Part 2:  Awakening by (re)opening the senses Every animal has a dominant sense, a sense that has been developed to a high level in order to help it survive. Often you can identify the dominant sense just by looking at the animal. Which of its sensory organs is largest? In these exercises you use the names of animals to remind … Read More

Part 1:  Awakening by point focus In the next three articles I’ll describe powerful ways to expand your consciousness beyond the physical. What makes them unusual is that their starting point is the input of your physical senses. They engage the physical senses to transcend the physical senses. You might think of them as shamanic shortcuts to direct experience of … Read More

As a child I was captivated by the beauty and strength of the images and message of the 23rd Psalm. After the first three verses, however, that feeling was lost. I was repelled by the confrontational aspect of verses four and five. This was not my idea of a desirable existence. Gone were the green pastures and still waters. The … Read More

If you’ve read more than one or two of my posts, you’ve noticed that I hop from one topic to another, and that the hops are sometimes rather large. This post is another of the metaphysical/spiritual ones. It attempts to capture one aspect of larger Experience. I’ve made many journeys beyond the physical, into past lives and realms where even … Read More

A few weeks ago I met Valería Teles, the force behind the podcast “A Quest for Well-Being.” The eventual result was a thoroughly enjoyable and stimulating discussion that I’d like to invite you to hear. It’s available as a 38-minute podcast in Valería’s Fit For Joy page. Valería says “This podcast is a quest for well-being, a quest for a … Read More

Do you feel an emptiness, a yearning for something that you cannot name? That is the universe calling to you. That is the Consciousness of which we are all a part reaching out, yearning for you, trying to penetrate the veil between itself and what you—we—have been molded into by the world we live in. You wonder, “How do I … Read More

I remember how annoyed I was the first time I heard the suggestion that I had chosen my earthly family and the circumstances of my birth before I was even born. “Them?  No expletive way!” But there’s nothing like personal experience to create a change of perspective. You see, I’ve visited there many times now – the Other Side, that … Read More

Yes, I do enjoy gardening. Connecting with the land, planting seeds and bulbs, feeling awe at the sight of new growth — all of these help me to know my belonging in this world. I also find satisfaction in exploring my place in a larger context, while being solidly planted in the earth. That’s what this piece is about. You, … Read More

This post is about two paths of spiritual awakening that activate from the same place: an irresistible pull to know what lies beyond physical reality. Divergence Imagine that one of the paths goes to the right, the other to the left. The one to the right leads “down” into the earth, to the realm of plant spirits and medicines, the … Read More