REVEAL-ing Newsletter #1: February 2010

Dear REVEAL~er,

REVEAL's deepest wish and greatest intention is to help women- young women in particular- to hear and to follow that quiet yet often audacious voice of their soul. It is this voice of wisdom and guidance that will help them to not only lead authentic lives but lives that are filled with meaning and purpose to create change, justice, and just flat out joy.

Women in their 20's and 30's are entrenched in life. They are consumed with a career, a life partnership, pregnancy, motherhood and or finding or fighting for some jaw-dropping cause to help shake and shift the world toward justice.

As a feminist theologian, I was utterly bereft at the lack of female voices in the litany of theological course work my two masters degrees required me to know. Much of the theological discourse I read was fascinating, inspiring even, but it left my experience as a young embodied female absolutely unknown. Where was the spiritual experience of a woman who spoke with and from the wisdom of her body rather than denied it?

My particular generation of women in their 20's and 30's and early 40's (young to me just keeps expanding, smile) have been blessed with three waves of feminism. And we are now living out the emergence of the fourth wave of feminism- where secular feminist and fiery women of faith are coming together and understanding that faith and feminism create a soul-fueled form of activism. Hear William Blake decree, "The Voice Of Honest Indignation Is The Voice Of God."

My involvement in the women's spirituality movement has exposed me to the isolation and estrangement so many women my age have felt from their religious and faith traditions because of their feminist mores. If they stay in their church, synagogue, temple, mosque, or gurdwara, they feel as though they're betraying the feminist in them.

However, if they leave their tradition or place of worship, they have to leave a source of immense strength and support for their self and soul. As a facilitator for the Faith and Feminism Dialogues conducted by The Sister Fund and Ms. Magazine, I had the unique opportunity to meet with so many young women who have their foot caught in the door of their place of worship- undecided if they're staying or going. (Hence, the very apt title of a recently published anthology of young female catholic voices titled "From The Pews In The Back.") The lack of female representation in positions of spiritual authority, the lack of using feminine pronouns during worship services for identifying the divine, and the lack of relevance to their female experience of life had forced these young women to want to leave.... and to long for more. But what? And where?

This is the great need from which REVEAL was formed. REVEAL is a spiritual home for women who have had one foot outside her place of worship. REVEAL honors and wants to amplify the spiritual voice of embodied women to begin to fill in the chasm of silence women's spiritual experience of the divine has had to endure. REVEAL is for the spiritually feral woman ready to claim and to know the true power of her own soul.

Check out the REVEAL website, www.revealconference.org, for updated presenter bios and advisory board members! Our web designer, Johanna Goldfeld, translated the spirit of REVEAL into a visually exquisite site. Her organized and thoughtful approach is just one aspect of her style that makes working with her an absolute joy. Also, you can find REVEAL now on Facebook!

Here are some appetizing quotes from two ofREVEAL's upcoming presenters at our premier conference on Saturday May 8th at Union Theological Seminary in NYC:

SERA BEAK

Sera Beak is a world-traveled Harvard trained scholar of comparative religion, the author of The Red Book: A Deliciously Unorthodox Guide to Igniting Your Divine Spark and the forthcoming Redvolution: Dare to Disturb the Universe. She gives lectures and leads workshops and rituals on women's spiritual empowerment, and is currently working on a feature length film titled "Redvolution," about the modern face of the red feminine divine.


"...turning red is a spirituality-infused approach to knowing the divine, with a blushingly bold mystical tint."

(From www.serabeak.com)

"A Redvolutionary is someone who...affects change by daring to be herself, forging a unique path, and serving her planet authentically through "ecstatic actvism". She's a kind of "spiritual superheroine," rebelling against dogma and ideology in order to experience a direct and intimate relationship with the divine. She has a fearless commitment to truth and freedom, healing and empowerment ...for all."

(From www.spiritualcowgirl.com)


GABRIELLE BERNSTEIN

Recently featured in the New York Times Sunday Styles section as the next generation guru, motivational speaker, life coach and author Gabrielle Bernstein is making her mark. Expanding the lexicon for the next generation, on January 2010, Gabrielle launches her first book Add More ~ing to Your Life - A hip guide to happiness published by QNY.
In 2007, she launched the brand Falling in Love with Your Future: A Young Woman's Guide to Passion and Happiness, which takes the form of books, life coaching, lectures and more. An integral part of the program is the emphasis on guidance and mentors. Gabrielle recently launched her social networking site www.HerFuture.com for young women to find mentors.
Gabrielle Bernstein Quotations:

"My mission in this lifetime is to help guide my generation to shift their search for happiness from the outside to the inside."

"Creating change rules when you're willing to show up for the party that is you."

(From www.addmoreing.com)

My mother first tipped me off about Jimmy Carter's righteously feminist stance toward women and religion. And as one of Nelson Mandela's (AWE-INSPIRING) Elders, he is shouting out about injustices done to women in the name of religion and asking that religions do more to stop these injustices and to give women the divinely ordained place as equals in all faith traditions. Click here to read a New York Times article, which explains why Jimmy Carter has reached rock-star status with REVEAL



Marianne Williamson is another spiritual rock-star among REVEAL-ers. She has a GIANT conference coming up this February in LA titled SISTER GIANT: Rousing the Sleeping Giant of American Womanhood. The following description and more information about SISTER GIANT can be found at her website www.marianne.com:

"This seminar/conference speaks to the role of women at this pivotal moment in history. It's a critically important time to transition from disastrous probabilities to fantastic possibilities, and women can lead the way. If you are a woman who feels a prompting in your heart that goes something like this: "Okay, it's time. I might not be perfect, but I'm good enough. And I'm ready," then this invitation is for you."

Irshad Manji, author of "The Trouble With Islam Today: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith," and Director of NYU's Moral Courage Project, introduced me to Dana Gallagher. Dana is now one of REVEAL's revelatory interns. Dana describes herself as "a New York-based writer, web content developer, gender equality advocate, and flavored lip gloss connoisseur." Irshad has posted Dana's "Ten New Commandments" on her blog. Click below to read a fresh, feminine, and inspirational take on the OLD TEN


To read more about REVEAL and Meggan Watterson:
New York Times Sunday Styles section

Sister Fund H.O.T Stories, Faith & Feminism


With gratitude and a smile,
Meggan Watterson
REVEAL, Executive Director