Institute for Thealogy & Deasophy

Education:
Dr. Kate holds multiple graduate degrees in both psychology (masters in Counseling and doctoral candidate in Health) and Theology (Doctorate in Christian Theology; Masters in Comparative Religion, Buddhism, and Christian History) and has also studied Goddess spirituality with Z Budapest at the Women’s Spirituality Forum and Dianic University and Eclectic Wicca with Lady Raven Moonshadow at Sacred Mists. In addition to graduate and post-graduate education, she holds a Bachelor’s in English literature with subspecialties in religion and premedical science.

Research Interests:
Dr. Kate actively researches in the field of cultural diversity, cultural theory, textual criticism, thealogy, qualitative research methodology, social justice, shamanism, religious naturalism, ecotheology and ecopsychology.

Publications:

MacDowell, K. (2011). Seeking the Well of Life. SageWoman, 80 ("Healing Ourselves").
MacDowell, K. (2011). Response to “Shifting Paradigms: From Technocrat to Planetary Person”. Anthropology of Consciousness, 22(1)
MacDowell, K. (2010). Shamanic Healing: A Personal Perspective. Rhine Institute Newsletter
MacDowell, K. (2010). A paradigmatic review of Integral Ecology. Trumpeter: Journal of Ecosophy, 26(1), 174-188.
MacDowell, K. (2010). Goddess Wheel of the Year. South Carolina: Lulu/OSC Press.
MacDowell, K. (2010). Vestiges & Bones. South Carolina: Lulu/OSC Press.
MacDowell, K., & Schroll, M. (2010). “Conservation Psychology—A review.” Perspective, December/January, 18-20.
MacDowell, K. (2009). Ethics & Professional Practice for Neopagan Clergy. South Carolina: Lulu/OSC Press.
MacDowell, K. (2009). Sacred Groves: Creating and Sustaining Neopagan Covens. South Carolina: Lulu/OSC Press.
MacDowell, K. (2009) Witness. South Carolina: Lulu/OSC Press.

Scholarly Activities:

Dr. Kate is a cofounder of the Ecopsychology Work Group, a colloquium of international scholars examining the human-Nature relationship. She is the host of the online radio show “EcoChat”. She is the editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal Restoration Earth: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Nature and Civilization. She is currently at work on a text on rape in mythology, as well as finishing the final edits on her text on ritual and liturgy in Wicca and a comprehensive global introduction to theology. She is the developer of the contemporay woman's Seidr tradition, which she teaches at OSC, and the Celtic spiritual path of the 9 Sacred Trees--all of which derive from the shamanistic philosophical tradition she practices, known as the 9 Sacred Pillars.

Professional Associations:

She is a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society, the Psi Chi Honor Society for Psychology, Association of Conservation Psychology, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, the American Psychological Association's Divisions in Counseling Psychology, Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology, Peace Psychology, and Health, the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment, the Association for Humanistic Psychology, the Association for Transpersonal Psychology, the American Academy of Religion, and is certified in human research by UCLA. She is an ordained clergy person and a licensed professional development provider. She currently serves on the leadership circle of the Community of the Mystic Heart and serves on the Board of Directors of The Institute for Thealogy and Deasophy.

Additional Information:

In 2005 she became catastrophically ill, which prompted her founding of OSC. Prior to this, Kate had worked for more than 8 years in the clinical field and was clinical supervisor of a dual-diagnosis (substance abuse and co-occurring psychiatric disorder) treatment program. She specialized in trauma and personality disorders. She is also a produced, award-winning playwright and singer/songwriter. She is a composer and currently at work on an extended piece entitled “Threnody for Earth”. Most recently she re-orchestrated the hymn “This Is My Father’s World” and set it to a video montage of the Gulf Oil catastrophe. A compiliation of her vocal and orchestral work has been released under the title "She Waits: A Retrospective" available at all digital media retailers (Amason, iTunes, Napster, etc). She actively translates Old Icelandic and Old English texts.