The Mystic Cave
An exploration of the soulful terrain on the far side of conventional religion. A sanctuary for seekers.
The Oracle: A Consequential Chapter from "Talking to Trees: A Journey into Soul"
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With the reading of this chapter from my book, Talking to Trees, we close the sixth season of The Mystic Cave, even as the events described there opened up my spiritual path, leading me here. I hope you enjoy it.
And, by the way, next year, a new book is on the way. Communing with the Dead ... and Other Tales from the Imaginal Realms extends my exploration of the spiritual terrain on the far side of conventional religion. Mo...
Anne Boleyn: Martha Tatarnic's new book says we still need Anne, a revolutionary woman of power and influence.
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The myth is that Henry VIII founded the Church of England because he wanted a divorce. The reality is that his second wife, Anne Boleyn, was using her influence with Henry to foment church reform in England, as on the Continent. That he thanked her by having her executed and marrying again is a story of 'blame and shame' as old as Adam and Eve, and equally as unsettling.
Martha Tatarnic, in her new book, Anne Boleyn: R...
Edge Walkers: Eco-spiritual Director Sarah Lyon and the Call of the Wild
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In inner city parks and in remote forest clearings people are gathering to remember their sacred connection to the Earth. Some call it "worship;" some call it "church." Sarah Lyon meets them there, to guide them to their soul's true home in the wild.
More about Sarah: https://www.sarahlyonspiritualdirection.com
More about Wild Church: https://www.wildchurchnetwork.com
Wild Church, the Books: Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the...
An Everywhere God: Tami Buroker Explores the Edges of her Christian Faith
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Even conventional religions have their growing edges. Far from centralized beliefs and practices, the spiritual explorer needs faith more than belief. Tami Buroker identifies as a Christian, but she can't bring herself formally to join her church. She prefers to remain open to a God who can be found ... everywhere.
Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.com
Series...
Just Breathe: "Wandering Warrior" Devin Lebrun Finds the Calm at the Heart of Fear
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Devin Lebrun's soul name, given him on a Vision Quest, is Wandering Warrior. That evokes a lot of fearsome energy, which he has. But his breath training over the years has opened a world of inner calm, soothing his soul and helping him to turn and face his fears, something he now shares with others through his new venture, the Global Breath Network.
Link to the Global Breath Network: https://www.breathnetwork.com
Personal Links
M...
After Church: How the Pearson Bros, Rob and Ben, Found a Spiritual Path ... Their Way
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Those of us who've followed a conventional spiritual path to get to where we are now need not be suspicious of those who've beaten their own path. We might even be a little envious. As my two grown sons, Rob and Ben, will attest, there is something thrilling, if also risky, about finding your own way.
Note: This episode is longer than most. To help break it down, I've created Chapters you can access by clicking on the C...
“Queen of the Sidestep”: Valerie Koot and the Boundary of Love
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The spiritual path is a solitary journey of discovery. We find our way, not by following a map or listening to others, but by planting our feet, one step at a time, in front of us. Sometimes, to get started, we must separate ourselves from the conventional paths that have brought us this far. Those are the paths cleared by others, for their journeys. As Valerie Koot has found, as grateful as we may be for the religious influences that...
"God is Very Loud Around Me": Could the Future of Religion Look like Andrea Tsugawa?
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Divinity student Andrea Tsugawa was born in Peru, her ethnic lineage stretching from Japan to Spain, including Quechuan (Andean) roots. Her spiritual benefactors are Buddhist, Shintoist, Indigenous, and Catholic. How she ended up at the Vancouver School of Theology is a story in itself, involving a burned-out apartment, a trip around the world, and a misread university syllabus. But what she is becoming reveals the emerging spirituality of our time.
Personal Links
My web site (where you c...
A Sustaining Presence: The Reconstructed Spirituality of Sarah Donnelly
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Spiritual director and educator, Sarah Donnelly, was a faithful Catholic whose God didn't keep his part of the bargain--to protect her from harm. In the throes of that disillusionment, Sarah had to rely on the faith of others until she could relearn what faith meant for her. What she came to realize was that an authentic spirituality has little to do with being protected and a great deal to do with being sustained, whatever happens.
Links to Sarah
Great Aunt Gladys and the Dakini Sky Walkers
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"What can we do, but pray?" I hear people say these days. As the world turns in on itself and old alliances give way to new threats, praying does seem to commend itself. But praying to whom, and for what? Can the gods alter the course of human affairs? Can they change the hearts of the heartless? Can they give us hope? Perhaps they can. Here is my evidence.
