Mirabai Starr – Feminine Christ

We begin our journey by going to the roots of many of the distortions in our Judeo-Christian heritage, revealing why some of the distortions were created, and healing what has been broken. Mirabai will take us into the heart of one of the great Christian mystics, Julian of Norwich, who reveals a vision of Christ as the Mother – leading to a whole new mythology that puts a primacy on sacred balance, reverence and incarnation, rather than an afterlife. You’ll:

• Understand incarnation of the sacred as a living experience of the feminine, which Judaism calls the Shekinah
• Receive a new vision of the Trinity that includes the feminine – opening space to see the divine feminine within you
• See Mother Mary with wholly new eyes – not meek and mild – but brave and bold, especially with a radically new understanding of her Annunciation
• Discover some of the most important female mystics in Christianity, and learn how these fearless women mystics were able to overcome their persecution and experience a direct communion with God
• Explore how the modern Christian tradition is rebalancing itself to incorporate a more feminine theology
• Restore wholeness in our religious family – bringing back a spirit of family and unification between Judaism, Christianity and Islam
• Revision “Her Story” to make it “our story” for both women and men

There is a beautiful concept in Judaism of Tikkun Olam, which means that part of our spiritual path is to respond to the brokenness of the world. The more traditional masculine approach to a problem is to “fix” the world, whereas the feminine response to brokenness is to be fully, compassionately present, which restores the bonds of love and connection. The path of the feminine Christ includes this depth of presence in every act of loving kindness, and through the expression of social justice – not as a protest movement, but as a compelling force of kindness.

You’ll:

• Explore the power of turning every act into one of loving kindness based in social justice
• See the path of healing our world through new eyes by learning to hold the space for wholeness, and being lovingly present with what is broken
• Reclaim the potent energy of the spiritual Warrioress in justice and service to the world
• Discover an embodied response to suffering by exploring the broken-open heart of Tara, and embracing the Tibetan Boddhisattva of Compassion
• Understand the deep relationship between Judaism and Christianity in a new way through the lens of Tikkun Olam

The most ancient way of transmitting wisdom from generation to generation has been to sit at the feet of our grandmothers and receive the wisdom of the ancestors. With the lack of appreciation of female mystics of Christ, we have largely lost the lineage of feminine transmission in the West. In this module, we will go into the heart of our Abrahamic lineages and discover the radiant, powerful, amazing examples of the feminine Christ that serve as exemplars for how we can live now. They are women who have walked before us to show us the way – beautiful models of living a fearless, embodied, contemplative life in service to the world.

You’ll

• Become intimate with Biblical figures in a new way, such as Mary, Miriam and Sarah
• Discover the extraordinary wisdom of women mystics, including Hildegard von Bingen, Teresa of Avila and Therese of Lisieux
• Learn about the divine feminine through Fatimah, the daughter of the prophet Mohammed – offering you surprising insights into the feminine within Islam
• Become empowered by the teachings of enlightened women to fearlessly speak the truth of the heart
• Reconnect with the feminine lineage in the West, weaving this essential and ancient wisdom into the tapestry of your spiritual life

One of the most negative inheritances that has come from a patriarchal vision of Christ is the creation of shame for our very existence (original sin), sexuality and loving relationships. When we integrate the Feminine Face of God, the deeper truth is that God is unconditionally loving and that there is no wrathful judgement – except that which we project onto God. This module will offer a profound opportunity to heal and release this religious shame.

You’ll:

• Release religiously-sourced shame by understanding its roots and perceiving the reality of an unconditionally-loving God through the eyes of female mystics
• Open to loving yourself unconditionally, just as you are – and extend that quality to all those you encounter
• Practice the power of self-forgiveness, and recognize that you are already forgiven for any perceived transgressions by the Holy One, who has already forgiven them
• Step into your true radiant self by dissolving your identification with the false self (which is actually built from judgements)
• See the mystical separation of masculine and feminine as a longing for the sacred to bring the severed masculine and feminine back into union
• Restore the sacred valuing of the feminine within yourself – whether you are a man or woman

The path of the feminine Christ gives us a different way to relate to God. While many mystics emphasize our union with God, there is something uniquely powerful and motivating about the longing that comes from separation into Lover and Beloved. This relational longing is at the core of the path of the feminine Christ. Mirabai will help the “exiled lover” in you find her way back into ecstatic reunion with the Beloved so that the polarities of human and God, woman and man, earth and sky become a dance of celebration rather than exiled separation. You’ll understand how the severed connection creates disharmony and the restored bond creates new possibilities for love and wholeness. Major losses can become a doorway into the restored bond and so we’ll also look at the practices to transform grief.

You’ll:

• Understand spiritual longing and the connection between personal loss and the longing for God/union with the Divine
• Receive a more spiritual and practical understanding of how to deal with grief and loss, using them as a catalyst for your spiritual opening
• Finally understand that having a broken heart is not a problem: it’s a source of transformation.
• Study the Song of Songs from Hebrew scriptures to receive a new understanding of the role of longing in the Abrahamic faiths
• Explore the Dark Night of Soul and mystical imagery of the secret rendezvous between lover and beloved in the garden, a fairly universal theme of world mystical traditions.
• Understand the practice of Shabbat/Sabbath in a new way, as a time of rest to be infused with the Shekhinah, come home to the earth and allow the connection with God as Beloved to awaken in you
• Practice reconnecting with the divine presence

The Divine Feminine is often depicted as far too pristine and sanitized, which suppresses our natural freedom and creativity. In this class, we’ll reconnect with the unbridled, untamed, unbounded aspects of the sacred Feminine. We’ll learn to roar and sizzle again as an expression of the feminine Christ within us. We’ll celebrate going outside of rules and regulations and beyond the confines of the society to rekindle our wild feminine fires.

