OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY:

The creator is larger than her creations.  Our creations may become black scratchings etched on white paper, but the vastness of being lives in the whiteness of space. 

 What the public wishes to know about us is subject to trends in power and fashion and social objectives.  The wholeness of our lives, however, is something different than the story told about us, or even the story we tell about ourselves.  We tell a story—consistent and linear—in order to simplify that which is a patchwork of serendipitous occurrences, chance meetings, prayers, moments of indescribable beauty, heartrending passion, poignancy, and pain.

This morning, I arose to the sound of the Pacific Ocean thrashing against the tide pools outside my window.  I looked to the sea, felt wild, pristine thundering mares thrashing in my veins, and yet, even as I climbed from the bed, my hair sweeping over my face, I smelled the powerful scent of jasmine, hibiscus, magnolia, shrimp and grits, alligator swamp and pluff mud.  I did not want to wash my hair; I never wanted to wash it again. Last night I returned from Charleston, South Carolina, which had mixed its codes and atoms with the ones I already had, until it became me. 

Mexico, Korea, Europe, India. These places have eroded this body also.  The grass and stones and heart of such places has shaped me, and shapes me still, like skin and bones and blood.

I was born and raised in the Rocky Mountains, writing from the start.  I submitted my first book to Random House.  A senior editor, amused to receive a submission from a ten year old, sent me a letter that said, ‘Keep writing.’  When I was twenty, I won a gold medal from the State of Colorado for an essay about how I “fell from my mother’s womb onto the Colorado dirt.”  My father thought I should say ‘soil,’ but, against my young soles, it felt like dirt: hot, dry and dusty.

 I was schooled at the Universidad de las Americas outside of Mexico City, the Cultural Institute of Arts and Languages in Cuernavaca, the University of Colorado, Denver (masters program, Urban Sociology) and the University of Colorado at Boulder (masters degree and doctor of philosophy in sociology).  Early in my career, as a Visiting Sociologist at the Netherlands National Center for Adult Education (the NCVO inAmersfoort, Holland), with the guidance of Dr. Jan de Vries (“Education for Guerillas”), I helped develop many of the original concepts of ‘participatory research,’ and organized the second international conference on the subject.  (The first was in Canada—organized by Dr. Bud Hall.)  Activists for social justice from Africa, India, South America, Canada and Europe all converged in a Dutch castle on the North Sea amid miles and miles of tulips fully abloom in the cradle of spring.  In the presence of these great beings, I was transformed.  I pinched myself asking, Am I really here?  Am I really doing this? 

For those who have ears to hear and hearts to feel, I was learning that every place one sets one’s foot is sacred ground.  Everyone you meet is the holy one walking.

Post-Europe, I returned to the University of Colorado where I directed the University Counseling Center’s Group Counseling Program and facilitated counseling groups. I also taught in the Sociology Department: Sociology of Health and Medicine, Sociology of Mental Health, Introduction to Sociology. And I did my doctorate there on Women's Adult Life Stages.

When I was eight months pregnant with my first child, I moved to California with my then-husband Bernhard (Bernard) Haisch, who had been working at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics at the University of Colorado, and with whom I had gone to Utrecht, Holland. I was awarded a position at Stanford University’s Institute for Research on Women and Gender where I worked for eleven years.  Together with Dr. Gary Richwald of the UCLA Department of Public Health, I was funded by the State of California’s Department of Maternal and Child Heath to study the medical outcome of ten thousand consecutive out-of-hospital births in California.  I was appointed as Principal Public Policy Analyst in the UCLA Department of Public Health, and, during those years, I commuted between San Francisco and Los Angeles to work on the project. 

 Even as I was fully engaged in the study of birth, my second child came along.  Together with childbirth reformer Suzanne Arms, Dr. Don Creevy of Stanford University Medical Center, and several others, I helped to create The Birth Place in Menlo Park, California.  My baby was born there with obstetrician Don Creevy in attendance.  It was Don who said to me, “If you want your baby, reach down and get it,” and, as a result of Don’s infinite wisdom, I wound up delivering my own baby with my own hands.  I began to understand, then, something about what it means to be truly empowered.  I became Director and President of the Birth Place, President of the California Association of Freestanding Birth Centers, as well as a frequent speaker (and sometimes officer and conference organizer) at the American Sociological Association, the Western Social Science Association, the American College of Nurse Midwives, the National Association of Childbearing Centers, and other professional organizations.  I taught Women in Medicine at Stanford. At Stanford, I wrote Mothers in Transition, my first book, which was based on my doctoral dissertation. I also wrote The American Way of Birth.

More importantly, now a single mother, I raised my two children in awe and love. Immersed in the poetics of birth and motherhood, I became part of that long chain of maternal being and becoming, which led me into a deep spiritual quest.  As a spiritual seeker, I entered an interfaith, nondenominational seminary where I studied comparative religion, became an interfaith minister, and, in the end, a Bishop.  In collaboration with my mother, art professor Joyce Eakins, I wrote Tarot of the Spirit (www.tarotofthespirit.com), a guide for conversing with the universe of the soul.  I also wrote Priestess, the story of a woman’s path of self-discovery spanning three millennia of sacred celebration.  I began to teach classes involving spiritual growth, and, to that end, founded Pacific Center in Half Moon Bay, California.  My interest in women’s life stages and women’s biology evolved into an interest in women’s spirituality.  I began to teach Women's Rites of Passage in the first Department of Women’s Spirituality in the United States which was created at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS).  I taught Love, Cosmology and Consciousness at the same institution in the Department of Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness.

Life’s true path is quiltish and labyrinthine.  At one point, I was led into the middle of the Salvadorian War, which led me into teaching refugee health, peace studies, and becoming a community mediator. I facilitated court-ordered mediations in San Mateo County for years. I still practice this art.

I also became a hypnotherapist, learning even more about the nature of consciousness.

