Mary’s work is rooted in a love for the living earth and a blend of spirituality that draws from many sources. Born and raised a Quaker, she became a Sufi practitioner at an early age and facilitated feminine spirituality circles and workshops in the Sufi community where she lived. Mary has a background in Psychosynthesis, Deep Ecology, Buddhism, and Anthroposophy. She holds a degree in Mythopoetics and Sacred Ecology from Antioch University, Seattle, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles, where she broke new ground in the genre of “Ecomythic Memoir.”

Mary trained in Storytelling and Creative Writing at Emerson College, England, where she subsequently taught a few classes. She went on to teach Creative Writing at Hazel Wolf High School for five years. Mary is a senior lecturer at Antioch University, Seattle, where she teaches writing and Spiritual Studies in the BA Program. She offers consultations as a writing guide and leads writing groups in her home at Pegasus and Sisters Writing Studio and online.

Mary was on the core faculty of Sound Circle Center for Arts and Anthroposophy, in Seattle from 1998 to 2014, where she co-led Foundation Studies, and continued as an adjunct instructor teaching Creative Writing, Storytelling, Nature Awareness, and Festival there until 2018.  She has led story circles and workshops in a variety of locations and has published in journals in the U.S. and the U.K.

Mary has a rare congenital heart condition. A seventh-generation homeopath, she has experienced a range of healing, from natural remedies to literally being saved by a machine. One of her deepest joys is having raised three sons and a daughter. She lives with her husband, David, in Seattle.

Mary champions Imagination as a creative, dynamic and synthesizing faculty, serving as intermediary between personal and archetypal, self and world, inwardness and outwardness.

Read her Artist Statement here