Tag Archives: Spirituality

Dec 9 2012

Supernal Reading–Three Mystic Books

As my life grows increasingly multi-dimensonal, I am drawn to books that mirror my interests and experiences. Here are three I’ve recently read that are definitely “Supernal” in nature.

Lessons from the Light: A True Story of Angels and Healing by Myra Starr with John Mulkey.

Lessons From The LightThe day she died is the day she began really living. Today Myra Starr is known as a healer and mystic living a quiet life surrounded by nature. Her former occupation as a corporate shark came to an abrupt halt after a Near Death Experience that took her to new realms. Writer John Mulkey does an excellent job of unfolding Myra’s transformation. From her visionary lessons with an angelic guide, Maya, to her beginnings as a healer, Starr strives to offer the best of herself as a healer and teacher. There is a lot of instructional material for spiritual development in the book, that makes it more than a memoir. Mulkey sets an authentic tone that makes for easy reading. Great reading for the spiritual adventurer!

Shadow of the Final Storm by Carol McCLain Craver

Shadow of the Final Storm (The Pink House Series)Time travel and reincarnation weave together in this novel set in present-day Galveston that flashes back to the weeks leading up to the great Galveston hurricane of 1900. By coincidence I read it as Hurricane Sandy was devastating the North East. The main character, Sirena, returns to her childhood bungalow on Galveston on a mission of self-discovery. Greeted by the ghosts of her great-grandparents, she confronts her issues of the present and past to find her future. Craver has a lot of elements working here–basically that a person can be living two lives simultaneously. She manages to pull it off without totally confusing the reader. I admired her courage at taking on the complexities of the storylines. An interesting read–especially when a big hurricane is actually making landfall.

The Opening by Ron Savarese:

The Opening“Visionary Fiction” is definitely on the rise. Reminiscent of Jacob Nordby’s excellent The Divine Arsonist, The Opening deals with a man who goes on a mystical life review. The opening line My appointment with death was less than a month away introduces us to Joe St. John–a typical American, successful middle aged white male. From the book description:

Joe St. John wanders out into a blizzard and falls through an opening that leads him to amazing, sometimes harrowing places where he encounters the major turning points in his life. Along the way, he revisits his missed opportunities, uncovers his life’s core trauma, and is given mysterious geometrical symbols that hold the key to his future. As Joe’s soul hovers between two worlds he will discover the truth about life and death, and be confronted with the ultimate choice: save his own life, or give it up for someone he loves.

The quality of the writing kept me engaged. Sometimes it’s not so much what you say, as how you say it. Savarese has an adroit ability to create mood and characters. The Opening borrows from “A Christmas Carol” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” in theme and throws in a layer of current metaphysical philosophy. An interesting spirit quest for the modern man.

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streamshandsmall     Ever-Flowing Streams: Tapping into Healing Energy by Dana Taylor

From customer reviews:

“shares so much information on different ways of accessing all that is available
to us in the vibrational, energy realm of the Universe”

“Highly recommended for anyone with an open mind and an open heart.”

“She covers a lot of territory, sharing the many paths she explores, and does it
with a sense of humor and delight we get to share with her along the way.”

Jul 28 2011

Supernal Living: Part Two

 Most of us center our awareness of life in our head—what we see, what we hear, taste, smell and mostly—think. Our thoughts chatter and clutter. With the advent of texting and countless digital devices, we can draw further into the mind and lose touch with everything going on around us. We also miss the other centers of personal awareness and exhaust ourselves in the process. I first became aware of sensing the world through other centers when I began praying for people in church settings. My hands grew in sensitivity to changes of the electromagnetic fields surrounding the person I was praying with. Taking it a step further after I received energy worker attunements, my hands turned into little Geiger Counters. They literally buzz as I move over an area that requires healing energy. I can feel the strands of energy lengthen and stretch, as if I’m untying energy knots.

 As I began studying quantum physics and vibrational medicine, I read about the “subtle body”—the energetic body. We are all an intricate highway system of energy paths in and around our physical body. Through meditation, I learned how to sense them. According to Eastern medicine there are seven basic energy centers running from the groin to the head. While many of us are oblivious to most of these energy centers, the sexual center of awareness is the one almost everyone past the age of ten can identify. Have you ever thought about the dynamics of sexual attraction? Physical responses follow the initial awareness as that energy center is opened and literally engulfs the whole person. Sometimes that center is so powerful it overrules all common sense or society rules.

 If you move up the body to the stomach, you’ll find another energy center. Ever had a “gut reaction”–a sudden awareness that something is either very wrong or very right? Good detectives are known for “following their gut.” It’s an intuitive center hovering around the belly that plays an important role in daily decisions. I’ve found when my mind is confused over an issue, I do better to relax and open that lower energy center. When the belly and mind find peace, I’ve usually made my decision.

