Transgender Spirituality

In many cultures throughout history, male transgenderism has been valued as a rare qualification for spiritual life. Cross-dressed priests and shamans have been common features in Eastern, ancient Western, and so-called "primitive" societies. This has not been a feature of modern Western traditions, but times are changing. Other cultures are being explored by Westerners and receiving some of the respect they deserve. Many people are recognizing that the presence of crossed-sex tendencies is normal and necessary for emotional and spiritual growth. The principles of yoga stress the importance of engaging all aspects of our personalities in pursuit of peace, knowledge, and fulfillment. This book presents a historical survey of male transgenderism in spiritual life - including biographies of well-known figures who used their crossed-sex identification as vehicles for worship and self-discovery. It also discusses ways for the transgender male to turn his yearning for sexual transformation into a powerful tool for spiritual transformation - to turn what may be seen by some as a curse or abnormality into a blessing.

A Cosmology of Trans and Nonbinary Spiritual Identities Explore gender from a sacred perspective and learn how to turn dysphoria into euphoria. With suggestions for making devotion more inclusive, Ariana Serpentine empowers you to spiritually connect to your gender and incorporate it into your personal and group practice. Sacred Gender invites you to talk to your ancestors through the stars and introduces you to spirits and deities that can help you achieve self-actualization. Learn how to manifest your desires with sigil magic and identify affirming names, pronouns, clothes, and accessories with the smile test. Filled with thought-provoking journal prompts, reflection exercises, and a gender initiation, this beginner-friendly book encourages you to see parts of yourself that may have been obscured and liberate your spirituality from the gender binary.

Transgendered people have long been robbed of their own spiritual history, not knowing that there were once times and places where ours was considered a spiritual path in and of itself. This book explores both our spiritual history and our modern predicaments, shaping the outline of a contemporary spiritual path for those of us who don't fit into just one gender box. This revised and expanded edition of Hermaphrodeities features third gender myths, deities, personal and group exercises, community service project suggestions, rituals, and interviews with people from all over both the transgender spectrum. We are all sacred and it is time that the world knew it.

Transgendered people have long been robbed of their own spiritual history, not knowing that there were once times and places where ours was considered a spiritual path in and of itself. This book explores both our spiritual history and our modern predicaments, shaping the outline of a contemporary spiritual path for those of us who don't fit into just one gender box. This revised and expanded edition of Hermaphrodeities features third gender myths, deities, personal and group exercises, community service project suggestions, rituals, and interviews with people from all over both the transgender spectrum. We are all sacred and it is time that the world knew it.

Transgendering Faith is a resource to help churches respond with love and care to transgender people in our society, both those within the Christian community and those who find themselves--unhappily--outside its doors. It is also a book for transgender Christians, their families, pastoral counselors, and clergy. The first section, The Basics for Everyone, includes essays written by professionals and therapists who give readers a basic understanding of the transgender issue. Part Two--In Our Own Words--features stories of transgender persons from diverse denominational, age, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. These are stories of their painful experiences of rejection, self-doubt, and Bible-flavored condemnation, but also stories celebrating God's blessing of who they are and their church and family experiences of hospitality, affirmation, and reconciliation. Part Three includes worship resources, Bible studies, and transgender resources for individual and community use.

This book, written with hospital spiritual care providers in mind, investigates how to expand the field and scope of compassion within the hospital context, for the spiritual care and safety of transgender patients. Written by a law-educated pastoral counselor, it advocates for chaplain legal literacy, and explains the consequences of spiritual care providers not knowing more about the law. It explores the current political and legal situation transgender hospital patients find themselves in, and especially how these new policies put transgender people at risk when they are in a hospital setting. Pamela Ayo Yetunde offers Buddhist-Christian activist interreligious dialogue methods to promote deeper understanding of how spiritual practices can cultivate empathy for transgender patients.

The Black Trans Prayer Book is an interfaith and beyond faith collection of poems, spells, incantations, theological narrative and visual offerings by Black Trans, Non-Binary and Intersex people. Re-claiming our divinity and celebrating our essentiality, this text demands space for the brilliance of the many healers and spirit workers in our community.

What roles do queer and transgender people play in the African diasporic religions? Queering Creole Spiritual Traditions: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Participation in African-Inspired Traditions in the Americas is a groundbreaking scholarly exploration of this long-neglected subject. It offers clear insight into the complex dynamics of gender and sexual orientation, humans and deities, and race and ethnicity, within these richly nuanced spiritual practices. Queering Creole Spiritual Traditions explores the ways in which gender complexity and same-sex intimacy are integral to the primary beliefs and practices of these faiths. It begins with a comprehensive overview of Vodou, Santeria, and other African-based religions. The second section includes extensive, revealing interviews with practitioners who offer insight into the intersection of their beliefs, their sexual orientation, and their gender identity. Finally, it provides a powerful analysis of the ways these traditions have inspired artists, musicians, and writers such as Audre Lorde, as well as informative interviews with the artists themselves. In Queering Creole Spiritual Traditions, you will discover: how the presence of androgynous divinities affects both faith and practice in Vodou, Candomble, Santeria, and other Creole religions how the phenomenon of possession or embodiment by a god or goddess may validate queer identity and nurture gender complexity who practices the African-derived spiritual traditions, what they believe, and who their deities are how these faiths have influenced the art and aesthetic traditions of the West This landmark book opens a fascinating new world of thought and belief. The authors provide rigorous documentation and faultless scholarly method as well as personal experience and the testimony of believers. Queering Creole Spiritual Traditions sheds new light on two widely different fields: LGBT studies and the theology of the African diaspora. A thorough bibliography points the way to further study, and an extensive photograph gallery provides a unique look at the believers and their practices. Every library with holdings in queer theory, African mythology, or sociology of religion should have this landmark volume.