Camilla Sanderson

...earned her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2017, and she completed Suzanne Kingsbury's Gateless Writing Academy in 2022. Prior to this, she studied world religions for two years, which included a life-changing deep dive into the ancient Hindu sacred text, the Bhagavad Gita. Camilla's writing explores her experience of the inextricable links between nature, spirituality, and creativity. Presently, she enjoys functioning in the roles of writer, spiritual guide, fierce feminine dakini, shamanic practitioner, alchemist... Her writing is subversively in service to the awakening of the Divine Feminine energies within women and men, and in service to the awakening of consciousness in herself, in you, and in all of humanity. 🙏💖🕊

United States

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm passionate about memoir writing as an agent for radical social change.

Particularly memoirs written by women.

Women's voices have been suppressed by the patriarchy for the past 4,000 years* and at this point in our planet's history—a time of global climate change, a global pandemic, and war—we are in desperate need of cultural change: it is time to swing the pendulum back towards honoring the energies of the Divine Feminine and our Mother Earth.

These are some of the themes explored in the book presently being serialized on Substack:

THE RISING OF THE DIVINE FEMININE AND THE BUDDHIST MONKS ACROSS THE ROAD: A Memoir

(To read the serialized chapters of this book, and to subscribe to the Rising of the Divine Feminine Newsletter, please click on the Substack link in the writing portfolio below.)

I'm also the author of The Mini Book of Mindfulness (Running Press/Hachette, 2016).

The central questions infusing my writing are:

HOW DOES ONE TRANSMUTE ADVERSITY INTO SPIRITUAL GROWTH?

HOW DOES A WOMAN LIVING IN A PATRIARCHAL CULTURE, LIVE THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE AS A SPIRITUAL BEING (without getting hung up on religious dogma)?

My own spiritual yearning for mystical unity, along with eschewing what I observe in religious institutions—crumbling patriarchal hierarchies, dogma, hypocrisy, deadly earnestness, judgmental attitudes—inspired me to read deeply.

The most significant influences in the awakening of consciousness within me include the work of:
- interfaith minister, Reverend Doctor Stephanie Rutt
- Tosha Silver, astrologer and author of 'Outrageous Openness: Letting the Divine Take the Lead,' and 'It's Not Your Money'
- Tibetan Buddhist nun Pema Chodron
- shamanic practitioner Sandra Ingerman
- vulnerability and shame researcher Brené Brown
- Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn
- spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle
- Anne Baring, PhD, Oxford scholar and Jungian analyst*

For two-years (2012-2014) in the Tree of Life interfaith seminary program, I studied the world’s faith traditions in addition to another life-changing element: committing to two years of a daily spiritual practice.

Through my own direct experience of mystical unity I have been made aware of the deep wisdom available in ALL faith traditions.

From the spiritual traditions of our earliest indigenous cultures including Shamanism, the Dreamtime of the Australian Aborigines, and Native American Indian spirituality; to Hinduism—the oldest religion with a recorded written text, and third largest religion on the planet—to the Abrahamic traditions including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, (as well as the Baháʼí Faith, and other smaller religions) to Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Sikhism, and more: I’ve come to understand how EACH RELIGION IS A LANGUAGE.

And EACH LANGUAGE USES STORIES TO CONVEY SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLES.

And the STORIES from all the patriarchal and hierarchical religions, have created conditions that mainly benefit white males.

And the voices of human beings who are not white males, have been suppressed and dismissed for thousands of years.

The oldest, indigenous faith traditions have never ceased honoring the Divine Feminine and Mother Earth—perhaps the reason why the patriarchy made every effort to stamp out the indigenous faith traditions.

Now more than ever we’re at a point in the evolution of human consciousness, where we desperately need to recognize, honor, appreciate, and value the DIVINE FEMININE and MOTHER EARTH.

My intention is for my writing and stories to embody this energy of mindfulness and speak to your inner divinity, also known as the awakening consciousness within you.

The evolution of human consciousness is at a point where we all need to honor BOTH our own Inner Patriarchs in addition to our Inner Matriarchs so that we may move forward as a human species in harmony. ✨🌟💖🙏🕊️

***

Born and raised in Australia, for twenty years (from her early twenties to her early forties) Camilla worked in the publishing industry while living in Greenwich Village, New York City with her American husband Jamie Jones.

In 2011, after Jamie recovered from cancer, they both quit their jobs in Manhattan and moved to TreeTops, a decades-old log cabin in the woods of Southern New Hampshire.

Three and a half years later, in December 2014, a Thai Forest Buddhist monastery happened to take root on 250 acres of land across the road, bringing much loved Buddhist principles, ideas, and practices into the local community: http://forestmonastery.org/

Camilla has also worked as a memoir writing coach, and taught 'Writing Personal Essay and Memoir as a Spiritual Practice' through Tree of Life Interfaith Temple, where she was also a spiritual guide for the interfaith seminary program.

