Interview with Paul Martin, author of Original Faith, on the Spiritual Journey

Thanks for all your comments on my Women’s Energy Body post, they were very helpful to me. Sorry I have been MIA on the blogosphere the last couple of weeks, some visitors have kept me occupied – first family (fun) then flu (not so fun, but not so bad either, compared to some.) And truthfully, between the holidays and some contemplation and reading I would like to get done, I will probably be a bit erratic online for the rest of this year.

But first, I want to bring you this interview with a favorite fellow blogger of mine, Paul Martin of Original Faith. Paul guest-posted earlier this year, and I finally was able to read his book, also entitled Original Faith, this summer (and reviewed it on Amazon recently.) After doing so, I wanted to speak with Paul in person, and did so by phone for this interview a couple of weeks ago. I was glad we got to speak, because his grace-filled presence came through so strongly. He has truly walked the walk, spiritually speaking, and I felt such a centering power and peace emanating from him as we talked.

This is moving in anyone, but considering that Paul has suffered from a debilitating, progressive, and undiagnosed disease for the last sixteen years, and at this point has extremely limited mobility, I found it even more profound. In a spiritual culture that I sometimes feel accentuates positivity and ‘getting the life we want’ over insight and love, it was wonderful to sense such a true awakening in someone for whom physical life has certainly not gone as planned.

After chatting a bit about the nature of the publishing business (which Paul also spoke about in a recent interview for Writers Inspired), we dove into the book’s content. Because I am so interested in personal experience, I focused a lot in this interview on this aspect of Paul’s book  – you can get a fuller sense of the book’s content and his background from his blog and the Amazon reviews.

Paul, your own conscious spiritual quest was triggered by a profound and spontaneous mystic (my word!) experience that you had in your twenties. Prior to it, you had entered into a pretty deep depression – can you talk a bit about that?

Yes, I had gotten myself into a deep hole. I think there are several different types of depression, and in my own case it was really driven by the relentless scientific reading and studying I was doing  – that the earth would inevitably explode into hydrogen and the like – and my perception of their being so much evil in the world. I was just deeply struck by the meaninglessness of life in that context. I think if my personal life had been happier perhaps it would not have hit me so strongly, but the combination over time really took me to the point where I think I would have committed suicide by age 30. I had lost touch with any kind of hope or faith. I think you can get to this place beyond any kind of meaning, and that’s where I had gotten myself.

As I say in my book, I don’t think anyone needs to go through an experience of despair like this. I hope this is clear, because I don’t want to romanticize it. In my case, despair was both psychological and existential, brought on by my unhappiness in my life and my questioning and line of thinking. And really, my mystic experience, as you called it, really saved me.

Did the despair never return? Was it instantly gone from that moment forward? Did it not return, even in the midst of what you have gone through with your illness?

The despair, the sense of meaninglessness, did go away. My world shifted completely that day. I don’t know why or how and I still look back in awe of it. In a way I have never experienced anything like it again. But I also haven’t needed to.

When my disease first surfaced, I did go through a natural progression of emotions about it, and there was grief and frustration. I was misdiagnosed at first, and to make a long story short was told I needed to exercise more, and pursued that vigorously, only to find it didn’t help. Then on my own I had to gradually figure out that I didn’t have what I had been told, and go through many more series of tests, all to no avail. All the while the disease was, and is, relentlessly progressive. At this point I literally appear to have something no one else on the planet has ever had!

But no, that kind of despair never came back. There was always this ground, this faith, that never left me from that day.

When you look back at the experience now, why do you think it occurred? Do you think in terms of grace?

I honestly don’t know. As I said, the spiritual process doesn’t unfold this way for everyone. But it does seem that for some, a bottoming-out type experience is the turning point. I once read an explanation in William James’ Varieties of Religious Experience that does seem relevant. Basically, he said that in some of us the conscious and unconscious are so separate that things ‘builds up’ in the unconscious to a tremendous degree, and then explode to the surface in an experience such as this. The barrier is bigger, so to speak, so the breakthrough feels bigger too.

In your book, you call it a ‘conversion’ experience, so I want to know, a conversion to what? What do you consider yourself – do you consider yourself Christian?

You know, that is my background as a child, and I don’t mind if people think of me as Christian. Some of the language of the book is Christian, and I do use some Biblical quotes. But the quotes aren’t meant to be interpreted in just a Christian context. I don’t think I really think of myself as anything. I think of spirituality as outside religion. And I am glad more people are starting to see it that way too. I see spirituality as being a human thing. And at the level of doctrine there really is no way for the different religions to be resolved. So I am glad more people are focusing on the experiential aspect. To me, spirituality is experiential, not doctrinal.

Although this is not really a traditional self-help or how-to book, you do talk about spiritual practice, and some techniques that you at one point found helpful. Do you still engage in formal practice of any kind?

Well, physically I can no longer do many of the practices I describe in the book. I cannot formally sit for meditation, and even breathing exercises can be difficult. But it is interesting, gradually as the disease has progressed – and really I noticed it before this too – I have felt less of a need for it. I have not felt disconnected, so I have not felt the need to practice to feel connected. It is like a part of me is always there in meditation, and I move away from that less and less. It’s not that I’m ‘there’ all the time, but I do know it is always there for me to connect to.

The need for a certain kind of practice fell away. Integration of your experience occurred in the 15 years while you were writing the book, after your initial experience.

Yes, and this was where I was going in the end of the book, in the ‘Owning the Greater Claim’ chapter, which was actually very hard for me to communicate – the movement I felt from practicing to living in a world-centered, rather than self-minded, way.

I’m glad you went there, because a lot of spiritual material doesn’t these days. As we’ve sometimes discussed on your blog, it seems too often to stop at personal happiness. For me, you went beyond where a lot of books stop.

Yes, I know what you mean. I can’t read a lot of books anymore, but based on the blogs and things that I have read, there is a strong focus on happiness, and ridding yourself of negativity. And I do think that is useful. Happiness is great, of course! But I think there is a bit of hype, of overstatement, going on sometimes. Just look at the world. Bad things happen. There is nothing that will guarantee you nothing bad will ever happen to you. This is the first noble truth in Buddhism, right? ‘There is suffering’. And it’s not meant to be a depressing observation. It’s meant to convey that there is something beyond just getting rid of negativity, of relentlessly pursuing happiness.

In this way, my disease has really underscored this for me. Many of the things that brought me happiness I can no longer do. I actually haven’t been on the phone, before talking to you, in 2 weeks. I can’t go out in nature or exercise or any of that any longer, and I really don’t know how much longer I can blog. But underlying everything is this…greater peace, or peacefulness. This can be found regardless of circumstance. Happiness is great, but there is more. And you have to look beyond happiness for that.

Thank you so much Paul. I was wondering if you have any final thoughts you would want to leave the readers with? Really, what do you think the essential thing is that you would like everyone to know/contemplate in terms of their own journey here?

That a sense of trust in life or existence is part of being human, regardless of whether you connect it to religious or spiritual beliefs. Faith is unconditional, and becoming aware of this helps you to act on your love with greater purpose, passion, and dedication.

Namaste.

Paul and I will both be checking for comments when we can, so please do share your own thoughts or questions.

An Interview with Gangaji

I am very honored to present this conversation with Gangaji, which took place by phone on July 28th. If you’re a regular reader, you know that I think the world of her, and that her satsangs have played an important role in my own spiritual journey in the last few years. My friend and meditation student who recently passed had also attended many of her satsangs and weekend retreats, and while arranging this interview, I relayed the news of his death and sent his picture to her. I was touched that Gangaji took time out of her very busy recent Europe tour to view his picture, and it meant even more that she remembered him and his ‘radiance’, and talked about him briefly with me at the start of our conversation.

As for who Gangaji is in the ‘person’ sense – her teachings, lineage, books, and all that other stuff that we tend to focus on when discussing spirituality – I think the best source is her own foundation’s website. I encourage you to view some of her video satsangs, listen to audio, or read her books, or those by Papaji (her teacher) or Ramana Maharshi (Papaji’s teacher) – one of the most reknowned 20th-century Indian sages.

I had hoped to make the recording of this conversation available online in mp3 format, but I used an incorrect setting when recording, and while most of the interview is audible through headphones in the original format, almost none of it is in mp3 form:-( Therefore I have had to present it only in written form, with some editing and excerpting for clarity. I hope I have done her words justice.

But more important than the words is the transmission of ‘presence’ or ‘silent awareness’, or whatever word you choose to use. To receive that, I hope you can find the time to sit quietly with a hot cup of tea (or coffee, or wine, or even a margarita – whatever floats your boat) and read this more slowly than we normally can do when reading online. And when you are done, please share any comments or questions you have, and/or any suggestions for future interviewees or questions. Namaste-

Well Gangaji, you are now a fellow blogger, so I wanted to start there. What made you decide to start blogging, and why did you decide to blog on The Huffington Post, which many people know more as a political site?

They invited me. I had read The Huffington Post occasionally, and I also knew them only as a political site. But they have a lot of other writing, and they invited me, so I accepted. I also write at Intent.com, which is more of a wellness and spiritual site.

I guess I was surprised because I hadn’t heard you speak much on social or political issues in your satsangs. So I was wondering if blogging at Huffington represented any change in direction for you?

No, not really. In satsang I speak on whatever is present, whatever comes up. That might include current social or political events, or it might not. I try and use whatever is present to point to the truth. ‘Sat’ means ‘truth’, this is what we come together for in satsang. I try not to separate the internal and external. I think this separation is a myth, and it’s true that we tend to dwell on it. Many spiritual people look down on politics, choosing to retreat from the world. And many political people look down on spiritual people, believing they are flaky or out of touch.

