@conference {1576026, title = {The Botanical Mind: A Workshop in Animism, Art, and Resisting Anthropocentrism}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ This one-hour workshop will guide participants through a ritual of plant communion via meditation/trance and drawing. It is a technique taught by a nature-worshipping Mystery School, and requires no prior experience with either meditation or art-making or any particular spiritual orientation. The ritual serves to create a sacred space in which concentrated point meditation on a plant-- combined with breath-work and automatic drawing--will lead to a spontaneous expression of experiential connectivity with a biodiverse consciousness.

Presenter bio:\ Lijane Davis is an artist, nature educator, animist, and psychedelic integration facilitator. As a misfit seeker, she has studied Soto Zen Buddhism, deep ecology, and a variety of folk and occult magickal traditions for over 30 years. Her lifework is to promote wonder, creativity, healing, and ecological care.

}, author = {Davis, Lisa Jane} } @conference {1576021, title = {Who Broke the Sun Child{\textquoteright}s Heart? A lyric, musical essay}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ "Who Broke the Sun Child{\textquoteright}s Heart" is a lyric, musical essay that touches on themes of encountering spirituality in nature, Afro-diasporic ancestry, the end of childhood, and environmental destruction. Rooted in my experience growing up in suburban Southern California, my essay combines personal stories of my relationship to the natural landscape, my multi-layered relationship to Eritrea (my father{\textquoteright}s country of origin), and philosophical musings on spirituality and our changing earth. In this performance, I will read prose and share original musical compositions.

Presenter bio:\ Eve Woldemikael is a singer, song-writer, and poet from Southern California. She is an MDiv student at Harvard Divinity School where she studies Comparative Religions and creativity as a spiritual practice. Eve is deeply interested in the ways that art-making can transform our relationships with ourselves, each other, and the beautiful earth we inhabit.

Affiliation: Harvard Divinity School\ 

}, author = {Woldemikael, Eve} } @conference {1576016, title = {Confronting White Supremacy in Nordic Spirituality}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ If there{\textquoteright}s one thing that is widely associated with modern Norse spirituality, it is this form of Paganism{\textquoteright}s long, ugly history with white supremacists and the far-right. A lot, however, has changed in the past decade thanks to anti-racist Nordic Heathen practitioners effectively confronting and rolling back white nationalist influences. Join Ryan Smith, author of The Way of Fire \& Ice and {\textquotedblleft}Subcultural Antifascism: Confronting the Far Right in Heathenry and Heavy Metal{\textquotedblright}, for a presentation on how this was accomplished, the ways other spiritual traditions can learn from the experiences of Heathenry, and the future for Nordic spirituality.

Presenter bio:\ Ryan Smith is an anti-racist Norse Heathen author. He has written The Way of Fire \& Ice: The Living Tradition of Norse Paganism, Spinning Wyrd: A Journey Through the Nordic Mysteries, and contributed to No Pasar{\'a}n: Antifascist Dispatches from a World in Crisis. He can be found at onblackwings.com.

Affiliation: Fire \& Ice Community

}, author = {Smith, Ryan} } @conference {1576011, title = {Indigenous Intergenerational Trauma and Stories of Healing Through Jesus - Decolonizing The Gospel of Christ}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Through a storytelling/yarning methodology (Bessarab \& Ng{\textquoteright}andu, 2010) and experience centered narrative research (Patterson, 2008), three Indigenous followers of Jesus and original inhabitants of the lands currently known as Canada, shared their stories of healing. The storytelling/ yarning method (Bessarab \& Ng{\textquoteright}andu, 2010) is rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing and fit seamlessly with the participants diverse Indigenous backgrounds and shared oral traditions. Through the experience centered research model, each participant engaged in meaning making of their personal narratives, reconstructed and presented their stories as their human lived experience, and finally, revealed their metamorphosis (Patterson, 2008) and contributions to Indigenous knowledges. The experience centered research framework utilized for knowledge gathering worked concertedly with the storytelling/yarning methodology as the healing stories presented here evolved not as stories of defeat, but of strength (Bessarab \& Ng{\textquoteright}andu, 2010). Some key teachings and themes arising from their stories include trauma, forgiveness, resilience, family, healing, and hope. This study aims to reveal Indigenous stories of healing and cease the perpetuation of harm to Indigenous peoples who have declared Jesus as their source of healing. Furthermore, this study aims to situate the knowledges gathered through these healing stories within the academic body of Indigenous knowledges. (Mohammed, 2021)

Presenter bio:\ My name is Dionne A. Mohammed and I am originally from the Indigenous Nation of Statimc on the lands now known as Canada. I also acknowledge my settler roots through my Dad who{\textquoteright}s origins are English (my Grandfather) and Mauritian (my Grandmother). I obtained a Human Service Diploma and Bachelor of Social Work degree from Thompson Rivers University on the unceded territory of the Secwepemc Peoples (now known as Kamloops, British Columbia). I then went on to complete a Master in Social Work Indigenous Specialization through the University of Victoria on the lands of the WS{\'A}NE{\'C} (Saanich), lək̓ʷə{\ng}ən (Songhees), and Wyomilth (Esquimalt) peoples of the Coast Salish Nation. I am a counsellor for Indigenous students and have my own private practice - Embers First People{\textquoteright}s Counselling. I am also a sessional lecturer in the School of Social Work at Thompson Rivers University. I am also a wife to my supportive husband, Syed, and mother to my four beautiful children.

Affiliation:\ University of Victoria

}, author = {Mohammed, Dionne} } @conference {1576006, title = {Voicing Sikh spiritual sovereignty in musical practices and indigenous knowledges}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Sikh musical heritage represents a pre-colonial system of knowledge in danger of disappearing. Established in the late 15th century by Guru N{\={a}}nak, Gurb{\={a}}ni sangit (the body of Sikh devotional repertoires) transmits Sikh indigenous knowledge through a spiritual-aesthetic praxis that unites self and other in interconnected oneness.However, the assimilative forces of colonialism, nationalism, and globalization have contributed to the process of homogenization, coercive transformation, and erasure of Indigenous knowledge and Sikh spiritual-aesthetic praxis. The participants in this panel have pioneered new approaches to the study and revival of Sikh musical heritage, by introducing decolonial stances in their scholarship, praxis, activism, teaching, and performances in India, the US, and Europe.

Presenter bio:\ Nirinjan Kaur Khalsa-Baker, Ph.D., is Senior Instructor Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University. Her ethnographic research and publications investigate historic, modern and transnational Sikh Kirtan. She is the first female exponent of the Sikh drumming tradition on the jori-pakhawaj.

Bhai Baldeep Singh is 13th generation exponent of Gurb{\={a}}ṇi Saṅgita who has revived near-extinct Sikh musical compositions, instruments, and pedagogies through Anad Foundation, Anad Recordings, and Anad Conservatory.

Francesca Cassio, Sardarni Harbans Kaur Chair in Sikh Musicology and Professor of Music at Hofstra University, New York. Dr. Cassio is a scholar and singer who has conducted extensive research in India, authoring works on Indian music (, the yoga of sound, music therapy, Gender Studies, intercultural education, ethnomusicology and music pedagogy.

Affiliation:\ Loyola Marymount University

}, author = {Khalsa-Baker, Nirinjan} } @conference {1576001, title = {Revisiting Mexico{\textquoteright}s Ancient Spiritual Traditions: A Path to Inspire Modern Life and Overcome Colonialism and Patriarchy}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Mexico{\textquoteright}s Ancient Nahual Spirituality is a belief system rooted in a sacred relationship with nature. This millennial spirituality has been preserved through a myriad of rituals, such as Cacao Ceremonies. Due to the pre-colonial nature of Nahualism, it honors values opposed to the European patriarchal mindset that led to Colonialism. Through this presentation we want to celebrate and share the Nahual tradition by a) presenting a paper of this rich cosmology and its relevance in the colonial and decolonial contexts; b) present an artistic performance through a Cacao Ceremony; c) present an interactive workshop celebrating the human heart.

Presenter bios:\ 

Daniela Luna is a Nahual medicine woman and priestess of the temple of the Jaguar. She studied botany with a master in psychotropic plants and neural behavior. Studies in Grofian psychedelic therapy and archetype psychology. Her musical development is due to ethnomusicology studies and a background on opera singing. Juan Pablo A. S{\'a}nchez King, initiated in the sacred path of the Jaguar, is a PhD candidate from the School of Social Work from Boston College focused on emotions and cultural transformation. He is the author of Animalia, a transformative game inspired by the Nahual tradition of the spiritual animals. Rob Hartz, co-creator of Animalia, is an experienced facilitator and leadership coach. His diverse educational background includes science (B.A. zoology at Ohio Wesleyan), education (M.S. Experiential Education, Minnesota State), and Cultural-Biology (Instituto de Formaci{\'o}n Matriztica dedicated to the cultural studies and research of Dr. Humberto Maturana Romes{\'\i}n). Diego Durazzo Cejudo is a Music Therapist with over 10 years of teaching experience and background in various instruments and music theory. He holds a Bachelor{\textquoteright}s degree in Communication and Entertainment Business Administration and a Master{\textquoteright}s degree in Music Therapy. Diego draws inspiration from ancient cultures and philosophies. Sarai Cort{\'e}s, a sound therapist and certified yoga instructor, writes articles specialized for women promoting physical, emotional, and mental well-being in renowned magazines. She is developing a program that uses nutrition and yoga to harmonize emotions and the female body, aiming to improve women{\textquoteright}s quality of life. Mirgazizova Anna is an administrative, logistics and performers support. Event and video producer. Specializes in Social Cultural and Art development of regions, self-organized communities, sustainability and organic architecture, Nikola-Lenivets Masters School. The founder of {\textquoteright}Oceyolotl Sanctuary{\textquoteright}, healing camp at Burning Man with ceremonies led by Daniela Luna.

Affiliation: Boston College

}, author = {Sanchez King, Juan Pablo} } @conference {1575996, title = {Decolonial Journeys: Queer Chicano therapists alchemizing suffering}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ This presentation will include autoethnographical accounts of three therapists who also self-identify as queer/two-spirit and mestizo (of the indigenous Mexican diaspora). They also share the archetype of the {\textquoteleft}healer{\textquoteright} in their respective lives as they currently navigate the American mental health system as therapists. In their attempts to decolonize, they honor practices of ancestral and indigenous medicine and serve as guides to those who come seeking resolve from their suffering. These presenters will provide accounts of their personal trajectories and initiation into their path of healing, as well as their confrontations with colonialism and coloniality which they have had to contend with in as part of their journey towards spiritual decolonization.

Presenter bios:\ 

Eduardo (he/him) is a doctoral student, love coach, couple{\textquoteright}s therapist, and initiate of the Q{\textquoteright}eqchi{\textquoteright} Maya priesthood. He works with queer, multicultural individuals in his therapy and coaching practices, while his intellectual interests attempt to bridge decolonization with ancestral wisdom. Eduardo is currently completing his dissertation in Jungian and decolonial psychologies. Hector (he/him) is a master{\textquoteright}s student at Portland State University finishing his advanced year in the School of Social Work. He is currently completing his graduate field practicum at a Latino-serving agency in a historically underserved rural community in Southern Oregon and collaborates with an interdisciplinary team to shape Latinx-focused mental health services. Hector is also a dancer, singer, and musician who has trained internationally in Mexican folk music. Manuel (he/him) is a doctoral candidate at the Pacifica Graduate Institute where he is obtaining his Ph.D. in Depth Psychology with emphases in integrative healing practices and entheogenic plant medicines. He is also a licensed marriage and family therapist and has a private practice based out of the Central Valley of Northern California. Manuel specializes in working within the intersections of LGBTQ+ identity, personality disorders, and what Christina and Stan Grof have termed {\textquoteright}spiritual emergencies{\textquoteright}.

Affiliation:\ Pacifica Graduate Institute

}, author = {Viezca, Eduardo} } @conference {1575991, title = {Beyond Colonial Entanglements: Embracing Daoist Philosophy \& Qigong for Liberating the Mind}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Introduction of the entangled mind principles. Exploration of how one can embody Daoist philosophy to unravel colonial mindsets. Furthermore, we will explore the path to liberation through the Qigong movements. The audience can watch or follow along with guided meditations \& simple movements uniting the breath with Qi. The participants will experience a transformation leading to a deeper understanding of interconnectedness and harmony. Then we will close with an opportunity to share the experience \& reflect.

Presenter bio:\ Dao Shr Suzy Balliett is an ordained Daoist Priestess. She is a Medical Qigong Doctor, researcher \& author. Her paper "Daoist Talismans for Healing" is published in the Journal of Daoist Studies volume 15, 2022. She is a licensed Occupational Therapist \& board certified Tai chi instructor. She is the founder of the Biomagnetic Therapy Association and Dipper Healing Arts School. She is interested in Praxis the direct experience method of teaching. Kathleen McGoey has a BA from the University of Notre Dame and a Masters in International Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Innsbruck, Austria. Following an eleven-year career in nonprofit leadership, Kathleen now offers training, consultation, and facilitation for groups that seek to transform conflict and create more respectful relationships. She is a Qigong practitioner \& Daoist Priestess. Central to her journey as a peacebuilder is embodiment, experiential learning, and integration. She has published two books Kathleen published her first book, Harmonizing Heavens and Earth: A Daoist Shamanic Approach to Elicitive Peacework (Lit Verlag) in 2013. She co-authored her second book, The Little Book of Restorative Teaching Tools (Good Books, 2020). Maureen Momo Freehill, MFA in Asian Performance from University of Hawaii, is Founder/Artistic Director and performer of DailyDance, Butopia Retreat Center and Gene Keys Movement; offering nature- based retreats, performances \& intuitive somatic wellness training (DailyDance.Us). She is also lead facilitator and board member for the non-profit, NatureMoves (www.naturemoves.org) dedicated to nurturing embodied creative intimacy between humans and the natural world. She served for many years as creative member of The Conciliation Project. (www.theconciliationproject.org) whose mission is to promote, through dramatic work, open and honest dialogue about Racism and Oppression in America in order to repair its damaging legacy.

}, author = {Balliett, Suzy} } @conference {1575986, title = {Robin Hood takes the Sheriff of Nottingham Deep into Sherwood Forest: a journey in story and song}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Two generations of settler Sherwood descendants share their spiritual journey starting with mythical creation, to legendary enclosure of Sherwood Forest, through historical enclosure of colonized lands, resting in present ecological crisis caused by people shaped by these stories. Along the way they face their own enclosed souls, tear down enclosures inside and out, and call upon the powers of healing ancestral and community traumas through original songs and storytelling.

Presenter bio:\ 

Benjamin Seavey, aka Azura the Bard, shares his personal journey of deep spiritual, ancestral, and communal healing through his soulful songwriting and singing, while reconnecting to ghosts of his European indigenous roots through learning from living indigenous traditions, somatic release trauma therapies, plant medicines, and relational healing with like-minded community. The Rev. Gail Seavey, Ben{\textquoteright}s mother, graduated from HDS 1990. Retired after 30 years serving Unitarian Universalist congregations as an after-pastor minister focused on individual and institutional healing, her 2016 Berry St. Essay helped push the UUA{\textquoteright}s transformation towards ethical responses to ministerial misconduct.

Affiliation: Unitarian Universalist Parish

}, author = {Seavey, Gail and Seavey, Benjamin} } @conference {1575981, title = {Decolonizing the Mind Through Gaian Song}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Bart Everson performs a series of songs from a Gaian ritual context, interwoven with personal narrative. This performance will pay tribute to the late theologian Dr. Michael Homan, while exploring themes of "whiteness," indigeneity, and colonialism, and recounting the journey to a devotional religious community of practice with Gaia at the center. Accompanied on guitar by George Cawley.

Presenter bio:\ Bart Everson is a creative generalist at Xavier University of Louisiana{\textquoteright}s Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development. He serves on the board of the Gaian Way. He is the author of Spinning in Place: A Secular Humanist Embraces the Neo-Pagan Wheel of the Year.

Affiliation: Gaian Way

}, author = {Everson, Bart} } @conference {1575976, title = {Sufi Traditions and Spiritual Resistance: Mapping South Asian Muslim Alternative Spiritualities}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ This comprehensive study investigates the intricate facets of alternative spiritualities entrenched within the socio-cultural and religious tapestry of South Asian Muslim nations. It explores the profound role played by these alternative spiritual practices, serving as conduits for celebration and resistance against dominant hegemonic structures while striving to establish accountable frameworks within the complex landscapes of colonial and decolonial contexts prevalent in the region. Primarily centered on South Asian Muslim nations, this research explores the inception and evolution of alternative spiritual practices. These encompass a diverse spectrum, ranging from venerable Sufi traditions to mystical interpretations of Islam, alongside grassroots movements. It meticulously scrutinizes the pivotal role of celebratory rituals, communal congregations, and artistic expressions deeply embedded within these spiritualities. Such components provide invaluable insights into their profound capacity to affirm identities and nurture a deep sense of belonging amid the enduring shadows of colonial legacies. This research rigorously examines alternative spiritualities by employing an interdisciplinary lens that integrates insights from Islamic studies, cultural anthropology, religious studies, postcolonial theory, and linguistic topography. It endeavors to unravel their intricate negotiations with colonial imprints, shedding light on their contributions to fostering decolonial approaches. Moreover, this investigation delves into endeavors to resurrect indigenous spiritual practices rooted in Islamic traditions. Emphasizing the pivotal significance of cultural resurgence and heritage preservation, these efforts stand as potent mechanisms to assuage historical trauma and reclaim lost narratives. This study contributes novel perspectives regarding the transformative potential inherently embedded within alternative spiritualities in South Asian Muslim-majority nations. It meticulously examines their multifaceted roles, from celebrating the rich tapestry of cultural diversity to staunchly resisting the enduring shackles of colonial legacies. Moreover, it delves into their active role in nurturing accountable frameworks that are inherently integrated within the framework of Islam itself. The distinct focus on the South Asian context lends a unique depth to this research, aiming to offer a nuanced comprehension of alternative spiritual expressions. Emphasizing their pivotal role in navigating the labyrinthine paths of colonial histories, this study elucidates how these spiritualities are catalysts in shaping decolonized futures for the multifaceted Muslim societies entrenched within the region.

Presenter bio:\ I am Ummel Khair Fatima, born and educated in Dubai. I completed my undergraduate studies in the Department of English Language and Literature at IIUC. Following that, I obtained my CELTA certification from the University of Cambridge. Presently, I am pursuing my MPhil at the University of Kocaeli in Turkey, focusing on Linguistic Metaphysics in Religion in South Asia under the department of English Language and Literature.

Affiliation:\ Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Science and Letters, University of Kocaeli, Turkey

}, author = {Fatima, Ummel Khair} } @conference {1575971, title = {The Political Life Of Dead Bodies, Divine Sovereignty, and Indian Empire: The Question of Islam in Kashmir}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ My paper focuses on indigenous sensibilities which is largely shaped by the orthodox sufi islamic practices( mysticism) which are not recognized by Islamic revival movements such as Ahle Hadith and Jamaat-e-Islaami. Rather its the the combination of Islamic practices, and some local cultural practices that constitute an important part of people{\textquoteright}s indigeneity. For example, singing in funerals, forms of intimacies, poetry as well as visiting graveyards of martyrs, and sprinkling the flowers over them. It also entails how the people are attached to shrines and practice Islam according to their local traditions rather than Islamic scriptures. In doing that, I demonstrate how secular power seeks to regulate and govern these religious subjectivities which are largely immersed within the local cultural practices of mourning.

Presenter bio:\ Ruhail Andrabi is Cultural Anthropologist whose dissertation examines the questions of sovereignty, Indigeneity, and Islamic revival movements. Specifically, how the Islamic discourses have problematized India{\textquoteright}s secularism, and Military occupation in Kashmir. Ruhail has previously worked with Coventry University as research Assistant, and Junior research fellow with Jamia Millia Islamia New Delhi. Currently, he is working as Research fellow with Princeton, and Columbia University on the Project {\textquotedblleft}Muslims in India{\textquotedblright}. To give a sense of thinking on these and other topics, some of the writers who have captivated his imagination in recent years are Edward Said, Walter Benjamin, Sylvia Wynter, Charles Taylor, Micheal Foucault, and Ludwig wittgenstein. He is broadly interested in Sociology of emotions, Anthropology of power, and Political life of spaces, and objects.His writings have appeared in Caravan; Norragg; Space and Polity; Theory, Culture \& Society; Inverse Journal; Frontier Post and HarperCollins India and Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming cultural critique.

Affiliation:\ UC San Diego

}, author = {Andrabi, Ruhail} } @conference {1575966, title = {Decolonization, A guidebook to settlers living on stolen land}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Goal of the workshop is to provide students with a common definition of decolonization and uncolonization. To provide useful, real life tools to interrupt narratives that confuse the terms, uncolonization with decolonization at the expense of indigenous peoples globally.

Presenter bio:\ Tanya Rodriguez is a long time community activist and fearless leader with decolonization work and an educator who focuses on healing implicit bias, awareness development of cultural appropriation and tools to mitigate spiritual extractivism. In 2018, Tanya founded Global Decolonization Initiative, a Facebook group with over 6.7k active members. Tanya is also former Commissioner Chair serving with the Asheville Human Relations Commission. Tanya is a vocal advocate of Indigenous rights and a prolific writer spanning from op-ed{\textquoteright}s in the CItizen Times, to numerous medium articles. To date, Decolonization, A Guidebook for Settlers Living on Stolen Land, on Medium has received over 14.8K views. Tanya comes from a family of activists with a nationally recognized Civil Rights leader she calls mom.

Affiliation:\ National Institute for Racial Equity

}, author = {Rodriguez, Tanya} } @conference {1575961, title = {The Collective Voice: Chanting for Liberation}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract: This workshop is an interactive chanting experience in which participants will explore the collective voice as a site of solidarity, power, and liberation. In a cultural context where {\textquotedblleft}sacred music{\textquotedblright} often means the music of predominantly white Christian churches and the {\textquotedblleft}Western{\textquotedblright} classical canon or {\textquotedblleft}exotic{\textquotedblright} chants from some {\textquotedblleft}world religion,{\textquotedblright} this workshop explores chant as embodied, decolonial practice. Using chants in English and Korean, the presenters will lead participants in chants that expand our definition of sacred music. It will be cacophonous. It will be harmonious. Most of all, it will ground participants in their own bodies as instruments of healing and change.

Presenter bios:\ Auds (she/her) is a Master of Divinity candidate at Harvard Divinity School where she studies lived religion in Asian America, new ritual creation, and emergent spiritualities. She is a musician who specializes in writing and leading chants for movements, festivals, and rituals.

Deung Myoung Sunim

Affiliation: Harvard Divinity School

}, author = {Jenkins, Auds} } @conference {1575956, title = {{\textquoteleft}In the name of the Bee{\textquoteright}. Emily Dickinson and Earth Spiritualities}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ In my paper, I would like to read Emily Dickinson{\textquoteright}s poems from the perspective of environmental spirituality, for which the key elements will be spirituality inspired by the earth, taken from pagan practices and ecofeminist works (Merchant, Shiva, Starhawk) as well as my pneumotheological method, a methodological perspective influenced by ecocriticism, postsecularism and the feminist ethics of care. The objectives of the present study are to define a new model of biosemiotics prescribing subjectivity of non-human nature and its meaning in textual and cultural discourse; to characterize poetical mechanisms deconstructing the religious narration.

Presenter bio:\ I am a PhD Canidate in Comparative Literature and a 2023/2024 Fulbright Junior Researcher affiliated with Amherst College (Amherst, MA). I am currently working on a comparative project devoted to an ecocritical and post-secular reading of Emily Dickinson{\textquoteright}s poetry. I am interested in American poetry, Transcendentalism, spirituality and ecology.

Affiliation:\ Jagiellonian University

}, author = {Kucab, Mateusz} } @conference {1575951, title = {Rider Haggard and the Imperial Occult: Christian Egyptosophy, Romanticism, and Theosophy}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ This paper critically examines the literary oeuvre of H. Rider Haggard, and considers the interface of occult spirituality and mainstream religiosity. More especially, it considers the historical topos of the British Empire, and religious dynamics under colonialism. It analyses the syncretic processual mechanisms and discursive religious constructions which resulted from an attempt to accommodate religions from the colonies to the Empire as Christendom. To do this I have employed the over-arching concept of what I have termed the {\textquoteleft}Imperial Occult{\textquoteright}, by which British occultism is understood to be an epiphenomenon of an influx of religious ideas from the colonial periphery.

Presenter bio:\ Dr Simon Magus is a psychiatrist practising in London, and holds an MA and PhD in Western Esotericism. He is the author of {\textquoteright}Rider Haggard and the Imperial Occult: Hermetic Discourse and Romantic Contiguity{\textquoteright}, Volume 31 in the ARIES Series: {\textquoteleft}Texts and Studies in Western Esotericism{\textquoteright}; Brill, Leiden Publishers (2022).

Affiliation:\ North East London Foundation NHS Trust (NELFT)

}, author = {Magus, Simon} } @conference {1575946, title = {The Role of Spirituality in Peacebuilding in Laikipia, Kenya}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ In the borderlands of Laikipia, Kenya, a complex convergence of climate change, historical land injustice, and domestic politics exploded into a violent conflict centered around Ol Ari Nyiro, a former colonial ranch turned wildlife conservancy. Beginning in 2021, an experimental peacebuilding approach involving dialogue and resource sharing, executed through a council of community elders known as the {\textquotedblleft}Mshipi,{\textquotedblright} successfully de-escalated this confounding crisis{\textemdash} turning combatants into collaborators, empowering marginalized communities, and attempting to integrate biodiversity conservation with cooperative land management. Through a combination of storytelling, video interludes, and reflection from a former staff member of the conservancy, this presentation will explore what can be learned about the decolonial process through this case study in regards to strategy, spirituality, and most importantly, the human heart.

Presenter bio:\ James Mixon (Farr) is the son of Evangelical missionaries who moved to Kenya in 1994, where he was born two years later. A career in outdoor education ultimately took him to Laikipia Nature Conservancy in 2021. He identifies as a settler in the complex racial and political landscape of Kenya.

}, author = {Mixon, James} } @conference {1575941, title = {Soulistic Healing: (Re)membering Black Women{\textquoteright}s Bodies}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Black women have the innate power to heal debilitating physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual trauma resulting from slavery, colonization, poverty, and abuse by reclaiming and reconnecting to the power of spirit. We are in the midst of an age of enlightenment, which is seeking to unveil hidden inconvenient truths about how systemic oppression rooted in racism, sexism, and capitalism is destroying the planet, in particular its Black and brown inhabitants. As the atrocities are exposed and truth is revealed, Black women have a clearer lens in which to unveil and articulate the roots of our oppression. We are discovering that our exploitation has been sustained by ideologies that keep us separated from and in constant conflict with the source of our innate power{\textemdash}Spirit. And thus, African American women are rediscovering the power to heal our bodies by reclaiming a connection back to our indigenous spiritualities.

