About Roberta

ABOUT ROBERTA

Her Journey that Led to the Creation of Women of Wisdom

Roberta has journeyed through her life seeking answers to the mysteries in the effort to explain herself to herself, she created “Women of Wisdom” (W.O.W.). Having read far too much Nancy Drew as a young girl, Roberta is an intrepid Traveller in her search for LA MADONNA NERA. So far, she has found the Black Madonna in Spain, France and Italy.j

Being an educator (e-ducare, derived in Latin from “to lead out of “) she is currently taking her work out into the world. Recently, Roberta spent five years in the underworld – in modern day psychological vernacular, depression. It is from this journey, Roberta facilitates women in retrieving parts of themselves in the underworld by traveling deep within to develop a relationship with that dark goddess who resides in each woman’s shadow.

Roberta is a huge fan of the divine feminine. Noticing that every school she ever attended was named for Mary (i.e.. St. Mary’s Academy High School, College of Notre Dame, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, College of William and Mary, Marion Home for Prayer), she has always had a special devotion to the divine feminine. After all is said and done, Roberta hails from Mary’s Land!

After encountering the Black Madonna in the south of France, Barcelona, Spain, and Loreto, Italy, Roberta descended through Inanna’s seven gates of hell into a deep and profound depression. She emerged in 2016 and is literally learning to walk again after experiencing a major hemorrhagic stroke which left her hemiplegic. Because she recovering feeling on the right side of her body, and her right foot and calf remain numb, every step she takes is a step of faith into the mystery. Roberta attributes her miraculous recovery to grace of The Madonna NERA, 27 years of training in yoga Asana & and an ancestral heritage of a strong will and courage inherited from her Italian immigrant grandparents.
Hi gratitude to our Lady, Queen of Heaven and Earth.

In 1991, Roberta “went over the waterfall” on a bike, hitting the back of her left shoulder. The impact was so severe that her left clavicle broke. Within three months, she developed sciatica so severe that she could not depress the clutch of her VW Bug. Not happy at the prospect of back surgery, yoga and chiropractic were the options she chose. In five years, she dropped the chiropractic, and continued her study of yoga for 25 years.

According to her natural inclination to serve, to wit her professional career of 37 years as an educational counselor, Roberta became a yoga teacher in 1998. She trained under Betsy Downing and Doug Keller at Health Advantage Yoga Center in Herndon, Virginia. Roberta was blessed to have trained with yoga masters such as Seane Corn, Rodney Yee, John Friend and Rod Stryker, Sharon Gannon. She began her yoga teaching career in 1998 teaching yoga through Calvert Memorial Hospital’s KEEP WELL PROGRAM from 1998 through 2002. In 2002, she opened the doors of Chesapeake Yoga Center in Solomon’s, MD the premier yoga studio in Southern Maryland.

During same period of time, Roberta graduated from Dr. Abbas Qutab’s Ayurvedic Training in Cambridge, MA as a D. Ay. (Diplomat in Ayurveda, recognized by the World Health Organization).

In 2000, she began her studies at the Wisearth Monastery with Swamini Mayatitananda, a.k.a.  Maya Tiwari, her teacher of Ayurveda and her Guru.  

Now her teacher is her body in recovery, as she travels to sacred Sanctuaries throughout France seeking the Madonna Nera and in her new domicile, LECCE, Italy.

Training and Accomplishments

Degrees and Certifications

• St. Mary’s College of Maryland, B.S. in Biological Science
• The college of William and Mary, M.Ed. In Counseling
• Marion Home for Prayer in Washington, D.C., graduate certificate in Clinical and Pastoral Counseling
• World Health Organization, diploma in Ayurveda
• Certificate in Ayurveda from World Health Organization 
• Student of Maya Tiwari, studied Ayurveda at the Wise Earth Monastery for five years
• Yoga teaching certificate, Health Advantage Yoga Studio, with Betsy Downing and Doug Keller
• Yoga Alliance, registered yoga teacher -500 hours
• Student of the tarot under Mary K. Greer and Rachel Pollack
• Studied with Andrew Steed, modern-day Celtic shaman
• Continues to study “Creation Spirituality” with Mathew Fox, Episcopal priest, former Roman Catholic priest

Accomplishments

• Counselor and teacher in Public Education
• Founder and owner of former Chesapeake Yoga Center
• Workshop leader: Ayurveda
• Author, “Journey to the Self – a Jungian Primer for Tarot” (yet to be published)
• Author, “The Hand of the Divine Feminine in the American Revolution” (yet to be published)
• Facilitator of woman’s circles
• Currently developing and teaching yoga program at Atria Manresa in Annapolis, MD

ROBERTA’S AMAZING GRANDCHILDREN

“MY GREATEST SOURCE OF JOY AND INSPIRATION!”

MEET ANNA, NIALL, ESME AND RYAN!