Photo Credit: Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash
Personal Li...
Wondering Where the Lions Are
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When it comes to cherishing childhood memories, we all know that we can never go home again. But we can pay attention to what we grieve from the past and bring that forward into the "home" we're creating now. In this way, where we've been can inform where we're going, a message that seems especially appropriate for the New Year.
With this episode, The Mystic Cave returns, following a six-month hiatus. We are still exploring the spiritual terrain on the...
Talking to Trees: A Complimentary Chapter
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My book is out now, Talking to Trees: A Journey into Soul. It chronicles my exploration of the soulful terrain on the far side of conventional religion, where talking to trees, communing with the dead, and summoning our spirit guides is the new normal.
To give you a taste of the book, I am sharing with you the chapter from which the book draws its title. Talking to trees, it would seem, is no different from any other f...
Talking to Trees: A Journey into Soul
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Six years ago, when I retired from my ministry and left the church, I began chronicling my exploration of the soulful terrain on the far side of conventional religion. It was an extraordinary landscape and my experiences there began fulfilling many of the unforgotten longings of my heart. I felt like I was coming home.
To capture that journey, believing others might be encouraged in their exploration to hear about mine, I assembled many of the personal essays...
Not Business as Usual: Sandy Wiggins' Journey from Board Work to Breath Work
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As we ponder and discern where Life is calling us, it is useful, and sometimes inspirational, to see how someone else has heard the call. Sandy Wiggins established himself as a business executive in the real estate world. It was creative work and it was lucrative and it provided opportunities to use property development as a way to serve the planet. But it's not where Sandy was destined to stay.
As he followed the subtle leadings of his s...
There is No 'More': Billy Wynne on "The Empty Path" and the Radical Art of Lessening
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We might have thought just a little more would make us happy. More money, more time, more things. But that's the problem. Like a cat chasing its tail, 'more' will never give us what we seek. As meditation teacher Billy Wynne explains, 'more' is an illusory concept. Only in accepting the emptiness of all things will we receive what we desire--the extravagant fulness of this present moment ... and then of the next.
Billy's Book: "The Empty Path: Finding F...
"The Satisfied Woman": Alanna Kaivalya on Reclaiming the Archetypal Feminine
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The archetypal feminine can be many things--fierce, wily, nurturing, creative, and deeply rooted in the natural world. But Alanna Kaivalya regards two qualities in particular, intuition and emotion, at risk of being lost in the modern age, where women are expected to be strong and independent, like men. "The Satisfied Woman," she says, reclaims her feminine power in order to uniquely gift the world.
Links and Resources
Alanna's book: "The Way of the Satisfied Woman: Reclaiming F...
Dream Worker: Mary Marsden Guides us Through the Portal of a Dream
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It's not about working a dream, about unpacking its symbols and wresting from it its cryptic meaning. It's about allowing the dream to work you, which is a very different thing. Mary Marsden is a nature-based soul guide, a personal mentor, and a dream worker. She helps dreamers to reenter the world of their dreams and experience the sensually soulful dreamscape that has been created by Mystery uniquely for them. Something will happen in such an encounter. It always does.
Facing the Forces of Darkness: A Shaman, a Spiritualist, and a Reiki Master on Walking in the Light
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One thing that keeps people from exploring their spiritual path is fear of the dark. Not just darkness itself, but what darkness hides--ghosts, demons, spirits. The mere thought of such entities drives nascent seekers away before they even get started. But it needn't be that way.
Jan Thompson, Jane Fleming, and Wade Prpich are spiritual guides who know the dark side, but who choose the light. In fact, each would say that the way we conquer our primal f...
Humanizing Work: Sona Khosla and One Company's Attempt to Put Social Values First
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We don't tend to think of the corporate world as 'soulful.' But some companies realize that paying attention to social and environmental values, and not just to the bottom line, is good for the workers, good for the world, and, as it turns out, good for business as well.
Sona Khosla is Chief Impact Officer for Benevity, a tech company that brings working people and worthy causes together. The "impact" Sona seeks applies equally to creating a h...
Lyanda Haupt's "Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit"
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How do we rekindle our love for the Earth? According to naturalist and eco-philosopher Lyanda Haupt, the smallest step does it. Her book, Rooted, is a compendium of such steps, from wandering barefoot in the woods to welcoming the mystery of animal "presence." The starting point is simply our curiosity and our willingness to take a step, no matter how small, in the direction of the natural world.
Lyanda's Most Recent Book: "Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of S...
