Weam Namou's Blog, page 16

Utilizing Masters, Shamans, and Healers

His curiosity and commitment to master the healing process has guided Vince Anthony Pitre to study sound healing in Europe and shamanic healing in the jungle and mountains of Peru. I met Vince in January 2015 when a friend invited me to join her to a lecture series by the Metropolitan Detroit A.R.E. (Association of Research and Enlightenment) Community, a non-profit organization which was founded in 1931 by Edgar Cayce. The subject was Family Constellations and the presenters were Vince Anthony Pitre and Robert Auerbach.

These men described how unconscious limits to success often stem initially from the unresolved and many times unspoken traumas, tragedies and transgressions that weave themselves into the energy, “fabric” and conversations of our family.

They explained that we hold many of our histories in our bodies, in our flesh, and how Family Constellations is used to heal resistant, stubborn patterns that might not be ours, or it might be an issue that goes back into past family generation trauma or transgressions that was never healed or resolved. This energy sticks from generation to generation because it’s an unconscious process.

Pitre holds a Master’s Degree in Clinical Social Work from Wayne State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Windsor. For over 20 years, he has helped people in Windsor Detroit area to develop healthier, happier lives. He’s a licensed psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, and healer. He offers a long list of services, including workshops to help detox from family pain and/or drama.

“It’s done without making anyone wrong, or putting blame on anyone,” said Pitre. “It’s about seeing where issues came from so we can find a resolution. You don’t heal by chasing light all day. You have to face the dark side as well.”

Through movement and unspoken words, people in the room get psychologically reconfigured. Not only is the person with the problem being healed but so are their family members, even if they are not in the room.

“In this process, new images come up that counters what the person thought of themselves growing up,” said Pitre. “The person leaves behind their old story. This allows their brain to rewire to this new image which they step into and move on with their life.”

Bert Hellinger founded this therapeutic method, which draws on elements of family systems therapy, existential phenomenology and Zulu attitudes to family. Hellinger was a priest whose travels to Africa led him to gain fascination of how the natives honored their ancestors, and the way in which they helped each other heal.

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Although I am familiar with similar teachings, being myself a graduate of Lynn Andrew’s shamanic school, I loved that this type of healing was evidently growing to where you can find them in local cities. For years, I have believed that holistic health is going to be as popular as yoga classes and I see it happening now. Such workshops, teachings and healings are especially beneficial for those who grew up in very old tribal mentalities that limit them from their full potential.

I believe in taking as good care of my spirit as I do of my mind, heart, and body, so I scheduled a one-on-one session with Vince. The experience was so effective that I visited him again a year later and plan to do future appointments as I feel suitable. On February 10th, I’m going to the Reset Gong Meditation and Healing Ceremony, a magical evening that begins with a Sacred Cacao Ceremony followed by two sound healing gong sets intended to wrap us into shamanic journey mediation. Afterward, there’s a social hour with hot tea, healthy snacks and integration.

Every religion, spiritual and ancient teaching has emphasized the importance of our spirit, of us looking within, of understanding who we are and how to use our inner power and wisdom in the outer world so we can live a healthy and happy life. Yet oftentimes we place our resources in more surface solutions that give us short-term relief. As I once heard Vince ask, “How much are you worth?”

That’s the question we need to ask ourselves as we look at our spiritual well being. We’re lucky to live in a country where many healers, shamans, and masters have traveled the distance to find their teachers, study, dig deep within, and bring their wisdom, knowledge and powers to our local neighborhood.  It is up to us to utilize it. 

For more information, contact the Center for Healing Arts and Massage  38245 Mound Rd, Sterling Heights, MI 48310   phone: 586-268-5444

 Click here to learn more about Vince Anthony Pitre

I’m excited to announce that Vince will be one of our speakers at my upcoming Spiritual and Writing Summit in October. For more info, visit www.ThePathofConsciousness.com

 

Nourishing the Music and Literary Communities

 

When I traveled to Europe, I loved the sense of small community. People knew the owners of their local shops – the butchers, bakers, and in Rome, their pizza makers. The music, arts and literary scene surrounded you like a warm sun. In Italy, I stayed for several months in Rome and then chose to visit the southern part of the country, taking a seven-day tour of Sicily so I could witness even more of that type of lifestyle – and because I was deeply in love with the Godfather Sagas, particularly the scene where Al Pacino meets his first wife with olive groves and wheat fields carpeting the town of Corleone.

