I’ve been teased throughout my life for talking too much and for being a social butterfly. And, in fact, one of my strengths is my ability to communicate and deal with all sorts of people.  My successful career in corporate sales is a testament to that.

I was reminded of this during a recent trip to the Big Island of Hawaii.   I attended a workshop given by Elizabeth Jenkins on Inkan mysticism.  During this weeklong adventure, Elizabeth taught us the techniques that she had gathered from the many years studying with the Q’ero community of Peru.   We did a lot ceremony and several of the initiations included jumping into freezing cold pools of water and walking barefoot across an old a’a lava flow.

One of the participants, noticing my reticence to jump headlong into these exercises, began teasing me – and calling me “The Reluctant Paco.” The term “paco” in this case refers to an initiate of the Andean mystical traditions.  And, I realized right away that this was a moniker that I could wear proudly.

Having been involved in far too many to remember spiritual retreats and classes over the years – I’ve learned that it’s good to look before you leap.   Putting a little space between myself and what’s being taught allows me the opportunity to judge whether what’s being given out is worth taking in or not.  And, if that looks like reluctance — well then, so be it.

Here’s a video taken shortly after our barefoot walk across the a’a lava flow near the Black Sand Beach.   Aloha.

Well, you get Russell Simmons’ new book, Super Rich.

And, don’t let the title fool you. Although Russell may be a super rich hip hop mogul, this book is not about creating wealth and a lavish lifestyle. Instead, Russell provides a road map for his fans to jump start their spiritual evolution. In describing his journey – from hip hop promoter to promoting spiritual well-being — he offers insights into how he ditched his street mentality and simplified his life by meditating and practicing yoga. Interspersed among these observations are quotes from many sources including Gandhi, Yogananda, Lao-Tsu, the Maharishi, and the Bhagavad Gita.

Super Rich provides readers with simple, straightforward principles that will help them grow rich in mind, body, and spirit. Writing in a down-to-earth street smart style, Russell conveys the notion of spiritual transformation in terms that the hip hop generation can relate to. Where else can you find the Law of Attraction explained from the perspective of the pimp-ho dynamic. By promoting what he calls the “2 C’s” — consciousness and compassion — his goal for each day is to be more awake and less distracted. Ultimately, he wants his readers to cultivate and maintain their creative inspiration – which is the key to true happiness.

In full disclosure, I’m a hip hop fan from way back. And, I was lucky enough to see Russell’s brother’s group, Run DMC, several times back in the 80’s just as they began getting airplay on MTV.  So, I truly enjoyed reading how his personal and business experiences impacted his spiritual development — both positively and negatively.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that’s looking for a good read – and perhaps a little spiritual enlightenment.

Remember all the buzz surrounding the promotion of the “The Secret?”   There were the Oprah appearances, the Larry King interviews, the DVD rising to #1 on Amazon – and then “The Secret II.”

All that hype got me to thinking about our consumer-driven demand for spiritual products – and what underlies this phenomenon.  I must admit that my first impulse was to judge it harshly – but, then I began to step back and explore my own personal culpability in creating this sensation.

Since beginning my spiritual explorations back in the 70’s — I’ve discovered that there are many ways to get diverted and distracted on the spiritual path.  The Buddhist teacher, Chogyam Trungpa acknowledges that there are “numerous sidetracks which lead to a distorted, ego-centered, version of spirituality” where we end up only deceiving ourselves into thinking that we are developing spiritually, when, in fact, we’re only “strengthening our ego-centricity through spiritual techniques.”  He calls this principle spiritual materialism – and, in our culture, where economic success is valued above all else, its no surprise that this marketplace is growing by leaps and bounds.

One has only to go online or into any bookstore these days to find a dizzying array of spiritual products, techniques, and services.  Ads abound for healers, body workers, psychics, and schools for almost any mystical pursuit.  The underlying message seems to be that there’s something missing in our lives – and even more subliminally, that there must be something wrong with us.

I’ve felt this void – and it’s caused me to accumulate far more mystical teachings and paraphernalia than I’d like to admit – crystals, pyramids, feng shui tchotchkes, you name it.  And, in the end, I still felt unfulfilled – longing for something more.

Through a series of interviews with New Age gurus, “The Secret” explores the implications of the metaphysical “law of attraction.”  The basic message is that your thoughts create your reality.  Whatever you focus on, you’ll manifest.

Following this logic – is it possible that my personal attachment to being spiritually material might actually be co-creating (along with everyone else) our current money-driven mystical marketplace? And so, although I could write endless critiques on the plethora of metaphysical fads and crazes – it might be somewhat hypocritical of me to criticize a reality that I’ve had a hand in creating.