There was a moment, too, when I made a pilgrimage to India, and fell in love, again, with the Sacred Cosmos--which led me even deeper into thoughts about developing a new cosmology. The evolution of consciousness became the north star of my existence. To this end, for many years, I collaborated with cosmologist Dr. Brian Swimme to develop the new paradigm which we called Visionary Cosmology. We traveled together, lectured in many places and taught many classes. Out of this collaboration, I wrote The Lightning Papers: 10 Powers of Evolution and Visionary Cosmology: The New Paradigm. During the time of this collaboration I also wrote Heart, Breath, and Graceful Movement and Love Sonnets: The Erotic Feast. 

A lifetime of immersion in peace studies, health practices, spirituality, social justice movements, and, ultimately, mysticism, led me to create Pacific Mystery School: in-depth studies in Tarot and Kabbalah. I am currently dedicated to these teachings. Further, I now share my philosophy of religion in society in the newly emerging Terra Nova Seminary: New Thought for a New Earth. Please read about both of these programs on this website.

I have spoken now, at length, of many things I have been or done. There is so much I have left out: all the Boards I have been on, all the Offices I have held, and most importantly, EVERYTHING about my relationship with my exquisite children, who have been the greatest teachers of my life. In fact, I remember now: when I "walked" to receive my Ph.D., I was carrying my baby daughter. She had plucked an apple from a tree as I was carrying her. Without words, as she could not yet speak, she reached out and offered that apple to me. I had a strong feeling then, even as I have now, that whatever I might have learned in all my schooling, it was NOTHING compared to the teaching LIFE itself offers.

All have come to be emanated out of who I was made to be.  And yet, everything that has become in my life has been completely dependent on every other occurrence.  Some things I have desired have come about. Others have not. There are so many variables we cannot control. As the Bhagavad Gita said: We have a right to the work, but not to the outcome of the work. In every life, the Wheel of Fortune ever rises and falls. I have learned to live by the ‘serenity prayer,’ trying to understand, day by day, what I can control and what I cannot.  As they say: Things will get better, or things will get worse, or things will stay the same for a while—so try not to worry.

Here is what I know Right Now:

I am made of atoms formed in stars.  I am shaped of the seeds of my ancestors.  I seed my circle and my descendants, even as I am seeded. Holding hands with Eternity, I love, give birth, die, and rise to love again. Like all those who have been and will be, I trade breath with trees.

The core of ‘me’ is Earth, awake and sleeping, all the putrefaction and potential that exists in a tide pool—molecules and energies imploding and exploding in newness.  I am electromagnetic universe moving through a field of electromagnetic universe.  I am scarred and anointed—just like your own precious being—by the miracle that is the wonder of life reflecting upon itself.

Everyday, I must choose again to Love.

Everyday, again, I offer my Love to this world.

Please click here for a short video about Pamela Eakins' philosophy:

THE COSMIC REVOLUTION

ABOUT 

Pamela Eakins

Please scroll down for Biographicaol Sketch, Extrended Biography: In Her Own Words, and Official Biography

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:

A Prayer for the

Transformation of the Universe

 Where there is fragmentation, may I sow evolving creation
Where there is alienation, may I sow communion
Where there is competition, may I sow collaboration
Where there is condemnation, may I sow enlightened integration
Where there is bondage, may I sow liberation
Where there is desolation, may I sow compassion
Where there is anger, may I sow a wider path
Where there is hatred, may I sow a wider view
Where there is violence, may I sow the methods of peace
Where there is fear, may I scatter the seeds of hope
Where there is hopelessness, may I sow inspiration
Where there is devastation, may I seek to raise aid
Where there is illness, may I sow the healing arts
Where there is death, may I sow soulful observation
and the intentional mourning
that redeems despairing hearts
In the field of transformation, may I sow cosmological initiation
In the field of transmutation, may I sow cosmological jubilation
Through the wide field of the Universe, 

may I sow the Blessing of Love and Light
Through the field of evolving Universe,

may I sow the Blessing of Delight
May I witness universal resplendence in every blade of grass
May I walk lightly, sow Original Blessing
and leave Beauty where I pass.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Pamela

 

EXTENDED BIOGRAPHY

(In Her Own Words):

PAMELA EAKINS, Ph.D.

     Dream the World. Love is The Way.

Dr. Pamela Eakins is a Sociologist and Visionary Cosmologist. ​She has taught at Stanford University, the University of Colorado, the California Institute of Integral Studies and Pacific Center.  Her books include Tarot of the Spirit, Kabbalah and Tarot of the Spirit, The Lightning Papers, Visionary Cosmology, Mothers in Transition, The American Way of Birth, Passages for a Spiritual Birth, Heart, Breath and Graceful Movement, Love Sonnets, Cosmic Interiors and Priestess. 

She founded and directs Pacific Mystery School and Terra Nova Seminary where she now teaches.

Related Links: AMAZON, MINDBODYNETWORK

 PAMELA EAKINS

Pamela Eakins (born 1953) is a sociologist, writer, scholar, counselor, speaker, and teacher, particularly in the fields of consciousness, health and healing, spirituality, the integration of the divine feminine, and peacemaking. She has authored over twenty books on these subjects including The American Way of Birth, Priestess, and The Lightning Papers: 10 Powers of Evolution. She is also known for her contributions to the study and interpretation of Tarot. Tarot of the Spirit, one of her notable works, offers a unique approach that combines Jungian psychology and the Western Mystery Tradition into a comprehensive symbolic system dedicated to the expansion of consciousness and personal growth. Eakins received her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado (1980). Her dissertation, later published as the book Mothers in Transition, is a study of women’s adult life stages. Eakins has taught at the University of Colorado, Stanford University, and the California Institute of Integral Studies. She is the founder and director of Pacific Center in Half Moon Bay, California, where she continues to be a thought leader in the human potential movement. Pamela Eakins is passionate about helping individuals tap their inner wisdom, embrace their authentic selves, navigate life’s challenges with resilience and grace, and imagine new possibilities for themselves and the human species.