That point is interesting to me, because I retreated for a long time, and am now finding myself more and more interested in politics, and more interested in becoming socially engaged. But I have a hard time reconciling the two. Politics can feel so ego-driven, positions are so fixated. It makes me want to retreat again.

Yes, and that is needed sometimes. There is a place for true retreat. I always tell people there is no formula. Some people retreat their whole lives – that’s how Ramana did it. Some feel called, or are constitutionally more suited, for engagement. I think I’m a little of both. Sometimes I will go weeks without reading the newspaper, and then re-engage. Either way, it is about recognizing the moment, and being true to it. It is available in both. But it is true that it is helpful to recognize what you need at any given time.

It’s interesting that you say that, because recently you wrote a post that I loved on suspending diagnosing for a day – suspending the tendency to judge and diagnose our own state and that of others all the time. How does this fit with what you are saying about recognizing what we need in the moment?

Diagnosis is a wonderful tool. This ability to see what is going on with us, to identify a problem and address it, is one of our great gifts as humans. But like any tool, it can be over-used. We can get trapped in labels and judgments, of ourselves and others. All we can see is our categories. We become completely focused on ‘fixing’ – ourselves, others, the world. What if we just let go of that, as an experiment, for a day? And just let things be what they are? That is suspending diagnosis.

This is a bit how I think about detachment. I heard you speak once at a satsang on passion and detachment, which is connected for me to the issue of retreat vs. engagement. It seems we need passion, need strong opinions, to act in the world, especially on social issues. But then we run the risk of acting from a place of attachment, of ego. How do we decide which is which?

I don’t use the word ‘detachment’ much myself, but I know it can be useful for some. I like the word inquiry, as Ramana used it, in the sense of inquiring into the truth. Both detachment and inquiry can be over-used, can become habits of mind, but true inquiry can really open us. When you inquire, when you look honestly at what is going on with yourself without judgment, you can discover a place where you don’t fear attachment. That’s passion. You are connected. There isn’t any fear of connecting or of attachment. There is no problem.
But even inquiry can be over-used. We can become ‘the inquirer’ and create a new story around that. Then we are not really inquiring, we are telling ourselves a story.

So does the need to inquire ever end? It’s often said that the spiritual process continues forever, that it’s the journey, not the destination, that matters. But in your view does there come a point when the ego – or whatever – can no longer move us away from presence, or get caught in a story? When spiritual practice is not needed?

Well, I would not call inquiry spiritual practice, although it can become that. I think there is a point when you know that presence – or silent awareness as I sometimes call it, we have many words for it – is right there, whatever the circumstances. And you will be tested, life will always test you. But you can come to a point where the moment any disturbance arises, you see that, and you inquire, right there.
For example, hypothetically, I might notice I am thinking about my daughter, and why she hasn’t called me in a long time. I might develop a story about how I always have to call her, or how she neglects me. Or I might worry. I add layers on top of that initial disturbance. But if I inquire, if I just sit with that disturbance and inquire into it, I might see an emotion underneath. I might see that the real issue is that I am hurt, or that I am missing her. Then I can inquire into that emotion, and so on. In the end, I might call my daughter, or I might not, but either way, it is not the result of some story I have told myself.
So spiritual practice can be useful. We have many techniques of mind that can help us to calm ourselves, or heal ourselves, or energize ourselves. But inquiry is not practice in this sense.

Speaking of your daughter, I wanted to ask you about parenthood. I find I have this story I can fall into of ‘if only I had more time to myself, I could pursue my spirituality’. I find this is so common for parents. Can you speak to this?

Oh yes, we have all kinds of stories we tell ourselves along these lines, whether about parenting, our jobs, our health, or some other aspect of our lives. We convince ourselves freedom is about being free of some obligation or affliction. But there is always the opportunity to inquire, in every situation. It doesn’t take more than 10 or 12 seconds really. Or even a moment – there is always a moment – an opportunity, right now. And in that moment, in inquiry, we can realize that our sense of a lack of freedom is – not there.
I’m not in anyway saying that having three young children isn’t difficult, because it is. Your body is not free in the way it once was. Your emotions are not free in that way. You can’t just do whatever you want, you have three other beings to consider. So that part of the story is true. But in your innermost being, there is still freedom, and you can take refuge in yourself. Even when you feel you are at your worst.

Yes. And I feel as if in my children it is so easy to see when they are disturbed, in the way that you mean. They are like a little mirror – if something in my awareness is disturbed I will see it reflected back to me in their state or behavior.

Yes, well there it is. Right there you see the opportunity in parenthood. We have this story of ‘well, if I could just escape this, I would be OK’, but that example right there shows you the truth. Your kids are actually helping you see what is really going on.

Yes, definitely. Ok, so moving on to kids, I know you are a mother and a grandmother. What do you think is the greatest gift we can transmit or relay to our children as they grow up, in order to help them connect to presence themselves, and maintain that connection into adulthood?

Well, you know, my grandkids are far away and I am not with them all the time. But I know when I am, kids have this ability to sense authenticity. They know right away if you are not being authentic with them. Really I think that is all anybody wants from anybody – authenticity. So trying not to be what we think we should be, or what we think our kids, or anybody else, wants us to be. Just being with them as we really are, fully. And kids pick up on that, and understand they can be authentic too. It is transmitted, from generation to generation.
I feel like I am seeing the results of this now, of the different way some kids are being parented, in some of the older kids – teens especially – that come to satsang with their parents. It’s quite wonderful actually. There’s a confidence there, and a consciousness. A recognition of something deeper. A willingness to face this adventure called life with this deeper consciousness.

Well, it’s interesting you mentioned this new generation, because I wanted to ask you some questions about the future. My own family, and my husband’s, are very diverse in religious and political views, and live all over the country. Sometimes I feel like I am right in the middle of this ‘cultural divide’ that the media is always telling us about. Everyone seems to feel like the world is at a crises point, and that their own way needs to be followed, in order to set things right. So I am wondering, what do you make of this divide?

Well, I know we are at a time of great awareness of that, and I know that every religion and political group right now senses we are in a period of great change. Some feel it is apocalyptic and some feel we are on the brink of a great breakthrough. I say – we’ll wait and see.
But what an interesting position you are in! To be confronted with all these different views, among people you love, and to therefore be prompted really, to see if you can relate beneath those differences and feel that love. To not relate only at the level of difference, to practice not seeing those with different views simply as ‘other’. Then there is a possibility that something can be discovered, a new common ground even, or at least an acceptance and shared presence. This is available to anyone, of any religion, and all walks of life.
You know, I wrote in that diagnosis post of this woman I spoke to recently who believed there was a chip in her head, and that the government or some other group was trying to control her through it. Instead of debating the reality or non-reality of that chip, I asked her to just sit and inquire what she felt right now, in the midst even, of that worry and pain. And she got it, she shifted. She relaxed, and felt peace herself. Whether she can find that again, who knows, but it is always available to her, to anyone. We pile lots of stuff, stories, on top of it and call it different things, especially in different religions, and we create obstacles to seeing it, but it is always there.
So your situation is ideal really. You have this opportunity to look beyond differences, beyond the perceived obstacles to connecting.

Yes, it is has done that for me. I can’t otherize or demonize people who disagree so easily. And it does feel like in today’s world those disagreements are so reinforced. With all the different cable stations and internet mediums – it is easy to just seek out content that matches what you already think, and to isolate yourself in that way from other points of view.

Yes, that is certainly true. This isolation, this is something we do on a lot of levels.

Along those lines, you just returned from an extended stay in Europe. Do you think there are differences between the U.S. and Europe in regards to this? Or in relation to spirituality?

Well, I don’t know so much about a difference from the U.S. But certainly there is a difference since I first started holding satsangs there 15 years ago. There is such an openness and eagerness.

Do you find Europeans more open to what you have to offer?

I don’t know if they are more open. There seems to be more openness everywhere in a way. But perhaps there is less fear, less anxiety there right now. People are of course worried about the economy, and about changes in the world, but it didn’t feel as anxious there. Whether that is because of the differences in government, or religious views, I don’t know. But the anxiety level here felt very palpable when I returned.

So here there is kind of an undercurrent of anxiety, that is hard for us to see?

Yes, perhaps so. And unless you can see it, it can cloud your judgment, cloud your views on how you should live your life.

Because it becomes all about self-protection? Protecting ‘me and my own’?

That’s right. And that instinct is natural to some extent. But when we become fixated on that, it obstructs our relationship with others, with the world. We act from a place of fear. And this we can see acted out on many different levels, from our personal lives to politics.

Yes, thank you. Well, I have just one last question, related to teaching. Over the years I have seen a lot of spiritual teachers, many with ‘big names’, you might say. But since the first day I saw you, your transmission has always seemed to come through so powerfully and purely. Is this just a quirk of your being do you think? Is this ability to transmit a skill that some teachers possess and others do not, regardless of the depth of their own realization?

You know, I don’t know. This might just be a resonance between you and myself. Some people, many people really, come to my satsangs and say ‘nice to meet you, thanks’, but don’t feel that connection. But they might feel it with someone else. In a way, it is a mystery. And different teachers can suit our needs at different times, depending on what we are ready for. When I met Papaji, there was this instant resonance for me, but I was in a certain place, I was ready. So you have to follow your heart.

Thank you so much Gangaji.

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7 Steps to Seeing

When I posted a couple of weeks ago,  I had hoped to be more fully back online by now, but that got slowed down a bit when I dropped my Macbook in my kitchen, shattering the screen and toasting the circuit board. I just switched to a Mac 4 months ago, so this is not an auspicious beginning. Although, from the looks on the Apple tech’s faces when I brought it in for repair, this level of damage is not something they see very often. I thought I detected real fear in their faces while they surveyed it, like I might be a serial killer, or at the very least, a serial destroyer of sacred technology.

