Bible "Detox": Reading Acts 16:16-24 with Shamanic Practitioners

March 14, 2026, 1:00pm Eastern Time

Reckoning with and resisting the misuse of the Bible to promote and justify violence and oppression.

When we think of Acts 16, we usually think of the iconic moment when Paul and Silas’s singing brings the prison walls down. We usually ignore the prelude to this moment, in which an unnamed “slave girl” with psychic abilities draws attention to Paul and his entourage by proclaiming the truth about them. In this teaching, Dr. Katy E. Valentine will look at this fascinating character not as someone in need of an exorcism, but as a woman who stands in the company of shamans. Katy will guide us through contemporary research about shamanism as well as her own experience as a Shamanic Practitioner to unpack what might have been going on with this mysterious fortune-teller. While this story has been used to demonize the magically inclined, maybe it does just the opposite and shows how intuitive gifts are indeed holy. We will consider how patriarchy can disrupt shamanic spiritual power but never shut it down completely – and what this might mean for us today.

Image: “Fortune-Telling Slave Girl” by Claire Elam

Please Note! Registration closes one half hour prior to the start of the event.

Speaker Bio

Katy E. Valentine is a New Testament Scholar, an ordained minister and creator of Soul Forge Coaching. She is also a Shamanic Practitioner who infuses her scholarship and work with shamanic principles and ideals. She completed her shamanic training with Irish School of Shamanic Studies (Castlebar, Ireland) and is currently furthering her studies with Slí an Chroí. Katy has several upcoming publications around shamanism and the Bible, and she is especially interested at the intersection of gender, gender identity, and shamanism. Previous publications include as co-editor of Trans Biblical: New Approaches to Interpretation & Embodiment in Scripture (2025), You Were Bought with a Price: Sex, Slavery, and Self-Control in a Pauline Community (2017), as well as numerous articles. She is excited to bring together the beneficial practices of shamanism with Scripture — let’s detox together.