 
Born:  1953,  Denver, Colorado

Education : Ph.D. University of Colorado, 1980; M.A. University of Colorado, 1977;  B.A. University of Colorado, 1975; University of the Americas, Cholula, Mexico;

Known for: Creating Seminal Teachings in Personal and Social Transformation

Awards: Marilyn Yalom Research Award, Stanford University

BACKGROUND

Early Life

               Pamela Eakins was born in Denver, Colorado on March 12, 1953, to George Henry Eakins, Jr. (M.B.A., University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, 1952[1]) and Verna “Joyce” (Tannlund) Eakins (M.F.A. University of Colorado, 1974). Joyce would become the Chairman of the Art Department of Colorado Women’s College. [2] Pamela and Joyce, writer and artist, would eventually co-create Tarot of the Spirit (1993).[3]

Pamela spent her childhood in and around the Rocky Mountains. Enchanted by the high craggy granite peaks and the soft round “mother range” that gave birth to them, her early writings extolled the landscape. Her first public recognition for writing came when she was awarded a gold medal from the State of Colorado, issued by the Governor, for her essay about the Blue Spruce, the Colorado State tree.[4] The Blue Spruce was Eakins’ metaphor for majesty and resilience—amid the harshest of conditions.

During her teenage years in the 1960s, Pamela Eakins’ social conscience was shaped by the civil rights and anti-war movements. In 1969, she became a peace activist and organizer for the Vietnam War Moratorium.[5] Her poetry, primarily social commentary, was published in the Mountain Free Press, an “underground newspaper”.[6] As a teen, Pamela sometimes wrote under the pseudonym “Inanna”. Inanna was the mythic Mesopotamian Goddess of Heaven and Earth—whom Eakins had encountered in her high school Ancient History class. Concerned with love, loss, and various aspects of female political power, the story of Inanna and other similar tales awakened Eakins’ imagination to the possibilities of women’s potential. She would eventually teach the story of Inanna, for example, at the university level.[7] Concomittantly, at the age of sixteen, Eakins attended the first women’s “consciousness-raising” group in the Denver area—wherein she vowed to dedicate herself to women’s rights.[8]

Pamela Eakins’ interest in Ancient History was paralleled by her devotion to Sociology and American History.

As Eakins was uncovering historical, social, and political issues in high school, her maternal grandmother, Lavancha “Muff” Stuart (Tannlund), began to engage her in stories of her own ancestral lineage: the “pilgrims” and “pioneers.” Muff emphasized the migration from the British Isles to the New World as well as the “westward movement”. She introduced the young Pamela to her genealogy. Eakins learned that her earliest American ancestors/grandparents, Henry Herrick and Editha Laskin, were Puritans who arrived in America on the ship Lyon in 1629.[9] The Herricks and their descendants, many of whom became constables and jurors in the Salem area (Massachusetts), were involved in arresting and trying witches during the Salem Witch Trials. Later, all members of the jury, including Henry Herrick, signed and issued a formal apology: the “Declaration of Regret”. The Declaration stated that “[W]e ourselves were not capable to understand, nor able to withstand, the mysterious delusions of power and darkness… [and] we fear we have been instrumental, with others, though ignorantly and unwittingly, to bring upon ourselves and this people of the Lord the guilt of innocent blood… [W]e justly fear that we were sadly deluded and mistaken—for which we are much disquieted and distressed in our minds and therefore humbly beg forgiveness…”.[10] Pamela celebrated the exoneration of the witches and strove to learn more about their “non-ordinary ways of knowing.” After all, both of her grandmothers claimed to be “psychic”, which is to say, they had “extra-sensory perception”. Decades later, Joyce Eakins and Pamela Eakins intentionally designed the Tarot of the Spirit to be “psycho-active”, meaning to activate just such “exceptional” powers.[11]

Muff also introduced Pamela to another set of Puritan grandparents, Thomas Kilbourne and Frances Moody, who arrived on the ship Increase in 1635.[12] In 1637, Thomas Kilbourne, a constable and witch hunter like many of the Herricks, was killed by Pequot Indians in Wethersfield (Connecticut).[13] Eakins was deeply disturbed by the violence inherent in the European westward expansion. She was horrified that such violence had been legally condoned during the Indian Wars. Colorado—where she lived—had been a particularly bloody State.[14]

Eakins’ ancestors had homesteaded, both wittingly and “ignorantly and unwittingly”, building fenced and walled-in stone, mud, and wood houses and communities.[15] These permanent structures wreaked havoc on the ten-thousand-year-old Native cultures. The struggles began with hunting, land, water, and mineral rights, and eventually came to incorporate debate in the areas of multi-cultural awareness, restorative justice, and possibilities for restitution. Throughout her life, Eakins never became desensitized to these issues which she explores in her book Standing Rock: Water, Oil, Sun, and Children (2017).[16] During her high school sociology and history classes, Pamela had already begun to understand many of the mechanisms behind power imbalances and the social construction and control of the social and moral order. At an early age, she developed an aversion to the concept of “manifest destiny”; she knew equality for all was the answer. As an adult, she would grapple with these issues in To End the War (2018).[17]

Knowing that through the generations many of her ancestors (including her grandparents) were Freemasons was a light for Pamela Eakins—even though there was “contradiction” there also (particularly due to Masonic practices of exclusion). Though their actions did not always live up to their words, Freemasons actively conceptualized and implemented new forms of consciousness and government. Separation of Church and State and Freedom of Religion, along with the values of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, were the foundations of Freemasonry. A major thrust in Pamela Eakins’ philosophy became “Unity through Service”, the motto of Eastern Star, the women’s division of Freemasonry. Eakins’ great grandmother Sarah Jane Kilburn (Kilbourn, Kilbourne) Stuart, mother of Lavancha “Muff” Stuart Tannlund, represented Utah at the national Eastern Star conference in Chicago in 1907. The thrust of this congress was women’s suffrage and rights for all women, especially African-American women. Pamela took this to heart. Her great grandmother’s legacy was her legacy also.[18]