So I am sharing my old Gateway laptop with my husband, which he inherited when he gave me the Macbook for my birthday. We share many things well, including a one-sink bathroom (which derails other couples, I know), but a computer is another thing entirely.  I am sure many of you understand:-)

In addition to that little complication, last week was the week of the half-written blog posts. I started three, and couldn’t quite get any of them into a finished state I liked. In the end, I decided to write on seeing, which is something I have been contemplating recently. As I mentioned in my last post, I am trying to see many things about my own life and future direction right now.

I think of seeing as the ability to discern patterns and structures under the surface of events, our own minds, and the minds of others. All of these are connected, of course – ‘as above, so below’ and all that. Personally I think of intuition as a more ‘in the moment’, situational type of insight. If I’m talking to someone, and suddenly have the strong sense that he or she is feeling something other than what is said, that is intuition. If in that moment, or later on, I suddenly understand that emotion or interaction in the context of a larger pattern, a fuller understanding of what is motivating or moving the individual and the dynamics between us, that is seeing. Personally, I don’t try and do either with other people, unless our relationship is such that they ask me too. But the same skills applied to myself is a powerful part of my own approach to my life and spirituality.

I think based on our deepest intents for our lives, we can connect to different ‘flows’, in a tao-like fashion. Some phases of my life have been about manifestation, about intending new things into my life based on what I wanted at the time. Success in getting them was really about aligning myself with a certain flow of power. I think this is largely what teachings on the ever-popular ‘law of attraction’ are about, and to the extent that is true, I value those teachings. But for me personally they have limitations (one of those half-written blog posts that maybe I will finish someday – I did put some basic thoughts on this into Is the Law of Attraction Buddhist?, at BellaOnline.)

But there are other flows we can connect to, including the one leading ‘home’ to ourselves, enlightenment, liberation, realization, or whatever you want to call it. And that flow rarely seems to be about just pursuing what we want, although the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Sometimes life is about listening, rather than manifesting. That is what my own life feels like right now. I am listening, watching, trying to see what’s next. Trying to align myself with light, with ‘the tao’ (or again, whatever word you like.)

Someone recently asked me how I go about this, which got me thinking about it in a way I hadn’t in awhile, so I decided to post my answer, and ask you to share yours in the comments.

1) First, I clarify what I am trying to see. I think it’s really important to at least attempt to define what you are trying to see. Otherwise, it’s too easy to just flounder around in uncertainty indefinitely. Sometimes you can’t really define it, or sometimes it turns out there is more than one question in play, but the attempt to whittle it down gets the process started. For me, this is like sending an arrow from my conscious mind into the depths, and then letting it stew there, while I …

2) Wait. Patiently. Not a strength of mine personally, but a necessity, I have found. I have learned this one the hard way, by too often rushing an answer, and discovering later it was driven more by ego than seeing. I always think of the chess movie Searching for Bobby Fischer, where the teacher is always telling Bobby ‘wait, just wait, until you see it’, whenever it is his turn to move in a match. Sometimes, he waits for hours. So what do I do while I wait? Well, I…

3) Create Some Space in My Life. I think we all process differently. In Awakening Intuition, Dr. Mona Lisa Schulz emphasizes the importance of sleep, as I know many professional psychics do. For me, it seems to be more about a sense of space and openness than sleep. Maybe that’s because I don’t seem to be much of a dreamer, or receive many insights that way. Of course meditation is a big part of creating this space for me. But I also love to read. Sometimes when I am working on something, I will stay up late reading many nights in a row – something light and engaging (I read the entire Twilight series this way a few months back.) To do this, of course, I can’t be in a stressful, highly-scheduled phase of my life. Interestingly, I have found playing with my young children also creates this sense of space. They are so in the moment, and when I am present with them, it creates an easygoingness (excluding tantrums, that is!) So this summer has been perfect for us all, very open-ended, with just a few classes and playdates when we are together (which is not all the time – I also have a sitter some days, part of creating that much-needed space).

But I don’t always just wait, sometimes I like to…

4) Stalk. ‘Stalking’ and ‘dreaming’ are two opposing methods of seeing presented in the books of Carlos Castenada. Stalking, in the context I am using it, is seeking out relevant ‘data’ for the seeing part of my awareness to work with. This might mean consulting divination systems like astrology, the tarot, or (my personal favorite) the I Ching. Or it might mean seeking out details related to the specific decision I am contemplating (if it is a decision – seeing isn’t always about that, of course.) So if I were trying to decide whether or not to move, for example, or change jobs,  I would research and visit areas or people with other jobs. But I wouldn’t make my decision based on a logical, pros-and-cons assesment of what I find (I am honestly just incapable of that – it’s not the way I’m built) but instead just let the information sit, and simmer. Or I might use it to…

5) Dream. As I use it, this tool is perhaps the closest to ‘visioning’ that you find in many law of attraction and cosmic ordering teachings. Sometimes it’s useful to imagine different options, and see how they feel. Which one has the most power behind it? Which one has a flow? Which one do I fear? Which one do I desire and why? I don’t make my decision here, I just let it all sit. But at some point…

6) Something Like Insight Appears. I don’t know that any of us can clearly define what insight feels like, as opposed to just a normal ego-driven thought, but most people  I have talked to acknowledge that it does feel unique. It seems to come from a different location than our other thoughts, within or outside us. Figuring that out is a journey of a lifetime I think, for all but a few highly-gifted seers. For me, it’s rarely an epiphany moment. It’s  often a gradually emerging certainty. And when it emerges, I rarely just jump on it, even though that is what some teachers suggest. Instead, I write it down, clarifying exactly what it is I am thinking, and then I…

7) Question It. Call this the ‘quality assurance’ phase of the process (I DID work in software development for many years!) This is about separating the wheat from the chaff, or in this case, insight from ego. I try and discern what in my answer might be purely ego-driven  – what is just what I want to believe? What might I have added to the insight unconsciously, because of my own desires or fears? What old patterns or baggage might be in play? There is a careful balance to be struck in this phase – the wrong kind of questioning just generates useless doubt, while none at all results in too much wishful thinking. So this phase is a delicate swing, from certainty to questioning, honing and honing, driving closer to the truth.

So there you have it – my own process. Of course, sometimes insights just arise – there is no process. This is more when there is some sense of seeking involved. It is how I seek.

How do you seek or see? Do you have a process? How do you distinguish ego-driven thoughts from seeing? Are you a stalker or a dreamer?

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On Seeing, Wisdom, and the Value of Non-Detachment

“I knew at last that I must leave…get out of the press of affairs…the god does not speak to those who have no time to listen. The mind must seek out what it needs to feed on, and it came to me at last that what work I had to do, I must do among the quiet of my own hills.”  – Merlin in The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart

I picked up The Crystal Cave again a few weeks ago after someone mentioned it on an annual retreat I was conducting in Utah, just after my friend’s passing (in fact, he was scheduled to attend.) I read Stewart’s full Merlin trilogy almost twenty years ago, and I thought escaping into its pages was exactly what I needed this summer. But as often happens when we are drawn to certain books, these have ended up being much more than an escape. I am not the same person I was back then, so these are not the same books. Everything Merlin says regarding seeing, finding the flow of life, following power, and finding and owning his role in the larger scheme of things, is resonating very deeply.

So I have been  “among the quiet of my own hills”  – or as quiet as my hills get, with three young children out of preschool for the summer. Retreat is very relative these days! But I had years before children with plenty of solitude, silence, and formal retreats, and I find at this point that I can center myself with much less. Motherhood has taught me efficiency, even in this.

I did find going almost completely offline for a month – once daily email checks only – extremely helpful. I am a strong believer in ’sabbaths’ and have always stayed offline for one full day each week, and limited my daily number of hours online as well. I know it’s not fashionable to say so, but from an energetic perspective, I don’t think social networking is all that different from the real-life version. Every encounter is an energy exchange. And while I love being online because it is so much easier to find like-minded individuals, and there are so many wonderful people to interact with and learn from, the outward-directed mental energy required to blog, comment, and interact can create a very turbulent mind. It’s easy to lose the ability to be alone with ourselves.

So I am very committed to internal stillness and solitude right now – regardless of external circumstances. Especially since I have been sensing a new direction brewing in my own life, and need to create the space for this to form fully. As Merlin says, seeings like this aren’t something that can be pushed – they have to take their own time surfacing. Interestingly, more unstructured time with the kids, and focusing on the details of some house remodeling we are doing, have proved to be the perfect counterpart to whatever is going on under the surface (who knew paint swatches and tile samples could be so soothing?) And now I do feel  ready to emerge a bit, and get back online. I have missed you all!

As for my friend’s passing, I could write volumes on that, and on him, for he was a very special being. I know we always say that when someone dies, so those of you that didn’t know him will just have to take my word for it. I probably will write more on him at some point, but since I do observe certain Buddhist death rituals, I have been holding a traditional 40-day vigil for him that will end next week, and don’t want to say anything before that.

I did want to share a passage from yet another book that has resonated with me recently – Tsultrim Allione’s Women of Wisdom. I have mentioned this book before, and will probably post on it more next week. I was re-reading it in the days before my friend’s passing, and in fact just hours before I learned of his death was reading a passage that proved to be a guiding light in the subsequent days. Lama Tsultrim Allione was one of the first Western women to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun, and spent four years receiving teachings from some of the most revered Tibetan Lamas, including much time in solitary retreat in Tibet. She decided to give back her vows after four years in order to marry and have a family, and continue her Buddhist studies as a layperson. She is now, with her children grown, herself one of the most revered Lamas teaching in the West today.