A part of me wished to move to Europe, but my love for my home and family in Michigan always brought me back and then I realized, we have all of that here if we would simply look for it. That’s what I loved about John D. Lamb’s work. When I met him at the Rochester Writers Conference – we were on a panel with Dr. Stan Williams – I learned about his Italian roots, his truly authentic and moving folklore, and how he has used his talents to serve his community.

John’s CD Feel That won the 2007 Detroit Music Award for Outstanding Acoustic / Folk Recording, but long before that, in 1995, he started Lamb’s Retreat for Songwriters at the Birchwood Inn at Harbor Springs, Michigan. He brought in well-established songwriters who offer workshops, one-on-one consultation, and performances over the course of the three-day retreat. Participants receive an assignment on the first day, based on a common theme, and by the end of the retreat, everyone performs a newly written original song.

Following the success of Lamb’s Retreat for Songwriters, a conversation with filmmaker Michael Moore led to other creative events in northern Michigan – a writers retreat on Walloon Lake. Michael Moore and his wife volunteered to be on staff and they provided $2500 seed money to start the project which over the years has blossomed. Springfed now offers local classes in poetry, prose, fiction, young adult fiction, creative writing and memoir.

When I invited John D. Lamb to come on my show, I told him to bring his guitar. I had so enjoyed listening to his music and singing at the Rochester Writers Conference that I wanted others to enjoy it as well. These days, hearing music with words that actually make sense and mean something seems like a lost art. Most of the mainstream lyrics are negative and are about people breaking each other’s hearts and hurting one another. Luckily, he’s coming out with a new album soon. 

Watch this video to enjoy John’s songs and music and to know that, like in Europe, we too have a little rich community – artistic or otherwise. Every city, town, and village has it. One simply has to find and nourish it so it can survive.

For more information about Springfed, visit http://www.springfed.org/

 

Interviewing Film Guru Dr. Stan Williams

 

I started my TV cable show last week and was so excited that my first guest was an international award-winning filmmaker Dr. Stan Williams, formerly my instructor at the Motion Picture Institute of Michigan. While I knew Stan was incredibly accomplished – I call him a “film guru” – I had no idea that Will Smith called his book, The Moral Premise: Harnessing Virtue and Vice for Box Office Success, the most important tool in his tool kit. Stan has consulted with Will and his team on over a dozen motion picture projects, which have totaled over 1 billion dollars at the worldwide box office. Amazing what one book can do once it’s out in the world.

I’m intrigued that Will Smith and I have the same autographed book in our library and that we both have similar respect and appreciate for Stan’s work, but I’m not surprised that his book received this type of recognition. Since 1972, Stan has overseen over 400 projects for broadcast, industrial and dramatic productions that have been distributed worldwide. Stan holds a PhD in Communications-Film Studies from Wayne State University, an M.S. in Speech Communications from Eastern Michigan University and a B.A. in Physics from Greenville College.

Currently Stan is working on his romantic comedy film Annaliese! Annaliese! In the fall, I was part of a panel with Stan for the Rochester Writers Conference at Oakland University and had the chance to view the first Webisode of Annaliese! Annaliese! I emailed him, telling him how much I enjoyed the fresh and charming comedy. The webisode reminded me of the Woody Allen movies which are down to earth, authentic and funny at the same time. Humor is always popular, but it’s especially needed these days.

The Webisodes will premiere as a single 45-minute film on January 28, 2018 at the Farmington Civic Theater in Farmington, MI. They’re having free giveaways and a raffle. Doors open at 2pm and the film will begin at 2:30 pm. Tickets are only $5 in advance, you’ll receive a $4 voucher good at the concession counter, and they’ll give the $1 to charity. Clearly the best deal in town so I’m definitely going. Tickets can be purchased here: http://www.AnnalieseTheMovie.com.

Watch the half-hour interview as Dr. Stan Williams has some good advice for up and coming filmmakers.  My show will be every Wednesday at 7pm on CMN TV (Channel 18 on Comcast and WOW!) If you miss it, you can watch it on Youtube – Weam Namou. I bring on amazing and inspiring people who have a lot of talent and wisdom to share. The next show is an interview with award-winning musician and founder of Springfed.org John D. Lamb.