Embedded in the context of the four-hundred-year American experience, Pamela Eakins eventually became a university professor and activist dedicated to peacemaking, human rights, and the celebration of human diversity. Her book To End the War (2018)[19] details her efforts in this direction. Her book Priestess: 3000 BCE to The Future (1996)[20] is a commentary on women’s spirituality and the right to practice diverse forms of religion. Eakins’ Tarot of the Spirit is a “Masonic Tarot deck.”[21]

 

Academic Years

               Pamela Eakins began her academic career at the University of the Americas in Cholula, Mexico. She also studied Spanish at the Institute for Arts and Culture in Cuernavaca. Returning to Colorado, she earned three degrees from the University of Colorado in Boulder: B.A. (1975), M.A. (1977), Ph.D. (1980), all in Sociology.[22] Eakins specialized in medical sociology and sex and gender roles: her doctoral dissertation, “Mothers in Transition”, a study of women’s adult life stages, was later published as the book Mothers in Transition (1983)[23]. At the University of Colorado, in the Department of Sociology, Eakins taught Introduction to Sociology, Social Issues in Health and Medicine, and Sociology of Mental Health. From 1976-1979, she co-administered the Summer Practicum in Mental Health Internship Program, in which she placed and supervised fifty student interns in mental health centers throughout the State. From 1975-1977, Eakins co-directed, with Dr. Don Johnson, the Group Counseling Program at the Student Life Center (University of Colorado Counseling Services). Here, she managed the program which included counseling groups such as Transactional Analysis, Jungian Fairy Tales, Death and Dying, and Gestalt Therapy. She facilitated her own counseling groups on Spirituality (“Fantasy and Reality”), Women’s Issues, and Assertiveness Training. She also trained Psychology graduate students in “small group process” and “group counseling techniques”.

               While at the University of Colorado, she met and married Bernard Haisch[24], an Astrophysicist. The two spent an academic year in the Netherlands (1977-1978), during which Eakins was a Visiting Sociologist at the Netherlands National Center for Adult Education (NCV0).[25] There, she organized an international conference based on the principles of “Participatory Research”, the radical education model initiated by activists such as Brazilian educator Paolo Freire, author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968). Participatory Research espoused “critical pedagogy”, a philosophy in which social justice and democracy are seen as key components in the educational model. Eakins wrote the invitational and keynote paper for the conference, “Guidelines for Describing Participatory Research Case Material”. She also co-authored, with Dr. Jan deVries[26], Director of the NCVO, the concluding paper from the conference: “Report of the European Conference on Participatory Research”. Much of Eakins’ later work would be influenced by the Participatory Research approach.[27]

Eakins and Haisch were married for ten years. In 1979, they relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area where their two children were born. Eakins details her childbirth experiences in her book The American Way of Birth (1986).[28] Pamela Eakins said that her children were her greatest teachers, beginning with their births: Katherine was born in the hospital, Taylor was born at the Birth Place, the out-of-hospital birth center which Pamela became involved with after Katherine was born. Upon Taylor’s emergence, just after Pamela pulled him from her body with her own two hands, as obstetrician Dr. Don Creevy[29] stood by, the new baby’s two-year-old sister scrambled up on the bed and offered him her bottle. Katherine “Kate” Haisch would continue her lifelong interest in food by becoming a college professor of nutrition and culinary science. Taylor Fortune[30] became the founder and director of The Mystic Arts, an institute of unified spirituality. He also co-created the Mystic Arts Tarot. At ages six and four, Katherine and Taylor appeared on the cover of Mothering Magazine[31] in a photo taken by birth activist and photographer Suzanne Arms[32], with whom Eakins worked at the Birth Place. In the Mothering cover description, Eakins confirmed that the two children were very close and had been since Taylor’s birth, at which Katherine was present. In 1981, when Taylor was born, family birthing was a radical model.

“Radicalized” by her birth experiences, Pamela Eakins spent the next decade doing research on childbirth at Stanford University’s Center for Research on Women (later known as the Institute for Research on Women and Gender; currently the Clayman Institute for Gender Research). During her years at Stanford, 1980-1991, Eakins, in part funded by the State of California Department of Maternal and Child Health[33], researched and lectured widely on women’s health and biological rites of passage. She chaired Stanford’s “Feminist Theory” group, taught Women in Medicine, and published her research in academic journals such as Women and Health, Birth, the Journal of Reproductive Medicine, and the New England Journal of Medicine.[34] Eakins also contributed to Barbara Katz Rothman’s Encyclopedia of Childbearing: Critical Perspectives.[35] For her research on childbirth, she received Stanford University’s “Marilyn Yalom Research Award.”[36]

While at Stanford University, Eakins was active in the Western Social Science Association (WSSA) in which she organized the Women’s Studies Division. She was also an officer in Bay Area Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS). She presented her research at many conferences including the American Sociological Association (ASA), the American Public Health Association (APHA), the American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM), and the National Association of Childbearing Centers (NACC).[37]

Concurrently, Pamela Eakins was on the board of directors of the Birth Place, a freestanding birth center (FSBC) in Menlo Park, California where she also served for a year as Executive Director. She co-founded and was President of the California Association of Freestanding Birth Centers, an association of approximately twenty-five FSBCs. In addition, she consulted for medical personnel who were developing FSBCs.

From 1984-1986, Eakins held a joint appointment (in conjunction with the Stanford University appointment) in the UCLA Department of Public Health as a Principal Public Policy Analyst. In 1985, Eakins and others from UCLA and other institutions, including her research co-director, Dr. Gary A. Richwald, M.D.[38], journeyed to El Salvador as part of the APHA sponsored “Third U.S. Public Health Commission to El Salvador”. This was a humanitarian delegation designed to study the “effects of war on health.” Eakins was appointed as the delegation specialist in maternal and child health and refugee health. She wrote the sections on those two topics for the delegation’s final research report to the Congress of the United States: “El Salvador: Health, Human Rights, and the War”.[39] In subsequent years, she lectured on these topics at UCLA, Stanford, and other institutions.

