"Connecting with
the Sacred Ground of the Present;
Tending the Creative Power of the Human Imagination"
Stefanie Etzbach-Dale
(Batya Dale)
Things are changing fast...
As an ordained Unitarian Universalist Minister,
an artist, and a trained Interfaith Spiritual Director with specialized training in Spiritual Psychology, I have been focusing for over 25 years on helping people identify and connect with the sacred and creative potential within each moment, so they can make meaningful choices as things shift.
My personal and professional approach is to be curious about and to affirm life's complexity, the unity sourcing all diversity, and our individual and collective ability and responsibility to create lives of meaning. My delight is in helping people connect with the spiritual courage, compassion, creativity, and joy
most needed to do just that.
When we feel "well-sourced" we can be more present, connecting with the gratitude and compassion
that inspires a desire to stay engaged with the world and bring our full selves to it. Jewish mystic tradition calls this "raising the sparks"!
*
This website offers a small glimpse into my background, interests, and approach.
"TendingSpirit" = "Nurturing Neshama"
As an artist and ritualist grounded in Jewish mystical teachings
I anticipate, celebrate, and attempt to embody through words and images and sounds the unique sparks of light and beauty woven into each of us and into this world. The goal is to be connected with our gifts, to claim them, and to use them for the greater good.
As a Spiritual Director, Chaplain, and Unitarian Universalist Minister
I help individuals listen deeply for the wisdom of their soul, focusing on sources of resilience, on the presence of creative potential and on the responsibility to engage with it. This process has been described recently as fostering "reflective decision-making": attentiveness to values, goals, commitments, resources, and possibilities, as a way to prioritize meaningful action.
*
Comments from clients:
Monthly SPIRITUAL DIRECTION sessions are offered via Zoom or
in person (Redwood City, CA) for individuals, couples, or small groups.
Please contact me at [email protected]
if you are interested in finding out about current or future availability or programs, if you are interested in setting up a free introductory Spiritual Direction session, or might want to commission a piece of art, have me lead worship/rites of passage/ritual, or design a retreat for your community.
You can also visit my FaceBook page "TendingSpirit" which offers original reflections and art, or ask to participate in the private FB community "Sacred Ground", where all are invited to support one another in sharing original photos of times and places of encounter with what is recognized as sacred.
A word about COHERENCE PARTNERS: Getting Your Ducks in a Row
A new new synergistic project, "Coherence Partners" is currently (2026) being launched in partnership with my spouse, George Dale. Coherence Partners addresses the fact that there is an over-abundance of information available today, having the effect of confusing decision-making processes for many people during a time when inaction is recognized as more detrimental than ever. Having a trusted person/team to help one think through personal challenges, goals, values, motivations, resources, and needs in a compassionate way can counter procrastination spirals and the accumulation of related stress.
The modality we have developed, expressed through the acronym DUCKS: Discernment, Understanding, Competence, Knowledge, Support draws on the training, skill, and experience we each have accumulated in our professional lives - is unique and distinct from therapy, coaching, spiritual direction or pastoral counseling.
Beta testing is scheduled for Fall/Winter 2026 (see Schedule page). Please reach out if you're interested in finding out more and scheduling a session.
As an ordained Unitarian Universalist Minister,
an artist, and a trained Interfaith Spiritual Director with specialized training in Spiritual Psychology, I have been focusing for over 25 years on helping people identify and connect with the sacred and creative potential within each moment, so they can make meaningful choices as things shift.
My personal and professional approach is to be curious about and to affirm life's complexity, the unity sourcing all diversity, and our individual and collective ability and responsibility to create lives of meaning. My delight is in helping people connect with the spiritual courage, compassion, creativity, and joy
most needed to do just that.
When we feel "well-sourced" we can be more present, connecting with the gratitude and compassion
that inspires a desire to stay engaged with the world and bring our full selves to it. Jewish mystic tradition calls this "raising the sparks"!
*
This website offers a small glimpse into my background, interests, and approach.
"TendingSpirit" = "Nurturing Neshama"
As an artist and ritualist grounded in Jewish mystical teachings
I anticipate, celebrate, and attempt to embody through words and images and sounds the unique sparks of light and beauty woven into each of us and into this world. The goal is to be connected with our gifts, to claim them, and to use them for the greater good.
As a Spiritual Director, Chaplain, and Unitarian Universalist Minister
I help individuals listen deeply for the wisdom of their soul, focusing on sources of resilience, on the presence of creative potential and on the responsibility to engage with it. This process has been described recently as fostering "reflective decision-making": attentiveness to values, goals, commitments, resources, and possibilities, as a way to prioritize meaningful action.
*
Comments from clients:
- "Your compassionate presence to what's been in my heart and on mind has helped bring the clarity I needed to get unstuck, and get moving in the direction I've been circling around for years."
- The journal prompts you provided helped me reframe my experiences in exactly the ways I needed."
- "I thought I was grappling with grief, pure and simple - but came to realize through our sessions that nothing about grief is "simple". Now I have a much better of sense of how to live in the present and how to weave a new life around the losses that brought me to grief."
- "How lucky I am to have stumbled upon your rich ministry of wisdom!'
- "I'm struck by how often you've offered a 'third way' in situations that feel intractable and black and white."
- "Every month my sessions with you coax and guide me on my path to Light with the most clarity I have found."
- "My faith in the divine spirit that energizes us all is regularly confirmed."
- "You've brought me back, over and over, to the still, small voice of compassion and heartfulness when reactivity and habit would lead me down a path of disconnection or hopelessness."
- "Your work is about the present and in your expansive, attentive presence, it really does feel like a present."
- "I show up with all sorts of questions and find new possibilities opening up with every question you ask me!"
- "Huge gratitude for touching my spirit and supporting who I am beneath all the doings."
Monthly SPIRITUAL DIRECTION sessions are offered via Zoom or
in person (Redwood City, CA) for individuals, couples, or small groups.
Please contact me at [email protected]
if you are interested in finding out about current or future availability or programs, if you are interested in setting up a free introductory Spiritual Direction session, or might want to commission a piece of art, have me lead worship/rites of passage/ritual, or design a retreat for your community.
You can also visit my FaceBook page "TendingSpirit" which offers original reflections and art, or ask to participate in the private FB community "Sacred Ground", where all are invited to support one another in sharing original photos of times and places of encounter with what is recognized as sacred.
A word about COHERENCE PARTNERS: Getting Your Ducks in a Row
A new new synergistic project, "Coherence Partners" is currently (2026) being launched in partnership with my spouse, George Dale. Coherence Partners addresses the fact that there is an over-abundance of information available today, having the effect of confusing decision-making processes for many people during a time when inaction is recognized as more detrimental than ever. Having a trusted person/team to help one think through personal challenges, goals, values, motivations, resources, and needs in a compassionate way can counter procrastination spirals and the accumulation of related stress.
The modality we have developed, expressed through the acronym DUCKS: Discernment, Understanding, Competence, Knowledge, Support draws on the training, skill, and experience we each have accumulated in our professional lives - is unique and distinct from therapy, coaching, spiritual direction or pastoral counseling.
Beta testing is scheduled for Fall/Winter 2026 (see Schedule page). Please reach out if you're interested in finding out more and scheduling a session.