The Holy Women Icons Project is proud to present its 7-day Queer Spirituality retreat.
Seven days of comfort and empowerment, representation and resistance, stories and art. Are you ready?
What's inside?
This is a seven-day online retreat featuring the stories of revolutionary queer women. Through reflections and spiritual exercises, the stories of these women come to life in order to inspire, empower, and comfort. Each day of the retreat includes:
- An Inspirational Quote
- Take a moment to reflect on the wise and powerful words of each revolutionary queer woman
- An Image of a Holy Woman Icon
- Painted in vibrant colors, with the "cry of her heart" written in the center, the Holy Woman Icon calls you into deeper reflection
- A Reflective Essay
- Brief and informative, these essays tell the story of each revolutionary queer Holy Woman Icon. Their lives and legends offer us different ways of understanding and embodying queerness.
- A Guided Writing Exercise
- Take some time to ponder how each queer Holy Woman Icon offers insight into your own life.
- A Closing Blessing
- Pause here to be still, breathe, and affirm yourself.
Who is this retreat for?
- Everyone! If you identify as queer, you will find this to be a safe and empowering space for respite and empowerment. If you do not identify as queer, you will be able to cultivate empathy and envision a more inclusive spirituality. Queer or not, you will learn, reflect, and imagine a more just and vibrant world.
How does it work?
- This is a self-paced retreat. When you click below, you'll be taken to our retreat sign-up page on Ruzuku. Follow the instructions there to create an account and register.
- After you register, you'll receive an email from the Holy Women Icons Project and will have immediate access to the first day of the retreat.
- Each day after that, you'll receive an email reminder for that day's session.
- When you are finished with the retreat, you'll still have access to all of the material if there's something you want to revisit.
About the Holy Women Icons Project
The Holy Women Icons Project is a nonprofit organization that tells the stories of revolutionary holy women through art, writing, and events.
Most wisdom traditions showcase an overwhelmingly male sainthood. Where is Sarasvati? Lilith? Guanyin? Students learn about brave men who led civil rights movements. Where is Pauli Murray? Sojourner Truth? Dolores Huerta? We know the scientists—Newton, Einstein, Watson. Where is Henrietta Leavitt? Katherine Johnson? Rosaland Franklin? We know the powerful gods of mythology. Where is Nephthys? Hina? Xochitquetzal?
Where are all the women? The women who became leaders in their communities, who spoke against injustice, who painted or danced, who made groundbreaking discoveries, who preached, who empowered? Their lives, legends, and legacies do not fill our history books. Their images are not stained in glass and filling our cathedrals. Their stories deserve to be told.
So we tell them. Believing that you can’t be what you can’t see, we create folk-feminist iconography that depicts revolutionary women often excluded from our canons, particularly highlighting queer women and/or women of color. Through research, writing, painting, and events, we tell the stories of these women, and, in so doing, seek to empower marginalized women to tell their own stories and to contribute to revolutionary work for justice. By telling the stories of notable women in visual and widely accessible ways, we hold a mirror for women and girls to see themselves as holy, revolutionary, worthwhile.
About Angela
Rev. Dr. Angela Yarber is the Founder and Executive Director of the Holy Women Icons Project and your guide on this retreat. She holds a Ph.D. in Art and Religion and is author of seven books that address the intersections among gender/sexuality, religion/spirituality, and the arts. An ordained, queer clergywoman, she served local churches for fourteen years, and she has taught graduate and undergraduate students since 2006. After a decade as a professional dancer, she now finds creative fulfillment and spiritual expression by fusing painting, writing, and embodiment through the Holy Women Icons Project.
