Presenter bio: Dilşa Deniz is a sociocultural Kurdish anthropologist and presently is a visiting scholar at HarvardDivinity School. Her research focuses on gender, the cultural, political, and religious practices in relation to Kurdish Alevis, Alevi...
Abstract: This paper explores the ongoing and evolving harm caused by the misuse of the terms Shaman and Shamanism. Initially a scholarly misnomer predicated on a romanticization of the “primitive,” Shamanism has evolved to be a culturally appropriated...
Abstract: As a Harmonist, I believe the world is incarnated spirit and that my goal is to live harmony with the spirit and to nurture its incarnations which surround me. This direct contact with the ground of existence is directly empowering, both as an...
Abstract: In this presentation I will show how people participating in ritual practices with ayahuasca experience transformations of power during ceremonies and in their everyday life. In my PhD-project “Sacred plants – spiritual experiences” I examine...
Abstract: “Ancestors & Money: The Spiritual Dimension of Reparations Work for White People” is a learning journey for white people with class privilege committing to redistribution of money, land and power. This approach is designed as a contribution to...
Abstract: This paper will explore four essential questions and conundrums that confront us as we consider the way in which mystical illumination is presented in many new religious movements or alternative spiritualities. It will suggest that by more fully...
Abstract: Self-help books are one of the most accessible and prolific methods of spiritual education available. However, many of the most popular and well-regarded self-help books may still be causing harm. Using my background as a domestic violence...
Abstract: The return towards recovery of spiritual practices by ceremonial drum-keepers has allowed a cadre of Native American languages to be heard and learned around drum circles as have protocols of sacred protocols. As we move to be a more inclusive...
Abstract: The misuse of power in alternative spiritual communities is similar and different than the misuse of power in most mainstream religious communities. In this workshop we will explore an archetypal understanding of leadership and power...
A prominent narrative of the ecumenical-monastic community of Taizé is “We are not spiritual masters”. The paper aims to show how the coding and de-coding of power structures in this narrative work and in what regard it can enable productive as well as...
Abstract: It is rare for a powerful institution to ritualise an apology for historic abuses of power. At Crossbones Graveyard, each Mary Magdalene day, this happens. This paper is an insider view of the spirituality of these Abram-Pagans in contemporary...
