Our autumn issue is out now. We are sharing an excerpt of Waking Up From The Dream by Gareth Duignam. To say we loved this book would be an understatement! Seek it out…it may just change your life…
awakening
Positive Nights Presents: The Era of Awakening With Lorie Ladd
We are pleased to share that our next Positive Nights guest is Lorie Ladd! Our event with her will take place on Thursday May 20th at 7.30 p.m. Irish Time. The Zoom link and login details will be sent to all ticket holders the day before the event, and a replay will be available the next morning, for anyone who can’t make it live, or wants to watch the event again.
Paying Homage to Ram Dass
The legendary Ram Dass passed away at his home in Maui, Hawai’i, on Sunday December 22nd. We were honoured to pay tribute to him in our Winter 2019/20 issue, and we know that our upcoming screening of his new documentary, ‘Becoming Nobody’, will be beautiful, bittersweet and poignant. This amazing soul touched many lives with his profound teachings. Earlier this month, we published an extract from our article about him … and we now offer the full article, with deep reverence and respect for this teacher who has now passed on to another plane of existence, embracing the next stage of his soul’s journey. Thank you for everything, Ram Dass.
Sneak Peek: Our Summer 2018 Interview with Adyshanti
Our Summer 2018 issue has officially hit the shelves, and we couldn’t be more excited! We wanted to share an exclusive sneak peek of our interview with the world-renowned spiritual teacher Adyashanti (this issue’s cover star). He spoke to us about awakening on different levels of our being, the student-teacher relationship, and what Ireland means to him. Adyashanti and his wife Mukti will be visiting Dublin this August. To read the full interview, pick up a copy of the Summer issue in your local stockist, or subscribe online today.
The Wisdom of Adya: Opening up and embracing what is
by Aisling Cronin
Interviewers: Daizan Kaarlenkaski and Paul Congdon
Adyashanti is an American-born spiritual teacher who is devoted to serving the awakening of all beings. He promotes non-dual teachings, based on recognising both the infinite spiritual possibilities and the everyday simplicity of our lives. He is the author of a number of successful spiritual titles, including The Way of Liberation, Resurrecting Jesus and Falling into Grace. We were thrilled to interview him recently and hear about his thoughts on the student-teacher relationship, his relationship with his wife Mukti, working with his father, and what Ireland means to him.
Could you tell us about the way you share your dharma teachings? For example, you never answer questions directly, but instead offer questions for people to ask themselves.
When I am dialoguing with somebody, my goal is to help them discover an answer or a resolution inside themselves, for themselves. All true realisations come from within the individual. In my style of teaching, I put a lot of responsibility on the students because I think that in the spiritual community, the students are far too often infantilised and treated like children. It is often encouraged for students to relate to the teacher as a child would, rather than interacting as two adults in a state of mutual trust. Grown-ups make their own decisions.
Do you think there can come a point when the student-teacher relationship needs to evolve for the student to gain true autonomy?
Yes, I think if a student has too much projection around the teacher – if they’re projecting all of their own holiness and light onto them – then the teacher does become a barrier. People put these projections onto the teacher because they hope that the teacher is going to be able to ‘save’ them. To the extent that we allow ourselves to become involved in that projection, the projection is what becomes a barrier. I was with my teacher for about fourteen years before she asked me to teach, and I noticed then that our relationship changed. I was still open to what she had to say, and open to her direction and guidance, but I related to her as an adult and not as a child. Teachers are best regarded as mentors, rather than as ‘gods.’
How do your teachings translate into your day-to-day life, in terms of your relationships?
Mukti and I have one of the most harmonious relationships that I know. I’m not saying it’s the most harmonious relationship in the world or anything, but it’s always been something that comes relatively naturally to both of us, which is really lucky. It has felt so natural for us to be together and part of that may be because we never imagined that it was the other person’s responsibility to ‘make me happy’. It has certainly matured over time. It had a lot of those effortless qualities from the very beginning, but nothing stays static – you are either maturing or regressing, one or the other. For twenty-two years, I have kept thinking to myself, ‘it can’t get any more profound than this’ and the next year, I find myself thinking, ‘wow, it did!’ Relationships can be one of the greatest areas of growth there is. To have a successful relationship, you’ve got to be a clear, adult, mature human being. That applies to relationships of all kinds: lovers, friends, family, even strangers.
