Murshida Rani McLaughlin
Senior Teacher, Northwest Region
Biography
Rani Kathleen McLaughlin is a Murshida in the International Sufi Movement and is the President and Spiritual Director of the Sufi Movement in Oregon and Washington. She has taught classes, led meditations, and given individual guidance since 1992 in Portland, Eugene, the Tri-CIties and Seattle. Also, she has given lectures at the Universelle of the International Sufi Movement in Katjwik, Holland and published articles in the international Sufi journal Toward the One, including “The Veil of Beauty” and “The Shadow of the Beloved”.
It has been her privilege to be involved with the Federation of the Sufi Message for ten years and to participate in the Reconciliation meetings between the International Sufi Movement and the Sufi Order International, contributing to the actualization of the Unity of Religious Ideals.
Murshida Rani has a Master of Theology degree from Harvard Divinity School (1969) and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the California Institute of Integral Studies (1977). She taught as an Associate Professor of World Religions at Lewis and Clark College from 1970 to 1987.
During her academic career she published articles in journals in England, America, and India on subjects that included Jungian depth psychology, meditation, mythology, Goddess symbols, and Buddhist psychology. She has also trained extensively in Eastern meditation traditions, especially Vedantic (Hindu) and Vipassana (Theravadin Buddhist) in India, Myanmar, and the US. Her exploration of, and experience in, these and other psychological and spiritual practices led her to join the path of Universal Sufism.
After leaving her academic career, Murshida Rani earned a Master of Social Work degree at Portland State University (1990), and has been in private practice in Portland, Oregon. She is also a certified psychoanalyst (Oregon Psychoanalytic Center, 2005).
For access to more information about Murshida Rani, visit the Northwest regional site at http://www.nwsufimovement.org.