Presenter bio:\ Kimberly J. Davis is a spiritual teacher, scholar, activist, life coach, and master healing practitioner. She is the founder of Journey to Wholeness Center, a holistic healing and wellness center. Kimberly is a PhD candidate in Philosophy and Religion with a concentration in Women{\textquoteright}s Spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies. It is Kimberly{\textquoteright}s mission to be a conduit of love, truth, and healing, while advocating for the healing and empowerment of women who embody generational wounds as a result of internalized oppressions.

Affiliation:\ California Institute of Integral Studies

}, author = {Davis, Kimberly} } @conference {1575936, title = {The Politics of the Intimate in Alternative Spiritual Communities }, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ This workshop will engage participants in creative dialogue around the politics of the intimate within alternative spiritual spaces. {\textquotedblleft}Politics of the intimate{\textquotedblright} refers to how power operates within close-knit communities, where power can be leveraged to uplift and heal but is often abused. Intimate abuse is rooted in colonial hierarchies of gender, race, status, and caste and can take both sexual and non-sexual forms. Workshop participants will reflect on how power has been used to uphold or dismantle oppression within their spiritual communities. Our collective wisdom will generate principles and practices that support ethical uses of power in spiritual communities.

Presenter bio:\ Alka Arora, PhD, is an associate professor of Women{\textquoteright}s Spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies; she telecommutes from Chicago, IL. Her research and teaching focus on feminist spiritual activism, integral feminist pedagogy, and decolonial vegan ethics. Alka is also a public speaker, workshop facilitator, and leadership coach.

Affiliation:\ California Institute of Integral Studies

}, author = {Arora, Alka} } @conference {1575931, title = {Recovering from ReActivism in The Spiritual Playground}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Recover from ReActivism with Jemarc Axinto through a powerful somatic practice combining play therapy, visualization, and archetypal energies to safely feel and transmute difficult feelings and emotions. Engage with The Spiritual Playground, a profound practice that empowers you to become your own safe space and cultivate you innate qualities of Loving Kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity.

Presenter bio:\ Jemarc Axinto is a Filipinx, Nonbinary, Trauma Recovery Coach and Wellness Consultant with a deep practice rooted in Vajryana Buddhism and a profoundly theosophic view of spirituality and wellness. They have a decade of experience in trauma healing, and dedicate themselves to supporting others in healing and rewiring trauma.

Affiliation:\ Spiritual Geek LLC

}, author = {Axinto, Jemarc} } @conference {1575926, title = {Embodied Spirituality in Bharatanatyam: Unveiling the Symbiotic Relationship between Physicality and the Divine in Classical Indian Dance}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ The study of Bharatanatyam{\textquoteright}s development through artistic periodization unveils its transformative journey within cultural settings and temporal frames. Influenced by colonial forces and subsequent decolonization, this dance form, deeply rooted in spirituality, underwent profound changes. Employing a qualitative approach involving historical scrutiny and critical discourse analysis, the research delves into the intricate interplay of spirituality, the arts, and socio-political dynamics. Colonial interventions obscured Bharatanatyam{\textquoteright}s spiritual essence, yet decolonial efforts sparked a deliberate resurgence, reclaiming its intrinsic spirituality and transcending imposed constraints. This exploration underscores spirituality{\textquoteright}s pivotal role, illustrating Bharatanatyam{\textquoteright}s resilience amid colonial suppression and subsequent decolonial resurgence, echoing the enduring bond between spirituality, artistic expression, and cultural identity across shifting eras.

Presenter bio:\ Urvashi Mohinani, an accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer and postgraduate alumna of Banaras Hindu University, where she studied under Guru Shri Premchand Hombal, will accompany him in the workshop. Currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of Hyderabad under the guidance of Dr. M.S. Siva Raju, Urvashi has participated in numerous performances alongside her Guru at various prestigious locations such as Varanasi, Bodh Gaya, Delhi, and many other places. Additionally, she has showcased her talents as a TedX performer.

Shri Premchand Hombal, a distinguished Bharatanatyam artist, educator, and former Head of the Department of Dance at Banaras Hindu University, who brings a wealth of experience to this workshop. His expertise lies in seamlessly intertwining the spiritual essence of Bharatanatyam with its physical embodiment. As an Honorary Professor at Sri Sri University and a recipient of the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for his exceptional contributions to the Performing Arts, his guidance promises an enriching and insightful workshop experience.

Affiliation:\ University of Hyderabad, Banaras Hindu University

}, author = {Mohinani, Urvashi} } @conference {1575921, title = {The Contemporary revitalization of Indigenous Spiritualites}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ India represents a unique case study of an indigenous spirituality that has managed to survive to this day compared to other major civilizations. Political and cultural subjugation of its land did not eliminate the spiritual roots of the culture that identified unity in the apparent polytheistic ceremonies in regions and sub-cultures spread across the length and breadth of the sub-continent. Political freedom has served to liberate and revitalize the ancient culture aided in no small measure by the rise of personalities considered to be contemporary saints who have successfully reached out to the diaspora as well. The philosophy that perceived the underlying unity amidst celebrating the apparent diversity could well show the way towards harmonious living.

Presenter bio:\ 

Siva Kumar Venugopal is a faculty member and currently the {\textquoteleft}Course Director{\textquoteright} of {\textquoteleft}Indian Philosophy{\textquoteright} at the health sciences campus of Amrita University at Kochi, south India, with over 3 decades of experience across industry and academia. This institution has been inspired by noted humanitarian and spiritual leader Mata Amritanandamayi Devi.

Affiliation:\ Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Amrita University, Kochi, India.

}, author = {Venugopal, Sivakumar} } @conference {1575916, title = {Revival of the Ancient Vedic Practices in India: The Old {\textquoteleft}Oriental{\textquoteright} Wine in a New {\textquoteleft}Occidental{\textquoteright} Bottle }, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ The majority of the Hindus of the Generation X and the Millennials of India do not possess any direct knowledge of the daily rites and rituals of Hinduism and are dependent upon the Brahmin Pandits for the interpretations of the scriptures. However, many of them are aware of complicated practices like yoga, pranayama and meditation and practise them not as a part of their religious behaviour, rather consume them as some lifestyle commodity or as a qualification for enhancing their status quotient. This has caused a sudden boom in the revival of the ancient Hindu practices in India. The paper argues that this revival has occurred not through any organic process of retracing one{\textquoteright}s past, but rather in the same way in which these practices were lost in the first place{\textemdash}holding the hand of the West. To highlight that, the paper shall analyse the result of a survey and try to identify the reasons behind this secondhand re-appropriation of one{\textquoteright}s own tradition and also show how this re-appropriation is a byproduct of Western cultural colonisation.

Presenter bio:\ 

Completed PhD program in English with specialisation in South Asian Film and Literature and Postcolonial Studies under the University of Calcutta and has 13+ years of experience in teaching English language, literature and communication skill to students of Management and technical background, has delivered invited lectures and paper in various universities in India and abroad, such as university of Graz, Austria, Cambridge University, Montreal University, Timisoara University. After a spiritual awakening in 2022, has shifted to mission-oriented writing and teaching programs aiming at imparting hope, love and the message of peace to the world. Presently she is working as a contractual faculty member in the Department of English, Surendranath College for Women, Kolkata, India and dedicating her time to animal welfare.

Affiliation:\ Surendra Nath College for Women, Kolkata, India

}, author = {Das, Rituparna} } @conference {1575911, title = {The Andean Mother Pachamama: A Mothering Community Paradigm}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract: The Andean Mother Pachamama, often called Mother Earth, undergirds a freedom struggle revitalizing the indigenous mountain spine of South America. In Lake Titiqaqa communities in Peru and Bolivia, farmers build relation with a Mother vast as well as immanent, celebrate with urbanites in explosions of spiritual art and music, and pilgrimage with Catholics and tourists to a site famed for millennia. Quick modern greetings overlook Pachamama as the profound core of Andean life for young and old. We could support an endangered spirituality that nurtures environments, gender-balance, and diverse peoples in mothering communities{\textemdash}as ancient Andean prophecy widely foretells.

Presenter bio:\ Dr. Mary Louise Stone lived twelve years in Quechua and Aymara communities around Lake Titiqaqa in Peru and Bolivia, consulting on community-run tourism with villages, universities, and Duke University. She published on the Andean Mother and women{\textquoteright}s roles in Anthropology of Mothering and Cambridge Archaeology and presented nationally and internationally.

Affiliation:\ Independent Scholar in New Mexico, USA, and Isla Taquile, Puno, Peru

}, author = {Stone, Mary Louise} } @conference {1575906, title = {Unveiling and decolonizing Monotheaism: Rediscovering the One-Goddess Era}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ The notion of monotheism, conventionally understood as the worship of a single male deity, has undergone extensive exploration. However, a remarkable and transformative narrative has been often overlooked - the era of monotheism, centered around a single Mother Goddess. This proposal seeks to illuminate this largely uncharted terrain, presenting compelling evidence for the existence of a prolonged era of monotheism preceding the rise of pagan polytheism and the subsequent emergence of monotheistic religions.

Presenter bio:\ Dil{\c s}a Deniz is a socio-cultural Kurdish anthropologist and presently is a visiting scholar at Harvard University Divinity School. Her research focuses on gender, the cultural, political, and religious practices in relation to Kurdish Alevis, Alevi geography, and myths of Alevism in Kurdish communities, particularly in the city of Dersim, an ancient urban center for Kurdish Alevism in Anatolia. She studies Alevism as an old independent Iranian (land of Arian) religion and thus refuses to be illustrated as a sect of Islam. She presently researching Sh{\^a}maran, the Mother Earth Goddess of Kurdistan, and the decolonization of this Kurdish myth at Harvard University.

Affiliation: Harvard Divinity School\ 

}, author = {Deniz, Dil{\c s}a} } @conference {1575761, title = {Decolonizing Spirituality of the Nagas in Northeast India}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Colonialists, such as American Baptist missionaries and British administrators and/or ethnographers, rejected the Nagas{\textquoteright} traditional-primal religion in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This blatant colonial rejection, I argue, has severe short-term and long-term consequences, as early converts began avoiding cultural events associated with traditional religion and as certain contemporary Naga Christians/theologians resist engaging with indigenous spirituality. Considering this prevailing reality, I argue for the decolonization of the spirituality of the Nagas in Northeast India to debunk the colonial imposition of their religious values and reclaim their indigenous spirituality, which is rooted in nature as well as their lived experiences.

Presenter bio:\ My name is Taimaya Ragui. I am a tribal-indigenous researcher from Ukhrul, India. I have a PhD in theology from the South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (Bangalore, India). Currently, I work as a research tutor at The Shepherd{\textquoteright}s Academy of Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life (UK).

Affiliation:\ The Shepherd{\textquoteright}s Academy, Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life

}, author = {Ragui, Taimaya} } @conference {1575756, title = {The making of the mainstream and the alternative: the colonial dimensions of spirituality during the Spanish colonisation of T{\r a}no{\textquoteright} L{\r a}guas yan G{\r a}ni (the Mariana Islands)}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ The growth of European empires disseminated dominant religious traditions to places alien to Euro-centred spiritualities, transforming them into a means of imperial control. In the Pacific, the colonization of the Mariana Islands, home of the CHamoru people, and the establishment of a Catholic mission in 1668 turned a foreign, minority faith into the religious mainstream. This {\textquotedblleft}spiritual conquest{\textquotedblright} involved the displacement of Indigenous spiritualities to the category of alternative. Here I examine how Spanish colonists weaponized the Catholic faith to re-shape Indigenous and non-Indigenous ways of being, creating new socio-emotional communities more in accordance with the 17th century Ibero-Catholic ethos.

Presenter bio:\ Matilde Carbajo is an archaeologist and cultural anthropologist. She is a La Caixa Fellow-PhD candidate and lecturer at Pompeu Fabra University (Spain). She currently researches Spanish colonialism and Indigenous healing systems and knowledge transmission with a focus on the Mariana Islands. Other research interests include ethnomedicine, ethnobotany, and heritage management.

Affiliation:\ Humanities Department. Pompeu Fabra University

}, author = {Carbajo, Matilde} } @conference {1575751, title = {Hag Mountain: A History of the Absence of Witch Memorials in Kristiansand, Norway (or, why Kristiansand is not Salem)}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Many places in the world memorialize witch trials through sculptures, shops, and lore. Kristiansand in Norway does not. Despite its violent history of witch-burnings, little attention has been given and no official place of remembrance exists. Why? I begin by examining the role of Indigenous struggles in the history of Norwegian witch-hunts, especially how the killings of S{\'a}mi shamans during the period complicates the narrative. Second, I introduce the case of {\textquoteleft}Hag Mountain{\textquoteright} in Kristiansand, a well-documented site of burnings. Finally, I analyze the lack of memorials, and what this might mean for spiritual practitioners in Norway and S{\'a}pmi today.

Presenter bio:\ 

Camilla is Associate Professor in History at the University of Agder in Norway. She specialises in 20th and 21st histories and cultures of menstruation. Her interests include feminist art history and art projects, medical humanities, feminist Science \& Technology Studies, Norwegian/S{\'a}mi art histories, and the archetype of the witch.

Affiliation:\ University of Agder, University of St Andrews, University of Aberdeen\ 

}, author = {R{\o}stvik, Camilla} } @conference {1575746, title = {Pathways of Teshuvah: Repentance, Return, and Reconciliation Across Time and Place}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract: In the millennia since exile and the destruction of their holy temples, those tracing their heritage from the ancient Israelites have had a contentious relationship to land. All too often, our landlessness and our cosmopolitan adherence to scripture and law has left us alienated from the natural world. Yet, recent movements within the Jewish world have prioritized an ancestrally rooted relatedness to the Earth and a recommitment to theologies of stewardship. The horizon they point to invites our attention toward new possibilities for embodied ritual. This liberatory and ecopsychological Jewish autoethnography traces the impacts of exile on the (Jewish) psyche and explores modes of healing through connection to land. The Jewish Earth-based organization Wilderness Torah and the Palestinian farm Tent of Nations serve as fieldwork sites through which to approximate a practice of teshuvah, a Hebrew word most accurately translated as {\textquotedblleft}repentance{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}return{\textquotedblright}, or {\textquotedblleft}reconciliation{\textquotedblright}.

Presenter bio:\ Dr. Pesach Chananiah is a Jewish ecopsychologist, educator, and community organizer working in interfaith and environmental spaces. He writes about the psychological impact of disconnection from land, through a Jewish lens, and explores modes of healing through embodied spiritual practice in the natural world.

}, author = {Chananiah, Pesach} } @conference {1575741, title = {Ala, the Eagle and the Kite: Narratives of Ecological Justice in Igbo Songs}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Music scholarship in Igboland, southeastern Nigeria pays scant attention to indigenous Igbo ecological conceptualizations enshrined in Igbo music despite acute land degradation in that area and global interest in environmental sustainability. I aim to access how Igbo music explicates spiritual linkage of humankind and environment. Employing Ecomusicological approach, I argue that reciprocity and justice, embedded in the interaction of the proverbial Kite and Eagle, supervised by Ala, the mother-earth goddess, constitute the bedrock upon which conceptualizations of land and wellbeing of Igbo society are situated. This investigation decolonizes anthropocentric approaches to ecology and contributes new paths to global environmental discourse.

Presenter bio:\ Ijeoma Iruka Forchu, Ph. D. (Ethnomusicology); M. Sc. (Development Studies); M. A. (Ethnomusicology); M.A. (African Studies); B.A. (Music). Senior Research Fellow/Senior Lecturer. Institute for Development Studies/Department of Music, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Research output: African music in sustainable development, focusing on concepts and practices of Nigerian, and particularly Igbo music.

Affiliation:\ University of Nigeria

}, author = {Forchu, Ijeoma} } @conference {1575736, title = {Colonialism, Neo-colonialism, and Environmental Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Climate change has severely compromised the livelihoods of people that are overwhelmingly dependent on the natural environment, particularly those in developing countries that are usually the least able to cope with the associated social and environmental risks. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region most vulnerable to climate change since warming will be greater than the global average, and agriculture, mainly rain-fed, is the primary source of subsistence for rural communities. A cursory glance at available literature reveals that several researches have been done on climate change in Africa, but with no clear-cut attention on the consequences of colonialism and neo-colonialism on climate change. This paper, therefore, studies the impact of colonialism and neo-colonialism on Sub-Saharan Africa{\textquoteright}s struggle with climate change. It discovers that the colonial period in Africa (1880s-1960s) was marked by the alteration of indigenous methods of mitigating ecological disasters. European powers also extracted natural resources for their economic benefits, often with little regard for the local environment and communities in Africa. With neo-colonialism (1961-2024) changing baton with colonialism, the exploitation of the environment in Sub-Saharan Africa through the activities of former colonial powers and multinational companies still endures. This research tells the story of Sub-Saharan Africa{\textquoteright}s experience of climate change in relation to her colonial and neo-colonial relationships. While the historical and hermeneutic methods of inquiry will be used for the analysis and presentation of data, the Igwebuike theoretical framework would be employed in the search for a holistic approach towards environmental sustainability in Sub-Saharan African.

Presenter bio:\ Ikechukwu Anthony KANU, PhD is a Professor of African Philosophy and Religious Traditions at, the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University, Nigeria; and a Tenured Professor of African Theology at the Faculty of Catholic Theology and Orthodox Studies, The University of America, Temecula, USA. Kanu is the Global President of the Association for the Promotion of African Studies.

Affiliation:\ Tansian University, Umunya, Nigeria

}, author = {Kanu, Ikechukwu Anthony} } @conference {1575731, title = {{\textquoteleft}A relationship with the land that western culture knows nothing of{\textquoteright}: sacred claims of First Nations Australia, 1960-1990}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Over a period of only two decades, First Nations people transformed Australia{\textquoteright}s Christian churches from supporters of mining on Indigenous land to among its most vocal opponents, joining First Nations people in describing the land as {\textquoteleft}sacred{\textquoteright}. In this paper, I examine the ways in which First Nations people articulated their relationship to Country as religion to claim sovereignty over their lands. I seek to reveal the ways in which their articulations of occurred in dialogue, resistance to and entanglement with Christianity, with important insights for the ways First Nations people read settler cultures to create opportunities in the absence of other decolonial options.

Presenter bio:\ Laura Rademaker is an historian at the Australian National University. Her work focuses on histories of Indigenous self-determination movements and Christian missions, drawing on oral histories in partnership with communities. She is the author of Found in Translation (University of Hawaii, 2018) and, together with Traditional Owner Mavis Kerinaiua, Tiwi Story: Turning History Downside Up (Newsouth, 2023).

Affiliation:\ Australian National University

}, author = {Rademaker, Laura} } @conference {1575726, title = {A New Approach to a Traditional Girls{\textquoteright} Summer Camp at YWCA VT Camp Hochelaga: Embracing Spirituality while Centering Anti-Racism and Women{\textquoteright}s+ Empowerment}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ 
Summer camps are spaces for spiritual transformation, initiation, and development; acting as a rite of passage for many North American adolescents. Beyond the friendship bracelets and campfires, the origins of summer camp are rooted in Muscular Christianity, white supremacy, colonialism, and cultural appropriation. By acknowledging these facts and centering the YWCA{\textquoteright}s mission to, "eliminate racism, empower women, and promote peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all," YWCA Vermont Camp Hochelaga has begun work to repair the harmful white-supremecist-neo-liberal-patriarchical and colonial origins of camp to create an integrated and holistic approach that can pave the way for a better society beyond campgrounds.

Presenter bio:\ Chelsea Irys Rendlen is a spiritual activist and author. She holds a M.A. in Spirituality Mind Body, Psychology in Education from Columbia University, has her own Healing Practice, Irys Healing Arts, and is the Executive Director of the YWCA Vermont Camp Hochelaga where she creates socially and spiritually conscious spaces.

Affiliation:\ YWCA Vermont

}, author = {Rendlen, Chelsea} } @conference {1575721, title = {Of Fairies, Fairy Doctors, and Witches: Witch trials in Spanish Sicily}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ The magic-imbued landscape of Spanish Sicily and Sicilian Witches brought the image of the witch away from its Christian devilry and into the realm of Pagan traditional wonder. The donni di fori (Spanish do{\~n}as de fuera), {\textquotedblleft}Ladies from Outside,{\textquotedblright} challenged the diabolical-seeking Inquisition with new beings seemingly ready to tempt souls away from Christian belief. This essay explores {\textquotedblleft}monstrosity{\textquotedblright} as a religious technique used by the Spanish Inquisition to Christianize and demonize traditional Sicilian folk belief. It further aims to investigate the dimensions of colonial religious violence as it entangles with the beliefs and practices of those under its occupation.

Presenter bio:\ Ara Gargiulo is a first year M.A.R. student at Yale Divinity School. She is fascinated by beauty and monstrosity in early/ancient religions, religious art and belief, the other/divine/mortal relationship, and [gendered] aesthetic constructions of morality, agency, and the body. She hopes to pursue her PhD in Religious Studies.

Affiliation:\ Yale Divinity School - M.A.R. WGSS

}, author = {Gargiulo, Ara} } @conference {1575716, title = {DISRUPTION, RECLAMATION AND DELIGHT: A CRITICAL ORGANIC AUTOETHNOGRAPHY OF A BLACK MOTHER{\textquoteright}S CHILDBIRTH AS LIBERATORY TRANSPERSONAL CONSCIOUSNESS }, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ The notion of monotheism, conventionally understood as the worship of a single male deity, has undergone extensive exploration. However, a remarkable and transformative narrative has been often overlooked - the era of monotheism, centered around a single Mother Goddess. This proposal seeks to illuminate this largely uncharted terrain, presenting compelling evidence for the existence of a prolonged era of monotheism preceding the rise of pagan polytheism and the subsequent emergence of monotheistic religions.

Presenter bio:\ tayla shanaye (she/they) is an integral somatic decolonial feminist and relational educator, mother of two young children, and Women{\textquoteright}s Spirituality scholar.

Affiliation:\ California Institute of Integral Studies

}, author = {ealom, tayla} } @conference {1575711, title = {Keloid Reflections}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Keloid Reflections is a compassionate effort towards the bodily experience of transmen in Indonesia. The performance is based on a novel titled {\textquotedblleft}Keloid{\textquoteright}{\textquoteright} written by Napol Riel. Through the transmedia method from novel into poetry and bodily performance, we reflected on the psychospiritual development of Napol as transman during his gender-affirming transition. The process includes reading the novel, collecting tangents or fragments for the poem, bodily interpretation of the poem and somatic inquiry. We learned that the spiritual and emotional struggle of transgender people is valid.

Presenter bio:\ Reksi Adiwiguna (he/him) is an activist and contemporary artist. His previous performances revolved around the issue of woman consciousness and spirituality and also social justice. He{\textquoteright}s aware of the positionality and developing bodily methods to cultivate compassion. Napol Riel (he/him) likes fiction and prefers to express his thoughts through writing. He once worked at a media focused on Gender \& Islam, and participated in writing classes and seminars related to the issue. Now he works at Umah Ramah foundation delving on Sexuality and Sexual Violence. Ahmad Syahrul (he/him) is A Musician, Comic Artist, and Illustrator. Active as Musician since 2009 until now, making a music according to mood, situation, picture and environment. Most of his music are used for my comic titled {\textquotedblleft}Swarawati{\textquotedblright}, depression, Loneliness, Regret, doubt, anger, weakness, musing, are mix in my music. Barrbalion Victoria Hanzael (he/him) is a transman and undergraduate student. He first participated in nationwide online poetry at Indonesia Kaya in 2020. Then he displayed his artwork with the theme "Me and My Universe" at the Titik Simpang Festival managed by Qbukatabu in 2023. Lacahya (she/her) has been active in the arts since 2010, then has been actively writing professionally since 2015. She has played roles in the local theater and movies of Ranjang Milik, Widji, and Bara as well as writing theater scripts and Bara{\textquoteright}s film scripts.

Affiliation: Umah Ramah Foundation

}, author = {Katresna, M Rhaka} } @conference {1575706, title = {Glorifying God in Angola and Japan: Decoloniality in Igreja Mundial do Messias through Prayer, Song, and Breath}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ This workshop explores decoloniality in relation to the practices of faith within Igreja Mundial do Messias Angola, the Angolan branch of Sekai Meshia Kyo, a Japanese new religion founded by Okada Mokichi (1882-1955), also known as Meishu-sama. Co-led by a church leader in Angola (Alberto) and a PhD candidate at Harvard (Naohito), the workshop draws insights from both the spiritual practices of Igreja Mundial do Messias and the academic study of religion. Audience members will be invited to join in prayer, song, and open-hearted dialogue about this new faith that started in Japan and spread to Angola via Brazil.

Presenter bios:\ Alberto Quifuta Pereira is Director of the International Department of Igreja Mundial do Messias Angola. Born in U{\'\i}ge, Alberto entered the church in 1997 and spent several years as a missionary in South Africa and Japan, where he learned English and Japanese. His native languages are Kikongo and Portuguese.

Naohito Miura is a PhD candidate in the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University. His research focuses on Japanese religions, new religious movements, and ethnography of religion. Naohito received his BA in International Relations from Pomona College and MDiv from Harvard Divinity School.

Harvard University, Committee on the Study of Religion

}, author = {Miura, Naohito and Pereira, Alberto Quifuta} } @conference {1575701, title = {The Coiled Snake: The Goddess of the East and the Satan of the West A Workshop on Jungian Psychoanalysis and Kundalini Yoga}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ The workshop shall be divided into three parts 1. The first part shall briefly discuss the Western Colonial notion of Hindu philosophy, emphasising Jung{\textquoteright}s view of it. 2. The second part shall throw light on how many of Jung{\textquoteright}s ideas correlate to ancient Indian philosophical concepts (giving special attention to Jung{\textquoteright}s lecture series on Kundalini yoga: The psychology of Kundalini yoga: Notes of the seminar given in 1932 by C. G. Jung). 3. The final part shall be comprised of a short session on a specific type of Kundalini yoga and meditation (there are numerous ones) incorporating certain Jungian psychoanalytic techniques. The objective of the workshop is to identify the East, namely the ancient Hindu tradition, as an active ingredient in the dynamic process of knowledge creation{\textemdash}not just a passive bearer of it. It is more than restoring the due credit to the age-old civilisation, it is about enhancing the horizon of this already expansive philosophy and assimilating the theories by one of the great masters of Western psychology within its scope.

Presenter bio:\ 

Completed PhD program in English with specialisation in South Asian Film and Literature and Postcolonial Studies under the University of Calcutta and has 13+ years of experience in teaching English language, literature and communication skill to students of Management and technical background, has delivered invited lectures and paper in various universities in India and abroad, such as university of Graz, Austria, Cambridge University, Montreal University, Timisoara University. After a spiritual awakening in 2022, has shifted to mission-oriented writing and teaching programs aiming at imparting hope, love and the message of peace to the world. Presently she is working as a contractual faculty member in the Department of English, Surendranath College for Women, Kolkata, India and dedicating her time to animal welfare.