The Babylonian Tradition of New Year’s Resolution

 

One thing I learned in Lynn V. Andrews’ mysticism school is that if you feel something is missing in your life, become that something. In October 2014, I at one of our gatherings with Lynn in Los Angeles, I asked whether there’s a council in Michigan that I can join. There are numerous councils in the United States and abroad that come together every month and pass on the teachings of Lynn and the Sisterhood of the Shields.

I was told there isn’t one in Michigan, and someone easily suggested, “Why don’t you start a council?”

So I returned home and started the Ancient Wisdom Council in early 2015. Each of our gatherings has had a unique, magical, and learning experience. Yesterday was no different. In honor of the upcoming New Year, we sat in a dim room, amidst candles and smoky incense as we listened to Lynn’s audio “Act of Power.”

I first came upon the “Act of Power” teaching five years ago during this same time when I received The Mystery School’s welcome packet. It included a CD which taught us how to do an “Act of Power,” which is sort of like a New Year’s Resolution but much, much more powerful as it incorporates elements of the sacred. Therefore, it’s difficult to break and you end up achieving your goals (it is estimated that only about eight percent of people achieve their New Year’s Resolutions).

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Ancient Babylonians started the tradition of making New Year Resolutions some 4,000 years ago. They made promises to their gods at the start of each year that they would return borrowed objects and pay their debts. For the Babylonians, the first new moon following the vernal equinox—the day in late March with an equal amount of sunlight and darkness—heralded the start of a new year. They marked the occasion with a massive religious festival called Akitu (derived from the Sumerian word for barley, which was cut in the spring) that involved a different ritual on each of its eleven days.

According to some, late March is actually a logical choice for the beginning of a new year. It is the time of year that spring begins and new crops are planted. January 1st, on the other hand, has no astronomical nor agricultural significance. It is purely arbitrary. The Romans continued to observe the New Year on March 25, but their calendar was continually tampered with by various emperors so that the calendar soon became out of synchronization with the sun.

Perhaps less tampering with nature and ancient wisdom, and more patience, faith and self-love, would help increase the percentage of people who achieve their New Year’s Resolution. Perhaps the way in which Babylonians did their New Year’s resolution was similar to the ceremony of an “Act of Power” since, in the second millennium BC, Babylon was the cultural, spiritual, and political center of the Chaldeans, and one of the richest and most powerful cities in the ancient world. How it fell from a golden city to rubble is another story for another blog post.

For now, have you prepared your New Year’s Resolution? This a powerful time for setting your intent and shifting your energies. It’s a wonderful and exciting journey, full of new possibilities for change and growth. I wish everyone a Happy New Year and may whatever you set your intent on manifests and prospers.    

If you want to listen to Lynn’s Act of Power CD, you can visit this site: https://lynn-andrews-online-store.mys...

I also talk about the “Act of Power” in my book, Healing Wisdom for a Wounded World: My Life-Changing Journey Through a Shamanic School (Book 1)

A Productive and Fulfilling Life

[image error]Nidhal Garmo (left) with singer Sawsan Najar Kizy

For one woman I know, the attitude and celebration of Christmas is a daily routine.  I’ve watched Nidhal Garmo’s charity work, which started over a decade ago, grow immensely even as she juggled the role of motherhood and ran two pharmacies. She founded and is president of One World Medical Mission (OWMM), a nonprofit organization, and recently held a fundraising gala to raise funds for the poor, providing them with food, clothes, shelter, and medical supplies.

Despite the snow and slippery roads, over 500 people attended this event to support a truly admirable cause led by a powerful, feminine, and inspiring woman. It was a lovely night filled with delicious food and exquisite people. Sitting at the table with a notebook in hand, sipping wine and observing my surroundings, I watched Nidhal work nonstop. She greeted everyone who walked through the doors and didn’t sit down to eat dinner. That’s basically her life story, a story of productivity and fulfillment, all while maintaining constant grace, kindness, and beauty.

“This is a great cause,” said Faiz Al Sendy, one of the attendees sitting at my table. “What Nidhal does is what Jesus and the Bible encourages us to do. Jesus is about love, forgiveness and giving to the poor.”

[image error]Nidhal Garmo with daughter Raquel Garmo

I remembered my son a few Christmas ago, at age six, asking me, “Mom, if Christmas is Jesus’ birthday, why are we the ones getting gifts?”

One of the main reasons we have the custom of giving and receiving presents at Christmas is to remind us of when the Wise Men gave Jesus gifts. But I’ve often wondered, after the kids opened their expensive presents – sometimes to only play with them for a few weeks, a few days, or even a few hours – whether the message in this tradition is lost.

