{"id":8624,"date":"2026-01-10T13:27:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T21:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lilithinstitute.com\/lilithwp\/?page_id=8624"},"modified":"2026-01-10T13:27:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T21:27:57","slug":"about-2026","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.lilithinstitute.com\/lilithwp\/about-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"ABOUT 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”17px||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#771803″ custom_margin=”|auto|38px|auto||” custom_padding=”||21px|||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.5″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”Verdana|700|||||||” header_text_color=”#FFFFFF” header_font_size=”42px” header_line_height=”1.3em” background_layout=”dark” custom_padding=”7px|||||” header_font_size_tablet=”36px” header_font_size_phone=”35px” header_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n

ABOUT<\/h1>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.27.5″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”3px||20px|||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||9px|||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.5″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#ffc247″ custom_margin=”|50px||50px|false|false” custom_margin_tablet=”|15px||15px|false|false” custom_margin_phone=”|0px||0px|false|false” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|tablet” custom_padding=”50px|50px|50px|50px|false|false” custom_padding_tablet=”|25px||25px|false|false” custom_padding_phone=”15px|15px|15px|15px|false|false” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|tablet” box_shadow_style=”preset6″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n

gratitude<\/strong><\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

Mojuba\u00a0and\u00a0Todah,\u00a0respect and deep gratitude to my mother Rita Kolb Grenn, my grandmothers Annie Francesca Kolb and Gertrud Silberstein Gruenbaum, to my father Walter Joachim Grenn\u2014all of whom instilled in me compassion, an unfailing moral compass, and a thirst for knowledge. Thanks, too, to all my ancestors for insisting that I follow my intuition, especially my godmother, educator, activist and spiritual leader Milli Sabath, and dear friend and inspirer Kaye Schuman, z\u201dl, both of blessed memory, for their faith in me, their sage advice and unwavering support.<\/p>\n

Modupe\/Todah\/many thanks also go to my elders and spiritual teachers, especially: Yeye Aworo Fajembola Fatunmise, Ohen Imene Nosokpikan and Iya Isefalona Oshogbo,\u00a0ibaye, who taught me to hear the ancestors\u2013and to pay attention; and to Rabbi Nadya Gross and Rabbi Shefa Gold, who connect me to my roots and my future.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”14px||16px|||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_5,3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”20px|auto||auto||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.lilithinstitute.com\/lilithwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Ruach-Dvorah_2.png” title_text=”Ruach-Dvorah_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.5″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n

D’vorah J. Grenn, Ph.D, is a Yoreshet\/lineage holder of a female Kabbalist tradition, En-Kohenet\/priestess and ordained Mashpi\u2019ah Ruchanit\/spiritual guide.<\/strong><\/p>\n

She is the Founding Director of The Lilith Institute (1997), a San Francisco Bay Area-based producer of women\u2019s spirituality\/study circles including Kol Ha-Ruach\/Voice of the Spirit classes, public and private rituals and several lecture series. She served as Co-Director and later Chair of the former Women\u2019s Spirituality MA Program, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology\/Sofia University in Palo Alto, California, and was the founding priestess of Mishkan Shekhinah, a movable sanctuary honoring the Sacred Feminine in all spiritual traditions. Dr. Grenn\u2019s dissertation, \u201cFor She Is a Tree of Life: Shared Roots Connecting Women to Deity\u201d was an inquiry into Jewish women\u2019s religious\/cultural identities, beliefs and ritual practices among the South African Lemba and United States women.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.5″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.5″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n

Dr. Grenn co-produced the annual Women\u2019s Rites of Spring Festival in Napa from 2004 through 2007 with Kahuna Leilani Birely, founder of Daughters of the Goddess. She\u00a0has taught at Napa Valley College and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area on women\u2019s rituals, feminist thealogy and philosophies, sacred arts and literature, and Jewish mysticism. She co-teaches on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life with Reb Nadya Gross; they recently co-produced the symposium \u201cWisdom of the Mothers: Celebrating Matriarchal & Matrilineal Spiritual Traditions\u201d and will co-produce a \u201cWisdom of the Mothers: Honoring our Ancestral Roots\u201d Symposium on April 22-23, 2026.<\/p>\n

Publications include:\u00a0Lilith\u2019s Fire: Reclaiming our Sacred Lifeforce<\/em>;\u00a0Talking to Goddess<\/em>, an anthology of writings from 72 women in 25 traditions; \u201cLilith\u2019s Fire: Examining Original Sources of Power\u201d, Feminist Theology Journal; Jewish priestess and Lilith entries in\u00a0Encyclopedia of Women in World Religions<\/em>; \u201cFor She Is A Tree of Life: Shared Roots Connecting Women to Deity\u201d, her dissertation on beliefs and rituals among U.S. and South African Lemba women of Jewish ancestry, and \u201cSpiritual Brokenness and Healing Presence of the Sacred Feminine\u201d, FEMSPEC feminist journal. She has been a guest on a number of podcasts including the Revelation Podcast Project and Breaking Down Patriarchy, was a speaker in the recent \u201cCrones, Hags and Elder Wise Women\u201d Summit, and co-hosted 50 episodes of the \u201cTending Lilith\u2019s Fire\u201d broadcast with Kohenet Annie Matan.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n

