Childcare is not available. Coffee, tea and water will be available in the morning. Lunch includes vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options and is covered in the cost of the conference.

Kathleen Saadat is currently the Diversity Development/Affirmative Action Manager for the City of Portland. Former Oregon Governor Neil Goldschmidt appointed Kathleen Saadat the State Director of Affirmative Action in 1987. From 1990-1992, she was Assistant to Portland City Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury. Between 1992 and 1997 Kathleen worked as an independent contractor. From 1997 until 2001, she was Strategic Plan Coordinator for Multnomah County Oregon’s Department of Community and Family Services. During that time she also continued work as a private consultant and trainer in the areas of human diversity and organizational development and as a motivational speaker.

Kathleen is a member of Class VI of the Oregon American Leadership Forum, a 1992 Fellow with the Advocacy Institute in Washington DC and recipient of fellowship to Hedgebrook Women’s Writers Retreat and a member of the 29th Street Writers.

The June, 1993 issue of Oregon Business Magazine listed Kathleen Saadat as one of 100 WHO LEAD, in Oregon. Kathleen is also recipient of a Woman of Achievement Award from Oregon State University; The Portland Lesbian Community Project’s Spirit of Portlandia Awards for Leadership (1987 & 1992); the Bayard Rustin Civil Rights Award, presented by the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment; the Harvey Milk Award presented by After Eight, Corvallis, Oregon; a Civil Liberties Award from the Oregon chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union; the Phoenix Rising Jack Abele award and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Arts Foundation in recognition of her contributions to the efforts to “Keep Living the Dream” of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Ms. Saadat earned a BA in Psychology at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. She held several managerial positions with the City of Portland’s CETA Job Training Programs in the 1970′s and 80′s and held the position of Executive Director for the Oregon State Commission on Black Affairs immediately prior to her appointment as Oregon State Director of Affirmative Action in 1987. She managed the Youth Services arm of the Portland Urban League during the 1980′s.

Past involvements include: Member of Oregon State University’s Board of Visitors for Minority Affairs; Member Steering Committee of No On 9 Campaign; Coordinator: African Americans for Human Rights a Portland Group she helped form in 1992 to work against the anti-gay rights Measure 9; Member and Co-Chair of Portland Rainbow Coalition; Mediator with Portland’s King Neighborhood Facility; Board Member of the Bradley Angle House (Shelter for Battered Women); Member City of Portland’s Residential Care Facility Licensing Board; Member of the Community Organization and Planning Committee of United Way; and Member of the first planning committee for Portland’s Black Women’s Gathering. Her favorite things to do are read, play Big Boggle and talk about movies.

Kathleen is concerned with social and economic justice; what happens to our children and with the issues related to world peace.

Core Dreams: Understanding Dreams and Synchronicities about Your Purpose and Calling

Memorable and recurring dreams can be a trigger to ignite the next chapter of your life purpose, a new career path, or the next step in your evolving journey. Find out how the dreams of physicians, teachers, authors, therapists and inventors have catalyzed their understanding and clarified their life work and sense of meaning. Learn how synchronicities and friends’ requests can underscore the message of your dreams when the Spirit of Life has a plan just for you!

About the Facilitator: Gillian Holloway is the author of The Complete Dream Book and has been an instructor at Marylhurst University for 18 years. Her work has been featured on ABC’s 20/20 and Coast to Coast radio as well as The New York Times and Washington Post. She has a private practice helping people to enrich their lives by embracing their inner wisdom and power.

Tools for Transformation: Story Showing for Personal Sustenance & Social Change

Explore personal and collective storytelling as a powerful tool for transformative change. Through writing, art and experiential activities, examine patterns of personal and collective stories—both conscious and unconscious–and the relationships between these stories and the social issues of our time.

Together we will ritually create a new story, a vision of the world becoming, and strategies for sustaining and spreading the vision long after our time together is through.

You will leave with the skills to identify and “show” personal and collective stories through art and writing, release the stories that no longer serve you, claim the stories you wish to keep, and the ability, through ceremony, to create and sustain a new story for the benefit of the whole.

About the Facilitator: Lara Vesta, MFA is the author of The Moon Divas Guidebook: Spirited Self-Care for Women in Transition and the owner of Vestal Transitions, offering ceremonies and resources for celebrating change. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her three children, three cats and wild garden.