Traumatized by this war zone experience, which she would later write about in her books Priestess (1995) and To End the War (2019), Eakins was again sensitized to the issue of violence. She was particularly moved and inspired by the Mothers of the Disappeared, whose protest strategies she took back to the S. F. Bay Area. Prior to the U.S.-Iraq War (2003-2011), she stood, and marched, with Women in Black, utilizing the same silent strategies as the Mothers of the Disappeared in El Salvador. She also participated with Women in Black in a performance art piece at the Herbst Theater, an auditorium in the War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco.[40] While in El Salvador she had met several “liberation theologists”, many of whom had been influenced by Archbishop Oscar Romero. Romero had pleaded to stop the killing. He was assassinated in 1980. The liberation theologists believed that an overarching “spiritual solution” would be the only way to stop violence—worldwide. Eakins took the idea of a spiritual solution very seriously, so seriously it would begin to change the direction of her work entirely.[41]

Eakins began to deepen into the Women’s Spirituality Movement, newly emerging in the San Francisco Bay Area.[42] In 1987, when Eakins was speaking on “A New Angle on Reproductive Rights and Technology” at the State Conference of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in Palo Alto, she chanced upon the work of Oakland artist Ellen Fishburn.[43] She was mesmerized by, and purchased, Fishburn’s primitive “bird goddess” figure. Later, Eakins described having a dream in which she was told that she herself, or rather “her hands” knew how to sculpt. The dream told her to go out and buy clay. For fun and adventure, Eakins attended to her dream, and purchased twenty pounds of porcelain. She began to create “goddess-like” figures she called Spirit Dolls. The very first “dolls” she made sold immediately. Her career as an artist had begun.[44]

About the same time, in a chance encounter with a “mysterious woman”, Eakins was told that it was “her destiny” to create a Tarot deck, a “card game”, wherein she could include all the elements of her coalescing philosophy. She was told that this game would become available globally, and that it would be an efficient, effective, and relatively safe form of social activism. The symbolism and archetypes of Tarot, rooted in Eakins’ study of psychology, sociology, comparative religion, Freemasonry and western mysticism, would provide readers with a method for deep introspection, developing self-awareness, consciousness expansion, and personal and social transformation. Eakins details the encounter with this woman—and her growing trust of synchronicity as well as her passion for Tarot—in her books Tarot of the Spirit (1993) and Kabbalah and Tarot of the Spirt (2014).

Seeking further education, Pamela Eakins began to move beyond the classical construct, roles, rules, and rituals of the traditional American academy. She entered a five-year apprenticeship with Shekinah Mountainwater, a teacher of the “ancient women’s religion”.[45] She also entered the seminary of the non-traditional International Church of Ageless Wisdom (ICAW). The ICAW Seminary entailed a five-year program of study of comparative world religions: eastern, western, and indigenous. Eakins also followed in the footsteps of her Freemason ancestors by joining three Western Mystery Schools (branches of Freemasonry) which focused on the esoteric teachings of Tarot, Kabbalah, and ancient mystical symbolism.[46]

Sensing future directions, Pamela Eakins incorporated Pacific Center in Half Moon Bay, CA in 1988: an independent educational institute dedicated to peace, equality, unity, emerging philosophy and spirituality, and social change through paradigm shift. A few years later she would open a brick-and-mortar commercial “center” which featured Eakins’ counseling services and classes as well as an art gallery.

In 1991, Pamela Eakins would formally conclude her work at Stanford University in favor of more spiritual pursuits.

Post-Stanford, Eakins joined the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco. The Women’s Spirituality Department would emerge from within this department. Along with Elinor Gadon[47], Charlene Spretnak[48], Mara Keller[49], and others, Pamela helped to shape the Women’s Spirituality program. In the Women’s Spirituality Department, Pamela would also reunite with her former Stanford colleague, Lucia Chaviola Birnbaum.[50] Eakins taught Women’s Rites of Passage in the Women’s Spirituality Department. Through “Public Programs” at CIIS, she also offered seminars and workshops on women’s spirituality, cross-cultural rites of passage, women’s mysteries, and the Western Mystery Tradition: Freemasonry, Tarot and Kabbalah.

               In 1993, Eakins became an ordained Minister (eventually a Bishop) as well as a Hypnotherapist and professional Mediator with Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center (PCRC). With PCRC, she mediated court-ordered cases in San Mateo County. At the same time, she began to work in her local school district, specializing in conflict resolution/transformation, peer counseling, and organizing “youth summits”. Her passion for community engagement increased. She joined the board of the Coastside Collaborative which was comprised of approximately fifty community non-profit organizations located in and around Half Moon Bay, California. The “Collaborative” modeled itself after Dr. Martin Luther King’s philosophy of the “beloved community”, a community in which all would be honored, served, and cared for. Pamela Eakins was realizing and honing her lifelong dream of inclusion, recognition, and the celebration of all.[51]

In 2004, she taught Love, Cosmology and Consciousness in the CIIS Department of Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness, where she and Dr. Brian Swimme[52], a Mathematical Cosmologist, would begin a decade-long collaboration in Visionary Cosmology. Eakins credits Swimme with helping to further develop her philosophy. Eakins and Swimme traveled and lectured together. They taught Visionary Cosmology at the Cultural Integration Fellowship in San Francisco (2007-2008). During this time Eakins, drawing from her work with Swimme, wrote The Lightning Papers: 10 Powers of Evolution (2012) and Visionary Cosmology: The New Paradigm (2016).

