About
Queen Mama Donna
Donna Henes is an internationally renowned urban shaman, award-winning author, popular speaker, and workshop leader
whose joyful celebrations of celestial events have introduced ancient traditional rituals and contemporary ceremonies to
millions of people in more than 100 cities since 1972. She has published four books, a CD, an acclaimed quarterly journal
and writes a column for UPI (United Press International) Religion and Spirituality Forum. Mama Donna, as she is affectionately called,maintains a ceremonial center, spirit shop, ritual practice and consultancy in Exotic Brooklyn, NY where she works with individuals, groups, institutions, municipalities and corporations to create meaningful ceremonies for every imaginable occasion.
Read her blog at:
http://queenmamadonna.blogspot.com
http://www.myspace.com/queenmamadonna
|
 |
|
Consult the
Midlife Midwife
The transition from Maiden and Mother to Queen can be a difficult one, fraught with hard lessons and lots of loss. It takes great determination and courage to confront and embrace the changes brought about by the midlife passage.
It can be really helpful during this confusing time to have the inspiration, advice and encouragement of a counselor, coach, or mentor - someone who has been there and done that and is ready to help you do the same.
Queen Mama Donna offers upbeat, practical and ceremonial guidance for individual women and groups who want to enjoy the fruits of an enriching, influential, purposeful, passionate, and powerful maturity.
TURN YOUR MIDLIFE CRISIS INTO YOUR CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT!
For more information, call 718-857-1343 or email the Queen at thequeenofmyself@aol.com
" I had to learn that I can't depend on other people to make me feel good. You have to have some kind of love for yourself and, finding that, that's work."
-Mary J. Blige
|
|
Good News!
The Queen of My Self is now in its second printing! To celebrate this milestone and as a measure of my appreciation, I am offering a complimentary Great Women Rulers of the World ruler for every book ordered through the website www. The queenofmyself.com.
ORDER YOUR AUTOGRAPHED COPY NOW
|
|
A Queen Event
Near You
VIRGINIA
OCTOBER 13, 2007
SATURDAY 10AM - 4PM
THE QUEEN OF MY SELF WORKSHOP
Creative Healing Institute
9870-B Main Street
Fairfax, VA 22031
Reservations:
703-591-9600 ext. 101
email dava@mainstreetchi.com
$100
Includes crown and royal amulet bag
NORTH CAROLINA
OCTOBER 18, 2007
THURSDAY (full day)
THE QUEEN OF MY SELF WORKSHOP
Sponsored by Unitarian Universalist Womenspirit
The Mountain Retreat & Learning Centers
3872 Dillard Road
P.O. Box 1299
Highlands, NC 28741
Phone: 828-526-5838
OCTOBER 20, 2007
SATURDAY 11AM - 5PM
THE QUEEN OF MY SELF WORKSHOP
at the home of Nancy Pocklington
1906 Wilson St.
New Bern, NC 28560
To register, call 252-637-8161
or email npocklington@hotmail.com
$75
2008
MARCH 29, 2008
SATURDAY 10:00AM - 4:00PM
THE QUEEN OF MY SELF WORKSHOP
Radiance
9 W. Grant Street
Lancaster, PA 17603
Reservations required. Call: 717 290-1517
or email: labyrinthherbs@aol.com
$90
|
Have Crown, Will Travel!
To discuss booking Queen Mama Donna for a reading, presentation or workshop in your area, call her at 718-857-1343 or e-mail her at TheQueenOfMySelf@aol.com
|
|
Where the Queens Are
Dear HRM,
I am wondering how many Queens have self-coronated since
our group at the Omega Institute. You surely have been very busy
bringing women to themselves. I continue to think of you affectionately
and send you queenly blessings.
-Queen Matilde Cathy
Dear Queen Matilde Cathy,
I
am afraid that I have lost count of how many crowned Queens there now
are. But here is a rapidly growing list of where there have been Queen
workshops.
xxQMD
AZ
Flagstaff
Sedona
Tucson
CA
Irvine
Los Angeles
Oakland
Orinda
San Francisco
CT
Hartford
Killingworth
FL
Hollywood
Palm Harbor
Tampa
IL
Chicago
MA
Rowe
Stockbridge
MI
Cedar Springs
Grand Rapids
Rockford
NC
Highlands
New Bern
NM
Albuquerque
Farmington
Santa Fe
NY
Brooklyn
Kingston
Rhinebeck
Woodstock
OH
Cleveland Heights
Lakewood
OR
Portland
PA
Allentown
Carlisle
Doylestown
Harrisburg
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
New Cumberland
RI
Providence
TX
Austin
Dallas
Garland
San Antonio
UT
Salt Lake City
VA
Fairfax
WA
Seattle
WI
Madison
Middleton
Spring Green
Williams Bay
GREECE
Aegina
Crete
Delphi
ENGLAND
Glastonbury
|
|
Circle of Concern
Please send your requests for healing and positive energy so that the
powerful women of The Queen's Court might send their prayers and
blessings to you in your time of need.