Affiliation:\ Surendra Nath College for Women

}, author = {Das, Rituparna} } @conference {1575696, title = {Cultivating Kinship: The Art of Becoming an Ecosystem}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ In a blend of lyric essay, poetry and spiritual storytelling, this performance seeks to investigate the lineage of ecological movements{\textemdash}creative and destructive, evolving and transformative{\textemdash}into which we emerge as humans, and whose life-giving music we learn and honor to our collective flourishment, or ignore and abuse to our collective peril. Drawing lessons from the plant world{\textemdash}where native, invasive and naturalized species shape, threaten and seek refuge in their ecosystems{\textemdash}and drawing parallels in the lives, movements and deaths of ecosystems themselves, it examines the embattled processes of nativity and colonialism, often entwined in the same species and creature. It then offers a path toward intentional integration into our places, where, once aware of our endangerments and practical means of alignment, we can begin to cultivate the art of reciprocity: living as ecosystems inhabiting people as much as people inhabiting lands.

Presenter bio:\ Ricky Ray is a poet, essayist and eco-mystic who lives with his wife and his own brown dog in the old green hills of New England. He is the author of three books of poetry, and the forthcoming collection The Soul We Share, along with a critical study of the poet Brigit Pegeen Kelly. He was educated at Columbia University and Bennington College, and he lectures on poetry, animism and integral ecology.

Affiliation: Columbia University

}, author = {Ray, Ricky} } @conference {1575691, title = {Pure Sound to Ground - An Exploration of Sonic Spiritual Practice}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Pure Sound to Ground will uses gongs, crystal bowls, Tibetan Sound bowls, chimes and other instruments as a means of shepherding higher states of meditation and transcendence. But this is not transcendence in terms of escapism or spiritual by-pass, but attunement with one{\textquoteright}s true nature in community. Given all the collective stress, grief, sorrow, trauma and sadness we have witnessed in recent memory, words will not solve the problems created by words. But since sound is pre-cognitive and primordial, it connects with essential parts of our nature {\textendash} beyond ego-centric identity (a hallmark of colonial spiritual systems and methodologies).Pure Sound to Ground will uses gongs, crystal bowls, Tibetan Sound bowls, chimes and other instruments as a means of shepherding higher states of meditation and transcendence. But this is not transcendence in terms of escapism or spiritual by-pass, but attunement with one{\textquoteright}s true nature in community. Given all the collective stress, grief, sorrow, trauma and sadness we have witnessed in recent memory, words will not solve the problems created by words. But since sound is pre-cognitive and primordial, it connects with essential parts of our nature {\textendash} beyond ego-centric identity (a hallmark of colonial spiritual systems and methodologies).

Presenter bio:\ 

Reggie is the founder/chief serving officer of Active Peace LLC. Through Active Peace, he offers physical, mindfulness and sound practice to help others nurture peace of mind, creativity, equanimity in spirit and physical health - helping people nurture well-being as foundational, rather than an afterthought.

Affiliation:\ Active Peace LLC

}, author = {Hubbard, Reggie} } @conference {1575686, title = {Animism and Ecological Restoration (Century Old Tradition of Indigenous Community) }, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ The century old practices of people in mid hill region of other parts of Nepal on the areas of natural resource management is either guided by animistic approach or some sort of religious philosophy. Both animism or religious belief on natural resource management has several aspect of similarities and harmony. The entire practices of natural resource management is guided by a spiritual belief system which states each living beings possess soul and interlinkage to the family deity and ritual. This encourage the people of different group to consider protecting these all for the people and planet.

Presenter bio:\ Organic Agriculture promoter and keen interest on Cosmovision of people. Field level experience on agriculture, ecology and indigenous knowledge of people in different parts of developing countries in Asia, Oceania and Africa. Studied Biodynamic agriculture.

Affiliation:\ SECARD Nepal

}, author = {Maheswar, Ghimire} } @conference {1575681, title = {Praying in the cracks: postactivist animism and the (r)evolving worship of the Unknown}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ How might a valuing{\textendash}a worshiping{\textendash} of the Unknown (r)evolve spirituality away from defensive epistemologies and towards pluriversal ontologies that foster peace and response-ability with all beings? Does the concept of postactivism offer emerging animisms a decolonial fugitivity that escapes the flattening {\textquotedblleft}knowings{\textquotedblright} of Whiteness? This paper will conceptualize postactivist animism and consider how worshiping the Unknown may conjure a humility able to corrode coloniality. As animism seeps back into Western consciousness, perhaps it might shed the armor of Knowledge and find refuge and ritual in the warm, dark waters of Unknowability and the dissolution of a identified self.

Presenter bio:\ Melissa MacDonald is an experimental theatre artist and emerging transdisciplinary scholar working towards a master{\textquoteright}s in Cultural Studies at Dartmouth College. Her research focuses on cultural and political ecology in relation to animism and ecological economics, and how artists and scholars engage with the Unknown. She lives in Woodstock, Vermont.

Affiliation:\ Dartmouth College, Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies

}, author = {MacDonald, Melissa} } @conference {1575676, title = {Native fascination and neo-shamanism in Europe}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ The exotic imaginary and the indigenous fascination it conveys as a saving narrative possibility have their roots in the primitivist aesthetic trend of the early 20th century. This tropism of mythologized thought from the past is becoming a driving force behind cultural production today. Today{\textquoteright}s native is often seen as the last survivor (of a multitude that never really disappeared) of a culture that is always on the verge of vanishing. This symposium will be an opportunity for me to analyze in depth how the fascination with the image of the native has been fundamental to the process of diffusion of neo-shamanic practices in contemporary France.

Presenter bio:\ I am an Italian anthropologist based in France. My research concerns conventional and alternative psychotherapies and contemporary spiritual practices with special attention to Neo-Shamanism and healing rituals in Western societies. I did fieldwork in France, Italy, Mexico, and Switzerland. I have written the first academic book about Neo-shamanism in France.

Affiliation:\ Groupe Soci{\'e}t{\'e}s Religions et La{\"\i}cit{\'e}s

}, author = {Lombardi, Denise} } @conference {1575671, title = {Diasporic Mysticism, Psychology, \& Tarot: A Path to Decolonizing Intuitive Development}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ This paper explores the intersection of Tarot, psycho-spirituality, and diasporic struggles. Focusing on the Roma people{\textquoteright}s historical disenfranchisement and the role of Pamela Colman Smith, a Jamaician-American artist, in Tarot{\textquoteright}s modern interpretation, it examines Tarot as a tool for personal growth and as a practice of resistance against power structures. The paper connects these themes to feminism, intuitive development, and the capacity of psycho-spiritual movements to foster joy in the face of oppression. It presents Tarot as a type of spiritual tool entangled with empire and pop culture, offering insights into its use as a creative art and practice for intuitive development through a Jungian psychological lens, fostering healing and spiritual connection.

Presenter bio:\ Montreal-native Laura, a Registered Counselling Therapist in Nova Scotia, holds a master{\textquoteright}s in counseling from McGill University and a BA in Communications. Passionate about psychospiritual exploration, travel, tarot, nature, and yoga, she bridges Western psychology with mysticism. In this Harvard workshop, she guides empathic souls through embodied self-care, fostering inner wisdom.

}, author = {Cohen, Laura} } @conference {1575666, title = {Rewilding Spirituality}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ This interactive session explores ecological rewilding as a model for the evolution of spiritual practices. Rewilding spirituality, akin to ecological rewilding, involves habitat restoration, process thought, keystone species, connectivity, and adaptivity to foster a holistic approach to spirituality. Conducted outdoors, this session integrates forest therapy and spiritual practices, inviting participants to experience their place in the web of interbeing as sacred. Delving into parallels between ecological and spiritual rewilding, the discussion will explore how ecological rewilding might inform the evolution of spiritual practices by questioning harmful frameworks, challenging dominant narratives of human superiority and reimagining spiritual practices.

Presenter bio:\ Kimberly is the founder and director of Wildwood Wisdom. She earned an M.Div. from Candler School of Theology in 2009 where she focused on progressive theologies and online community building. She is an ANFT certified nature therapy guide living The Netherlands where she moved with her wife in 2017.

Affiliation:\ Jackie Kuang, Association of Nature and Forest Therapy, Nicole Diroff, The BTS Center

}, author = {Knight, Kimberly} } @conference {1575661, title = {Wisdom of Webs Workshop}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Have you noticed how impact anywhere on a web affects even seemingly distant parts? Whether a dragonfly hitting a spider web, or the way cultural and religious ideas shape our relationships with each other across time and place? In this hands-on workshop, we will explore stories of spiders and what we can learn that may help in engaging with the conference themes and in better caring for our interdependence throughout the web of life. We will consider the ways spiders {\textquotedblleft}listen{\textquotedblright} and engage with their surrounding world as inspiration for us to better sense and shape how we care for each other and the Earth we share.

Affiliation: Harvard University

}, author = {Kariko, Sarah} } @conference {1575656, title = {Pantheism{\textquoteright}s Violent Depths: Spinoza, Pragmatism, and Authoritarianism in Dark Green Religion}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Benedict Spinoza is a choice reference of contemporary practitioners of what Bron Taylor has named {\textquotedblleft}dark green religion,{\textquotedblright} a popular alternative form of spiritual practice that treats nature as worthy of reverent care. This paper will explore Spinoza{\textquoteright}s pantheism for the ways it inspires what gives dark green religion its shadow side, according to Taylor: its troubling compatibility with authoritarian politics. Relying on pragmatist philosophy, I will argue for the need to abandon metaphors of depth in alternative nature spiritualities (e.g., {\textquotedblleft}deep ecology,{\textquotedblright} a signal influence on radical environmentalism) and the violent, imperial politics that metaphor effects.

Presenter bio:\ Russell C. Powell is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School. His research is on the religious, philosophical, and political resonances of contemporary environmental issues. He has held teaching positions at Amherst College, Princeton University, and Boston College.

Affiliation: Harvard Divinity School

}, author = {Powell, Russell} } @conference {1575651, title = {Spirituality, Degrowth and the Earth}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ As a dogma that fundamentally guides our relationship with all that surrounds us, arguably there are few more essential forces that shape our spirituality than the economy. The earth was once alive and a place of spirit. Acquisition, however, was and is the imperial, colonial, enterprise: a vast global mission to find new lands and acquire more of the earth{\textquoteright}s abundant {\textquotedblleft}natural resources,{\textquotedblright} perhaps best exemplified by the Doctrine of Discovery. These are the foundations of the endless growth capitalist market economy. The path to positive change is twofold: economic degrowth and embracing the earth as a place of interconnected spirit.

Presenter bio:\ Jennifer Ellen (Jenellen) Good is an academic {\textendash} associate professor focusing on environmental communication at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario; an environmental activist {\textendash} worked for years with Greenpeace Canada; and a seeker {\textendash} born into a Jewish-Christian home, raised with Unitarianism and very much guided by interconnection and earth spirituality.

Affiliation: Brock University

}, author = {Good, Jennifer Ellen} } @conference {1575646, title = {Mindful Conservation: Contemplative Discourses in Conservation Science}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ In an era of climate upheaval and biodiversity loss, scientists recognize that to generate social and ecological change, the practice of science requires new vision. Today, scientists are integrating contemplative principles into conservation science. Contemplative approaches have been shown to improve scientific processes,\ enrich cross-cultural dialogue, and benefit socio-ecological outcomes. Contemplative encounters can also obscure normative boundaries between scientific discovery and theological inquiry, positioning Divine Nature beyond name and form.\ Situated at the intersection of contemplative studies and decolonial conservation in Southern Africa, this paper presents contemplative principles vital to the practice of environmental science in the Anthropocene.

Presenter bio:\ Jessica (J.A.) Beaudette is a PhD Candidate in Religious Studies at Arizona State University. Her research examines how local cultural and religious inheritances impact community responses to climate change, particularly in Indigenous and community conservation initiatives in Botswana. Her work also explores how climate narratives and contemplative practices can support both scientific and everyday communities as they respond to environmental and ecological justice challenges.

Affiliation: Arizona State University

}, author = {Beaudette, Jessica} } @conference {1575641, title = {What is medicine? Integrating indigenous with scientific ontologies in ayahuasca research}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ The revival of psychedelics in Western research raises issues about the underappreciation of ayahuasca{\textquoteright}s sacred significance and the Indigenous wisdom associated with it. Such oversight reflects a broader disconnect from the communal and spiritual practices integral to Indigenous knowledge, a gap that also contributes to our current environmental and health crises. This presentation looks at the Yawanaw{\'a} tradition to critique the reduction of ayahuasca to mere scientific data, advocating for a synthesis of Indigenous and modern scientific approaches to enrich future research and therapeutic practices.

Presenter bios:\ Dr. Maria Fernanda Gebara is a social anthropologist, lecturer, and writer. Her work concentrates on integrating indigenous and scientific knowledges; understanding the needs of indigenous peoples to conserve their biodiversity and to disseminate their cosmologies; and studying issues related to other-than-human being consciousness, co-evolution, relationality, and shared intentionality. With experience in prominent centers worldwide, including Brazil, Indonesia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, she is currently dedicated to protecting indigenous traditional knowledge related to sacred medicines. Additionally, she is writing a book titled "Chanting Spring," which documents her experiences with indigenous communities in the Amazon and provides a blend of scientific and traditional knowledge for our post-pandemic world.

Nani Yawanaw{\'a}: Nani is the main Professor of the Yawanaw{\'a} People. He is 60 years old and was initiated into the Yawanaw{\'a} spirituality by his ancestors. Nani is an elder, a teacher and a healer of his people, who carries ancient knowledge passed along from generations. He is actively working to keep the Yawanaw{\'a}{\textquoteright}s traditions alive. Nani dedicates his life to his family, to the forest and to traditional knowledge: planting different species of trees, harvesting, cultivating medicinal plants and teaching the Yawanaw{\'a} children. Nani is a keeper of the authenticity of the Yawanaw{\'a} culture, focusing especially on the language, the prayers, the songs and in transmitting a very deep understanding of the Yawanaw{\'a} ancestrality.

Isku Ku{\'a} Yawanaw{\'a}: Isku Ku{\'a} is the chief of Nova Esperan{\c c}a ({\textquotedblleft}New Hope{\textquotedblright}) village, with a population of 300 people. Isku Kua represents the young generation and has already been through the higher spiritual initiations of the tradition. He is also a talented musician and guitar player, who adapted many traditional songs to the guitar, and travels frequently to Europe and the United States to share his people{\textquoteright}s culture and spirituality. Isku{\textquoteright}s knowledge of his culture gets deeper every day as a result of his deep commitment to his studies.

Affiliation:\ Yorenka Tasorentsi Institute

}, author = {Gebara, Maria Fernanda and Yawanaw{\'a}, Nani and Yawanaw{\'a}, Isku Ku{\'a}} } @conference {1575636, title = {The Benefits of Surrogate Interviewers in Research with Indigenous Peoples: Fostering Cultural Appreciation}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ This presentation unveils a novel method for comprehending alternative spiritualities within Indigenous communities. Utilizing a surrogate deeply connected to the K{\'a}gaba (Kogi) and I{\textquoteright}kʉ (Arhuaco) communities, interviews were conducted efficiently, transcended language barriers, and fostered immediate trust. The presentation advocates for future researchers working within Indigenous communities representing different cultures to adopt this approach. As a methodological innovation, it serves as a testament to cultural sensitivity, appreciation, and ethical research practices, providing a distinctive avenue to navigate the intricate landscape of alternative spiritualities in Indigenous communities.

Presenter bio:\ Dr. Amber Voiles, Sofia University adjunct faculty, holds a Ph.D., BFA, and MFA. As a NAMA-approved Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor, she co-created Equinox{\textquoteright}s Headstrong meditation program. She{\textquoteright}s also co-founder and president of The SOFIE Foundation, a 501{\textcopyright} 3 dedicated to preserving Indigenous Life. Learn more at ambervoilesyoga.com and SOFIEfoundation.org

Affiliation:\ The SOFIE Foundation Sofia University

}, author = {Voiles, Amber} } @conference {1575631, title = {Slippery Relationality, Queer Buddhisms, and Liberatory Praxis}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ My presentation will theorize Queer of Color engagement with Buddhist spiritualities as decolonial work, attending to spiritual experiences in the United States. Drawing on archival and ethnographic research and on critical theory, I will conceptualize {\textquotedblleft}slippery relationality{\textquotedblright} as an analytic and as a mode of praxis that refers to the ways in which Queer of Color practitioners of Buddhism traverse normative boundaries of affiliation, cultivate healing, and reckon with colonial violence. My development of slippery relationality engages with fields of inquiry as wide-ranging as queer studies and ecocritical theory, and ultimately raises questions about its role in sustaining liberatory politics.

Presenter bio:\ Samir Ravi (she/they) is a trans independent scholar at Sacred Heart Preparatory in California whose research traverses queer theory, intellectual history, and education studies. They are an ardent advocate for critical racial literacy in K-12 schools and lead an initiative called the Healing Literacies Project.

Affiliation:\ Sacred Heart Preparatory

}, author = {Ravi, Samir} } @conference {1575626, title = {Exploring Spirituality as an Academic, Painter and Seeker}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ As an academic, painter and Kriya practioner, my presentation would focus very briefly on the spiritual theories preached by the spiritual masters in the 20th Century India, and then move on to discuss the essence of what I have gained through academic study, as a spiritual seeker and artist. In this context I would be discussing my understandings of my readings of portions from Paramahansa Yogananda{\textquoteright}s selected works, briefly, along with the manuscript that I am editing by Shri Gurunath, a Kriya yogi. My intention through these discussions would be to address questions that arise in this process of awakening.

Presenter bio:\ Jayita Sengupta is professor of English at Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University, India. She was a Charles Wallace Fellow in 2000 for her doctoral research and a Fulbright Fellow for teaching and research at Stanford University in 2012. She has been a teaching fellow in Illinois Wesleyan and universities in Taiwan as well. Her areas of research include cultural studies, consciousness studies, translation. She has published widely and has several books to her claim. Among her latest publications is TIME, HISTORY AND CULTURAL SPACES: NARRATIVE EXPLORATIONS, Routledge, UK, 2022. She is presently working on a manuscript of spiritual verse, for Asiatic Society. As a painter, she has made creative presentations in India.

Affiliation:\ Department of English Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University

}, author = {Sengupta, Jayita} } @conference {1575621, title = {Reimagining the Codex Tezcatlipoca (Fej{\'e}rv{\'a}ry-Mayer): A Transdisciplinary Approach to Decolonizing Mesoamerican Cultural Heritage}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ This presentation delves into the Codex Tezcatlipoca (Fej{\'e}rv{\'a}ry-Mayer) from the World Museum, Liverpool. Applying the Mesoamerican Futures framework, this paper explores decolonial theory, digital heritage and speculative methods to reinterpret the Codex{\textquoteright}s cultural significance to its source and diasporic communities. Critical museology is applied to recontextualize the Codex within a decolonising indigenous framework. Collaborative research across Puebla, Oaxaca, Tlaxcala, Mexico City, and Liverpool informs this study. The presentation highlights the diverse perspectives on the Codex Fej{\'e}rv{\'a}ry-Mayer{\textquoteright}s digital heritage, potential renaming, and speculated repatriation.

Presenter bio:\ Jos{\'e} Sherwood Gonz{\'a}lez, PhD researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University, specializes in Mesoamerican studies and decolonial theory. Blending his British-Mexican heritage, Jos{\'e} employs innovative methodologies in visual anthropology and digital media. Supported by an AHRC scholarship, his work focuses on reimagining the Codex Fej{\'e}rv{\'a}ry-Mayer, currently held in the World Musuem, Liverpool.

Affiliation:\ School of Digital Arts, Manchester Metropolitan University

}, author = {Sherwood Gonzalez, Jos{\'e}} } @conference {1575616, title = {Eco-Restoration and Regeneration as Decolonization}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Coloniality and expropriation have been central to the destruction of the environment. Climate stability is dependent on healthy, native eco-systems and the water cycles and carbon cycles they maintain. By restoring regenerative eco-systems, we are applying the principles of decolonization, reversing the damages of colonialization and extraction. This paper explores the needed shift in mentation, spirituality and behavior from colonial to decolonial, with reference to historic and present-day examples and opportunities for growth from understanding the climate in this context.

Presenter bio:\ Susan Farist Butler, has most recently been a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Divinity School, working in the areas of ecotheology, coloniality and decoloniality, all as they pertain to climate health and moral decision making. She uses painting and written articles to communicate. Prior work in the Laboratory for Probabilistic Reasoning, studying experimental cognitive psychology of judgment and decision making informs her work in climate and morality. She co-founded the Laboratory with Ray Nickerson, and worked for 20 years as co-Principal Investigator.

Affiliation:\ Visiting Scholar in Climate and Morality at Harvard Divinity School

} } @conference {1575611, title = {Place-Based Learning: Decolonizing Ecology: Native Plants and Settler Action}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Groundtruthing in the Garden: Learn how to unlayer the landscape! Our schools, homes and institutions are surrounded by essential kin. Come and learn how to see how the plants we surround ourselves with tell a story. The original local plants, and the introduced species create a floral narrative in the Harvard Divinity School Garden. Place based learning helps us orient ourselves in a changing world. We can cocreate a practical physical account to reconcile and decolonialize the landscapes that surround us. Join us outside for some fresh air and plant perspectives.

Presenter bio:\ 

Tamara Litke has linked her academic work with hands-on ecological engagement. She has been involved with school greenways, commercial projects and botanical and community gardens. Tamara has studied with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies and writes about ecological change within our expanding knowledge of the cosmic timeline for her PhD dissertation at CIIS.

Affiliation:\ California Institute of Integral Studies

}, author = {Litke, Tamara} } @conference {1575606, title = {Storytelling As Tool for Dismantling Embedded Theologies: Wrestling with Zionism}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ In this interactive workshop, we will model and discuss the Wrestling with Zionism Storytelling Workshop, which we have used to support Jewish individuals in dismantling embedded theologies of Zionism. As anti-Zionist Jewish activists and scholars, we know that building a decolonial future is impossible without grappling with the ideologies that split the Jewish world. Over the past three years, we have learned the importance of sharing stories about learned Zionism in our anti-Zionist community-building work. This workshop provides a model that can be replicated in faith-based communities (Jewish and otherwise) to open up space for deconstructing embedded theologies. This workshop is open to all and will include participatory storytelling in a modified version of the workshop.

Presenter bio:\ Shir Lovett-Graff: Shir Lovett-Graff is a writer, scholar, and community organizer. They received their MTS in Religion, Ethics and Politics from Harvard Divinity School, where they focused on the intersection of spiritual care and conflict transformation. Their community work centers on Jewish abolitionism and building anti-Zionist Jewish community. Francesca Rubinson: Francesca Rubinson is a 3rd-year MDiv at Harvard Divinity School studying Jewish texts and history with a focus on gender, sexuality, and embodiment. She has worked as an interfaith hospital and university chaplain, and is passionate about building liberatory and inclusive Jewish community.

Affiliation: Harvard Divinity School\ 

}, author = {Lovett-Graff, Shir and Rubinson, Francesca} } @conference {1575601, title = {Inner decolonization for a better world - Experimentation with the Brahma Kumaris philosophy for a return to self-sovereignty, dignity, and solidarity}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ The workshop will motivate {\textquotedblleft}inner decolonization{\textquotedblright} and invite experimentation to cultivate an inner awareness of being {\textquotedblleft}self-sovereign{\textquotedblright} with Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga. Various historical examples, including the context of the Brahma Kumaris through pre-partition India, will ground the presentation. In parallel with external efforts, the aim is to restore inner freedom, by emerging an innate dignity for the self and others. The workshop has three parts: (a) motivation and framework, (b) experience, and (c) question and answer. The Brahma Kumaris is the largest women-led spiritual organization, with over 5000 centers in 110 countries and a 30-plus year relationship with the UN.Presenter bios:\ Sudarshan Sundar has been a student and teacher of Raja Yoga Meditation as taught by the Brahma Kumaris since 2001. He helped start and co-coordinated the activities of "Inner Space Meditation Center and Gallery" in Harvard Square from 2012 to 2020. Since 2021, he has served as a Spiritual Affiliate for Brahma Kumaris at Northeastern University{\textquoteright}s Center for Spirituality Dialogue and Service. He also presented at a Harvard Divinity School conference in 2023. He has been a Software Engineer by profession at Microsoft since 2003. Judy Rodgers has been a student of the Brahma Kumaris and teacher of Raj Yoga meditation for 27 years. She spent much of her working life in media and as a consultant and communication strategist, working with businesses and universities. The emphasis in her work has been on the power of narrative, how the questions we ask ourselves, and the stories we tell ourselves affect our life journeys. In 2004 she co-founded the Center for Business as Agent of World Benefit at Case Western Reserve University. In 2007 she co-authored a book on altruism called Something Beyond Greatness: Conversations with a Man of Science and a Woman of God. Since 2006 she has lived in Peace Village Retreat Center in the Catskill Mountains north of New York City. Rita Cleary is a co-founder of The Learning Circle and The Visions of A Better World Foundation in 1993. She is also a founding partner of The Society for Organizational Learning and Images and Voices of Hope Media Project and the Call of the Time Global Leadership Dialogues and Retreats series since 1998. For over 30 years, she has been a student and teacher of Raja Yoga Meditation. Rita currently serves as the Co-Coordinator of the Boston chapter of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization.

Affiliation:\ Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization

}, author = {Sundar, Sudarshan and Rodgers, Judy and Cleary, Rita} } @conference {1575596, title = {Decolonizing Garden Design: A Workshop on Ecological and Spiritual Resistance}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ This workshop will offer a case study in using garden design as a practical tool of spiritual resistance and decolonization, offering participants information and resources to do the same in their own homes and institutions. We will reference the garden that I have designed and am implementing at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, CT. The project, a kind of {\textquotedblleft}living land acknowledgment{\textquotedblright} that is designed around a meditation labyrinth, is a project that models how to tangibly address the colonial history of the land on which many of our institutions are built.

Presenter bio:\ This workshop will offer a case study in using garden design as a practical tool of spiritual resistance and decolonization, offering participants information and resources to do the same in their own homes and institutions. We will reference the garden that I have designed and am implementing at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, CT. The project, a kind of {\textquotedblleft}living land acknowledgment{\textquotedblright} that is designed around a meditation labyrinth, is a project that models how to tangibly address the colonial history of the land on which many of our institutions are built.