What a blessing it would be to include in our Christmas tradition giving to a charity that we love and believe in. Isaiah 1:17 says, “Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.”

I’ve known Nidhal for a long time, had interviewed her on several occasions, watched her going bad forth to Iraq to help the poor and destitute. I’ll never forgot some of her most inspiring quotes about charity. She’d said, “I’m tired physically but happy mentally.”

She has often urged people to be charitable now, not to wait until it is too late and then regret having wasted their money on materialistic matters. When she pursued this path, she faced a great deal of financial difficulties but she was able to overcome them with faith and determination.

“I trust God and that’s why I’m not afraid to give all my money away,” she said. “He does not disappoint anyone. Just wait and see what will happen!”

She’d once told me that when she doesn’t have money, she talks to God and within a short time, she receives a call or an email that guides and assists her situation. No wonder she’d been nicknamed “The Mother Theresa of Iraq.”

“Give charity work a try,” she says with an upbeat and beautiful smile. “It’s fun and you’ll love it”

The Mystery School

[image error]Whenever I receive an email that we’re having a call with my teacher, bestselling author and mystic Lynn V. Andrews, I suddenly feel grounded, grounded by her continuous ancient teachings and by my previous four-year apprenticeship in her school.

In Book One the four-part memoir series, Healing Wisdom for a Wounded World: My Life-Changing Journey Through a Shamanic School, I write about my first encounter with Lynn. She’d recommended I enroll in the Mystery School as it could help me make the right decisions regarding my writing career.

“What’s the Mystery School?” I asked, wiping away tears triggered by her tapping into a deep wound that had prevented me from writing my truth.

“It’s a four-year school that will teach and awaken the beauty and power within you,” she said. “It will give you the direction you need.”

Four years? I thought. It didn’t take me that long to get my bachelor’s degree.

“I have children,” I said. “I can’t leave my home to go study somewhere.”

“This is a school without walls. I created it so that anyone, anywhere in the world could do this work without having to move to a campus. I wanted to create a learning environment where people could learn through their own experiences, not to try to be their teacher.”

“I’ll check it out on your website and consider it,” I lied. Yes, she said some profound things that stirred me and yes, I cried, and yes, I felt a connection with her that was ignited as easily as one lit a match, like when two people fell in love at first sight, but no, I was not going to fall for this gimmick. I had no idea who Lynn was at the time, only called her because I’d read her book Writing Spirit and had been very moved by it.

She then said a prayer that wrapped around me like a blanket. After we hung up, I tried to disengage from the powerful energy of that conversation. I didn’t want to invest in a school. I wanted to move my writing career forward despite my tons of responsibility, particularly having to raise a young family. Yet I kept getting drawn to the beauty and depth of Lynn’s words, and to a feeling of authenticity that I didn’t easily see in the world around me. I eventually went online to learn more about it.

I learned that the Mystery School is a spiritual school that has, for over 25 years, passed down shamanic teachings of 44 women known as the Sisterhood of the Shields. These women are healers from various cultures such as Panama, Guatemala, Australia, Nepal, North American and the Yucatan. Their teachings have been passed from one generation to the next for thousands of years. They initiated Lynn as a member of The Sisterhood and appointed her as their public messenger. Lynn’s study began with Agnes Whistling Elk and Ruby Plenty Chiefs, Native American healers in northern Canada. Lynn wrote about her own experience in Medicine Woman, and later, as she met with more of the women of the Sisterhood, wrote over a dozen more books. Lynn’s website describes her “as a major link between the ancient world of shamanism and modern societies’ thirst for profound personal healing and a deeper understanding of the pathway to enlightenment.”

So I signed up, and that one decision transformed my life.

Lynn’s books and teachings resonated with me and thousands of others from around the world, linking us with the ancient healing and magic of long ago, thus bringing to life, through experiential learning, a connection to spirit and the earth.While my graduation seems like ages ago – so much has happened since then, including my writing a four-part memoir series about the experience – I only started the school in February 2012. The school is still available for people to learn from. With all the chaos in the world, this is truly a unique opportunity that provides ancient skills and tools for a sacred way of life.