After giving back her monastic vows, she had two daughters, and then a few years later, boy/girl twins. At 2 1/2 months, the little girl twin died of SIDS. Coming on the heals of a difficult pregnancy and marriage troubles, her little girl’s death sent her into a deep, dark night of the soul. And she was not helped when at her daughter’s funeral, another Buddhist practitioner came up to her as she was grieving, tears streaking down her face, and said “You should not be so attached to this baby; everything is impermanent.”

Lama Allione talks about the ’superficial’ understanding of the dharma, or teachings, that drove such a comment. It is something I have seen a lot of in spiritual circles, of all denominations. Whether we say ‘everything is impermanent’, ‘God had a plan’, or ‘it was meant to be’, all too often we use philosophies and theologies to distance ourselves intellectually from the reality of life. This doesn’t mean these views of death aren’t true, but if they are used as a way to avoid the true human emotions of loss, to me they are useless. Wisdom is a union of heart and mind, not a cutting away of one in favor of the other. I am not interested in an enlightenment that says a mother should not cry for her lost baby, or one that prevents an acquaintance from simply holding her when she does.

So, in the aftermath of my friend’s passing, when conducting the retreat he was scheduled to attend, with many who were also mourning him present, I was glad to have read this passage, and glad to have had the reminder of what NOT to do. ‘Spiritual mentor’ is a dicey role, not one I embrace all that comfortably, and I know it is all too easy to fall into posturing – acting the way you think you should act, the way people expect, and parroting the teachings, rather than speaking from the heart. But wisdom can’t be faked, and it does not come just from the intellect.

So I thought for this first post back I would invite you to share your own views on wisdom, and what exactly it is. I look forward to reading your responses!

Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief – Book Review

First a couple of notes for regular readers: 1) I will post the guided chakra-work mp3s that I mentioned in the 21 Ways to Care for Your Sacral Chakra post early next week. I am going to add a few more than originally planned, and have the perfect opportunity this weekend to get in the right ’space’ for this. 2) This week I am doing a couple more parenting-themed posts, but then I’ll swing back around to some of my other topics, so if parenting is not your thing, just hold on. However, I think some of these themes are interesting for any of us to look at, because it’s always enlightening to examine how you were parented, and how it shaped your worldview.

Which brings me to today’s book review: Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief. This book is primarily geared for parents that consider themselves atheist, agnostic, and/or secular humanist, none of which I personally embrace. When I have to label myself (which I assiduously try and avoid), I usually go with ’spiritual but not religious.’ Of course, ’spiritual’ is pretty broad, but for me it does mean I believe in something beyond what my physical senses or science can currently validate. Belief is not a bad word for me, not something I need to get beyond, nor is it incompatible in my mind with freethinking. So this book wouldn’t seem a good fit for me.

And yet I really liked it, and feel it is a book I will turn to again and again as my children get older. I liked it because what I have come to believe spiritually has been the result of personal questioning and seeking, and the main thrust of this book is how to raise children that approach life in an open, questioning, educated, and ethical way. From that perspective I think it is a book any parent could benefit from (and I am not big on parenting books.) That being said, this book is certainly not for fans of most organized religion, theistic beliefs, or the hierarchical theology typical of the world’s religions (and that’s fine by me.)

First the basics: This book is a collection of essays and parent-child exercises written by Dale McGowan, Molleen Matsumura, Amanda Metskas, and Jan Devor, all of whom are secular humanists, or, in the case of Ms. Devor, Unitarian Universalist, with parent education experience. You can read more about each of them at the Parenting Beyond Belief website. Each chapter introduces its topic and then presents a series of questions and answers based on the concerns of real parents that the authors have interacted with. The chapters each end with suggested parent-child exercises for exploring the theme further, and a list of related resources, including books, websites, movies, and more. Some of the chapter themes are how to:

- Encourage critical thinking while maintaining respect for other’s beliefs.

- Help children navigate the social pressures oriented around authority and conformity (both religious forces and other social ones.)

- Develop an ethical foundation not based on a traditionally religious POV, i.e. divine reward and punishment.

- Achieve “religious literacy without indoctrination”, which is especially important if you have family members with religious views other than your own, or if you live in an area where ‘going to church’ (or the equivalent) is the norm.

- Sort through the mixed messages regarding sexuality, our physical bodies, and pleasure that have seeped into our culture from religious viewpoints, and how to offer a healthy alternative.

- Celebrate traditionally religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter in a secular fashion, or develop alternatives.

- Develop rituals and/or a conceptual framework for dealing with life passages and death.

- Find and/or create the sense of community that is often provided by religious organizations.

The chapter on religious literacy was particularly interesting to me, because my husband’s and my own family embrace a wide range of religious beliefs, and my children will need to sort through that as they grow up. In addition, I have been trying to determine what of my own beliefs I want to introduce my children to (which is part of what inspired my own spiritual and religious book lists for young children.) Raising Freethinkers only increased my sense that religious literacy is essential for functioning well in society, or at least American society, due to the ongoing religiously-based ‘culture wars’ here, and the corresponding conversion pressures some teens face from peers (the questions and scenarios posed by parents in this book are very eye-opening in that regard.)

The book offers many interesting statistics regarding American’s religious beliefs as well, including that 86% believe in God (although that drops to 78% when the option of ‘universal spirit’ is also offered, which is probably what I would select myself if pushed), 81% heaven, 69% hell, and 61% that the biblical creation story is literally true. The statistics on the same issues in Europe and other ‘developed’ nations are drastically different. In addition, unlike in the U.S. most Europeans receive religious education in schools, and are therefore much more aware of religious history and religions other than their own. As Jan Devor puts it, “The United States is both the most religiously enthusiastic and the least religiously literate country in the developed world.” And as our most recent presidential election highlighted, this is a trend that is only increasing in our country, and that our children will be dealing with for some time to come.

Although I am interested in all world religions, and have found mystics within most whose writings and experiences I resonate with, the way that religion is usually passed on from parent to child has always seemed absurd to me. Jan Devor quotes a recent speech by Richard Dawkins that captures this sentiment exactly, in which he responds to a newspaper photo of three young children with the caption ‘A Sikh child, a Muslim child, and a Christian child’ by noting:

“No one bats an eye…But just imagine if the caption had read ‘a Monetarist child, a Keynesian child, and a Marxist child.” Ridiculous! Yet not one bit less ridiculous than the other.”

Since for me spirituality is not about inheriting beliefs but about personally seeking, Dale McGowan’s first chapter ‘The Inquiring Mind’ was also a favorite of mine. He unpacks the underlying assumption of many religious parenting books that “our primary job as parents is to stave off a bubbling depravity that lurks just below the surface of our children.” As he puts it:

“I want the idea that questions can be feared because of the answers they might produce to baffle my kids. I want them to find hilarariously silly the idea that certain lines of thought cannot even be pursued, lest they be caught.”

Amen to that (hehe). And the examples he provides for how to encourage questioning in kids, and how to avoid falling into the trap of authoritarian or answer-providing parenting were very insightful. However, here some of my own beliefs regarding the limits of reason and science clashed a bit with some of the exercises, such as having kids create staged UFO photos to help them see how easily the eye can be tricked, or attempting to disprove the existence of unicorns to show how proving the negative (i.e. there is no God) is impossible, and therefore “the burden of proof must rest on those making spectacular claims.” Both exercises seemed to me to be awfully close to teaching freethinking=’rationality’ or ‘current scientific knowledge’, which is not exactly what I want to pass on (after all, science is a product of its time too – the theory of microscopic germs was once considered idiotic.)

All of the other chapters – on ethics, secular rituals, life passages, sex ed and more – were all excellent, and I feel they did offer material I will turn to as my children get older. Many fascinating studies are referenced, including those on what type of parenting is more likely to engender empathy (not moralistic), and how sex education really impacts the sexual behavior of teens (abstinence-only programs, steadily increasing in U.S. schools, do not delay the average age for first-time sex, which is currently 14.9 years.) I also especially appreciated the parent questions, which raised so many issues I had never thought of, from how to respond to a young child who wants a first communion after attending her cousin’s, to how to talk about good and evil without a religious framework.

This is called a ‘practical guide’ and it definitely is that, rich in exercises, book suggestions, and resource lists. A particular favorite of mine is the ‘Recommended Films’ list in the appendix, which includes the categories “Religious Literacy”, “Coming of Age Issues” and “Exploring Death and Loss.”

So if you are looking for guidance in secular child-raising, hold unconventional spiritual beliefs yourself, and/or want to prepare your child well for navigating a sometimes religiously rigid world, Raising Freethinkers is worth considering. Check out the website for more info.

Feel free to post any questions you have about the book in the comments, and I will answer them there. I’m also interested to hear about your own experiences or insights for handling atheist or unconventional spiritual beliefs with children, or advice for handling some of the issues that often arise when children are confronted with other religious beliefs through friends or family….

The Spirituality of Motherhood – Lessons from the REAL Masters

Mother’s Day is around the corner, at least in my part of the globe (I think this might be a Hallmark-created holiday, so I’m not sure if it’s worldwide – **EDIT** see comments on this for a link on the history – Mother’s Day was actually intended as a day of peace!) Since the ’spirituality of motherhood’ is supposed to be one of the themes of this blog (whatever that means – I don’t claim to know), I thought I would combine it with another theme of this blog – the common essence of the world’s religious and spiritual traditions – for a post this week. My plan was to compile a series of uplifting and soul-inspiring quotes about motherhood from history’s greatest spiritual leaders and teachers.

Except I couldn’t find many.