Affiliation: Yale Divinity School\ 

}, author = {Freimuth, Christopher} } @conference {1575591, title = {Sacred Trickster, Sacred Rage: The Role of Eris in Decolonial Resistance and Celebration}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ This paper explores the relevance and potency of Eris, the Greek goddess of strife and discord, in disrupting colonial paradigms. Using the mythology and symbolism of Eris, I illustrate how celebration, resistance, and accountability inform Eris{\textquoteright}s metaphysically confrontational approach to decolonization. By exposing the unconscious motivations that underlie unjust power systems, Eris compels the colonial paradigm to undertake a spiritual and psychological inquiry process in which only transfiguration through chaos becomes sufficient to achieve peace. This paper also discusses how Eris{\textquoteright} trickster nature, echoing Zen Koan paradoxes and Taoist yin-yang cosmology, spurs humanity in a dialectical process toward decolonization.

Presenter bio:\ Rayner Jae Liu is an Integral Coach{\textregistered}, inclusion strategist, and systems theorist who creates leverage for conscious leaders. He has been recognized by Marianne Williamson and Melinda Gates for his work on archetypes and whole-person development and graduated from Duke University with a BA in Cultural Anthropology and Political Science.

}, author = {Jae Liu, Rayner} } @conference {1575586, title = {Policing Whiteness through Pagan Studies}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ A critical decolonial perspective on academic practice in pagan studies, possibly with relevance for the understanding of whiteness in the wider context of the Western world. I will show core patterns in the construction of whiteness, that have historically served to reject other-than-modern relational ways of knowing in the imposition of modern white self-image on euro-descendants. Today such discourse is mostly criticized, but I will show how it still lives in the application of paradoxical motifs ascribed through the pagan imaginary when the purpose is the policing euro-descended persons attempting to dissent from whiteness.

Presenter bio:\ Rune Hjarn{\o} Rasmussen has researched counter-modern dividuation in Brazilian orisha religion, i.e. how deities are realized on the epistemological premises of modernity.. His present work focuses on reengaging and dialoguing with rejected animist knowledge and kinship with the greater community of beings in North European cultural history. (https://linktr.ee/runehr)

}, author = {Hjarn{\o} Rasmussen, Rune} } @conference {1575581, title = {Hail Resistance: Spiritual Resistance to Christian Hegemony Within the Satanic Temple}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Founded in the US by Malcolm Jarry and Lucien Greaves at the end of the year 2012, the Satanic Temple (TST) is both a non-theistic religion, a secularist group and a satanic group fighting for the strict separation of Church and State (Laycock 2020, Introvigne 2016). The Satanic Temple aims at raising the question of the integration of non-Christians as respectful and respected citizens within the public sphere, thus negotiating the tensions at the core of the American national identity and of its civil religion, both heavily influenced by Christianity, with the help of Satan{\textquoteright}s symbol (Colin 2022, Cragun 2023). This paper will focus on the central contribution and inclusion of racial and sexual minorities in this group as part of the spiritual resistance strategy, in order to read both secularism and Satanism through a decolonial lens exploring tensions, power and empowerment in new complex social movements.

Presenter bio:\ Mathieu Colin is a postdoctoral fellow at the UNESCO Chair in Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Extremism. He earned his PhD from the University of Montreal. He focuses on extreme right-wing ideologies such as accelerationism, and he is also interested in the study of secularism in the United States, and of contemporary Satanism.

Affiliation:\ University of Montreal, University of Sherbrooke

}, author = {Colin, Mathieu} } @conference {1575576, title = {African Tailor Made and Shembe Movement in South Africa}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Drawing from the case of the Shembe movement, the paper discusses a case of South Africa{\textquoteright}s spiritual practices and movements labeled as {\textquoteleft}esoteric{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteleft}New Age{\textquoteright}, from the lens of Syncretism as a combination of Zulu culture and Christianity. It examines how African traditional religion (ATR) is a fertile ground for the spread and amalgamation of Syncretism by tracing the history of the Shembe movement and the relevance of symbols in Shembe spiritual practice [{\textquoteright}zihlabelelo Za Manazaretha{\textquoteright}, {\textquoteright}sacred texts written by the founder Isaiah Shembe, cowskin/ leopard skin attires as church uniforms, ancestral honouring, animal sacrificing and {\textquoteright}Nhlangakazi{\textquoteright}, the Holy Mountain of the Shembe]. It also hghlights how the Shembe Church blends two seemingly incompatible philosophies of Shembe ideas and practices(culture) into religion. Data was generated from field study, visit to Shembe Ebuhleni Village, interviews, Focus group discussion oral source, documentary, observation and photovoice Also, Shembe typifies the African Independent Church as a strategy to decolonize Western spirituality and foreign influence as deoloniality of religion.

Presenter bio:\ Samuel is a facilitator, researcher and senior tutor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban South Africa. He holds a Master{\textquoteright}s degree in History and Strategic studies with several years of research experiences in South Africa and Nigeria. Samuel is a member of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, South Africa, Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) the USA, International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM) and an Alumni Institute of Security Studies (ISS), and Nairobi, Kenya. Previously, he was engaged as a field researcher with the KwaZulu-Natal Tourism Province. He also teaches Theology and Religious Studies in different seminary schools. His research interest focuses on Governance, Democratic Institutions, Migration, History, Witchcraft Studies, Religious beliefs and Science in Contemporary Society.

Institution:\ The Management College of Southern Africa (MANCOSA)

}, author = {Umoh, Samuel Uwem} } @conference {1575571, title = {Decolonizing Religions in Africa: The Profound Role of African Spirituality of Ubuntu}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ In the intricate realm of African spirituality, a profound and unique concept known as Ubuntu emerges as a powerful force at the crossroads of decolonizing religions in Africa. In this narrative, we explore the rich tapestry of African spirituality, where the cosmic and human worlds converge to form a sacred channel connecting humanity with the divine. This paper endeavors to unravel the harmonious essence of African cultural and spiritual rituals, symbols, stories, and dances as they intertwine with the fabric of everyday life. It argues that the spirituality of Ubuntu, with its sacred cycle of birth, death, and rebirth intertwined with African ancestors{\textquoteright} visible and invisible forces, should become an integral part of popular religiosity.

Presenter bio:\ Fr. Fikiri Deogratias SJ is a Jesuit priest from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is a Ph.D. Student at Marquette University in the Graduate School with a concentration in leadership and Policy. Before starting his doctoral program, he obtained a master{\textquoteright}s degree in social ethics and environmental justice and a Licentiate in Sacred theology at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara/ Berkeley. He has studied and worked in many African countries, including Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, and the United States. English is his latest and sixth language to learn. He has been interested in social justice issues and African spirituality more on its side of decoloniality. He has published many articles about religion, spirituality, and social justice. Currently, he is working on a book about the African spirituality of Ubuntu and its decolonial component applied to climate and environmental degradation.

Affiliation:\ Marquette University Santa Clara University School of Theology

}, author = {Fikiri, Deogratias} } @conference {1575566, title = {Sacredness and ancestral connection to Africa; Osun Osogbo Grove \& its festival in Nigeria}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ The paper discusses the Osun worship and Osun Osogbo annual festival in Nigeria as an annual celebration of Osun, the goddess of fertility, prosperity, and healing. It discusses the significance of sacred grooves in Osun worship and the symbolic meaning attached to some of the cultural rites performed in the festival ( e.g., Arugba(virgin maid to carry sacrifice), celebration of numerous local creative traditions, like as drumming, dancing, singing, wearing ornate costumes, Yoruba speaking, libation and praise poems, recitals customarily). Drawn from oral sources, textual analysis , archeology, interviews and documentary, findings suggest that the Osun Osogbo festival holds significant spiritual value as a religious and spiritual celebration. Second, Osun festival has played an important role as a sacred place for the Yorubaland, evident in the number of diaspora and foreigner visitors to the Sacred Grove as ancestral connection to Africa." The Osun Osogbo festival is a source for joy and friendliness for the people and a source of spiritual refreshing for visitors.

Presenter bio:\ Adetola Elizabeth Umoh wears many hat as research fellow, student mentor and freelance journalist. She is a recent PhD graduate at the University at KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa in 2023. She is a Remote Research Fellow, University of Religions and Denominations (URD) Iran.

Affiliation: University of Kwazulu-Natal

}, author = {Umoh, Adetola Elizabeth} } @conference {1575561, title = {Why the Guru Came to the West: Rethinking the Transnational Guru from an Indigenous Perspective}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ There are many ideas about why Hindu Gurus left India and came to the West to teach the spiritual traditions of Vedanta, Tantra, and Yoga. Some point to the large transnational institutions that Gurus created and suggest that fame and fortune motivate the Guru to proselytize in the West. Others suggest that it{\textquoteright}s simply a cultural exchange. This discourse around the transnational Guru rarely takes up the view of the Hindu in its musings, and even when it does, the voice of the Hindu is treated as less credible than that of the Westerner. This paper will explore the causes of this lacuna of the Hindu perspective. We will suggest that treating the voice of the indigenous Hindu as credible will lead to a new understanding of the transnational Guru and a more holistic spiritual engagement based on principles of discernment (Viveka) within lineages. We will suggest that this holistic engagement, based on respect for indigenous stewardship, can lead to real progress on entrenched issues, like sexual abuse, in the spiritual seeker communities, leading to healthier spiritual communities.

Presenter bio:\ Snehapriya Rao (Sneha) is a doctoral student at the Hindu University of America in the Hindu Studies discipline. She was raised in India before immigrating to the US at the age of 13. She grew up in a Hindu family with instilled in her a deep reverence for Gurus like Swami Vivekananda for revitalizing ancient traditions that had been lost to many Indians during the colonizal era. Sneha became a seeker and a Yoga practitioner in the Advaita Vedanta tradition and is motivated by a sense of spiritual duty to pass on the traditions of her ancestors to her child in healthy and nourishing environments.

Affiliation:\ Doctoral Student at Hindu University of America hua.edu

}, author = {Snehapriya, Rao} } @conference {1575556, title = {Exploring the Influence of Colonialism on Ethics and Accountability in Alternative Spiritual Teaching and Proposing a New System of Accountability}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ The contemporary spiritual landscape has witnessed a series of scandals and confusions involving spiritual teachers, prompting the inception of the Association for Spiritual Integrity (ASI). The ASI seeks to enhance the discourse, aiming for greater integrity and professionalism within the modern spiritual environment. This presentation will examine how the ever present impacts of colonialism have shaped the cultural status of power, leading to imbalances in the accountability and ethical aspects among alternative spiritual teachers. Many of these Western teachers draw their teaching from indigenous Indian teachings, some of which were brought to the West without the corresponding lineage support. ASI recognizes the vulnerabilities among unaffiliated teachers and their lack of established lineages, which traditionally address accountability and responsibility. However, the absence of any lineage support among Western alternative teachers has created a need for compensatory measures. The ASI proposes leveraging the Western affinity for psychology to fill this accountability gap.

Presenter bio:\ Jac O{\textquoteright}Keeffe has followed a disciplined spiritual path for over 25 years including 15 years as an international spiritual teacher. Her books include Born to Be Free and How to Be a Spiritual Rebel. She is a Theology graduate with post graduate studies in Adult and Community Education. Further certifications include Facilitator of The Right Use of Power and Financial Coaching. Jac is a co-founder and President of the Association for Spiritual Integrity, supporting teachers and leaders in both their spiritual and personal development. www.jac-okeeffe.com www.spiritual-integrity.com

Affiliation:\ The Association for Spiritual Integrity (spiritual-integrity.org)

}, author = {O{\textquoteright}Keeffe, Jac} } @conference {1575551, title = {Light and Shadow in the Transmission of Indigenous Indian Spirituality to the West}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Having survived hundreds of years of colonial domination, India{\textquoteright}s indigenous spiritual traditions have, remarkably, come to exert a powerful influence on the colonizing West. While the overall impact has been to deepen and broaden Western spirituality, the phenomenon also carries issues around coloniality and appropriation that threaten to discredit, dilute, and distort traditional precepts and practices. This presentation provides a balanced overview of the light and dark sides of the East-to-West transmission, highlights the means of transmission and the key players (Indian and Western), and proposes several issues of crucial importance for study and discussion.

Presenter bio:\ Philip Goldberg is an interfaith minister, public speaker, and author whose numerous books include American Veda: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation, How Indian Spirituality Changed the West and The Life of Yogananda. He hosts the Spirit Matters podcast and serves with the Association for Spiritual Integrity.

Affiliation:\ Association for Spiritual Integrity, Spirit Matters podcast

}, author = {Goldberg, Philip} } @conference {1575546, title = {Contemporary Revitalization of Indigenous Spiritualities in Prisons, Treatment Centers, and Veteran Retreats: Using Drumming and Storytelling as Forms of Witnessing the Violence Away}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Bringing together Indigenous Elders, drums, and Native American storytelling, we propose to demonstrate how bringing in ceremonies to spaces long deprived of Indigenous spiritualities has impacted those spaces. In the most natural ways possible colonized spaces often created for {\textquotedblleft}rescue and correction,{\textquotedblright} e.g. prisons, treatment centers, and veteran retreats have become places where Indigenous spiritualities are being revitalized through the use of ceremonies, drumming, and talking circles. We will demonstrate the ways we do this, share what were some of the outcomes, including barriers to introducing and incorporating the use of Indigenous healing modalities into spaces continuously colonized and decolonized.Presenter bios:\ Delores (Lola) Mondrag{\'o}n is a Doctoral candidate at UCSB of Native American \& Indigenous Religious Traditions with an emphasis on rematriation, rites-of-passage, ceremony, militarism, Two-Spirit ways of being, and QWOC Chicana/o/x histories. She is an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation and is the drum-keeper of Iposi, a Women Veteran and Two-Spirit Native medicine drum.

Deborah J. Guerrero is an enrolled Tlingit Tribal member and is also Filipino. Her Tlingit name is GunSeek. She has been an Indian Child Welfare Social Worker for twenty years and is passionate about social justice and works as an advocate for Human Trafficking Survivors in her Native community. As a respected Elder she works with women veterans to help with transformations of their PTSD and is also the honored drum keeper of a sacred drum named Kira{\textquoteright}s Heartbeat.

Carolyn, Eastern Band Cherokee and Norwegian, is a consultant committed to a life of service assisting individuals, families, communities and organizations to create holistic, collaborative, evidence and spiritually based wellness for themselves, and future generations. For 30 years, Carolyn has served Indigenous and non-indigenous communities, in the United States, Canada, Norway, Australia and New Zealand, offering consultation to agencies, schools, families and individuals around cultural diversity and wellness, and prevention/intervention strategies relating to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (F.A.S.D.), wellness and recovery.

Isabella M. Mondrag{\'o}n is an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation. They are a multidisciplinary artist, drummer, and a student at the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, NM. They identify as Chickasaw Purepecha Xicanx.

Affiliation:\ UC Santa Barbara

}, author = {Mondrag{\'o}n, Delores (Lola)} } @conference {1575541, title = {Vision Lab Collective (Works 2018-2023)}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ Vision Lab Collective is an international socially-engaged art and research collective, based at Harvard Divinity School. We create artistic and literary works, performances, scholarly research projects, and other innovative spaces of engagement combining radically imaginative cross-disciplinary conversations and experiential practices spanning the areas of contemporary spirituality, social and environmental justice, technology, and literary and artistic practice. We have created and presented our work through public performances and workshops, residencies, conferences, and experiential retreats, in residence at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and MIT{\textquoteright}s Experimental Collections. Check out our website at www.visionlabcollective.com to find out more about our previous work.

Presenter bio:\ Kythe Maryam Heller is a poet, essayist, interdisciplinary artist, and scholar. She is author of the poetry collection Firebird (Arrowsmith), writing and inter- media works including Immolation, Thunder Perfect Mind, and Rite of Spring (with Meghan McNealy), film and installation work presented in the US and Canada, and critical studies published by Cambridge University Press, Akron Series in Contemporary Poetics, and Harvard Divinity School Graduate Journal. She is the founder of Vision Lab, a socially-engaged art and research collective in the future of the human spirit (based at Harvard Divinity School), the editor-in-chief of Forecast Journal, and a faculty member of the Language and Thinking Program at Bard College. She has received fellowships and grant awards from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (to support a writing fellowship in poetry at the MacDowell Colony), The Mellon Foundation, Harvard University, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and elsewhere. Currently, she lives in Cambridge, MA, and is completing a doctorate in Comparative Religion at Harvard University.

Affiliation:\ Harvard University

}, author = {Heller, Kythe} } @conference {1575536, title = {All Glories to the Assembled Devotees: Spiritual Names and Cultural Appropriation in Yoga and Devotional Culture in the West}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ In the present-day discourses around cultural appropriation and decolonization in yoga, a Western person, using an Indian spiritual name that they were given as part of a spiritual initiation, is often framed as an example of appropriation or orientalism. However, within the value system of some of these spiritual lineages themselves, the process of initiation is seen as a second birth, which supersedes the devotee{\textquoteright}s original national and cultural heritage. In this paper, I will examine traditional conceptions of initiation in Vaishnava and Shaiva lineages, and explore the extent to which Western participants can enter into these lineages, without glossing over or spiritually bypassing larger histories of colonization and exploitation.

Presenter bio:\ Patricia (Trish) Tillman holds a PhD in History from Catholic University in DC, and currently teaches at University of Maryland-Global Campus. Her research and teaching interests focus on religion and spirituality in the modern world, on the tension between established religions and emerging religions, and the tension between tradition and modernity. Trish also teaches yoga and mentors yoga teachers in the Washington, DC area.

Affiliation:\ University of Maryland Global Campus

}, author = {Tillman, Patricia} } @conference {1575531, title = {Detaching from the Western Lens: Decolonizing Tantric Sex}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract: Sacred sexual rituals occupy an important place in the Western imagination of Tantra. To decolonize {\textquotedblleft}Tantric Sex{\textquotedblright}, this paper explores the Western misappropriation of these rituals and how they came to be by critically assessing the impact of colonization, capitalism, and neoliberalism. Meanwhile, this paper also acknowledges the value and opportunities within Westernized Tantra, validating participants{\textquoteright} lived experiences and spiritual traditions{\textquoteright} ability to evolve. Finally, this paper suggests a paradigmatic approach as a decolonial path forward. One that encourages depth and breadth in the study of Tantra and prioritizes critical self-reflection and exploration on the part of the Western consumer/practitioner.

Presenter bio: Yinuo Norah Chen is a 4th year PhD student in the Women{\textquoteright}s Spirituality program at California Institute of Integral Studies. Norah{\textquoteright}s research centers on womxn{\textquoteright}s sacred sexuality and its spiritual and political significance. Norah writes from the perspective of a cis-woman of color and an immigrant.

Affiliation: California Institute of Integral Studies

}, author = {Chen, Yinuo (Norah)} } @conference {1575526, title = {Being a Devotee: Image to Decolonial Decentralization}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ What is the role of devotion beyond faith? - centred around this question, this paper intends to explore in depth how the idea of devotion and the position of devotee may become an important tool of resistance within the South Asian, especially Indian Bengali context. Taking a deep dive into Kamalkumar Majumdar{\textquoteright}s reconstruction of Bengali aesthesis, the paper will study the power of deception in terms of subverting the colonial hierarchy. In this subversion, I propose, a dismissal of the colonial rationality narrative may become possible.

Present bio:\ Currently a doctoral candidate, Sanskriti Chattopadhyay has two Masters{\textquoteright} degrees in Cultural Studies and film direction. She has been academically presenting at various Universities, like - the Lifetime Conference (Norway), Uncanny Intermediality Conference (Romania), the 17th International conference on Arts (Spain), 5th and 6th Congress of Bengal Studies (Bangladesh). Her publications include -Acta Sapientia University journal, Anales de history del arte, and Swaraantar. She has also been a part of several artistic research projects {\textendash} at the Hungarian School of Fine arts (Budapest), SAAR Gothenburg, Lucerne School of Art and Design, Switzerland (2021) etc.

Affiliation:\ HDK-Valand H{\"o}gskolan f{\"o}r konst och design, University of Gothenburg

}, author = {Chattopadhyay, Sanskriti} } @conference {1575521, title = {Cultural Appropriation in Modern Pagan Religions: Discourse and Praxis}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {

Abstract: This paper examines cultural appropriation in modern Pagan religions. Taking inspiration from Jackson{\textquoteright}s 2021 article, {\textquotedblleft}On Cultural Appropriation,{\textquotedblright} it defines appropriation as one of a spectrum of responses to intercultural contact and change that generally involves a power imbalance between cultures as well as a sense of aggrievement on the part of the colonized culture. It examines both the practice of cultural appropriation and the discourse around it {\textendash} how contemporary Pagans talk about, discuss, and approach issues of cultural appropriation.

Presenter Bio:\  Sabina Magliocco, Ph.D. is Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the interdisciplinary Program in the Study of Religion at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. She has published on religion, folklore, foodways, festival and witchcraft in Europe and North America, and is a leading authority on the modern Pagan movement.

Affiliation:\  University of British Columbia, Vancouver

}, author = {Magliocco, Sabina} } @conference {1575471, title = {Recreating spiritual practices in new locations among migrants {\textendash} The case of Pokhara, Nepal and Perth, Australia}, booktitle = {Alternative Spiritualities of Celebration, Resistance, and Accountability: Engaging Our Colonial and Decolonial Contexts}, year = {2024}, address = {Cambridge, MA, USA}, abstract = {

Abstract:\ My paper highlights how migrants, whether within the country or in foreign countries, recreate their spiritual practices based on the foundations of their practices in the place of origin but transforming them to suit the religious, cultural and ecological context in the new place. This process of recreation has led to better co-operation and understanding among the people in the community. This paper is based on my researches and experiences in Pokhara, Nepal, and in Perth, Australia. I have also personally observed this process of spiritual recreation in these two locations.

Presenter bio:\  Jagannath Adhikari (PhD) has studied Hindu and Buddhist religious traditions as they relate to ecological systems. He has also studied peoples migration and the socio-economic and ecological consequences this process brings in both origin and destination societies. He has published extensively in these themes.

Affiliation:\  Nepal Development Research Institute (NDRI), Kathmandu, Nepal and Curtin University, Perth, Australia

}, author = {Adhikari, Jagannath} } @conference {1498756, title = {"Uses of Power: Individual Consciousness for Collective Consciousness"}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities }, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA }, abstract = {

Abstract: The present paper focuses on conceptualizing the uses of power by training the mind to control the senses in order to realize the true purpose of the soul. The spectrum of this training of the mind is from evolution to involution. Love is the eternal source of joy and truth is the eternal source of wisdom. Organizations today need to create a culture of love and truth for wellness and happiness at the workplace so that people flourish together by helping and nurturing each other. The present paper draws insights from the Vedas and Vedic Literature.

Presenter Bio: A widely traveled scholar, Sunita Singh Sengupta brings with her more than 30 years of teaching and research experience (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunita-ss108/). Her research focuses on the human dimensions of organizations. She draws insights from psychology, philosophy, and literature to examine organizational problems and challenges. Her recent researches include 10 Volume Compendium on Integrating Spirituality and Organizational Leadership (2015) and 9 Volume Compendium on Vedic Foundations of Indian Management (2022).

}, author = {Singh-Sengupta, Sunita} } @conference {1498751, title = {Informed Consent: The Work of an Early "Anti-Cult" Program }, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities }, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA }, abstract = {

In the 1970s and 80s, there were academic, organizational, and personal fights around the issue of "cults," distilled into the phrase "the cult wars." Books and papers were written; lawsuits were filed and defended; parents hired "deprogrammers" to remove their children from groups; and ex-member{\textquoteright}s stories were sometimes dismissed as "axes to grind." The participants in these wars seemed to talk over one another in a high stakes need to define their position as the right one. In the midst of this maelstrom, Unbound, Inc., started serving clients. It was a place for people leaving "cults" to reflect on their experiences in the group and discern next steps. Unbound was a personalized, non-coercive program that emphasized education, self determination, personal discernment, and goal setting.

In this session Tammy McKanan will reflect on the work she and her colleagues did at this little known, open-door rehabilitation facility for people leaving totalist organizations.

Bio: Tammy McKanan spent five years working at Unbound, Inc., as a counselor serving people leaving high control, charismatic authoritarian groups. She is a former social worker and nonprofit manager. She has recently graduated from homeschooling her daughter, and has been in a decades-long conversation about NRM groups, coercive persuasion, and power and abuse with the organizer of this conference.

}, author = {McKanan, Tammy} } @conference {1496806, title = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Ritual Practice with Ayahuasca}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {

Abstract: In this presentation I will show how people participating in ritual practices with ayahuasca experience transformations of power during ceremonies and in their everyday life. In my PhD-project {\textquotedblleft}Sacred plants {\textendash} spiritual experiences{\textquotedblright} I examine how people, as part of contemporary spirituality, use ayahuasca and how this gives them experiences of both disempowerment and empowerment. Ayahuasca may cause harm, even though the plants are prescribed and used with the intention of healing or transformation. In what ways can the ritual practice be considered as abuse of power generating overwhelmingly physical and psychological reactions as well as positive use of power where the benefits sanctify the side effects?

Presenter bio: Silje Trym Mathiassen is priest in The Church of Norway and has worked for several years with interreligious dialogue in Stavanger, Norway. Her special competence is within new spiritualities. Co-author of several books on interreligious dialogue and meditation, she is a PhD candidate at the University of Stavanger with the project {\textquotedblleft}Sacred plants - spiritual experiences{\textquotedblright}.

Presenter affiliation: University of Stavanger, Norway

}, author = {Mathiassen, Silje Trym} } @conference {1496801, title = {Transforming the Poison of Abuse into Medicine}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {

Abstract: The power dynamic of a spiritual master and disciple creates a relationship wherein both are open to the possibility of abuse, given the nature of desire. Each has a desire for what the other may share. You are invited to participate in the grand rite of well-being to discern and rectify this desire. Daoist priestesses will lead the qigong. Resources we can provide spiritual leaders and organizations that wish to reduce the harm caused by abuses of spiritual power:

  1. A model of transmission of spiritual teachings through praxis
  2. A map of 5 phases of an incident
  3. Daoist talismans for healing
  4. An embodied process of self-regulating qigong
  5. Locating the inner altar conception vessel at acupuncture point cv17
  6. A map of restorative justice principles embodied through qigong
  7. An opportunity to participate in the Grand Rite of Wellbeing

Presenter bio: Dao Shr Suzy Balliett is an ordained Daoist Priestess. She is a Medical Qigong Doctor, researcher \& author. Her paper "Daoist Talismans for Healing" is published in the Journal of Daoist Studies volume 15, 2022. She is a licensed Occupational Therapist \& board certified Tai chi instructor. She is the founder of the Biomagnetic Therapy Association and Dipper Healing Arts School. She is interested in Praxis the direct experience method of teaching.

}, author = {Balliet, Suzy} } @conference {1496651, title = {The biopower of faith leaders who are also alternative medicine practitioners in alternative spiritual communities}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: One of the most valuable parts of this conference on the "Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities" is the opportunity to nurture peerhoods of critique among alternative spiritual community members and leaders. Scholars play a pivotal role through critique by helping spiritual communities examine, avoid, and heal from harmful practices.

