Mary Ann Moore
Mary Ann Moore brings her passion for poetry and for writing as a spiritual and wellness practice to the Writing Life Circles she offers in Nanaimo, British Columbia and beyond. As a poet, writer, writing mentor and circle leader, Mary Ann has almost thirty years of experience writing in community and finds great delight in seeing people awaken their creative potential. She has written a writing guide called Writing Home: A Whole Life Practice and Mary Ann’s poetry, fiction and personal essays have appeared in chapbooks, literary journals, and anthologies including Living Artfully: Reflections from the Far West Coast and The Great Book of Journaling. Her books of poetry are Fishing for Mermaids (Leaf Press) and Mending (house of appleton) published in the spring of 2023. Mary Ann’s website is maryannmoore.ca where she also writes a blog.
Mary Ann’s amazing offerings in our IAJW Journaling Store are:
Writing to Map Your Spiritual Journey – a Journal Writing Product from the The International Association for Journal Writing (iajw.org)
Journaling as a Spiritual Practice: Your Own Tea House Practice – a Journal Writing Product from the The International Association for Journal Writing (iajw.org)
"Writing to Map Your Spiritual Journey is a rich resource of inspiration for women who want to write below the surface of their lives. Drawing from many years of conducting women’s writing circles, her extensive travels and knowledge of diverse cultural and spiritual traditions, Mary Ann Moore offers a wealth of writing prompts, exercises, and creative suggestions to guide our explorations of our own spiritual journeys. Weaving together folklore, mythology, and ritual from many cultures, her own ancestral legacy, and detailed description of her spiritual pilgrimage in search of rediscovered Goddess religions, the book is enriched by the author’s poetry and generous sharing of her personal experience through the years. While reading, your memory and imagination will be enlivened and inspired. Better yet, you will feel compelled to take up pen and notebook and begin writing!" ~ Dr. Marlene Schiwy, who lives in Vancouver, offers Body Soul Writing workshops, expressive arts programs, and Jungian seminars for women in Canada and internationally. A former professor of literature and women’s studies in the City University of New York, she is the author of three books including A Voice of Her Own: Women and the Journal Writing Journey, and Gypsy Fugue: An Archetypal Memoir. Marlene’s extensive filmed interviews with the beloved Jungian analyst Marion Woodman, Marion Woodman and the Conscious Feminine, offer a comprehensive overview of Woodman’s work and writing. Her website is: marleneschiwy.com Mary Ann Moore has years of experience guiding women’s writing and creativity circles. In Writing to Map Your Spiritual Journey she invites you to make room in your life for journal writing as a spiritual practice. Her work, part memoir and part handbook, demonstrates how she integrates various woman-affirming teachings and rituals into her own daily practice and explains how you can do it too. Antoinette Spoor has been a frequent participant in Women’s Writing Circles offered by Mary Ann Moore. Writing to Map Your Spiritual Journey by Mary Ann Moore is an inspiring blend of story, remembrances, poetry, goddess lore, and creative activities. The reader is invited on a treasure hunt of memories, ideas and beliefs that express the reader’s story. A journaling practice is enhanced by writing activities that stimulate curiosity and reflection. The use of visual journal activities, for example, collage and mapping eased my way into the writing. The journal became a personal refection of my history, my desires and my questions. This is a guide I will go back to often for inspiration and solace. Mary-Jean Burrows is a writer/poet, creative dreamer, retired educator, who lives in Saltair, Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada. In Writing to Map Your Spiritual Journey Mary Ann Moore opens up a safe space for women to explore their own lives from a place of deep wisdom and inner knowing. She gently invites her readers to pick up the pen and embrace their own life, with love, with authority, with compassion and creativity. As an added bonus, for anyone who has travelled to Turkey, or wishes to, the author evokes some of the sights of that ancient culture, including reflections on the Hagia Sophia, and the natural wonders in Cappadocia. Mary Ann takes us on a personal journey giving readers permission to unfold their own. Her writing exercises in each chapter provide a rich variety of starting points to create a personal map that testifies to the sacredness and divinity of your own life’s pilgrimage. Her invitation offers new horizons for anyone who will slow down and take the time to remember that our lives matter. Ray McGinnis is author of Writing the Sacred: A Psalm-inspired Path to Appreciating and Writing Sacred Poetry and Unanswered Questions: What the September Eleventh Families’ Asked and the 9/11 Commission Ignored Writing to Map Your Spiritual