Jamie creates hand-crafted maple syrup, and connects with his own spirituality in nature and through friendships with our Buddhist monk neighbors.

* https://www.annebaring.com/a-crucial-time-of-choice/

Please enjoy my offerings below 🙏💖🕊

Portfolio
Substack
09/24/2022
The Rising of the Divine Feminine

the scoop from the interior -mind, heart and soul- of an Aussie living in Temple, New Hampshire, delivered occasionally ✨🌟💖🙏🕊 Click to read The Rising of the Divine Feminine, by Camilla Sanderson, a Substack publication. Launched September 2022.

BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog
12/09/2022
On Useful Feedback and Silencing the Inner Critic

By Camilla Sanderson Thinking about the first workshop I took as a student in the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program, I feel compassion for my fellow writers. I didn't know what I was doing, was all opinion and ego, and wasn't even sure what 'craft' was exactly.

BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog
03/18/2022
On Writing, Joy, and Spiritual Practice

I subscribe to the camp of "writing can be joyful." Yes, a gentle discipline is required. But because my experience shows me that creativity is inextricably linked to spirituality, and I'm not always in control of what may want to flow through me, I don't berate myself if I'm not "producing."

elephant journal
09/02/2015
Why I Write.

I write because I need to. I spent two years studying world religions in interfaith seminary school, where Reverend Stephanie Rutt advised us that a daily spiritual practice was the most important element in the program.

elephant journal
10/31/2013
Divine Love. ~ Camilla Sanderson

But I find my daily spiritual practice is like the keel of a boat---it helps me right myself and find my center again after being blown over in the wind. The inner work required for spiritual growth and evolution of consciousness is not easy, but the rewards of the work are profound and have led me to the blissful experience of Divine Love.

elephant journal
Nov 28, 2015
Who Are You? {Poem}

I want to know If you contemplate death- Not in a morbid way, But in a way that determines how you will live your life.

Elephant Journal
05/17/2022
Spaciousness | elephant journal

An inner spaciousness around my heart, I have glimpses of. And I want more. I first experienced this state of being after learning how to "observe my humanity from my divinity" with a spiritual teacher...

elephant journal
4/2/20
Social Distancing or Physical Distancing?

Working from home as a writer, I was already social distancing and physical distancing. My husband also works from home. We live in a log cabin in the woods so we don't get many visitors, except from a few friendly Buddhist monks from a monastery that took root across the road five years ago, and some Buddhist friends we've made through the monastery.

Elephant Journal
03/24/2020
In the Time of Covid, I wonder...

I wonder how this world will be after people have experienced enforced stillness. I wonder if humanity will have an awakening. I wonder if the human species will use this global pandemic as an opportunity to heal ourselves and save our planet. I wonder how this will look in each person's life.

TREE OF LIFE INTERFAITH TEMPLE
Interfaith Seminary Program

Instead of asking, "To what religion should I belong?" we ask, "How does the Creative Force/the Divine Beloved/God want to flow through me? What is my unique soul print? What is my treasure?" From our deepest knowing we may discover we are, in fact, drawn to an existing faith tradition, or are drawn to forge new paths within an existing faith tradition or, perhaps, forge a new path altogether.

elephant journal
4/3/2014
Funny is the New Deep. ~ Camilla Sanderson

Laughter is a dividend of forgiveness. I confess I stole the title for this piece from a recent talk I attended by the author Steve Almond. It's a subject I love, and the talk was fun.

Ledger Transcript
12/22/2015
Interfaith Soul Food: Never in your wildest dreams

Never in our wildest dreams could we have imagined that in 2014, a Thai Forest Buddhist Monastery would take root on the 250 acres literally across the street from us in Temple. My husband's family bought Treetops, a log cabin in the woods of Temple, in the 1980s as a retreat they could escape to for family holidays - most often Thanksgiving and Christmas.

elephant journal
04/15/2019
Women are Claiming the Right to Lead-& it's Bloody Brilliant.

Why do we believe we need to hide aspects of our true, whole selves to be loved? As a woman, throughout my 20s, 30s, and 40s, why did I feel it necessary to hide my intelligence to get along with people and be accepted by them?

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
08/23/2016
Authenticity versus perfection

I've become wary of telling people I'm an interfaith minister or a reverend. If I do, it's as though an unspoken expectation is hatched that I must then be this "perfect" role model of a human being. Does a "perfect human" even exist?

Ledger Transcript
06/15/2015
Spiritual nourishment in the Monadnock region

When my husband and I gave up our 20-year stretch of corporate-working-lives in Manhattan In April 2011, and moved to a place of soulful-wilderness-living in a log cabin set among the trees in Temple, I began to read an endless number of books on spirituality.

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
08/08/2016
A new look at the Lord's Prayer

I hadn't even heard of Aramaic before I studied world religions, but I learned that Aramaic is the ancient and metaphoric language in which the the Lord's Prayer was originally written, before it was translated to Greek and then to English.

