Bio Overview
My legal and professional name is Stefanie Etzbach-Dale and I am founder of TendingSpirit (though I now most often go by "Batya Dale")
I have over thirty years of experience leading support groups, retreats, and rituals, doing public speaking, making art, and companioning individuals through private pastoral counseling, mentoring, chaplaincy, and coaching sessions.
An ordained Interfaith and Unitarian Universalist minister with specialized training in spiritual psychology, drawing largely form Jewish and Earth-Centered sources, I am deeply committed both to “the sacred ground of the present and to the creative power of the human imagination.”
I received Final Fellowship from the Unitarian Universalist Minister's Association in 2008, have been affiliated with the UU Congregation of Palo Alto as Community Minister since 2018. In 2020 I joined the UU Retired Ministers and Partners Association in order to devote more of my time to Spiritual Direction, personal study, community activism, and creative endeavors.
As member in good standing of the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Spiritual Directors International, and the Peninsula Solidarity Cohort, I am currently (since May 2022) serving the UU Congregation of San Mateo as Interim Pastoral Care Minister, co-leading the Reproductive Justice Team of the Peninsula Solidarity Cohort, and am serving as volunteer facilitator for Tikvah - a subgroup of Congregation Beth Jacob. The Tikva Team is dedicated to raising awareness of the presence and gifts of diversity and empowering open, engaged, productive dialogue.
Both my professional and personal approach is "pastoral and prophetic": focused on a deep reverence for life, the complexity of human experience, and the possibility of personal and societal transformation. As an artist, a mystic, and a student of the esoteric, I weave holy curiosity, expressive arts, and energy work into all that I do. I bring both reverence and humor, honoring the deeply personal work of creating a life of empowered, courageous compassionate and joyful integrity.
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Originally from Queens, New York, I am a member of Congregation Beth Jacob (where I am known as Batya Dale). I now live on unceded Ohlone land in Redwood City, CA with my beloved, George, our cats: Malka and Shlomo, our dogs: Latke and Sufi, and our four chickens: Hedwig, Yolanda, Beatrix, Harriet. It is a joy to put down roots in this part of the country, to have friends and extended family living nearby, and to contribute to our communities in the ways that we can. I am an active member of Congregation Beth Jacob and the Peninsula Multifaith Cohort.
My beloved, George, and I are lovingly renovating a nearby piece of land in the Santa Cruz mountains, situated under redwood trees, overlooking Half Moon Bay. The property, named The Treehouse, includes a ceremonial circle, an art studio, and multiple outdoor spaces for small retreats, workshops, and rituals.
Email: TendingSpirit@gmail.com
Visual Arts History: I spent over 20 years weaving together words, music, and ritual as an ordained minister. My vision deteriorated significantly after I was infected with Lyme disease in 2015, necessitating early retirement. As my health improved and vision returned, I took up painting as a way to celebrate the gift of sight. As a way to inspire neighbors during Covid 2020 I started displaying my paintings on the fence around my home. In September 2022 I displayed/sold my paintings for the first time as a Resident Artist at the Kings Mountain Art Fair in Woodside, CA - and learned that displaying/painting is not what I feel called to.
I consider painting “a form of prayer, a way to transcend the limitations of time and space, and to connect deeply with the sacred ground of the present.” Most recently I have delighted in collecting soil from distant beloved places, grinding and mixing it with linseed oil, and using that to paint those very places; and painting lightly over gold/glitter in order to convey the sacred sparks woven through creation. I have also been combining scripture study with the arts through my monthly "Beyond Words" sessions, offered at Congregational Beth Jacob.
On occasion I may gift or sell my paintings. Let me know if you'd like to know more about that.
Unitarian Universalist Ministry:
I was ordained as an Interfaith Minister in 2000; received my M.Div through Meadville Lombard Theological School (Chicago, ILL); was ordained as a Unitarian Universalist Minister by the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica, CA in 2005; and was granted Final Fellowship by the UUA in 2008.
In 2018 I completed the Interfaith Chaplaincy Institute's programs for Spiritual Direction and Spiritual Psychology. In 2019 I completed my 4th unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at Sequoia Hospital (previous units were at NYU and UCLA). In 2020, just before lockdown, I completed a Supervisor's Training program through Spiritual Directors International.
I am affiliated with the UU of Palo Alto and am currently serving the UU of San Mateo (as of May 2022) as contracted Pastoral Care Minister. I served the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Redwood City as settled minister from 2014-2017. Prior to that I served various congregations in the Pacific Southwest District (including the UU Church of Santa Clarita Valley, the UU Fellowship of Kern County, the UU Fellowship of Laguna Beach, the UU Church of Verdugo Hills, the Sepuleda UU Society, Monte Vista UU Church, the UU Community Church of Santa Monica, First UU Church Los Angeles and others). While in the Pacific Southwest District I served as Unitarian Universalist Minister’s Association Vice President, Good Officer, and Retreat Planner. I was cofounder of the Pacific Southwest District Addictions and Recovery Ministry Team and active in the San Fernando Valley Cluster.
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This website provides a small glimpse into my background and my approach to fostering resilience through attentiveness to the sacred amidst the mundane, and through consciously developing spiritual courage, compassion, creativity, and joy.
Please contact me at TendingSpirit@gmail.com if you feel drawn to working with me as your Spiritual Director, are interested in having me speak, lead worship, ritual or a retreat for your community, or if you're interested in my art work.