Oh sure, there were a few along the lines of  ‘love everyone like a mother loves her children’, but that was about it. Turns out motherhood really has not been a hot topic of conversation among the world’s greatest spiritual leaders and teachers.

So, I moved on to Plan B. Plan B is to turn to the present, and yet another professed theme of this blog – books. Books, and their authors, have been my friends and spiritual guides my whole life. I love recommending them, and getting recommendations from others. So I have compiled a list of favorite passages from books on the spiritual journey that is motherhood, and organized them according to some of the insights they brought me. I hope you enjoy them, and feel free to share your own recommendations, or your own lessons from motherhood, in the comments…

[Note: The book title links connect to Amazon, and the author names connect to their websites or blogs, if I could find them.]

I wrote a lot about Motherhood and Creativity in the 2nd Chakra series, so I won’t belabor that theme here, but I did find this passage connecting the two also, in Crossing to Avalon by Jean Shinoda Bolen:

“A woman may also give birth to her own creative work, in which she has had to plumb her own depth as a woman and labor to bring it forth. The work comes out of her and draws from her talents and experience, and yet it has its own life.”

This passage is written in the context of presenting the different ways we draw upon our maternal power, including creation and nurturing others, to make the point that being a biological mother is just one way. Although this is a Mother’s Day post, I think this point is so important – I can’t stand the social subtext that implies motherhood is a woman’s only path to fulfillment. All too often this line of reasoning has been used by the world’s religious traditions to exclude women from certain teachings or practices. So let’s put that one to rest, shall we?

That being said, this post is mostly about the lessons gleaned from mothering children, and I think one of the most powerful is learning how to be mindful, how to be fully present in our (and their) lives. This is a theme Sarah Napthali covers beautifully in her book, Buddhism for Mothers:

“Our children bring to our lives an abundance of special moments: their birth, their first smile, their first word, starting school. But caught up in a fast-flowing stream of thoughts we miss so many of the more everyday moments and, indeed, the potential for every moment we spend with our children to be special. Awake to the depth and texture of the present, we open ourselves to appreciate and enjoy them more.”

Part of becoming mindful is being honest about the darker thoughts that cross our minds, and motherhood triggers many of them. One of the hardest to accept for me was the judgments mothers make of other mothers’ choices, ala the ‘mommy wars’, and the tendency of my own mind to judge others. Vivian Glyck covers this theme well in The Tao of Poop:

“Our insecurities…contribute to the bad habit of comparing our kids and comparing ourselves as mothers. The seduction of comparison constantly beckons me, and a nasty voice starts in my head: ‘Oh, if I could just have a chance, I’d fix that baby’s (sleep, eating, discipline) problems.’ I have a deep  underlying belief, however, that women share a collective wisdom, intuition, and experience that transcends this kind of fearful chatter.”

Releasing our judgments, and indeed releasing the entire judgment-creating machinery of our hyper-analytical mother brains, is a big opportunity, I think. Motherhood brings so many unexpected issues to the foreground of our attention that we are pushed to question our assumptions, upend our routines, redefine our values. In short, we have an opportunity to see what we’ve been gripping, and to let it go. Karen Maezen Miller talks about this opportunity in Momma Zen, urging us to ask ‘Why Not?’ whenever we find ourselves saying ‘never’:

“Never place your children in the care of another? Why not let others love them too?

Never manage without a nanny? Why not try it yourself?

Never consider quitting work? Why not sacrifice money for love?

Never going back to work? Why not introduce your child to the rest of you?

Never spend the night away from your child? Why not prove that you always come back?

Never give up your night out? Why not forgo the movies for awhile?

Never have your child immunized? Why not believe what doctors say?

Never doubt your pediatrician? Why not trust your instincts?

Never have chocolate pudding for breakfast? Why not have fun today?

Never have time to cook a homemade meal? Why not start right now?

Never have another child? Why not appreciate what comes?

Never have an only child? Why not accept things as they are?”

When we let go of judging ourselves and others, the opportunity for true compassion arises. We often say motherhood ‘opens our hearts’ and of course this is true, but it also challenges our equanimity on a daily basis. Lama Tsultrim Allione speaks eloquently on this topic in the addendum to the preface of her book Women of Wisdom. Prior to becoming a mother, she had been one of the first Western women to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun, and had spent four years engaged in intense practice and training before returning her monastic vows and marrying. She often longed for solitary practice in the early days of motherhood, and was saddened by her seeming ‘failures’ as a Buddhist and mother. Over time, she came to see the great opportunity motherhood afforded her to develop a love and compassion not dependent upon solitude:

“How often I felt my failure to enact boundless compassion and immeasurable patience. Through becoming a mother I irrevocably lost the realm where compassion for all beings is visualized from a retreat cabin…

Gradually, however…I began to see mothering as a great practice opportunity…

As I cooked in the cauldron of motherhood, the incredible love I felt for my children opened my heart and brought me a much greater understanding of universal love. It made me understand the suffering of the world much more deeply. This has been an important thread for me, both as a practitioner and as a human being.”

I mentioned earlier that motherhood has often been presented as the primary spiritual role of women within religious traditions, but the opposite has also often been true – motherhood has been seen as an automatic disqualifier to traversing the higher realms of spirituality, especially in Eastern yogic and monastic traditions. Overcoming this idea was a big theme for me, as I came to motherhood late in life, after many years of intense spiritual practice. Gangaji addresses this concern in a question and answer session printed in  You Are That, with her usual gift for cutting straight to the heart of the matter:

Question: I’ve believed my child to be the one obstacle between freedom and myself. It feels like I can’t be free and responsible.

Gangaji: This is the great fear of a parent. Isn’t it a joke? We have considered freedom to be freedom of the body, and we imagine freedom of the body as the following of the desires of the body. Yet we know that following personal desires is very often narcissistic indulgence. As you know, bondage to personal desires causes enormous suffering.

What is inherently free is who you are. Who you are does not become free. It is free. In recognizing this, there is the natural ability to respond. Before that, responsibility is a concept of duty or of something to be shouldered. It may be tempered with love and care, but it is also something to be born. Therefore, your child becomes an objectification, a separation between you and that which you really are. This is a deadly joke! You are this very child. Recognize this and you are not searching around for personal freedom. Then nothing can be an intrusion.

Motherhood teaches us to discover who we really are, beneath the role of motherhood that we play. This can be tough, as this role has many facets, and we can get trapped in them. In When the Heart Waits, Sue Monk Kidd discusses the various ego masks women adopt, including one she calls the ‘Tinsel Star’. We are wearing this mask when we try to perform to gain people’s affection, or as she puts it, when we:

“…invest ourselves in the notion that those who shine the brightest are loved the most…We buy into the widespread notion that ‘light’ emanates from our achievements, not from the divine fire within our soul.”

In this same section, Ms. Kidd tells a beautiful little story illustrating our tendency to judge our worth – and others – based on the ’size’ of our role:

“When my daughter was small, she got the dubious part of the Bethlehem star in a Christmas play. After her first rehearsal, she burst through the door with her costume, a five-pointed star lined in shiny gold tinsel designed to drape over her like a sandwich board. ‘What exactly will you be doing in the play?’ I asked her.

‘I just stand there and shine,’ she told me. I’ve never forgotten that response.”

Of course her daughter had the best part of all.

So mothers of the world, may you stand and shine by your own light this Mothers Day!!

Namaste-

Please share your own relevant books, quotes, or ’spiritual parenting’ lessons (Dads welcome too, and don’t worry, you’ll get your due next month) in the comments…

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Interview with Cyndi Dale – Chakra Expert and Author of The Subtle Body

A couple of weeks ago I reviewed The Subtle Body: An Encyclopedia of Your Energetic Anatomy by Cyndi Dale. If you read the review, you know I REALLY liked this book. Cyndi agreed to a phone interview with me, and I found talking with her just as fascinating as reading her book. We discussed how she went about researching this material, the many differences in energetic anatomy systems that she found, her view of the chakras, and – my favorite – the unique role of the second chakra in women, including how it relates to motherhood. While I had originally planned to post this interview after I had started my Mystic Spirituality for Women series, I liked it so much, and found it so relevant, that I decided to go ahead and post it now.

This printed interview is an abridged and edited version of the full interview. I hadn’t originally planned to post the full audio file, but Cyndi agreed to it and there is so much interesting material that I couldn’t cover it all here, so I’ve posted the podcast at the end. Enjoy, and feel free to post questions, comments and additional resources.

1. This must have been a huge undertaking, what led you to take on this project?

I have always wanted a book like this for myself, to use as a reference in my own practice, but never found a single source that combined this kind of information. So I really set out to write the book that I would want to have and use. Fortunately, the people over at Sounds True Publishing had wanted to do an encyclopedia of energetic anatomy for some time, and they were very open to whatever I wanted to include. And one of my goals was to create something anyone could understand, including someone who knew nothing about acupuncture, or chakras, or even electricity. I wanted to make the scientific information accessible and useful to anyone. But I also wanted it to be useful to experienced practitioners, whether they were medical doctors or energy healers.

It did involve a huge compilation of information. I don’t think a single source provided even a tenth of the information in any one section of the book. I really wanted to look back over five thousand years of human history, at all these different traditions, and say ‘look how they are different, but look what they have in common – a single word, energy.’

2. I have certainly never found anything else like it, and I thank you for creating it. I am not a healer, but think this is a tremendously valuable book for anyone interested in  this topic, especially because it combines so many different traditions. How did you go about researching all of this, and what did you learn?

