"Sacred Words taught me to stop viewing midlife with dread and denial and to approach it as a richly spiritual time. The class offered well-researched, quality lectures, materials that I keep re-reading, and carefully selected movies on midlife. A highly original course that integrated the healing power of oral storytelling, film, and the written word."
Beth Milwid, Ph.D.
Psychologist/management consultant
"Sacred Words was like a graduate course in life transitions. Valerie gave us the space to be truthful with ourselves and made room for our unspoken words. You will be graciously received and enriched in these classes. A priceless investment in your future and your emerging self."
Rose Sachs, entrepreneur
"The films allowed me to relieve my own experiences and dive deep in a short amount of time. Plus I gained new confidence in my ability to use the writen word. An opportunity not to be missed."
Margaret Wilkinson, Ph.D.
Psychologist
"I was amazed by the way Sacred Words blended so many disciplines, combining a philosophical perspective with psychology. The course is so full it will exceed your expectations."
Michelle Wolpe, Corporate Commmunications Director
"At Sacred Words we focused on the universal human struggles. It was like seeing the Greek dramas: We arrived expecting to deal with major life issues and initiations, watched these potent themes on film, then considered how they show up in our daily lives."
Molly Schardt, Museum Educator
SEMINARS
Sacred Words: A Center for Healing Stories was founded in 1993 with a grant from Laurance S. Rockefeller, as an educational non-profit. The organization helps women move through major life transitions using the film, literature and mythology and the insights of Jungian psychology.
Previous seminars have included
- Meetings with Remarkable Women
- Sexuality and Soul
- Gifts & Shadows: The Challenge of the Unlived Life
- Risks and Transitions
- The Eyes of Love: Anatomy of Relationship
- The Women's Writing Circle
- A Dialogue with Soul and Fate
Coming in Spring of 2011:
CONJURING THE MUSE
"What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for Spirit." John Updike
This seminar is designed for women in all disciplines who wish to deepen their connection with the Creative Unconscious.
The group will explore issues of great importance to the creative process - how to identify your major life themes, understand the relationship between creativity and health,
balancing interior time with the demands of family, relationships and the outer world, sacrifices are required by the muse, working in isolation vs. the need for feedback and support, the role of incubation, why is timing so important, and the courage it takes to fully embrace our vision and bring it out into the world. Partcipants will create a timeline for their next project, share their work, and explores ways to integrate their creativity with their need to earn a living in a challenging economy.
ROUNDING THE CURVE
"The new image of aging: growth in self and service to all mankind." Ethel Percy Andrus
This seminar will help women over the age of 50 to find new vision, energy and healing as they round the curve in the second half of life. Participants will learn about the relationship of creativity to longevity and psychological wellbeing and identify their major life themes. Tools include dreamwork, journalling, film, Jungian archetypes and guided imagery.
There will be a strong emphasis on leadership, long-range vision and bringing your voice and vision into the outer world.
Equal time given to consolidating and understanding the wisdom participants all have accumlulated so far, and to discovering how they are being called to share this with family, friends, and colleagues.