 Traveling to the chest is, of course, the heart. Love songs, spiritual traditions, pledging by “crossing our heart” all acknowledge the importance of the heart energy center. For most of my life, the concept of “opening your heart” was theoretical. Certainly, I experienced love, but I didn’t feel it in my chest. Anxiety was the best description of any awareness in my chest. Then a series of emotional circumstances and a few more attunements triggered the opening of my heart center. Like a rusty door on creaky hinges, the opening was jerky. Physically, it was painful, like walking around with an open wound. Many buried emotional issues came to light and required attention and healing. Now, several years down the road, I can enjoy the expansion of my heart center. Awareness of the world through the heart can be beautiful. Nature sings and paints. Empathy and compassion from the heart make other people more human and less threatening. Living with your heart awareness on alert enriches daily living beyond measure—from enjoying the smile of a child to relishing sunset at day’s end.

 I encourage you to give your head a rest and discover your other awareness centers. Discover Supernal Living.

Jul 17 2011

Poems from the Heart of Katherine T Owen

I spent some time this morning with poet Katherine T. Owen. No, we didn’t have breakfast together. Katherine lives in England and I’m in Los Angeles. I happened upon her small collection of poems via my Kindle. I have an Internet relationship with Katherine, of sorts. We met through a writing contest for spiritual authors and felt a kinship, though we’ve never exchange a word. With little fanfare Katherine has published Be Loved, Beloved—14 Spiritual Poems. I spent my morning quiet time seeped in Katherine’s words.

 Her poems were forged in the midst of deep personal struggle. As a young woman Katherine was incapacitated through a disease known as M.E.—Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. In her words “I…spent fourteen years bedbound with little movement and little speech…My life took on two sides: the difficult circumstances in which I was living—fighting to survive, and the rich, although initially also grueling, spiritual journey.”

 While the doctors may have called Katherine’s disease M.E, her poems reveal a major blockage of divine love as her true dis-ease. For whatever reason, Katherine deemed herself unloveable. From her sparse words emerges the picture of a woman who had the wall between God and herself removed, one revelation at a time. One poem at a time.

 One thing that struck me was the stripping of ego in the work. Most of us have a comfy ego façade, but weakness and disease tore Katherine’s away. Her poems come from the heart.

 It’s a short piece, easily read in half an hour, but the beauty of poetry is its ability to be fresh with each reading, like listening to a favorite song over and over. Be Loved, Beloved is a precious little tome to be revisited time and again.

Jun 18 2011

Book Review: New Age Classic “The Parables of Kryon”

 

“The Parables of Kryon” by Lee Carroll was first published in 1996. At that time I was living in Oklahoma, the buckle of the Bible Belt, basically a galaxy away from Del Mar, CA where Mr. Carroll was at the forefront of the New Age movement. The Kryon material is channeled information, which in many circles still has the connotation of being straight from the Devil’s Lair. I’ve found channeled material to run the gamut from the ridiculous (“greetings, Earthlings”) to life changing (“A Course in Miracles”).

Since acquiring a Kindle, I enjoy exploring all the spiritual book lists seeking the rare gem, the classic I missed along the way. I’d vaguely heard of Lee Carroll and Kryon, even in the insulated heartland, and decided to risk perdition by downloading “The Parables of Kryon.” What I discovered was a delightful collection of twenty deceptively “simple” stories rich with profound life lessons.  Just as Jesus taught the villagers of his day through tales like The Prodigal Son, The Sower of Seeds, and The Good Samaritan, Kryon shares his philosophy via the storytelling tool.

The book begins with the brief “Parable of the Tar Pit” where everyone thinks being covered in tar is normal until one person is suddenly washed clean. Carroll serves as interpreter of the Kryon tales he receives, spelling out the spiritual lesson in case you missed it. Disciples can be a little dense, as Jesus learned when he had to explain the Sower of the Seeds analogy to his followers. Likewise, Carroll makes clear the philosophical lessons behind “The Big, Fuzzy Caterpillar” (a wormy creature who misses the chance to become a butterfly), “The Two Groups of Warriors” (reminiscent of putting on the whole armor of God in Ephesians), “David the Indian” (who breaks through foggy boundaries) and the rest with summaries at the end of each story.

I found myself reading one parable a morning, like a daily devotional, ruminating on the spiritual lessons, sometimes agreeing, sometimes not, but each story was always food for thought. The piece stands as a sort of spiritual movement historical marker, using phrases like “New Age” and “life contract” that were once new and have now taken on a lot of baggage.  The order of the stories starts with universal life lessons that would not rock many boats to increasingly New Age concepts of reincarnation and karmic principles that would definitely send mainstream Christians back behind their fences.

Still, for those spiritual explorers who enjoyed hearing Bible stories in Sunday school, “The Parables of Kryon” delivers some interesting concepts in a variety of entertaining tales.

Visit the Lee Carroll/Kryon website at Kryon.com