The Feminine and the Seeds of the Future

The feminine holds the mystery of creation. This simple and primordial truth is often overlooked, but at this time of global crisis, which also carries the seeds of a global transformation, we need to reawaken to the spiritual power and potential of the feminine.”
—Llewellyn Vaughan Lee

This programme will explore the role the feminine has to play in birthing the future we long for. We will ask, what if we treated the Earth as our mother? What if we re-infused our culture with feminine values of interconnectedness, embodiment, and reverence for all life? What if we changed our concept of activism so it was grounded in the feminine principles of listening, receiving, holding space, and giving nourishment?

This programme will include  a series of public talks and one-day workshops on different aspects of the feminine:

February 2, 6.30pm: Mac MacartneyThe Feminine and the Seeds of the Future.
March 2, 6.30pm: Hilary Hart, Men, Women, Masculine, Feminine—Making Sense of the Two in the One
March 4, 10am – 5pmHilary HartOne-day Workshop
April 6, 6.30pm: Pat McCabeIndigenous Wisdom of the Feminine. **** PLEASE NOTE**** The venue for the upcoming event on April 6th with Pat McCabe, has changed. The new venue is THE DUTCH CHURCH, 7 AUSTIN FRIARS, EC2N 2HA. This is a 5 minute walk away from St Ethelburga’s. Her April 8th event will take place at St Ethelburga’s as advertised.
April 8, 10am – 5pmPat McCabeOne-day Workshop.
May 4, 6.30pm: Samantha Werhnam, Remona Aly, and Sahajatara Blake, The Feminine and Spiritual Authority: Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist Perspectives
June 1, 6.30pm: Justine Huxley and Ruth ScottDarkness, Imperfection, and the Feminine

There will also be a series of gatherings where a small group of women may explore these themes more deeply through dialogue, group exercises, ritual, and silence. These women’s circles, which need to be booked in advance, will be held on: February 17: a one-day workshop from 10am – 5pmMarch 166.30pmApril 206.30pmMay 186.30pm, and June 22: 6:30pm. Further details are provided below.

Location:
St Ethelburga’s Centre
78 Bishopsgate
London
EC2N 4AG
United Kingdom

Cost
Evening talks: £12 full price, £10 concession
Series pass to attend all 5 evening public talks: £45
One-day workshops: Given by Hilary Hart and Pat McCabe respectively. Each workshop costs £80 for the day. A limited number of concession tickets are available for £55 for the day
Women’s Circle: the cost to participate in the women’s circle gatherings includes also all the evening public talks: £160 full price, £120 concession. Tickets for the women’s circle are not available on the eventbrite page, if interested in the women’s circle, please contact clare@workingwithoneness.org, and please write a few lines about why you are drawn to participate. If you would like to find out more, feel free to ring Clare on 0776 1111 325.

For further details, or to purchase tickets, please visit: The Feminine and the Seeds of the Future

Women’s Circle 
This programme offers a small group of women a chance to explore the feminine through a series of workshops. The idea is to create a shared community of practice over the course of 4 months, supporting each other to apply feminine principles in action in service to life. Collectively we will work with feeling, relationship, intuition, and receptivity as pathways of discovery. When considering what ‘feminine action in service to life’ means to us, we will measure the impact by how the action feels, what beauty it brings, and whether it sparks greater intimacy and connection within the web of life.

The women’s circle comprises: 

Gatherings:
• One introductory workshop (1 day)
• A series of evening gatherings, held on the 3rd Friday of each month in March, April, May, and June
• Free entry to evening public talks

Participants will be offered:
• A space to connect, through meditation, ritual, and discussion
• A safe, structured context in which to explore putting feminine principles in action
• A community of people to work with and to learn from, and collaborative tools to support the exchange of energy and ideas

Participants will be asked to:
Engage in a project or outer practice that puts feminine principles into action. The nature of each person’s contribution will be unique to them. Some people might have existing projects that they are already working on. Others may wish to offer support to other people’s visions. For some, taking action from the feminine may mean bringing care and attention to seemingly small, intimate things. For others it may involve stepping up to leadership on a bigger scale.  However each person feels drawn to act is valid, there is no right or wrong way. The point is to commit to do something, to give and receive help from within the group, and to be willing to share what you have learned.

