
Thanks to a lovely synchronicity via the blog-o-sphere, I attended a gathering this past weekend, Friday into Sunday, on the topic of an emerging InterSpirituality.
First the sweet magic last week of connecting with a fellow blogger and woman of spirit, Joanne Corey, and we realized that we were both located in the same geographic area.
Joanne shared word with me about the InterSpirituality conference, which was coming right up, and we were able to meet in person, meet up with others of kindred interest about such things, take in the richness shared at the gathering, and open a local conversation that started in cyberspace. How cool is that?
(Joanne wrote a really insightful blog post on the gathering, too — see below for the link to that post.)
So what is InterSpirituality?
Exactly what you might think, and likely a whole lot more. Plus, it’s an emerging conversation, and as such will evolve and grow in richness, connection, and understanding.

John Knouse, May 2005, WikiMedia.
Ultimately, it’s about building bridges based on what’s shared, on commonalities that exist between people and ‘positions’ or worldviews that otherwise, in a locked-in dominant worldview, seem separate and too often become the basis for fighting with each other or for unspeakable cruelties.
(In an InterSpiritual perspective, that’d be called 1st Tier thinking or a sort of rigid-little-boxes reality — more on those in an upcoming post).
One of the areas I’ve long been intensely passionate about, both intellectually and based on my own transformative experiences, is just what sorts of values and even practices most traditions, ancient and contemporary, share in common; and what experiences — individually and then in groups — help to effect transformation and build these bridges across these various chasms of rigid and often oppositional difference.
But in the context of this recent gathering, the primary guest and speaker, Kurt Johnson, a man who’s been both Christian monk and evolutionary biologist (among other adventures), shared his work in this area of emerging InterSpirituality — an area of passion for him to the degree that he’s written a book on it specifically to introduce it more broadly at this particular time.

So much was shared and taken in, both in the formal lectures and conversations, and also in the one-on-one and small group conversations that took place during breaks and over lunch and after the formal programs.
I’ve got a bunch of notes and my beanie is buzzin’ (that’s me-speak for a lot of ideas and insights and neurons sparking!). The conference topics overlapped a lot with my previous work and interests, and also lit new sparks, as such things do, in what’s possible moving forward.
So I’ll be sharing bits and pieces that really stood out for me, as well as some questions that got sparked and things I and others noted were not as present in the conversation as they might have been — including Feminine and feminine (!) voices and perspectives. (Though it’s always wild, if you look and listen and sense closely, you do always see the Feminine there, even if not formally acknowledged or introduced!).
But for now, here’s an interview and conversation with Kurt Johnson sharing his perspective on this whole notion and possibility of InterSpirituality:
You’ll find more online, including Kurt’s site for his book and various interviews on youtube and podcast.
And as promised, here’s Joanne’s blog musing after attending two of the three days of the conference — she shares some nice insights and a few questions or observations that came up for her as well.
Meanwhile, all of this new information and energetic-psychic infusion is percolating away with what’s already in the cauldron.
I’ll be sharing more gems with you, since it’s so related to what I and so many of us have already been exploring, living into, writing about, and reflecting on. And as always, there are lots of the other Via Feminina, ancestral wisdom, empath-sensitive and other ‘usual-suspect’ topics on the writing roster.
More soon, and wishing you very well in the meanwhile.
Big Love,
April 28, 2015 at 5:37 pm
It’s always such a wonderful thing to discover someone else local who shares this level of awareness. More and more people keep coming out of the woodwork (and the grass and the trees) as this awakening and reconnecting continues. Thanks for sharing your experiences! Love, Laura
April 28, 2015 at 8:00 pm
It definitely is that, Laura. I’m thinking of the recent blog post you shared about the Joanna Macy work and the local gathering where you are. I think you and I may share some relocation story – you’d written about relocating for family-related reasons from where you were (Northern California?) to a place with a very different culture; the same here with me, returning after many years in San Francisco to upstate NY (which means south-central, southeastern NY … it’s all about NYC here!).
