From Tacheria Interfaith School of Spiritual Direction Alumni to Director of Wisdom's Way Interfaith School

When I enrolled in the Tacheria Interfaith School of Spiritual Direction in 2011, guided by the compassionate teaching of Frank and Linda Williams, little did I imagine how this journey would blossom into something bigger than myself. Over the course of my studies, a dream took root: what if a sister school could bring this same soulful, interfaith formation to participants in the Phoenix area? I brought the idea to the Tacheria Board and the Board voted to support it wholeheartedly.

On September 13, 2014, that dream became reality. Sixteen participants gathered for the first meeting of Wisdom's Way Interfaith School. My husband, Gil, and I stepped forward as the School's founding Co-Directors, a role we would share for the next eight years. Like its sister program, Wisdom's Way was designed as a two-year journey, gathering once a month from September through May, with participants building the kind of deep trust that only comes from meeting again and again over time. Each year opened with an exploration of holy listening and spiritual companioning, paired with tools for self-understanding such as the MBTI and the Enneagram. From there, the curriculum widened into a rich tour of the world's wisdom traditions — Celtic spirituality, Native American teachings, Sikh perspectives, Jewish and Islamic/Sufi thought, feminine and Earth-based spirituality, Buddhist and Hindu practice — each session led by a teacher rooted in that tradition. A retreat each December, often at the Spirit in the Desert Retreat Center in Carefree, deepened our community's bond, and every cohort closed with a graduation ritual and certificate presentation honoring the wisdom seekers who had completed the path.

Over the years that followed, more than 80 people walked through the doors of Wisdom's Way and out again, many carrying the experience into their own communities and ministries. Several went on to serve on the Tacheria Interfaith Spirituality Center’s Board—graduates Nihal Hassan, Kara Rosseaux, Channin Gladden, Phyllis Winters, Phil Shaw, and Becky Rodes brought our two schools' histories even more closely together.

In June 2022, after nearly a decade of leading Circle after Circle of seekers, Gil and I retired from Wisdom's Way. What began as one graduate's dream had become a thriving spiritual home for dozens of others — proof that a single yes, offered to the right community at the right time, can grow into something that lasts beyond the dream.

By Cathy Stafford