The Spiritual Forum

Episode 208 - The Beingness of Water

Dr. Yael Green is a coach and energetic guide, who embodies a sense of self and core resonance with neutrality. She refers to herself as a hybrid human, with a memory of being dropped off on this planet. In Episode 207 we discussed portals (shifts in beingness), the hero’s journey and our eternal dance between containment and possibility. ln this episode we continue our conversation and explore the idea of water as our teacher. Our bodies are comprised of ~70% water. We depend on it for our survival and we find ourselves drawn to bodies of water. Water is in the origination stories of all religions. All religions have a water ritual. Water is used in spiritual healing modalities. Is water a being that teaches us? What is it telling us? Open your mind to a deeper way of looking at water as we explore:
• The nature of water as yielding and maintaining structure
• How to create moments with water
• The amazing properties of water
• How we are designed to hydrate our bodies
• What our attempts to poison waters says about us
• The compassionate nature of water
• What water teaches us about ourselves
• Creating our own water meditation
Book on water rituals: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781003010142/sacred-waters-celeste-ray
Link to Gerald Pollock – Science of Water https://www.pollacklab.org/
Yael's website: https://watermatrix.org/
© the spiritual forum 2023

Episode 207 - Portals, Neutrality & Freedom with Yael Green

“Freedom is the actual awareness of your choice to have an experience and not judge it as good or bad.” – Yael Green
Yael Green is a hybrid human, an embodied portal, water technologist and intuitive guide with a specific mission to help humanity during this time of transition and upgrade. She remembers being severed from source when she was 'dropped off on this planet' and she is immune to karmic cycles. Yael embodies an extensive knowledge of sacred geometry, balance and harmony and she spends most of her time in possibility. With a Bachelors and Masters in Business and non-profit Management and a Clinical Doctorate in Physical Therapy, she spent the last 25 years in the fields of organizational and systems management, physical therapy, somatics, sound healing and education. In this episode we have a lively dialogue on a number of topics including:
• What is an energy portal?
• The Hero’s Journey
• Rites of passage, shamanic journeying, plant medicine and meditation as portals
• Redefining aliens and UFOs
• The eternal dance between containment and possibility
• Neutrality and the exploration of possibility without story
• The choices we all make to interact with life
• Why karmic cycles happen
• What is freedom?
website: https://watermatrix.org/
© the spiritual forum 2023

Episode 206 - Being at Peace with What Is

“I have never met anyone who is as much at peace as you are.” Lois Bouchard’s cardiologist
Lois Bouchard was diagnosed with Scleroderma, an extremely rare and fatal autoimmune disease that few doctors are able to treat. On top of that, in 2020 she suffered a stroke, and in 2022 she was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. In the face of all this, she lives today with no fear, worry or anxiety. Her current state of peace came about from the three years she spent sitting with Spirit and listening. She documented the messages she received during her journey of meditation and prayer in her book, Dear Lord, I Am Listening. Her hope is that the message in her book will provide people of all walks of life, convictions and generations with inspiration, faith, hope, and love. In this episode, you will find that Lois is the living embodiment of faith, hope and love, and her story is an inspiration for those who have ‘ears to hear.’
Her message includes:
• We are never alone
• We are protected
• We each have a destiny
• The key to hearing the voice of Spirit is quieting the mind
• Faith, hope and love guide us through all adversity
• Look for the light when you are in darkness – lift your heart to God/Source/Spirit
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Dear-Lord-Am-Listening-Messages/dp/B0BLG5T3GK
©️ the spiritual forum 2023

Episode 205 - Transformation of a Rancher’s Wife

A former quintessential city girl, Renee King-Sonnen married into the ranching business deep in the heart of Texas. Unexpectedly, she experienced a profound change of heart and fell in love with the farm animals, which changed the course of her life forever. In this episode Renee tells her story of transformation from rancher’s wife to Founder and Executive Director of Rowdy Girl Sanctuary to her work with the Rancher Advocacy Program, which transitions cattle ranchers and animal farmers out of animal agribusiness. She continually brings her message of love and compassion to the hearts of sanctuary visitors, local businesses, churches, fellow ranchers and government officials, effecting real change. As a spiritual seeker, Renee has taken the deep dive into many of the world’s faith traditions and finds her greatest strength in the still, small voice inside her that she has come to know through her practice of yoga and meditation in the pasture with her cow family. She is the embodiment of aligned feelings, thoughts and actions as she passionately and unrelentingly answers her calling at all levels in her life.
Renee and her husband Tommy’s story has been seen on CBS, ABC, RFD, and Animal Planet. Their sanctuary lives are featured in the newly released documentary, Rowdy Girl. She will be the keynote speaker at the upcoming Whole Planet Spirituality Retreat that I am hosting at Unity Village this October.
Website: https://rowdygirlsanctuary.org/
Documentary: https://hotdocs.ca/whats-on/hot-docs-festival/films/2023/rowdy-girl
Rancher Advocacy Program: https://rancheradvocacy.org/
Whole Planet Spirituality Retreat: https://thespiritualforum.org/retreat
©️ the spiritual forum 2023

Episode 204 - Plant Medicine, Shadow Work and Integration

“There is an infinite path to the light…and everyone has a calling to connect to a higher power.” Derek Januszewski
Derek Januszewski has been on a healing journey. A survivor of abuse and neglect as a child, he has traveled through alcoholism and addiction to the plant medicine Ayahuasca, through relapse and to ultimate healing through intense shadow work. He founded Pachamama Sanctuary in New Hampshire where he currently serves as pastor and organizes weekend retreats for people who are called to sit with Ayahuasca as a healing modality. In this episode Derek shares his journey and stresses the importance of shadow work and integration, no matter what spiritual healing practice you pursue. Some of the things we talk about are:
o Serving others creates a personal purpose
o God gives gifts in unexpected situations
o Plant medicine alone without doing the deeper work may be bypass
o The 12-step program as shadow work
o What is Ayahuasca and the spiritual experience it invokes
o There are no drive-thru solutions – we need to live a different way
o The benefits of an integration coach or integration plan
o Who shouldn’t do Ayahuasca
o The three categories that intentions fall into
o Plant medicine helps strip away the ego – it’s not an intermediary
o The legality of plant medicine
o Stories of people’s experiences at the Pachamama Sanctuary – from the extraordinary miracle to finding authentic purpose ('resurrection' experiences)
o Listen to your intuition about which path to take
https://pachamamasanctuary.org/
©️ the spiritual forum 2023

Episode 203 - Culturally Immersive and Ethical Travel

What if travel was a story, not a trip? Zac Lovas is the co-founder of Vegan Travel Asia by Voyages, a team of 5 friends from 4 different countries and different faiths who came together to create tours that focus on bridging gaps through cultural immersion while enjoying 100% local vegan food along the way. Collaborating with local communities, they develop tours that are environmentally friendly, socially impactful, and cruelty-free. They also invest 50% of their profits into the communities they work with through programs focused on social impact, animal welfare, environmental sustainability, education, and conservation. