In Memoriam: Dr. Mara Lynn Keller

Dear Community,

With a tearful heart I share the news that CIIS Professor Emerita, Dr. Mara Lynn Keller, has passed from the material plane and transitioned to the realm of spirit. Dr. Keller crossed over on the morning following the Winter Solstice as the light and lengthening of days returned to the northern hemisphere.

Dr. Mara Keller co-founded the Women’s Spirituality Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies 30 years ago with Eleanor Gadon. Dr. Keller is past professor of Philosophy and Religion and Women’s Spirituality, and for 10 years served as Director of the Women’s Spirituality M.A. and Ph.D. programs at CIIS.

Dr. Keller was a scholar-practitioner for whom spirituality was an embodied phenomenon. She was a philosopher and theologian, whose numerous writings include articles about the Goddesses of Crete and Greece, such as “Sacred Arts and Ritual in Crete of the Mother Goddess” and “The Eleusinian Mysteries: Ritual Path of Initiation.” A stated interest was in promoting dialogue between Goddess people and God people.

In keeping with her aspiration of integrating body, mind, and spirit, Dr. Keller had also been a Rosen Method bodywork practitioner and movement teacher. Before founding the Women’s Spirituality Program at CIIS, Dr. Keller taught Philosophy and Women’s Studies at the University of California at Riverside and at San Francisco State University, where she co-founded and coordinated the Global Peace Studies Program.

It was with deep appreciation and love that the Women’s Spirituality 30th Anniversary Celebratory Series held this past October was dedicated to Dr. Mara Lynn Keller.

A tribute in honor of Dr. Keller will be held during the upcoming spring 2024 semester.