International Network for the Study of Spirituality
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Spirituality and the Arts Special Interest Group (SASIG)
Chairs: Dr Lila Moore PhD, Mary-Rita McGuire MSc, Esmira Yusufova, MSN, PhD candidate
| In recent years there has been growing interest in the intersection of the arts and spirituality. This special interest group meets to discuss this intersection in a variety of forms and mediums such as visual art, music, film, dance, digital, interactive, poetry, time-based and performative art forms. This includes the personal, social and cultural, encompassing both the religious and the spiritual-but-not-religious (SBNR) context. |
About the SASIG
The purpose of the group is to explore a variety of relationships between the arts and spirituality, such as:
- The arts as a spiritual practice
- Spirituality as creative practice
- Altered States of Consciousness (ASC) caused by an encounter with the arts
- The arts and the transformation of consciousness
- The arts, Spirituality and Social Change
Our approach aims to be interdisciplinary, so we explore the juncture of the arts and spirituality through the lenses of consciousness studies, spirituality studies, religious studies, theology, psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, sociology, health/wellbeing, philosophy, art, aesthetics and literary theories, musicology; and through the lenses of different agents: artists, curators, therapists, academics and independent scholars, general public, popular initiatives, etc.
The Aims of the SASIG are to:
- Explore and encourage the development of conceptual criteria to detect and discuss the spiritual qualities in the arts
- Encourage more scholarly research on the relationship between the arts and spirituality
- Explore and encourage the discourse of the spiritual in both public and private spheres of the arts
- Explore and encourage the establishment of conceptual means and language that would be useful to artists who are interested in incorporating aspects of spirituality in their artworks and their practices
To become involved in the SASIG, please register for our next event.
All SIG meetings are free for INSS members. Non-members are welcome to attend for free or for a small donation.
INSS membership includes online access to the Journal for the Study of Spirituality, access the INSS-members-only SASIG page containing profiles of other attendees (if shared), and free access to all other INSS SIG events.
Our email address is mailto:sasig@spiritualitystudiesnetwork.org
Recordings of presentations and provocations (16/03/22–28/10/25) are available on this YouTube channel. Youtube channel
SASIG Co-Chairs’ Biographies
Dr Lila Moore PhD
Dr Lila Moore is a screen dance pioneer and technoetic artist-filmmaker working across film, digital art, and choreographed screen-based forms. She holds the first practice-based PhD in Dance on Screen worldwide (Middlesex University, 2001), alongside an MA in Film and an MPhil from Central Saint Martins.
Her postdoctoral research at the Planetary Collegium (2 015), chaired by Roy Ascott, led to the development of Cybernetic Futures and a body of digital artworks conceived as participatory fields of consciousness. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at SIGGRAPH, Ars Electronica, IMZ Cologne, and Dance on Camera Festival.
Her academic publications have appeared in leading journals and publications including Technoetic Arts, Cybernetics and Human Knowing, the Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of New Media Art, EVA-Computer Arts Society, the Journal of Religion and Film, Journal of Religions, the Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, and S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies. She has also presented papers at international conferences such as Consciousness Reframed, DETAO Academy Shanghai, and EVA London.
Dr Moore is a lecturer and dissertation supervisor at Alef Trust, teaching Transpersonal Psychology and Spirituality and the Imaginal. She previously lectured in the Department for the Study of Mysticism and Spirituality at Zefat Academic College (2013–2022), where she received the Outstanding Lecturer Award (2022). She is also a UK-certified professional life coach and counsellor working with Jungian, embodied, and technoetic transpersonal approaches.
Dr Moore is the founder of The Cybernetic Futures Institute (CFI), a platform exploring technoetic arts with an emphasis on the spiritual and occult in art, film, screen dance, and networked digital forms. Developed from her postdoctoral research, it advances concepts such as Networked Rites, Noetic Fields Weaving, and the Quest for Morphic Fields of Compassion, positioning artworks as participatory and responsive fields of consciousness.
https://www.aleftrust.org/about/team/lila-moore/
Mary-Rita McGuire, MSc
Mary-Rita is, at heart, a Storyteller devoted to bringing Sacred Stories back to the streets. A Creative Depth Coach and Transpersonal Guide, she holds an MSc in Consciousness, Spirituality and Transpersonal Psychology, alongside a rich background in performing arts and theatre education. Her work weaves ancient and esoteric wisdom with creative practice, embodied ritual and depth psychology, offering soulful support to individuals and communities navigating times of transition.
She is the creator of MYSTERYM, a unique rite-of-passage journey designed to help people consciously explore and re-author their lives during thresholds of change. Rooted in myth, spirituality, nature and imagination, her work invites participants to walk the spiral path of remembering, awakening inner guidance, reclaiming lost or forgotten parts of the self, and reigniting the sacred fire within.
Mary-Rita is deeply devoted to holding spaces where creativity, psychology and the sacred meet. Through retreats, workshops and one-to-one work, she offers a grounded, compassionate presence that supports a return to wholeness and invites the sacred back into daily life where it belongs.
Esmira Yusufova MSN, RN, CNE, CHSE, AHN-BC, NE-BC
Esmira Yusufova is a nurse educator, simulation specialist, and holistic practitioner whose work bridges healthcare, spirituality, and the creative arts. She serves as a lecturer at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in New York, where she integrates innovative and arts-based methodologies such as Neurographica, metaphoric associative cards, and reflective practices, into nursing education to cultivate empathy, self-awareness, and humanistic care.
Esmira is actively engaged in advancing simulation-based education through her leadership roles within the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH), Chair of the Mindfulness Affinity Group, and the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL), where she leads initiatives focused on mindfulness and virtual simulation. Her work emphasizes creativity and the integration of the inner experience into clinical training.
Her scholarly and creative interests center on spirituality in healthcare, particularly with immersive technologies such as virtual reality to teach spiritual care. As a PhD candidate in nursing, a holistic nurse certified by the American Holistic Nurses Association, and Reiki Practitioner, she explores how artistic expression and contemplative practices can support healing, resilience, and transformation for both learners and practitioners.
Through her teaching, research, and leadership, she is committed to expanding the role of creativity and spirituality in healthcare education and practice.
Acknowledgement
Grateful thanks are due to Annalisa Burello MSc and Rev. Prof. June Boyce-Tillman MBE for their role as Co-Chairs with Dr Lila Moore PhD from the inauguration of the SASIG in March 2022 until February 2026. Their combined vision and leadership, with each member of the group contributing unique expertise from her own field as well as enthusiasm, creativity and a great deal of time and sustained effort, has established the SASIG as a vibrant and innovative meeting place within INSS.
The interdisciplinary nature of the SASIG and the many presentations and conversations that take place within it will continue to contribute to the development and understanding of spirituality and the arts under Lila's ongoing leadership; and we are delighted to note that Annalisa and June will remain active members of the INSS community.
The INSS Executive Team
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