On-Demand · Gloria Anzaldúa and Spiritual Activism for the Broken-Hearted with Dr. AnaLouise Keating
Four session class via streaming video links + meditation audio file
Admission: $99 Paid Patreon Members / $125 General Admission
Please note: Orders fulfilled weekly on Wednesdays
With the imperative to “speak” esta herida abierta (this open wound) before it drowns out all voices, the feelings I’d buried begin unfurling. Vulnerable once more, I’m clawed by the talons of grief. I take my sorrow for a walk along the bay near my home in Santa Cruz. With the surf pounding in my ears and the wind’s forlorn howl, it feels like even the sea is grieving. I struggle to talk from the wound’s gash, make sense of the deaths and destruction, and pull the pieces of my life back together. I yearn to pass on to the next generation the spiritual activism I’ve inherited from my cultures. –Gloria Anzaldúa, Light in the Dark/Luz en lo oscuro
How do we maintain hope in challenging times? How do we cultivate resilience when our hearts (and spirits) are breaking? How do we move forward in the face of despair? Focusing on spiritual activism, this course explores these and related questions.
What is spiritual activism? Designed to effect radical, innovative individual and collective change, spiritual activism represents a deeply embodied, radically holistic 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.
Course Information: This course is inspired by and grounded in the theory and praxis of spiritual activism developed and enacted by Gloria Anzaldúa, Chicana-tejana poet-philosopher, artist, and author. Although Anzaldúa did not coin the term “spiritual activism,” she developed an innovative, experientially-based approach that emerged directly from the most painful experiences of her life (e.g., debilitating health challenges, poverty, racism/sexism/homophobia, linguistic terrorism, and much more). Rather than downplay these negative experiences or deny their impact, Anzaldúa transformed them into a politics of spirit with actionable strategies to create a more equitable world for all. We look especially at Anzaldúa’s use of shamanic practices and esoteric wisdom traditions (including, but not limited to, alchemy, astrology, Sabian symbols, I Ching, Tarot, imaginal journeying, etc.) to cultivate resilience, build community, and in other ways transform hardship into wisdom and joy. This deep dive into Anzaldúa’s spiritual activism and transformational practices invites participants to create their own unique forms of spiritual activism and gives them the tools with which to do so.
The course consists of four lectures (which combine lecture with self-reflection practices) and one additional short meditation.
Lesson One: Offers an overview of the course, a preliminary definition of spiritual activism, as well as a brief discussion of spiritual activism’s roots and several foundational principles.
Lesson Two: Examines Gloria Anzaldúa’s life, both the public version and a more private, inner (occult) version. This session focuses especially on the traumas and hardships she experienced because these events contributed greatly to her theory of spiritual activism.
Lesson Three: Includes a quick overview of spiritual activism’s foundational principle, followed by four spiritual activist tenets and several spiritual activist technologies, looking especially at how they played themselves out in Anzaldúa’s life. Because Anzaldúa incorporated astrology into her spiritual activism from the 1970s until her death, we focus primarily on astrology’s impact on her spiritual activism.
Lesson Four: Frames spiritual activism within a relational worldview and ontology, and then uses this framework to investigate additional technologies that spiritual activists can employ as we work to change ourselves and our worlds. As in previous lessons, we follow Anzaldúa’s practice, focusing especially on her explorations of magic.
