Shannon M.D. Smith

Project Manager

Shannon is a ritualist, dancer, writer, facilitator, traveler, administrator and life long student. She holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase and has taught contemporary dance technique, authentic movement and contact improvisation. Her passions have evolved to include consciousness studies from around the world whose energetic and archetypal maps have informed perspectives on trauma and the sacred body. As an activist, Shannon has found a calling working for the water. She has been a contributor to Passionate Waters, participated in Global Water Dances since 2013 and most recently founded Women of the Water, an organization dedicated to supporting the international efforts of those rising up to work for the water giving special attention to women finding their voices in leadership. Additionally, Shannon has been engaged in field research at sacred sites in Ireland and throughout Europe exploring the emerging study into Re-Indigenization through restoration of ancestral wisdom and the Celtic mythos. Shannon has been on the team of the Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary since September of 2016.

Q&A with Shannon

You do a lot of work surrounding water. What draws you to water and why is it so important?

As my Hopi Auntie reminds me again and again, ‘We come into this world behind the water. It’s good to stay that way’. Nature is an incredible teacher if we only take the time to stop and observe her. Water gives us an example of selfless service, ever fluid, purifying, persistent, persevering. She is beautiful whether she is calm or fierce. We accept her in all her forms. She shows us a reflection of who we are. And most fundamentally, nothing on this great Earth would be alive without her. As a dancer, the qualities of momentum, tidal flow and the concentric circles in air and water deeply influence the way that I move, as well as, the way I perceive life and how to engage dynamic energy within it. As we sing when we gather to honor her: “Born of water, cleansing, powerful, healing, changing – I am.”

Why is spirituality so important to the work of ecology? How do they inform one another?

I think that it’s one thing to ‘think’ something is true. It’s quite another to know it in your bones. When an active spirituality is present in the work of ecology, you have a vibrant inter-active experience of creation. Your moral compass intuitively and definitively adjusts to include what is now obvious – the reality of the sacredness of all LIFE. Your love of creation, love of the intelligent divinity in the universe that made this great big beautiful mess – that love mandates you must protect all life. That is where humans often get stuck. They want to pick and choose which life to protect. But that mandate really means protecting all of humanity, animals and plant life. It means protecting the trees which are the lungs of the Earth and the soil that nourishes our food. It means protecting the water – the source of all Life.

From the Blog

Restoring Brigid, Restoring Justice

Originally Published as “A Time of Justice, A Season of Renewal” on Jan 28, 2021 before Brigid’s Day Feb 1st by Shannon Michaela Doree Smith. Updated March 8th. This piece is re-published on International Women’s Day 2021 with gratitude to President Joseph R. Biden for his Proclamation on Irish-American Heritage… Read more

Irish help raise 1.7 million and growing for Navajo and Hopi Nations impacted by Covid-19

In a time when many are struggling, and challenged to summon the will to care for those most suffering, a centuries old bond between nations shines a light on human kindness and solidarity. Over 1.7 million has been raised so far for the Navajo and Hopi families COVID-19 Relief Fund… Read more

Letting It In

Grief. It’s not that we need to stay there. It’s that we need to first let it in, consume us, before we can let it go and make room for what comes next. It’s true after a loved one dies, or the end of a relationship, and it’s true when… Read more

Love the Water… World Water Day is Every Day

Protecting clean water is one of the most important ways you can have a positive effect in your environment. In honor of World Water Day, we share Steps to Build Community and Congregation around Water. Where is your water? Find your watershed. Knowing where your Water comes from is… Read more

The ‘Epiphany’ of the Importance of Trees

As Twelfth Night passes, some celebrate King’s Day, others Nollaig na mBan (Women’s Christmas in Irish), and others – still singing carols and drinking cider – go a Wassailing. “Love and joy come to you and to you, your Wassail, too. And God Bless you and send you a Happy New… Read more