Adyashanti and Mukti will be visiting Dublin this August for a Special Intensive teaching event. This will take place from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday August 19th, in the Gibson Hotel, Point Square, North Dock, Dublin 1. For details, go to: www.adyashanti.org
‘Full Circle Awakening’ with Fran Bennett: Transcending and Including Your Personal Self
Fran Bennett is a spiritual teacher who spent many years as a Roman Catholic Trappist monk. She has also led a number of retreat programmes in both the Vipassana Buddhist tradition and the Christian mystical/contemplative tradition. During a Church service in 2010, she had a transformative experience that she describes as “a radical perceptual shift in consciousness”, when she discovered a presence of spacious, pure awareness within herself. Fran is holding a special talk called ‘Full Circle Awakening’ on Tuesday March 27th, from 7.00 p.m. to 9.30 p.m., at the Talbot Hotel, Stillorgan Road, Co.Dublin. You can book tickets at Seminars.ie.
by Aisling Cronin
Many spiritual seekers are aware of the apparent conflict that can arise when we attempt to access the transcendent parts of ourselves, while also dealing with the reality of ourselves as complex, multifaceted human beings who experience a variety of struggles in our everyday lives. Many spiritual teachings talk only about rising above our personal human identities and dwelling in the absolute. For Fran Bennett, however, this dual understanding of who we are – encompassing both the transcendent and the personal – need not be a source of conflict or confusion. During her talk in Dublin, Full Circle Awakening, she will discuss the integral journey of both transcendence and embodiment, and why the transpersonal must also include the personal.
Fran is well-equipped to discuss this topic. She spent many years in monastic orders, living a life of contemplation, surrender and service, while searching for the presence of God. She lived in two monasteries of the Roman Catholic Trappist Order in the U.S., and was also a member of an urban contemplative monastic community originally founded in Paris, France in 1975. Fran received five and a half years of monastic/spiritual formation with the Trappists before making her vows as a monk at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky.
Fran graduated from the Pontifical College Josephinum with a B.A. in Philosophy and completed a two year residency in Clinical Pastoral Education with Ohio Health Hospital System in Columbus, Ohio in 2004. She has worked in ministry in the area of pastoral care in the hospice movement, as a hospital chaplain, and a pastoral carer of the sick and dying in parish settings. During her time as a monk, Fran also studied the Zen meditation tradition and the Thervadan Buddhist practice of Vipassana.
During a Church service in one of her former monasteries in Montreal, Canada, in 2010, Fran suddenly experienced what she has described as “a radical perceptual shift in consciousness.” She discovered the presence of spacious, pure awareness within herself, and came to see that this sense of unbounded awareness was actually the unchanging essence of who she really is and always has been: “the Supreme Self, talked about by many sages and saints from many spiritual traditions down through the ages.”
Following this experience, Fran left her monastery and embarked upon a “new incarnation” as a spiritual teacher. She offers guidance and instruction in the Buddhist traditions she has studied, the contemplative Christian mystical tradition she experienced during her many years in monastic life, and the Hindu Advaita-Vedanta teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi (which have had a profound effect on her life).
Fran also has a great interest in offering spiritual accompaniment, encouragement and teaching to the LGBT+ community, following her decision to come out as transgender in 2016. She was prompted to do this after discovering that her chromosomes did not fit either the typical XY or XX profiles that most people possess.
At that time, she said, “Normally, males have an XY chromosomal profile and females have an XX chromosomal profile. But some people who are born outwardly ‘male’ or ‘female’ can have various chromosomal aberrations that are not the simple binary XX or XY. It turns out I am one of those people. Discovering this was actually a huge relief. It’s helped me understand what I have been unknowingly dealing with my whole life.”
Fran felt that her decision to whole-heartedly embrace her true gender identity was a catalyst for further advancing her own spiritual growth and her understanding of herself. She explained: “I have felt some hesitation and concern about a public disclosure concerning all this and have wondered how it might effect my relationships with my family and friends, and my teaching career. But I have come to see that if I am to teach others about life and authenticity, integration and integrity, I myself must be a living example of it.”
These principles of honesty, integration and integrity – principles that allow Fran to fully accept her personal self, while also living with the awareness of her transcendent self – permeate every aspect of her teachings today. Her talk in Dublin is sure to be a fascinating event.
Fran Bennett’s talk, ‘Full Circle Awakening’, will take place at the Talbot Hotel, Stillorgan Road, Co. Dublin, on Tuesday March 27th 2018, from 7.30 to 9.30 p.m. Tickets can be booked on the Seminars.ie website here. More information about Fran can be found at her website, findinggraceatthecenter.com.
