In this sneak peek of a powerful article from our Spring 2019 issue, Davie Philip discusses how we can use new stories of hope and resilience to inspire ourselves to tackle the challenges facing our planet. To read the full article, pick up a copy of the magazine at your local stockist or subscribe here.
We are thrilled to share this sneak peek of our exclusive interview with the renowned spiritual teacher and author Marianne Williamson, which appears in our Autumn 2018 issue. Click here to find a stockist near you, or subscribe to receive a copy straight to your door.
by Aisling Cronin
Marianne Williamson is one of the world’s most renowned spiritual teachers, authors and speakers. Seven out of her twelve published books have been New York Times bestsellers. One of her powerful statements in the classic A Return to Love – “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us” – has become a guiding light for spiritual seekers around the globe.
When we asked her to summarise her extraordinary career, Marianne simply said, “If I’ve learned anything, it’s that life isn’t about the big dramatic moments that stand out, so much as it is about the consistent effort to live a better life. It’s up to us to make any one moment stand out, by standing tall within it.”
Marianne will be speaking in Ireland on Wednesday October 10th 2018, from 7.30 to 9.30 p.m. in the Royal Marine Hotel, Marine Road, Co. Dublin. Ahead of what is sure to be an inspirational talk, we spoke to Marianne about her thoughts on Ireland, world politics, Aretha Franklin, and how the famed A Course in Miracles – a remarkable 1976 book written by Helen Schucman, who said that she channeled the words directly from Jesus – has touched her life.
During your seminar in Dublin, you’re planning to talk about how we can learn how to transform our lives for the better, based on the insights you have gained from A Course in Miracles. We would love to know more about that subject. Have you had the opportunity to travel to many places in Ireland before, or are there any particular locations in the country that are special to you?
One trip I took that remains with me is when I went to Knowth and Dowth. Extraordinary. What amazes me about Ireland is that, unlike most civilisations, it was as amazing in ancient times as in contemporary times. That’s not all that common, you know. Newgrange and James Joyce? Seriously. Not many countries can claim that kind of thing.
The world has heard a lot about Ireland recently, and I’m curious about your own transition from external emphasis on religious dogma to the internals of spiritual growth. Obviously there have been some tragic lessons learned, and hopefully the principles of A Course in Miracles can help to shed some light on your path ahead. People studying and teaching the Course in Ireland are doing tremendous work, and I just hope I can add to the conversation with whatever insight I’ve gleaned.
The teachings within A Course in Miracles have been central to your life and work over the years. When did you first encounter this book, and what is the greatest gift that its teachings have given you?
I first saw A Course in Miracles when I was in my mid-twenties. The greatest thing it has taught me is that the lesson to be learned is always my own: my own need to forgive, to rise to the occasion, to be kinder, to be more generous, to accept people as they are, to be less judgmental. There’s always a temptation to make the problem about other people, but the Course is adamant that the work is always on ourselves.
‘Only a politics of love overrides a politics of fear.’ This is a truly beautiful quote from your book Healing the Soul of America, and as the book celebrates its twentieth anniversary, that quote has never been more timely. What do you envisage when you speak of a ‘politics of love’? We all know what a politics of fear looks like – all we have to do is switch on our television or read the news online – but how do you envisage politicians, or indeed, ordinary people relating to each other when they come from a place of pure love?
The same principles that guide us in our individual lives should guide our politics. If the point is to be a good person, then the point should be to be a good society. A good economy. And so forth. I think the economic principles that now organise our societies should be replaced by humanitarian ones. We’ve allowed money to become a false god, seen as the source of human happiness; but in fact, it’s the other way around. Money doesn’t create happiness so much as happiness creates money. When people are happy we’re naturally creative. We naturally manifest. A politics of love is one in which we see love as the bottom line, politically and economically as much as in our personal interactions. Politics is the work of our collective journey, and the effort to increase our compassion should be a political as well as a personal goal.
To read the full interview, pick up a copy of our Autumn 2018 issue in a stockist near you, or subscribe
to get a copy delivered to your door. Marianne’s upcoming Irish seminar will take place on Wednesday October 10th 2018, from 7.30 to 9.30 p.m. in the Royal Marine Hotel, Marine Road, Co. Dublin. For more information and tickets, go to seminars.ie. To learn more about Marianne and her work, go to marianne.com.
