"Showcases [women's spiritual leadership’s] hallmarks: listening and collaboration. Use the provocative, creative suggestions as a practical guide for sharing the insights and extending the reach."
—Mary Hunt, co-founder/co-director, Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER); coeditor, New Feminist Christianity: Many Voices, Many Views

“An essential tool, an exciting read and a gift on the journey toward a transformed future.”
—Dirk Ficca, executive director, Council for the Parliament of the World’s Religions

“Full of wisdom and speaks the truth on difficult issues.... For people of all faiths—or no faith—it helps spark reflection on how true spirituality for our time can be re-shaped by empowering women.”
—Rabbi Elyse Goldstein, editor, New Jewish Feminism: Probing the Past, Forging the Future

“Unique, timely and valuable.... Here is a testament to the power of the word, of women, and above all, of faith.”
—Azza Karam, PhD, senior adviser, Culture, United Nations Population Fund

“A powerful plunge into the views, values and extraordinary endeavors by women on the leading edge of spirituality and leadership.”
—Roshi Joan Halifax, founding abbot, Upaya Zen Center

“Thought and action provoking ... a resource for women of all walks of life who seek to use the wisdom and knowledge of women to create a culture of peace and well-being for all.”
—Mary Wiberg, executive director, California Commission on the Status of Women

“A rallying cry for the twenty-first century, as it highlights the vision and activism of women bridging divides ... of faith, class, race and generation to bring real hope, healing and wholeness to our broken world. Women of deep faith and spiritual conviction everywhere owe it to themselves to read this compelling collection.”
—The Rev. Dr. Katharine R. Henderson, president, Auburn Theological Seminary

“Many religious institutions still hold to explicit glass ceilings that keep women from formal leadership. This obscures women’s extraordinary spiritual roles, their potential to change what we mean by religion and spirituality, and what a spiritual lens can offer to the world’s leading problems. Exploring vital and complex themes like communication and leadership with freshly defined terms, the editors and contributors look to a world governed by new conceptions of power and success. The personal spiritual journeys of a diverse group of women offer glimpses of the types of transformations that women spiritual and religious leaders might bring to society.”
—Katherine Marshall, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, Georgetown University; executive director, World Faiths Development Dialogue

“We all long for inspiration and guidance. With enormous sensitivity, Women, Spirituality, and Transformative Leadership gives us gems that are both joyous and poignant. Prepare to be uplifted and transformed!”
—Susannah Heschel, Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College

“Call[s] us as women to the urgent task of developing a deep spiritual identity, not for our own good but to better equip us to be agents of transformation in a deeply divided world. Rejoice as you read this inspiring book and ready yourself for transformation.”
—The Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, Department of Religion, Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, New York; author, Living into Hope: A Call to Spiritual Action for Such a Time as This

“This carefully crafted collection of women’s insights into leadership from a spiritual root goes a long way in connecting the concept of power with the concept of love. Such a linkage stimulates moral courage, encourages social justice and opens one to deeper, more authentic, spiritually grounded relationships.”
—Helen LaKelly Hunt, PhD, author, Faith & Feminism: A Holy Alliance; president, The Sister Fund

“An important book for this pivotal moment. Its collection of voices embody a non-denominational, invitational and inclusive approach to spirituality, while also addressing the nitty-gritty practicalities and challenges that leadership in this transformative time requires of us. It offers a systemic overview of a landscape we’d all be advised to visit, frequently—that of the intersection of diverse women (and men), reinventing leadership to address a pivotal moment of change in ourselves, our communities and the world, while staying connected to the mystery, or sacred, within and surrounding us all. It offers useful practices and perspectives for how we may cultivate ourselves to return to right relationship with ourselves, each other and the Earth.”
—Nina Simons, co-founder/co-CEO, Bioneers

“If human civilization is to not only survive but thrive, it will be because of women: radical, gutsy, revolutionary women; women who don’t simply become leaders, but who reinvent leadership; women who don’t simply become clergy, but who reinvent religion and spirituality. We don’t need women taking their place in a man’s world—we need women to topple that world and lead us to a new and better one. The wisdom in Women, Spirituality and Transformative Leadership points us in the direction of a new world with a new heart and a new mind. This book gives me hope.”
—Rabbi Rami Shapiro, translator/annotator, The Divine Feminine in Biblical Wisdom Literature: Selections Annotated and Explained