Journey is a must have for journalists, memoirists, poets and everyone else who writes. Mary Ann Moore has a solid understanding of the creative process and has created a self guided pilgrimage that will connect you to your ancestors, to the goddesses, to nature and ultimately to your own creative energy. This is a journey you will not want to rush. Each chapter is full of information, writing practices, examples and suggestions for further reading which will open doors you will want to take time to explore. I highly recommend Writing to Map Your Spiritual Journey. It is rich with ideas and it is exquisitely formatted with engaging photography, art work and inspirational quotes. It is one of the best books on writing that I’ve seen. Marlene Dean is a retired educator, freelance writer and poet. Her work has been published in literary journals, anthologies and newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. Far beyond being a manual of instruction, this engaging book [Writing to Map Your Spiritual Journey] is a treasure-trove of inspiration and motivation, while offering samples of excellent and evocative writing -- by Moore herself, as well as a sparkling array of well-chosen, like-minded fellow writers. It provides a site for self-reflection and increased understanding of one’s own feelings, aspirations, thoughts, and even identity. Moore also shares her personal spiritual path, one rich in learnings from travel and personal exploration, only when appropriate and in a suggestive rather than prescriptive spirit. Sandra Vida has, for over three decades, produced innovative works in photo-based collage, performance, film, video and installation. She is an advocate for the arts and arts groups and has been nominated for a Governor-General’s Award in media arts. Sandra lives in Calgary, Alberta where she received an Established Artist Award from Calgary’s mayor for her dedication to the Calgary arts community. Mary Ann’s workbook [Writing to Map Your Spiritual Journey] guides one, in the gentlest, most reverent way, to discovering one’s own spiritual history. She takes us by the hand to walk us through a garden of ideas to discover who we are, what made us, how we are related to not only our ancestors, but goddesses. She helps us accept ourselves just as we are by sharing her own story in tiny bits and longer stories. This book, rich in inspiration, history, the gifts of the feminine, the magic of intent, and the importance of goddesses in our lives, guides us to explore our own spiritual path through exercises that create self-knowledge, encourage self-acceptance, and embrace a wonderful wholeness. I cannot recommend “Writing to Map Your Spiritual Journey” with more fervour! Stephanie Clark is writer/editor, bead artist, and workshop facilitator who lives in Elora, Ontario. Mary Ann Moore takes us by the hand for a spiritual walk and helps us [in] finding the quiet markers on our map: memories, emotions, thoughts, and our stories. She is like any good mother or teacher, asking questions, giving time to answer, and allowing us to be who we are. The book design [of Writing to Map Your Spiritual Journey] is a delight, with beautiful typography and layout, quotes and poems. It’s well illustrated and has adorable little details like mandalas around the page numbers. . . . This book is a generous guide on our personal journey, and a dear companion on difficult days. Titia Jetten is a professional visual artist/designer/maker who teaches concept development, visual storytelling and collage. Titia lives on Vancouver Island, B.C. with her family and two black cats. Mary Ann Moore’s workbook, Writing to Map Your Spiritual Journey, is the perfect antidote for writers during these difficult and isolating Covid-19 times! Whether you are looking for a new focus or direction in your work or need a renewed spark of spiritual energy and earth-wisdom, I urge you to take this special writer’s journey. Through the careful stewardship and wisdom of Mary Ann, shared in these workbook pages, unexpected doors will open. This journey will set you on a path of regular exploration and writing practice. You will explore your own symbols, beliefs, memories, the story of your own name, and the mythologies of your ancestors. You will renew your relationship with nature. Many peaceful, earth-based practices will be rekindled. You will come away refreshed, calm, and creatively nourished. Whatever genre is your passion, you will grow and change and become a better writer, more fulfilled in your creativity. The workbook is beautifully designed and written with ease and continuity. One day at a time, one chapter at a time, you will be surprised by what you will discover and re-discover. Don’t miss this opportunity now, when we all need it most. Diana Hayes is the author of six published books, the most recent being Labyrinth of Green: Poems and Photographs. Her poetry is also on CD: Deeper into the Forest. Diana is the publisher of Raven Chapbooks and is a year-round ocean swimmer which inspired the formation of the Salt Spring Seals. She lives on Salt Spring Island, B.C.