It is from this sense of community and urgency that I turn to Foucault{\textquoteright}s expertise on power, particularly his "Society Must Be Defended" lecture. I posit that like any communities with power, alternative faith communities can become capitalist racist biopolitical corporations.


Presenter bio: Orus Mateo Casta{\~n}o-Su{\'a}rez endeavours to engage with as diverse a population of thinkers as possible as a graduate student, spiritual practitioner, artist-curator, software designer, and writer. They curate exhibitions for their artist incubator Collective65 in partnership with a number of Toronto consulates. Their most recent independent show as artist-curator, *Torus* (2022), was presented in the Great Hall gallery in Canada{\textquoteright}s largest art and design university, OCADU. As a software designer, Orus is expanding the limits of interdisciplinary data modeling.

Presenter affiliation: Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU)}, author = {Casta{\~n}o-Su{\'a}rez, Orus Mateo} } @conference {1496696, title = {The Body as a Site of Exploitation and Healing: The Case of Yoga to the People}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Yoga to the People (YTTP) was a donation-based yoga studio that shut down in 2020 following multiple accusations of tax fraud, sexual assault, and other crimes that were recorded by an Instagram account, @yttpshadowwork. The case was documented by The New York Times and Vice News, but the depth and complexity of abuse{\textemdash}financial, emotional, and sexual{\textemdash}has yet to be grappled with on philosophical and sociocultural levels. Despite the abuse that occurred, many people still benefited from this spiritual community and the yoga practice itself. So, then, how is it possible to recognize the harm caused by YTTP while still valuing the benefits reaped?

Presenter bio: Bianca Padova is a Master of Divinity (MDiv {\textquoteright}24) candidate at Harvard Divinity School who focuses on the history and ethics of modern postural yoga. She first began teaching yoga in 2015 after completing her training at Yoga to the People in New York City. Since then, Bianca has continued to study and practice yoga, and has now completed 800-hours of training in modern postural yoga.

Presenter affiliation: Harvard Divinity School}, author = {Padova, Bianca} } @conference {1496681, title = {Brahma Kumaris: A women-led spiritual organization challenging a male-dominated spiritual landscape}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {

Abstract: Brahma Kumaris, the largest women-led spiritual organization in the world with over 8000 centers in over 110 countries, has successfully countered the imbalances of power in the spiritual realm in which men dominate as spiritual authorities. All administrative heads of the Brahma Kumaris organization are women as a foundational principle, and the Brahma Kumaris centers around the world are also primarily administered and staffed by women. Even in patriarchal societies such as India where the organization is spiritually headquartered, women have been empowered to pursue their dreams of having a spiritual focus. They are learning to teach to spiritually serve people from all levels of society versus being limited to their traditional roles of serving their immediate family members. The majority of the organization is mothers living at home with their families, in addition to tens of thousands of dedicated female teachers who reside at centers.

Presenter bio: Sudarshan Sundar has been a student and teacher of Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga Meditation since 2001. Sudarshan helped start and co-coordinated the activities of "Inner Space Meditation Center and Gallery" in Harvard Square from 2012 to 2020. Since 2021, Sudarshan has served as the Spiritual Affiliate for Brahma Kumaris at Northeastern University{\textquoteright}s Center for Spirituality Dialogue and Service. Sudarshan has been a Software Engineer by profession at Microsoft since 2003 and also serves as a part-time Regional IT Coordinator for the organization since 2011.

Judy Rodgers has been a student of the Brahma Kumaris and teacher of raj yoga meditation for 27 years. She spent much of her working life in media and as a consultant and communication strategist, working with businesses and universities. The emphasis in her work has been on the power of narrative, how the questions we ask ourselves and the stories we tell ourselves affect our life journeys.

In 2004 she co-founded the Center for Business as Agent of World Benefit at Case Western Reserve University. In 2007 she co-authored a book on altruism called Something Beyond Greatness: Conversations with a Man of Science and a Woman of God. Since 2006 she has lived in the Brahma Kumaris{\textquoteright} Peace Village Retreat Center in the Catskill Mountains north of New York City.


Presenter affiliation: Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization

}, author = {Sundar, Sudarshan and Rodgers, Judy} } @conference {1496701, title = {Building Safer Spaces: Ethics and Transparency in Alternative Spiritualities}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Presenter affiliation: Yale University}, author = {Lovejoy, Allegra} } @conference {1496646, title = {Chasing the Numinous: Hungry Ghosts in the Shadow of the Psychedelic Renaissance}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {

Abstract: In recent years, a renewed scientific, public and commercial interest in psychedelic medicines can be observed across the globe. While honoring positive research findings, therapeutic promise, and spiritual possibilities in relation to the medical use of psychedelics, this presentation aims to shine a light on some underlying psycho-cultural shadow dynamics in the unfolding psychedelic renaissance. It explores whether and how the multi-layered collective fascination with psychedelics may yet be another symptom pointing towards a deeper psychological and spiritual malaise in the modern Western psyche as diagnosed by C.G. Jung. The question is posed whether the West{\textquoteright}s feverish pursuit of psychedelic medicines{\textemdash}from individual consumption to entheogenic tourism and capitalist commodification{\textemdash}is related to a Western cultural complex. As part of the discussion, the archetypal image of the Hungry Ghost, known across Asian cultural and religious traditions, is explored to better understand the aforementioned shadow phenomena and point towards mitigating possibilities.

Presenter bio: Helge Michael Osterhold, PhD, MFT (USA) is an Associate Professor of East-West Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies and previously taught at Golden Gate University and at UCSF School of Medicine in San Francisco, California. The author of The Body{\textquoteright}s Code {\textendash} Synchronicity and Meaning in Illness and Injury (2015), Dr. Osterhold teaches Masters and PhD level courses in Depth Psychology, Dreamwork, Spiritual Counseling, and the Psychology of Death and Dying. He maintains a private psychotherapy practice with a focus on life transitions. Email: hosterhold@ciis.edu

Gisele Fernandes-Osterhold is the director of facilitation for psychedelic therapy at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), a faculty member at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), and a mentor at the Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research (CPTR). A practicing psychotherapist for over 25 years, Gisele is specialized in the treatment of trauma, using an integrative approach rooted in Somatic, Humanistic-Existential and Transpersonal psychologies. She is dedicated to diversity and inclusion in her clinical, academic and research engagement

Presenter affiliations: California Institute of Integral Studies (Osterhold); University of California San Francisco (Fernandes-Osterhold)

}, author = {Osterhold, Helge and Fernandes-Osterhold, Gisele} } @conference {1496641, title = {Choosing and leaving a spiritual community. Paths of change and personal development}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: This paper presents empirical findings from a qualitative study of affiliation/disaffiliation processes applicable to individuals choosing, changing, or leaving spiritual communities. It is argued that the processes involve internal dynamisms in one{\textquoteright}s search for meaning and the acceptance of the proposal to join an organization, seen as capable of satisfying one{\textquoteright}s needs and aspirations. The exercise or denial of personal agency in the affiliation/disaffiliation process has important implications for the psychological outcomes of the individual. Therefore, it is crucial to include the element of personal agency in discourse about power dynamics and potential for empowerment or harm within spiritual groups.

Presenter bio: Raffaella Di Marzio holds three degrees: in Psychology from La Sapienza University and Pontifical Salesian University; in Historical Religious Sciences from Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, La Sapienza University; and in Religious Sciences from Pontifical Lateran University. She received a PhD in Psychology from Salesian Pontifical University (Rome). Since 2017, she is Professor of Psychology of Religion at Master in {\textquotedblleft}Terrorism, prevention of subversive radicalization, security and cybersecurity. Policies for inter-religious and intercultural integration and for deradicalization{\textquotedblright}, University of Bari Aldo Moro. She is member of the Italian Society of Psychology of Religion (SIPR) and Director of The Center for Studies on Freedom of Religion Belief and Conscience (LIREC). For more information, please see her profile page, list of publications, and the LIREC website.

Presenter affiliation: Italian Society of Psychology of Religion (SIPR), Center for Studies on Freedom of Religion Belief and Conscience (LIREC), University of Bari (Italy)}, author = {Di Marzio, Raffaella} } @conference {1496676, title = {Cultivating Spiritual Experiences: The Chan Buddhist Ox Herding Pictures}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: This workshop will begin with the foundational background in how mystics from many world traditions cultivate through prayer and meditation mindful awareness through original innocence. Contemplating as a group through a PowerPoint of the Chinese Chan Ox Herding Pictures, participants will engage with the stages of spiritual growth outlined in the poetry and paintings. Finally, we will participate in a visualization meditation culminating in writing our own poems through the discovery of our own ability to be and experience our world through our original nature. [Please bring pen and paper.]

Presenter bio: Dr. Maria Jaoudi, Professor of Humanities \& Religious Studies at California State University Sacramento, is a painter exhibiting in France and the United States, as well as a poet/author of books on world religions, mysticism and art, including Mindfulness as Sustainability: Lessons from the World Religions (SUNY Press, 2021).

Presenter affiliation: California State University Sacramento}, author = {Jaoudi, Maria} } @conference {1496771, title = {Daṇḍap{\={a}}ṇi Bhairava in Mokṣad{\={a}}yini K{\={a}}{\'s}i: An Inquiry into the Tantric and Folk Connections of the Pur{\={a}}ṇic Guardian-Deity of Banaras}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: The paper intends to explore the tantric and folk connections of the guardian deity of Banaras{\textemdash} K{\={a}}la Bhairava, whose genesis is believed to be from the Shiva Mahapurana. The deity being identified as kotwal (a police officer) or daṇḍap{\={a}}ṇi (sheriff) wearing a garland of skulls is also believed to have tantric powers. In Trika Shaivism, he is considered one of the most powerful tantric deities whose consort is Tripurbhairavi. In folk religious practices, K{\={a}}la Bhairava is worshipped in his various folk manifestations. The paper would rely on both the empirical and the close textual reading methods for procuring the research material. The article also seeks to explore the folk belief behind offering the deity alcohol, chocolates, biscuits, and many other local items. Also, an attempt will be made to understand Bhairava{\textquoteright}s relation with Buddhist and Jain Tantras, where again, he holds a powerful position as a tantric deity.

Presenter bio: Dr. Prabha Shankar Dwivedi is an Assistant Professor at IIT Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India. His research interests include Folk Hinduism and Comparative Literary Studies. He has published nearly two dozen research articles in journals of national and international repute. His recent publication includes "Karaha Pujan: A Folk-Worship of Krsna in Eastern Uttar Pradesh," published in Religions of South Asia (Equinox Publishing Ltd.).

Presenter affiliation: Indian Institute of Technology, Tirupati, India}, author = {Prabha Shankar, Dwivedi} } @conference {1496741, title = {The Democratization of Power in the Spirit - A Harmonist Perspective}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: As a Harmonist, I believe the world is incarnated spirit and that my goal is to live harmony with the spirit and to nurture its incarnations which surround me. This direct contact with the ground of existence is directly empowering, both as an apparent individual and in context with the surrounding world. This also flattens the idea of power, preventing power hierarchies as each of us is fully capable and in touch with the source of our being. How that plays out in everyday life, in both social and political contexts, is open to on-going negotiation and interaction.

Presenter bio: Bro. Johannes Zinzendorf co-founded the Hermitage, a Harmonist spiritual community, with Bro. Christian Zinzendorf in 1988. Their goal was to reestablish an 18th century Moravian community of single brothers. Since then, the Hermitage has become a center for earth-based spirituality, as well as a village of historic buildings, and a local heritage center. Johannes Zinzendorf has written on queer spirituality, and for Communities magazine. He has presented papers for the Communal Studies Association and the International Communal Studies Association.

Presenter affiliation: The Hermitage}, author = {Zinzendorf, Johannes} } @conference {1496736, title = {Earth Crisis Support Groups}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: There are all sorts of small groups that help people to deal with particular problems. We know of no groups that help people to deal with the current threat to human survival. Groups of 6-8 people may be composed of Muslims, atheists or the spiritual but not religious. Earth Crisis Support Groups are a safe place to share the truth about how we are feelings about our shared circumstances during our planetary crisis. We also share about what is happening in the world as well as enjoy a pot luck dinner. Twelve step programs, psychology and medical support groups have enabled people who were suffering to form loving bonds. The early church began in people{\textquoteright}s homes as house churches and always shared a meal. {\textquotedblleft}Don{\textquoteright}t think a small group of people cannot change the world. It is the only thing that ever has.{\textquotedblright} --Margaret Mead

Presenter bio: Rev. Bonnie Tarwater, a Unitarian Universalist minister, is the founder of Church for Our Common Home, www.churchforourcommonhome.com. She is currently working with Dr. John B. Cobb, Jr. and Earth Crisis Support Groups with their new book, Confessions of a Disciple of Jesus and the Living Earth Movement. Rev. Bonnie offers worship every Sunday in the barn with the farm animals. She and her husband Walt Rutherford offer a counseling center, the Secret Garden Retreat Center, and are exploring biodynamic farming with an interfaith Secret Prayer Garden on twelve trees. Counseling, worship and programs offered in person and on Zoom.

Presenter affiliation: Church for Our Common Home}, author = {Tarwater, Bonnie} } @conference {1496656, title = {Earth-based spirituality{\textquoteright}s power to counter earthly disconnection?}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: This paper shares interviews I have conducted with people who have had spiritual experiences in/of/as nature. These interviews offer a context for, and an exploration of, the ways that alternative spiritualities can counter and challenge the imbalance of power that Abrahamic religions have exerted on an understanding of humans as separate from the earth. Bron Taylor (2010) proposes that {\textquotedblleft}Christianity [bears] a heavy burden for the environmental crisis.{\textquotedblright} I explore what those who have spiritual experiences in/of/as the earth can tell us about the opportunities and obstacles for a spiritually and environmentally healing path forward.

Presenter bio: Jennifer Ellen Good is an academic {\textendash} associate professor focusing on environmental communication at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario; an environmental activist {\textendash} worked for years with Greenpeace Canada; an earth spirituality seeker {\textendash} born into a Jewish-Christian home, raised with Unitarianism and very much guided by interconnection and earth spirituality.

Presenter affiliation: Brock University}, author = {Good, Jennifer Ellen} } @conference {1496746, title = {Embodying Celtic Heritage in Brittany{\textquoteright}s Megaliths: Creative Rituality for Cultural Belonging.}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: In the last fifty years, Brittany has undergone a cultural revival characterized by artistic and linguistic manifestations that emphasize the historic relationships between this French region and other Celtic countries. After centuries of being mocked and denied by the French government, the Bretons{\textquoteright} Celtic identity has become a motive of personal and collective pride and a source of inspiration for diverse activities. Among these, the contemporary Pagan-inspired practices held in local megaliths have drawn my attention. I conducted ethnographic research to understand how members of this ethnic minority creatively relate their rituals to Brittany{\textquoteright}s history and Celticity.

Presenter bio: Yael Dansac, anthropologist, is the recipient of a CIVIS3i post-doctoral fellowship co-funded by Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions. She is affiliated to the Universit{\'e} Libre de Bruxelles, in Belgium, and to the University of Glasgow, in United Kingdom. Since 2022 she leads a transnational research project on the contemporary sacralization of European megalithic sites. Her interests include contemporary animism, embodiment, and relationships to non-human beings, visible and invisible. Her most recent book is entitled Relating with More-Than-Humans: Interbeing Rituality in a Living World (edited with Jean Chamel. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022).

Presenter affiliation: Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Religions and Secularism of the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, and Department of Theology and Religious Studies of the University of Glasgow, United Kingdom}, author = {Dansac, Yael} } @conference {1496756, title = {Empowerment and agency among Llave Mariana{\textquoteright}s practitioners: an ethnographic approach to an Argentinian spiritual movement}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: The aim of this paper is to introduce a gender perspective on the study of an emerging spiritual movement called Llave Mariana. This spiritual movement mixes New Age elements {\textendash}taken from Orientalist traditions{\textendash} with Catholic figures, especially Virgin Mary. We start from a series of questions: What is the reason for the participation of a female majority within the movement? What are the conditions that lead these women to approach the spiritual world, its wisdom and techniques? What models of femininity do they elaborate and express? Finally, what are the transformations that these practitioners experience at a subjective and intersubjective level during this path?

Presenter bio: Agustina Gracia holds a PhD and a bachelor{\textquoteright}s degree in Anthropology by the University of Buenos Aires. She was a doctorate grant holder by the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET). Since the year 2017 she is an Assistant Lecturer at University of Mor{\'o}n (Buenos Aires). She also taught at University of Buenos Aires and University of San Mart{\'\i}n (Buenos Aires). She authored scientific articles in both national and international publications.

Presenter affiliation: University of Buenos Aires (Argentina)}, author = {Gracia, Agustina} } @conference {1496636, title = {The Guru at Your Fingertips: An Exploratory Study of Spiritual Leaders on Social Media}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: This study explores the rapidly evolving culture of a new generation of self-identified online gurus that use social media to connect with their followers and share their content and services with a growing community of spiritual seekers. Using netnography, 15 social media profiles of spiritual leaders and teachers were analyzed regarding their online presentation, engagement style, general profile content, qualifications, and services offered. This method was used to assess trends in online spirituality, drawing from published content across different social media platforms including YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. The findings reveal the potential benefits and dangers, which include ease of access, an opportunity for connection, inspiration, and a sense of community. On the other hand, there is a considerable risk of being misled by inauthentic representation since many online gurus lack adequate qualifications to work with vulnerable populations that present with complex psycho-spiritual issues and experiences.

Presenter bios: Melissa Caicedo Farbman is a researcher and psychotherapist who holds a master{\textquoteright}s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She is based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

Olivia Jenkins is a passionate researcher and writer, and adjunct faculty at Sofia University who currently lives in Massachusetts.

Petra Parvati Meedt is a licensed psychologist and Marriage and Family Therapy Intern. She graduated with a M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Freiburg, Germany, and with a M.S. in Counseling Psychology from the Interamerican University in Puerto Rico

The researchers are Ph.D. candidates at Sofia University, completing their doctorates in Transpersonal Psychology.

Presenter affiliation: Sofia University}, author = {Caicedo Farbman, Melissa and Meedit, Petra and Jenkins, Olivia} } @conference {1496706, title = {Healthy Happy Holy? Harm and Healing in Sikh Dharma{\textquoteright}s Kundalini Yoga Community}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: In January 2020, women came forward detailing sexual misconduct and other abuses by Yogi Bhajan (b.1929-d.2004), the spiritual teacher of the "Healthy Happy Holy" (3HO) community of Kundalini Yoga/Sikh Dharma practitioners. Through my scholarship and lived experience raised in this community, this talk will address the ways in which current and former members are now grappling with the contradictions between "the teacher" and "the teachings," finding community online to share their stories and address wider systems of abuse, appropriation, discrimination, and silencing. The second generation are now going through a reparations process due to their own traumatic experiences of child separation at young ages, sent to live with other families and to boarding school in India where many abuses occurred. This talk examines the path forward by looking to the varied responses within this community and by other communities who have gone through their own processes of reconciliation and restorative justice.

Presenter bio: Nirinjan Kaur Khalsa-Baker, Ph.D. is Senior Instructor, Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles where she served as Acting Director of Graduate Yoga Studies (2019-2020) and Clinical Professor of Sikh \& Jain Studies (2015-2018). Nirinjan was born into the 3HO Sikh Dharma community and studied Sikh drumming from a 13th generation exponent who honored her as its first female exponent. Her scholarship examines Sikhi through the lenses of embodied practice, pedagogy, philosophy, mysticism, ethics, identity, gender, and decolonization. Nirinjan currently serves as co-chair of the Sikh Studies Unit at AAR and on the editorial board for Sikh Formations: Religion, Culture, Theory.

Presenter affiliation: Loyola Marymount University}, author = {Khalsa, Nirinjan} } @conference {1496666, title = {The High Cabal and the Lynch Mob: Exploring Conspiracism Through Ren{\'e} Girard{\textquoteright}s Scapegoating Theory}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Conspiracy theories (CTs) and the communities who espouse them share several similarities with high-control (i.e., {\textquotedblleft}cultish{\textquotedblright}) religious groups. CTs also serve as powerful vehicles for the disempowered and disenchanted to {\textquotedblleft}speak truth to power{\textquotedblright}. However, conspiracists frequently indulge in various forms of disinformation to assert their moral outrage and vindicate their feelings of victimhood, namely through distorting and mythologizing the past and scapegoating their perceived enemies. This presentation will explore the relationship between political paranoia, {\textquotedblleft}stigmatized knowledge{\textquotedblright}, and feelings of helplessness, and will address some of the causes and solutions that might help conspiracy believers avoid the traps of cultish epistemology.

Presenter bio: Michel Jacques Gagn{\'e} is a philosophical historian and the author of Thinking Critically About the Kennedy Assassination (Routledge, 2022). He teaches critical thinking, political philosophy, philosophy of religion, and ethics in the Humanities Department of Champlain College Saint-Lambert (Montreal, Canada). His writings have appeared in Skeptic, the National Post, Quillette, the Encyclopedia of Religion and Violence, and History Studies. He is the creator and host of the Paranoid Planet podcast (www.paranoidplanet.ca).

Presenter affiliation: Champlain College Saint-Lambert https://www.champlainsaintlambert.ca/}, author = {Gagn{\'e}, Michel} } @conference {1496631, title = {Inoculation Against Spiritual Abuse: A Science-Based Approach}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: When science-based, physics-based or naturalist-based education is reflexively maligned as inadequate for any reason in comparison to faith-based traditional or alternative spirituality approaches, then a vacuum forms where self-proclaimed authorities rush in. Abuse is available so long as internal pressure is applied to maintain collective faith-based ignorance. The necessary steps of suspension of reason, submission to authority, acceptance of tradition, and a-priori assertion of the separation of body and spirit alianates adherents from rational practices that might inoculate them against physical, emotional and intellectual abuses. But there is a universal cosmology within reach, one that embraces the scope of human understanding of the universe, our solar system, planet, biology, genetics and physical as well as cultural evolution. This 60-minute interactive presentation by artist and naturalist Enrique Rosado will discuss elements of a comprehensive naturalist-based robust cosmology that function as a framework individuals may use to further build conceptual structures to protect themselves from abuse. Borrowing from nature, physics and biology, Rosado will weave together concepts such as the speed of light, the flow of energy, genetic evolution, space/time and the Big Bang that offer a deep sense of interconnectedness with all of life, something that religion proclaims to do. For example, all of the hydrogen in our solar system {\textemdash} the icy rings of Saturn and frozen balls of ice floating around, and any water or ice on the other planets or their moons along with the hydrogen that fuels every star in the sky can be traced back to the Big Bang. By mass, our bodies are comprised of 10\% hydrogen - we are ancient beings. Over the past 13.6 billion years, this primordial hydrogen may have been waylaid on a star (or two or more) that ran out of usable fuel, collapsed, blew up and spewed out into the universe its remaining hydrogen fuel along with tons of other processed elements and metals - which we colloquially call {\textquotedblleft}star dust{\textquotedblright} - the stuff animals, plants and all humans are made of. This knowledge, this relatedness might motivate us to be kind to our hydrogen related family. We share a common origin and common source of energy.

Presenter bio: Enrique Rosado explores humans{\textquoteright} relationship with nature through technology, 3-dimensional design, sculpture and philosophy. Though he graduated from Yale with a BA in Anthropology and Chinese, he excelled in sculpture and collaborated with former professor, Erwin Hauer, to found Erwin Hauer Studios where he mastered technology, material science and traditional fabrication practices to reissue and install Hauer{\textquoteright}s seminal architectural Continuua screens in institutions like the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, hotels like The Standard Hotel in New York City, the World Bank in Washington DC, and scores of other commercial and residential projects in the United States and abroad. He is co-steward at Mount Owen Forest Sanctuary, a 268+ acre nature preserve in Western Massachusetts.

Presenter affiliation: Mount Owen Forest Sanctuary}, author = {Rosado, Enrique} } @conference {1496686, title = {Investigating Alternative Spiritual Movements: What Experience and the Law Tell Us About Sexual Abuse in Alternative Spiritual Communities.}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Drawing on court cases and client testimonies, as well as the presenters{\textquoteright} personal experiences from the worlds of law, academic research, and as activists and former spiritual community members, this panel presents a synoptic overview of religious movements accused of sexually abusing their members and considers how the legal system is dealing with these inherently abusive practices.

Presenter bios: Carol Merchasin is an attorney who leads a practice group litigating sexual misconduct in religious, faith-based and spiritual communities at McAllister Olivarius. She was previously a partner in the Philadelphia office of Morgan, Lewis \& Bockius and director of Morgan Lewis Resources, where she conducted dozens of workplace investigations and taught investigative techniques to human resource professionals at many Fortune 50 companies.

Jens Augspurger is a dissenting former member of the ISYVC (Sivananda Yoga), a PhD candidate in Religious Studies at The School of African and Oriental Studies in London (SOAS) and a doctoral fellow of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes (German Academic Foundation).

Angela Gollat is also a dissenting former member of ISYVC and together with Jens Augspurger, a founder of Project Satya, a grassroots community group dedicated to supporting women who came forward with allegations of sexual assaults by teachers within Sivananda Yoga. She has a master{\textquoteright}s degree in Women{\textquoteright}s Studies from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.

Presenter affiliation: McAllister Olivarius (Merchasin); The School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS) (Augspurger); and Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes (German Academic Foundation) (Augspurger)}, author = {Merchasin, Carol and Augspurger, Jens and Gollat, Angela} } @conference {1496716, title = {Islam and Harmful Practices: How Islamic Scholars Promoting Healthy and Ethical Spiritual Practices in the Face of Extremism}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: This paper examines the potential role of Islamic scholars in preventing harmful practices within fanatical, so-called Islamic groups. Through a review of existing literature and case studies, the paper argues that Islamic scholars can play a critical role in countering extremist ideologies, promoting healthy, ethical, and safe spiritual practices, and providing guidance and support to individuals and communities affected by radicalization. The paper first explores the nature of passionate so-called Islamic groups, including how these groups use distorted interpretations of Islamic teachings to justify violence, extremism, and harmful practices. The paper then considers the challenges associated with countering such groups, including the need to address both the root causes and the symptoms of extremism. The research discusses that Islamic scholars are uniquely positioned to address these challenges, given their deep knowledge of Islamic theology, ethics, and jurisprudence. Islamic scholars can provide a critical counter-narrative to extremist ideologies, promote a more nuanced and balanced understanding of Islamic teachings, and help individuals and communities affected by radicalization find alternative sources of spiritual guidance and support. The article also draws on case studies from various contexts to illustrate the potential role of Islamic scholars in preventing harmful practices within fanatical so-called Islamic groups. These case studies include examples of Islamic scholars working on challenging extremist ideologies, providing counseling and support to individuals affected by radicalization, and providing education and training to community leaders to help prevent the spread of harmful practices. The study also concludes by emphasizing the need for continued research and collaboration between Islamic scholars, community leaders, and other stakeholders to address extremism{\textquoteright}s complex and ongoing challenge.