A Blessing and an Invitation
Ann Marie Sayers and Rachelle Figueroa xi

Introduction 1

Exploration I:
How Do I Express Being an Empowered Woman of Spirit and Faith? 17
Becoming a Vessel of Peace
Lynda Terry 19
But I Thought You Knew the Way: Lessons in Leadership
Fredelle Brief 25
Living My Way into Answers
Courtney E. Martin 30
Seeing a World Where There Is No "Other"
Yoland Trevino 36
Faith in the Transitions of Not Knowing
Susan Quinn 40
Practicing Empowerment
Karen R. Boyett, MA 45

Living Our Leadership 50
Digging Deeper
God Our Father; God Our Mother: In Search of the Divine Feminine
Joan Chittister, OSB 60

Exploration II:
How Do My Spiritual Values Inform Me about Living with the Challenges and Blessings of Diversity? 73
Buddhism, Women, and Religious Diversity
Karma Lekshe Tsomo 77
Faith's Challenges: The One We Seek
Jamia Wilson 82
Living My Values
Diane Tillman 88
Where Grace Meets Power
Reverend Lorenza Andrade Smith 94
Best Friends Forever
Jan Booman Saeed 99
God Said: We Have Created You from a Single (Pair) of a Female and Male
Shareda Hosein 104
Remembrance, Witness, and Action: Fuel for the Journey
The Right Reverend Mary Douglas Glasspool 109

Living Our Leadership 115
Digging Deeper
Leading from a Whirlwind: Faith and Courage in a Swiftly Changing World
Valarie Kaur 124

Exploration III:
How Do We Stand for the Greatness of Each Other? 139
The Wind Is Blowing from the West and Has the Smell of the Sea
Adelia Sandoval 141
Mother-Lines of Body, Mind, and Spirit
Carol Lee Flinders, PhD 145
Birthing Awake the Dream
Alisa Starkweather 151
Kindness Empowers: A Mohawk Skywoman's Journey of Thanksgiving
Dawn T. Maracle, MEd, EdD (ABD) 156
In Order to Heal the World, We Have to Stand for Each Other's Greatness, but "First," the Grandmothers Told Her, "You Have to Heal the Wound between Women"
China Galland 162

Living Our Leadership 168
Digging Deeper
Where Do We Go from Here?
Nontombi Naomi Tutu 174

Exploration IV:
How Do We Catalyze Our Collective Transformational Power as Women of Spirit and Faith? 185
Living in God's Amazing Grace: The Power of Faith in Leadership
Musimbi Kanyoro, PhD 188
Creative Acts of Expression: Catalyzed in Circles
Jean Shinoda Bolen, MD 195
A Poetic Response: "The Catalyst"
Lisa Anderson 201
The Meta-Civics of Feminine Leadership
Dr. Barbara E. Fields 204
Thou Art Goddess: The Return of the Divine Feminine
Phyllis W. Curott, JD and HPs 211

Living Our Leadership 216
Reflecting on the Pattern 224
Written in My Bones
Kathe Schaaf 224
In Transition
Kay Lindahl 227
On Being Advocates, Activists, and Alchemists: Exploring Power on the Way Forward
Kathleen S. Hurty, PhD 230
Ever-Evolving Women of Spirit and Faith: Naming, Doing, and Be-ing
Reverend Guo Cheen 234
Transformative Leadership
Kathe Schaaf, Kay Lindahl, Kathleen S. Hurty, PhD, Reverend Guo Cheen 237
Engaging with Women of Spirit and Faith 240
The Young Leaders Council of WSF 241
The Mentoring Project 241
Local WSF Circles 242
Parliament of the World's Religions 2014 242
WSF in Canada 242

Closing Blessing
Rachelle Figueroa 243

Resources and Networks 244
Circle and Dialogue Resources 244
Environment/Ecology 245
Interfaith Organizations 246
Leadership and Partnership Organizations 248
Seminaries and Educational Organizations 249
Women's Organizations 250
Women’s Organizations, Faith Based 253
Jewish Women’s Organizations 257
Muslim Women’s Organizations 258
Young Leaders 258

Acknowledgments 259
Notes 261
Selected Bibliography 264