Marguerite (center)

Marguerite Theophil WEAVE: Woman Earth And Vital Encounter Mumbai, INDIA email

What is an underlying question that gives form to your work or interest in this field?

How can we claim wholeness through learning to honor ‘the other’ – within ourselves, in each other, in communities/ethnic groupings, in religious traditions, in countries?

What is your personal experience of collective wisdom in groups?

From being someone who was more of a loner, work choices and the universe’s capacity for crazy, meaningful playfulness threw me more and more into engaging with groups.

Something I slowly learnt through my experiences was that groups very similar to each other were less a force for creative and positive change than groups where differences stood out –-- provided we created ‘safe spaces’ to explore and learn to honor those differences.

Group work started with my shifting to work as an organizational consultant, through ORIENTATIONS which was started by my husband Homayun Taba. As we learnt more and opened ourselves to more, this led to working also with the educational sector, with NGOs, and with religious orders and student groups.

In 1989 I began a group for women of different faiths and backgrounds who were seeking to articulate and practice a Lived Spirituality, and the WEAVE work has since happened in countries outside India as well. The groups of women taught me that we needed to validate our non-mainstream approaches, and most of all to support each other in this. Today, WEAVE women from different parts of the world support and network with each other on their projects and learnings.

What is it about the work in this field that excites you and connects you to your own deepest self?

Living in India, perhaps the most multi-religious, multi-cultural place on this planet, I have grown to see myself as what I have named: “a person of mixed belonging”. My parents are Protestant, one grandfather a Hindu, a great grandmother a Zoroastrian, my husband is a Muslim. I have a deep inner connection to all of these Traditions, each has nourished me, yet at different points in my life, each of these has made claims on me to consider just one of them as The Way for my life.

My struggle to claim all these as significant to my life has led me to work in areas of conflict where ‘differences’ have hurt more than they heal. This finds fulfillment in invitations where I have facilitated women’s groups who, for example, work on issues of caste discrimination and inter-religious conflict in India, tribal issues in Kenya, and the healing work that continues so many years after the fighting in Croatia.

‘Claiming’ some aspects of my life have been slow and hesitant, but I do this more joyfully and in more sacred connection these days: In the past ten years I have claimed the lineage of my great-grandmother who was a collector and teller of stories, and use Story extensively in my work. Then, I grew into the initiation of my Hindu teacher, and now teach other women through this powerful framework. And thirdly, I am able to acknowledge the gift of channeling healing as a Pranic Healer.
Then too, because of my organizational consulting background, I am now also engaged in Leadership Development work for women in many organizations, where I weave in all of my strands of learning and experience.

Please provide a brief storyline or snapshot of what brought you to this work.

My work life is full of major directional changes that on the surface appear disconnected, but at a deep level are magically woven together.

Working as an airline stewardess for 14 years, the last five I worked on my PhD thesis on Sacred Architecture; the flying job making research travel to different countries affordable and possible.

Towards the end of this, I joined my husband in the organization he started, ORIENTATIONS, to make work with corporates more focused on the transformation journey of the people in them and of the organizations themselves.

Experiencing the power and potency in groups drew both of us to also working with religious orders, educational institutions, NGOs – any groups willing to examine themselves and unfold to offer their best.

Creating the sacred space that WEAVE is, has deepened my connections with people from different parts of the world in a celebration of our commonalities and our differences.

In my own life journey, the teachings and blessings of my Hindu teacher Sundari-akka of the Sakta tradition, the works of mystics and storytellers from all traditions, learnings from Arny Mindell of Portland, Oregon and the life-example of His Holiness the Dalai Lama have been my guiding lights.

How would you like to be available to others in this field?

I would be very happy to engage with others who might find areas of common interest with my work.

I am most interested in teaching through the gifts of my country’s Traditions, particularly Through the tradition of Shakti, the Divine Feminine.

Since I travel a lot, email works best.