One of the surprising things was how much I learned about the world’s different chakra systems. Chakras are my area of expertise, but I hadn’t realized how much variation there was out there, and how hard it would be gather info on some. I hadn’t realized how much variation there was in the traditional Indian or Hindu based systems that most of us learn here in the West. Most of us here have been taught that there are seven chakras, and with a few variations, that is what everyone knows. But when you look deeper into the East, at the Tibetan systems, and the Tantric systems, you can find systems that focus on only three, or even one with as many as twenty-four chakras.

Over time, each lineage and teacher focused on what they thought was the most important, and tailored their chakra system to their own purposes. And they didn’t always write it all down. Some of these chakra systems, I would be reading a book, and it would say ‘there are eight chakras in this system’ and then the book would only describe four. So much of the teachings have been done orally, and for different purposes, so there isn’t a universal agreement, even within traditional sources, on the subject. So there was a lot of culling involved, and I can see why no one had tried to compile all this before. By contrast, the traditional Chinese and Japanese meridian systems are pretty systematic and well-documented.

3. Yes, all the different chakra mappings from different traditions was one of my favorite parts of the book. How did you gather information on some of the more obscure ones, like the Cherokee and Mayan systems?

Well, when it comes to the chakras especially, I have been an avid reader on this topic for decades. As a child I was very intuitive, but I shut that down at about twelve, and opened back up in my early twenties, and since that time have been incessant about gathering information about the chakras, auric fields, intuition, divination, and other energy-related topics. So I had information on many of these systems in my library, and just had to dig a little deeper to get more info. The Mayan system for example, I had probably known about for twenty or twenty-five years from reading, and had also traveled down to the area to receive teachings directly from teachers and shamans.

4. So how about the scientific material, the information on physics and related scientific research that you also include in the book – was that information new to you or had you also been studying that for a long time?

No, it wasn’t new to me. About fifteen years ago I began to wonder if everything I was studying and doing was just so much New Age mumbo-jumbo, or whether there was some scientific validity to what was going on. I learned about the Hunt study, by Dr. Valerie Hunt, a UCLA professor who did research on the chakras. Since that time I have had a burning interest in gathering all the scientific information I could related to my areas of interest. A lot of that drive is personal, because growing up I was very intuitive, and was often told I was weird, or making things up, etc. And I came from a family with several medical doctors, so I was always kind of the black sheep. So subconsciously I do think I have been driven even more to find these kinds of scientific studies, so that I can say, ‘look, there really is something to this, this is science.’ And in fact, not only is there science about these invisible phenomena, but more and more science is saying the invisible drives the visible.

I am not against allopathic medicine at all, that is why I put in the physical anatomy section of the book. But to me, that is just the tip of the iceberg, just what we can see. If something can come out of the energetic realms to help us develop new ways of diagnosing people, or doing surgery, or whatever, then that can really help people. And these are the same worlds – the world of the meridians and chakras is the same world as the one we knock-on and call ‘allopathic’ or ‘concrete’ or ‘real.’ It’s the same world, and only science can explain that. Spirituality helps us experience it, but only science can help us explain it.

5. Yes, I couldn’t agree more, these two worlds are starting to come together. Which raises another interesting question, did you find a lot of difference between the systems derived for healing purposes and those derived for spiritual purposes?

Yes, I did. The meridian systems are very body-based, and so are well-diagrammed and universally agreed upon. And there is more research supporting the use of those systems. But most of the chakra systems have been developed within the context of spiritual teachings, and aren’t very body-based. Part of my life’s work has been to make chakra work more body-based, and actually that has bothered some people. In the past, when I was presenting work on using the chakras for aiding relationships, or manifesting abundance, people were offended by that. They said ‘this is an enlightenment system’. So that was a concern in this book too. I knew some of the kundalini teachings with a spiritual heritage have traditionally been kept private, and that there would be people that would say it was dangerous for me to make these so readily available.

6. Yes, I have run across that attitude too sometimes, in my own chakra meditation teaching. But I am starting to think that some of these things that might have been dangerous or risky in the past are not anymore, because of the heaviness of today’s world.

Yes, that’s a good point. In today’s world, we need every source of light, and passion, and compassion, that we can get to break through. We’ve had enough breakdown recently, we need a breakthrough. So maybe some of these techniques that in the past were considered only safe in the hands of a few are for us all now. We all need to be enlightened now. There’s just no turning around anymore. I think it’s exciting to put so-called ‘ancient knowledge’ or ‘hidden knowledge’ in people’s hands and minds. Because this really is ‘the secret’. The ‘secret’ isn’t wrapped up into some single law, the law of attraction…it’s really all these teachings. And this is really what this book is supposed to be doing, to be making that knowledge available.

7. I think it is a very empowering book in that way. Another question I wanted to ask you about regarding chakras was when you write that although most traditions discuss them as wheels of light, from a psychic’s point of view they are more like loosely connected bands of waves. Can you talk more about that?

Well basically in the world there are particles, or little dots of energy, and waves, or bands of moving energy, and then there is energy like light or photons that are both particles and waves. Chakras are able to convert waves of energy into particles and particles into waves. So chakras that are in the body, that center in the body, are almost like a little particle, but that particle emanates waves – waves and waves of energy. And chakras are able to read or hook into bands of waves that hook into the right vibratory level, and bring those into the system, into the body, and into different parts of us as well. So I think it’s a mistake that people just think of them as conical wheels. The ‘wheels’ are made out of these spectrums of streaming bands of energy. And not only do they emanate to the front and back, if you really look at it, the waves go sideways as well. There are bands of energy that go off the chakras that aren’t the auric fields and go out to the sides – and up and down for that matter.

8. It’s like they are a whole data collection system.

That’s really what they are – data collection, data storage, data interpretation. And information is only as good as what you know how to do with it. So that’s part of the chakra healing process – figuring out what good ‘software’ programs we have in there, and what bad ones, and how can we convert the bad ones. And then we can go a step further and say, ‘what latent programs do we have?’ What programs are programs that ‘came in’ with me, you could say, the ‘spirit’ programs, because those are stored on the inside of the chakras too.

9. Yes, fascinating. Ok, we are running short on time and I have to ask you a question that is personally important to me, regarding the second chakra. I feel like the second chakra functions differently in men and in women, and I haven’t been able to find much information on this. Do you think this is the case, and if so, have you come across anything on this?

I love it! In my first book, New Chakra Healing, which is actually getting reissued in July with more material, I actually do talk a bit about this. It came about because in my own healing work I kept seeing that women’s and men’s second chakras were different. Then years ago I read one of the Carlos Casteneda books, and he talks about the idea that women have an entire universe inside of their uterus. That the uterus itself is like a mini-universe, and it mirrors the outer universe. And because historically women are used to being treated like nothing, because on the outside they have had little, they have actually learned how to travel on the inward planes through this universe, whether in dreams or visions or other means.

So I personally believe that the seat of the kundalini in women is their second chakra. It has to of course incorporate the first chakra, but in women the second chakra initiates it. Which means that women really initiate [the kundalini rising] through second chakra areas such as feelings, emotions, the maternal instinct, and the desire to connect, much more than the desire to individuate [which is associated with the first chakra.] So these chakras are completely different for men and for women. And I think women’s power center is actually the second chakra, not the first chakra.

10. That’s exactly what I think! But I haven’t been able to find any support for that in classical texts. Have you, or do you think they were all written by men and so the information is just not there?

I think they were all written by men, I haven’t found it in any of the classical texts either. The only thing I ever found were the Castenada references. Women haven’t written – they know these things, but haven’t written them. It wasn’t safe – it wasn’t that long ago that women with visions or strong feelings were taken to the hospitals to have their uteruses removed, because they were ‘hysterical’ – that’s the ‘hysterectomy.’ If you look at history, until recently it hasn’t been safe for women to show these second chakra powers. The only other resource I can think of is Diane Stein, she’s written a lot of books about psychic abilities in women, and may talk about this a bit, but not so much from a technical perspective – the energy anatomy perspective.

11. Yes, well and for me my interest in this was really triggered by motherhood. At the point I had kids, at 37, I had already been doing chakra meditation for 15 years, and it took me a long time after the birth of my first child to figure out how to regather my second chakra, and still allow a healthy connection from it to my child. I feel like there is this whole tantric motherhood aspect that needs to be discovered and addressed.

Yes. I had a child first at 28 and then at 39, and I have worked with a lot of pregnant women, and based on my experience I started to track what I call the ‘cords’, a maternal cord between mother and child. I talk about this in the upcoming new edition of New Chakra Healing. It’s like an umbilical energetic cord. And it gradually resides over time, first at 3 months, then at 6 months, etc. Women are often shocked, they feel like they can’t do the things they used to do, and it’s because some of the energy is going to the child. And I don’t think you ever completely get the line back, you just have to learn to work with it. This is why you see a lot of women who don’t hit a stride of success or momentum, especially spiritually, until their fifties, when their kids are older. And of course some of us take that energetic cord and stick it into the wrong people, men or our own mothers or wherever, and feed them our energy, which is where we really lose our power.

Thank you Cyndi. Here’s The Subtle Body at Amazon, or visit Cyndi’s website. And here’s the full interview in mp3 form (please note that this recording is a little choppy – I hadn’t originally planned on posting the audio file):

cyndidaleinterviewmp3

Please: this with anyone you think might be interested.

Review – The Subtle Body: An Encyclopedia of Your Energetic Anatomy

I don’t usually like to do book reviews so close together (just recently did Empowering Your Indigo Child), but I find myself recommending The Subtle Body by Cyndi Dale to everyone I know (including recently in a comment on a healing blog I visit, Heal Pain Naturally), so I decided I should just go ahead and review it already! Plus, this book is related to some of the themes I recently covered in Women’s Energy Bodies – Phases and Life Cycles, and that I will be looking at in more detail in my upcoming mystic spirituality for women series, so it actually provides a nice transition post.