               Collaboration is critically important to Pamela Eakins. For Eakins, the collaborative model is about “creating community.” During the years of the Covid pandemic she gathered over fifty women authors—who became known as the “Sisters of the Holy Pen”—to co-create six anthologies related to the historic moment (2020-2022). The “Sisters” wrote the books which Eakins edited: Pandemic Corona (2020), Death (2020), Sacred Earth (2020), Liberty: Breath Death Soul (2021), Justice: For All (2021), and Sanctuary (2021). Throughout the widespread period of isolation, Eakins strove to keep the women’s writing community connected and active.[53]

At present, Pamela Eakins continues to teach independently through Pacific Center: women’s issues, writing, peace studies, Tarot and Kabbalah, visionary cosmology, western esotericism, and the Terra Nova Seminary, which grew out of the integrative spiritual philosophy of ICAW.


MAJOR INFLUENCES

Eakins draws inspiration and influence from various sources including spirituality, psychology, sociology, and women’s studies. The following are cited in her works:

Carl Jung: As a prominent figure in the field of psychology, Carl Jung’s theories of the collective unconscious, archetypes, and individuation have shaped Eakins’ understanding of the human psyche and spiritual development.
Joseph Campbell: Campbell’s work on mythology and the hero’s journey have influenced Eakins’ exploration of spiritual and personal transformation, as well as her understanding of universal themes and symbols.
Peacemakers: Eakins considers herself to be part of the peacemaking “lineage” of William Penn, Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. She also cites works on nonviolent action by Gene Sharp.
Feminist Scholars: Eakins draws inspiration from feminist scholars who have explored topics such as women’s empowerment, gender roles, and the history of women’s spirituality: Mary Wollstonecraft, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mary Daly, Riane Eisler, Nor Hall, Sylvia Brinton Perera, Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Marija Gimbutas, Patricia Monaghan, Barbara Walker, Adrienne Rich, Dorothy Wertz, Barbara Ehrenreich, M. Esther Harding, and Barbara Katz Rothman.
Eastern Spirituality: Eakins’ philosophy is influenced by the teachings of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism, which emphasize concepts such as mindfulness, interconnectedness, and connectedness within and as cosmos. This includes classic works such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Tao Te Ching (Lao Tzu), and the I Ching, as well as the writings of spiritual teachers such as Mahatma Gandhi, Paramahansa Yogananda, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, and Thich Nhat Hahn, who have sought to integrate Eastern and Western ideas. She also cites writers of fiction such as Hermann Hesse and Nikos Kazantzakis.
Freemasonry: Eakins has been influenced by the teachings and symbolism of Tarot and Kabbalah, and the scholars and practitioners who have explored their intersecting principles: Helena Blavatsky, Dion Fortune, Arthur Edward Waite, Manly Hall, Paul Foster Case, Gareth Knight, Paul A. Clark, Ernest Holmes, Stephan Hoeller, Robert Wang, and Roberta Herzog.

 
PHILOSOPHY

               Pamela Eakins’ philosophy is deeply rooted in spirituality, psychology, sociology, and the empowerment of women. Her work often explores the intersection of these fields, offering insights into personal growth, transformation, and the pursuit of a more meaningful and fulfilling life. Key aspects include:

Spiritual Integration: Eakins emphasizes the importance of integrating spiritual practices and teachings into daily life. She believes that spirituality is not separate from everyday existence but rather informs and enriches every aspect of our being.
Personal Empowerment: Eakins is a proponent of personal empowerment, encouraging individuals to claim their personal power and live authentically. She believes in the inherent strength and resilience of the human spirit and encourages others to tap into their inner resources to create positive change in their lives and the world around them.
Feminine Wisdom: As a scholar of women’s studies, Eakins places a strong emphasis on the wisdom of the feminine. She celebrates the contributions of women throughout history and seeks to reclaim and honor feminine spirituality, leadership, and creativity.
Holistic Approach: Eakins takes a holistic approach to personal growth and transformation, considering the interconnectedness of spirit, heart, mind, and body. She believes in addressing all aspects of the self in order to achieve wholeness and balance.
Cultural Awareness: Eakins acknowledges the influence of culture and society on individual beliefs, behaviors, and experiences. She encourages individuals to critically examine cultural norms and values and to cultivate a deeper understanding of themselves within the context of the world around them.

 

Overall, Eakins’ philosophy promotes self-awareness, spiritual growth, and holistic approaches. She lives by the following code, as outlined in her book Terra Nova: Field Guide for the Cosmological Revolution (2018):

I honor the wonder of life and believe that life is sacred.

I honor the individual’s direct experience and interpretation of the sacred.

I honor deep contemplation of the meaning of personal and collective life and believe that such reflection is essential to attaining a balanced individual and social state of being.

I honor considered and conscientious understanding, thought, speech and action.

I honor and celebrate diversity in lifestyle and perception.

I honor perspectives that unify and integrate.

I honor empathy and kindness.

I honor nonviolent approaches to conflict resolution.

I honor the simple, natural, creative, and responsible life which does not harm or endanger others or the Earth.

I honor the equality of all.

 

Eakins claims that “Love is the Way”. She says: “Love embraces all religions. Love embraces all nations. Love embraces all genders. Love embraces all races. Love embraces all classes. Love embraces all ages. Love knows no bounds.” She writes “Love comprises the essential seed and the essential flowering of all religions, Eastern, Western, Indigenous, and Universal… To live inside the mystery of Love is to live from the inside out, from the ‘innermost’… Living from the innermost awakens our sense of Cosmic Mystery. Realizing the Cosmic Mystery opens the portal of Faith, and, as the Miracle of Faith blossoms, we find ourselves immersed in the experience of living the devotional life.”

Love, says Eakins, is the fundamental spiritual principle that underlies and coheres all aspects of existence. Love includes both Self-Love—as a foundational aspect for healing emotional wounds, overcoming obstacles, and experiencing greater joy—and Love-for-the-Other, a broader, more inclusive form. To Love the Other requires genuine listening, authentic validation, sincere acceptance and integration, and the spirit of celebrating diversity. In the end, Love unites what fear divides.

Eakins’ primary intent is to contribute to the leap in understanding and peace promised by Love. This leap in consciousness, she says, constitutes the “social movement” and “paradigm shift” which is currently emerging, and centering itself, everywhere, all at once, all around the Planet Earth. Pamela Eakins believes that “Love, the Unitive Consciousness, is the New Frontier.”


