Wisdom’s Feast:
Honoring the Wisdom of the Ancients

We are living in times of great change and opportunity. Come explore the knowledge of the wise women that came before us. Learn the tools of the ancients: storytelling, drumming, herbal wisdom, ceremony, movement, communion with nature, connection to our ancestors and more.

Keynote Address: “Plant and Stone Voices of The Ancients”
Roberta MacKrill, the beekeepers daughter

Workshops include:

• In Her Own Words: Reclaiming the Ancient Art of Storytelling
• Voice of the Water: Listening to the Wisdom of the Waters
• Dance the Goddess!
• Plant Spirit Shamanism
• Drumming Healing Circle
• Spirited Activism: Ancient Wisdom for Anti-Oppression Work

In Her Own Words: Reclaiming the Ancient Art of Healing Storytelling

The art of the storyteller is closely related to that of the shaman, as both are able to connect us deeply to spirit and help us to see beyond the boundaries that divide ordinary life from the worlds of dreams and visions. Like shamans, storytellers have the ability to heal individuals and societies. This workshop will teach you the tools and stories of the shamanic storytelling tradition. We will explore; the power of your life stories and personal legends, spiritual teaching stories and songs, ceremony, ritual, and magic tales.

Voice of the Water: Listening to the Wisdom of the Waters

Learn to listen to the messages Water has for us in this experiential workshop. Through guided meditation, song, movement, and direct meeting with Water herself, we will open ourselves to the messages She has for each of us and for the healing of the world.

Plant Spirit Shamanism

Roberta MacKrill is a curendera who walks the old path. For forty years, she has been apprenticed to the wild folk, who prod her to make the medicines that they wish to be out in the world. Needless to say, this has made for a very interesting journey that has lead her to work with the plants of the Amazon, as well as the Northwest.

On her most recent journey into the Amazon, Roberta received profound messages from the Shipibo Grandmothers, who summoned her there to learn the healing songs of the plants. Be prepared, not to just hear, but to touch, taste, smell, see and feel the profound vibration from these amazing plants. Truly a life changing experience.

Drumming Healing Circle

Come and join with us in the ancient practice of drumming as we connect with the Heartbeat of the Mother. Judi Dains will guide us on a vibrational journey through rhythm and healing. Peace Drums will be available for you to hear, play, and feel. These amazing drums allow subtle and powerful access to our inner source. Their deep tones and resonance help to clear away stress, worries, and resistance. Bring your heartbeat, your soul’s rhythm, and willingness to connect to Source. No drumming experience is necessary.

Dance the Goddess with Lena Grace

Lena’s Story: August 2004, during an early morning jog through Nob hill in San Francisco, I ascended the steps to Grace Cathedral and discovered an outdoor labyrinth. Reaching the center, a perceptible inner shift occurred, and I connected with a higher sense of ‘me’. Transformation and change were on the horizon. A discernable pulse, beating with no name, a deep calling and a voice resting within hidden, buried, not forgotten.

How do we gather the skills to keep going no matter what? The years brought divorce, custody battle over kids, hit while riding a bike to work and the long journey back to health in complete surrender. This is my story, one of survival and discovery, and this is ‘our story’ since the beginning of time. What we seek is a roadmap and friends to support us along the arduous path.

Tara found me! In 2008 I accompanied my beloved to Brazil for Dances of Universal Peace Leadership training. At the retreat, I met Prema Dasara who created the Mandala Dance of the 21 Praises of Tara and had been traveling and teaching this empowering and uplifting method of practice worldwide since its inception in 1985. With the directive and blessing of his Eminence Tai Situ Rinpoche, a non-profit was formed to preserve the Tara dance lineage for the benefit of All. http://www.taradhatu.org. How Auspicious! Meeting Prema, a living TARA!

This is where the dance begins for me, a chance meeting in Brazil. Since 2008, I continue to draw support from my sources of refuge, inspiration, and motivation from my personal Tara dance practice. As a result I found the courage to share and form a local Tara circle under the guidance and spiritual direction of Prema Dasara. Dance The Goddess Portland is a monthly gathering where we meet to explore techniques that empower us to manifest our human potential through the benefit of dancing Tara’s mantra, qualities, and praises.

In our workshop time together, we will explore the realm of the enlightened feminine through music, movement, and meditation. The empowering dance practice of Tara is based in wisdom, compassion and power. No Buddhist or formal dance training is necessary or required. Come! Dance the Goddess with us!

Spirited Activism: Ancient Wisdom for Anti-Oppression Work

As women we daily survive the multitude of ways in which institutions of white supremacy and racism, homophobia, sexism and classism limit our power. How does your spiritual practice nurture justice for you and women who are not like you? How is your spirituality a tool of oppression or liberation? In this workshop we’ll examine how the wisdom of the ancients can challenge and sustain us in the world today. Please come with an open and courageous heart, ready to both listen and share.

Insightful Readings with Staci Elliott:
Medical Intuitive, Healer

Staci Elliott, MLS is an Empathic Life Coach, and skilled Tarot Reader. She will provide intuitive readings on a donation basis at the conference. Staci comes from a long line of healers, and has worked intentionally as an empathic healer for the past fifteen years. She leads workshops in Basic Tarot, Personal Healing, and Compassionate Listening.

Childcare is not available. Coffee, tea and water will be available in the morning. Lunch is vegetarian-friendly and included in the cost of the conference.

You exceeded our expectations! Over 60 women gathered at UUCV in Vancouver, WA on November 21, 2009 to share their stories and rejoice in women’s spirituality. Women enjoyed workshops on Intuitive Wisdom & Tarot, Qi-gong, Personal Ritual & Ceremony, Sacred Labyrinth, Sophia and Earth’s Wisdom.

Thank you for being part of our celebration!

(Thank you to Ila Suzanne for these photos)

• Intuitive Wisdom and Tarot
• Designing Personal Spiritual Practice & Women’s Ceremony
• Exploring the Movement of Feminine Energy
• Connecting with Earth’s Wisdom
• Walking the Sacred Labyrinth
• Seeing Sophia: Subversive Goddess & World-Soul

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.

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 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.

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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.

Childcare is not available. Coffee, tea and water will be available in the morning. Lunch is vegetarian-friendly and included in the cost of the conference.