Our Deepest Well: A Journey through Discovery, Story and Transformation

This interactive workshop will take you on a journey though your intuitive world using journal writing, meditation and transformative story. Vanessa will share journal writing techniques and meditations to explore your embodied stories and learn ways to recognize and release habitual stories that no longer serve or empower you. When we change our story we change our lives and when we change our lives we change the world.

About the Facilitator: Vanessa Timmons is the founder of Wisdom’s Feast, 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.

Creating Rituals for Social Change

Explore the interface between ritual and social change activism in this workshop led by SisterSpirit’s founder, Frodo Okulam. The workshop will include hands-on action as well as opportunities to discuss your experiences.

About The Facilitator: Frodo Okulam is the founder and coordinator of SisterSpirit women’s spirituality group in Portland, Oregon and teaches women’s spirituality and related subjects at Portland State University. Frodo’s life passion is inviting people into relationship with the Goddess and the natural world.

Love is in the Air: Connecting to Gaia and the Web of Love

As we open to our core essence as loving beings, we begin to feel just how interconnected we are to the Web of Love, and this profound understanding allows a deeper and more nurturing experience of life on earth. This awareness connects us with the elements, to Gaia, to the living world around us, and to our own hearts, as the essence of Universal Love. The physical and the spiritual are not separate. All life is truly sacred and interconnected. This workshop explores opening the heart to greater love of self, creating a deeper connection with Gaia, and feeling the beauty of our own souls. It has been said that we are divine beings having an illusionary experience of earth. Come explore what this means. A few minutes will be reserved for questions that will be asked to Gaia. Please come prepared with any questions you may have that are not of a personal nature, and are in line with the scope of the workshop.

About the Facilitator: Cristi Jenkins is a New Energy teacher, psychic medium, conduit, and channel of Gaia and a group of benevolent beings called the Council. During the spring of 2009, while meditating in her backyard, Cristi expressed that she wanted to be of service to the highest energies of Source. From that moment on, she began to clearly hear and feel a group of benevolent beings who call themselves the Council. Shortly thereafter, Gaia asked Cristi to work with her, and since then Cristi has presented messages from Gaia and has also co-created with her in making beautiful and humorous photographic nature messages. Many of Gaia’s messages via Cristi are published in the Sedona Journal of Emergence. Photos can be found at www.tolovebeingtheiam.webs.com or on the FB page “To Love Being the I AM.” Cristi studied with clairvoyant Janeen Marie and received training via the Clairvoyant Program of Portland, OR.

Cristi holds a masters degree in Library and Information Sciences, a B.A. degree in Music, and minors in English and Psychology. She holds an ordination certificate from the Universal Life Church. Cristi has written for a number of alternative publications, including Diversity NewsMagazine, Planet Lightworker, The Pillar, and JustOut. Much of Cristi’s work focuses on facing and releasing the fears that often prevent us from loving and honoring life in its fullest. To access articles and other creations, or to schedule a reading or mentoring session with Cristi, please visit www.cristijenkins.com. You may also contact her at blessedbe4all@yahoo.com.

Ritual Drama for Empowerment & Healing

Learn the skills needed to create a ritual drama that will set you on the road to open doors, start a new project, lead to healing of pain, and more. We’ll explore how ritual drama is different from ritual; the use of characters, costumes, props, preparation and purpose; and historical and contemporary examples of ritual dramas. The workshop will conclude with time to create our own ritual drama together!

The facilitators bring to this workshop many years creating rituals for social change, unification of various communities and their trust in the power of spirit and drama to work for the betterment of all our lives.

About the Facilitators: Tasa Wolf Star and Patricia MacAodha are long-time members of SisterSpirit.

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.

By Mara Friedman

SisterSpirit’s 3rd Annual Women’s Spirituality Conference

Wisdom’s Feast: Many Voices. One Vision.

Saturday, November 19, 2011
9am to 3:30pm
4505 E 18th Street, Vancouver WA

Keynote Address: Editor-in-Chief SageWoman Magazine, Anne Newkirk Niven

Express your vision for your life, your community, your world. Learn the tools of spiritual expression, writing, storytelling, singing, dance, ceremony, movement, communion with nature, connection to our ancestors and more. Morning and afternoon workshops.

Creating a Healing Journal: Tools for vision, creativity, and power!