To learn more about these teachings, visit http://lynnandrews.com/lacsat/

 

Priestesses & Goddesses of Ancient Mesopotamia

[image error]It was so fitting to talk about priestesses and goddesses of Ancient Mesopotamia at a place which was co-founded by a woman whose stunning painting hung to my side as I spoke. The Theosophical Society was founded in late 1875 in New York City by Russian noblewoman Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Colonel Henry Steel Olcott.

The first Russian woman to be naturalized as an American citizen, Madame Blavatsky was widely traveled and she published Isis Unveiled, a book outlining her Theosophical world-view. She described Theosophy as “the synthesis of science, religion, and philosophy,” proclaiming that it was reviving an “ancient wisdom” which underlay all the world’s religions.

The Theosophical Center of Detroit, located in Berkley, was filled with an engaging audience who listened to me speak about an important aspect of my ancestry that is often omitted from history. I first read from my memoir, Healing Wisdom for a Wounded World: My Life-Changing Journey Through a Shamanic School (pg 164-165):

From Healing Wisdom for a Wounded World (Book 1) page 163 to 164

What history books say regarding the role of women in ancient Mesopotamia is true. Most girls were trained from childhood for the traditional roles of wife, mother, and housekeeper. They learned how to grind grain, how to cook and make beverages, especially beer, and how to spin and weave cloth for clothing. But in early periods, women could own, purchase, and inherit property and engage in business for themselves. High status women, such as priestesses and members of royal families, were taught to read and write and were given significant administrative authority. A number of powerful goddesses were worshiped, and in some city states they were the primary deities.

Kubaba, a Sumerian Queen, is the world’s first recorded woman ruler in history. She was a former tavern-keeper, one of many occupations that were open to women in Mesopotamia. Kubaba was said to have reigned peacefully for one hundred years. Her symbols were the mirror and the pomegranate.

Enheduanna is the world’s first recorded writer. She wrote and taught about three centuries before the earliest Sanskrit texts, 2000 years before Aristotle and 1,700 before Confucius. She was the daughter of the great Mesopotamian king Sargon of Akkad and the high priestess of the temple of Innana, known as Ishtar, and Nanna, the Akkadian moon god, in the center of her father’s empire, the city-state of Ur.

Enheduanna had a considerable political and religious role in Ur. She wrote during the rise of the agricultural civilization, when gathering territory and wealth, warfare, and patriarchy were making their marks. She offers a first-person perspective on the last times women in Western society held religious and civil power. After her father’s death, the new ruler of Ur removed her from her position as high priestess. She turned to the goddess Inanna to regain her position through a poem that mentions her carrying the ritual basket:

It was in your service that I first entered the holy temple,

I, Enheduanna, the highest priestess. I carried the ritual basket,

I chanted your praise.

Now I have been cast out to the place of lepers.

Day comes and the brightness is hidden around me.

Shadows cover the light, drape it in sandstorms.

My beautiful mouth knows only confusion.

Even my sex is dust.

Enheduanna lived at a time of rising patriarchy. It has been written that, as secular males acquired more power, religious beliefs had evolved from what was probably a central female deity in Neolithic times to a central male deity by the Bronze Age. Female power and freedom sharply diminished during the Assyrian era, the period in which the first evidence of laws requiring the public veiling of elite women was made.

[image error]With my nice Sandy Naimou who is on the board of the Theosophical Society

I also shared with this wonderful audience my ancestor’s history of rich powerful females, as I often do in my books. This includes Inanna, the goddess of Sumerians who is known as Ishtar for Babylonians and Assyrians. She chose to leave position and all her possessions behind to go to the underworld which her sister was goddess of. To do so, she had to pass the seven gates (kundalini chakras) to meet her death and return to life.

There’s Ninkasi, the ancient Sumerian goddess of beer. She symbolizes the role of women in brewing and preparation of beverages in ancient Mesopotamia. But this was not a light matter. Beer consumption was an important marker for societal and civilized virtues. Did you know that the oldest recipe for brewing beer comes from the land of Mesopotamia and that the straw was first developed by the Babylonians?

Back to Kubaba – the only queen on the Sumerian King list and one of very few women to have ever ruled in their own right in Iraqi history. She is believed to have fortified the city against invaders and made it strong. After her death she was worshiped as a goddess. Yet in later generations, Mesopotamians decided it was unnatural for a woman to uphold traditional men’s roles and provided this omen to make sure no other woman dares to so improperly cross that line again: “If an androgyny is born, with both rod and vagina – omen of Kubaba, who ruled the country. The country of the king shall be ruined.”