Presenter bios: Dr. A H M Ershad Uddin is a Lecturer in the Department of Basic Islamic Sciences at Kocaeli University (email: ahmershad86@gmail.com / ahmeu2022@gmail.com). Dr. Ahmet Eksi is Associate Professor in the Department of Basic Islamic Sciences at Kocaeli University (email: ahmedabadanku41@gmail.com).

Presenter affiliation: Kocaeli University, Turkey}, author = {Uddin, A H M Ershad and Eksi, Ahmet} } @conference {1496721, title = {Land, Power, Racism and the Reinforcement of Traditional Gender Roles: The Asatru Folk Association Intentional Communities}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: In the last decade, folkish (white-only) Heathenry has become more visible within both contemporary Pagan and far-right circles. Central to the intergenerational growth of such groups lies the purchase of land for intentional, racially {\textquotedblleft}pure{\textquotedblright} communities. The Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA), one of the earliest and largest folkish Heathen groups, now possesses four such sites across the United States, with plans to add two more sites. This paper examines how AFA land purchases reinforce power imbalances within this alternative spirituality, focusing on the ways in which traditional gender roles serve the racially {\textquoteleft}pure{\textquoteright} future of the organization at these sites.

Presenter bios: Helen A. Berger, PhD is an affiliated scholar at the Women{\textquoteright}s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University. She is sole or co-author of four books and editor of a collection of essays on contemporary Paganism. She is currently researching contemporary Pagan who are part of the far-right in the United States.

Evan Robins is an independent researcher and historian.\ 

Presenter affiliations: Women{\textquoteright}s Studies Research Center, Brandeis University (Berger); Independent Researcher (Robins)}, author = {Berger, Helen and Robins, Evan} } @conference {1496781, title = {A Look at Leadership Archetypes in Traditional and Alternative Spiritualities}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: The misuse of power in alternative spiritual communities is similar and different than the misuse of power in most mainstream religious communities. In this workshop we will explore an archetypal understanding of leadership and power. Specifically, we will explore the Nature Based Map of the Human Psyche, a tool that maps our facets of wholeness as well as our four sets of fragmented or wounded subpersonalities that form during childhood. We will primarily explore the leadership facets and the fragments posing as true leadership. Specific examples will be described We will also discuss how the NBMHP can be used for leaders and organizations as well as for entire spiritual communities that wish to reduce their potential to cause harm and to cultivate individual and community wholeness.

Presenter bio: Brian Stafford, MD, MPH is a former Endowed Chair of Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Public Health and now practices as a vision gast guide, ecotherapist, psychedelic assisted psychotherapist, and independent scholar. He was raised in Evangelical Christianity but went {\textquotedblleft}wild{\textquotedblright} and has lived in and served as a consultant to many progressive intentional communities and organizations. He has published over 50 scientific papers and given talks on every continent covering various topics of human development and spirituality, He is the Director of the Wild Mind Eco-Depth Psychotherapy Training Program at the Animas Valley Institute.

Presenter affiliation: Animas Valley Institute}, author = {Stafford, Brian} } @conference {1496626, title = {The Mirror Within: Abuse and Hope in Devotional Spirituality}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: In this workshop, Izzy will share his story of what it was like growing up in a Pentecostal Cult and his journey toward becoming a Devotional Polytheist to illustrate how alternative spiritualities can mirror the behaviors and actions of dominant religious institutions. He will also share how he found hope, courage, and strength through these experiences. Building upon that framework, Izzy will offer alternative solutions for engagement that both empower and uphold right action within our communities.

Presenter bio: Izzy is a devotee of the Morrigan. He is a founding member of the Order of the Crows Priesthood and a hearth member of the Coru Cathubodua Priesthood. In his day-to-day work, Izzy is an Energetic Safety and Trauma Specialist and the owner of Feileacan Ministry in Austin, Texas.

Presenter affiliation: The Order of the Crows Priesthood, The Coru Cathubodua Priesthood, Feileacan Ministry}, author = {Swanson, Izzy} } @conference {1496751, title = {Mother Earth Goddess of Kurdistan: Neolithic spirituality, femininity and contemporality}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Presenter bio: Dil{\c s}a Deniz is a sociocultural Kurdish anthropologist and presently is a visiting scholar at HarvardDivinity School. Her research focuses on gender, the cultural, political, and religious practices in relation to Kurdish Alevis, Alevi geography, and myths of Alevism in Kurdish communities, particularly in the city of Dersim, an ancient urban centre for Kurdish Alevism in Anatolia. She presently working on her book project on Sh{\^a}maran, the Mother Earth Goddess of Kurdistan and the decolonization of Kurdish myths.

Presenter affiliation: Harvard Divinity School}, author = {Deniz, Dil{\c s}a} } @conference {1496761, title = {Neither Kittens nor Baby Monkeys: Enhancing devotees{\textquoteright} Agency in Hyperlocal Guru-Bhakti Communities}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: The paper explores devotees{\textquoteright} transformations of agency in hyperlocal guru-bhakti communities in the poor peripheries of Delhi. It challenges the widespread perception of a static, hierarchical, and at times abusive guru-devotee relationship by moving beyond the rhetoric of devotees{\textquoteright} surrender in front of a charismatic omnipotent guru. The paper narrates gurus{\textquoteright} and devotees{\textquoteright} recollections of their first interaction and analyses the internal discourse over the question of who is responsible for the devotees{\textquoteright} kalyāṇ (well-being). It argues that for the newcomers to move forward to the next stage of becoming full-time community members, they need to adopt the gurus{\textquoteright} point of view, that is, to see themselves as active, responsible individuals with an enhanced agency that can even challenge social norms, and not as needy, passive individuals who have the least control over their lives.

Presenter bio: Michal Erlich is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of East Asian Studies at Tel Aviv University. For the past twelve years, Erlich has divided her time between Delhi and Tel Aviv, studying vernacular languages and conducting fieldwork. Her research explores current meanings of well-being in India{\textquoteright}s specific and dynamic contexts as well as how individuals and communities in Hindu settings pursue well-being. Her research interests include new religious movements, guru devotion (bhakti) tradition, marginalized and hybrid urban communities, and internal migration.

Presenter affiliation: Tel-Aviv University}, author = {Erlich, Michal} } @conference {1496726, title = {Noctumonium and the Beasts of Satan: Responding to Emerging Acid Satanism Among Teenagers in Italy.}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Through the experience of the group self-defined as {\textquotedblleft}The Beasts of Satan,{\textquotedblright} this paper explores the phenomenon of acid satanism, making two claims. First, using Kees Waaijman{\textquoteright}s definition of spirituality, it argues that studying these groups not only as forms of juvenile rebellion or psychological disorder, but also as spiritual movements prompts a more comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon, detecting abuse of power and conscience between the group{\textquoteright}s leaders and new members. Second, it suggests that it is the responsibility of civil society to lead information campaigns and coordinate local and state organizations to design specific policies that protect vulnerable young people.

Presenter bio: Federico Cinocca is a Doctoral Candidate in Theological Ethics at Boston College. After studying at the Theological Faculty of Milan, he earned his STL at the Gregorian University in Rome. His dissertation, directed by professor James Keenan, explores the intersection between ethics and liturgy, examining power dynamics in liturgical celebrations.

Presenter affiliation: Boston College}, author = {Cinocca, Federico} } @conference {1496661, title = {The Ongoing Harm of the Term Shamanism: From Problematic Scholarly Misnomer to Evolving Cultural Appropriation}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: This paper explores the ongoing and evolving harm caused by the misuse of the terms Shaman and Shamanism. Initially a scholarly misnomer predicated on a romanticization of the {\textquotedblleft}primitive,{\textquotedblright} Shamanism has evolved to be a culturally appropriated term that continues to harm Indigenous communities. To what degree is the harm twofold {\textendash} both misapplied and then appropriated? How do we wrestle with Indigenous ownership of the moniker {\textquotedblleft}Shamanism{\textquotedblright} by Indigenous peoples far from the term{\textquoteright}s home context? How can we best move forward with the aspirational dynamic of validating and legitimizing alternative spiritualities when the term Shamanism remains so acutely harmful?

Presenter bio: Eric D. Mortensen is the John A. Von Weissenfluh Professor of Religious Studies and Department Chair of Religious Studies \& Ethics at Guilford College where he teaches courses on comparative religion and Asian religions. His research focuses on Tibetan and Himalayan folklore, animals in religion, divination, monsters, and invisible villages.

Presenter affiliation: Guilford College}, author = {Mortensen, Eric} } @conference {1496766, title = {The Santal Revolt of 1855 and the impact of Alternative Spirituality on Women}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: The Santal rebellion of 1855 is a significant landmark in the history of tribal rebellions in colonial India. For the Santals, it was a holy war to establish a new social order of their own kingdom where they would be able to reinvent their ancient golden past without any intervention from colonial rulers and alien administration. The religious interpretations of the leaders reinforced such views. The leaders, Seedo and Kanhu, declared that they had been appointed as the new kings of their new kingdom by their supreme God. Indeed, they styled themselves as the true emissary of God. The religious beliefs determined every aspect of the life of the Santals. Even the social and political structure of the society was influenced by religious beliefs. Therefore, the concept of the incarnation was easily recognized by the masses. Religious interpretation about the mode of rebellion made Seedo and Kanhu undisputed leaders and their orders were regarded as oracles to the Santals, unfortunately, it proved fatal to the women of the Santal society.

Presenter bio: Dr. Ata Mallick, is presently serving in the capacity of Assistant Professor; Department of History, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Satabarshiki Mahavidyalaya (affiliated to West Bengal State University, India). Her area of specialization includes Tribal and Gender studies. She has delivered talks in several national and international conferences in India and abroad. She has contributed numbers of articles to Indian journals which included Economic and Political Weekly and ANTYAJAA: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change. She has contributed articles in edited volumes that included Routledge Studies in Cultural History. She has completed the Government (Jharkhand, India) Project on {\textquotedblleft}Urbanization of Damin-i-Koh and Paharia Tribe 1540-1837{\textquotedblright} as a Research Coordinator. She has recently presented papers on {\textquotedblleft}The Concept of Crime and Delinquency of the Santals of India{\textquotedblright} for upcoming symposia organized by The Tunisian World Centre for Studies at Beja, Tunisia from 22nd -24th November 2022. Her paper on {\textquotedblleft}Urbanization of Colonial Calcutta and Bengali Women{\textquotedblright} has been accepted for an edited volume on "Urbanisation in Bengal: Ideas, Institutions, and Policies{\textquotedblright} by Routledge India.

Presenter affiliation: Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Satabarshiki Mahavidyalaya (West Bengal State University), West Bengal, India}, author = {Mallick, Ata} } @conference {1496711, title = {Song Within a Sacrifice Zone}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: In the video installation,\ Song Within a Sacrifice Zone,\ Orus\ documents how words fail to express grief for injustice within the hyperobject of the climate crisis. They achieve this through the use of abstract data self-portraiture and poetic abstraction.

The work is kept intentionally short and will screen three times during the installation{\textquoteright}s duration.\ 

Presenter bio: \ Orus\ Mateo Casta{\~n}o-Su{\'a}rez endeavours to engage with as diverse a population of thinkers as possible as a graduate student, spiritual practitioner, artist-curator, software designer, and writer. They curate exhibitions for their artist incubator Collective65 in partnership with a number of Toronto consulates. Their most recent show as\ Torus(2022), was presented in the Great Hall gallery in Canada{\textquoteright}s largest art and design university, OCADU. As a software designer,\ Orus\ is expanding the limits of interdisciplinary data modeling. They can be found tinkering at\ studiomto.com.\ 

Presenter affiliation: Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU)}, author = {Casta{\~n}o-Su{\'a}rez, Orus Mateo} } @conference {1496791, title = {Spiritual Leaders and Betrayal Trauma}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Behind every experience of the misuse of power by a religious leader is a betrayal of trust. This workshop hosted by Dr. Duncan Hollomon explores the phenomenon of {\textquotedblleft}betrayal trauma,{\textquotedblright} based primarily on the work of Prof. Jennifer Freyd of the University of Oregon.

Followers of a charismatic leader, or adherents to a particular spiritual perspective, often develop a sense of belonging that requires that they give up any questioning of the authority of the leader. Indeed, this very quality of surrender, or guru followership, is often praised as spiritual advancement, and can then be exploited by abusive leaders. Such was the case with the Shambhala Buddhist organization and the sexual abuse of a number of women adherents.

Contemporary trauma research has revealed coping mechanisms in those abused by someone trusted, and upon whom they are dependent. This workshop will look at those patterns, particularly those involving {\textquotedblleft}not knowing,{\textquotedblright} with an eye toward understanding, and healing.

Presenter bio: An educator and clinical psychologist, Dr. Hollomon{\textquoteright}s professional work is focused on the intersection of spiritual practice and psychotherapy. A former lawyer, consultant, and professional actor and singer, Duncan{\textquoteright}s psychotherapy practice has included many clients suffering the effects of relational trauma. He is trained as a pastoral counselor, and hosts a weekly contemplative practices gathering through his church. His doctoral thesis looked at the practice of mindfulness as an aspect of the informed self-use of the psychotherapist. Before moving to the Boston area he taught at Antioch University in Seattle. Most recently he was a research associate with the Program on Religion and Conflict Resolution at the Boston University School of Theology.}, author = {Hollomon, Duncan} } @conference {1496776, title = {Taken Without Permission: Medicinal Plants and Fungi on the Brink of Extinction and Remembering Reverence for Earth}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Before grocery stores, before pharmaceuticals, before physicians, before farming; humans foraged, experimented and communicated with the flora around them. Over time, tremendous knowledge accumulated about the power of plants and fungi to heal and nourish. But in recent times as food sources became centralized, more people citified, wisewoman healers were persecuted and indigenous communities were torn apart through colonization, much of this common knowledge was lost. Now, many are seeking to reclaim traditional herbalism, but most flora and fungi harvested for an ever-growing wellness industry and big pharma is done at the expense of Earth. This is a glaring contradiction, since our health is dependent on the health of the environment. This talk and workshop by author, herbalist and naturalist, Vanessa Chakour will explore endangered medicine such as chaga, goldenseal, and American ginseng while touching on the imbalance of power caused by separation from traditional cultures and ancestral healing traditions. We{\textquoteright}ll look at ways to regenerate both plants and ancestral practices with respect to their ecosystems, while remembering medicine {\textemdash} weeds like dandelion and burdock {\textemdash} that are with us in abundance.
Presenter bio: Vanessa Chakour is an author, herbalist, naturalist and founder of Sacred Warrior (sacred warrior.co) and the co-steward at Mount Owen Forest Sanctuary (mountowenforestsanctuary.com), a 268+ acre nature preserve in Western Massachusetts. She is the author of Awakening Artemis: Deepening Intimacy With The Natural World and Reclaiming Our Wild Nature and the forthcoming Earthly Bodies: Embracing Our Animal Nature, both published by Penguin Life.
Presenter affiliation: Sacred Warrior; Mount Owen Forest Sanctuary}, author = {Chakour, Vanessa} } @conference {1496786, title = {Transmuting Poison into Medicine: Intersecting Cultivation Practices and the Power of Spoken Word for Somatic Trauma Healing}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Harvard Divinity School has the honour in hosting the premiere of {\textquotedblleft}SanBao and the Tao of Healing.{\textquotedblright} A live performance of a collaborative work by Billy and Heather: combining a somatic narrative through Spoken Word, partnered with the hermetic practice of Taijiquan{\textquoteright}s publicly taught first 3 books (series of forms), revealed by Billy{\textquoteright}s Sifu Hon, Sat Chuen. This session will begin with contextualizing the unique method of the work. Participants will then be invited into a sensory journey while witnessing the live offering. To integrate, participants will dialogue with Billy and Heather in facilitating a personal somatic healing practice.

Presenter bios: Billy J. Choi-Gekas is the founder of the School of Radical Healing and Sacred Activism (SORHSA) www.myradicalhealing.com and is a wholistic practitioner, educator, and anti-oppression consultant, working with numerous social justice, Queer, and inter-religious organizations across Canada. Billy currently works out of the University of Toronto and serves on the Board of Directors for Toronto Urban Native Ministry.

Heather Beamish is co-founder of Voices Canada www.voicescanada.org and an ex-evangelical pastor turned spoken word artist, author, and facilitator. In her work, she prioritizes resourcing communities with tools for rebuilding, reimagining, and reconciling differences through art and education. Heather is committed to creating curriculum and content birthed out of her Queer, Black, and Indigenous identities. www.heatherbeamish.com

Presenter affiliation: The School of Radical Healing \& Sacred Activism (SORHSA) (Choi-Gekas); University of Toronto (Choi-Gekas); Voices Canada (Beamish)}, author = {Choi-Gekas, Billy J. and Beamish, Heather} } @conference {1496731, title = {The Voice of the New Age Spirituality: An Assimilative, Inclusive and Equalising platform for the Marginalised and the Mainstream Religious Discourses}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: My paper argues that the 21st century New Age Spirituality has destroyed the conceptual notion of hierarchy among the religions and created a religionless religion where many underrepresented and marginalised religious practices have found their voice among the major dominant religions of the globe. It does not just assert equality among every religion by diminishing the destructive habit of establishing the superiority of one over the other, but also shows that every religion, fundamentally, is saying the same thing. My paper further argues that, with the indifferences and callousness that is exponentially growing on the planet, such fluidity of spiritual identity has become an imperative, and, because of the openness of the New Age Spirituality which evolves around the fundamental principle of the greater good for the planet, it has become a popular choice among those who are ecologically sensitised and sensitive about the future of our planet as well.

Presenter bio: Rituparna Das completed the PhD program in English with specialisation in South Asian Film and Literature and Postcolonial Studies at the University of Calcutta and has 13+ years of experience in teaching English language, literature, and communication skill to students of Management and technical backgrounds. Dr. Das has delivered invited lectures and papers in various universities in India and abroad, such as the University of Graz, Austria; Cambridge University; Montreal University; and Timisoara University. She is presently supervising PhD candidates in various fields of Cultural Studies. Alongside her academic tasks, she is acting as the secretary of an Indian NGO dedicated to the welfare of under-privileged street children and women of West Bengal and also working as an animal activist.

Presenter affiliation: Surendranath College for Women}, author = {Das, Rituparna} } @conference {1496691, title = {Weaponized Vulnerability and the Search for Authenticity in Modern Yoga Communities}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: In modern yoga and spiritual communities, the need for connection and authenticity often causes students to be peer-pressured into what this paper will call {\textquotedblleft}weaponized vulnerability.{\textquotedblright} {\textquotedblleft}Weaponized vulnerability{\textquotedblright} is personal sharing from participants at workshops, retreats, and yoga teacher trainings, which was squeezed out of them by communal pressures, or by displays of disingenuous and performative vulnerability from the leaders at these trainings. As well as examining weaponized vulnerability, its origins, and ties to larger patterns of capitalist and Western cooptation of spiritual traditions, this paper will examine older models of spiritual mentorship, in search of a more balanced paradigm.

Presenter bio: Patricia Tillman holds a PhD in History from the Catholic University of America, and is currently an adjunct professor at University of Maryland-Global Campus. Her research and writing focus on the tensions between head-learning and heart-learning, skepticism and belief, and tradition and modernity, as well as comparisons between Western and Eastern spiritualities.

Presenter affiliation: University of Maryland, Global Campus}, author = {Tillman, Patricia} } @conference {1496671, title = {Who is the "Master of the Teachings"? The Question of Religious Authority in the World Church of Messiah}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Sekai Meshia Kyo, or World Church of Messiah, is a Japanese new religious movement founded by Okada Mokichi (1882-1955). After the death of the founder, the name of this religious organization was changed to Sekai Kyusei Kyo, and several schismatic groups emerged. Most recently (since 2017), Sekai Kyusei Kyo underwent another schism over a leadership conflict between the fourth spiritual leader{\textemdash}Okada Yoichi, grandson of the founder{\textemdash}and the executive administrators of the organization. This presentation will explore the aftermath of this recent division, paying particular attention to the question of religious authority in interpreting the teachings of the founder.

Presenter bio: Naohito Miura is a PhD candidate in the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University with a primary specialization in East Asian Religions and a secondary field in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. His research focuses on Japanese religions, new religious movements, and ethnography of religion. Naohito received his BA in International Relations from Pomona College and MDiv from Harvard Divinity School. Before coming to Harvard, Naohito worked as a middle school teacher in Hawaii for two years.

Presenter affiliation: Harvard University}, author = {Miura, Naohito} } @conference {1496201, title = {Cautions and Correctives to Prevent Religious Abuse in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: Lessons from the Oregon Psilocybin Services Initiative}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: My paper argues that 1) the absence of critical awareness by many leaders in psychedelic-assisted therapy about the historical origins of the specific metaphysical claims they have taken from the field of transpersonal therapy, 2) bolstered by the proliferation of a reductive and mechanical-empiricist definition of {\textquotedblleft}religious mysticism{\textquotedblright} that clinical trials with psychedelics have authorized and disseminated, 3) combined with the expectation of clients taking therapeutic doses of psilocybin that they will and in fact should experience a transformative mystical state, 4) in a context where people ingesting the {\textquotedblleft}medicine{\textquotedblright} are profoundly psychologically vulnerable, creates significant potential for spiritual abuse.

Presenter bio: Amy Koehlinger is Associate Professor in the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion at Oregon State University where she teaches courses in North American religious history, U.S. Catholicism, the spirituality of nature, psychedelics and religion, and theories of religion. Dr. Koehlinger{\textquoteright}s scholarly publications include work on the racial activism of Catholic sisters, Catholic masculinity and the sport of boxing, white Christian privilege in the U.S., the influence of the social sciences on Catholic structures. She also is in first cohort of individuals training to become licensed facilitators for the Oregon Psilocybin Services Initiative which legalized psilocybin-assisted therapy starting in 2023.

Presenter affiliation: Oregon State University}, author = {Koehlinger, Amy} } @conference {1496236, title = {The Cognitive Disconnect of Goddess Spirituality}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Sacred Feminine Liberation Thealogy offers humanity and the planet a path forward from destruction but many of the thought leaders of the movement are blinded by their own dysfunction, bigotry and discrimination. Whether busy practicing female superiority, participating in a cult of personality or on a crusade to fight a non-existent problem they call the "erasure of women" they are failing to teach the actual substance and depth that Goddess as deity, archetype and ideal actually provides humankind. We must be willing to reconcile our spirituality with our politics as well as see our liturgical flaws. We need leadership willing to remedy our mistakes or misconceptions in order to transition this spirituality into one that{\textquoteright}s recognized and taken seriously on the world stage. Goddess religion may come full circle and once again provide the answer to humanity{\textquoteright}s woes.

Presenter bio: Thought leader, author, speaker and podcaster, the Rev. Dr. Karen Tate presents on topics of pilgrimage, sacred feminine liberation theology and creating a new normal through the values of partnership, equality, justice and compassion. Named one of 13 Most Influential Women in Goddess Spirituality, Karen offers talks at Joseph Campbell Roundtables, Parliament of World Religions, and American Academy of Religion. She is a Caring Economy Conversation Leader and Power of Partnership presenter. Karen published 7 books, was named a Wisdom Keeper of the Goddess Spirituality Movement and can be seen in the award winning film, Femme: Women Healing the World.

Presenter affiliation: Joseph Campbell Foundation, Fellowship of Isis, Center for Partnership Studies, Temple of Isis, Reformed Congregation of Goddess, Ocean Seminary College}, author = {Tate, Karen} } @conference {1496256, title = {Countering the Eco-abuses of Dominant Societal Paradigms}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: When we live in a system that is fundamentally abusive of Earth{\textquoteright}s systems and marginalized peoples, how do ecocentric religions and spiritual communities acknowledge and counter these abuses? How have eco-religions grappled with this question{\textemdash}both in their scriptures and statements as well as their practices and activism? This panel includes a variety of perspectives from Paganism, Gaianism, and other ecospiritualities that provide an exploration of this question as well as an opportunity to learn from each other and cross-fertilize.

Presenter bio: Erik Assadourian is the director of the Gaian Way, an eco-religious philosophy and community founded in 2019. He has been a sustainability researcher, writer, and communicator since he started his career in 2001 as a researcher with Worldwatch Institute. He worked with the Institute until it wound down in 2017. He directed or co-directed seven books, focusing on consumerism, eco-education, global security, and economic degrowth. He writes a weekly Gaian Reflection at Gaianism.org and helps coordinates the Gaian community.

Presenter affiliations: The Gaian Way (Assadourian); GreenSpirit (Mowll), and Novasutras (Merrill).}, author = {Assadourian, Erik and Mowll, Ian and Merrill, Michelle} } @conference {1496191, title = {Drinking Poison, Integrating Shadows: Paths toward Community, Integrity \& Protection}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: This paper will explore three pathways for effective shadow work that can be supportive for alternative spiritual and healing communities. The first two are grounded in the context of the ceremonial usage of ayahuasca, but can be applied outside of it. These include the integration of trusted non-human guides through the Shipibo Amazonian indigenous practice of plant dieta, shared reflection on ritual experiences of trauma release using western psychotherapeutic paradigms, and a dialogical process called BreakThrough inspired by Advaita Vedanta that seeks to put nondualism in practice. I proceed in five acts, and my observations emerge from experience. Act I: 2 Guides: Shiva \& Ayahuasca. Act II: Losing and finding a spiritual home. Act III: Shipibo plant dieta: growing plants within. Act IV: Purge and Release: trauma theory and mirrors. Act V: Dialogical observation of the reactionary mind.

Presenter bio: Michelle Bentsman is a doctoral candidate in Comparative Religion at Harvard specializing in song healing rituals. Her primary traditions of study and practice are Judaism, Hinduism, and indigenous Amazonian Shipibo. Her research is informed by her work in end-of-life and trauma care settings.

Presenter affiliation: Harvard University}, author = {Bentsman, Michelle} } @conference {1496221, title = {Drumming as the Oppressed of the Oppressed: Two Spirit Survivance In the Time of Native American Ceremonial Resurgence}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: The return towards recovery of spiritual practices by ceremonial drum-keepers has allowed a cadre of Native American languages to be heard and learned around drum circles as have protocols of sacred protocols. As we move to be a more inclusive society where gender pronouns are Indigenous lands are acknowledged new negotiations and conversations are being had about Two Spirit communities.

Considering the prevalence of testimonial injustice, I chose to challenge this unjust condition and bringing to light some of the negotiations and injustices around "traditional" sacred protocols. In examining these particular issues, I hope we begin to understand how superficial acknowledgment is not enough and, in pushing against testimonial injustice, we can begin to hear the voices of those speaking in ways that need a further developed and adjusted form of listening and learning--a more inclusive way towards epistemic justice.

