2009 Workshops

Workshop Descriptions

Intuitive Wisdom and Tarot

In this workshop, we will work with Tarot as a tool for greater self-awareness. We will discuss the concept of universal knowledge, and explore the connection between how we feel and what we know. My goal is to connect your intuition– your intuitive knowledge– with your life choices and logical understandings. The goal of the Tarot Cards, as I read them, is to encourage your own connection to your inner wisdom and to support you in making your own decisions. True wisdom comes from within: Let all that is needed be known.

*If you have a Tarot Deck, and plan to attend this workshop, please consider bringing your cards and your book.

Staci Elliott, MLS is an Empathic Life Coach, and skilled Tarot Reader. She comes from a long line of healers, and has worked intentionally as an empathic healer for the past fifteen years. Staci leads workshops in Basic Tarot, Personal Healing, and Compassionate Listening. She provides communication facilitation services for couples, nonprofits, and specific group events. Becoming truly self-aware and taking full responsibility for your own happy endings is hard work. As a Life Coach, Staci provides her clients with the tools, encouragement, and insights they need to feel supported, to heal, and then to grow. Her web site is http://elliottarts.com.

Designing Personal Spiritual Practice & Women’s Ceremony

During times of great power and change ancient wise women turned to ritual to make sense out of the cyclic nature of their lives. Ritual speaks to our deepest center; it activates, magnifies, and integrates the energy of our mind, body and spirit. Come learn its power to open your heart and mind, to ground, to center, to connect, to weave together, to close, to complete, and to heal. Participants will create a personal ritual and explore the ancient wisdom of ritual creation using storytelling techniques, guided journal exercises, meditation, sound, and poetry.

Vanessa Timmons is an activist, freelance writer and author of The Way of Heroine: A Woman’s Healing Journal. A dedicated advocate for women, Vanessa has helped hundreds through her workshops, support groups and individual counseling. As a life coach she works with women’s groups, national health coalitions and political organizations to create safer communities. Vanessa has led workshops for Women of Wisdom, SisterSpirit, and many other organizations. http://thewayoftheheroine.com.

Exploring the Movement of Feminine Energy

Feminine, Night, Dark, Water, Receptive (often confused with Passive), Earth, Low: these beautiful and powerful qualities have been eclipsed in Patriarchal culture. Yet they are necessary for a healthy life, and a healthy world. In this workshop we will honor Yin, and feel its essential importance. Through the body we will explore the flow between Yin and Yang, finding our personal right balance in this moment. This session will draw on Qigong, Breath Work, as well as grounding techniques from many ancient dance cultures. It will help you be more in touch with yourself in beneficial ways, and enhance nourishing connections with others.

Katja Katja Biesanz, MA, has explored chi for most of her life through dance and the martial arts. She is a shamanic practitioner, minister, and a therapist whose training emphasizes Jungian Depth Psychology. www.openingtolife.com/katjabiesanz.

Walking The Labyrinth: Symbol of the Sacred Feminine

Many women feel drawn to the ancient symbol of the Labyrinth without realizing the amazing history and roots that sink deep into the feminine wisdom of the earth. Come learn about the archetypal images and powerful feminine energy of this walking meditation. Then walk it’s path together with your sisters of spirit.

Eunice Eunice Schroeder, D. Min., is the founder and director of Sacred Journey Ministries in Vancouver, WA. A Veriditas Certified Labyrinth Facilitator, she leads workshops, classes, and retreats in the Pacific Northwest, as well as seeing clients for Spiritual Direction in Vancouver and at the Interfaith Spiritual Center in Portland, OR. In addition, she teaches in the Masters of Divinity program at Marylhurst University near Portland. http://www.SacredJourneyMinistries.com

Connecting with Earth’s Wisdom

From ancient times, women have been in touch with Earth’s own Wisdom, expressing it in art, ritual, song, and dance. Today, we are in need of reconnecting. In this workshop, we will learn to hear Her voice and express it in our own Wise ways. Through story, song, guided meditation, and direct experience, we will open ourselves to the deep, core Wisdom of Earth herself.

Frodo Frodo Okulam, is the founder and coordinator of SisterSpirit. She has been a priestess of the Goddess for over 30 years and is also ordained clergy. She holds a D. Min. degree and teaches women’s spirituality and related subjects at Portland State University. She is the author of The Julian Mystique (life and teachings of the mystic Julian of Norwich) and EarthSong, a dissertation in ecological spirituality. Frodo’s life passion is inviting people into relationship with the Goddess and the natural world.

Seeing Sophia: Subversive Goddess & World-Soul

Sophia is the unquenchable Feminine voice of Divine Wisdom within Jewish and christian scriptures. Although many attempts have been made to silence Sophia over the centuries, today her voice speaks louder than ever. Come learn about this amazing Goddess and listen for Sophia’s wisdom in your own life. This workshop will include personal reflection and meditation as we encounter Sophia in her many guises.

Elizabeth Simson is a poet, writer and seeker. She is the author of Sea Change (Finishing Line Press), and her writing has appeared in Sagewoman, Atlanta Review, Earth’s Daughters, Kalliope and elsewhere. Elizabeth facilitates workshops with Write Around Portland and serves on the board for Gertrude Press (a GLBTQ literary arts organization in Portland). Elizabeth is a Masters of Applied Theology candidate at Marylhurst University.

Wisdom's Feast: A Women's Spirituality Conference