So yeah, a rare and lovely surprise to connect with others in this way. Often it’s more solitary work (as far as people go) … but always connecting with the spirits of place. 🙂
Thanks for visiting. Love, Jamie
April 29, 2015 at 11:59 am
Ah, yes, we are paralleling, then! I knew it was time to leave Northern California and the West Coast in general, but I do miss those views, restaurants I can actually eat in, and people with a baseline understanding of what I’m talking about! I had a little cosmic hissy fit back in March, telling the faeries and the spirits of the Land that if they wanted me to stay here, then things were gonna change. I’ll post about it soon, but long story short, things have shifted big time, to the point where even other people are marveling at how certain things have come to pass. My friend wants me to make T-shirts of my comment to him: “When I stamp my foot in a magical way, things happen!” LOL, but true. Happy for the connections here and online … Love, Laura
April 29, 2015 at 12:38 pm
Very similar indeed, Laura. I’d gotten intuitive nudges that it’d come time to leave SF a bit before and couldn’t imagine it (nor did I want to), and yet Life unfolded in just that way (as it does). I look forward to hearing the magical foot-stomping story! I had similar conversations with the spirits of place, the Holy Divine, my ancestors and whomever else was listening. 🙂 It does seem the occasional ‘cosmic hissy fit’ is just what’s needed to get the energy moving. Sometimes we’re just meant to stay put and deal with seeming fallow time, so it’s even more wondrous then when the synchronicities and magic starts unfurling itself! Thanks for sharing (and looking forward to the story!). xoxo Love, Jamie
April 28, 2015 at 5:44 pm
Hi Jamie,
I can feel your excitement through my screen! I am so happy for you. Meeting a blogger who lives near me and connecting face to face is one of the magical manifestations of expressing oneself publicly.
I am curious to learn more. I also think that you and I have done some common work research, etc.
Maybe we ought to consider talking about this at some point 🙂
love, LInda
April 28, 2015 at 7:55 pm
I know, Linda, we keep saying that. Lots of crossovers and shared interests. Time to take the conversation into deeper waters. 🙂 I’ll email. Love, Jamie
April 28, 2015 at 8:36 pm
🙂
April 28, 2015 at 5:48 pm
Thanks for the shout-out, Jamie. I am still marveling at how we managed to meet – both in the blogosphere and in person!
I knew you would manage to write an initial post that would convey content as well as reactions. Now I can edit your link into my post! 🙂 I look forward to your additional insights as they finish perking.
April 28, 2015 at 7:54 pm
My pleasure, Joanne. I’m still marveling as well … I really enjoy the synchronicity of it all. A bit of Divine fun. On the Interspiritual post, or intro really, you know well just how many parts of it one could highlight or riff from, etc. So I’ll see what rises to the top of my stew-pot. Perhaps you’ll be moved to share on some aspect of it, too. Or not. 🙂 (Fresh in from a walk along the river … lovely!).
April 28, 2015 at 8:10 pm
I’m sure the walk was lovely. Wish I had been there! Who knows when something else on interspirituality will make it out onto my blog? The way things have been going with me it may be six months from now…
April 28, 2015 at 8:11 pm
🙂 It may well be that way with mine as well! The Muse is ultimately in control of what bubbles forth.
April 29, 2015 at 1:40 am
How cool is that Jamie! So exciting and so inspiring! 😀
I am a tad bit jealous though…with me not having such connections and opportunities in my midst 🙁 Ok…out with the pout… 😉
But I sure am truly happy for you! And I’m looking forward to hearing more and reading what I know will be, as always, most insightful! 🙂
Thank you for sharing Jamie — the excitement and all! Blessed be.
😀 :star: <3 :star: 😀
NadineMarie
April 29, 2015 at 2:04 am
Oh, I just visited Kurt’s site. His book sure looks like a brilliant follow-up to the classic The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions by Wayne Teasdale that I read quite a while back. Lovely! 🙂
April 29, 2015 at 11:49 am
If you’ve read Teasdale, et al, you’ll have a good sense of the perspective Kurt is sharing about Interspirituality. Maybe it’s that same sense of things having existed, but more hidden, and now the timing may be right to have them move into greater visibility? xoxo Love, Jamie
May 1, 2015 at 3:57 am
Absolutely Jamie! It’s about time. And despite the challenges accompanying these shifts and transitions, I am still grateful to be part of all the changes! Have been glued to Kurt’s book — it’s keeping me from blogging and delaying my responses to comments such as yours! 😉 Thanks again Jamie & much Love to you too!