Other writings include:<\/h5>\n

\u201cHow Women Construct And Are Formed By Spirit: She Who Is Everywhere In Women\u2019s Voices, Kol Isha, Maipfi A Vhafumakadzi\u201d (She Is Everywhere<\/em>, Volume I<\/em>, Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, ed. 2005)<\/p>\n

\u201cCreator Woman – Deity, Snake and Life-Giving Waters: The Active Female Principle in the Fertile Crescent, Carthage and South Africa\u201d \u2013 She Is Everywhere, Volume II<\/em> (Annette Williams, Karen Villanueva and Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, eds.; Authors Choice Press, 2007.)<\/p>\n

\u201cClaiming The Title Kohenet: Examining Goddess Judaism and the Role of the Priestess\u201d \u2013 A paper presented at \u201cWomen and the Divine\u201d Conference, Liverpool and later published in the Women in Judaism Multidisciplinary Journal<\/em>, 2008 (available: https:\/\/wjudaism.library.utoronto.ca\/index.php\/wjudaism\/article\/view\/3545<\/a><\/span><\/strong>)<\/p>\n

\u201cLilith\u2019s Fire: Examining Original Sources of Power, Re-defining Sacred Texts as Transformative Theological Practice\u201d – Feminist Theology journal, September 2007.<\/p>\n

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS<\/h5>\n

…to a few women without whom this work would have looked quite different.<\/p>\n

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Thanks to cultural theorist Judy Grahn<\/strong> for giving us a new origin story, and for her extraordinary vision and insight into human behavior. Judy, internationally renowned poet and author and co-founder of the lesbian feminist movement, created Metaformic Theory and teaches a new form of consciousness (see Commonality Institute<\/a><\/span>) which changes all our lives. Her poems and books are treasured, including The Common Woman poems; edward the dyke; She Who; Another Mother Tongue; Blood, Bread and Roses: How Menstruation Created the World; Queen of Swords; The Judy Grahn Reader, love belongs to those who do the feeling, Hanging On Our Own Bones and more. She is editor of Metaformia: A Journal of Menstruation and Culture (www.metaformia.org<\/a><\/span>).<\/p>\n

Gratitude to Kris Brandenburger<\/strong>, educator par excellence and author, “THE REDDEST ROSE UNFOLDS: a girl’s own fish stories” — for her feminist consciousness, restless intellect, patient encouragement and wisdom over the years.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Dianne E. Jenett<\/strong> for her leadership, compassion, discernment and courage; for co-creating a powerful feminist research method, Organic Inquiry, together with the late beloved Dorothy Ettling, Jennifer Clements and Lisa Shields; and for co-founding, with Judy Grahn, Serpentina, Women-Centered Research for Everybody (www.serpentina.com), a container big enough to hold us all.<\/p>\n

Much appreciation also goes to Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb<\/strong>, Blu Greenberg<\/strong>, shamanic healer Vicki Noble<\/strong> (www.motherpeace.com<\/a><\/span>), feminist peace activist and visionary Starhawk<\/strong> (www.starhawk.org<\/a><\/span> and www.reclaiming.org<\/a><\/span>), feminist historian and artist Max Dashu<\/strong> (www.suppressedhistories.net<\/a><\/span>), change agents Cosi Fabian<\/strong> (of blessed memory)<\/span>, Krissy Keefer<\/strong> (www.dancebrigade.org<\/a><\/span>) and others too numerous to name here, for their pioneering work in reconfiguring our world.<\/p>\n

For years, these women have acted according to their consciences as they modeled new ways of thinking and positive social change, following their visions and manifesting their values even when doing so put them in jeopardy or caused them to be ostracized by those with narrower minds. They, and many other cutting-edge scholars, writers, artists, priestesses and spiritual leaders across different spiritual traditions and disciplines, are part of an ongoing paradigm shift.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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CONNECT WITH US!<\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n

info@lilithinstitute.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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If you believe in the work we\u2019re doing, please consider supporting the Lilith Institute with a monthly or one-time donation.<\/p>\n

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ABOUT gratitude Mojuba\u00a0and\u00a0Todah,\u00a0respect and deep…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8624","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lilithinstitute.com\/lilithwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lilithinstitute.com\/lilithwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lilithinstitute.com\/lilithwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lilithinstitute.com\/lilithwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lilithinstitute.com\/lilithwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8624"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lilithinstitute.com\/lilithwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8627,"href":"https:\/\/www.lilithinstitute.com\/lilithwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8624\/revisions\/8627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lilithinstitute.com\/lilithwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}