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.
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
In this sneak peek of Davie Philip’s article from our Spring issue, he talks about the hidden gifts that introverts have to offer to the world, and how they can learn to embrace and express them. The full article is available in our new magazine, which can be obtained at your local stockist or through a subscription.
By Davie Philip
“Everyone shines, given the right lighting. For some, it’s a Broadway spotlight, for others, a lamp lit desk.”
Susan Cain
“David was a quiet wee laddie,” according to someone I went to school with whom my mother met recently in the Scottish town where I grew up. Although I now intentionally live in community and work as a group facilitator, I definitely have introvert tendencies. In an extrovert-dominated culture that appreciates the loudest and most outgoing, how do we ensure that the voices and contributions of people who are not as comfortable putting themselves out there are valued?
Over the years I have managed my social awkwardness and overcome a fear of public speaking and am now very comfortable addressing and working with large groups. That is, as long as the focus is on sustainable community or another topic that I am passionate about. Outside of my bubble I can lose my flow, be very quiet and sometimes be severely inhibited.
It was Carl Jung who first coined the terms introvert and extrovert, to describe his observations that people tend to be energised either by going inward in quiet reflection, or outward and are invigorated through interactions with people. Of course, it is a spectrum and our personalities and ways of navigating the world are a lot more complex. It is commonly perceived that all introverts are reserved, constantly quiet, and unsocial, however they are actually a very diverse group with a lot to offer the world.
I recommend reading Susan Cain’s book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking. It outlines the advantages and disadvantages of each temperament and the positive aspects of being an introvert. Cain cites research in biology, psychology, neuroscience and culture to explain that introversion is both common and normal, and notes that many of humankind’s most creative individuals and leaders throughout history were introverts.
To read Davie’s full article, pick up a copy of our Spring issue today, or subscribe to have it delivered right to your door.
In this important and timely article, Elva Carri addresses the topics of fake news and discernment. In a world of hyperbole, it is important for us to seek the truth, engage in honest dialogue, and dig deeper than surface appearances. This is a sneak peek of the full article – to read the rest, pick up a copy of our Spring issue today.
By Elva Carri
Living in a time some have referred to as ‘post truth’, what does this mean? Why does it matter? And can we turn the tide?
In a great video explaining Post Truth, the Rubber Bandits quote the definition as “Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Boiling it down, facts don’t have the same effect on us as calls to our feelings and personal experiences.
Seeking Truth Around Us
We have so much media to reinforce personal beliefs that we are highly and constantly at risk of these beliefs feeling like the truth. Everyone, wherever they lie on the political spectrum, has a responsibility to seek out truth. Who and what we believe ourselves to be has been appealed to and entertained to our detriment by news outlets, regardless of which one we choose. Many on the left guffawed at the idea of Trump as president and they did so along with their news source of choice. I’m not sure as many sought the truth in how and why he rose to the top. The majority did not seek out why so many people were so desperate for such a huge change. Ignorance was hilarious bliss until it was too late.
Seek Truth in Yourself
In order to dig deeper, beyond bias, we have an even harder task: to seek honestly the truth of who we are. What we believe, what has happened in our lives, and what we aspire to be, all inform our self-identity. Sadly, it takes only the slightest challenge to our sense of self to unsettle us to the point of rage or extreme upset. Who we are is all we have at the end of the day, and we must be sensitive to that. But we need to listen in a way that is so open it will almost certainly be uncomfortable.
You can read the rest of Elva’s article in our Spring issue. Pick up a copy in your local stockist or subscribe to receive it direct to your door.
Spring is slowly making its presence felt, but winter is not ready to surrender its icy grip just yet. Luckily, our resident gardening expert Hans Wieland is on hand to tell us all about the heat-promoting properties of chillies: a perfect remedy for the cold temperatures outside. Here is a sneak peek of his article from our new Spring issue. Find a copy in your local stockist today, or subscribe to receive one straight to your door.
By Hans Wieland
Chilli Peppers, Bell Peppers, Hot Peppers, Sweet Peppers, Cayenne Peppers, Spanish Peppers, Red Hot Chili Peppers, what have they all in common? Confused?
