In the spiritual arena, women who become leaders often capitulate to the masculine prerogative, earning titles and amassing followers who then assign these women a kind of elevated status that sets them apart. While women’s access to seminaries and our ability to be ordained is a cause for celebration, female rabbis, roshis, priests, and swamis oft

Gaia, the mythic goddess, spontaneously came into being, without being created by some external force or driven by some utilitarian agenda. This is the feminine principle. She is being for the sake of being, beauty for the sake of beauty. We are entwined with the Earth. We belong to her, and we are her. If the Earth is sacred, then so are we. The m

When we purposely build periods of reverence or stillness into our days, we practice gazing through the eyes of love, and we get better and better at seeing love everywhere we look.

begging everyone in her path to give her the medicine that would bring her child back to life. But there is no cure for death.

Over the years, our communal Shabbat practice at Lama has morphed into something only vaguely Jewish. But it draws on the contemplative essence of the ancient ritual and adapts it to meet both the spiritual thirst and the wariness of organized religion that characterize our times.

“My deepest desire is . . .” Let whatever arises in your mind and heart spill onto the page (or screen) as you respond to it. Allow yourself to be surprised—maybe even shocked—by what comes up. Your desires could relate to your sexual appetites or emotional needs. They could be about how you want to embody yourself—or the Divine. Don’t hold back. G

Contemporary Western women have begun to recognize that we have options in this life beyond pleasing men and bearing their babies.

we can cultivate our intimacy with these sacred spaces. It takes some effort and courage to consciously break through the veil that Western society has spun around death. We are conditioned to see death as a failure rather than as a pilgrimage.

Grief can open the door to holy desire, which in turn leads us into the arms of that which we yearn for.