Presenter bio: Delores (Lola) Mondrag{\'o}n is practitioner of Native American Religious Traditions and a graduate student at UC Santa Barbara. As a Chickasaw Chicana drummer, veteran, and Two Spirit grandmother, Lola uses an Indigenous Two Spirit Feminist lens to reinterpret the world for herself, her grandchildren, and various shared communities fighting against continued genocide.

Presenter affiliation: University of California Santa Barbara}, author = {Mondrag{\'o}n, Delores} } @conference {1496226, title = {Empowerment and Abuse: Gender and Sexuality in Two Syncretistic NRMs}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: In this paper, we will focus on exploring the complex power dynamics in two case studies in which the leaders of small, syncretistic religious movements abused their followers. Mohan Singh and Ali X used idiosyncratic religious teachings to justify abuse of followers, including sexual abuse of female members. We will focus on some of the key structural (such as leadership and membership structure) and cultural factors (such as teachings on gender, sexuality, purification and health and healing) within the movements which enabled this abuse. We will also explore stories of empowerment and agency from former members, as well as enduring ambivalent views of the two leaders.

Presenter bios: Sarah Harvey is the Senior Research Officer at Inform and a Research Associate on the {\textquoteleft}Abuse in Religious Contexts{\textquoteright} project. In this project, she is looking at Inform{\textquoteright}s data on abuse in minority religions. She also has interests in millennialism and health - her PhD research was on natural pregnancy and birth practices. Suzanne Newcombe is the Director of Inform and a Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at the Open University. She has expertise in movements with origins or inspirations from Asian and Indian traditions as well as intersections with health and healing. Her PhD research was on the modern history of yoga and she is a leading expert in this field.

Presenter affiliations: Inform (Harvey and Newcombe), King{\textquoteright}s College London (Harvey and Newcombe), the University of Kent (Harvey), and the Open University (Newcombe)}, author = {Harvey, Sarah and Newcombe, Suzanne} } @conference {1496181, title = {God Came to Party: Psychedelic Spirituality at Burning Man}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: This paper explores psychedelic-using spiritual communities operating at the annual Burning Man festival. The paper focuses on communities-of-care and harm reduction practices which allow the 70k person city to function, as well as rituals and spiritual practices co-operating with these care practices. The paper weaves the author{\textquoteright}s personal experience from his five Burns (where he worked in psychedelic harm reduction and as a Temple Guardian) with an analysis of the primary and secondary literature on Burning Man and North American psychedelic churches. This paper will discuss both positive practices of psychedelic communities at Burning Man and areas of abuse and risk.

Presenter bio: Jeffrey A. Breau is a Master of Divinity candidate at Harvard Divinity School, where he focused on psychedelic spirituality and chaplaincy. His current research interest is communities-of-care in {\textquoteleft}underground{\textquoteright} psychedelic spiritual communities. Prior to Harvard, he oversaw an Ashram founded by Ram Dass and spent six years as a Google program manager.

Presenter affiliation: Harvard Divinity School}, author = {Breau, Jeffrey} } @conference {1496251, title = {The Guru Scandals: Lessons from the Recent History of Power Abuse}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: The series of sex-and-power scandals involving popular gurus beginning in the 1960s left an enduring mark on the alternative spirituality landscape. This presentation will explore the important lessons to be drawn from those upheavals regarding student-teacher dynamics, accountability among teachers with no institutional affiliation, empowering independent spiritual seekers, redefining power relationships, healthy responses to ethical breaches, and other related issues.

Presenter bio: Philip Goldberg is an author, public speaker, meditation teacher, and interfaith minister whose numerous books include the award-winning American Veda: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation, How Indian Spirituality Changed the West; Roadsigns on the Spiritual Path: Living at the Heart of Paradox; The Life of Yogananda: The Story of the Yogi Who Became the First Modern Guru and Spiritual Practice for Crazy Times. An adviser to the Museum of American Religion and a board member of Association for Spiritual Integrity, he hosts the Spirit Matters podcast and leads tours to India. See www.philipgoldberg.com.

Presenter affiliation: Spirit Matters podcast}, author = {Goldberg, Philip} } @conference {1496186, title = {Male Vulnerability, Intimacy and Care: Two Poets in Collaboration and Conversation}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Drawing from their respective artistic and spiritual practices, two poets{\textemdash}Ricky Ray and Devin Gael Kelly{\textemdash}known for the depth of feeling and range of emotion in their work, will explore the sources and complications of vulnerability in the male persona, tracing its development in their own lives, and as an empowering force in creativity, kinship and care. They will explore these themes in a multi-modal performance, including the reading of lyric essays and original poetry, culminating in a conversation in which the life of the deeply-considered heart is every bit as essential as the life of the cultured mind.

Ricky Ray{\textquoteright}s bio: Ricky Ray is a poet, essayist and eco-mystic who lives with his wife and his own brown dog in the old green hills of New England. He is the author of Fealty; Quiet, Grit, Glory; and The Sound of the Earth Singing to Herself. He was educated at Columbia University and Bennington College, and he lectures on poetry, animism and integral ecology. His awards include the Cormac McCarthy Prize, the Ron McFarland Poetry Prize, a Liam Rector Fellowship and a Zoeglossia Fellowship. His writing appears widely in periodicals and anthologies, including The American Scholar, Salamander, Waxwing and The Moth.

Devin Gael Kelly{\textquoteright}s bio: Devin Gael Kelly is a writer and high school teacher living in New York City. He is the author of In This Quiet Church, I Say Amen (Civil Coping Mechanisms), and his work has appeared in The Year{\textquoteright}s Best Sports Writing 2021, Longreads, The Guardian, LitHub, and more. He writes the poetry newsletter, Ordinary Plots.}, author = {Ray, Ricky and Kelly, Devin Gael} } @conference {1496246, title = {Mitigating Risk in Extreme Spiritual Pursuit}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: In this paper Jeff Carreira explores the challenges faced by those who are so compelled by the miraculous that they consciously choose to embark on a path of extreme spiritual pursuit. The first question the paper will address is a person{\textquoteright}s right to choose to follow a path of spiritual pursuit that others see as potentially dangerous or harmful in the face of the compulsion they may feel to follow a spiritual path that conforms to the values and sensibilities of the dominant culture. The second theme to be addressed is the paradox of how the depth of surrender required in extreme spiritual pursuit is both essential to the transformative work and exactly what makes us susceptible to abuses of spiritual authority. The paper concludes with suggestions for how to engage in extreme spiritual work in ways that maximize spiritual benefit while minimizing the potential for damage.

Presenter bio: Jeff Carreira is a meditation teacher, mystical philosopher and author who offers retreats and courses guiding individuals in a form of meditation he refers to as The Art of Conscious Contentment. He is passionate about the potential ideas have to shape how we perceive reality and live together. His enthusiasm for learning is infectious and he has taught at colleges and universities in the United States and Australia. He is the author of numerous books including American Awakening, The Path of Spiritual Breakthrough, The Miracle of Meditation, and Paradigm Shifting.

Presenter affiliation: Emergence Education}, author = {Carreira, Jeff} } @conference {1496206, title = {The Moral Injuries of Psychedelics}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Many Veterans seeking psychedelic-assisted therapy suffer not only psychological injuries but also moral injuries. Such injuries occur in humans when we witness or participate in acts that violate our deeply held moral beliefs. Moral injuries often cost an important piece of ourselves; as war journalist, Presbyterian minister, and HDS graduate Chris Hedges remarks, ""War, like all idols, begins by demanding the sacrifice of others but ends with the demand for self-sacrifice."

But it is not just Veterans with moral injury. Joe Welker (MDiv {\textquoteright}23) explores how moral injury is endemic to the psychedelic field and many psychedelic communities, how poor responses to moral injury fuel abusive systems, and the hidden sacrifices of psychedelics.

Presenter bio: Joe Welker (MDiv {\textquoteright}23) is a Ministry Fellow at Harvard Divinity School. He is a candidate for ordination in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Presenter affiliation: Harvard Divinity School}, author = {Welker, Joe} } @conference {1496241, title = {Mysticism and Its Discontents: Does Spiritual Illumination Create Its Own Intrinsic Blindness?}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: This paper will explore four essential questions and conundrums that confront us as we consider the way in which mystical illumination is presented in many new religious movements or alternative spiritualities. It will suggest that by more fully exploring the answers to these questions, we can better ameliorate the imbalances of power and the potential for abuse that is more often than not characteristic of alternative spiritual movements. Is mystical attainment seen as an end state? Does mystical awakening both illuminate and blind? To what extent does awakening select for psychological instability? Is domain creep inevitable?

Given insights derived from these four areas of inquiry, this paper will offer suggestions for how we might optimize the important benefits of alternative spiritual communities while still managing and mitigating the potential downsides."

Presenter bio: Carter Phipps has been at the forefront of contemporary spirituality for three decades, as executive editor of What Is Enlightenment? magazine; bestselling author of Evolutionaries and co-author of Conscious Leadership; cofounder of the Institute for Cultural Evolution; and as practitioner, participant, and former leader within an alternative spiritual community. He is also the host of the Thinking Ahead Podcast.

Presenter affiliation: Institute for Cultural Evolution}, author = {Phipps, Carter} } @conference {1496216, title = {Productive Instability?: Investigating the Intersection Between Gender Transition and Religious Conversion}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: In this paper, I address the intersection of gender transition and religious conversion, a dynamic currently under-discussed in trans* religious studies. I examine Mariecke van den Berg{\textquoteright}s essay {\textquotedblleft}Embodying Transformation,{\textquotedblright} which highlights parallels between gender transition and religious conversion in looking at memoirs by Jewish trans women. Taking van den Berg{\textquoteright}s work as a starting-point, my paper continues this line of questioning and attempts to take seriously what a deeper instability between gender and religious identity, and thus their intersection and simultaneity, might look like{\textemdash}and additionally what importance such a theorization holds for both trans* theory and for academic religious studies.

Presenter bio: Nicole Malte Collins is a Master of Theological Studies student at Harvard Divinity School, where she studies the intersection of transness and religious conversion.

Presenter affiliation: Harvard Divinity School}, author = {Collins, Nicole} } @conference {1496211, title = {The Tower Crumbles, but Now You Can See the Star: Queer Temporalities, Religious Affects, and Healing Through Tarot Practice}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: This presentation explores the role that Tarot practice, as an alternative spirituality, can play in healing and imagining for queer practitioners. Bringing together scholarship from queer theory, temporal studies, and religious affect theory with two firsthand Tarot reading experiences as case-studies, this paper argues for the presence of a unique environment evoked by Tarot where the queer practitioner is able to negotiate pasts, presents, and futures simultaneously. This process, which involves both the semiotics of Tarot cards themselves and the discourse taking place within a reading, ultimately, is both freeing and healing for the queer subject.

Presenter bio: Destiny Magnett is a first-year MTS candidate at Harvard Divinity School, with an area of focus in religion, ethics, and politics. She completed her undergraduate degree in Religious Studies at Grinnell College (Grinnell, IA) and still has a strong affinity for the Midwest. Her most current academic interests include religious affect theory, temporal studies, queer theory, and the intersections of religion and conflict transformation. As such, her professional and academic work has centered on {\textquoteleft}lived religion{\textquoteright} and religion in the public sphere.

Presenter affiliation: Harvard Divinity School}, author = {Magnett, Destiny} } @conference {1496196, title = {Uses and Abuses of Ayahuasca in the Upper Amazon}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: This paper will address the shamanic practice of partaking of the indigenous Amazonian brew known as ayahuasca. This practice has become extremely popular in the global north, attracting tourists to the Amazonian region in search of this brew. This popularity has inevitably given rise to abuses of power in its use. However, the nature of the abuse of power differs between the more recent tourism practices and the more ancient use of this shamanic brew for harming purposes. The paper will address these differences as well as emphasize the necessary behavioral and dietary restrictions that must accompany its use.

Presenter bio: Fr{\'e}d{\'e}rique Apffel-Marglin is Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology at Smith College. She founded the Sachamama Center for Biocultural Regeneration in the Peruvian High Amazon in 2009. Her latest book, with her adopted son at her center, Randy Chung Gonzales, is: Initiated by the Spirits, Green Fire Pr 2022.

Presenter affiliation: Smith College}, author = {Apffel-Marglin, Fr{\'e}d{\'e}rique} } @conference {1496231, title = {Women-oriented Yoga: Female Empowerment or Patriarchal Practice in Disguise?}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: While women dominate the yogascape worldwide, not all yoga practiced by women is designed specially to suit their perceived needs. The contemporary school of Iyengar Yoga (IY) developed systematized what I coin "Women-Oriented Iyengar Yoga" (WOIY), which is meant to accommodate women{\textquoteright}s bodily, mental, cultural, and sociological needs. This is created to alleviate common physical discomfort and pain of female practitioners and empower them. However, WOIY enacts gender performativity and defines "womanhood" as "otherhood", which unintentionally creates inherent inequality and bias towards women. It also employs power over females{\textquoteright} bodies and sets "correct" ways of behavior and movement.

Presenter bio: Dr. Agi Wittich graduated from the department of Religious Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her dissertation unfolded the complexities of Women-oriented yoga in the Iyengar tradition. Her research resulted in several prizes and scholarships for her work. She was invited to international conferences, colloquia, and departmental seminars.

Presenter affiliation: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem}, author = {Wittich, Agi} } @conference {1495481, title = {Association for Spiritual Integrity: Lessons from a Young Organization Making a Difference}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: The Association for Spiritual Integrity (ASI) was created as a nonprofit in 2018 in response to the long series of power abuses within the alternative spirituality domain. Its aim is to help change the paradigm of spiritual leadership by empowering seekers and promoting ethical standards and ongoing personal development among spiritual teachers, guides, mentors, and the like. In this presentation, ASI founders and board members share the lessons learned and takeaways drawn from the organization{\textquoteright}s nascent initiatives: establishing an Honor Code of Ethics and Good Practice for spiritual teachers and organizations; running a pilot program to develop small peer support groups for spiritual teachers and leaders; and making available a formal process by which students who feel abused or exploited by spiritual teachers can file a complaint and engage in an open and honest restorative process with the teacher involved.

Presenter bios: Jac O{\textquoteright}Keeffe is a theology graduate from the Pontificate University of Ireland with post graduate studies in adult education. Working as an independent spiritual teacher for more than 15 years she guides people in the unfoldment of their own spiritual journey. In her books, teachings, talks and retreats she supports the empowerment of individuals who are done with bypassing, done with hiding, done with outsourcing their spiritual awakening to gurus. Her books include Born to Be Free and How to Be a Spiritual Rebel. Jac is a founding member of the Association for Spiritual Integrity (ASI), an organization with a mission to bring high levels of integrity to the culture of spiritual leadership. https://www.jac-okeeffe.com/

Philip Goldberg is an author, public speaker, meditation teacher, and interfaith minister whose numerous books include the award-winning American Veda: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation, How Indian Spirituality Changed the West; Roadsigns on the Spiritual Path: Living at the Heart of Paradox; The Life of Yogananda: The Story of the Yogi Who Became the First Modern Guru and Spiritual Practice for Crazy Times. An adviser to the Museum of American Religion and a board member of Association for Spiritual Integrity, he hosts the Spirit Matters podcast and leads tours to India. https://www.philipgoldberg.com/

Rick Archer is the creator and host of the interview show Buddha at the Gas Pump. Since the Fall of 2009, he has interviewed nearly 700 {\textquotedblleft}spiritually awakening{\textquotedblright} people, from the well-known to the unknown, from a variety of backgrounds and traditions. A former Transcendental Meditation teacher for 25 years, Rick instructed hundreds of people and spent years on long meditation retreats. He has practiced meditation daily for over 54 years. He is also one of the founders of the Association for Spiritual Integrity and spoke regularly at the Science and Non-Duality Conference. https://batgap.com

Presenter affiliation: The Association for Spiritual Integrity (https://www.spiritual-integrity.org/)}, author = {O{\textquoteright}Keeffe, Jac and Goldberg, Philip and Archer, Rick} } @conference {1495536, title = {Becoming indigenous? The development of Nordic Animism}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: The following paper will look at Nordic Animism. Connected politically to progressive movements in Scandinavia and particularly to Environmentalism, Nordic Animism is one of the most innovative forms of Heathenism to emerge in recent years and a movement that seeks to address the issues of race, nationalism, and how it relates to their overall concern with ecology. But the paper will also address how the problems connected with Nordic Animism in their view on indigenous traditions and if there is a tendency to develop a exotic image of indigenous religions as a positive {\textquotedblleft}Other{\textquotedblright}.

Presenter bio: Fredrik Gregorius is associate professor in the history of religion at Link{\"o}ping University Sweden. His research focus on the reception and use of pre-Christian religions in contemporary society. He is part of the research project "Back to Blood: Pursuing a future from the Norse Past."

Presenter affiliation: Link{\"o}ping University}, author = {Gregorius, Fredrik} } @conference {1495526, title = {Children and "Spiritual Abuse" in Alternative Spiritualities: Issues of Harm, Questions of Blame, and the Search for Solutions}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: This presentation will address the issue of harm to children in alternative spiritualties. Eight specific groups, chosen as cases where children were abused or experienced maltreatment, will be described and analyzed in an endeavour to identify factors that contributed to harm. Problematic issues will be identified such as millennial expectations, charismatic authority, sectarian attitudes, "defamilialization", ascetic practices, and reliance on faith healing. The impact of militarized state raids on children will also be addressed. This presentation draws on the results of a five-year SSHRC-funded research project at McGill University, Children in Sectarian Religions and State Control, and features original academic studies of Ogyen Kunzang Ch{\"o}ling, Ecoovie, The Body of Christ, and The Old Order Mennonites of Westboro, Manitoba. It offers a comparative analysis of cases of child abuse, social conditions and sanctions in three {\textquotedblleft}Jesus People" movements: The Jesus Army, Jesus People USA, and the Children of God/The Family.

Presenter bio: Susan J. Palmer is an Affiliate Professor at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. She is also Lecturer at McGill University and Principal Investigator of the research project, Children in Sectarian Religions and State Control, funded by the Social Sciences and the Humanities Research Council of Canada. She has authored twelve books; notably, Moon Sisters, Krishna Mothers, Rajneesh Lovers (1994); Aliens Adored: Rael{\textquoteright}s UFO Religion (2004); The New Heretics of France (2011); The Nuwaubian Nation: Black Spirituality and State Control (2016); Storming Zion (co-authored with Stuart Wright, 2015), and The Mystical Geography of Quebec (2020).

Presenter affiliation: School of Religious Studies, McGill University and Department of Religions and Cultures, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada}, author = {Palmer, Susan J.} } @conference {1495486, title = {Curiosity as Inner-Alchemy}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: What if the change we are trying to create can only be actualized in relationship to the amount of change we are able to cultivate within ourselves? What if the more we seek to care for our bodies and care for others equally - we can organically create the shifts we want to see in the world? The Curiosity as Inner-Alchemy workshop offers you a journey through exploring your own spiritual practices and belief systems in contrast to how you express yourself and interact with the world. During this workshop in a large group we will learn a framework to process your personal context and have a large group share back regarding how uses and abuses of spiritual power in alternative spiritualities has impacted you, impacted others, and what you desire to see in the world moving forward.

Presenter bio: Tianna Renee Arredondo (they/them) is an artist, facilitator and environmental justice (EJ) organizer. Most of their work has focused on supporting fossil fuel divestment efforts supporting campaigns at the United Nations Conference of the Parties as well as focused on protections within United States through supporting local battles. Tianna has served as a climate change generalist creating and supporting intergenerational and intersectional strategies to work towards having clean air, clean water, affordable housing, equitably priced electricity, nutritious food, and other EJ efforts. They have created more than 600 unique paintings, journaling prompts, and poems used as tools for their storytelling studio and regeneraetive consultancy genuinely curious. They make music as the artist vssl on all streaming platforms. Writing is what fuels and supports all of their work. They hope to create an archive of scholarship, screenplays, and other forms of engaging content that shares stories from colliding of lived experience, research, and art.

Presenter affiliation: genuinely curious}, author = {Arredondo, Tianna} } @conference {1495511, title = {From Lion to Lamb: The Spiritual Humiliation of Shaker Richard McNemar}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Abuses of spiritual power are not usually associated with the Shakers, a sect now regarded as wholesome and American as apple pie. However, during the late 1830s, spiritual forces unleashed as part of an internal religious revival manifested themselves in violent persecution. Among the victims was Richard McNemar, a leading light in the Kentucky Revival and prominent convert to Shakerism in 1805. McNemar was the indispensable man in the spread of Shakerism throughout Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana, from his conversion through the 1830s. However, rather than retirement and peace, at the end of his life he was subjected to public humiliation in the name of the sect{\textquoteright}s founder Mother Ann Lee. After an extended period of suffering, this persecution resulted in McNemar{\textquoteright}s death. This paper will trace the chaotic and darks events that unfolded at Union Village, Ohio, during 1838 and 1839, where spirit mediums unleashed hell amidst a purported heaven on earth.

Presenter bio: Christian Goodwillie is the director and curator of special collections and archives at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He has formerly served as the curator of collections at Hancock Shaker Village and the President of the Communal Studies Association, receiving their Distinguished Scholar Award in 2021. Goodwillie has published twelve books and numerous articles on the Shakers, Freemasonry, and other topics. His newest book Richard McNemar: Frontier Heretic and Shaker Apostle was published in 2023 by Indiana University.

Presenter affiliation: Hamilton College}, author = {Goodwillie, Christian} } @conference {1495496, title = {Genderspecific Manipulation (Gaslighting) through Non-violent Communication, Spirituality and Biologistic Concepts of Mother- and Fatherhood}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: In this workshop the results of a study in Intentional Communities in Germany will be presented that indicate that naturalistic ideas of mother and fatherhood, non-violent communication and certain aspects of spirituality may enable genderspecific narcissistic abuse and gaslighting in families. This is highly relevant because narcissistic behavior and character traits are on the rise in the western world. Especially in Spiritual and Intentional Communities narcissistic abuse, gaslighting and re-traditionalization of gender roles may occur via spirituality, Peace Work and the aim of authenticity. As this sort of abuse is often based on commonly shared beliefs and stereotypes, victims often do not realize the abuse and identify with their abusers. These mechanisms will be explained in detail using examples from Spiritual and Intentional Communities. Ways of detecting it early and avoiding it will be explored.

Presenter bio: Dr. Maria Burschel is sociologist and professor for Social Work at IU - International University of Applied Sciences. Her research focuses on family research, separation and divorce, narcissism, and social sustainability and transformation. She has research experience at the German Youth Institute and SOS Childrens Village, and in Intentional Communities in Germany.

Presenter affiliation: IU - International University for Applied Sciences}, author = {Burschel, Maria} } @conference {1495521, title = {Improving Self Improvement: How "The Untethered Soul" Exemplifies Barriers to Healing for Abuse Survivors When Reading Self-Help Books}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Self-help books are one of the most accessible and prolific methods of spiritual education available. However, many of the most popular and well-regarded self-help books may still be causing harm. Using my background as a domestic violence educator and advocate I analyze the New York Times best seller The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer from the lens of a domestic violence survivor and explain how the methods may re-traumatize readers by recreating power and control dynamics and emotionally abusive tactics. I go on to show how normalized these tactics are in the spiritual self-help sector.

Presenter bio: Chelsea Irys Rendlen is a spiritual activist and author. She holds a M.A. in Spirituality Mind Body, Psychology in Education from Columbia University, has her own Healing Practice, Irys Healing Arts, and is the Executive Director of the YWCA Vermont Camp Hochelaga where she creates socially and spiritually conscious spaces.

Presenter affiliation: YWCA of Vermont}, author = {Rendlen, Chelsea} } @conference {1495546, title = {Indigenous Spiritualities: cultural appropriation or the last salvation?}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: In this paper, I analyze how Indigenous spiritualities are transforming non-indigenous realities. I investigate the way non-indigenous people are using them to overcome health issues (i.e. depression), but also how they are being commodified for other uses without the proper respect. This implies that they can be harmful to the people who adopt them as practice, but also to Indigenous their selves that may be subject of what I call spiritual commodification. I look at the Huni Kuin and Yawanaw{\'a} cases to discuss cultural appropriation and understand if the Indigenous spiritual awakening is just another form of commodification or a sacred key to our own transformation.

Presenter bio: Dr. Maria Fernanda Gebara is a writer and anthropologist whose research considers the Amazon as a site where nature, culture, politics, and spirituality are enmeshed. She has been analyzing the challenges to anthropocentric attitudes from diverse perspectives, investigating local traditions and practices to understand alternative configurations between human and other- than-human beings.

Presenter affiliation: Independent scholar}, author = {Gebara, Maria Fernanda} } @conference {1495556, title = {The memory of Camilo: monuments of faith and revolution}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: A significant sector of young people from public and private universities in Colombia have found in Camilo Torres Restrepo{\textquoteright}s message a sense of hope, praxis and effective love, in the face of the serious current crisis that the Colombian political system is experiencing. These expressions have been called Camilistas.

Presenter bio: Frias Alvaro is a lawyer and human rights defender.

Presenter affiliation: National University of Colombia}, author = {Alvaro, Frias} } @conference {1495491, title = {Narrative Healing from Spiritual Abuse: How Telling Your Personal Story Creates Systemic Change}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Presenter bio: Sarah Herrington (she/her), MFA, is a writer, professor and advocate for safe spaces in yoga and meditation communities. Her writing on yoga, ethics and power abuse in contemporary yoga and meditation spaces has appeared in the New York Times, Yoga Journal, LA Yoga magazine and she{\textquoteright}s been interviewed on yoga and ethics by NPR and CNN. Her personal narrative writing on spiritual abuse inside contemporary Western meditation communities has appeared in the Revealer, with related personal essays in Poets and Writers Magazine, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. She is the author of four books on yoga and a current agented project exploring spiritual abuse inside contemporary American yoga and meditation communities. It asks the question: how do you heal when it was the path of healing that hurt you?

Sarah holds MFAs from New York University, where she was a Goldwater Fellow in Creative Nonfiction, Lesley University, and a BA from NYU. For several years she helped establish the first Master of Arts in Yoga Studies in North America at Loyola Marymount University where she continues to teach on the faculty of the Yoga, Mindfulness and Social Change curriculum and she has taught yoga in schools. She is a practitioner and teacher of yoga and Vipassana meditation. She currently teaches writing at Fordham University and Mindful Writing Workshops privately. Her students have, in turn, shared their stories of healing in the New York Times and other outlets. She is based in Brooklyn.

