Williamson, Marianne (1953-)

Marianne Williamson, a popular metaphysical teacher of the channeled text A Course in Miracles (ACIM), was born in Houston, Texas, the daughter of a prominent Jewish lawyer who specialized in immigration law. Her father, Alan Vishnevetsky, had changed the family name when he moved to the United States from his birthplace in Russia. In her youth, she was influenced more by leftist politics than spirituality. She attended Pomona College for two years (1970-72), but found herself rudderless through the next years of her life. In 1977, while living in New York City and trying to develop a singing career, she first encountered A Course in Miracles. Though initially put off by its Christian references, the following year she volunteered at the Foundation for Inner Peace, the corporation set up to publish the books and disseminate the teachings, and assisted in its move to Tiburon, California.

Williamson moved back to Houston in 1979, and she married a businessman. The marriage soon ended in divorce. Her first attempt to appropriate the teachings of the Course led her into a lengthy spiritual crisis which she termed a "dark night of the soul." She eventually found her way to a psychiatrist who was also a student of the ACIM, and attributes his help in getting her through this difficult period. She finally reached the point where she invited God into her life and in essence began her life anew. In 1983 she moved to Southern California. She took a secretarial job with the Philosophical Research Society in Hollywood, and soon became the weekly lecturer on A Course in Miracles.

Articulate, attractive, and entertaining, Williamson soon outgrew the facilities at the society, and went out on her own. She drew large audiences in both Los Angeles and New York, and discovered that she had a special appeal among gay males who had been affected by the AIDS epidemic. Her recognition of her gay audience led her to found the Center for Living, a combination hospice/cultural center for people with catastrophic illnesses. Centers were opened in both Los Angeles and New York. She spent a considerable amount of her time raising financial resources for the center.

Williamson attained a new level of fame beginning in 1991 when the newsstand magazine Vanity Fair published a feature article on her. Then she officiated at the wedding of Liz Taylor and Larry Fortensky. When her first book, A Return to Love, appeared early in 1992, Oprah Winfry invited her on the show and endorsed the volume, copies of which she distributed to the audience that day. Williamson was a national celebrity, her fame reaching far beyond that previously attained by ACIM. In the meantime, dissension had emerged at the two centers. She eventually withdrew from an active administrative role and in the mid-1990s moved to Santa Barbara for several years before relocating to New York.

While being attacked in the press for what were considered by some as personality flaws, Williamson continued to write popular spiritual texts including A Woman's Worth and Illuminata. Still drawing large audiences for her presentations, she remains the single most popular interpreter of A Course in Miracles.

Sources:

Bennetts, Leslie. "Marianne's Faithful." Vanity Fair (June 1991).

Miller, D. Patrick. The Complete Story of the Course: The History, the People and the Controversies Behind A Course in Miracles. Berkeley, Calif.: Fearless Books, 1997.

Oumano, Elena. Marianne Williamson: Her Life, Her Message, Her Miracles. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992.