During an Esther Hicks “Law of Attraction” seminar I attended a few years back – I kept hearing everyone refer to “what they were wanting” in their lives.  People mostly wanted health, happiness, and financial security.  But, I wondered which part of them was actually doing that wanting.  Was it the wisest part of them?  Or was it just their ego wanting to be the center of attention, wanting to be protected at all cost.

I realized that the reason I was left feeling empty after “The Secret,” the Esther Hicks seminar, and with other metaphysical teachings — was that none of them offered any insight into how to get my ego out of the way.  How could I allow my ego to step aside gracefully — so I wouldn’t end up being just be another spiritual tourist shopping my way through an unfulfilled life?

I did find a simple yet profound solution to this dilemma in the philosophy of Tibetan Buddhism.  This tradition views the spiritual path as a process where we cut through our confusion – until we reach enlightenment.  Enlightenment is defined as an awakened state of mind – where the ego has relinquished control.  This awakened state is not a commodity to be bought or sold – but, a permanent state that’s already there, waiting to be discovered.  And, it can be discovered through something as simple as meditation.  Just by sitting still and being quiet on a daily basis — imagining the sun appearing from behind the clouds, my clouds.

Amassing great collections of books, teachings, sacred objects, and techniques aren’t going to allow those clouds to part.  So, the sooner I get started on my meditation practice, the less attachment I’ll have to what’s being bought and sold in the spiritual marketplace.  And then I can just let it be — and smile.

Source:
Trungpa, Chogyam; “Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism”; Shambhala Publications, Inc.; Boston, Massachusetts; 1973. Here’s a brief introduction.

Who were you at 8 or 9?

Feeling stuck in your life?  Are you looking to regain a sense of potency and vibrancy?

You might find it useful to look back to who you were as a young girl. Back before the pressures of puberty, and then life in general, may have steered you onto a different course.  Perhaps that little girl knew exactly who she was — and what she wanted to be when she grew up.

In her book, The Girl Within, Emily Hancock asks us to do just that — to rediscover the gifts and dreams we had at 8 or 9.  She refers to this period as “an interim space between fantasy and reality that fosters creative self-ownership.” According to her research, re-discovering the girl within — and reintegrating that androgynous little girl — appears to be the key to a woman’s identity.

I spent my childhood just beyond the western suburbs of Philadelphia. A dreamy, intuitive child, I loved music, animals, and playing in the woods and fields that surrounded my home.

I would entertain myself for hours in my tree fort. I loved imagining that I was a secret agent solving mysteries. I also loved drawing mazes and writing about my cats. Life was good. I felt connected to my world.

But then, when I was 8, everything changed.

My mother, nine months pregnant with my sister, had a stroke. And, although this event was never spoken about, I felt a growing sense of uneasiness and uncertainty enter my life. With a father who worked far from home — and sisters and a brother to look after — I was forced to become an adult way too early.

In this new reality there was no place for that dreamy little girl. I had to be responsible. And so, I devoted the next 30 years of my life to building structures that I thought would make me feel safe and secure. I got a good education and what seemed like the right jobs. But, all I ended up with was a dreamy girl trapped inside a hardened business woman’s body (with plenty of chiropractic bills to show for it).

Now I’m rediscovering that little girl — and integrating her energy, vitality, and enthusiasm back into my life — safe in the knowledge that her gifts will actually guide and protect me on the rest of my journey.

Try looking back to those years — and see who you find. She might have something very valuable to teach you.

Source:
Emily Hancock,“The Girl Within,” New York, Ballantine Books, 1989.

I used to love my OB/GYN. We were partners in keeping me healthy.  Showing up for my annual visit was, at worst, a mild inconvenience.

That is, until my hormones started doing their dance — moving me into what appeared to be my change-of-life. And, I was no longer satisfied with the information I was getting from her.

I’m sure she meant well. But, her busy practice wasn’t allowing her the time to keep current on the latest research. And, the drug reps who visited weren’t going to educate her on any advances outside traditional medicine.

So, I became my own health advocate, and set out on a journey that ultimately lead me to discover how to restore a more normal, physiologically rhythmic cycle to my life.

One aspect of this includes the use of a natural bioidentical HRT protocol outlined in T.S. Wiley’s “Sex, Lies, & Menopause.”

Here’s a list of doctors who are offering this solution.

Although many of us feel that our lives are getting more complex - and that the very ground beneath our feet is shaking loose — its important to learn how to hold the space
for our new world to form.

The cultural analysis offered by Drs. Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson in their groundbreaking book about the Cultural Creatives offers a hopeful context in which to view our current predicament.

