Chiara Orlandini

Chiara Orlandini is a publisher in Rome who was born in the Veneto (Venice/Verona) region of Italy. She founded the independent publishing house Venexia Editrice in 2000. Her commitment in publishing is to explore the esoteric and to research the “Elsewhere.”1 She is passionate about female spirituality and has a personal commitment to her relationship with the Mother of God. That is what  led her to write a book series, Le Civette di Venexia, which is “not only about women but…involves everyone’s life: birth, death, the drum, the heartbeat…of a shamanism, of a living and present spirituality.”2 I love this quote from her that “the search for beauty, whether in content or form, is always something that gives great satisfaction and pleasure.”3 

I have been so inspired by Chiara and many others on this Portraits in Faith journey who feel a devotion and connection to the Divine Feminine. I believe it is the most transformative energetic shift we need in this world today. In Judaism we have the Shechinah, the feminine presence of God, usually depicted as having caring wings under which her people are protected. Christianity has both Mother Mary and Mary Magdalene as central feminine figures. Hinduism has Shakti, the Creative Lifeforce, and Buddhism has Kuan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion. These are all powerful role models for my own practice of compassion. But I am reminded by the great teacher and good friend, Mirabai Starr, that the Divine Feminine is also the forceful energy of disrupting old patterns. I am grateful to have met Chiara Orlandini many years ago, and I honor her work in publishing the voices that people from all walks of life need to hear.