Toward The Light

TOWARD THE LIGHT
~ Sunday, 14 December 2008 ~

Marilyn C. Strong has a B.A. in Religion and Adult Education through Antioch University West and an M.A. in Spirituality and Culture from Matthew Fox’s Institute for Culture and Creation Spirituality.

Marilyn has worked in the areas of educational design and development and in the areas of group facilitation, ritual, music, and celebration. She was on staff at the Chinook Learning Center on Whidbey Island as Director of Education for seven years, facilitating their non-residential, nine-month Core Studies Program and their residential program, Spirit and Culture. Scholars in residence included Thomas Berry, Brian Swimme, Brother David Steindl-Rast, David Spangler, ritualist Elizabeth Cogburn and singer Susan Osborn.

Marilyn then went on to co-create and co-facilitate with Renie Hope, the Gaia Spirit Rising Program, a nine-month long women’s spiritual growth program that ran for eight years. Guest presenters in the program over the years included China Galland, Merlin Stone, Christine Downing, Demetra George, Luisah Teish, Dorothy Fadiman, and Denise Lynn.

She also created and co-facilitated with Jerry Wennstrom the six-month program, Thresholds: Exploring Passageways to the Soul through Dreamwork, Ritual and the Creative Process. Guest presenters in this program included Marion Woodman, Christina Baldwin, David Whyte and John O’Donohue.

Recently, Marilyn toured the country with Jerry, working more in-depth with the material of Jerry's book and video and co-leading workshops together. She also facilitates group and private ritual, is a Jungian-oriented spiritual counsellor, an ordained minister, and a ceremonialist with a keen interest in depth psychology, dream analysis, Alchemy, and the healing process that comes through making ritual art. Marilyn facilitates weddings and memorial ceremonies, and her work has also taken her into the area of death and dying, supporting friends in the dying process with both voice and ritual. For many years she was an annual guest presenter at the Women of Wisdom Conferences in Seattle.

Marilyn has also released a CD of her chants, songs, and drumming, Songs for Sophia, which is available upon request. Her singing can be heard in the sound track of the film, In the Hands of Alchemy. She brings depth of understanding, chanting and excellent ritual creation to any event.

I recently returned from a gathering at Mountain Home Ranch Resort, located in the hills of wine country between Napa and Sonoma Valleys in northern California. The focus of this gathering was a training called 'Honoring Life’s Final Passage with Love and Compassion: Death Midwifery Level III'. It was taught by Jerrigrace Lyons, Founder and Director of Final Passages, an educational non-profit program founded in 1995 and dedicated to dignified and compassionate alternatives to current funeral practices. For eleven years she has offered her services to the community and beyond, helping over 250 families plan and create their own home funerals. She also teaches workshops, consults and sells informative guides and pamphlets. Thirty-five of us from six different states gathered at a most appropriate time of year for this training - early November, during what the Mexicans call 'Los Dias de Muertos' or 'Days of the Dead', Mexico’s traditional holiday honoring departed ancestors, friends and family. This is a time in the wheel of the year when the “veil between the worlds is thin”, and it felt to be an auspicious time to further my training in Death Midwifery!  Read more...

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