Through our personal journeys of healing, we each contribute something unique to the world. Join this interactive workshop and learn creative ways to express your unique story, your struggles and triumphs, insights and lessons. Journal writing helps you organize and solidify your wisdom for greater healing and powerful change. This workshop will teach unique journaling tools to move you forward on the sacred journey of the healer.

Saving Your Life Now: The Extraordinary Ordinary of Prayer and Spiritual Practice

In recognizing the sacred in our ordinary lives we have the power to create profound and deep healing for ourselves, our families, and our communities. Let us journey together to discover the multitude of ways in which spiritual practice can nourish our souls to greater presence and connection with the Sacred. We will explore prayer, sitting and walking meditation, storytelling and storylistening, fasting, Sabbath keeping, writing, cooking, chanting and many more! We will do more than discuss, we will practice!

Sacred Song, Sacred Ceremony!

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. ~Ludwig van Beethoven
Nothing feeds the spirit of the ancestors like a good song. Come learn powerful healing and celebration songs of the Yoruba and African American Heritage traditions. In this workshop you will learn authentic healing, invocation, ceremony and community gathering songs of power. Bring your instruments and your voice; we are going to raise the roof!

Dancing for Joy: Surrender to rhythm and connect to your power

The heartbeat and the breath naturally tune themselves to rhythm. When we surrender ourselves to music and experience it through the body, we enter a higher state of consciousness where we are connected. In this class we will explore the beauty of enjoying and celebrating every move our body makes. We will practice expressing the deepest joy within our bodies authentically and in the moment, through the universal language of movement. It is through this practice that we can rediscover our universal connectedness as well as our own unique and beautiful powers.

Sharing Our Stories: Writing for SageWoman and Crone Magazines

Would you like to share your personal story with over 10,000 other women? Editor Anne Newkirk Niven will share tips, ideas, and examples of personal essay writing for publication. A free copy of SageWoman #81 and Crone Magazine issue #4 will be made available to all participants. Be prepared to write – bring your laptop, legal pad and pen, or whatever strikes your Muse – and share with other women in your small group.

The Seeker Within: Setting Intention and Personal Integrity

A guided meditation and workshop on being present in your own life, setting intention, building trust between yourself and the Universe, and finally doing the work that helps you move forward in Self-affirming ways. What is the goal, how are you pursuing it, and how can you shift your efforts to support the outcome you desire. Forge your path to living with whole-self integrity.

Spirited Life SoulCollage®: Making Pearls Out of Your Life Experiences

Discover the honest (and often surprising) art of self-expression. SoulCollage® consists of gathering images that attract your attention, cutting and pasting them on cards in a way that makes sense only to your intuitive self, and finding the hidden meanings in them. SoulCollage® is about making meaning, not making art…and you most always learn something new about yourself and what is going on just under the surface of your day-to-day life. All this and it’s fun too!

Opening to the Many Voices in the Ecosystem

Join Frodo for a guided half-hour walk in nature during the lunch hour.

]]> http://www.womenswisdomconference.com/2011-workshops/feed/ 0 http://www.womenswisdomconference.com/2011-schedule/ http://www.womenswisdomconference.com/2011-schedule/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 04:20:05 +0000 sophia http://womenswisdomconference.com/?p=680 November 19, 2011
9am to 3:30pm

8:45-9:00am	Check-In / Doors Open
9 am	Welcome & Announcements
9:15 am	Opening Invocation: Visioning
9:30-10am	Keynote with Anne Newkirk Niven
10-10:15am	Break (Visit the art altar!)
10:15-Noon	Workshop I Sessions: Creating a Healing Journal: Tools for vision, creativity, and power! Saving Your Life Now: The Extraordinary Ordinary of Prayer and Spiritual Practice Sharing Our Stories: Writing for SageWoman and Crone Magazines
Noon-1pm	Lunch Opening to the Many Voices in the Ecosystem: Nature walk with Frodo Okulam
1-2:45pm	Workshop II Sessions: Sacred Song, Sacred Ceremony! Dancing for Joy: Surrender to rhythm and connect to your power The Seeker Within: Setting Intention and Personal Integrity Spirited Life SoulCollage®: Making Pearls Out of Your Life Experiences
2:45-3pm	Break
3-3:30pm	Closing Ceremony

Childcare is not available. Coffee, tea and water will be available in the morning. Lunch includes vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options and is 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)