WALTERS, Dorothy (J.) 1928-

PERSONAL: Born March 17, 1928, in Edmond, OK; daughter of R. A. (a realtor) and Lois E. (a homemaker; maiden name, Jones) Walters. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Attended Central State College (now University), Edmond, OK, 1944-46; University of Oklahoma, B.A. (English), 1948, B.A. (library science), 1951, Ph.D. (English and American literature), 1960. Politics: Democrat. Hobbies and other interests: "Exploring the sacred in music, nature, and friendship."

ADDRESSES: Home—817 Guerrero St., San Francisco, CA 94110. Office—Office of Women's Studies, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS 67208. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: University of Colorado, Boulder, instructor, 1960-62, assistant professor of English, 1962-67; Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, associate professor of English, 1967—, coordinator of women's studies, 1975—. Creative research fellow at University of Colorado Council, 1966; informal counselor for those undergoing spiritual transformation.

MEMBER: Kundalini Research Network.

WRITINGS:

Flannery O'Connor, Twayne (New York, NY), 1973.

(Editor, with Carol Konek, and contributor) I Hear MySisters Saying: Poems by Twentieth-Century Women, Crowell (New York, NY), 1976.

Marrow of Flame: Poems of the Spiritual Journey, introduction by Andrew Harvey, Hohm Press, (Prescott, AZ), 2000.

Unmasking the Rose: A Record of a Kundalini Initiation, Hampton Roads (Charlottesville, VA), 2002.

Contributor to anthologies, including The Divine Feminine, edited by Andrew Harvey and Anne Baring, and Sacred Voices, edited by Mary Ford-Grabowsky; contributor to periodicals, including Alternatives for Cultural Creativity, Shared Transformation, Range of Light, and University of Colorado Studies.

WORK IN PROGRESS: This Wild Kingdom, a book of poetry; research in "kundalini, especially as it involves spontaneous arousal, and the implications thereof both for the individual being involved and for the future of the race."

SIDELIGHTS: Dorothy J. Walters told CA: "After spending most of my adult life 'in my head' (as a professor of literature), I experienced a sudden and unexpected kundalini awakening in 1981. From this point on I became intimately acquainted with the energy body and its functions, and have spent the ensuing years integrating the process into my total life structure.

"My poetry is a direct reflection of that experience, and takes as its initial inspiration the writings of Rumi, Hafiz, Kabir, and other early mystics, as well as more modern writers. I am not concerned with creeds or ideologies, but with the archetypal journey of the soul as experienced by spiritual voyagers of all times and places. My first book of poems, Marrow of Flame: Poems of the Spiritual Journey, incorporates the stages of the mystical unfoldment into its organization, beginning with the search and ending with union with source (ultimate bliss.)

"Unmasking the Rose: A Record of a Kundalini Initiation is a journal/narrative account of my personal transformation from the moment of awakening through the long process of balancing and comprehending the experience of activated kundalini, a process still a mystery to most of us. Because I was living in an area which was essentially not in touch with Eastern thought and practices (no ashrams or gurus or yoga teachers were available nearby), I proceeded primarily on my own, following only the guidance of the inner guru. My experience was intense, involving tremendous swings from ecstatic bliss to extreme bodily pain. I trusted the overall process as a means of deep connection to the divine, the 'Beloved Within.'

"Although the kundalini process was little known at the time, more and more people are now undergoing similar deep inner transformation. It is my hope that my writings and informal counsel will be of help to fellow spiritual adventurers called to this path. Like many others, I feel it may be the means for advancing human consciousness to the next stage of evolutionary development, and offers particular hope to our world at this time of universal peril."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2000, p. 347.

ONLINE

Spirituality and Health,http://www.spiritualityhealth.com/ (August 7, 2003), Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, review of Marrow of Flame: Poems of the Spiritual Journey.