Discover Transference Healing: Alexis Cartwright to Visit Ireland in May 2018
Alexis Cartwright – the world-renowned spiritual teacher and founder of Transference Healing® – is visiting Ireland this summer to deliver a series of profound workshops that will help you to bring more joy and peace into your life, in addition to accelerating your journey towards awakening. Her workshops will be held from May 3rd to May 6th in the Maryborough Hotel & Spa, Douglas, Co. Cork. To learn more about her, visit transferencehealing.com. Information about her Irish events can be found at this link.
Alexis Cartwright is a world-renowned spiritual teacher and channeller who founded the revolutionary Transference Healing® method at the age of thirty-two, following many years of personal growth and awakening. Growing up in a small inland mining community in Queensland, Australia, she felt a deep connection to the earth and minerals around her from a very early age. By the age of nineteen, she was offering professional psychic readings to people in her community. These readings focused on uncovering the spiritual purposes and destinies of those who came to her.
Over time, Alexis was guided to learn about and understand the universal mysteries that underpin our lives here on Earth. She ultimately developed all that she had learned into a special healing modality known as Transference Healing®. This high-frequency modality aims to support our ascension path and enable the integration of our physical bodies with our light bodies. She now travels around the world teaching this modality to all who are guided to learn from her.
Alexis will be visiting Ireland in May 2018 to deliver a series of inspirational channelling sessions and workshops. A description of each event, together with their times and dates, are listed below. All events are taking place in the Maryborough Hotel & Spa, Douglas, Co.Cork.
Trance Channel – AM Session: Thursday May 3rd, 10.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.
Alexis’ Trance Channel sessions provide you with an opportunity to receive divine healing and a channelled reading about your own unique journey of ascension. With the support of her guide Melchizedek, Alexis will perform a light body activation to help you anchor aspects of your Higher Self. These are divine healing and “destiny and purpose” readings that trigger deep healing and growth. A maximum of seven people can participate in each Trance Channel session. Once each person has received their individual healing and reading, Alexis will end the session with a meditation for the group. Click here for information and booking.
Trance Channel – PM Session: Thursday May 3rd, 2.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.
This session will be conducted in the same way as the AM session described above. Click here for information and booking.
Interdimensional Doorways: Saturday May 5th, 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.
This is one of three Interdimensional Doorways events that Alexis will be holding in 2018. Alexis explains that 2018 is the Year of Chokmah, which is an auspicious year to begin doing and creating with your spiritual gifts. During the Interdimensional Doorways event, she will expand on this theme, teaching you how you can rapidly grow and learn on your path to personal and spiritual freedom. If you feel drawn to attend this amazing event, don’t leave it too late to book your ticket. Bookings for the Interdimensional Doorways event will close on March 31st. After this, Alexis will tune into the group to bring through special information and energies for the particular people who have signed up. Click here for information and booking.
Alchemy Workshop: Sunday May 6th, 9.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m.
This three-hour workshop will teach you how to work with Alexis’ Healing with Alchemy set. The set needs to be purchased beforehand – you can do so here. During the Alchemy Workshop, you will learn powerful meditation and grid work procedures that will trigger an alchemical healing response in your body and consciousness. This process empowers you to work with the compounds and transitional cycles of nature to become a vessel for purification and change. Click here for information and booking.
Dragon Power & Raven Power: Sunday May 6th, 2.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.
This workshop is a special one indeed, as Alexis will only be holding it twice. The two locations she has chosen are Ireland and Queensland, Australia. During this three-hour session, Alexis will share information about the divine ‘Raven Power’ and ‘Dragon Power’ you hold within you. Your Dragon Power supports your kundalini, enabling it to rise into your heart chakra. Your Raven Power allows you to open your third eye chakra at a profound level, so that you can embrace the power of your psyche. Click here for information and booking.
All of Alexis’ events are taking place at the Maryborough Hotel & Spa, Douglas, Co.Cork. More information on Alexis’ work can be found at her website transferencehealing.com. She is also running a series of workshops in the UK after her Irish dates. All dates and information about her Irish and UK events can be found via this link.
This is a sneak peek from our Winter 2017 issue beautiful interview with Doreen Virtue. The issue is out now. Pick one up free in one of our stockists all over Ireland to read the full article, or subscribe to have it delivered.
By Aisling Cronin
Doreen Virtue is a well-known author within the spiritual and self-help world. She has written a wide array of books and oracle card decks on topics such as angels, ascended masters and assertiveness. She recently made a big announcement about her spiritual path, revealing that she had had a powerful experience with Jesus at the beginning of 2017, and was formally baptised as a Christian shortly afterwards. She now wishes to reorient her future work to reflect this shift in her perspective. We spoke to Doreen about her animal rescue work, her spiritual journey and Jesus’ message to the world.