Blessed be. 😀 :star: <3 :star: 😀
May 1, 2015 at 12:08 pm
Hey there, Nadine Marie. You’ll have to share which shiny-insights really leap out at you (from Kurt’s book, etc.). And as you said, “despite the challenges accompanying these shifts and transitions, I am still grateful to be part of all the changes!” That sums it up beautifully! xoxo Love, Jamie
April 29, 2015 at 11:48 am
Thanks, Nadine-Marie. And I can understand – those connections have been very rare here where I am as well (much more frequent when I was in San Francisco or within a stone’s throw of NYC). Sometimes the threads that connect us kindreds are more hidden in certain places, and sometimes they’re more connected via the web because we’re strewn all about our beautiful planet (like acupuncture needles!). xoxo Love, Jamie
May 1, 2015 at 4:15 am
I so know— intellectually at least — that we are scattered all over the planet for various reasons. A common purpose though is that where we are is where our Light is most needed. I know you also already know that. That’s more a reminder for myself. Yet, I still, every so often though, and as you also already may very well be aware of, long for those connections in my midst. But then again, I remind myself that the web is such a treasured gift in my possession. I ought to be thankful for it instead of wishing for another gift that is in someone else’s hands. The grass is just as green where I’m at! 😉
I like that vision of acupuncture needles! So apt! For optimal well-being, the needles are distributed and inserted in various points in the body! Light cannot be concentrated in only one area. Sigh….
Having said that, San Francisco though & the Bay Area will certainly always have a special space in my <3!
Much Love to you too Jamie. Blessed be. <3 <3 <3
May 1, 2015 at 12:12 pm
Well, Nadine Marie, I, too, share that love-of-place for San Francisco, and did feel such a deep and ancient connection with the spirits of place there. So both of us were called back to our ‘home regions’ if you will … and I know that’s the case for quite a few others, which is really interesting now that I think of it.
You definitely ‘get’ the acupuncture reference! It came to me awhile ago, given as a metaphor to understand this very thing, and it makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?
Thankfully the wonder of the internet and technology in this case allows us to connect with our kindred spirits even though we may be strewn about this beautiful Earth, where She needs us most at this time. We’ll all have to get together for a big celebration-reunion (preferably while we’re still incarnated!) sometime. 🙂
Love,
Jamie
April 29, 2015 at 6:06 am
I just recently finished a painting of a similar blue butterfly as well as being led to use the word cauldron in a recent post. I love synchronistic moments.
April 29, 2015 at 11:51 am
Thank you, Maddie. It’s always so lovely to see those synchronicities reflected back, isn’t it? You’ll have to let us know if you share more about your blue butterfly painting via your blog. With ‘cauldron’, it just seems a very Feminine word and metaphor (and actuality), as well as something that was prominent in many ancestral wisdom traditions, like the Celtic. Thanks for visiting. Love, Jamie
April 29, 2015 at 7:30 pm
Hi Jamie I thought you’d like to know that I’ve just been to Salisbury Cathedral and met with the dark madonna there! Here is a post I’ve just put up, quoting your good self:
http://anne-whitaker.com/2015/04/29/in-praise-of-sacred-spaces-salisbury-cathedral-uk/
Thanks also for this post on Interspirituality: what you say echoes my own beliefs and position. We need a synthesis of routes to the Divine which reflect our contemporary world/universe, and what we now know of the vast cosmos in which we live, move and have our being. In my most optimistic moments I look on the increasing chaos of our time, and hope that from it will emerge some dancing stars to guide us with their light through the current ‘dark night’ phase…
April 29, 2015 at 7:41 pm
Greetings, Anne. I’m excited to see your latest post on the Salisbury Cathedral (I just saw the subject line in my email queue and was eager to see it even before seeing your post here!).
And thank you for sharing the beautifully phrased and very apt insights about the Interspirituality ‘strange attractor’ (to use a cosmic and Natural Systems term!). I really appreciate what you wrote here, and it can well be the ‘gathering thread’ that creates order from (or amidst) the chaos. I continue to reflect on it, and share what comes through, as I know so many of us are! Now, on to your Sacred Space and Salisbury Cathedral post. 🙂 Blessings, Jamie
April 28, 2015 at 7:51 pm
Thanks for reblogging/sharing the post, Joanne. It’s the mini-nutshell definition of Interspiritual. :).
April 28, 2015 at 8:07 pm
I’m sure my readers will appreciate it!