Jane’s work focuses on a strength based wellness approach to recovery from addiction and trauma. Her work with 12-Step Spirituality as a Wisdom path starts with “What is Right with you?”
Sacred Story
As a child, I loved going to church with my grandparents. My father was a member of AA and taught me about metaphysics and music, my stepfather was a Presbyterian minister and showed me the hazards of that path, as well as his joy in social justice work. My mother was a seeker and social activist, especially in the later years of her life.
I never questioned the existence of God until my family fell apart, beginning when I was 16 years old, and I became very angry at God for the next 12 years, replacing anything spiritual or religious with alcohol, drugs, art, and anger.
But when I was 28 years old, I had a spiritual conversion experience that came in the form of a white light and a voice, telling me to stop drinking! The next day I did that, and began what has been a pursuit of the Truth that first found expression in the 12-steps and fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, then through the New Thought teachings of Eric Butterworth via Unity, and has expanded into a depth study of the wisdom traditions of the world’s religions.
I have found particular resonance with Indigenous wisdom paths from Africa and Native America. I spent fifteen years as an ordained minister in the AME Church, until that body voted in a discriminatory legislation prohibiting their ministers from celebrating full inclusiveness, and my journey since then has been one of seeking to discover a spiritual path that both includes all people and leaves room “at the top’ for progressive revelation.
This path I see is seeking me, and finds me in the spiral path of evolutionary growth into my truest self -which I finally realize is who I am designed to be. This iconoclastic artist seeker of Oneness is who I am, and is also what I endeavor to share with others.
Too many recovery programs fixate on the sickness of addiction and, as a result, trap people in a pathology-centered mindset. Jane Galloway’s strength-based approach suggests, “Rather than obsessing on what is ‘wrong’ with a person, learning what is ‘right’ with them may hold the key to understanding.”
Incorporating ancient developmental systems like Chinese meridians and the Kabbalah Tree of Life, as well as more recent psychological systems like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Erik Erikson’s Eight Ages of Man, Jane’s book The Gateways: The Wisdom of 12-Step Spirituality and her podcast The Gateways on Sacred Stories podcast present 12-Step Spirituality as a Wisdom Path. Galloway’s 12 corresponding Gateway Essences unlock the power of the Steps through spiritual practices and rituals that make up a customized, holistic Mind, Body, Spirit tool kit.
A 30+ year practitioner of the 12-Step way of life, ordained minister, Doctor of Ministry, recovery educator, accomplished stage and screen actor and community organizer, the Rev. Dr. Jane Galloway brings a woman’s voice to the chorus of men who have previously spoken on 12-Step spirituality. Her work is inspired by and devoted to AA’s founding spiritual vision as it appears in “The Big Book”: “To us, the realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek.” The Gateways opens wider vistas to the deeper wisdom within us all. janegalloway.com
FUN FACTS:
- Jane adores design, and secretly sees herself as a fashion designer. She loves aesthetics, color, line, design…and beauty in general.
- Color inspires her. Delicious French Roast coffee inspires her. Jazz inspires her. Freedom inspires her. Kindness inspires her. Art inspires her.
- Jane knows the power of the Arts to transform and has founded a brand called – T.R.I.B.E.- Transformation/ Realization/ Inspiration/ Belonging/ Expression, dedicated to exploring the sacred role of artists as social, spiritual, political, and emotional activists in the world.
