Perfect Sacred Union Evolutionary Envisioning
Circle Members

•  Dr. Judith Broadus has a doctorate in Psychology with a major focus in Counseling and Women's Issues, and her dissertation topic is titled, "The Influence of Gender Schemata on the Long-term Effects of Traumatization". She is the Director of the Shambhala Meditation Center of Lexington, teaches Psychosynthesis to both professionals and non-professionals nationally and internationally and manages a full-time private practice in Lexington where she studies, practices, and teaches mindfulness and the interface between psychotherapy, meditation, and the body. Psychosynthesis is a wholistic, transpersonal approach to therapy, education, ministry, medicine, business, and coaching and recognizes humans as spiritual in nature. Both Psychosynthesis and Shambhala Meditation consider that we are part of a sacred world which we fail to recognize because of our ignorance and conditioning.

•  Baba ji Nashid “Koleoso” Fakhrid-Deen, JD is well known and respected for his willingness to follow his spirit's direction and his soul's timeless wisdom. In his own words, he "seeks to pierce the illusion of matter and remain conscious of his divinity". After two near death experiences where he was catapulted back into the primordial womb of ONENESS and experienced his divinity, he answered the call to shamanism and the priesthood order of his enlightened ancestors. Baba ji is a man who has walked "many paths as a seeker of the one truth". He has been initiated in the West African Yorùbá tradition of Ifa as a priest of Shango and Ifa, pipe carrier and "sun dancer" in the Lakota tradition, and facilitates sacred sweat lodge ceremonies around the country. In addition he is a diversity and cultural competency consultant, co-founder and CEO of the Institute of Whole Life Healing and the author of several award winning books.

•  Dr. Rosalind Patrice Harris grew up in Philadelphia in a family deeply involved in the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements of the 60s and 70s.  However, it was work within low-income communities with Native Hawaiians that helped her to develop an understanding of the deep connections between historical dispossession, oppression and the current fraying of the social, economic, political and cultural-spiritual fabric of communities the world over. There she began her Zen Buddhist meditation practice and continues this practice in Lexington through the Shambhala Meditation Center. The cultivation of meditative and contemplative practices have been very important in her work with communities within Kentucky and the Black Belt South - the plantation slave belt - the greatest expanse of poverty within the U.S. It is there that she works with a collective of community activists and members of higher learning institutions to create programs that will nurture the kind of leaders who will address issues with insight, heart and compassion through the use of enlightened skills. Rosalind is also a meditation instructor, yoga teacher, Reiki Master, Dreamwork Facilitator and is on faculty at the University of Kentucky in the Departments of Sociology and Community and Leadership Development. 

•  Dr. Ron Hustedde is a professor of community and leadership development at the University of Kentucky. His community development and leadership initiatives integrate aspects of soul: awakening, gratitude, storytelling, blessings, rituals and working with paradox. He has published peer-reviewed articles about the use of community rituals and soul into community and economic development work. Hustedde served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Central America and was a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Army infantry. He has a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has worked at the University of Kentucky since 1990.

•  Dr. Larry Kant is the Executive Director of The Gateway, an organization dedicated to embodying and modeling what it means for indi­viduals and communities to cultivate wisdom and to live lives of deep and integrated knowledge and learning. The Gateway envisions itself not as an institution or organization, but as a broad-based community movement seeking to transform civic discourse, change and deepen relationships, make us aware of our interconnectedness and interdependence, discover new leadership models for civic and spiritual life, and model a new sense of community.  The Gateway is committed to promoting values that enhance integration at every level of life: awe and reverence, compassion and empathy, cooperation, freedom, heroism, hope, hospitality, integrity, love, mindfulness, and scholarship.  Rooted in the great wisdom traditions, The Gateway focuses on spiritually rooted education of the highest quality. Larry is a scholar, teacher, writer, and mystic, who seeks to help others learn how to learn, guide them in interpreting the world, and assist them as they create meaning and purpose in their lives."