Anam Cara: Barry Foster, Don McLeod and I, on Soulful Friendship
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To be alone in the world is a terrible thing, unless of course it is by choice. Especially for men, the heart may long for deep connection while all our social posturing creates the opposite--distance. When men discover deep friendship with other men it is a gift to be savoured and, in this instance, shared.
Don McLeod, Barry Foster and I have met together for almost twenty-five years, dubbing ourselves, preposterously, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. We have n...
"Once Upon a Time": Natalie Pepin and Tad Hargrave on the Power of Ancestral Stories
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Stories arrive on our TV screen daily, unbidden. We are momentarily entertained or diverted but rarely are we changed. The old stories, however, passed down from generation to generation, were meant to instruct us, to identify us with a tribe, and to change us.
Natalie Pepin, a Metis artist and cultural educator, and Tad Hargrave, a European-Canadian marketer and cultural explorer, both experienced the dearth of life-changing stories in our modern culture ... until they...
The Cavewoman Way: Invoking the Wild Woman, with Michelle Rigling
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Whatever Soul is, it's not tame. That's why we seek Soul in the wild places, where something locked away can be released and we can remember who we are and why we're here. That's also why we need an experienced guide to take us there, someone who knows the wild places of the human heart. Michelle Rigling is such a guide. Her Cavewoman Way group programs and one-on-one counselling invite the Wild Woman to appear in the lives of those...
Understanding Karma: Mordy Levine on Living Like it Matters
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Positive karma makes the world a better place and lightens our load in both this life and the next. Negative karma harms the world and burdens us with destructive habits. Becoming conscious of the bad habits we accumulate is the first step toward making better choices, finding joy and liberation for ourselves, and becoming a positive force in the world. My guest Mordy Levine, the co-author of The Beginner's Guide to Karma, breaks it all down for us.
...
Peia: A Soulful Singer Takes us All the Way Back
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Here's a seasonal offering of word and song that will warm your heart, whether it's Christmas you celebrate, the Winter Solstice, Festivus, or any of the many other culturally rich wintertime observances. As we turn inward at this time of year, we also turn back, longing for the comforts of a home that is lost to us now. For those of us with Celtic or Western European roots, Peia's music is deeply evocative of those ancestral roots long buried beneath...
"The Great Search": John Philip Newell and the Spiritual Awakening of our Age
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With every new war and with every new natural catastrophe, we are being driven to consider new ways of being human on this planet. This search is not new, but perhaps it's never been so critical. Celtic spiritual teacher John Philip Newell has collected nine prophetic voices in his latest book, The Great Search, to help awaken within us the realization that not only is the Earth sacred, so is the human soul. It's as inspiring a message as it...
Soulful Gatherings: Peter Scanlan on the Way of Council
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How many of us emerged from the last US presidential shaking our heads and saying,"There's gotta be a better way." There is, and there has always been. The Way of Council is the time-honoured method of gathering soulfully that doesn't leave the heart at the door. Psychotherapist and soul guide Peter Scanlan teaches this way, and he shares it with us in this rich conversation.
Resources
Peter's website: http://www.peterscanlan.com
The Animas Valley...
At the Crossroads: Sarah Arthurs on Earth Advocacy and Religious Faith
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Does religion have a role in "The Great Turning," where humanity is rediscovering what it means to be creatures of the earth? Or are its own wounds and divisions too deep to allow it to see beyond its protective walls? Sarah Arthurs is both an earth activist and a religious peacemaker. Her answer, depending on the day, may be: Yes; Not yet; or No. But hope says: Soon.
Links to Sarah's World
Green Exodus (the home of...
Native Ways: How Elizabeth Buller Page Found her Path by Returning to her Roots
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The Indigenous culture that European colonizers encountered here in the New World, and then so brutally suppressed, is the very repository of wisdom we now need. Elizabeth Buller Page knows this personally. Deep into a midlife descent, Liz turned to her family's Indigenous roots to discover not only the healing she sought but the path she'd lost.
Resources
The book on Cree history and culture that Liz can't be without: The Plains Cree: An Ethnographic, Historical, and...
Bill Plotkin: Soul Initiation and the "small opening into the new day"
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Out here, on the far side of conventional religion, no path is more compelling than the one that leads us to know our natural place within the larger earth community. And there may be no better modern guide than Bill Plotkin, the author of four books on the subject and the founder of the Animas Valley Institute. The way is called "soul initiation," which is devastating to the ego but life-giving to the soul. And it just might help save...
