­peared into the misty fog.

There in the for­est, and later seated before a win­dow with an ample view of the red­woods, I silently offered my prayers as our cel­e­bra­tion of International Women’s Day began. The room radi­ated with the fire’s crack­ling heat and the pul­sat­ing energy of 70 incred­i­ble women. Viviana and Hyun Kyung, the women whose sto­ries I read, were present in a spe­cial way. They had suf­fered greatly, and yet had opened their hearts to divine love and the inter­con­nect­ed­ness of all life. Their sto­ries offered us insights into our own pains and trans­for­ma­tions, our own deaths and rebirths.

Thank you, Stillheart for hon­or­ing all women and enabling us to come together on International Women’s Day as we pur­sue our indi­vid­ual and col­lec­tive trans­for­ma­tion. Thank you for empow­er­ing us to cel­e­brate boldly, to nur­ture our souls, and to share our gifts with the world!

To pre­view the women’s sto­ries in Birthing God: Women’s Experiences of the Divine, click here:

www.skylightpaths.com/page/product/978–1-59473–480-9

For more on Lana Dalberg and a sched­ule of upcom­ing events for Birthing God: Women’s Experiences of the Divine, click here:

www.womenspiritandfaith.com

Blog originally posted on Stillheart’s website at:

http://www.stillheart.org/blog/past-events/birthing-god-sharing-womens-spiritual-experiences-on-international-womens-day/

Amazing women share their spiritual stories!

Mar20

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Birthing God on International Women’s Day!

Mar3

Birthing God cover

Celebrate International Women’s Day

MARCH 8, 2013    3 – 5 p.m. 

California Institute of Integral Studies

1453 Mission Street, San Francisco

 Author Lana Dalberg

joined by dancers, chanters & drummers

“These multifaceted accounts of spiritual experience in the lives of women both ordinary and remarkable … are generous and inspiring.”   – Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Program 

TO ORDER:

http://www.skylightpaths.com/page/product/978-1-59473-480-9

Birthing God and International Women’s Day Events Mar. 8 & Mar. 17

Feb8

Birthing God coverMy book is here!!! You can preview and order on the publisher’s website: http://www.skylightpaths.com/page/product/978-1-59473-480-9

Join me for International Women’s Day at March 8 and March 17 events listed on my website events page: https://womenspiritandfaith.com/upcoming-events/

Birthing God and Christianity

Feb4

HerChurch Lana_VVA1689 (1)

 

CHRISTIANITY AS AN EMBODIED RELIGION

Rachel Brunns is a spirited and thoughtful young woman who was a member of the Lutheran Volunteer Corps when I interviewed her.  She is currently studying theology at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

Rachel, who is from Minnesota but spent some time in the Andes of Peru where she experienced the Divine Feminine in Pachamama [Earth Mother], told me, “Christianity, at its core, is an earthly, embodied religion. It’s something I hope we can reclaim.”

What do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Send me your thoughts!

 

 

Photo credit: Viva Van Assen

Why we do social justice…

Jan26

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Reverend Debbie Lee is one of forty women interviewed in Birthing God: Women’s Experiences of the Divine.

Debbie says that she experiences God in the multitude. When asked about her faith and her work for immigrant rights, she responds, “Spirituality is why we do social justice. It’s what makes social justice work.”

Debbie Lee is a United Church of Christ minister and the Director of the Interfaith Coalition on Immigrant Rights

http://www.icir-clue.blogspot.com/

Birthing God: Women’s Experiences of the Divine

Jan15

Birthing God cover

Powerful narratives of suffering, love, and hope that inspire

both personal and collective transformation.

 In Birthing God: Women’s Experiences of the Divine, 40 women of faith describe inspirational, Spirit-filled moments: a Korean student feels the hands of God supporting her despite excruciating torture; a grieving pastor walks a labyrinth and rediscovers the Rock of her existence; a human rights advocate re-encounters Allah in an intensely visceral moment in the sun; a Salvadoran peasant woman under fire discovers within herself the God who gives her courage. Each woman’s story invites reflection and the deepening of readers’ own spiritual practices.

Order or preview at:

http://www.skylightpaths.com/page/product/978-1-59473-480-9

Also available on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

Advance Praise for Birthing God: Women’s Experiences of the Divine

Jan6

Birthing God cover

“At last, a vibrant investigation into the lived spirituality of God-intoxicated women! Lana Dalberg’s Birthing God is more than a series of snapshots into the lives and thoughts of deeply spiritual women; it is a glimpse into the living Divine as She makes Herself known to us through these amazing seekers. The result is a spirituality of radical openness that offers a much-needed alternative to the closed-hearted and narrow-minded spirituality that dominates so much of contemporary religion.”