**EDIT**After this review was published, I was lucky enough to interview Cyndi on many topics related to this book, so be sure to check out that post too.

The subtitle for the The Subtle Body is ‘An Encylopedia of Your Energetic Anatomy’, and this is exactly what it is. Ms. Dale, an already respected author, healer and writer on the chakras (and sure to be even more so after this work) has compiled and detailed energy body teachings from virtually every known energy healing tradition. Among these are Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, native and shamanic traditions from around the world, Hindi, Tibetan and Kabbalah chakra systems, ancient Greek philosophy, Western mystic teachings such as those from the Rosucrucians, and many, many others. She has combined this material with sections on basic human anatomy, and coverage of cutting-edge science that supports the mind/body/spirit connection, including work in physics and research into various alternative healing methods.

The result is simply amazing, a masterpiece really, for any healer open to the idea that “All medicine is essentially energy medicine, for energy composes the world.” It is also a gift to anyone like myself who is not a healer but an occult geek interested in any and all energy body teachings. The book is primarily written as a reference manual for healers, and as such begins with chapters on general energy healing principles, and a chapter on ethical guidelines for healers. It then moves into a section on basic human anatomy. Although this anatomy section is pretty straightforward, Ms. Dale intersperses research tying energy theories to physical anatomy, such as one on the energetic principles behind DNA, and a sidebar on the different types of brain waves.

From there the book moves into its core topics, with major sections on Energy Fields, Energy Channels, and Energy Bodies. The Energy Fields section provides a primer on energy fields, from both a physics and energy healing perspective. Part of the value of this book is that Ms. Dale manages to explain things like the Unified Field Theory and Zero-Point Field Theory in terms a non-scientist like myself can understand (or mostly understand, anyway.) She then moves into all different kinds of waves, L-Fields and T-Fields, and more importantly, what all this has to do with various energy body theories. If all this sounds a bit too theoretical, don’t worry – since this is structured as a reference manual, each chapter is self-contained, and you don’t need to read it cover to cover. I have to admit to getting a bit bleary-eyed at the various wave theories, but I perked up in her section on Field Pollution, which covers the potential impact power lines, cell phones and microwaves have on our body’s various energy fields. I also particularly liked her chapter on Sacred Geometry, and the patterns underlying our physical world that help us work with subtle levels, including as part of healing.

The Energy Channels section is mostly devoted to a presentation of the meridian system used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, which serves as the source for both acupuncture and acupressure. Beautiful color pictures detail all the major meridians, and several comprehensive charts break down their relationships to the elements, acupuncture points, internal organs, and more. The Energy Bodies section then covers my primary interest – chakra systems, including the classic Hindi system, the slightly different Tibetan system, the Tsalagi (Cherokee) system, an Incan system, a Christian version derived from the Bible’s last book Revelations, Egyptian and African systems, and a Kabbalah-derived system. As with the meridians, each system is beautifully illustrated, and charts relate them to physical body parts and ailments. Ms. Dale also provides an overview of the role of chakras in the kundalini meditation practiced within some Hindu and Tibetan spiritual traditions. She finishes up with a section describing what must surely be every energy diagnostic and healing practice in the world – from acupuncture, cupping, moxibustion, and crystal use to thai massage,  numerology, radionics and mudras.

As I said, this book is a reference, an Encyclopedia, and is priced as such. But it is also expertly organized and indexed, to assure that a reader can return to it over and over looking for guidance on a particular ailment, energy system, or healing practice. Ms. Dale does compare the systems, but doesn’t try and reconcile the differences between them, or offer judgment on which are more effective or provable, leaving that, presumably, to the healer and/or reader. I would think any healer would want to own this book and keep it close at hand, and anyone interested in energy body theories from a spiritual perspective as well.

To check out quotes from the book, see the associated Twitter account homepage (I’ve been enjoying the daily quotes for a couple of weeks), and the author’s website at http://www.cyndidale.com/. You can also purchase the book at Amazon.

And, although I know book reviews don’t normally inspire a lot of comments, please feel free to use the comments on this one to recommend any related resources you have found, or, if you have read any of Cyndi Dale’s other books or know her personally, provide more feedback. I really enjoyed receiving so many of your comments on my last post, and have vowed to encourage more commenting going forward (unfortunately I found out I can’t install CommentLuv without upgrading to WordPress.org, and I just don’t have the mental bandwidth for that right now, but I do love your comments anyway!) I’ll continue the mystic series I started with my last post later this week….

And if you like, please:

Empowering Your Indigo Child – Book Review

Most of Empowering Your Indigo Child: A Handbook for Parents of Children of Spirit, by Wayne Dosick and Ellan Kaufman Dosick, is a manual instructing parents in psycho-spiritual healing rituals they can do with their children to help relieve the negative feelings and behaviors sometimes associated with Indigo children. Dr. Wayne Dosick is a Rabbi, educator, and healer who authored the book Golden Rules: Ten Ethical Values Parents Need to Teach Their Children. Ellen Dosick is an MSW and practicing psychotherapist who also practices spirit guidance, and publishes the teachings she receives through this guidance regularly. The methods in this book have been derived from the couples own work with Indigo children, and from their spirit guides.

I have provided some basic info on the Indigo Children theory, and written about my own doubts about it, in a prior post, Indigo Chidren – New Age Myth or Proof of Evolution? The introductory chapters of this book only increased my discomfort with certain aspects of the Indigo Children theory, mostly because the metaphysical framework put forth is very different from my own quasi-Buddhist perspective. For one thing, I’m not entirely comfortable with the idea of spirit guides (which might sound funny coming from someone who calls herself a mystic, but there you go.) I also am uncomfortable with the utopian expectations placed on these children; for example, the Dosicks write:

The Indigos have come to this Earth to envision and embody the coming perfection of our world. Earth’s evolution depends on the amazing gifts these children bring…they are the spiritual inheritors and, now, transmitters of this ever-evolving world of ours…

I am not inclined to believe the world will ever be perfected, or is meant to be so (although there’s no question there’s room for a lot of improvement), nor am I comfortable with the idea that a particular generation is born to play this role. Finally, I’m not comfortable with the idea that this generation is in a special kind of pain because of their  unique ’separation from God’. The authors write, “They come in perfection, and they are tossed into our wildly imperfect world.” Welcome to the human condition, as far as I’m concerned. Sages from every mystic tradition known to humankind have been writing about this kind of pain – and how to get out of it – for a millenia. It’s not new and it’s not unique.

Despite my reservations, I liked this book (once I got past the intro) because it is instructional and practical, and because I do believe that those working with Indigo Children have identified some unique spiritual and energy-based trends in today’s kids (whatever the cause.) And the methods outlined here draw on two things which I believe have  a very special healing power – ritual and the energy/spiritual connection between parent and child.

There are three sets of healing techniques outlined in the book. The first are the ‘YouMees’, seventeen exercises for children ages 7-17, designed to be performed in a ritual, game-like fashion, between parent and child. Each of these exercises is meant to address a particular form of negativity in a child, such as anger, grief, fear, distrust, despair, etc. Specific instructions are given for each exercise, including how to set up a sacred space to conduct them in, how to initiate each session, and how to close each one out. The exercises themselves are very easy to perform, mostly involving statements on the part of both the parent and child, and simple movements. The YouMees are the heart of the book, and considered the primary healing method for Indigo children.

The second healing method is designed for children under 7, who “have not yet developed the cognitive abilities and skills to participate meaningfully in a healing session…and are connected to their parents by a ’spiritual umbilical cord.’” In the ritual associated with this method, called Gracelight, the parent is acting as a surrogate for the child, until they are old enough to participate in the YouMees. Because my children are all under 7, I tried Gracelight out on my eldest, now 4 1/2, and could certainly feel the power of the exercise; she herself was absolutely fascinated with the process, not to mention thrilled at being 100% the center of my attention for awhile (a lesson in itself.) Because she doesn’t exhibit any particularly troublesome behavior (beyond what I consider normal for her age), it’s hard to say whether or not it had an impact, but I plan to continue to do these monthly for awhile as the authors suggest, and perhaps will post more on the result in a future post.

The final healing method is for adults who feel they are Indigos, and revolves around energy work with the seven primary chakras, and issues associated with their blockage. Because I teach and do chakra meditation, this was the most familiar to me, although none of it seemed particularly specific to Indigos.

To sum up, if you subscribe to the Indigo Children theory, and are a parent looking for new ways to work with your own children, you will probably really appreciate Empowering Your Indigo Children. If you aren’t so sure, or aren’t a parent, you may still find it interesting. If you’d like more information about the book, you can visit the authors website at Soul by Soul.

I welcome comments! Go to the book page for more book reviews, or the parenting page for other posts related to spiritual parenting.

Women’s Energy Bodies – Phases and Life Cycles

I have been wanting to do this post for some time. The cycles of women’s energy bodies is a neglected area, within both conventional and new age spiritual teachings, and also within both mainstream and alternative healing systems. Note that I am not a healer, so my primary interest in this subject is spiritual – how knowledge and use of our various energy systems can contribute to our spiritual growth, mostly through experiences that are only available when we have full access to our personal power. These kinds of teachings are primarily found in Vajrayana Buddhism and Kundalini Yoga traditions, but I have also found some in various shamanic traditions, pagan traditions, the medieval Christian women mystics, Kabbalah, and Sufism.

I am using the generic term ‘energy body’, because I am trying to write from outside any one particular tradition, each of which have their own terms and mappings. This post is too high-level to compare and contrast the various mappings, but I welcome any comments on the subject. I also don’t have space to provide references for everything I am saying – this is my own take anyway – but I have included a few book suggestions at the end for those interested.