Christian Mystic Cynthia Bourgeault: Living Large in the Imaginal Realm
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We dwell within a realm of spacious possibility; and it dwells within us. The mystic experiences this firsthand. So does any seeker alert to the subtle movements of the heart. Cynthia Bourgeault knows the territory well. She's lived it, and she's written about it. But, being human, she's also continuing to learn about it, sometimes by trial and error. Fortunately, our spiritual education is not completed in this lifetime.
Resources
Cynthia's Websites: https://wisdomwaypoints.org; https://wisdomwayofknowing...
Jules Howatt's Soulful Journey from Bruce to Julianna
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Soul has only one agenda--that we live into who we really are and offer our unique gifts in service to the world. Soul is less concerned about the obstacles that that may plant in our path. So, for rugged mountain guide Bruce Howatt, the call to finally show up in the world--as Julianna--must have felt like the greatest, most intimidating climb of all. And yet, here she is, inspiring the rest of us to discover and to assume our own...
Knowing Everything: Kim Chestney and the Power of Intuition
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Intuition is our portal to knowing everything. What our rational mind doesn't know, and can't know, is available to us through those flashes of insight that solve problems, give us direction, and suggest meaning and purpose for our lives. Kim Chestney, author of The Illumination Code: 7 Keys to Unlock Your Quantum Intelligence, has spent her life trying to understand intuition and what it does. Only recently, with discoveries from the field of quantum physics, can we begin to answer the...
Jessica Waite's "The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards:" Inside the Writing of a Blockbuster
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By the time an author scores a major publishing deal they are usually beyond the reach of mere mortals. So, when it happens to a friend, there is a unique sense of privilege watching the process unfold from the inside. Such is the case with Jessica Waite, whose memoir, "The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards" is poised for release this summer. In this episode Jessica and I explore the writing and publishing of her personal story, described as a "lyrical...
From "Them" to "Me Too:" How Writing Groups Can Bring out the Writer in Us
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So many writers hide their light under a bushel, thinking they don't deserve the term "writer." But writing groups can put the lie to that fear, coaxing us and our words out from hiding. The UnderStory Collective is the writing group I belong to. I invited them to the Cave to share the reassuring and emboldening benefits of having writerly friends.
Members of the UnderStory Collective
Suzanne Johnston, Allan Cooper, Jessica Waite, Anne Marie Nakagawa, Brian Pearson<...
"Writing by Heart:” Meredith Heller on How Poetry Can Lead us Home
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You can hear it in her voice. This is a woman who knows herself and her place in the universe. But fortunately for us, she believes that that place is to help others find their voice too. "Writing by Heart" is Meredith Heller's invitation to find the inner path to yourself ... through poetry. It's a book. But it's also a portal. And it's beckoning ...
Resources:
Meredith's latest book: Writing by Heart: A Poetry Path to Healing and...
Making Peace with Impermanence: Zen Teacher Ryushin on True Liberation
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Psychedelics can show us what's beyond our ordinary consciousness. Meditation can help us to live day by day from that place. But in the end all practices fall short: the spiritual journey requires a letting go, not a holding on. Zen teacher Ryushin uses words only to point beyond those words ... to the actual peace and enlightenment we seek.
Resources relative to this conversation:
"Healing with Form, Energy and Light," by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche; Snow Lion (Shambhala...
The Way of the Shaman: Healer Wade Prpich and a World of Spirit Helpers
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The Ordinary Reality we experience every day may not be the only reality there is. It may not even be the real one. Non-Ordinary Reality is a fantastical cosmos populated by Spirit Beings—plants, animals, and people—who are devoted to our health and wholeness. It's the job of shamans like Wade Prpich to travel to that world and seek the help of those Beings for the sake of our spiritual healing here in this one. For real!
Link...
Spirits Ascending: Reiki Master Jan Thompson on the Light We Cannot See
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It's like we're walking around blindfolded. We feel we are alone in the universe while spirit guides hover close by, waiting for us to acknowledge them. We feel it all comes down to our wills and to our efforts while energy pours into our hearts from a cosmic Source. Reiki Master Jan Thompson knows those spiritual realms, relying upon them for the healing work she does. It makes her humbler than most, and wiser too. Because she knows we only...
“How Not to be Afraid:” Gareth Higgins on New Stories for Frightening Times
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There's something encoded in our souls that seeks hope even in the face of hopelessness. That spark, that gene, that impossible dream is what allows us to discover new stories to replace the old ones and to usher in the new world we seek. Activist, storyteller, and writer Gareth Higgins, in his book, How Not to be Afraid, evokes the life-giving possibilities that are hidden within our fears.
Links to Gareth and his work
Gareth's book: How...