Rabbi Rami Shapiro, author of The Divine Feminine in Biblical Wisdom Literature

This Christmas, Buck the Consumerist Mindset

Dec11

Indian madonna and child, Annabel Landaverde

Every time I enter a department store, I think of the recent sweatshop tragedy in Dhakah, Bangladesh. On November 24, 2012, over a hundred women and girls, forced to slave for hours in a sweatshop locked from the outside, perished when a fire broke out and they could not escape. But the Tazreem Fashions’ sweatshop owners are not the only ones responsible for their deaths. When we shop at Wal-Mart and buy dirt-cheap goods, some of that blood and ash gets on our hands, too, for we are driving the demand for sweatshop labor with our consumption.

So this holiday season, when everyone is expected to show their love through their purchases, what can we do? Here are a few solutions I’ve come up with:

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    • Donate to organizations that the receiver supports and appreciates.
    • Shop at great consignment clothing stores like Crossroads or Buffalo Exchange.
    • Wrap fair-trade beverage items (tea, coffee, sipping chocolate) with one of your favorite poems or quotes. That way, the person can savor the words while enjoying the beverage you gifted them!
    • Share an afternoon with a friend, treating him or her to dinner and a movie or better yet, a hike or a lakeside stroll.
    • Attend artisan fairs and craft shows, purchasing local artists’ toys, pottery, artwork, jewelry, kitchen wares, and other hand-crafted items.
    • Check to ensure that your factory-made purchases are made by unionized workers whose rights are protected. If you are creative with some of your gifts, you might be better able to afford the higher price tag of a garment produced by someone whose life and rights are respected.

I know that bucking the consumerist mindset during the holidays can be very challenging. I have to admit that I’ve Floweralready bought three big-box store items this year—their rock-bottom prices were just too hard to resist! But I have also purchased local, hand-crafted jewelry, written a few poems, shopped at second-hand stores, and even purchased a clothing item from what I used to call “those super-expensive, made-in-USA” stores. Yep, that’s right—me, a single mom and tight-wad daughter of depression-era parents. And if I can do it (well, almost do it), then we all can.

It’s time to take back our holidays from the corporations who benefit from so much spending and consumption. We can celebrate our holidays in ways that recognize that we are not separate from those who slave and perish in overseas factories. We can endeavor to show our love in actions and with gifts that nature holds out to us rather than depleting her abundance or demeaning other human beings.

So this holiday, let’s make the better choice. Even if we slip up and buy a sweatshop item, there’s always the next gift idea or activity that we can improve on, so that we can continue to celebrate the holidays in an increasingly interconnected and resplendent world!

Birthing God cover

The Next Big Thing: My New Project

Nov29

What is the title of your book?

Birthing God: Women’s Experiences of the Divine. It will be published by SkyLight Paths Publishing in March 2013.

Where did the idea come from for this book?

I’ve had a variety of experiences of Spirit, including mystical visions and nature-based revelations, and I was curious to learn about other women’s experiences of the Divine.

What genre does your book fall under?

Definitely nonfiction, although I crafted the interviews into narratives so that they read like stories.

How long did it take to write the first draft?

A year and two months. My goal was to interview 50 women by International Women’s Day. By the time I was done, I had interviewed nearly 60 women in total.

What actors would you use for a movie rendition of your book?

Hhhmmm. There’s 40 women’s stories, so I’d have to think of a lot of women actors: Viola Davis, Cicely Tyson, Michelle Yeoh, Ellen DeGeneres, Salma Hayek, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Vanessa Redgrave…

What is a one-sentence synopsis of your book?

In Birthing God, 40 women relate spirit-filled moments: a grieving pastor walks a labyrinth and rediscovers the Rock of her existence; a human rights advocate re-encounters Allah in an intensely visceral moment in the sun; an educator, moved by an ancestral vision, launches a global tree-planting project to heal the wounds of slavery; a revolutionary awakens from a coma and realizes that all of life is infused with Spirit. Each woman’s story invites readers to deepen and enliven their own spiritual practices. Oops, that was two sentences!

Will it be self published or represented by an agency?

My publisher is SkyLight Paths Publishing (www.skylightpaths.com).

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

My own mystical encounters and a craving to hear other women share their experiences since most spiritual accounts are authored by men.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

While spiritual memoirs abound, not many showcase 40 women’s spiritual stories in one book. The closest cousin to my book is the anthology, Women, Spirituality, and Transformative Leadership (SkyLight Paths 2011), where 30 women contribute their thoughts on women’s spirituality and the imperative for women’s transforming leadership in the world.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

The stories sizzle with insight and intensity. For example, a Korean theologian and dharma teacher describes feeling the inexplicable consolation of God’s hands while she was being tortured in a South Korean prison. In another story, a Salvadoran under fire discovers within herself the God who gives her courage. (If it sounds like I’m totally jazzed by these stories, I am!)

Thanks to Lindsey Crittenden for inviting me to participate in this blog chain!

http://loveinshallah.com/contributors-2/

Ayesha Mattu’s first book, ‘Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women’  was featured globally by media including the New York Times, NPR, BBC, Washington Post, The Guardian, Times of India, Dawn Pakistan and The Jakarta Post. She is working on a family memoir about three generations of Pakistani Sufi women, and blogs at Love InshAllah. http://loveinshallah.com/contributors-2/