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
05/23/2016
Daily spiritual practice or 'sadhana'

Before I studied world religions for two years in interfaith seminary, I hadn't really spent any time contemplating exactly what a spiritual practice is, nor what its purpose may be. But very early on in our program, our spiritual mentor advised us that a daily spiritual practice was the most important element of any seminary program.

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
04/25/2016
Spirituality is at the Heart of Joining a CSA

Joining a CSA can be a spiritual experience- After submitting our name to a waiting list several years ago, late last month I received an email from Anthony Graham of the Temple-Wilton Community Farm to say they were taking in new members for their CSA, and to contact him if my husband and I...

Monadnock Ledger Transcript
03/21/2016
Finding our spiritual mentors is a process

"There are many paths to the top of the mountain but the view from the top is the same." I love the truth in this sentiment, and I think of interfaith in the same way. There are many spiritual truths and profound wisdom in all of the world's religions.

Ledger Transcript
02/23/2016
Honoring the spirit in nature

When we lived in New York City for 20 years, being able to visit the Monadnock region provided the opportunity for my husband and me to get a much needed nature fix at various points in our lives. I didn't fully understand it then, but our time in nature was much needed food for our souls.

Ledger Transcript
11/24/2015
Interfaith Soul Food: Opportunities at Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is not only an opportunity to celebrate the practice of gratitude. It's also an opportunity for personal growth and learning about projection, all of which are food for nourishing our spiritual natures. When my husband and I moved from living and working in New York City for 20 years to our log cabin in the woods of Temple, I felt drawn to take some spiritual classes.

Goodmenproject
12/30/2013
How My Husband's Illness Became A Transformative Journey to Love

When cancer came knocking, Camilla Sanderson and her husband gave up lucrative NYC careers for a life of simplicity and love. Here is a guy who swapped a Manhattan high-rise corporate office, and an 1890′s parlor level brownstone apartment with high ceilings and a wood burning fireplace located on the gold coast of Greenwich Village, New York City; for a maple sugar shack, a barn, a tractor, and a log cabin all located in the wilderness of New Hampshire.

elephant journal
9/4/15
Just for Fun: An Ode to Pasta.

But all pasta, as with human beings, is made from the same ingredients-in the case of noodles, flour and water.

elephant journal
12/17/2013
Circle Leadership

Before moving to our log cabin here in the woods of New Hampshire, I lived and worked in Manhattan for 20 years. I had direct experience with toxic corporate hierarchical leadership, which was mainly dominated by men.

elephant journal
6/16/2015
Ordination: How I Showed Up Authentically

With all my gifts, and all my muck, knowing that like the lotus flower, I will blossom because of, not in spite of my muck. No mud, no lotus.

Elephant Journal
Scars vs. Wounds

I worked in the publishing industry in Manhattan for twenty years before I found the courage to write. And I would not have known how to cultivate that courage, had I not studied world religions for two years first.

Elephant Journal
Peace Within, Peace Without {A Response to Waylon Lewis}.

Via Camilla Sanderson on Oct 13, 2017 get elephant's newsletter Author's Note: This was written in response to Elephant Journal's founder, Waylon Lewis' note in a recent newsletter. To get Waylon's daily note of inspiration (free), sign up here: www.elephantjournal.com/best "The most important question in the world isn't how to be happy.

Elephant Journal
Spiritual Inner Work

My husband and I have conversed in depth on the difference between observing versus being judgmental. A few years ago, we counted our blessings when a Buddhist monastery took root on 250 acres across the road. The community of Thai forest Buddhist monks practice the art of observing without being judgmental.

Elephant Journal
Forget your Ego-only the Present Moment Matters.

get elephant's newsletter These synchronicities occur when I remember to surrender and swim with the flow, instead of constantly pushing upstream, and when surrender into the energy of how the divine beloved intends for it all to unfold. It's not up to me. However, my ego might like to think it is.

Elephant Journal
4/14/2015
When it Comes to Our Health, it's Time to Stop & Listen

Michael Pollan is a fine investigative journalist who writes musical prose. In The Omnivore's Dilemma, he writes about the danger of ridiculing something that is not necessarily measurable with the scientific method...

Elephant Journal
4 Pillars from the Bhagavad Gita to Apply to Writing

Thank you Jeroen Langendam for writing this ej article about the trials and tribulations of writing personal essays: https://www.elephantjournal.com/2018/09/i-havent-written-for-elephant-journal-in-two-years-heres-why/ This is so true: "sensitive topic + personal story = vulnerability = scary" I also adore Brené Brown's work.

Goodmenproject
01/23/2014
What if a Religion Reverses Policy? There is No Hell & Gay is OK

When Camilla Sanderson read that the Pope decided to embrace homosexuals, female priests and atheists, she was shocked but hopeful. - This article below came to my attention recently. "For the last six months, Catholic cardinals, bishops and theologians have been deliberating in Vatican City, discussing the future of the church and redefining long-held Catholic doctrines and dogmas.