The resident astrologer at Harbin Hot Springs, ranked by Soul’s Code as the top spiritual resort on the West Coast, does a high-IQ reading

BY HUNTER REYNOLDS — Chic as it is for westerners to dream of land, community and a high-speed internet connection, we’re doomed until we admit that we’ve lost the skills needed to navigate a compressed field of egos.

It was, after all, not the drugs as much as the over-individuation, which comes with privilege, that undermined the social experiments of the 60’s. Without an astrologically-inborn or skillfully reinstalled set of Aquarian skills, day-to-day life in community is more likely to disillusion than unite.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

Tom Hanks newest patron of Da Vinci Code church

Tom Hanks has personally donated to help restore Scotland’s Rosslyn Chapel, where part of The Da Vinci Code was filmed. According to Dan Brown’s novel, the chapel was built by the Knights Templar, marks a point on the “Rose Line”, or prime meridian, and contains several  esoteric sculptures.  In actuality, the chapel was built over 100 years after the Templars vanished, the prime meridian does not cross through the chapel, and many architectural features were added later by Anglican and (what do you know?) Scottish Freemason patrons. As its newest patron, will Hanks request any other additions?

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

7 ways to accept all of your life experiences — even the “bad” ones — and learn to expand from “contractions” like loss, hurt and other wounds

GUEST COLUMN: PHYLLIS KING — We are always eager to get on with it — to leave the past behind and to feel the “good” stuff. I understand this so well. I too have lived this pattern. This idea may be even more pronounced when we have had experiences that have drained our life-force energy.

We can’t imagine waiting even one more minute to feel better. We may say, “Haven’t I paid my dues yet?” and “Does this abundant thinking crap really work?”

I have witnessed, in my clients’ lives and my own life, how our dedication to higher consciousness can also be a mask for our pain. We believe we are living with right thinking and perspective when we are happy and when things are going well. We forget that the natural course of expansion includes contraction.

Continue Reading »

2 Comments »

Soul’s Code has criticized Ray and the franchise that made him famous, The Secret. One of our columnists, who is a spiritual practitioner in her own right, urges us to extend compassion to both the victims and accused

Ray's mug shot

GUEST COLUMN: CARI LA GRANGE MURPHY — The topics of spiritual authenticity, accountability, compassion, and soul growth are all weighing on my heart, mind and spirit today after hearing the sad news of self-help guru James Arthur Ray’s arrest on February 3, 2010.

As I’ve matured and grown into a more self-aware human being, I am not one to quickly judge an individual and pound on them when they are down, for I am able to see the bigger picture and recognize that there are always soul lessons involved in any situation.

Observing things from this broader perspective doesn’t make the situation any less sad or horrific for both James Arthur Ray or for the three individuals who died last fall in a make-shift sweat lodge in Sedona, AZ, but it does allow me to open my heart and have compassion for everyone involved.

Continue Reading »

33 Comments »

If the act of thinking registers in brain scans, what are those thoughts doing to your body? A spiritual teacher who self-healed from two terminal diagnoses shares some miraculous mind-body mechanics

BY VAISHALI LOVE: After being diagnosed terminal from an illness — and then again ten years later from an injury — there is one thing I truly understand as a result of piecing my health back together and studying the Eastern healing sciences.

What I want to share with you is the physical dynamics of emotions — how emotions travel through the body, what emotions stress and undermine which organs, and how unresolved emotional experiences can literally get trapped inside the body.

Continue Reading »

2 Comments »

The gospel of LOST: Steeped in mystical memes and Einstein’s deconstruction of time, here are 12 things that make LOST the most “enlightened” show on TV

BY PAUL KAIHLA — In the 2010 liturgical calendar that is American prime-time, The Hills is a joke and Desperate Housewives is an also-ran. Forget about Lent, we are in the season of LOST. The end of times, so to speak (finale of six seasons of the biggest show in the universe, and whose pilot coincided with Bush’s re-election, fall/04).

Our offering: The top 12 reasons reasons that make LOST a religious experience. Continue Reading »

6 Comments »

Jay Leno walks Oprah’s Stations of the Cross

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

Like Alice down the rabbit hole, Joanne Ehrich leads us along the path that helped her to reconnect with her true calling and create Klassic Koalas: The Book of Valentines and Other Loves

“A picture is worth a thousand words”, and Klassic Koalas: The Book of Valentines and Other Loves is no exception. 

In her recently released book, Klassic Koalas: The Book of Valentines and Other Loves,  Joanne Ehrich has taken seemingly disparate elements such as treasured old love letters, snapshots of long-departed family and friends, and images of koalas cuddling their babies — romantic love, the love of family and companions, and the love that exists even within nature — and woven them through her artwork into an enchanting book that will delight lovers, friends, and individuals.

This publication’s visuals are not only intended to entrance the viewer, it reminds us of our true nature — not just the love between lovers or among friends or family members, but the love we feel for creatures we hold dear and for the wonders of the earth.

Continue Reading »

4 Comments »

Confessions from a job management coach on how to use surrender, service and grace to make your next career move

GUEST COLUMN: JEFF ROBINSON — From July 2005 until approximately April 2006, I began a spiritual transformation that changed the course of my life in some amazing and often difficult ways, and which continues to this day.

After more than 20 years of seeking a spiritual path that made sense to me, a friend introduced me to one of the best selling books on spirituality ever written: Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda.

Yogananda-ji came to the U.S. in the 1920’s and stayed until the time of his death in 1952, introducing hundreds of thousands to the spiritual path of Kriya Yoga.   He is widely credited as being the driving force in bringing yoga to the west.

I couldn’t put the book down, and literally fell in love with both Yogananda and his teachings.

