Devon Spier
Devon Spier is an author and visual poet theologian (proemologian), who weaves and teaches others to weave poems, prose and theology through digital images.
Believing that Jewish life can be an elevated expression of democracy, she transmits a Judaism of heart in which people and their lives are embraced exactly as they are.
Devon has resourced nearly every mainstream movement, network and denomination of Judaism to explore the intersections of health, recovery, trauma and well-being.
She is the most published author on Ritualwell.org and her work has been consulted and published by the London School for Jewish Studies, the Reconstructing Judaism movement, Jewish Women’s Archives, Hevria and Jewcer: The Leading Crowdfunding Platform for Jewish Causes. Her Jewish rituals, poems and artistic programming have also been selected for use by Combined Jewish Philanthropies, The Ruderman Family Foundation, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Jewish Reconstructionist movement, NewCAJE, The Howard Grinspoon Foundation, The Jewish Artists’ Laboratory in Boston, the Orot Centre for New Jewish Learning in Chicago and most recently, the City Museum of New York, BAYIT, Ben Yehuda Press, Repair The World and AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps.
An advocate for encounter across differences in the global religious community, Devon has been honoured with peacebuilding awards from the YMCA and Interfaith Grand River as well the Outstanding Achievement Award for a Religious Studies Major and the Peter C. and Elisabeth Williams Memorial Scholarship in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Waterloo.
In 2018, she was selected as the first Canadian rabbinic student to participate in the T’ruah Rabbinic and Cantorial Summer Fellowship in Human Rights and was blessed to intern through the Women's Prison Association. She was also recognized by the Ontario Government as a recipient of the "Leading Women, Building Communities" award.
In 2019, Devon was selected as one of 25 global Jewish women to participate in the Wominyan leadership program. She currently works as a freelance 'Zoom' Poet-Ritualist, providing ritual support, guidance and spiritual care through video conferencing and a Reconstructing Judaism movement COVID-19 video series.
Devon is currently studying rabbinics at the Academy for Jewish Religion (New York).
"Heart Map and the Song of Our Ancestors" is Devon's first book of poetry and a bestseller.
Her second book, "Whatever it is, gently, Quiet Meditations for the Noise of the Pandemic" was just released for the High Holidays and is now available on Amazon.