Okay, the last “variety” – the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a funk-rock band from Los Angeles – is only around since 1983, and all the others have nothing in common with black pepper (Piper nigrum), but are in fact all species of the genus Capsicum. Commonly we distinguish between the sweet and mild peppers and the hot and more pungent chillies, the topic of our article. Most of our common chillies come from one species, Capsicum annum, which was first cultivated in Mexico at least 5000 years ago.
The cult story of chillies begins with Columbus, who thought he found the (black) pepper and continues with the colonial trading power of the Portuguese bringing the chilli everywhere, leading to India becoming the biggest producer. The Aztec word of the native Nahuatl was chilli, which means red. Botanically speaking all peppers are fruits; however, they are correctly considered vegetables in a culinary context. The success story of the chilli is remarkable as the world production and consumption is now 20 times that of black pepper, the other major pungent spice (On Food and Cooking, p 418).
Hungary has its Paprika, Spain its Pimenton, Italy its Peperoni and in China chilli is a major spice in Sichuan and Hunan, but Mexico remains the most advanced country when it comes to chilli culture, it being a major ingredient in Salsas. At Neantóg Kitchen Garden School we grow it mainly to produce our own sauces (see recipe below). The beauty of growing it yourself is in the choice of varieties, from mild to super-hot.
What makes Chillies so special?
It is Capsaicin, the active chemical ingredient, contained in the placenta, the tissue that bears the seeds. The variety and the growing conditions – high temperatures and the length of the season – contribute to the amount of capsaicin produced. The heat of a chilli is measured on the Scoville Scale in Scoville heat units (SHU), or capsaicin concentration, named after its creator, US pharmacist Wilbur Scoville. SHU values range from 0 in a sweet bell pepper to 2,000,000-2,200,000 in a Trinidad Moruga Scorpion or Carolina Reaper. Naturally, there is the burning sensation in our mouth which for some is pure pleasure.
Hans’ full article can be seen in our Spring issue. Click here for stockists, or here to subscribe!
Tonight, we wanted to share a sneak peek of this beautiful article written by our Tantra expert Dawn Cartwright. You can read the entire article in our new Spring issue, available in your local stockist or through subscription. Don’t forget to check out the details of Dawn’s special Positive Nights event with us on Wednesday the 25th of April too!
By Dawn Cartwright
“The Munis, girdled with the wind, wear garments soiled of yellow hue.
They, following the wind’s swift course, go where the Gods have gone before.”
Excerpt from Ke?in Hymn, 10.136 of the Rigveda, as translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith
Some of the earliest written evidence of Tantra appears in the RigVeda, the oldest of the Vedic Texts, dated roughly between 1100 and 500 B.C.E. The Ke?in Hymn, 10.136 of the Rigveda, describes dust-clad munis who cavorted with the wind. The muni, know for their pursuit of ecstasy, engaged in practices far outside the Brahmanical norm; defining evidence of an early Tantra tradition.
Defining Tantra
Tantra is a vast and controversial subject – to define it is a challenging task. Many elements of Tantra are also found in other Hindu and Vedic paths. Yet when we take the view that ecstasy creates the cosmos, Tantra is a path rich with possibility.
The origins of Tantra date back to the Upper Paleolithic Period, nearly 28,000 years ago. It is rooted in reverence for the microcosm-macrocosm view of fertility and the birth of the universe. The earliest traditions, much like the muni, were closely connected to nature. The Tantra sutras, revealing the secrets of existence, were songs sung by the wind, trees, rivers, oceans and mountains. These songs were translated by great mystics into Mantras, Yantras and Tantras.
The tradition we are most familiar with today is Neo-Tantra, the “new” or “revived” version of Tantra. Neo-Tantra is known for its embrace of sexuality: a perceptive that has drawn a great deal of controversy and skepticism. The Christian repressive attitudes prevalent even in India have enforced a separation between the spiritual and physical. Neo-Tantra weaves threads between the the sexual and the spiritual, the human and the divine, demonstrating, in very beautiful ways, that each exists in the other.
Scholars, Mystics & Lovers
“The Tantras most often tend to prefer more esoteric subjects: speculations on the nature of the Absolute, cosmogony, the creative nature of sound and word, micro-macrocosmic equivalence, the powers of speech, communication and handling of mantras, symbolic interpretations of words and names, construction of and initiation into mandalas and worship of deities therein.”
