As we gathered in a large circle, Sabra Reichardt asked all of us to think about our own spiritual journeys, remembering the valleys of despair and the joyous peaks of enlightenment. She then asked us to have quiet minds, alert ears, and sensitive hearts as we remembered our journeys and listened to \u201cOde to Joy\u201d by Beethoven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following this centering, Tori DeAngelis explained that when\nthe WTB Council was deciding how to launch this year\u2019s agenda, we had agreed to\ngo back to the basics, to what had begun WTB in the first place: the stories of\nwomen\u2019s divergent\u2014yet common\u2014faith journeys. Betsy Wiggins, a spiritual seeker,\nand Danya Wellmon, a Muslim, had spent hours sharing their deepest beliefs and the\njourneys they had taken to reach these beliefs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This day, four women shared their journeys of faith, acknowledged\ntheir questions and doubts, and described their external adventures, some of\nwhich served as catalysts to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Staying Home\u2014Daryl Files <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Daryl <\/strong>spoke of\nher nontraditional journey in a traditional faith. <\/strong>Her Jewish culture and roots have shaped each decade of her\nlife in different ways, despite the fact that she does not regularly attend\ntemple or other formal Jewish services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Daryl was raised with\nthe Ten Commandments, by Jewish parents who immigrated from Lithuania and\nRomania. She enjoyed traditional holidays growing up. She understands the\nimportance of food in one\u2019s religious identity, even mentioning her Passover\nmemories that include hours of dishwashing! <\/p>\n\n\n\n As a teen, Daryl was a member of B’nai B’rith Girls; in her early 20s, she was an advisor to a B’nai B’rith youth group in Atlanta. In her late 20s, she married out of the faith, gaining four stepdaughters. One granddaughter, now 22, has kept her grounded in the holidays, celebrating with her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout her 40s and 50s, Daryl kept busy with work, family and travel. But she developed a strong appreciation for her mother\u2019s and aunts\u2019 traditions when she witnessed Jewish celebrations in other countries that she visited. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Joining WTB has brought Daryl back to her Jewish roots. The \u201cJourney to the Tent of Abraham\u201d walk last year recalled the songs of her youth. Today Daryl keeps the traditions because her religion is inside her. At family bar and bat mitzvahs, she reunites with cousins around the country, and the rituals bring everyone together as if they had never been separated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Daryl and her elderly mother have not always seen\neye to eye regarding the practice of their faith, at this stage of life her mother\nis fascinated with the doings of WTB! This has given them a renewed connection.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leaving Home\u2014Roxanne Gupta<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Roxanne\ngrew up in a rural Presbyterian family near Seneca Falls in the Finger Lakes\nregion of New York. Her interest in Hinduism and Buddhism began during her\nfreshman year at Syracuse University, when she took a course about Eastern religions.\nAs a teen she had become increasingly interested in peace and justice issues,\nespecially the Vietnam War and civil and women\u2019s rights, and a revolution was\nborn inside her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Roxanne\nhad been active in her church youth groups, she eventually found that her faith\ntradition could not answer her questions. When she was first exposed to\nHinduism in her class, she seemed to actually recognize the symbols and ideas!\nAwakened to the culture and religion of India, Roxanne immersed herself in\nHindi language and South Asian civilization and history, then applied for a\nprogram that would allow her to spend her junior year in India. The program unfortunately\nwas cancelled at the last minute, so Roxanne traveled alone to conduct an\nindependent study at Syracuse University in Hyderabad, South India. There she\nwas adopted by a family and a community, and she studied Indian classical dance\nand yoga under traditional masters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Roxanne\nfelt an immediate sense of connection in India. Nine months after arriving\nthere, while on a visit to Banaras, the holy city, she met an Indian man whom\nshe married three days later. Today, her only son, Kapil, and his wife, Tara,\nserve in the United States diplomatic corps. Recounting events in her life,\nRoxanne stated that miracles are everyday occurrences in India, where people\nbelieve in the supernatural. But when she returned home after a year in India, Roxanne\nfaced culture shock, as her identity had been forever altered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After\ncompleting her Syracuse University degree, Roxanne, along with her husband,\nopened the first Indian\/vegetarian restaurant in Geneva, New York. They became involved\nin environmental and social activism. Roxanne offered the first yoga class in\nthe Finger Lakes region. She has returned to India almost every year to study\ndance and has performed her dances in various venues in America, Europe and\nIndia. Roxanne returned to Syracuse University, where she served as outreach coordinator\nof the South Asia Center while completing a humanities PhD in South Asian anthropology\nand religious studies. She now incorporates her dance into her yoga instruction\nand has written a book, A Yoga of Indian Classical\nDance: The Yogini\u2019s Mirror.