I have broken this down by life phase, and focused on what I think it is most important for us to develop within each phase from a spiritual perspective. This is pretty high-level (and long!) but I wanted to get it out there as a resource in this form, and I can do more detailed posts on each phase if there is interest(please comment to let me know.)

The Basics of Women’s Energy Bodies

In general, women’s energy bodies are more open, absorbent, and fluid than men’s. Men’s are denser and tend to function more naturally like a shield. We women soak in more of the energies around us – which can become the fuel for intuition, but can also become a source of dispersion and mental distraction.

The sensitivity of our energy body runs in cycles corresponding to our monthly menstruation cycle. During the first half, leading up to ovulation, our energy body is a little sturdier, and we are more outward-oriented in response. In the second-half, leading up to menstruation, we are more sensitive to external energies and often more inward-oriented.

Adolescence: Swinging, Deepening, Settling Into Cycles

Adolescence is when these monthly cycles first kick into gear. In addition to being a phase of intense hormonal and physical changes (including in the brain), it is a period of intense psycho-spiritual changes. Just as a girl’s body is transforming into a women’s, her energy body is transforming into a women’s energy body. And the problem in our culture is that this is mostly processed on a sexual level.

In addition to being absorbent, our energy bodies are more attraction-oriented. We are like little magnets, pulling other energies towards us, particularly in that first half of our cycle. And we are generally socialized to use this power sexually, to attract others (mostly men of course, but friends and admiration, too.) This can prevent us from recognizing that this power, the ‘yin’ aspect of creation, can be used for other pursuits, particularly creative ones (and I am using ‘creative’ in the sense of anything we want to create in our lives, not just artistic endeavors.)

So the most important thing for us to focus on in this stage is developing an identity and relationship to our power that is not based on sexual attraction.

Focus on recognizing that procreative energy is not just sexual; it is part of your overall personal power, and can be directed into all of your endeavors, particularly creative ones.

Early Adulthood: Sexuality, Mating, Conscious Understanding of Cycles

Ideally, our late teens and twenties are a period of developing our personal power, learning how to direct it through manifesting our goals, and consciously understanding our natural psycho-spiritual cycles. But if we have only come to own our personal power through our sexuality, our focus will be too heavily on attracting others. This happens to most of us to a certain extent, and few of us emerge from this period with our full personal power at our disposal. We lose an opportunity to gather ourselves up, in a sense, for our larger life’s purposes, including our spiritual realization.

I believe that from a spiritual perspective, owning our personal power is the most valuable thing we can do during this phase – more valuable even than explicit spiritual study or practice. And we can own our personal power through any activity that we feel passionately about, and strive to excel within. Having concrete external goals during this phase helps teach us about the ebbs and flows of our energy cycles. That being said, developing a meditation practice during this time is particularly beneficial.

Focus on developing personal power, and manifesting it concretely within your life, whether that be through higher learning, career, sports, the arts, hobbies, or (of course) spirituality.

Pregnancy: Ride the Bliss, Release/Surrender, Enjoy Increasing Connection to the ‘Other Side’

For those that choose to have children (more on that later), pregnancy can be an amazing time for developing your intuitive and creative abilities (nausea, backaches, and constipation aside, of course.) Ideally, you have come into this phase with a well-developed sense of your personal power and cycles (if not, these lessons are harder to access.) During pregnancy, your energy body gradually becomes more and more open, which can be disconcerting if you are constantly around people. On the other hand, if you can withdraw into yourself, you can sense your increasing connection to ‘the other side’ (I will leave this vague, like the term ‘energy body’, so that I can keep this non-denominational.) It is as if carrying a life within you has opened a doorway for that life to come through, and you can now go through that doorway the other way too.

This is a wonderful time to go inward. Meditate, read spiritual books, explore intuitive and creative interests, and of course, prepare yourself for the challenges ahead.

Focus on developing intuitive abilities and riding the bliss as part of being increasingly connected to the other side.

Motherhood: Carrying the Load, Balancing Energy Needs of Mother and Child

The ‘doorway’ of pregnancy closes pretty quickly post-partum, generally in the first eight weeks. In addition to the hormonal changes and sleep-deprivation, it can be brutal. That being said, some women glide right through this transition phase (more power to them.) If you have developed your spiritual awareness, this phase will be easier, as you will be capable of continuing to ‘travel’ to the meditative planes you discovered during pregnancy on your own.

Whether you will have the time or energy to do so is another matter! Your energy body is now literally extended outside your body, to encompass your baby (they don’t call it the ‘fourth trimester’ for nothing.) You will not fully reclaim that energy for almost two decades (and some women never do). And the same is true for each additional child you have. On an energy level, motherhood is a sacrifice, plain and simple. Hopefully, it is a sacrifice of love. If so, it can bring you as much back spiritually as you put into it.

For that to happen, you have to make peace with the sacrifice, and you have to pace your energy use and development in accordance with your children’s maturation. Ideally, at each phase of growth, your children own more and more of their own personal power, and you can take just a little bit more back for yourself. Gradually reclaiming this energy is key, and taking good enough care of yourself that you are not entirely swallowed up by motherhood, psychologically and energetically. This is primarily what spirituality is about during this phase.

Focus on striking the right energy balance between sustaining your child/children with energy appropriate for their age, and reclaiming your personal power as he/she/they grow up.

Maturity Childfree: Increased Gathering, Exploring Advanced Teachings

For women who do not have children (by choice or circumstance), the pre-menopause adult years are a tremendous spiritual opportunity. I feel it is very important to say this, because in many religious traditions, a women’s spiritual worth seem to be equated with motherhood (check out my post on the Religious Mommy Wars for a semi-rant on this.) Those who put this forth seem to be forgetting that most of the better known mystics in all religious traditions, male or female, have not had families, and in most cases, have been celibate (see Women Mystics for some.)

While many people think this is for moral reasons (sex is impure and all that BS), if you read the actual teachings in mystic traditions, it is clear that originally there was a recognition of the energy benefit of celibacy and/or childlessness. In fact, in the more complex energy-based yogas, such as some lineages of Tantric Buddhism and Kundalini yoga, remaining childless is considered a benefit or even a requirement in order to receive advanced teachings, especially for women. That is because in order to technically accomplish some of the practices, you must have access to 100% of your procreative energies, which these practices help you redirect into meditative techniques. A woman who has children simply has too much of her energy dispersed for much of her life. (Of course, a lot of women didn’t live much past their childbearing years until the last century, so perhaps more mothers with grown children who have fully reclaimed their energy will explore this.)

This is not to say that we mothers cannot achieve enlightenment, or spiritual liberation, or whastever you wish to call it. It just makes certain energy techniques, and certain paths, more of a challenge, for certain periods of our mothering years. And childfree women do not have these particular challenges. So the sky’s the limit! Explore your personal power, and spirituality of all types, particularly energy-based ones. Intuitive fields, divination, energy healing systems, and the creative arts also draw on this energy.

Focus on expanding your intuitive and energy knowledge, and redirecting your procreative energies into the mystic teachings of whatever spiritual tradition you are a part of.

Perimenopause: Transition to Mystic-hood

Perimenopause is the transition period leading into menopause, which physically can last anywhere from 1 to 10 years (which for most women would fall in their mid to late forties and early fifties). Unfortunately, this phase is not even recognized as a phase by many doctors and healers, because the signs can be slight and fluctuating, and because these traditions were originally developed primarily by men, based on an understanding of men’s bodies.

Just as this is a period of physical transition with fluctuating symptoms and signs, so it is on the energy and spiritual levels. Ideally, a mother has reclaimed much of her energy for herself (or at the very least is out of the intense early childhood days), and a childfree woman has explored the mystic levels of her awareness. Both are now preparing for what can be a complete rebirth as a mystic during menopause.

On the energetic level, the entire perimenopausal period is a prepatory one. The monthly energy body cycles are starting to dissipate, and with appropriate preparation will settle into a permanent state of increased intuitive sensitivity and strength.

Focus on developing or continuing to deepen a meditation practice, and on exploring energy and mystics teachings that appeal to you.

Menopause: Birth of a Mystic

I use the word ‘mystic’ loosely on this site, to refer to spiritual seekers and teachers that focus on personal and direct experience of divinity. To be a mystic does not imply enlightenment, but it does imply a certain approach to spirituality – not a philosophical one, but an awareness-based one. Our awareness is infinite, but we are usually too weighed down by our human thoughts and emotions, and our own sense of self, to experience most of them.  Put generally, mystic spirituality is about getting outside of that human self, and travelling through our awareness, to other planes. This requires an unusual level of knowledge and control over both our awareness and energy body.

We can practice mysticism at any point during our lives, but as I’ve tried to ouline here, there are challenges and distractions to our doing so at each prior stage of our lives. Ideally, at and after menopause, these are all gone. If we own our personal power and have developed our knowledge of the mystic levels of our awareness, menopause is a time we can take this to the limit, if we haven’t already. Many Eastern and native traditions acknowledge this phase as the most spiritual time in a women’s life. If we haven’t become a mystic before this, know is the time.

Focus on fully reclaiming and/or owning your personal power, deepening your spiritual understanding and practices, and go for it – become a mystic, whatever that means to you.

This post has gone on long enough, so here’s a brief list of some books that have related material.

The Sorcerer’s Crossing: A Woman’s Journey, by Taisha Abelar

Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause, by Dr. Christiane Northrup

Initiation, by Elisabeth Haich

The Female Brain, by LouAnn Brizendine

Lady of the Lotus-Born: The Life and Enlightenment of Yeshe Tsogyal, by Gyalwa Changtub

Dakini’s Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism, by Judith Simmer-Brown

The Subtle Body, by Cyndi Dale