~Teun Goudriaan, History of Indian Literature Volume II
To explore Tantra is to experience a mystery that constantly unfolds without end. To understand Neo-Tantra and the ways this new tradition is complimentary to the classical traditions, it’s helpful to understand three perspectives: the scholarly, the classical and the new.
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You can read the full article by picking up a copy of our Spring issue or subscribing today. Dawn will be a special guest at Positive Nights on Wednesday the 25th of April, from 7.30 to 9.30p.m. at Powerscourt Theatre, Dublin 2. The theme of her event is “Bringing Dating Back.” She will talk about how the sacred energy of ancient Tantric rituals called the Pancha Upacaras can be used to inspire greater devotion and intimacy in our modern-day dating lives. You can learn more about the event on our website, Facebook or Meetup, and book your tickets at this Eventbrite link.
This is a CNM excerpt from our Winter 2017 issue. Read the rest of the article by subscribing soon so we can post you a copy or picking up a magazine from one of our lovely stockists all over Ireland. Tell them we said hello!
By Nutritionist Jacqueline Ryan
Our immune systems can be supported in many ways throughout the cold winter months, such as with supplementation, exercise, ensuring adequate sleep, proper hydration, managing our stress levels and avoiding alcohol and smoking. The food we feed our bodies daily is the most important way to keep the immune system functioning to its optimum.
Choosing the right foods isn’t that difficult. Basically, stick to the essentials by avoiding all processed and sugarladen foods. Instead, eat a wide range of vegetables, fruits, wholegrains, nuts, seeds, fish and meat. Introduce fermented foods such as kefir, kombucha or sauerkraut which maintain a healthy gut, to ensure your immune system runs well. Increase immune boosting foods and herbs such as garlic, mushrooms (shiitake/ maitake/ reishi), vitamin C and zinc-rich foods, ginger, turmeric, elderberry and echinacea.
As the cold, dark days of winter appear, our cravings often turn to comfort foods – so a hearty stew may be
the ultimate meal to warm you inside and out. Stews are an ideal winter dinner as they are a comforting, soothing meal, which is easy to digest and packed full of nutrition to help support the immune system. Beef stew is an excellent source of protein, iron, fibre, antioxidants, B vitamins, zinc, selenium, phosphorus, vitamins A and K. One of the main ways to really boost the immune properties of your stew is by making it with a homemade bone both.
This is a CNM excerpt from our Winter 2017 issue. Read the rest of the article by subscribing soon so we can post you a copy or picking up a magazine from one of our lovely stockists all over Ireland. Tell them we said hello!
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.
Here is a sneak peek from Amanda Collins’ full article on being honest with ourselves, which features in our brand-new Autumn 2017 issue. A free copy of the magazine can be found at one of our many stockists across Ireland today.
By Amanda Collins
Honesty with yourself is a very powerful topic, one which can trigger strong reactions. That’s a good thing, because it means that the subject is moving energy. If you feel uncomfortable while reading this article, then perhaps you are not being completely honest with yourself.
I was driving with my children and the story ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ started playing. It’s about an emperor who loves fashion. People in the town promise to make him the most amazing gown he has ever seen, woven of gold, silver, and diamonds. They invite him to see their progress, stitching with invisible thread. The people were actually taking his money in gold, silver and diamonds. Eventually, the emperor goes before the public wearing the gown. A little boy speaks out the truth, “That man’s naked!” However, the emperor is in so much denial that he goes on wearing the invisible gown anyway. He is being dishonest with himself.
Think about this story. In a situation as simple as telling yourself that you will only have one cookie out of a pack of ten, when you know that’s not the truth, look deeper and ask yourself why you’re having a whole pack of cookies, or a whole bottle of wine, rather than a glass? You may be trying to numb a feeling that you are not being honest about in the first place.
Other areas of dishonesty may be about a relationship, an unsatisfying career, or a bad habit. How many people do you still have in your life but wish you didn’t? How often do you hear yourself saying words you question?
If you enjoyed this sneak peek, you can read the full article in our Autumn 2017 issue, out now. Pick it up from one of our stockists, or subscribe to the magazine to get it delivered right to your door!
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