About Nancy
Training
I am a 2010 graduate of Seattle University’s School of Theology and Ministry, a graduate program where I earned a MATS* degree and specialized in spiritual direction. I entered this program in 2005 with the desire to accompany individuals and groups as they grapple with their spiritual identity or lack thereof. I have a particular affinity for those who have questions and a sincere desire to deepen their spirituality.
Being associated with a particular religion is neither a pre-requisite nor a goal for this process. I am a member of Spiritual Directors International, an inter-faith global learning community.
I have been seeing a spiritual director for over 10 years and have been transformed by the experience. My relationship with him has also served to bring me to the point of deeply wanting to offer such guidance to other seekers.
*Master of Arts in Transforming Spirituality.
Psychology
The soil was prepared for my decision to enter the school of Theology and Ministry by many years of teaching Jungian psychology in an interdisciplinary program called Power of Myth, based on the PBS series by the same name about Joseph Campbell. This was part of my work at Seattle Central Community College where I began teaching psychology to undergraduates in 1971. My teaching career spanned about 40 years when I taught almost all the freshman and sophomore level psychology classes offered by the Seattle Community College District.
I am a licensed mental health counselor in Washington state.
Inter-faith
When teaching Joseph Campbell’s work, the more I learned about world mythologies and how they revealed the riches of the unconscious mind, the more drawn I became to religious stories and rituals.
I value other religious traditions and draw from them regularly as I seek to understand and live a spirit-filled life. I find belonging to a particular faith community an important piece of my spiritual journey as it involves relationships with other seekers and the support that community can offer in negotiating through life.
Although I am not bound by any particular religious doctrine, I worship regularly in an Anglo-Catholic Episcopal parish in the lower Queen Anne neighborhood here in Seattle, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
Taoism
I also practice tai chi and chi gong (a form of meditation) at Embrace the Moon in Ballard. I have been taking classes there since 2002, and earlier studied tai chi elsewhere for several years. Taoism has offered an important perspective in my ongoing spiritual discernment.
Pleased to Meet You
If you would like to explore spiritual direction with me, please send me an e-mail and we can set up an appointment. Nancyfinley2@comcast.net. The first session is complimentary and if we decide to continue, fees will be charged on an ability to pay basis, between $30 and $60/hour. Our first session will occur in the Spiritual Guidance room at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
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