Artist in residence:
Applications are welcome for the position of artist in residence for the series. The successful applicant will receive free entry to all the events. Artists working in any medium are welcome to apply:  writers, visual artists, performers, etc.  All that we ask is that you produce some work in response to the themes of the series and that you share your work as widely as possible! Please write to clare@workingwithoneness.org outlining what you would bring to this role.

This series of events is sponsored by workingwithoneness.org and is part of an ongoing work exploring the vital contribution of feminine wisdom and her principles of interconnection, inclusion, compassion, co-creation, and unity.

These events are hosted by Clare Martin: clare@workingwithoneness.org


Speaker Bios

Headshot_Mac Macartney200Mac Macartney: An international speaker, writer and change-maker, Mac is also the founder of Embercombe, the centre for leadership and learning with a mission to catalyse the emergence of leaders and change-makers for a just, peaceful and sustainable future. Over a period of twenty years Mac was mentored by a group of indigenous elders. During this training and ever since, he has attempted to bring two worlds together – an ancient world-view that emphasises relationship, interdependence, and reverence for life with the significant challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century. Mac works with leaders across all walks of life – from business to education – inspiring them to put up their hand and join the chorus of people who are singing alive the world of our longing. He was a faculty member of the WWF/IMD Business School ‘One Planet Leaders’ programme in Lausanne for three years and received an Honorary Doctorate in Education from Plymouth University for his work in service to community. In 2016 Mac co-founded Liquid School, a network of experts helping organisations imagine a sustainable future. He sits on the Advisory Board for DanoneWave, the largest Public Benefit Corporation in the U.S., is an RSA fellow and an Associate with Leaders’ Quest, collaborating on global issues with leaders across business, government and civil society. http://macmacartney.com

hilaryHilary Hart: Hilary lives in Taos, New Mexico. Her writing and teaching focus on women’s spiritual power and the role it can play in our global evolution. Her most recent book, Body of Wisdom, brings together dreams and experiences of women with teachings from today’s most visionary spiritual leaders to describe the esoteric foundations of women’s power and its functions in our collective evolution. Born in Boston, Hilary went to Yale University and received a Masters Degree in Philosophy from CU Boulder. She has extensive experience in Sufism and Tibetan Buddhism. www.hilaryhart.org

Pat-McCabe-MythPat McCabe:Woman Stands Shining, Pat McCabe, has the honour of being of the Dine (Navajo) Nation. She brings the understanding of Indigenous ways of knowing into discussion and inquiry on Sustainability. She carries the foundation of Beauty and Spirit into places where it has been kept out. Pat is an active participant in Indigenous Peoples gatherings worldwide including Chile, Belgium, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico and Bali. She has worked with the International Center for Cultural Studies in India and with Sarvodaya with Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne in Sri Lanka, as well as with organizations and gatherings in the U.S. She has been a cultural consultant to the Pachamama Alliance, presenting at the 2013and 2014 National Bioneers Conference, and presenting on “The Feminine Design and Sustainability” in the U.S. and Internationally.

She first came to the UK in 2014, as an invited guest to the New Story Summit at Findhorn Community, Scotland. She also visited Devon that year, and returned to lead sessions of the Becoming Indigenous course at Schumacher College in 2015. https://thrivinglife.weebly.com/

Rev.Sam.WerhnamRev Samantha Werhnam: Sam is the founder of social enterprise Living Spirit, which has offered many projects celebrating spirit, art and nature over the last twenty years. Current projects include Wild Church, which is an inter-spiritual pioneer ministry committed to silent pilgrimage and contemplative communion. Wild Church is currently working on the development of a new monastic centre and ‘sacramental landscape’ in Dartington, Devon.