<\/em> Roxanne has also contributed chapters to\nseveral books, including Encountering Kali: In the\nMargins, at the Center, in the West <\/em>and The Veil:\nWomen Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Roxanne is\ncurrently studying nutrition and healing with raw foods and will be opening a\nhealing center next summer at Burrwood Farm, her residence overlooking Cayuga\nLake, located only about a mile from where she was raised. Roxanne sees\nspirituality and health as integrally connected and feels she has come full\ncircle in her life. While she considers herself a convert to Hinduism, sharing\nthe Hindu openness to all religions, she does not regard labels as being important.\nShe feels that much of her work in this lifetime is about integration: blending\nthe best of both Eastern and Western philosophies and practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leaving Home\u2014Diane Johnson<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Diane\nshared a journey of faith and critical inquiry that began in early childhood,\nwhen she first questioned her father\u2019s prejudiced reactions to children of\nother ethnicities. After attending Catholic school for 12 years, she entered\nthe convent and became a nun. But her inner voice always questioned the teachings\nand was not satisfied when the answer was, \u201cBecause the Church said so.\u201d She\nfound herself questioning more vigorously the various tenets of the Catholic\nfaith. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After seven and a half years, Diane left the religious life. She\neventually defined herself as an atheist, drawing up her own ethical standards\nof behavior with rights and responsibilities to live by. But her inner voice\ndid not accept that either. As a photographer who loves flowers, she found\nherself returning to a belief in a divine power as she pondered the beauty and\ndelicacy of nature\u2019s creations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A book that inspired Diane was Many Lives,\nMany Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient,\nand the Past-Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives<\/em> by Brian\nWeiss. This book helped direct her into counseling and prompted her to learn hypnotherapy\nand pursue further training with Dr. Weiss. Diane continues her spiritual\nsearch today and does a range of counseling and healing work. She considers\nherself spiritual and prays every day. She misses Catholic rituals, although\nshe still can enjoy them, particularly when they are celebrated in a language\nshe does not understand. She is unsure if the term \u201cNew Age\u201d fits her, but she is\nhappy with the spiritual direction of her life today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Returning Home\u2014Janet Donoghue<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Janet was raised as an Italian Catholic and remembers the\ntime, as a four-year-old, playing with mud pies, when she felt such joy and\neuphoria that she wanted that moment to last forever. Much of her spiritual\njourney has been aimed at recapturing that exultation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Her family celebrated Janet\u2019s first communion as the fulfillment\nof a cultural rather than religious expectation. She had a party and received presents,\nbut her parents were not committed to attending Sunday services. When Janet was\n12, a friend asked why she did not go to church. Janet explained that her\nfamily did not take her, so the friend invited her along. Janet loved the\norgan, vestments and rituals. In high school she became very involved, three\nnights a week, with catechism, charity and \u201cfun\u201d activities, including Syracuse\u2019s\nwell-known Pompeian Players directed by Father Charles Borgognoni. As a student\nat Lemoyne College, Janet met Father Daniel Berrigan, who wanted her to\nparticipate in his service projects, some of which involved traveling to\ndistant cities. She was disappointed when her father did not approve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Janet and her husband, having two children and little money,\nfelt that birth control, although against the Church\u2019s rules, was necessary.\nWhen friends suggested she find the \u201cright\u201d priest for permission, she\nwondered, \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with this picture?\u201d Having already begun questioning\nother dogmatic positions, she wondered whether she was becoming a heretic. She\nbegan looking elsewhere for spiritual guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1980, Janet became a drug and alcohol counselor at a high\nschool, and 12-step programs became her new spirituality. The idea of \u201cletting\ngo and letting God,\u201d surrendering and sharing, felt sacramental. She loved her\nwork\u2014\u201cmy crazy students and their co-dependent parents.