Continue Reading »

7 Comments »

How to put the dynamic of hope into action. Case studies: Gandhi, Václav Havel, Goenawan Mohamad and other guide-posts

DAVID RICKEY — Hope is a great four-letter word, but it gets lost in the shuffle of our lives if it isn’t bonded with action. Václav Havel, the first President of the Czech Republic, said ‘Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out’.

It is this certainty that allows — even emboldens us — to take action. We are facing an uncertain time in 2010, and that uncertainty can, and has, paralyzed some of us into in-action.

Continue Reading »

3 Comments »

The crazy Finns invented the idea of skinny-dipping through a hole in the ice after a sauna. Their secret: you get a peak experience — and natural high

BY PAUL KAIHLA — I spent the afternoon breaking trail through the great boreal forest on the north shore of Lake Superior on cross-country skis made of hickory with my host, Olli. We had a novice tagging along, who couldn’t quite get the swing of it.

A Finnish engineer who has two adult children, a happy marriage and a wry sense of humor, Olli offered our tag-along adventurer mock comfort about the learning curve she faced with nordic skiing: “Don’t worry,” he quipped, “the first ten years are the hardest.” Continue Reading »

12 Comments »

We can use the hurdles that life throws at us to grow and reach our spiritual potential

GUEST COLUMN: PHYLLIS KING — As we grow and mature, our intellect and reasoning skills increase. However, with that, often our ego increases.

The skill we acquire with our use of words sometimes exceeds our ability to truly live our words and their content.

We hide behind our words, “acting” as if we believe them.

This façade is never more apparent when difficulties arise.

Continue Reading »

1 Comment »

The holy man I met, “Swami Ji”, has no organization, TV show, or book. His name simply means “great teacher.”

GUEST COLUMN: SMADAR DE LANGE — How would you describe the experience of falling in love? For me, meeting with Swami Ji (personal name: Krishnamurti) was like falling in love. I fell in love with love itself, and this love had no limitations of being channeled into one person only.

What are we looking for when we are going to meet those who are labeled as spiritual teachers? Do we look for an end for our sufferings?

Continue Reading »

3 Comments »

8: The Mormon Proposition, a movie on spiritual politics

Utah not only hosts the annual Sundance Film Festival; in the 2010 edition of the film fest, the state’s (unofficial) church has a starring role in the line-up of movies.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is taken down in a documentary about the 2008 initiative that successfully banned gay marriage in California.

Another irony: the film, 8: The Mormon Proposition, is directed by a former Mormon. It details the counter-revolutionary intervention Mormons poured into passing Proposition 8. Continue Reading »

1 Comment »

Cari Murphy’s call to love: “Our love (or lack of love) for others always stems from the love that we have (or lack) for ourselves.”

GUEST COLUMN: CARI LA GRANGE MURPHY — How do we allow the love in our hearts to permeate our experience and enhance the quality of our lives? From personal experience I have learned that a daily, conscious choice is necessary for me to actively engage the spark of light within me and within everyone I encounter throughout my day.

When I approach every interaction with the intention of finding commonality and equality between us, I experience a feeling of unity and connection.

Conversely, when I judge an individual or a situation, I feel a sense of anxiety and separation that doesn’t resonate well with my heart and my spirit.

Continue Reading »

15 Comments »

Like the Earth itself, we are all vulnerable to the energy within us

GUEST COLUMN BY HEATHER GREAVES — The Earth in all her pain (toxicity) and glory has faults.

Likewise, we human beings with all our broken dreams and victories, have faults.

As below our feet. . .so it is above.

The year 2010 has begun with Earth releasing energy causing its area known as Haiti to quake and tremor. The energy was released by the rupture of a geological fault without a warning, and definitely without so much as a by-your-leave.

Continue Reading »

2 Comments »

Too early to get your heart (and mind) prepped for Valentine’s Day? Not really!

BY DR. ANGELA HEPPNER — When was the last time you said to someone “I love you”?

These have to be the three most precious words uttered when spoken from the heart with genuine meaning.

Is this not what everyone wishes to hear? It can be so easy for us to express our true feelings to some and not to others. Why is this?

There are four main reasons why this phrase is prevented from being expressed freely.

Continue Reading »

9 Comments »

An addiction specialist shares her insights into the causes and cures of addiction

GUEST COLUMN BY MARY COOK, M.A. — Addiction is death.

It is the death of dreams and hope, of the real self and self-esteem, of genuine relationships with others, and of the motivation, courage and ability to create a full, healthy, spiritual life.

We run from ourselves in pursuit of whatever works when we’re in a sick environment.

This is understandable if we know of no other options.

The greater problem is when we lie to ourselves when we believe that sickness is acceptable. The emptiness and depression that result from these deaths and their denial, leave desperate longings to connect with something or someone that can save us from absolute destruction.

Continue Reading »

2 Comments »

From a hero’s journey to a great awakening, 4 similar features spiritual masters like Jesus, Lao-tse and Gandhi share in common

GUEST COLUMN: RONDA LARUE — More and more people have been asking me lately, “What do you mean by the word mystic?” There’s a lot of confused thinking out there and some outright misconceptions about the term. In a very real sense — and because mysticism concerns the essence of life — it is audacious to even try and define it. Words are insufficient and often get in the way of understanding.

Mysticism is a quality of presence that is quite literally beyond and before any words. Nevertheless l, like others, feel compelled to at least try to frame mysticism in words. Mysticism is terribly misunderstood by mainstream culture, and it always has been. Many people think being a mystic means some kind of odd occultism — someone who studies magic or renounces life and goes off to live in a cave. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Continue Reading »

13 Comments »

How to savor lasting impressions of beauty in the present moment

Continue Reading »

2 Comments »