•  Dr. Jim Kirby is a retired faculty member of the Lexington Theological Seminary in Lexington Kentucky. He has been an active volunteer worker and teacher conducting workshops and tutorial programs for urban youth. His formal Christian education has been combined with his fierce commitment to social ethics. He's truly a Renaissance man who is also a jazz and African drummer, pianist, photographer and extraordinary chef. However, his heart is for and with the people and he and his wife Marian spend every third Saturday helping those who are less fortunate by donating and providing food at the Catholic Action Center, a local shelter for the homeless.

•  Rev. Carole Mahaffey was ordained by Unity in 1997, served as minister in two other Unity churches and currently is the Founding Minister and CEO of Unity Church of Middletown (Louisville) Kentucky. In her role as spiritual leader and CEO her charge is to assist humanity in actualizing the Unity vision of “ realizing miracles through living our Oneness with God and each other”! Unity has no man-made creed or dogma. Rather, it seeks to find the Truth in Scripture and meaning beyond the literal translation. Unity proclaims the divinity of Jesus, but goes further in belief that we, as children of God, are too divine in nature. Jesus lived as the highest expression of divinity and Oneness with God, expressing salvation as the understanding and acceptance of one's innate divinity. Reverend Carole has two daughters and 5 grandchildren, loves gardening, bike riding, movies (only nonviolent ones) and resides in Louisville with her little cat Pinky.

•  Iya Amshatar “Ololodi” Monroe has been a professional “gatherer” of people from divergent paths for more than 30 years and has been a natural “gatherer” of people all her life! As an initiated Yoruba Priest (who was raised in the Baptist Church), she walks a braided spiritual path and has an affinity for traditional earth-based spirituality. In 1997 Amshatar founded SACRED SPACE: Where Indigenous Paths Meet ,  Since its inception SACRED SPACE has been calling diverse elements of the community to gather at the four cardinal times of the year, the solstices and equinoxes and other significant cyclical times to reconnect with earth-based spirituality, using the ancient ways as points of connection: invocation, prayer, song, honoring of elders, drum, music, circle-gathering, prayer, recognizing the One God in myriad expressions. Accepting that there is but One God and that there is nowhere that She/He is not, Ololodi honors and respects ALL people, cultures, spiritual paths and ALL who are on their Spiritual journey regardless of the “apparent” expression or condition of their walk. In 2005 the work of SACRED SPACE shifted to gatherings of Women of Spirit from diverse spiritual, professional, cultural and ethnic paths.  Amshatar is now the Vision Keeper for Women of Spirit Online … A Sanctuary in Cyberspace ( www.womenofspiritonline.com ) and Heal a Woman ~ Heal a Nation …Reach across the Lines of Difference … Heal the World . “ … to always be a part of creating and sustaining an expanding  Spiritual Community that supports the individual and the Circle in planting and harvesting more and more seeds of Love, Joy and Abundance through honorable work of spiritual service … is one of the deepest desires of my heart!”

•  Imam Shahied Rashi d is a co-founder of the first Masjid in Lexington, KY and has served in the capacity of Imam since 1978. After graduating from the University of Kentucky with a degree in Social Work he became employed by the Urban League to assist in the establishment of a local "Fatherhood Initiative". Imam Shahied was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award by the Interfaith Alliance of the Bluegrass and remains actively involved in global affairs such as the International Islamic Thought Conference held in Tehran, Iran. His local community activities and organizations include; "For the Good of Our Children" where he sought to address institutional barriers to the academic performance of AA children, "African American Men Against Narcotics" AAMEN an organized neighborhood opposition to the infiltration of drugs and its concomitant culture and, “FOCUS – For Our Children Uplifting Society" an organization to remake "the village" in order that it reflects the excellence inherent in nature.

•  Julia Youngblood wonders can we begin in this moment right now and lay  down, make an offering complete, a giveaway of words that say this is  who I am, my titles, my people, my relations, affiliations, the place I worship, the way I do what I do, what I made and what I did not, who 
I loved and who is left, a definition of how spirit moves - all this  given freely to wind, water, fire or to earth complete so as not to  create a false border, division, imbalance, that thick weighty  demarcation between us human beings as we, fully planted, envision a  beautyway balance between among and in the midst of the most high.