PUBLISHED WORKS

               Pamela Eakins is best known for her works in spirituality, psychology, sociology, and women’s studies. Over a hundred lectures from Eakins’ classes and talks, as well as many podcast interviews, are published on YouTube.[54] In addition to her journal articles and numerous chapters in anthologies[55], she has written over twenty books, which include the following:

Mothers in Transition: A Study of the Changing Life Course. Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publishing Company, Inc., 1983, ISBN 0-87073-476-8

The American Way of Birth. (Pamela Eakins, ed., with contributions by Ann Oakley, Nancy Schrom Dye, Diana Scully, Janet Carlisle Bogdan, Barbara Katz Rothman, Sandra K. Danziger, Margaret K. Nelson, Pamela S. Summey, Wenda Brewster O’Reilly, Myra Gerson Gilfix, Gary A. Richwald, Regi L. Teasley, Linda Janet Holmes, Deborah Leveen, and Dorothy C. Wertz). This book was published in Temple University’s “Health, Society, and Policy” series edited by sociologists Sheryl Ruzek and Irving Zola. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1986, ISBN 0-87722-423-3

Tarot of the Spirit. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1992, ISBN 0-87728-730-9

Tarot of the Spirit. Tarot card deck. (Joyce Eakins and Pamela Eakins) Stamford, CT: U.S. Games Systems, Inc., 1992, ISBN 0-88079-544-1

Priestess: Woman as Sacred Celebrant. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser Inc., 1996, ISBN 0-87728-890-9

Heart, Breath, and Graceful Movement. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library, 2006, ISBN 979-8813823053

Love Sonnets: The Erotic Feast. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library, 2012, ISBN 978-1535092623

The Lightning Papers: 10 Powers of Evolution. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library, 2012, ISBN 978-145104202

Cosmic Interiors: A Story of Love, Loss, Redemption, and the Mystery of the Sea. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library, 2012, ISBN 978-1478189398

Kabbalah and Tarot of the Spirit. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library, 2014, ISBN 978-1500857974

Visionary Cosmology: The New Paradigm. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library, 2016, ISBN 978-1523654796

Standing Rock: Water, Oil, Sun, and Children. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library, 2017, ISBN 978-1974643523

To End the War: A Memoir. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library, 2018, ISBN 978-1687355720

Blindness & Sight: A Memoir. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library, 2018, ISBN 978-1687329233

Terra Nova: Field Guide for the Cosmological Revolution. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library, 2018, ISBN978-1727806144

Pandemic Corona. Pamela Eakins & the Sisters of the Holy Pen, Half Moon Bay, CA: Red Earth Press, 2020, ISBN 979-8642051078

Death. Pamela Eakins & the Sisters of the Holy Pen, Half Moon Bay, CA: Red Earth Press, 2020, ISBN 979-8670349970

Sacred Earth. Pamela Eakins & the Sisters of the Holy Pen, Half Moon Bay, CA: Red Earth Press, 2020, ISBN 979-8689693408

Liberty: Breath Death Soul. Pamela Eakins & the Sisters of the Holy Pen, Half Moon Bay, CA: Red Earth Press, 2021, ISBN 979-8531248428

Justice: For All. Pamela Eakins & the Sisters of the Holy Pen, Half Moon Bay, CA: Red Earth Press, 2021, ISBN 979-8477209279

Sanctuary. Pamela Eakins & the Sisters of the Holy Pen, Half Moon Bay, CA: Red Earth Press, 2021, ISBN 979-8769091193

Joyce Eakins’ Art: A Ceremony. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library, 2023, 979-8374648591

Terra Nova Pilgrimage: 10 Powers of Love: The Journey of Hearts. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library, 2023, 979-8386206796

 

REFERENCES

[1] “George Eakins, WG52”. https://www.magazine.wharton.upenn.edu>obituaries>george-eakins

[2] Eakins, Pamela (2023). Joyce Eakins’ Art: A Ceremony. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library.

[3] Eakins, Pamela (1992). Tarot of the Spirit. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, Inc.

[4] Eakins, Pamela (1976). “My Colorado”. Bicentennial Competition, first place, Boulder County. Colorado Historical Society: https://www.historycolorado.org>archives

[5] Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam (1969): https://en.m.wikipedia.org>Moratorium_to_End_the_War_in_Vietnam; Eakins, Pamela (2017). To End the War. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library, p. 78.

[6] Mountain Free Press, Denver, 1968-1970. “Underground press maps-Mapping American Social Movements”. Depts.washington.edu. Retrieved 2021-11-12. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_underground_newspapers_of_the_1960s_counterculture

[7] Eakins, Pamela (2017). “Inanna’s Descent. Terra Nova 7.3”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59NUlQ-V5Ms

[8] For more information, see https://daily.jstor.org/consciousness-raising-groups-and-the-womens-movement/

[9] For information on the Herricks arrival in the New World, see https://ancestors.familysearch.org

[10] See https://historyofmassachusetts.org

[11] Eakins, Pamela (1992). Tarot of the Spirit. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, Inc., pgs. 19, 42, 43.

[12] For information on the Kilbourne family arrival and ensuing history see https://ancestors.familysearch.org

[13]See https://www.geni.com/people/Thomas-Kilbourn-Sr/6000000005051948312#:~:text=It%20is%20believed%20that%20Thomas%20Kilbourn%20met%20his,rescue%20party.%20Six%20of%20the%20men%20were%20massacred.

[14] The Sand Hill Massacre still seemed fresh, alive, and unfinished to Eakins. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_battles_fought_in_Colorado

[15] For stories about the westward movement, homesteading, building houses, and photos, see Pioneer Missionary: True Life Story of David M. Stuart. David Stuart (1988). Bountiful, UT: Family History Publishers. (David M. Stuart was Pamela Eakins great great grandfather.) See also Grace Kilbourn (1980). History of the Old Porterville Church: 1864-1948. (s.n.).

