Shirley Ranck
Past UUW&R Co-Convener Rev. Dr. Shirley Ranck (1930-2023) was a Crone of wisdom and power who has touched the lives of many women through her writing and teaching. She brought both personal and professional insight to her work. Trained in education, psychology and ministry, she drew upon all these disciplines as well as her various personal lives as wife, mother, and single parent to create the female spiritual journey contained in the feminist thealogy curriculum and book, Cakes for the Queen of Heaven.
While working full time and birthing and raising two daughters and two sons, Shirley managed to earn her Master’s degree in religious education from Drew University, an M.A. in clinical psychology from City College of New York, a Ph.D. in urban school psychology from Fordham University, and her Master of Divinity from Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley. She has been an educator and a licensed psychologist in California as well as an ordained minister in the Unitarian Universalist Association. She has worked in hospitals, clinics and a county jail for women as well as in private practice.
Rev. Dr. Ranck served as minister in several Unitarian Universalist congregations including Cincinnati Ohio, Mobile Alabama, San Rafael California, Kennebunk Maine, Olympia Washington, Vancouver BC, and Reno Nevada. Most recently the Interim Minister at the UU Congregation of Flint Michigan, she retired and lived in California for a while before joining family back in Michigan.
Shirley was the featured Keynote Speaker at Central Midwest District W&R’s WomanSpirit Feb. 2008 and gave the sermon that preceded the book, also titled The Grandmother Galaxy.
At right: Rev. Dr. Ranck with Elizabeth Carefoot’s artwork “Gaia”
Cakes for the Queen of Heaven, by Shirley Ranck, provides in book format the powerful lessons of the life-transforming curriculum by the same author. The book version, first published in the 90s, makes this material accessible for women today. It can be used by individuals or small groups to explore key issues women still struggle with today. LOOK INSIDE THE BOOK!
The Grandmother Galaxy is one woman’s journey into three spirals of learning that have emerged and confront us in the 21st century--women’s creative spirituality, a growing appreciation of our earthly home, and a deepening respect for the varied cultures created by human beings. In each of these spirals the image of a fierce and powerful old woman arises as central to our journey. The study guide for the book is online at www.grandmothergalaxy.org
Fact, Working Hypothesis, or Feminist Myth?
This is a compilation of panel presentations given at General Assembly 1992, edited by Dorothy Emerson. The panel and the publication were sponsored by the Feminism Section of Collegium, Association for Liberal Religious Studies, as part of its "Edge of the Wave" series, coordinated by Betty Hoskins. The 40 page booklet, in part a discussion of issues raised by Cakes for the Queen of Heaven, includes contributions by Carol Graywing, Shirley Ranck, Carol Hepokoski, Holly Horn, Christa Heiden Landon, Elizabeth Fisher, and Betty Hoskins.
The classic women's circle study course!
by Rev. Shirley Ann Ranck, PhD
The resources (not the Facilitators Guides) from both volumes are now available to download! Log-in information is included in the package when you buy the curriculum. If you have already purchased the set and would like access to the files, please email store@uuwr.org.
IN ANCIENT TIMES: This five-session Volume I of the popular adult religious education curriculum includes an introductory section featuring author Shirley's Ranck's "Statement of Feminist Thealogy," Elinor Artman's "Brief Herstory of Cakes," and Nancy Vedder-Shults, "Baking Cakes for the Queen of Heaven."