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Janet\u2019s father died in 1989, and there were ugly disputes\nover his will. To heal from the pain, she attended Kirkridge Retreat and Study\nCenter. Returning home after this very spiritual experience, she joined a\nguided meditation group. In the early 1990s Janet became trained in holotropic\nbreath work. Evocative music helped facilitate out-of-body experiences, which\nwere like near-death experiences and returned her to past lives; she found that\nshe did not want to come back from being with the light. This was so profound,\nso energizing, so life changing, that she feels she indeed has not returned to her\nprevious life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After this experience, Janet read The\nCelestine Prophecy,<\/em> by James Redfield, in which the main character\ntracks down an ancient Peruvian manuscript containing nine Insights that\nprophesize the modern emergence of New Age spirituality. Janet longed to\ncapture the essence of the book, so in 1994, along with Diane Johnson and Gay\nMontague, she went to Peru. There they participated in an outing led by a\nfemale Brazilian shaman. At Machu Picchu, Janet attended rituals that did not\nresonate with her spiritually. She came home and continued searching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Janet next visited the Association for Research and\nEnlightenment, in Virginia Beach, which houses the writings of Edgar Cayce. She\ntook a weeklong course on improving your psychic powers, along with a seminar\npresented by Huston Smith. Janet found this place to be very spiritual and\nhealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the late 1990s, Janet traveled with Gay to Medjugorje, in\nBosnia-Hercegovina, where they felt the vibrational changes of sacred ground. They\nwalked up the mountain to where Mary first appeared to several local children.\nOn the way down the mountain, while crossing bare stone, both she and Gay smelled\nroses, a life-enriching sign of Mary\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Janet joined a Quaker group focused on healing meditation,\nwhich she still attends weekly. She describes it as a wonderful, quiet place to\nbe. Then, in 2000, she retired and had time to participate in a program called\nGrace. This involved five-day retreats three times a year for two years. It was\nboth Christian and Buddhist based. The retreat master used channeled materials,\nwhich made the experience rich and metaphysical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having read a book about John of God, an internationally\nknown Brazilian Catholic healer, Janet decided to take her son, who has a\nchronic illness, to Brazil. She found the people of the town of Abadiania were\ndirectly involved in prayer and meditation to raise the vibrational energy that\nsupported the many physical and spiritual healings there. For two weeks, Janet\nand her son were immersed in drinking blessed water, practicing deep\nmeditation, visiting sacred sites, and going before John of God to receive his\nhealing touch and blessings. Visitors from everywhere experienced higher levels\nof energy and connection with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Janet has formed a more mature concept of God than she had as\na child. Then God was outside; now God is within. For the past two years she\nhas participated in a home church of Rapha Christian Ministries that meets\nmonthly. Rapha is nondenominational and spiritual rather than religious. All\nare welcome. At her husband\u2019s urging, she has also returned to the Catholic\nChurch because the parish at St. Andrew\u2019s is a community of believers, not\nclergy. There she has found a much more inclusive atmosphere than at the church\nof her youth, including women participating in services and an open acceptance\nof people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender. She has decided that just\nas corporations and schools can be dysfunctional, so too can churches; but\nthings can be changed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sharing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We gathered in small groups to share pieces of our own\npersonal journeys. Then we formed a circle of women who had been touched by the\njourneys of our sisters and were grateful for their stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Four women shared their journeys of faith, acknowledged their questions and doubts, and described their external adventures, some of which served as catalysts to change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[15,22,17,19],"class_list":["post-7521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-programs","tag-christianity","tag-hinduism","tag-judaism","tag-lifecycle",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7521"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8361,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7521\/revisions\/8361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}