AnaLouise Keating is a professor in the department of laguage, literature, and gender studies at Texas Woman's University, teaching courses on Womanist Spiritual Activism, Gloria Anzaldúa, and related topics. Keating is the author, editor, or-co-editor of twelve books, most recently: The Anzaldúan Theory Handbook and Transformation Now! Toward a Post-Oppositional Politics of Change. Driven by the desire to bring esoteric/occult and Indigenous wisdom traditions into progressive social change and academic spaces, Keating's work focuses on Transformation Studies (Womanist Spiritual Activism, Post-Oppositionality, Invitational Pedagogies, and U.S. Women-of-Colors Theories), with a special emphasis on Gloria Anzaldúa, with whom Keating has worked since the early 1990s. Keating also teaches Yin Yoga and edits a book series, Transformations: Womanist, Feminist, & Indigenous Studies, at the University of Illinois Press. You can learn more about AnaLouise at analouisekeating.com
Four session class via streaming video links + meditation audio file
Admission: $99 Paid Patreon Members / $125 General Admission
Please note: Orders fulfilled weekly on Wednesdays
With the imperative to “speak” esta herida abierta (this open wound) before it drowns out all voices, the feelings I’d buried begin unfurling. Vulnerable once more, I’m clawed by the talons of grief. I take my sorrow for a walk along the bay near my home in Santa Cruz. With the surf pounding in my ears and the wind’s forlorn howl, it feels like even the sea is grieving. I struggle to talk from the wound’s gash, make sense of the deaths and destruction, and pull the pieces of my life back together. I yearn to pass on to the next generation the spiritual activism I’ve inherited from my cultures. –Gloria Anzaldúa, Light in the Dark/Luz en lo oscuro
How do we maintain hope in challenging times? How do we cultivate resilience when our hearts (and spirits) are breaking? How do we move forward in the face of despair? Focusing on spiritual activism, this course explores these and related questions.
What is spiritual activism? Designed to effect radical, innovative individual and collective change, spiritual activism represents a deeply embodied, radically holistic 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.
Course Information: This course is inspired by and grounded in the theory and praxis of spiritual activism developed and enacted by Gloria Anzaldúa, Chicana-tejana poet-philosopher, artist, and author. Although Anzaldúa did not coin the term “spiritual activism,” she developed an innovative, experientially-based approach that emerged directly from the most painful experiences of her life (e.g., debilitating health challenges, poverty, racism/sexism/homophobia, linguistic terrorism, and much more). Rather than downplay these negative experiences or deny their impact, Anzaldúa transformed them into a politics of spirit with actionable strategies to create a more equitable world for all. We look especially at Anzaldúa’s use of shamanic practices and esoteric wisdom traditions (including, but not limited to, alchemy, astrology, Sabian symbols, I Ching, Tarot, imaginal journeying, etc.) to cultivate resilience, build community, and in other ways transform hardship into wisdom and joy. This deep dive into Anzaldúa’s spiritual activism and transformational practices invites participants to create their own unique forms of spiritual activism and gives them the tools with which to do so.
The course consists of four lectures (which combine lecture with self-reflection practices) and one additional short meditation.
Lesson One: Offers an overview of the course, a preliminary definition of spiritual activism, as well as a brief discussion of spiritual activism’s roots and several foundational principles.
Lesson Two: Examines Gloria Anzaldúa’s life, both the public version and a more private, inner (occult) version. This session focuses especially on the traumas and hardships she experienced because these events contributed greatly to her theory of spiritual activism.
Lesson Three: Includes a quick overview of spiritual activism’s foundational principle, followed by four spiritual activist tenets and several spiritual activist technologies, looking especially at how they played themselves out in Anzaldúa’s life. Because Anzaldúa incorporated astrology into her spiritual activism from the 1970s until her death, we focus primarily on astrology’s impact on her spiritual activism.
Lesson Four: Frames spiritual activism within a relational worldview and ontology, and then uses this framework to investigate additional technologies that spiritual activists can employ as we work to change ourselves and our worlds. As in previous lessons, we follow Anzaldúa’s practice, focusing especially on her explorations of magic.