Firstly Doreen, thank you very much for agreeing to do this interview! I hear that you have some Irish heritage in your family.
My mom did our family ancestry a while back, and she found that we come from the Lyon family in County Cork. I’ve been to Ireland a few times, and I never got to go to Cork, for some reason, but my son and daughter-in-law lived on the west coast of Ireland for a while. Ireland is amazing – I have so many good memories of being there.
I have heard that you’re in the process of moving house right now. That must be a challenge, given the amount of animals you have! I’ve seen videos of your ranch in Hawaii, and all of the different animals you keep there: goats, sheep, cats, dogs…
It has been interesting! Our ranch had one house for my husband and I, one house for my parents, and a nice big barn, with fifty acres of land. My husband and I are both vegans, so we started rescuing animals who were going to slaughter, and we loved it, but we ended up with over three hundred animals. At one point, our food bill was $10,000 a month. In retrospect, we should have found loving homes for many of the animals right away. This would have made our rescue work more sustainable. So, lesson learned, for anyone else who might be interested in doing this: you don’t have to keep every single animal you take in. There is a big vegan community in Hawaii, so our friends were willing to offer good homes to most of our animals – the rest of them are joining us on the U.S. mainland – but it has been difficult. You fall in love with every animal and saying goodbye is really hard.
This is a sneak peek from our Winter 2017 issue beautiful interview with Doreen Virtue. The issue is out now. Pick one up free in one of our stockists all over Ireland to read the full article, or subscribe to have it delivered.
The Buddha Bag Meeting: Way of The Leopard: Connecting with your Wild Side with John Lockley
Facebook Event Page | Thursday, July 28th, 8:00pm | Eur 15/10 Concession
John will talk about the importance of connecting with your senses as a way to still the mind and awaken intuition. The Leopard is one of the main totem animals in Southern African traditional healing. It represents raw, intuitive intelligence and interconnectedness with the natural world. The Leopard reminds healers of always listening to their body as a way to help harmonise people with themselves and the natural world. John will speak about the 7 senses of man and what it requires to wake up and use our senses. In order to walk like the Leopard we have to learn to dance like the leopard. The trance dance is one of the main methods in Southern Africa for healers to connect to the divine and spirit worlds. John will teach participants to shake their bones, awaken their intuition and open their hearts in a form of dancing that has been practiced for thousands of years.
Join us on this night of awakening!
More about John
He was born, in 1971, into a divided Apartheid South Africa, with the mark of the sangoma on his face – a band of white birth skin around the eyes. At 18, John was serving in the South African army as a medic (during the war with Angola in the 1980s) when he had a strong, prophetic dream calling him to train as a Xhosa sangoma. He immediately began to suffer from the thwasa, a severe period of ill-health that is inherent in all ancient shamanic cultures which can only be cured through apprenticeship to a shamanic teacher. Because of the restrictions of Apartheid (which ended in 1994) it would take John seven years to find a Xhosa teacher.
During the early days of his calling he trained as a Zen student under renowned Zen Master, Su Bong, completing an intensive three-month kyol che in a Buddhist monastery in South Korea. He was then invited by the Grand Master Dae Soen Sa Nim to join his “monk army”, but the strength of his sangoma calling drew him back to South Africa. Eventually, post-Apartheid, John met Mum Ngwevu, a well-known Xhosa Sangoma medicine woman, in one of the poorest townships in South Africa. She had foreseen his arrival in a dream and began his 10-year apprenticeship, giving him the initiated name Ucingolwendaba, meaning messenger or connector between people and cultures.
John is also offering a one day workshop and Private Sessions:
Way of the Leopard, shake your bones and connect to your heart
Date: August 6th, 2016
Location: 128 Baggot Street Lower, Dublin 2
In this workshop participants will learn the Ancient Art of the African trance dance. It involves shaking the body in a particular way and listening to the heart beat. It has been practiced without cessation for thousands of years.
To book and for more info on the workshop or his private sessions please contact Christine at hello@christinejudd.com / Tel: 086-877- 3085
The Buddha Bag meeting is taking a break to enjoy the rest of the summer! We will return in September with a brand new venue and more surprises!