According to their research, there’s a huge underlying movement in our society that can (if mobilized) push forward a very positive vision of the world we want to create.  But, in order for this “Cultural Creative” movement to become empowered it must (1) become more self-aware, and (2) realize that it has the strength to be major force in transforming
our culture.

So, why haven’t we heard more about this Cultural Creative subculture? In spite of the fact that in the U.S. alone there may be as many as 50 million Cultural Creatives — the media and other power structures are still supporting “business as usual” - focusing most of their attention on the other 2 subculturesin our society — the Moderns and the Traditionals.

Here’s an overview of these 3 subcultures operating in our society today.

(1) The Modern mainstream.  Running full steam ahead for the last 500 years, this subculture believes that the economy is the dominant force in our lives.  Modernism worships time and money. It’s their belief in the tech economy that is currently transforming the world.  Moderns accept the system the way it is — and, they’re not looking for alternatives.

(2) The Traditional life stance rejects the advance of Modernism. This was actually America’s first counter-culture (founded
after the Civil War, c.1870).  Not only do they reject the modern worldview — they really don’t understand it — nor can many of them succeed in it.  This subculture invented fundamentalism and the myth of a small-town America.

(3) The Cultural Creatives — many of which are leaving the modern mainstream behind — will be the bridge spanning the distance between what’s good from our past and the future that’s being created.  Many in this group are synthesizers and healers.  They carry the promise of creating an integral planetary culture - and many of them are trying to live a more soul-oriented life.  They believe that you can work on yourself and change the world at the same time.

Think of it this way … if you take the 20+ social movements and all the consciousness movements of the past 30+ years - you have a large group of people that might not all think exactly alike — but, they do in many respects share a collective consciousness
that is primed for cultural change.  Its like there’s a

The challenge is to create the infrastructure that will support the Cultural Creative movement going mainstream — in the marketplace, the media, political systems, educational systems, and beyond.

By discovering our common values we can begin to work together (despite our differences) to create and implement “a rich array of new cultural solutions.”   And, the world will definitely take notice.

Spread the word.

Sources:
Joseph Campbell, “The Power of Myth,” New York: Doubleday, 1988.

Paul H. Ray, Ph.D., and Sherry Ruth Anderson, Ph.D, “The Cultural Creatives, How 50 Million People Are Changing the World.” New York: Three Rivers Press, 2000.
For more info. check out their website.

Archetypes exist (whether acknowledged or suppressed) in all of us — men and women alike. They’re the foundation for all our thinking, feelings, and behavior patterns.

According to Jungian psychology, an archetype is an inherited pattern of thought or symbolic imagery derived from the past collective experience and present in the individual unconscious.

And what of our past collective experience? What did it contain? What’s reflected out there — and what’s being held in the shadows?

We’ve lived too long out-of-balance. The creation of our new global consciousness requires that our feminine archetypes are awakened (in us all) — brought out into the open — and restored to full consciousness.

Source for definition: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.

The Goddess Ma’at is the symbol of Truth and Justice. Her symbol is the feather. Her essence is the cosmic order and natural laws that make up our reality.

After death, your heart is weighed on the scales against her feather. If your heart is lighter than the feather, you can move on. If not, its back to earth for another incarnation.

During your life you can make your heart lighter by unburdening yourself of ignorance, hatred, and attachment.

For many the word “apocalypse” conjures up images of death and destruction.  We’re reminded of the the long-prophesied cataclysmic “end of times.”

But, if we look deeper — the word takes on a different significance.  The word “apocalypse” is derived from the Greek word meaning

to uncover, to lay open what has been veiled or covered up.

The last book of the Bible — “Revelation”- was originally titled “Apokalupsis Iohnnou.”  “Apokalupsis” in its Greek raw root form means

to uncover what has been covered up.

We now have an opportunity to discover long-hidden truths.

It’s the end of the world as we know it.

The veils are being lifted. What a wondrous time to be alive.

Sources:
“Thayer’s Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament.” Hendrickson Publishers, 2002.

And, thanks to REM for their great song.

Raising the Djed Pillar

In Egyptian symbology, the djed pillar represents the backbone of Osirus, King of the Underworld. It stands for strength and stability.

Saturn breaks down what’s not working and builds new infrastructures. It’s now moving through the sign of Libra (in western astrology).  New foundations are being built wherever Saturn is transiting. This is where we’re being called to strengthen our backbone.

Where is Libra in your natal chart? Saturn started this project back in 2009 — and will continue it through 2012.

Can you feel the difference?

For more on the djed pillar click here.