Amy, TX
Deni, NY
Gail, OH
Irma, FL
Yvette, NY
|
|
The Queen's Emporium
Make sure to visit The Queen's Emporium, which specializes in all manner of elegant, practical, and frivolous goods to fulfill all the royal needs and fantasies of The Queen of Your Self. Therein you will find a choice collection of goods to augment and accessorize your royal prerogative.
Anoint, Adorn, Enjoy!
|
|
|
|
Hail, Queens!
Welcome to the inaugural issue of The Queen's Chronicles.
For more than two years I have been traveling with The Queen of My Self through nineteen states and three countries, meeting and talking with several thousand women and crowning hundreds of Queens.
Everywhere I went, I met fascinating, marvelous, women of a certain age. Every venue where I spoke was run by capable and engaging women in midlife. Every antique mall that I browsed through was staffed with middle aged women. Every diner and family restaurant, too. The women who attended my workshops were incredible in their openness and readiness to embrace change. And every single one of them had a story to tell about how she is growing into her personal sovereignty and becoming the Queen of Her Self.
The sad part of these travels was meeting and then leaving so many fabulous women who I would have liked to get to know better and to associate with on a regular basis. Ironically, this was the best part, too. Each time that I left a place, I knew that it was in good hands, that I had one less place that I had to worry about. I knew that the Queens who live there would be taking care of business. This makes me feel so much safer in the world. We are everywhere and we are absolutely amazing.
Somewhere, on some highway, I had the idea to create a Queen's Court. A virtual place where all the Queens can gather and share inspiration and encouragement with each other. Where we can find information and news to spur us on in our growing power. Where we can keep our intimate connection alive. With each workshop, this dream grew and expanded. And here, finally, is the beginning of what I am sure will be a vibrant community of mature women who are the Queens of our own domains.
Each issue will have stories of Queen Sheroes, Letters from Queens from all over, Kudos for Queens in our community, who have joyful events and achievements to announce, requests for spiritual support and blessings for healing, and a calendar of upcoming events. As the Queen's Chronicles evolves I hope to include more interactive features. Please feel free to write in with your comments, suggestions, experiences, questions, and requests. thequeenofmyself@aol.com
I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have helped to make The Queen of My Self so successful:
Thank you so much to all of you who networked these events. Many women showed up because someone who they knew in Louisiana or California or New Jersey sent them the information and urged them to attend. This included several mothers of daughters who had been in circles here at Mama Donna's Tea Garden.
Thank you to the bookstores, healing centers, yoga studios, spas, and conferences who were my generous hosts and sponsors.
Thank you to everyone who came to these venues to participate in the presentations and workshops. Thank you so much for sharing your stories with such honesty, vulnerability, and inspiring strength. Not to mention great good humor.
Thank you to everyone who bought books. And thanks to those who have been ordering The Queen of My Self through www.thequeenofmyself.com and from Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. And thanks to you who have bought them at your local bookstores and made order requests to store who did not carry them.
Thank you to all of those women who crowned yourselves with your own power, passion and purpose. You make fabulous additions to the rapidly expanding Court of Queens and I look forward to our continued connection and interaction at future Royal Engagements.
And a special thanks to the Queen Team: Dr. Susan Corso (donor), Janet Fish (website), Daile Kaplan (donor), Deirdre Mullane (agent and editor), Janice Pemberton (assistant), Monarch Press (Publisher), Patricia Smith (designer), and our precious mascot, Miss Poppy.
Again, many thanks and regal blessings to you all.
|
|
|
Farewell to the Queen of Green
 Dame Anita Roddick, 64, founder of the international Body Shop cosmetics chain, died on September 10, 2007 after suffering a major brain hemorrhage.
Queen Anita was an eco visionary who was known and respected worldwide for her trailblazing business practices that sought to be environmentally friendly.
Roddick opened her first Body Shop outlet in 1976 in Brighton, southern England, long before fair trade and Earth-friendly businesses were fashionable. She joked that the Body Shop's trademark green color scheme came by accident because it was the only color that could cover the mold on the walls of her first shop.
She said her business ethics were inspired in part by women's beauty rituals that she discovered while traveling in developing countries and lessons from closer to home that her Italian immigrant mother passed on from life during the hard years of World War II.
"Why waste a container when you can refill it? And why buy more of something than you can use? We behaved as she did in the Second World War, we reused everything, we refilled everything and we recycled all we could,'' Roddick wrote.
