422. John Lockley

Posted on October 17, 2017 by Rick Archer

John Lockley is a traditionally trained African Shaman known as a Sangoma from Nelson Mandela’s tribe, the Xhosa nation.

He also has a background in Zen Buddhism and was a student of the late Zen Master Su Bong from South Korea.

He holds an honors degree in Clinical Psychology and specialised in health psychology with an interest in trauma and how people recover from life threatening illnesses like cancer.

For the last 10 years, he has been running ‘Ubuntu’ (humanity) retreats worldwide helping people to reconnect to their essential humanity; their bones (ancestors), dreams, and ultimately, life purpose. His mission in the Western world could be summed up in the Xhosa word ‘Masiyembo’ – involving a profound remembering of the human spirit. As John says, “when people can remember their dreams and connect to their life purpose, then their true vocation surfaces; namely being in service and acting as guardians to our planet”.

Discussion of this interview in the Batgap Community Facebook Group.

Interview recorded October 15, 2017.

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

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414. Christina Donnell

Posted on August 31, 2017 by Rick Archer

Christina Donnell, Ph.D. is best known as a spiritual teacher, mystic and author. She is the Director of The Winds of Change Association, an educational organization dedicated to offering programs that tend our evolving human consciousness.

In her book, Transcendent Dreaming: Stepping into Our Human Potential, she chronicles quantum states of awareness in which the participatory nature of perception impacts our visible world. It is a deep foray into truths about our human potential—a new distribution of our resources, and a way to know unity consciousness and be its agent in the world. Transcendent Dreaming won multiple awards for its timely and relevant message which urges us all to tap into the hidden potential within us.

Christina conveys a simple yet profound message: Through deepening receptive awareness the participatory nature of perception unfolds and the transfiguration of our consciousness occurs. She is a natural born, pragmatic, mystic and teacher who shares her message worldwide via public lectures, teaching, keynote addresses, and wisdom talks. Many of which benefit independent spiritual centers. The fusion of her unique lyrical prose style with her transmission of the unseen brings a sense of discovery to all audiences.

Christina was initiated as a medicine woman by the Q’ero Indians of the High Andes and has worked closely with them for 25 years. Inspired by the cultural shifts and changing human values on a planetary scale, she is dedicated to cultivating and awakening the potency of the human spirit. Christina maintains a small consultation practice along with her teaching commitments.

Websites:

For discussion of this interview, click here.

Interview recorded August 26, 2017.

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353. Tree

Posted on July 14, 2016 by Rick Archer

“The spiritual journey does not consist in gaining what a person does not have, but in dissipation of ignorance concerning himself and life, and the growth of understanding which begins with spiritual awakening. To find God is to come to one’s own self.” – Avatar Meher Baba.

No longer the person with its conditioning and history, here now there is only this and the overall feeling is “I don’t mind.” No fear, no push, a great emptiness that is also a rich and all-pervading fullness. Here there is silence, peace and an exquisite sense of joy. Here it feels so light there is no distance, ‘marinating in the self.’ It is as if nothing is happening here yet happening graciously unfolds.

To look back at the dream, the necessary mistaken identity, it seemed like so much happened. Personhood was such psychological suffering. Separation, a feverish, fearful struggle, always restless, dissatisfied, looking outside for love and fulfillment. Now peace, and love reside here.

I have spent thirty years with Avatar Meher Baba in deep devotion. Baba has administered his kiss and his kick, expertly unraveling the ego identity. Longing for the truth and with nothing more to express in this life, I knew I was going to die, not sure if it was the body or the ego, I completely surrendered.

Shortly after, whilst watching Mooji on the net, he pointed, and I said with total conviction, “I am That”. In that recognition I hysterically and uncontrollably laughed for hours. When I could hardly breathe from the laughter and I asked God to help me, the laughter only escalated. The funniest thing, the divine joke was that I knew I had always been that.

I love Meher Baba and Mooji – the brightest reflections of the true self I know. It is quiet here as I experience the bliss and love of the self.

Sapphire Coast Tension and Stress Release

Facebook page: Awakening Through the Body

Interview recorded 7/9/2016

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352. Mani

Posted on July 4, 2016 by Rick Archer

What I share is not based on spiritual, philosophical or psychological theory alone, but on direct insight. There is an unchanging awareness of all phenomena that is not tarnished by the coming and going of temporal expressions.

This unchanging awareness could be called the ‘Still Self” as it is the one constant that witnesses the dynamic play of consciousness in all its guises. To recognise that there is a greater power that is not prone to suffering or corruption is to begin to awaken to our ‘Undivided Self.’ Within this dynamic play of life there is also a ‘functioning sense of self’ that allows for the beauty of relationship, creating the impression of ‘me’ and ‘other.’ But the possibility of this imaginal separation can create such confusion and suffering when taken to be all that we are.

My joy as a simple Being is to point you back to your ‘True Self,’ like a bird greeting the morning sun, my nature is to sing.

All phenomena, whether that form be a thought, body, planet, smell, theory, ant or cloud is bound by the law of impermanence, for whatever comes must go, whatever is born will die.

Yet all phenomena arise within this unbounded awareness, the sole unchanging reality.

All of manifestation sings the song of the unborn ‘Still Self’ for those who have ears to hear.

And when this unchanging nature is realized to be our ‘Self,’ then we may also come to see that this dynamic play of consciousness is no other than a clear expression of the divinity that we are. What we are as aware stillness and what we are as dynamic consciousness are not two irreconcilable opposing forces but an inseparable mystery I like to call ‘dynamic stillness.’

Book: Embracing No Other: Awakening through shamanic plant medicines to non-dual awareness of no-self

Website: embracingnoother.com

Interview recorded 7/2/2016

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

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150. Tom Crockett

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Rick Archer

Tom Crockett is an ordained minister and spiritual counselor. He is a teacher, lecturer, and student in the Pachakuti Mesa Shamanic tradition, as well as in Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta, and Depth Psychology. He has worked as a spiritual counselor for over fifteen years.

Tom has worked with indigenous healers in Mexico and North America and studied core shamanism through the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. He is a Reiki practitioner and has studied bioenergetic healing with Mietek Wirkus. In 2001, he completed an apprenticeship in Paqo Wachu (Peruvian Shamanism) under the guidance of shaman and ceremonialist, Don Oscar Miro-Quesada. Tom has led and cofacilitated retreats in Oaxaca and Mexico City, Mexico, under the auspices of the Institute for Depth Psychology.

Tom has made an intensive study of dreamwork, especially as a tool for spiritual growth. He has been a featured presenter at the Association for the Study of Dreams International Conferences since 1998 and was an invited presenter to the Conference on Indigenous Healing Traditions of the Americas cosponsored by the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C. in 2002. Tom has presented at the Science and Nonduality Conference (SAND) with co-panelists Scott Kiloby and Jeff Foster, and been a regular presenter at the Paradoxica Conference on Nonduality.

Tom currently serves as Executive Director of Together We Can Foundation, a non-profit organization serving at-risk teens in Southeastern Virginia. He has undergraduate and graduate degrees in fine arts from Old Dominion University (summa cum laude) in Norfolk, Virginia, and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, respectively. He lives in Newport News, Virginia with his wife, Kelly and is stepfather to three amazing children: Holly, Kasey, and Dylan.

Tom’s books:

Tom’s website: coyoteenlightenment.com

Interview recorded 11/25/2012

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