Title: Bishop
Company: Chapel of Love – Wisdom
Location: Sparrow Hawk Village, Tahlequah, OK United States

Carol Parrish-Harra is a sought-after lecturer and workshop leader on the international circuit, as well as in the United States. She has maintained a love and enthusiasm for Ancient Wisdom, which she has cultivated for many years. Her studies began about 1965, when she discovered her first teacher, Ann Manser of Oldsmar, Florida. The doors of her mind opened and she understood experiences she had formerly had in a new way. When Ann passed away in 1974, she sought out the work of Vera Stanley Alder, one of London’s noted teachers and Alice Bailey’s original “Discipleship in New Age” group members. Thus, she began a series of overseas trips to study with Alder until her death in 1984, and Alder often referred to Dr. Parrish-Harra as her “spiritual daughter.” Following a desire to gain a deeper understanding of Eastern Esoteric Christianity, she also began studying with Torkom Saraydarian, an excellent Armenian professional, in California and Sedona, where she gained a deep appreciation of the wisdom teachings of both the East and West. A member of the Theosophical Society, she does not limit her ideas to any one tradition.

After many years of studying, Dr. Parrish-Harra decided it was time to share her knowledge with others who desired to deepen their awareness. She takes private students and loves seeing their eyes being opened as they accept the wisdom and knowledge she learned so many years before. She has also led 48 student-spirituality tours, which have been focused on learning centers and religious sites in a number of countries, including Canada, Peru, Brazil, Tibet, China, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Korea, Japan, India, Russia, Mongolia, England, Scotland, Wales, the former Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey. Through these programs, she teaches and introduces students to important ecumenical ideas and a new understanding to many different cultures.

In 1981, she was recognized for her outstanding curriculum development and syllabus construction for an esoteric seminary by the National Christian University of Missouri, and was honored with an earned Doctor of Divinity degree. After this, Dr. Parrish-Harra served as a speaker for the International Council of Community Churches, later affiliating Villa Serena of Sarasota, Florida, with them. She has also been honored by the council for 40 years of outstanding service to the ecumenical church.

Her work continued with the founding of a spiritual community in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and establishing of an esoteric Seminary.  In 1990, she earned a Ph.D. in Religious Studies. Dr. Parrish-Harra is the author of fifteen book and numerous teaching manuals. She continued to serve as the Academic Dean of Sancta Sophia Seminary for thirty years, until she slowed her activities in 2009 to do more private work and less travel. She now takes private students and occasional classes for the public.

In 2011, Dr. Parrish-Harra was consecrated as an autocephalous bishop by the Ascension Alliance Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, Malabar Tradition, which welcomes both men and women priests. Currently, she is associated with the small Chapel of Love – Wisdom, located in Sparrow Hawk Village, Tahlequah, Oklahoma, where she dedicates her time to writing, teaching, and spiritual conversations, and remains one of the few actively practicing women priests in America.

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