Sam has travelled widely and been a life long student of spiritual ecology, ranging from the Buddhist communities of Ladakh and Zanskar to the Celtic churches of the Scottish Highlands, where she worked a croft for five years and built an eco retreat centre. She nows lives on pilgrimage between her micro monastery in Dartington and Christ Church University in Canterbury, where she is engaged in doctoral research into transformative learning focussed on the motif of the sacred marriage. As an ordained interfaith minister and committed Anglican, Sam is especially curious about the marriage of tradition and innovation. http://www.living-spirit.co.uk/

Remona.Aly200Remona Aly: Remona Aly is a journalist, commentator and broadcaster with a focus on faith, lifestyle and identity. She writes for The Guardian and other media outlets on topics ranging from The Great British Bake Off to burkinis, fashion to interfaith football, and Ramadan to rock music. Remona is a regular Pause for Thought contributor for BBC Radio 2 on the Chris Evans Breakfast show, and is a presenter on BBC Radio 4’s Something Understood. In one of her programmes, she explores the multi-faceted nature of ‘The Divine Feminine’ across various cultural, spiritual and faith traditions.

Remona was the Deputy Editor of emel, a vibrant and glossy British Muslim lifestyle magazine which was the first of its kind to launch nationwide. Since going freelance in 2009, she became Director of Communications for the Exploring Islam Foundation which specialises in dynamic PR campaigns and resources on Islam and Muslims across media platforms. She is also a presenter for the Things Unseen podcast which is produced by CTVC, an independent production company that centres on spiritual, ethical and moral issues. http://remonaaly.com/

blakebioSahajatara Blake: At the age of nine, Sahajatara read these lines by Wordsworth: “The earth and every common sight to me did seem apparelled in celestial light.” Thus began a lifelong quest to understand what the celestial light symbolises, and how best to honour the holiness of the Earth. For many years she identified as a pagan/ goddess worshipper, but for the past 24 years has been practicing as a Buddhist. Her work within her Buddhist tradition has been largely about introducing ideas of sustainability and reverence for the Earth. She has spoken widely on climate change and compassion, as well as on the theme of leading a passionate life through the Arts. She has also hosted several interfaith climate change conferences. Sahajatara is a poet, lecturer, songwriter and mother to an 11 year old daughter with Aspergers. She lives in Brighton where she is currently writing a book.

justineJustine Huxley: Justine is the Director of St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace where she has worked for over 10 years. St Ethelburga’s work is about enabling people from diverse backgrounds to collaborate across differences to build a global culture of peace. It works with leadership, particularly in the younger generation, with sacred activism, spiritual ecology, community reconciliation, and with refugees. St Ethelburga’s programmes call us to reconnect with our deepest values and sense of meaning, and to co-create action in the world that comes from that place.

Justine has a Ph.D in psychology, with a background in business communications and 5 years of experience on the trading floor of a City investment bank. She is passionate about bringing people together from different backgrounds and co-creating innovative projects that speak to the needs of the time. She brings a wealth of experience in deep listening, facilitation, and working with emergent process. Justine belongs to a Sufi Order and has been leading meditation and dreamwork groups in London for over 15 years.
stethelburgas.org

ruthRuth Scott: Ruth Scott is a facilitator, trainer and mediator. She was among the first women ordained as priests in the Church of England in 1994. She has subsequently become a member of the Quakers. For the last 20 years she has worked primarily in the field of conflict transformation.

For many years she worked in interfaith dialogue with Muslim and Jewish colleagues here and abroad, most particularly as a committee member of the Interfaith Foundation. She runs a workshop, Women Together, Standing Tall, for survivors of sexual violence, which she led first in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for women raped as a weapon of war. She returns regularly to Egypt to run the workshop for women who have experienced FGM and sexual abuse. Most recently she has facilitated training for Iraqi civil and religious leaders working to address religious intolerance and hatred in Iraq. She was on the Design and Facilitator Teams commissioned by the House of Bishops to run the series of Shared Conversations across the Church of England around issues of human sexuality, and continues to work as a mediator and facilitator in Church conflicts.

She was a BBC Radio 2 ‘Pause for Thought’ presenter for 18 years, and broadcasts regularly with Chris Evans and Clare Balding. She runs retreats, and lectures and leads workshops here and abroad on leadership, trauma and working constructively with conflict. Her fourth book, The Power of Imperfection, came out in 2014.