About Maggie Oman Shannon
Here’s the formal bio:
The Rev. Maggie Oman Shannon, M.A., is an ordained Unity minister, spiritual director, workshop and retreat facilitator, artist and author of eight books:
- Prayers for Healing: 365 Blessings, Poems, & Meditations from Around the World (Conari Press, 1997);
- The Way We Pray: Prayer Practices from Around the World (Conari Press, 2001);
- A String and a Prayer: How to Make and Use Prayer Beads (co-author; Red Wheel/Weiser, 2002);
- One God, Shared Hope: Twenty Threads Shared by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Red Wheel/Weiser, 2003);
- Prayers for Hope and Comfort: Reflections, Meditations, and Inspirations (Conari Press, 2008);
- Crafting Calm: Projects and Practices for Creativity and Contemplation (Viva Editions, 2013);
- Crafting Gratitude: Creating and Celebrating Our Blessings with Hands and Heart (Viva Editions, 2017).
- Crafting Love: Sharing Our Hearts Through the Work of Our Hands (Viva Editions, 2018).
In 2000, Maggie founded The New Story, a coaching and consulting business focused on helping people to create deeper meaning in their lives.
The former editor of three national magazines, including The Saturday Evening Post, Maggie also served as Director of Marketing for the Institute of Noetic Sciences. Her writing has appeared in publications including Spirituality and Health magazine, The Huffington Post and Beliefnet.com; and her work has been featured in publications including the San Francisco Chronicle. She has taught workshops at venues including California Pacific Medical Center’s Institute for Health and Healing and Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York.
In addition to being a certified life coach, Maggie completed the three-year training program of the Spiritual Directors Institute at Mercy Center in Burlingame, California. A graduate of Smith College, Maggie also holds an M.A. degree in Culture and Spirituality from Holy Names University. She is an ordained interfaith minister who graduated from Manhattan’s One Spirit Interfaith Seminary in 2010. She was ordained as a Unity minister in 2014 and currently has the honor of serving as Senior Minister of Unity Spiritual Center of San Francisco. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and teenage daughter.
And here’s a more informal (but more important) list of things I want you to know about me:
Connecting with Spirit through creative expression
has been at the heart of my work
through all of my journeys.
At the turn of the millennium I started The New Story…
both metaphorically, in my life, and also literally;
The New Story is the name of the coaching and consulting business I started in 2000.
As the years have passed since then,
my own New Story has unfolded;
I have authored eight books on prayer and spiritual practice,
received a master’s degree in Culture and Spirituality,
completed four years of spiritual-direction training,
and been ordained as a minister twice—
as an interfaith minister in 2010;
and as a Unity minister in 2014.
Today I serve as the Senior Minister
of Unity Spiritual Center of San Francisco,
and though my career has shape-shifted
from being a solopreneur
to the leader of a spiritual community,
my professional passion and focus remains the same:
I help you to discover the presence and power
of your Divine creativity,
which not only enriches and transforms your life—
but also impacts the world around you.
In other words, I help you to create magic
in your life and in the world.
With The New Story, I help you
to author the life of your dreams.
You’ll claim your brilliance, your beauty, and your creativity,
as well as the vast potential we all have
to transform our communities and beyond.
What I can promise is
that I will see the best in who you are,
and who you can become.
I will bring my knowledge, my intuition, my creativity,
and my full presence to our encounter.
You will leave full of hope, encouragement and inspiration.
You will touch and know more deeply your own Creative Spirit.
Above all, you will know
that you matter, that you make a difference,
and that the world is a better place
because you’re here.