"I want to work for a company that contributes to and is part of the community. I want something not just to invest in. I want something to believe in."
"Businesses have the power to do good,'' she wrote on the Web site of the company. She did better than good. She did great!
The Body Shop opposed product testing on animals and tried to encourage development by purchasing materials from small communities in the Third World. It also invested in a wind farm in Wales as part of its campaign to support renewable energy, and it set up its own human rights award.
Roddick was Queen of a huge domain of companies and business leaders who have been inspired by her corporate acumen and caring stewardship. The Body Shop, which was bought last year by the French company L'Oreal Group, has grown into a global phenomenon with nearly 2,000 stores in 50 countries and remains independently run despite being owned by L'Oreal.
In recognition of Roddick's contribution to business and charity, Queen Elizabeth II made her a dame, the female equivalent of a knight, in 2003.
May we keep her legacy alive through our own response-able business and consumer practices.
"If you do things well, do them better. Be daring, be first, be different, be just."
|
|
Hail The Martyr Queen of Myanmar
 Though the recent protests in Myanmar have been lead by Buddhist monks, the real moral leader of the country once known as Burma is Aung San Suu Kyi, the most powerful individual in a country of nearly 50 million people.
At 62, she is hauntingly beautiful and elegant. Delicate, she weighs barely 100 pounds, and often wears a colorful flower in her hair. But despite her demure appearance, she is a woman of steely resolve who has devoted her life to the struggle for democracy in Myanmar at great personal expense.
It is her resolve and example that has inspired her sister and brother citizens in today's struggle. She is frequently called Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Daw is not part of her name, but an honorific similar to madam for older, revered women, literally meaning "aunt."
She is the daughter of Burma's most famous general who freed the country from British rule in 1947. Suu Kyi spent her childhood in Myanmar, but continued her education overseas in England, where she met and married college professor Dr. Michael Aris.
She and Aris had two sons together, and were living an idyllic life in Bhutan when she received word that her mother, back in Myanmar, had fallen ill. Suu Kyi decided to fly home temporarily to nurse her mother - but her plans quickly changed.
When Suu Kyi arrived in Myanmar in 1988, the streets were full of monks, students, and workers protesting the rise of the new military regime. During the protests, more than 3000 demonstrators were massacred on the orders of the brutal new government.
Once her duties to her mother had been fulfilled, Daw Suu Kyi made the painful decision to stay in Myanmar and take action against the junta that was destroying all the freedoms that her father had won for the people. For her, the choice was clear: "I could not, as my father's daughter, remain indifferent to all that was going on," she said in a speech.
"It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it."
She soon became the unlikely leader of a sweeping movement for change. She organized peaceful rallies and gave speeches that called for free elections, democratic reform, and human rights. In 1990, Queen Suu Kyi and her party won an overwhelming victory in the country's democratic elections. But she was arrested by the junta before she could assume her rightful post as Prime Minister. She is still, after 17 years, under detention.
For her devotion and strength, Suu Kyi was honored with the Freedom of Thought award in 1990. In 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship - making her the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient. She used the Nobel's $1.3 million prize money to create a health and education trust for the people of Myanmar.
Suu Kyi's conviction to her country has cost her dearly. She's lost not only her freedom, but her family as well. She is separated from her sons who live in England. And tragically, she never had the chance to say goodbye to her husband before his death in 1999.
Today, Queen Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest, but her spirits are as strong as ever. "I've always felt free because they have not been able to do anything to what really mattered," she told ABC News. "And once you're free inside, once you feel, 'I can accept something that happens to me as long as I am working for something right' ... then I think you are free."
May we take her courage to heart and be inspired to defend what is fair and right and good.
"The only real prison is fear, and the only real
freedom is freedom from fear."
|
|
Kudos to the Queens!
We extend hearty congratulations to the following members of the Queen's Court on their great achievements and happy occasions:
Janine Canan, CA (Journeys With Justine illustrated by Cristina Biaggi, NY; Goddesses, Goddesses; and Walk Now In Beauty: The Legend of Changing Woman) and Ruth Gendler, CA (Notes on the Need for Beauty) on the publication of their new books.
Cathy Valenza, ME on her new position as executive director of the Portland, Maine Arts & Cultural Alliance (PACA).
Margaret Walton, England on earning her Ph.D.
Nancy Azara, NY, Cristina Biaggi, NY, Darla Bjork, NY, Karen Fitsgerald, NY, Joyce Cutler Shaw, CA, Patricia Smith, NY, and Bé van der Heide, England on their art exhibitions.
Colleen Roth, NY on the birth of her grandson, Joseph G. Freehill.
|
|
|
|
|