You’ll:

• Emerge with more freedom and respect for the undomesticated parts of your being
• Expand your vision of what the sacred feminine truly us
• Ignite dormant fires of creativity and passion
• Make a renewed commitment to your creative life, regardless of your existing responsibilities
• Access the wilder parts of you, which brings you more vitality, joy, and freedom
• Remember how to revel in Nature and restore a deep relationship with the natural world

While you likely share the spirit of service to the world that animates the path of all the great women mystics, you may feel too depleted to really serve with joy. This is very common. The secret that we’ll explore in this module, especially led by the great female mystical teachers, is how to serve others from an overflowing cup by balancing deep contemplation and replenishment of our souls with profound acts of love to the world. This turns service into a sacrament where we are tasting the Beloved in all we see and do rather than becoming hollow husks of human beings. The path of the feminine Christ invariably leads to ministering to the wounds of the world in some way and it takes a strong spiritual practice and reservoir to truly serve from joy and abundance. In this module, you’ll get the foundational understandings and practices that empower you to do so:

• Learn to balance action and contemplation moment by moment and week by week, especially incorporating times of Sabbath
• Discover contemplative practices of solitude and stillness that help to tend the inner garden
• Discern when we are giving service out of obligation or duty rather than love and abundance
• Become fully ok with setting boundaries to take the time you need to restore and recharge
• Move beyond the grind of guilt; it is not your responsibility to fix the whole world and it is not burning down
• Access the natural outflow of compassion and energy that comes from tending your inner life.
• Understand Krishna’s advice to do our duty without attachment to the fruits of our action.
• Avoid the trap of angry activist, who burns herself and others out
• Tap into abundant energy that you can share with the world
• See the Sabbath/Shabbat as both a contemplative practice and political act and build times of restoration into your life, lightening your footprint on the Earth

Join Mirabai and Rabbi Novick in conversation as they discuss the Shekhinah, a concept of the divine feminine in Judaism. This lively and deep exploration will be a perfect complement to the Reclaiming the Feminine Face of Christ course.

Ordained in 1987, Rabbi Leah Novick has served alternative and conventional congregations. In recent years, she has traveled extensively in the U.S, and Israel presenting her teachings and meditations on the Tree of Life in many venues. She is a devoted student and teacher of Zohar who has focused on conveying the understanding of Shekhinah to Jewish and inter-faith groups. She synthesized those insights into her book On the Wings of Shekhinah, Rediscovering Judaism’s Divine Feminine. Her other writings are focused on Jewish women of other historical periods who broke through cultural barriers to become great spiritual leaders and teachers.

In this special session, Mirabai will be joined by Muslim slam poet Mona Haydar, who will share some of her powerful poetry along with teachings from the essence of Islam.

Mona is a poet, performer, artist and activist currently living and working at The Lama Foundation in Northern New Mexico. She’s passionate about words, both written and spoken, saying “The good word is like a good tree…like humanity – with our feet firmly rooted in Earth while our spirits and minds float about somewhere above us into the heavens. It’s vertical. A good word connects us to our Creator, most Merciful.”

Join Mirabai and Dr. Daugherty as they discuss the intersection of science and the Divine. As embodied beings, our science shows us that everything we receive, perceive and experience is filtered through our human body, and cultivates our capabilities for more of the same; the deeper the experience the greater the transformation. Many of the women mystics, specifically in regard to characteristics of the divine feminine, teach us that truly embodying this way of being is deeply experiential; that where we intersect with God, or meet the Christ within is an incarnate experience – a felt sense of communion with the divine or another being.

Dr. Daugherty is a writer, speaker and workshop facilitator. Her work focuses on teaching people how to transform chaotic and limiting emotional patterns to ones that are self affirming, life enhancing, and truly transformative. Her work is grounded in the science and practice of emotional transformation. She is the author of “The Power Within: From Neuroscience to Transformation” (Kendall Hunt), “Reclaim Your Life!: the art and science of personal transformation” (Balboa Press).

In this bonus session, Mirabai will be joined by Sister Greta Ronningen to discuss what the teachings of Christ could look like through the lens of Beguine Mysticism. The Beguines were a 13th century movement by and for women which existed for eight hundred years. They wrote Love Mysticism exhorting one another to participate in the divine nature not only in self-emptying contemplation but through self-giving love by engaging with the suffering of the poor and sick.

Sr. Greta Ronningen, CDL, MA is a founding member of the Community of Divine Love, an Episcopal monastic order in San Gabriel, CA. Sr. Greta serves as a chaplain in the Los Angeles County Jails and she is also implementing a 3-year spiritual formation program that she developed for the young women at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall called The Good Seed Project.

She holds a Master’s Degree in Spiritual Formation from Claremont School of Theology.