)%20(640%20%C3%97%20360%20-0002.png/:/cr=t:0%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:100%25/rs=h:500,cg:true)
Amanda Todd is a human-environmental geographer specializing in the intersections of cultures, the natural environment, and spiritual beliefs/practices. Her focus areas within academia include spiritual landscapes, sacred spaces, rituals, ceremonies, and the use of the labyrinth in Higher Education settings. She is a trained-Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitator and holds free labyrinth walks throughout the year in the coastal region of North and South Carolina.
- View Amanda’s Curriculum Vitae (CV)
Amanda earned her Doctorate (Ph.D.) in Geography from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where her research focused on religious and spiritual activities at prominent mountains and water bodies in the Southern Appalachian Mountain region. She has a Master of Arts (M.A.) in Geography from Appalachian State University where her thesis was selected as ASU’s entry for submission to the Council of Southern Graduate School’s Master’s Thesis Award in the Social Sciences. She received her Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Natural Resources with a concentration in Soils and Water Systems from North Carolina State University.
Amanda has traveled frequently to Hawai'i to expand her skills and knowledge with Hawaiian Hula Dance. Through this sacred art, she continues to explore the intersection of movement (Hawaiian Hula) with geography, history, spirituality, and the natural environment. She frequently presents talks and workshops on campus for special events with Hawaiian Hula. Amanda also weaves in Hawaiian beliefs, practices, and island geography into in her lectures and assignments in the Cultures & Environments class. She has been studying with two Kumu's of Hula in O'ahu since 2016. As the Redheaded Hula Girl, she teaches Hawaiian Hula workshops and classes outside of the university and leads a hula group that performs at Polynesian Festivals in the Carolinas.
More recently her research has taken her to Scotland and Northern England to explore the intersections of people, places, and the sacred. Her interest in this region lies in ancient sites such as cathedrals, abbeys, stone circles, and cairns with their geographic distribution and placement in the wider landscape. Amanda has also studied in Scotland, traditional and ancient Scottish wedding rituals. Learning the myths that are connected to landscape formations in Scotland also brings together the intersection of cultures, natural environments, spiritual beliefs, and rituals in the region.
Teaching
Amanda teaches both physical and cultural geography courses as a classically trained geographer. She designed and teaches in rotation, two specialty upper level courses. One course, Spiritual Landscapes, focuses on natural environments that are regarded as sacred. These natural formations include mountains, waterfalls, deserts, and rivers. In defining he sacred or spiritual aspect of landscapes, the course examines rituals and ceremonies as well as the numinous and cosmic experiences that have been documented. Another course called Sacred Spaces, Sacred Paths focuses on built structures used for religious or spiritual purposes and pilgrimages that include holy sites. In that course, students work together on an experiential project, designing and building a temporary labyrinth on campus.
With a focus on discussions and critical thinking for human-environment case studies, she encourages her students to explore their world through the lens of Spiritual Ecology. Through understanding religions and belief systems from different cultures, she inspires students to reflect on cross-cultural commonalities and differences in relationship with nature.
scholarly areas of study
SPIRITUAL LANDSCAPES
SACRED SPACES, Sacred paths
SACRED SPACES, Sacred paths
During her doctorate she focused on natural landscapes within the Southern Appalachian region and the spiritual experiences people were having within nature, particularly in public parks. Within her research she explored people’s experiences in nature through three lenses. These include the perception of beauty (aesthetic), group and individual rituals and ceremonies (cosmic), and awe and wonder through strong religious or spiritual personal experiences (numinous). You can read her dissertation here.
SACRED SPACES, Sacred paths
SACRED SPACES, Sacred paths
SACRED SPACES, Sacred paths
Today Amanda also explores experiences people have with intentionally constructed sacred spaces such as within labyrinths, stone circles, and temples. Amanda is a Veriditas trained Labyrinth facilitator and focuses on the use of labyrinths in Higher Education. In her Sacred Spaces, Sacred Paths course, students build a labyrinth to create a sacred space on campus for contemplative practices in teaching.
Myths, ritual, & magic
SACRED SPACES, Sacred paths
Myths, ritual, & magic
Over the past two decades, Amanda has spent time in person with her teachers from different cultures learning earth honoring rituals such as a water blessing ceremony from an Aymara healer and a despacho from a Peruvian paqo to honor a sacred mountain (apu). Amanda has also studied in Scotland, traditional wedding rituals.
Her academic and personal interests weave together in her work on sacred sites, cultural belief systems, rituals, symbolism, spiritual landscapes, alternative healing techniques, and indigenous healing practices. She's spent time in traditional classroom settings and in sacred spaces held by shamans, mystics, healers, diviners, and elders from around the world. She considers nature one of the biggest teachers of all - both in science and in spirituality and that both must be considered together as a whole.
In addition to her academic areas of teaching, she has been a Reiki Master/Teacher since 2008 and has taught meditation classes at yoga studios since. In 2009 she became an Ordained Interfaith Minister and recently completed a Funeral Celebrant and Death Midwifery training. Amanda believes lifelong learning, spiritual growth, and service are essential for professional, personal, and collective well-being and evolution.
Amanda lives along the East Coast of North Carolina and enjoys conversations on alternative Earth History and spiritual growth over a good Chai with friends. She grew up in a large city in the South but also spent a lot of her youth at her grandparent's farm in rural Southwest Virginia. Although she loves visiting Arizona, Hawai'i and Scotland, she loves living in the beautiful state of North Carolina and exploring the natural areas and wonders in her backyard.