Five Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom
Wednesdays, September 2 - 30, 2026
7:00 - 8:30pm ET (NYC Time)
$145 Paid Patreon Members / $165 General Admission
PLEASE NOTE: Classes will be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time
The Catholic and Protestant religions encourage fear and distrust of life and of the body; they encourage a split between the body and the spirit and totally ignore the soul; they encourage us to kill off parts of ourselves. We are taught that the body is an ignorant animal; intelligence dwells only in the head. But the body is smart. It does not discern between external stimuli and stimuli from the imagination. It reacts equally viscerally to events from the imagination as it does to ‘real’ events.— Gloria E. Anzaldúa
All too often, religious authorities, governments, social media, advertising, the medical profession, and pharmaceuticals trick us into distrusting (or hating) our physical bodies; they encourage us to rely primarily (if not exclusively) on outer sources of information. But our bodies are smart and our imaginations are mighty, or so says Gloria Anzaldúa, the Chicana-tejana poet-philosopher, artist, and author. Anzaldúa asserts that we should slow down and turn our attention inward; that we should strip away those externally imposed messages, listen to our body’s wisdom, activate our imagination, and access our embodied wisdom, using our insights to transform ourselves and our world.
But how do we tap into our bodies’ wisdom? And what roles can imagination and art play in this process? Inspired by the spiritual activist teachings and practices of Gloria Anzaldúa, this experimental course explores these and related questions. Anzaldúa utilized a variety of spiritual and esoteric technologies to activate her body’s wisdom, including breath work, visualization, Tarot, pendulums, journaling, astrology, subtle energies, doodling, imaginal journeying, yoga, and more. We will draw from—and build on—these techniques as we deepen our understanding of the many forms embodied wisdom can take.
Each session will combins lecture, practice, and application with ample time for discussion. Participants will obtain an increased understanding of embodied knowledge and spiritual activism, as well as an array of practical tools they can use to cultivate their embodied wisdom and harness their insights for creativity and social change. Optional readings and homework assignments will be provided for each class.
Spiritual activism represents a fully embodied, radically relational worldview and practice. Unlike organized religions—which are outwardly directed; rely on external rules, doctrines, and authorities; and often reinforce a monolithic, transcendent "Truth"—spiritual activism thrives on multiplicity, has its source partially within each individual, and anchors truth deeply within the physical world. And, unlike conspirituality or other commercialized forms of spirituality—which focus primarily on the isolated individual and encourage spiritual bypassing and other forms of escape from contemporary social issues—spiritual activism insists on each individual's radical interconnectedness with all existence and uses this interconnectivity to enact social justice.
Images: Johann Theodor de Bry for Robert Fludd, “Integrae Naturae Speculum, Artisque Imago,” from Utriusque Cosmi Maioris et Minoris, ca. 1617’; Tezcatlipoca.
AnaLouise Keating, Ph.D., YTT-500 is Cornaro Professor of Multicultural Women's & Gender Studies at Texas Woman's University. Author, editor, or co-editor of twelve books, most recently The Anzaldúan Theory Handbook, Keating aspires to bring esoteric/occult and Indigenous wisdom traditions into progressive social change and academic spaces.
Five Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom
Wednesdays, September 2 - 30, 2026
7:00 - 8:30pm ET (NYC Time)
$145 Paid Patreon Members / $165 General Admission
PLEASE NOTE: Classes will be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time
The Catholic and Protestant religions encourage fear and distrust of life and of the body; they encourage a split between the body and the spirit and totally ignore the soul; they encourage us to kill off parts of ourselves. We are taught that the body is an ignorant animal; intelligence dwells only in the head. But the body is smart. It does not discern between external stimuli and stimuli from the imagination. It reacts equally viscerally to events from the imagination as it does to ‘real’ events.— Gloria E. Anzaldúa
All too often, religious authorities, governments, social media, advertising, the medical profession, and pharmaceuticals trick us into distrusting (or hating) our physical bodies; they encourage us to rely primarily (if not exclusively) on outer sources of information. But our bodies are smart and our imaginations are mighty, or so says Gloria Anzaldúa, the Chicana-tejana poet-philosopher, artist, and author. Anzaldúa asserts that we should slow down and turn our attention inward; that we should strip away those externally imposed messages, listen to our body’s wisdom, activate our imagination, and access our embodied wisdom, using our insights to transform ourselves and our world.
But how do we tap into our bodies’ wisdom? And what roles can imagination and art play in this process? Inspired by the spiritual activist teachings and practices of Gloria Anzaldúa, this experimental course explores these and related questions. Anzaldúa utilized a variety of spiritual and esoteric technologies to activate her body’s wisdom, including breath work, visualization, Tarot, pendulums, journaling, astrology, subtle energies, doodling, imaginal journeying, yoga, and more. We will draw from—and build on—these techniques as we deepen our understanding of the many forms embodied wisdom can take.
Each session will combins lecture, practice, and application with ample time for discussion. Participants will obtain an increased understanding of embodied knowledge and spiritual activism, as well as an array of practical tools they can use to cultivate their embodied wisdom and harness their insights for creativity and social change. Optional readings and homework assignments will be provided for each class.
Spiritual activism represents a fully embodied, radically relational worldview and practice. Unlike organized religions—which are outwardly directed; rely on external rules, doctrines, and authorities; and often reinforce a monolithic, transcendent "Truth"—spiritual activism thrives on multiplicity, has its source partially within each individual, and anchors truth deeply within the physical world. And, unlike conspirituality or other commercialized forms of spirituality—which focus primarily on the isolated individual and encourage spiritual bypassing and other forms of escape from contemporary social issues—spiritual activism insists on each individual's radical interconnectedness with all existence and uses this interconnectivity to enact social justice.
Images: Johann Theodor de Bry for Robert Fludd, “Integrae Naturae Speculum, Artisque Imago,” from Utriusque Cosmi Maioris et Minoris, ca. 1617’; Tezcatlipoca.
AnaLouise Keating, Ph.D., YTT-500 is Cornaro Professor of Multicultural Women's & Gender Studies at Texas Woman's University. Author, editor, or co-editor of twelve books, most recently The Anzaldúan Theory Handbook, Keating aspires to bring esoteric/occult and Indigenous wisdom traditions into progressive social change and academic spaces.