[16] Eakins, Pamela (2017). Standing Rock: Water, Oil, Sun, and Children. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library, p. 3.

[17] Eakins, Pamela (2018). To End the War. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library.

[18] Eakins, Pamela (2024). “The Astral Triangle”. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8KbhVFijHU

[19] Eakins, Pamela (2018). To End the War. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library.

[20] Eakins, Pamela (1996.). Priestess: Woman as Sacred Celebrant. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, Inc.; (2013) Priestess: 3000 BCE to the Future. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library.

[21] For background on the creation of Tarot of the Spirit as a Masonic Tarot deck, see https://www.tarotofthespirit.com

[22] For biographical/educational information on Pamela Eakins, see https://www.pamelaeakins.net

[23] Eakins, Pamela (1983). Mothers in Transition: A Study of the Changing Life Course. Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publishing Company, Inc.

[24] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Haisch

[25] The Netherlands National Center for Adult Education (NCVO) was located in Amersfoort.

[26] Jan deVries was the author of Education for Guerillas, published in Dutch in the Netherlands about 1976.

[27] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_action_research

[28] Eakins, Pamela, Editor (1986). The American Way of Birth. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

[29] Dr. Don Creevy was the Medical Director of the Birth Place when Pamela Eakins was the Executive Director. For information about Dr. Creevy, see https://obituaries.almanacnews.com/obituaries/memorials/donald-charles-creevy-md?o=8500

[30] See Taylor Fortune and The Mystic Arts: https://www,themysticarts.com

[31] (1987) Mothering (43): Spring.

[32] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzanne_Arms

[33] Eakins, Pamela S., and Gary A. Richwald (1986). Free-Standing Birth Centers in California: Structure, Cost, Medical Outcome, and Issues. Berkeley, CA: California Department of Health and Human Services. A public policy study funded by the California Department of Health Services, Maternal and Child Health. Administered through the UCLA Department of Public Health and Stanford University.

[34] Selected journal articles by Pamela Eakins: (1989) “Free-Standing Birth Centers in California: Program and Medical Outcome.” The Journal of Reproductive Medicine 34: (12): 960-70. (1984) “The Rise of the Free-Standing Birth Center: Principles and Practice.” Women and Health 9: (4) 49-64. (1988) “Free-Standing Birth Centers: Prospects and Problems.” ; “Commentary and Response: The Malpractice Insurance Industry and Free-Standing Birth Centers.” Birth 15: (1) 25-30. Pamela Eakins, et al.: (1989) “Obstetric Outcomes at the Birth Place in Menlo Park: The First Seven Years.” Birth 16: (3):123-129. Judith P. Rooks, et al. (Pamela Eakins): (1989) “Obstetric Outcomes in Birth Centers, The National Birth Center Study.” New England Journal of Medicine 322: (21) 1528-1530.

[35] Rothman, Barbara Katz (1993). Encyclopedia of Childbearing: Critical Perspectives. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press. Pamela Eakins: “Birth Centers.”

[36] Pamela Eakins received Stanford University’s “Marilyn Yalom Research Award” in 1988. Concurrently, her biography appeared in American Men and Women of Science, World Who’s Who of Women, Who’s Who in the West, and Who’s Who in California.

[37] Pamela Eakins gave invited presentations at annual conferences of the Western Social Science Association, the Society for the Study of Social Problems, the American Sociological Association, the National Association of Childbearing Centers, the California Association of Free-Standing Birth Centers, the Consortium for Nurse-Midwifery, the American College of Nurse Midwives, the Pacific Sociological Association, Sociologists for Women in Society, and others. She also received three “Appreciation Awards” (1983, 1984, 1988) for her work on the Executive Council of the Western Social Science Association.

[38] Dr. Gary Richwald was on the faculty of the UCLA Department of Public Health and the Medical Director of the Los Angeles Childbirth Center. See https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-richwald-7b129a104/ for more information.

[39] El Salvador: Health, Human Rights, and the War. See https://www.biblio.com/book/el-salvador-1985-health-human-rights/d/967496079

[40] For more information, see https://womeninblack.org/vigils-arround-the-world/america/united-states-of-america/california/

[41] For more information, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_American_liberation_theology

[42] An article in the San Francisco Chronicle stated that nearly all of the first five hundred books on Women’s Spirituality came out of the S.F. Bay Area.

[43] For information about Ellen Fishburn, see http://www.givingspiritform.com

[44] Over time, Eakins would create thousands of these sculptures which were sold in galleries in the United States and Europe as well as in her own Pacific Center. She would also realize how much she had been influenced by Helen Cordero, who created the first Native Storyteller dolls, as well as Fishburn. With each sculpture, Eakins was asking herself and others, “What story do you want to tell?” See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyteller_(pottery) and https://www.pamelaeakins.net and Priestess by Pamela Eakins for more information about Eakins’ relationship with art.

[45] For more information, see https://www.shekhinahmountainwater.com/

[46] For more information, see https://www.pamelaeakins.net

[47] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elinor_Gadon

[48] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlene_Spretnak

[49] See https://ciis.academia.edu/MaraKeller/CurriculumVitae

[50] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucia_Chiavola_Birnbaum

[51] Eakins, Pamela (2018). To End the War. Half Moon Bay, CA: Pacific Center Library, p. 193.

[52] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Swimme

[53] See https://www.sistersoftheholypen.com

[54] See https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXVzIhEutTF8h0GpS5oKDZA

[55] Pamela Eakins has contributed to many anthologies including those edited by her writing community: Lucia Chaviola Birnbaum (Dark Mother: African Origins and Godmothers. 2002); Carolyn Brigit Flynn (Sisters Singing. 2009); Anne Key and Candace Kant (Stepping into Ourselves: An Anthology of Writing on Priestesses. 2014); Kate Aver Avraham and Melody Culver (Second Wind. 2020).