Ironically, the country of “the king” was ruined because of her absence. The thirst to wipe away the feminine energy, “her story”, in the Middle East has succeeded, causing that region to become so imbalanced that, no matter how much U.S. and international intervention, it seems unable to heal.

Yet I believe what the Dalai Lama once said, that “the Western women will save the world.” Yes, she will bring her story back to life.

 

Sitting on Rosa Parks’ Seat

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“Which seat did Rosa Parks sit on?” I asked the museum curator.

“The one you’re sitting on,” he said.

This was back in August when I took the kids to visit Henry Ford Museum. The path to the bus, which is located in the “With Justice and Liberty for All” exhibit, subjects patrons to various unnerving items such as a large costume of the KKK and a drinking fountain from the 50’s labeled “colored.”

It is in that era that a quiet, dignified, Alabama seamstress did something that no one had done before. She refused to give up her seat in the “colored section” to a white passenger. By simply saying “no,” she started a movement.

“Segregation in the United States has been around forever,” said the curator. “In the north it wasn’t as obvious or blatant as in the south.”

He explained that all “colors” were discriminated against, including Indians, Asians, Native Americans, and dark colored Arabs. They could not sit in the front of the bus for any reason. A white person would not sit next to a colored person, nor stand in the bus. Bus drivers were always white and if they wished they could carry guns to enforce the laws.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks gets into the bus. The bus driver tells her to move to the back – three times – or he’ll call the police.

“For Rosa Parks the police wasn’t as worrisome as the KKK,” said the curator. “She knew that the KKK would find out what she did and would not be happy with it.”

Yet she refused to move. Four days later she was fined a $15 fee for disturbing the peace and $10 for court costs. She appealed her conviction. Her action caused a boycott. Colored people refused to ride the buses. Some quit their jobs rather than ride the bus. This amounted to some 90 percent of the riders. Eventually segregation on buses in Alabama became illegal, causing a domino effect in the rest of the country.

According to the curator, the Rosa Parks bus continued to carry passengers for a long time after this incident and then sold to a farmer. He used it to store lumber, put live stock in it, even for target practice. His daughter inherited the farm with the bus. She contacted an auctioneer one day to put it on eBay. The Smithsonian, Henry Ford and a third party bid for it. Henry Ford evidently won. Seventy-five percent of the bus is its original material.

Rosa Park’s action caused the KKK to put a lot of pressure on her and her husband, including death threats, so after a few years, she moved to Detroit. She died in October 2005, following the 50th year anniversary of the bus.

At the end of his talk, he had us listen to an audio of Rosa Parks expressing in an interview why she’d took a stand that day. She said, “The time had come where I was pushed as far as I could. I had to know my rights as a human being.”

Sixty years ago, when Rosa Parks finally stood up for her rights as a human being, she ignited others to realize their worthiness too. It’s not easy to be courageous, to do what’s right, to not shrug off what your heart tells you to do. But when you do it, with quietness and dignity, it’s like magic.

Learning From Masters

 

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One beautiful April morning in 2015, as my family drove to Suttons Bay for a weekend trip, I read Jack Canfield’s The Success Principles. It made the four-hour ride feel short and sweet, and it gave for great conversation with my children, at the time 9-years-old and 6-years-old. I shared with them Principle #1 – taking a 100% accountability for your success; then principle #2 – finding your life purpose.

“My life purpose is to be a teacher,” my daughter said.

“You want to teach children or adults?” I asked.

“Children. Adults are crazy.”

I noted this conversation in my journal and continued to read the book, intrigued by the countless stories of people who’d used these principles to transform their lives.

At Suttons Bay, we stayed at a cottage, and the first morning there I woke up at the break of dawn while everyone else was sound asleep. I made a cup of coffee and went outside. The shops still closed, I walked through the calm and quiet streets until I found a bench near a water stream. Listing to the water and chirping birds, I drank my coffee, read The Success Principles and did the visionary writing exercises in it.   

Reading the stories of those who’d applied Jack’s success principles was touching and uplifting. Many would approach him after he gave a talk to share how his books had changed their lives. At the time, I’d thought, “I’d love to meet him” because I knew from past experience the power of being in the presence of such individuals. As author Irina Tweedie’s Sufi Master told her when she wondered if a student actually needed a teacher, guru, or master, “You must cut cheese with a knife which is harder than cheese.” 

