About Cheptu

Grace Cheptu, affectionately called “Cheptu”) is a spiritual guide and practitioner who utilizes Archetypal Dreamwork as a form of inner direction and “healing theatre” for the soul. An intuitive and empathic healer, Cheptu was drawn to dream work from the fields of Music Education and Music Therapy in which she practiced more than three decades. While serving developmentally disabled children and adults under psychiatric care, Cheptu began to discover the gift of connecting with and assisting others through their stories, fears, hopes and dreams. She went on to obtain her Master of Divinity in Pastoral Care, Certificate programs for Clinical Pastoral Education and Spiritual Guidance; yet, nothing made more profound impact than her personal journey through dreamwork.

Cheptu passionately believes in the Divine imprint we all carry that is always nudging us towards greater self-discovery, individuation, and capacities far beyond what the ego alone can know or experience. She imagines herself as a dreamwork “doula” who builds and holds safe and sacred space, provides guidance, emotional and informational support as her clients explore the territory of their dreams and work through their quagmires, and act upon what is revealed so that they may have a more balanced perspective of self and live more authentically, more fully, more alive.

A daughter of the Gullah South Carolina Lowcountry, a world traveler and perpetual student, Cheptu shares her experiential learning and indigenous wisdom from the many cultures that have generously enriched her life. Cheptu also enjoys perennial gardening, spending time with her adult son, and writing music inspired by her dreams. Cheptu is available for conferences, one-to-one spiritual partnering, workshops, retreats and small group classes.

CURRENT ACTIVITIES:

Archetypal Dreamwork Practitioner and Spiritual Guide (one-to-one partnering and small groups)

Musician and Songwriter, Independent Music Teacher (Piano, Voice, Choral and Musical Theater)

Workshop and Retreat Leader

CERTIFICATES AND CONTINUING EDUCATION:

Archetypal Dreamwork Analyst Training, North of Eden Center for Archetypal Dreamwork, Vermont and New Mexico

Spiritual Guidance Certificate, The Rowe Center, Rowe, Massachusetts

Music Therapist-Board Certified

Minister of Word and Sacrament, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.

Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Residency, NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center and Cornell School of Medicine, New York, NY

CPE, Pastoral Counseling Center of Georgia at Atlanta Medical Center, Atlanta, Georgia

Reiki Training, Level I

FORMAL EDUCATION:

Music Education/Piano, Winthrop College, Rock Hill, South Carolina

Bachelor of Music, Music Therapy/Voice, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia

Master of Music, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia

Master of Divinity with Honors, Psychology of Religion and Pastoral Care, Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta, Georgia

Doctoral Studies, Wisdom Studies and Indigenous Mind, Wisdom University, San Francisco, California

PAST POSITIONS (selected):

Music Educator, Public and Private Schools, Elementary Grades Choral and General Music, Atlanta area and DeKalb County School System, Georgia

Associate Pastor, Ghana Interdenominational Church, Atlanta, Georgia

Parish Associate, First Afrikan Presbyterian Church, Lithonia, Georgia

Chaplain, Atlanta Medical Center, Atlanta, GA; NewYork-Presbyterian Medical Center, New York, NY

Clinical Training Director for Music Therapy, Georgia Regional Psychiatric Hospital, Atlanta, GA

PRESENTATIONS AND SEMINARS (selected):

2018  Archetypal Dreamwork as “Healing Theatre” and Inner Guidance, Dreamwork Summit Global Teleconference, The Shift Network, November 13-15

2018  Shadow and Light: A Women’s Circle with Dreamwork Art, Poetry and Music, Chartres, France (October 4-13)

2017  Archetypal Dreamwork: The “Healing Theatre” Workshop at WomenCircles Retreat, Rowe, Massachusetts

2016, 2018 “Kemetamorphosis: Called to Greatness Once Again,” composed song featured at Kemetamorphosis Conference, Washington, DC

2014, 2015 Television Interviews: The Archetypes in Women’s Dreams, A Woman’s Place with Angela Harrington-Rice, Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasting Network, Atlanta, Georgia

2013 Trauma and Archetypal Dreamwork, WUTL Radio Interview, New Orleans, LA

2013 Archetypal Lessons from Beasts of the Southern Wild, Decatur, Georgia

2013 Archetypal Dreamwork and Trauma Healing: Childhood Abuse and Sexual Trauma in the African American Community Conference, Baltimore, Maryland

2012 Music and Archetypal Dreamwork, WDGR Radio Interview, Plainfield, Vermont2012 Guest Musician, Lyme Summer Concert Series, Lyme, New Hampshire

2012 Introduction to Archetypal Dreamwork, Atlanta, Georgia

2011, 2012 Music and Archetypal Dreamwork, Chewstick Lounge and Retreat, Hamilton and Paget Island, Bermuda

2006 Gullah Shout Songs and African Liberation with David Pleasant: Gullah/Geechee International Music & Movement Festival, Charleston, South Carolina

2004 Music, Storytelling, Healing Seminar for Pastoral Caregivers, New York, NY

2003 Influence of Music on Behavior: Intergenerational Conference on Sexuality, Violence and Culture, Lithonia, GA

2001 Music and Spirituality, Women’s Retreats, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Kernersville, North Carolina

2000 Music, History and Spiritual Legacy of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Arkadelphia, Arkansas

1999 Traditional African Songs for Worship and Spiritual Practice, National Black Presbyterian Conference, Atlanta, GA

FIELD WORK AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING (selected):

2016         Ancient Kemetic History and Culture, Cairo, Aswan and Luxor, Egypt

2015         Music, Candomblé, Liberation and Social Change, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

2011         “African Singing” led by Fred Onovwerosuoke, Pine Lake, Georgia

2011         Traditional Medicine, Spirituality and Culture, Benin and Togo, West Africa

2010         McIntosh County Shouters Ringshout: An African American Tradition, Eulonia, Georgia

2010         “Music for Social Change” led by Ysaye Barnwell (Sweet Honey in the Rock), Highlands, NC

2009         “Indigenous Culture and Healing” Seminar led by Apela Colorado with Traditional Elders, Maui, Hawai’i

2008         Sound Healing Conference, Santa Fe, New Mexico

2008         “Language, Consciousness and Healing” Seminar led by Apela Colorado and Yacine Kouyate, Oakland, CA

2006 –       Yoruba: Cosmology and Spirituality in the American and Caribbean Diaspora

2004         Theravadin Buddhist Meditation, Santa Fe, New Mexico

2000-01   Bamara and Dogon Music, Healing and Traditional Culture, Mali, West Africa

1996         Musical Continuity and Change, Addis Ababa, Axum, and Lalibela, Ethiopia

HOBBIES:

Perennial Gardening, Genealogy, Ancestral Wisdom

Kemetic (Ancient Egyptian) Cosmology and Myth

PERSONAL:

Children:  one adult son