What is an underlying question that gives form
to your work or interest in this field?
How might we individually and collectively be present
to emergent truth while contributing towards developing consciousness?
What is your personal experience of
collective wisdom in groups?
It was in 1991, I think, that I
was invited to Grafton, by Peter Senge, Sheryl Erickson et. al, to experience
dialogue. There were twenty plus from different parts of the world there.
We spent about four days tasting and directly experiencing the powerful
field of collective consciousness. I touched the mystery not for the
first time, but I do think for the first time, collectively. It stirred
something deep and old in my soul.
Since then, I studied dialogue, initiated and participated
in many many circles. I knew that simply studying was not enough. My
husband Ken Murphy and I initiated several diverse circles in California
in our home. We initiated ‘Maypole’, a circle of practitioners
including Anne Dosher, Alan Gauthier, Joan Kenally, Juanita Brown, David
Isaacs, Andrea Dyer, Stephanie Ryan, Craig Fleck, Kristin Cobble, Roger
and Margaret Harrison, Mitch and Cindy Saunders, Ronita Johnson and
others. We deepened our experience of circles and collective wisdom.
I wondered what it might be like to be in a circle with just women.
Found that another woman, Sherrin Bennet had the same question. I was
invited into the International Women’s Dialogue stream and attended
as well as joined the design teams for several over the years. I initiated
several Marin Women’s dialogues as well as partnered with Jody
Isaacs to create one on the east Coast.
My own direct experience of the value individually and
collectively of being in circle led me to a longing for my own circle.
Stephanie Ryan, a dear friend and I
invited eight other women to join us in creating a life long circle.
In the spring of 2007, our Chakra circle will celebrate a decade together.
This longing to share led to the creation of a video about our circle,
intended to inspire other women to create or return to their own circles.
We are about to convert the video to a DVD. This effort has been a not
for profit venture, and information is available at http://becoming-womenscircles.com/
The other part of my work has been in Integral Development.
I lead Professional Coaching Courses for New
Ventures West as well as have my own clients. I have brought together
these passions in an offering of Women’s Circles of Development
in Hawaii, California and Boston. (http://demetermatrix.com/offerings.html)
I bring the practices and structures of circle, dialogue,
cafe and collective wisdom into much of my work. My husband and I have
also been known to host ‘topic’ dinner parties, where we
linger collectively with questions such as “What does it mean
to be fully human”, over good food and wine.
We cannot arrive at the truth alone. We cannot
arrive at the truth without inquiry. It is from the depths of wisening
ourselves individually and collectively that we might encounter the
face of God. That is my life’s pursuit.
What is it about the work in this field that excites
you and connects you to your own deepest self?
I have written much of this above.
At the deepest level of my soul and essence, I know that I am not separate.
This work is a practice field to embody that knowing and live more often
from that awakened place.
From the location of my essence.
Please provide a brief storyline or snapshot
of what brought you to this work.
Again, I have written much above.
As my spiritual work moves more to the center of my life vs. the periphery,
I see a red thread of connection as a through line. The spiritual Inquiry
has guided me throughout my life. At times consciously and at times
not. My studying Anthropology for my graduate work, and doing my thesis
on religion, teachers along the way, both spiritual as well as academic.
A major depression which was a dark night of the
soul, in which a spiritual sage, Aghenanda Bharati appeared as a guide,
a few months after he had passed away.
The Grand silence that appeared un-announced in the Marin
Women’s Dialogue in Larkspur, inexplicable and yet just so.
The emergence of the Chakra being, in our circle. An
entity of it’s own. Not any one of us, but palpable in it’s
own right.
The ancient Sanskritic tradition that is my heritage.
The gift of the Diamond work that I have been engaged
in for over seven years.
The mystery prevails, as my friend Stephanie Ryan
would say.
How would you like to be available to others in
this field? What would be a meaningful connection? Are you available to
talk with others? What contribution might you be able to make?