 

The autumn of 2015, on a night where I felt extremely frustrated after an amateur colleague caused me to lose time, money, and energy, I enrolled in the Quantum Leap program by Steve Harrison which also involved Jack Canfield’s Bestseller Blueprint. Years ago, Steve Harrison had helped launch Jack Canfield’s Chicken Soup for the Soul series, which ended up selling over 500 million copies. Jack has set two Guinness records, one for the largest book signing and a second for having the most number of books (7 books) on the New York Times bestseller list at one time. Having achieved this amount of success, he has teamed up with Steve to help authors do the same.

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Through their programs, I was surrounded by a team of professional, creative, and spiritual people who support and elevate each other’s work. They particularly understand and cater to authors’ and speakers’ career needs. Don’t get me wrong, it was and still is hard work, but it feels much easier with coaches by your side who provide numerous tools to help an author move forward.

After two years, I finally met this “team” in person in Philadelphia for a four-day meeting that was packed with information, workshops, and networking opportunities. My favorite part was when Jack Canfield did a guided meditation to tap into an area of our lives that was holding us back. The night before, a woman had shared with me how when he did this meditation the previous year, the lifelong back pain she’d had went away. For me, something else happened but it too was incredibly powerful.

Later that night, I went up to Jack for a picture. He complimented my book, its subject matter and the front cover, Healing Wisdom for a Wounded World: My Life-Changing Journey Through a Shamanic School, and I told him how two years ago when I read his book I wanted to meet him in person.

“Well, here you are,” he said. “You manifested that.”

Everyone is capable of manifesting their dreams by setting their intent and staying focused on and committed to the end result. It truly helps to associate with those who have gone ahead of you and mastered the very thing you’re trying to do. In the past, writers’ careers depended mostly on publishers, publicists, and intuitions that promised them success. If they didn’t follow through with the promises, the author felt pretty much helpless. That’s not the case nowadays. With the availability of the internet and technology, with so many opportunities for indie authors, we can learn, at our own pace, the secrets of success from literary and marketing masters like Jack Canfield and Steve Harrison, who turn others into masters.

 

The Awakening of Women

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My niece, Sandy Naimou, is a yoga instructor, speaker and one of the board members at the Theosophical Society in Detroit. She invited me to speak in December about a topic that I dearly love; the roles of powerful women in ancient Mesopotamia.

I’m not a historian, but I studied this topic thoroughly when I wrote my four-part memoir series Healing Wisdom for a Wounded World: My Life-Changing Journey Through a Shamanic School. So, I’m aware of my rich lineage and of the fact that priestesses and princesses thrived in ancient Mesopotamia and made great contributions to the cradle of civilization including poetry, peaceful governance, and beer! Female freedom sharply diminished in that region when secular males acquired more power and religious beliefs evolved leading to the habitual pattern of, in Scarlet O’Hara words, “War! War! War!”

That region has suffered nonstop violence because of many factors, especially the exclusion of women in its political and social arena. Their leaders continue to aim for a peaceful existence through fighting and wars, and although that strategy has not worked for a dozen millennia, they won’t try a new technique. They’d allow their egos to destroy the entire planet before they stop, reflect, and admit that “Folks, this isn’t working.”

It would seem logical that if half the world’s population is women, then half of our leaders should be women. The case is not rocket science but as simple as 1 + 1 = 2. This is after all the 21st century and if we were to study history, not for mere pleasure or to solely boast of our accomplishments but to learn a lesson or two, we would find the necessity of having more women leaders to create a balanced society.

My teacher Lynn Andrews once told us to observe how far the Middle East will go without women. Not very far, I presume, and without their counterparts they will keep going backwards, further and further into the Stone Age.  The indigenous people of Iraq, my ancestors, now make up only one percent of the population in Iraq, and most of them are living in dire unpredictable conditions.

Lynn had also echoed what the Dalai Lama once said, that “The world will be saved by Western women.” His words were a call to action to women throughout the west.

Well, reading the headlines in the last several weeks has proven that women are finally awakening. A few weeks ago in Detroit, about 4,000 people, mostly women, gathered for the Women’s Convention at Cobo Hall. Over 11,000 women have run for office, with a majority of women winning the elections last week.

One thing I’ve learned from reading about how my ancestors’ land went from being the Garden of Eden to a hell on earth is that when teams are diverse, they perform better. When they perform better, we all benefit.