AnaLouise Keating is a professor in the department of laguage, literature, and gender studies at Texas Woman's University, teaching courses on Womanist Spiritual Activism, Gloria Anzaldúa, and related topics. Keating is the author, editor, or-co-editor of twelve books, most recently: The Anzaldúan Theory Handbook and Transformation Now! Toward a Post-Oppositional Politics of Change. Driven by the desire to bring esoteric/occult and Indigenous wisdom traditions into progressive social change and academic spaces, Keating's work focuses on Transformation Studies (Womanist Spiritual Activism, Post-Oppositionality, Invitational Pedagogies, and U.S. Women-of-Colors Theories), with a special emphasis on Gloria Anzaldúa, with whom Keating has worked since the early 1990s. Keating also teaches Yin Yoga and edits a book series, Transformations: Womanist, Feminist, & Indigenous Studies, at the University of Illinois Press. You can learn more about AnaLouise at analouisekeating.com
Four session class via streaming video links + meditation audio file
Admission: $99 Paid Patreon Members / $125 General Admission
Please note: Orders fulfilled weekly on Wednesdays
With the imperative to “speak” esta herida abierta (this open wound) before it drowns out all voices, the feelings I’d buried begin unfurling. Vulnerable once more, I’m clawed by the talons of grief. I take my sorrow for a walk along the bay near my home in Santa Cruz. With the surf pounding in my ears and the wind’s forlorn howl, it feels like even the sea is grieving. I struggle to talk from the wound’s gash, make sense of the deaths and destruction, and pull the pieces of my life back together. I yearn to pass on to the next generation the spiritual activism I’ve inherited from my cultures. –Gloria Anzaldúa, Light in the Dark/Luz en lo oscuro
How do we maintain hope in challenging times? How do we cultivate resilience when our hearts (and spirits) are breaking? How do we move forward in the face of despair? Focusing on spiritual activism, this course explores these and related questions.
What is spiritual activism? Designed to effect radical, innovative individual and collective change, spiritual activism represents a deeply embodied, radically holistic 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.
Course Information: This course is inspired by and grounded in the theory and praxis of spiritual activism developed and enacted by Gloria Anzaldúa, Chicana-tejana poet-philosopher, artist, and author. Although Anzaldúa did not coin the term “spiritual activism,” she developed an innovative, experientially-based approach that emerged directly from the most painful experiences of her life (e.g., debilitating health challenges, poverty, racism/sexism/homophobia, linguistic terrorism, and much more). Rather than downplay these negative experiences or deny their impact, Anzaldúa transformed them into a politics of spirit with actionable strategies to create a more equitable world for all. We look especially at Anzaldúa’s use of shamanic practices and esoteric wisdom traditions (including, but not limited to, alchemy, astrology, Sabian symbols, I Ching, Tarot, imaginal journeying, etc.) to cultivate resilience, build community, and in other ways transform hardship into wisdom and joy. This deep dive into Anzaldúa’s spiritual activism and transformational practices invites participants to create their own unique forms of spiritual activism and gives them the tools with which to do so.
The course consists of four lectures (which combine lecture with self-reflection practices) and one additional short meditation.
Lesson One: Offers an overview of the course, a preliminary definition of spiritual activism, as well as a brief discussion of spiritual activism’s roots and several foundational principles.
Lesson Two: Examines Gloria Anzaldúa’s life, both the public version and a more private, inner (occult) version. This session focuses especially on the traumas and hardships she experienced because these events contributed greatly to her theory of spiritual activism.
Lesson Three: Includes a quick overview of spiritual activism’s foundational principle, followed by four spiritual activist tenets and several spiritual activist technologies, looking especially at how they played themselves out in Anzaldúa’s life. Because Anzaldúa incorporated astrology into her spiritual activism from the 1970s until her death, we focus primarily on astrology’s impact on her spiritual activism.
Lesson Four: Frames spiritual activism within a relational worldview and ontology, and then uses this framework to investigate additional technologies that spiritual activists can employ as we work to change ourselves and our worlds. As in previous lessons, we follow Anzaldúa’s practice, focusing especially on her explorations of magic.
AnaLouise Keating is a professor in the department of laguage, literature, and gender studies at Texas Woman's University, teaching courses on Womanist Spiritual Activism, Gloria Anzaldúa, and related topics. Keating is the author, editor, or-co-editor of twelve books, most recently: The Anzaldúan Theory Handbook and Transformation Now! Toward a Post-Oppositional Politics of Change. Driven by the desire to bring esoteric/occult and Indigenous wisdom traditions into progressive social change and academic spaces, Keating's work focuses on Transformation Studies (Womanist Spiritual Activism, Post-Oppositionality, Invitational Pedagogies, and U.S. Women-of-Colors Theories), with a special emphasis on Gloria Anzaldúa, with whom Keating has worked since the early 1990s. Keating also teaches Yin Yoga and edits a book series, Transformations: Womanist, Feminist, & Indigenous Studies, at the University of Illinois Press. You can learn more about AnaLouise at analouisekeating.com