Presenter affiliation: Fordham University, Loyola Marymount University, New York University}, author = {Herrington, Sarah} } @conference {1495501, title = {Oro Fraternity Songs of Intimidation and Oppression Against Female Gender in Abeokuta, Nigeria}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Uses and abuses of power in {\textquotedblleft}Oro{\textquotedblright} fraternity as alternative spirituality among the Egba people of Abeokuta, Ogun state Nigeria has become a phenomenon to grapple with in the ancient city. The paper examines the songs of intimidation and oppression against the female gender who are forbidden to take part in the process of alternative spirituality. The songs are not only targeted to abuse the community females but also used as power to dominate the fragile female gender who are considered second Fido in the Abeokuta society. The paper applies ethnographic and participant observation methods. Secondary data are collected through articles in journal, published books, oral interview and the Internet. The paper finds out that the activities of the {\textquotedblleft}Oro{\textquotedblright} fraternity have gone beyond mere spirituality process to a case of abuse of spiritual power as a channel to intimidate and oppress the community female gender.

Presenter bio: Olatunbosun Samuel Adekogbe is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Music, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. I specialize in environmental musicology, Popular Music and Musical Acoustics. Some of my publications have discussed environmental noise pollution and climate change, and gender.

Presenter affiliation: Department of Music, OAU, Ile-Ife}, author = {Adekogbe, Olatunbosun Samuel} } @conference {1495531, title = {Power from the Pagan Past: The Viking Warrior as Template for (toxic) Masculinity}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Modern reinventions of the Viking Warrior are currently being used to construct masculine identities in alternative spiritualities. Through examples drawn from fitness culture, self-help publications, and radical politics, I discuss how the power dynamics of a gendered and gendering reimagination of the North European Iron Age shapes contemporary spiritualities and historical reception. In an analysis of how male warriors are being reimagined as symbols of gendered power, I address how such cultural trends can be both empowering for the individuals and groups who participate in them, but may also promote misogyny and toxic calibrations of masculinity and male identity.

Presenter bio: Dr. Tao Thykier Makeeff is an independent researcher, externally affiliated with the University of Stavanger. He was recently employed as postdoctoral fellow at the University of Stavanger, Norway (2020-22) and guest researcher at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark. His research focuses on Contemporary Paganism, ritual innovation, historical reception, and nationalisms.

Presenter affiliation: Independent researcher}, author = {Thykier_Makeeff, Tao} } @conference {1495541, title = {The Power(s) of Music and Musicians in Norse-oriented Religious Interfaces}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Einar Selvik of Wardruna, Heilung, and others associated with the Dark Nordic Folk genre, have come to define Viking-themed soundscapes in movies, TV series, and video games. What does their music say about them, how do Heathens use and speak of their music? Based on a digital survey and follow-up interviews, I argue that the songs religious Norse-inspired musicians create, sell, and provide constitute central elements for contemporary Heathen interfaces in their interaction with the Norse-inspired worlds they imagine, live, and enact. I also argue that their music has afforded them tremendous religious power in an alternative spirituality growing globally.

Presenter bio: Dr. Jane Skjoldli is Associate Professor in the study of religion at the University of Stavanger, Norway. Her research interests are contemporary Norse-oriented Paganism, contemporary Catholicism, charismatic Christianity. Her theoretical interests include but are not exclusive to perspectives prominent in discourses on material religion, religion and popular culture, and religion, emotion, and cognition. She is particularly interested in processes of constructing and deconstructing power that take place in social groups and settings often deemed religious.

Presenter affiliation: University of Stavanger, Norway}, author = {Skjoldli, Jane} } @conference {1495506, title = {Religion and the Other: Experience between Knowledge and Truth}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: By examining anthropological and phenomenological turns of religion, as proposed by Nelson Maldonado-Torres and Long, respectively, I observe that religion and the other are inextricably bound and even reflect one another. Religion, like the other, is irreducibly other: ambiguous, ubiquitous, and of infinite possibility. Religion{\textquoteright}s power is derived from its irreducibility. religion and the other create the possibility for experience. Our orientation as {\textquotedblleft}conquest of{\textquotedblright} or {\textquotedblleft}exposure to{\textquotedblright} in the forms of knowledge (power) or truth (goodness), respectively, shape our experience of them. To possess (or {\textquotedblleft}have{\textquotedblright}) religion is to treat religion as tool and a totality with the possibility of employing it for totalitarian aims, including the conquest of the other. To seek religion, however, is to treat religion as infinity and be opened to it as the exposure to the other. Thus, religious experience is the experience of the other. These become sites for resistance and the otherwise with phenomenological implications for the term {\textquotedblleft}religion{\textquotedblright} and the study of religion.

Presenter bio: john clayton gehman (he/him) is a first-year Master of Divinity candidate at Harvard Divinity School. Born in San Lu{\'\i}s Potos{\'\i}, M{\'e}xico, john clayton is a transracial adoptee who lived in Pennsylvania for most of his life. Not traditionally considered in the {\textquotedblleft}borderlands,{\textquotedblright} john clayton experienced new ways of being and becoming because of is social, spatial, and geographical situatedness. john clayton attended Boston College, earning an AB in Philosophy. Opting for a gap-year, john clayton completed a Grace Year Fellowship in Millbrook, NY, directing an ESL program and co-directing a BIPOC collective action non-profit. As a minister, john clayton hopes to create spaces for security, imagination, and flourishing.

Presenter affiliation: Harvard Divinity School}, author = {gehman, john clayton} } @conference {1495516, title = {Sorcery, African Alternative Spirituality and the Abuse of Power}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: This paper explores the use of power from an African alternative spiritual perspective with particular reference to the practice of sorcery in African Traditional Religion. The purpose of this research is to advance open-hearted dialogue between people who have interest in alternative spiritualities in relation to the use and abuse of power. It, therefore, responds to questions such as: what are the most significant ways in which alternative spiritualities can cause harm through the abuse of power? Are certain spiritual practices inherently abusive? How does sorcery within the African religious perspective constitute an abuse of spiritual power? To respond to these questions, it discussed the categorization of power within the African worldview, with the intention of showing how these powers have been and can be used. It further discussed the enduring features of sorcery and how sorcery remains a practice that abuses spiritual power. The Igwebuike theoretical framework was employed given the peculiar interconnected nature of the African universe. The hermeneutic, critical and analytical methods of inquiry were also used. The study revealed that sorcery is inherently abusive in its use of spiritual power, especially in an African world that understands reality as interconnected and interrelated.

Presenter bio: Ikechukwu Anthony Kanu, PhD is a Professor of African Philosophy and Theology, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University, Nigeria and the Faculty of Catholic Theology and Orthodox Studies, The University of America, Temecula, USA. He is the Global President of the Association for the Promotion of African Studies (APAS).

Presenter affiliation: Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University, Umunya, Anambra State, Nigeria}, author = {Kanu, Ikechukwu Anthony} } @conference {1495551, title = {[Un]Conscious Colonialism {\textendash} Why is {\textquotedblleft}Native Spirituality{\textquotedblright} a Pagan Genre?}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Entrenched definitions and genres are incredibly hard to dismantle, even those created in the early days of modern Pagan and New Age modalities. And yet what if those original definitions were blind spots rooted in an [un]conscious colonialism? Found within Pagan and New Age spaces for decades now, the subgenre of {\textquotedblleft}Native Spirituality{\textquotedblright} has been a convenience directed entirely by white people. In today{\textquoteright}s hopeful climate of Turtle Island First Nations resurgence and healing, and in alignment with anti-racism, social justice and decolonization efforts everywhere, the interrogation of the {\textquotedblleft}Native Spirituality{\textquotedblright} subgenre is long overdue. Led by a white anti-racism educator and scholar-practitioner of the ancestral arts, {\textquotedblleft}[Un]Conscious Colonialism {\textendash} Why is {\textquoteleft}Native Spirituality{\textquoteright} a Pagan Genre?{\textquotedblright} will conclude with a loving encouragement to examine the harm in our spiritual practice(s) and make change. Today, examining our white privilege and challenging racism, have become positive aspects of a holistic spirituality.

Presenter bio: Pegi Eyers is the author of the award-winning book Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots \& Restoring Earth Community, a survey on social justice, white studies, intercultural competency, uncolonization, nature spirituality, sacred land, the ancestral arts and the holistic principles of sustainable living. Pegi self-identifies as a Celtic Animist, and is an advocate for the recovery of authentic ancestral wisdom and traditions for all people. She lives in the countryside on the outskirts of Nogojiwanong in Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg territory (Peterborough, Ontario, Canada), on a hilltop with views reaching for miles in all directions. www.stonecirclepress.com

Presenter affiliation: Independent scholar}, author = {Eyers, Pegi} } @conference {1494971, title = {Ancestors \& Money: The Spiritual Dimension of Reparations Work for White People}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: {\textquotedblleft}Ancestors \& Money: The Spiritual Dimension of Reparations Work for White People{\textquotedblright} is a learning journey for white people with class privilege committing to redistribution of money, land and power. This approach is designed as a contribution to the Black and Indigenous-led spiritually-oriented social movements fighting for reparations for colonization and enslavement. This presentation discusses the use of unearned power inherited by white people under racialized capitalism, and the potential of surrendering it in spiritually-grounded acts of repair. This pedagogy was offered as a student-led course at Harvard Divinity School in Fall 2022, and has been offered to the public four times from 2021-2023, see morganhcurtis.com/ancestors-money. It weaves reparative approaches to wealth redistribution with attention to healing whiteness as a spiritual sickness, informed by nature-based rites-of-passage work, restorative justice, the Work That Reconnects, and European ancestral reclamation work as its primary communities of spiritual practice.

Presenter bio: As a facilitator, money coach, organizer and ritualist, Morgan is dedicated to working with her fellow people with wealth and class privilege towards redistribution, atonement, and repair of ancestral harms. She is in the process of redistributing 100\% of her inherited wealth and 50\% of her income to primarily Black- and Indigenous-led organizing and land projects. Morgan is a resident of Canticle Farm, a multi-racial, inter-faith, cross-class, intergenerational intentional community in Lisjan Ohlone territory (Oakland, CA). She is currently a Masters of Theological Studies student at Harvard Divinity School, focused on racial justice and healing.

Affiliation: Harvard Divinity School}, author = {Curtis, Morgan} } @conference {1495016, title = {The Assassination of Shinz{\^o} Ab{\'e} and Public Backlash against the Unification Church: Spiritual Abuse, Victim Blaming, or Both?}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: This paper analyzes the Ab{\'e} assassination and its aftermath in light of the history of Japanese religions and current debates about spiritual abuse and the marginalization of NRMs. Data is drawn from archival research and the examination of public comments issued by representatives of the government, the media, religious groups, academics, and the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales. It is argued that analogues of the spiritual abuse concept have taken the central role in the dominant framing of the Ab{\'e} assassination, while the UC{\textquoteright}s claim that the church is a victim of the crime has fallen on deaf ears in the public sphere for two reasons: 1.) antipathy towards NRMs among the media and the public; and 2.) a history of legally problematic spiritual sales practices and high profile court battles surrounding them, which have poisoned the well of public opinion against the UC.

Presenter bio: Adam Lyons teaches Japanese religions at the Universit{\'e} de Montr{\'e}al. He is the author of Karma and Punishment: Prison Chaplaincy in Japan (Harvard Asia Center Press, 2021) and numerous articles and book chapters on Japanese religions. He is currently the principal investigator of a multi-year research project dealing with the rise and fall of new religious movements in Japan. The project is supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.}, author = {Lyons, Adam} } @conference {1494981, title = {Authority Over the Alternative: The Role of Social Media, Content Moderation and Secularism in Authorizing the Rise and Fall of Alternative Spiritualities}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Through an examination of social media content moderation frameworks applied to moderate the activities and reported abuses and harms of alternative spiritualities, this paper discusses the challenges, power dynamics, and authority placed over the activities of alternative spiritualities online. Centered on the moral inheritances of secularism and how it operates within content moderation decisions in ways that can subjugate faith practices outside of dominant secular and Christian understandings of spirituality, this paper examines the ways social media technologies by design replicate vs. transcend social inequities and religious/spiritual hierarchies.

This paper offers opportunities to highlight the powerful role religious literacy and scholarship can play in the future of tech governance in order to peacefully address the reproduction of structural forms of inequity that have been inherited and masked through governing assumptions about faith and religion."

Presenter bio: Jenn Louie is a former Head of Business Integrity Operations at Facebook. She previously served as the first Head of Trust \& Safety at Meetup and established her career in policy and Trust and Safety at Google. Jenn has spoken on online risk and tech policies at SXSW, IDEO, Techweek NYC, and the Microsoft Social Computing Symposium. She is an innovator, entrepreneur and graduate student at Harvard Divinity School, where she is learning about moral formation and religious literacy in order to inform her development of The Moral Innovation Lab. Jenn aspires to dismantle social inequities that are recreated through masked moral inheritances transferred to tech governance and design. She is the founder of the Spiritual Care Project and an industry expert in Integrity and Trust \& Safety Operations and Tech Policy.

Affiliation: Harvard Divinity School}, author = {Louie, Jenn} } @conference {1494941, title = {Can You Find Me?: Growing up in Scientology in 1990s Toronto}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: From the perspective of a former member, this paper employs autoethnography to explore the lived and felt experience of growing up in the Church of Scientology in 1990s Toronto. Using affect theory and psychoanalytic critique, I will examine and articulate the complex, sometimes painful, and undoubtedly generative ways that Scientology{\textquoteright}s doctrine and routine practices contributed to my sense of agency as a child -- both in the context of the community and in relation to the outside world. I aim to bring a phenomenological awareness and critical perspective to the realities of childhood in Scientology and to convey that such narratives are crucial to the production of more compassionate and critical discussions of Scientology.

Presenter bio: Amy Jemmett is a doctoral student at the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto, where she also earned her SSHRC-funded MA in 2022. Amy{\textquoteright}s research focuses on childhood embodiments of religious doctrine and culture, particularly in the context of Scientology. Her work draws from both psychoanalytic and affect theories to create an autoethnographic methodology that attends to the lived and felt experience of growing up in a new religious movement.}, author = {Jemmett, Amy} } @conference {1494951, title = {Dharmic Disidentifications: Queer Buddhists of Color, Racial Capitalism, and Power}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: This is a scholarly interrogation of mainstream American Buddhism and how queer Buddhists of color offer an evolving, albeit marginalized, set of liberatory possibilities. At both the theoretical and community levels, I find that queer Buddhist of color (QBOC) critique is the newest frontier of dismantling American Buddhism{\textquoteright}s deep partnership with racial capitalism and white supremacy. Queer Buddhists of color practice and open up disidentification with American Buddhism, a concept developed by queer theorist Jos{\'e} Esteban Mu{\~n}oz which describes how queer people of color recuperate majority culture and bring new life into it for their own survival and thriving. As such, this critical framework promulgates a novel possibility within Buddhist Studies and related fields which incubates a radical transformation in American Buddhism without divesting from its institutions and resources entirely.

Presenter bio: Matthew {\textquotedblleft}Matta{\textquotedblright} Zheng (any pronouns) is an MDiv student at HDS from Sacramento, CA. They completed their BAs at Stanford University in human biology and political science, with honors in LGBTQ+ studies. His thesis was a political ethnography of queer political operatives in Washington, DC. Matta investigates white supremacy and racial capitalism as institutional cores of American Buddhism. Furthermore, Matta is deeply called to end-of-life medicine and chaplaincy, and plans to complete an MD/PhD in medical anthropology after Divinity school.

Affiliation: Harvard Divinity School}, author = {Zheng, Matthew "Matta"} } @conference {1494956, title = {Empowerment and Disempowerment in Moral Re-Armament}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Seven distinctive features of the movement are explored in this paper: outreach to the world; divine {\textquotedblleft}guidance{\textquotedblright}; metaphor of {\textquotedblleft}family{\textquotedblright}; centrality of morality; notion of collective leadership; exhortations to sacrifice and service; attitudes towards resources. The paper highlights distinctive facets of this under-researched movement and shows how the {\textquotedblleft}shadow{\textquotedblright} can creep into a well-meaning group, thus providing object lessons for initiators of alternative spiritualities.

Presenter bio: Margaret Eastman Smith, Ph.D., is Director of Trauma Healing and Community Resilience at the Institute of World Affairs in Washington, DC. She taught for eighteen years in American University{\textquoteright}s International Peace and Conflict Resolution Program. Before earning her doctorate at Tufts University, she worked seventeen years for the program of Moral Re-Armament on four continents.

Affiliation: Institute of World Affairs}, author = {Smith, Margaret Eastman} } @conference {1495011, title = {From the {\textquotedblleft}Cult Watchers{\textquotedblright} to the {\textquotedblleft}Anti-Cult Wars{\textquotedblright}: Tracing the Path to Rich and Rigorous Scientology Research}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: This presentation discusses persisting challenges in Scientology research and the path forward. It discusses the emergence of a community of scholars who adopt a significantly more favourable stance on Scientology and have impacted the homogeneity of Scientology research, seeking to refute their central claim that Scientology research had, prior to their intervention, lacked sophistication by focussing on Scientology{\textquoteright}s organisational behaviour instead of on its theology, beliefs, and praxis and by unduly relying on the testimonies of former members. In doing so, the presentation highlights how scholars who are favourable to Scientology have more in common with those who oppose Scientology than first appears.

Presenter bio: Phil Lord (J.D. B.C.L. LL.M. FCIArb) is an Assistant Professor at Lakehead University{\textquoteright}s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law. His research focuses on public law (principally employment and taxation law), behavioural economics, and new religious movements. He has authored over 25 academic articles, most peer-reviewed.

Presenter affiliation: Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, Lakehead University}, author = {Lord, Phil} } @conference {1494961, title = {How empowering was the Oxford Group/Moral Re-Armament{\textquoteright}s spirituality for social change?}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: This paper considers the unusual and still underappreciated attempts by the Moral Re-Armament movement (MRA) to apply its personal transformation modality, in the pietist Christian tradition, to major socio-political conflicts. While thousands of people felt energized and empowered by MRA to participate in peacemaking at the height of the Cold War and the colonial independence movements, their claimed successes were never studied in academia, nor taken seriously by the liberal intelligentsia at large. The paper asks why this was so, and whether there is still something to be learned from MRA{\textquoteright}s experience for peacemaking and social activism today.

Presenter bio: David Belden, D. Phil, was raised in Moral Re-Armament{\textquoteright}s London headquarters. He was a true believer and evangelist with it for five years before leaving it and writing a doctoral thesis about it in the Social Sciences faculty at Oxford University. In his eclectic life he was been a social change activist, carpenter, published novelist, magazine editor, adjunct professor at Marist College and the California Institute of Integral Studies, and, for the past ten years, restorative justice facilitator.

Affiliation: The Ahimsa Collective}, author = {Belden, David} } @conference {1494986, title = {The Institutionalization of Ecstasy: A Roundtable Discussion with Psymposia \& Harvard{\textquoteright}s psychedelic student groups}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: This panel highlights the work of the psychedelic-watchdog group Psymposia. Psymposia has been unwavering in its commitment to social justice and the disclosure of abuses in the psychedelic research and psychedelic spirituality spaces. Their work establishes an ethical standard for anyone interested in the serious study of what psychochemicals offer to address the maladies of the 21st century. However, and perhaps unsurprisingly, their work has been at the center of numerous controversies, which continue to divide the professional world of psychedelic research and therapy.

This panel will feature a roundtable discussion of psychedelic institutionalization with the Psymposia team and graduate students from the Harvard Psychedelics Project @HDS and the undergraduate Harvard Psychedelics Club. Ultimately, this conversation will survey the future of psychedelic spirituality and what lessons students interested in psychedelics, medicine, and spirituality can learn from psychedelic malpractice.

Presenter bio: Paul Gillis-Smith is a second-year MDiv student at Harvard Divinity School. His work focuses on the philosophy of religion and the religious use of drugs. He currently works at Brigham and Women{\textquoteright}s Faulkner Hospital in the Spiritual Care department, providing chaplaincy services to the inpatient psychiatric unit and the ketamine infusion program.

Presenter affiliations: Harvard Divinity School (Breau, Gillis-Smith); Psymposia (Devenot, Nickles, Pace)}, author = {Gillis-Smith, Paul and Nickles, David and Pace, Brian and Devenot, Ne{\c s}e and Breau, Jeffrey} } @conference {1494966, title = {Ordained by Capital: Conscripting Religion in Corporate America}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: Corporate clergy. Ritual consultants. Sacred designers. Tech industry companies so deeply and thoroughly installing religious grammar and culture into their corporate ecologies that business managers refer to themselves as {\textquotedblleft}head pastors{\textquotedblright} and human resource directors shepherd the souls of employees. This paper argues that the alternative spiritualities refashioned and championed by corporate America deliberately accommodate and exacerbate socioeconomic inequality and subvert the public good, marshalling the power of capital to manipulate and remake religiosity into its own image while marshalling the power of religion to sanctify and ordain capital.

Presenter bio: Adam Vander Tuig is a PhD candidate at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, a candidate for ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and a graduate of Harvard Divinity School, the University of Cambridge, and Nebraska Wesleyan University.

Affiliation: Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York}, author = {Vander_Tuig, Adam} } @conference {1494946, title = {Powerful is the giving-up of power: The Southwark Mystery of Crossbones Graveyard{\textquoteright}s In-casts}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: It is rare for a powerful institution to ritualise an apology for historic abuses of power. At Crossbones Graveyard, each Mary Magdalene day, this happens. This paper is an insider view of the spirituality of these Abram-Pagans in contemporary Southwark {\textendash} a spirituality couched in history, psychogeography, and ritual poetry. Shelly Rambo{\textquoteright}s trauma theology helps to elucidate in three ways: death in life, memory as witness, and the pneumatology of Holy Saturday as an inclusion of what is cast out. Crossbones is based on soteriological scandal {\textendash} that the bishop who had licenced the sex workers of the High Middle Ages would bury these his business partners in unconsecrated, yet church-owned soil, destined, by medieval psychogeography, for damnation and hell. The eschatological empowerment comes in the perlocutionary power of the poems found within its central metamodern contratext, The Southwark Mysteries, channelled in 1996 from a local spirit, the Winchester Goose.

Presenter bio: As the son of both a priest and a witch, Mark has always been interested in religious intersectionality and syncretism. Having studied Theology at Oxford (MA, Oxon, 1st Class) and Anthropology at St John{\textquoteright}s, Durham, he is now pursuing a PhD at the University of Exeter in Comparative Cultural Anthropology. A comparative theology and poetry have been published in print by the Psychedelic Press Journal, and online in Interfaith Now. Mark helped to organise the Vigils and Acts at Crossbones for three years and continues his relationship with the people and spirits of that place remotely from the Westcountry.

Affiliation: Exeter University, Oxford University}, author = {Schunemann, Mark} } @conference {1494976, title = {The Use of Faith Power in The Shariah Economic Movement}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {Abstract: In this paper, I intend to present my eight years of ethnographic experience with Islamic economic movement and the use of faith power in it. I observed a more trade based approach in the Middle East and a more endowment based approaches in Turkiye and South Asia, having historical inspirations from the trade histories in the Middle East and Waqfs as power enterprises, inspiring from the Mughal and Othman empires in South Asia and Turkiye. My experience with Shariah economics in these three regions and my observations associated with contemporary practices in other regions, informing how faith centres consuming out the capitalistic economic culture and the opposite is happening too.

Presenter bio: Karim Ullah is Tenured Associate Professor at Institute of Management Sciences, Pakistan. He has a PhD from Brunel University London UK on complexity of Shariah economic and finance services. He has more than 13 years of ethnographic experience while researching, consultaning, and teaching on Shariah economics and finance. He also won and implemented multiple grants, which included a team lead of waning competitive financial innovation challenge fund of the State Bank of Pakistan and UK DFID to establishment of the Centre for Excellence in Islamic Finance, Institute of Management Sciences (CEIF IMSciences). Government of Pakistan, Higher Education Commission has awarded him twice for two of his books on Islamic finance have been declared as the country best books of the years, 2015 and 2017, respectively. Karim has multiple papers in Islamic and participatory economics and finance and he regularly present his research in countries that include US, UK, Turkiye, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and UAE Karim.Ullah@imsciences.edu.pk

Affiliation: PhD on the complixity of shariah economics and finance, Brunel University London, UK. Postdoctrate on the Othomans and Mughals use of Shariah sprituality in economics, Sakarya University, Turkiye. Tenured Associate Professor and Founder of the Centre for Excellence in Islamic Finance. A joint project of UK{\textquoteright}s department for International Development and Central Bank of Pakistan, and Institute of Management Sciences, Pakistan.}, author = {Ullah, Karim} } @conference {1495021, title = {{\textquotedblleft}We are not spiritual masters{\textquotedblright}: Narrative coding and de-coding of power structures}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {A prominent narrative of the ecumenical-monastic community of Taiz{\'e} is {\textquotedblleft}We are not spiritual masters{\textquotedblright}. The paper aims to show how the coding and de-coding of power structures in this narrative work and in what regard it can enable productive as well as destructive dynamics of spirituality. Taiz{\'e} is seen as an example par excellence for such contexts of innovative spiritual communities that need to search for new narratives to shape their identities. Furthermore, the paper aims to show the methodology necessary to understand spirituality with regard to its productive and destructive prosperities, namely narrative theory and research on atmospheres.

Presenter bio: Dr. Katharina Opalka is a PostDoc researcher and scholarship holder at Bonn University (Germany), working on productive and destructive prosperities of spirituality by regarding them in the framework of narrative theory and research on atmospheres. Her work is informed by the collaboration in the interdisciplinary research group {\textquotedblleft}Resilience in religion and spirituality{\textquotedblright}. She completed her doctorate in theology in May 2020 at Bonn University, with a functional perspective on pious practices, namely humility, in the works of the 19th century liberal theologian Albrecht Ritschl. Before starting her doctoral studies she completed her pastoral training in the Protestant-Lutheran Church of Hannover.

Presenter affiliation: Faculty of Protestant Theoloy at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn, Germany}, author = {Opalka, Katharina} } @conference {1494936, title = {{\textquotedblleft}You Will Simply Go Nuts if You Try{\textquotedblright}: A Discussion of Paradox within the Osho-Rajneesh Movement}, booktitle = {Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities}, year = {2023}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA}, abstract = {How can Osho simultaneously be regarded as both an impactful spiritual teacher and the most dangerous man on Earth? This paper seeks to hold the paradox of this dynamic in tension without succumbing to the either idealization or demonization so often applied to teachers of this nature. By analyzing the degrees to which Osho{\textquoteright}s Neo-Tantric sensibilities align with the Classical Tantric teachings of various streams like the Kula and Krama lineages, I ultimately display that Osho cannot be considered a teacher of Classical Tantra, despite his claims to defining and teaching the spirit of tantra. I also consider whether the degree to which an alternative spirituality aligns with and honors the classical traditions it draws upon has an influence on its degree of potential harmfulness.

Presenter bio: Anna is a first-year MTS student concentrating on South Asian religious traditions at HDS. While her primary interest lies in the cross-religious interactions of premodern India, she additionally is curious about Western appropriation and restructuring of Hindu and Buddhist traditions. Anna is also a musician, dancer, and avid hiker. She is very excited and grateful to be presenting today.}, author = {Guterman, Anna} }