You can also follow my FaceBook page TendingSpirit, which offers original reflections and memes.
I have over thirty years of experience leading support groups, retreats, and rituals, doing public speaking, making art, and companioning individuals through private pastoral counseling, mentoring, chaplaincy, and coaching sessions.
An ordained Interfaith and Unitarian Universalist minister with specialized training in spiritual psychology, drawing largely form Jewish and Earth-Centered sources, I am deeply committed both to “the sacred ground of the present and to the creative power of the human imagination.”
I received Final Fellowship from the Unitarian Universalist Minister's Association in 2008, have been affiliated with the UU Congregation of Palo Alto as Community Minister since 2018. In 2020 I joined the UU Retired Ministers and Partners Association in order to devote more of my time to Spiritual Direction, personal study, community activism, and creative endeavors.
As member in good standing of the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Spiritual Directors International, and the Peninsula Solidarity Cohort, I am currently (since May 2022) serving the UU Congregation of San Mateo as Interim Pastoral Care Minister, co-leading the Reproductive Justice Team of the Peninsula Solidarity Cohort, and am serving as volunteer facilitator for Tikvah - a subgroup of Congregation Beth Jacob. The Tikva Team is dedicated to raising awareness of the presence and gifts of diversity and empowering open, engaged, productive dialogue.
Both my professional and personal approach is "pastoral and prophetic": focused on a deep reverence for life, the complexity of human experience, and the possibility of personal and societal transformation. As an artist, a mystic, and a student of the esoteric, I weave holy curiosity, expressive arts, and energy work into all that I do. I bring both reverence and humor, honoring the deeply personal work of creating a life of empowered, courageous compassionate and joyful integrity.
*
Originally from Queens, New York, I am a member of Congregation Beth Jacob (where I am known as Batya Dale). I now live on unceded Ohlone land in Redwood City, CA with my beloved, George, our cats: Malka and Shlomo, our dogs: Latke and Sufi, and our four chickens: Hedwig, Yolanda, Beatrix, Harriet. It is a joy to put down roots in this part of the country, to have friends and extended family living nearby, and to contribute to our communities in the ways that we can. I am an active member of Congregation Beth Jacob and the Peninsula Multifaith Cohort.
My beloved, George, and I are lovingly renovating a nearby piece of land in the Santa Cruz mountains, situated under redwood trees, overlooking Half Moon Bay. The property, named The Treehouse, includes a ceremonial circle, an art studio, and multiple outdoor spaces for small retreats, workshops, and rituals.
Email: TendingSpirit@gmail.com
Visual Arts History: I spent over 20 years weaving together words, music, and ritual as an ordained minister. My vision deteriorated significantly after I was infected with Lyme disease in 2015, necessitating early retirement. As my health improved and vision returned, I took up painting as a way to celebrate the gift of sight. As a way to inspire neighbors during Covid 2020 I started displaying my paintings on the fence around my home. In September 2022 I displayed/sold my paintings for the first time as a Resident Artist at the Kings Mountain Art Fair in Woodside, CA - and learned that displaying/painting is not what I feel called to.
I consider painting “a form of prayer, a way to transcend the limitations of time and space, and to connect deeply with the sacred ground of the present.” Most recently I have delighted in collecting soil from distant beloved places, grinding and mixing it with linseed oil, and using that to paint those very places; and painting lightly over gold/glitter in order to convey the sacred sparks woven through creation. I have also been combining scripture study with the arts through my monthly "Beyond Words" sessions, offered at Congregational Beth Jacob.
On occasion I may gift or sell my paintings. Let me know if you'd like to know more about that.
Unitarian Universalist Ministry:
I was ordained as an Interfaith Minister in 2000; received my M.Div through Meadville Lombard Theological School (Chicago, ILL); was ordained as a Unitarian Universalist Minister by the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica, CA in 2005; and was granted Final Fellowship by the UUA in 2008.
In 2018 I completed the Interfaith Chaplaincy Institute's programs for Spiritual Direction and Spiritual Psychology. In 2019 I completed my 4th unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at Sequoia Hospital (previous units were at NYU and UCLA). In 2020, just before lockdown, I completed a Supervisor's Training program through Spiritual Directors International.
I am affiliated with the UU of Palo Alto and am currently serving the UU of San Mateo (as of May 2022) as contracted Pastoral Care Minister. I served the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Redwood City as settled minister from 2014-2017. Prior to that I served various congregations in the Pacific Southwest District (including the UU Church of Santa Clarita Valley, the UU Fellowship of Kern County, the UU Fellowship of Laguna Beach, the UU Church of Verdugo Hills, the Sepuleda UU Society, Monte Vista UU Church, the UU Community Church of Santa Monica, First UU Church Los Angeles and others). While in the Pacific Southwest District I served as Unitarian Universalist Minister’s Association Vice President, Good Officer, and Retreat Planner. I was cofounder of the Pacific Southwest District Addictions and Recovery Ministry Team and active in the San Fernando Valley Cluster.
*
This website provides a small glimpse into my background and my approach to fostering resilience through attentiveness to the sacred amidst the mundane, and through consciously developing spiritual courage, compassion, creativity, and joy.
Please contact me at TendingSpirit@gmail.com if you feel drawn to working with me as your Spiritual Director, are interested in having me speak, lead worship, ritual or a retreat for your community, or if you're interested in my art work.
You can also follow my FaceBook page TendingSpirit, which offers original reflections and memes.