For our last event we are going out with an evening filled with beautiful awakening:
July 28th: Way of The Leopard: Connecting With Your Wild Side with John Lockley
Facebook Event Page | Thursday, July 28th, 8:00pm | Eur 15/10 Concession
John will talk about the importance of connecting with your senses as a way to still the mind and awaken intuition. The Leopard is one of the main totem animals in Southern African traditional healing. It represents raw, intuitive intelligence and interconnectedness with the natural world. The Leopard reminds healers of always listening to their body as a way to help harmonise people with themselves and the natural world. John will speak about the 7 senses of man and what it requires to wake up and use our senses. In order to walk like the Leopard we have to learn to dance like the leopard. The trance dance is one of the main methods in Southern Africa for healers to connect to the divine and spirit worlds. John will teach participants to shake their bones, awaken their intuition and open their hearts in a form of dancing that has been practiced for thousands of years.
Join us on this night of awakening!
More about John
He was born, in 1971, into a divided Apartheid South Africa, with the mark of the sangoma on his face – a band of white birth skin around the eyes. At 18, John was serving in the South African army as a medic (during the war with Angola in the 1980s) when he had a strong, prophetic dream calling him to train as a Xhosa sangoma. He immediately began to suffer from the thwasa, a severe period of ill-health that is inherent in all ancient shamanic cultures which can only be cured through apprenticeship to a shamanic teacher. Because of the restrictions of Apartheid (which ended in 1994) it would take John seven years to find a Xhosa teacher.
During the early days of his calling he trained as a Zen student under renowned Zen Master, Su Bong, completing an intensive three-month kyol che in a Buddhist monastery in South Korea. He was then invited by the Grand Master Dae Soen Sa Nim to join his “monk army”, but the strength of his sangoma calling drew him back to South Africa. Eventually, post-Apartheid, John met Mum Ngwevu, a well-known Xhosa Sangoma medicine woman, in one of the poorest townships in South Africa. She had foreseen his arrival in a dream and began his 10-year apprenticeship, giving him the initiated name Ucingolwendaba, meaning messenger or connector between people and cultures.
Remember, this is our last event for the Summer, so don’t miss it!
Looking forward to seeing you all there!
The Buddha Bag Meeting: Way of The Leopard: Connecting With Your Wild Side with John Lockley
Facebook Event Page | Thursday, July 28th, 8:00pm | Eur 15/10 Concession
John will talk about the importance of connecting with your senses as a way to still the mind and awaken intuition. The Leopard is one of the main totem animals in Southern African traditional healing. It represents raw, intuitive intelligence and interconnectedness with the natural world. The Leopard reminds healers of always listening to their body as a way to help harmonise people with themselves and the natural world. John will speak about the 7 senses of man and what it requires to wake up and use our senses. In order to walk like the Leopard we have to learn to dance like the leopard. The trance dance is one of the main methods in Southern Africa for healers to connect to the divine and spirit worlds. John will teach participants to shake their bones, awaken their intuition and open their hearts in a form of dancing that has been practiced for thousands of years.
Join us on this night of awakening!
More about John
He was born, in 1971, into a divided Apartheid South Africa, with the mark of the sangoma on his face – a band of white birth skin around the eyes. At 18, John was serving in the South African army as a medic (during the war with Angola in the 1980s) when he had a strong, prophetic dream calling him to train as a Xhosa sangoma. He immediately began to suffer from the thwasa, a severe period of ill-health that is inherent in all ancient shamanic cultures which can only be cured through apprenticeship to a shamanic teacher. Because of the restrictions of Apartheid (which ended in 1994) it would take John seven years to find a Xhosa teacher.
During the early days of his calling he trained as a Zen student under renowned Zen Master, Su Bong, completing an intensive three-month kyol che in a Buddhist monastery in South Korea. He was then invited by the Grand Master Dae Soen Sa Nim to join his “monk army”, but the strength of his sangoma calling drew him back to South Africa. Eventually, post-Apartheid, John met Mum Ngwevu, a well-known Xhosa Sangoma medicine woman, in one of the poorest townships in South Africa. She had foreseen his arrival in a dream and began his 10-year apprenticeship, giving him the initiated name Ucingolwendaba, meaning messenger or connector between people and cultures.
John is also offering a one day workshop and Private Sessions:
Way of the Leopard, shake your bones and connect to your heart
Date: August 6th, 2016
Location: 128 Baggot Street Lower, Dublin 2
In this workshop participants will learn the Ancient Art of the African trance dance. It involves shaking the body in a particular way and listening to the heart beat. It has been practiced without cessation for thousands of years.
To book and for more info on the workshop or his private sessions please contact Christine at hello@christinejudd.com / Tel: 086-877- 3085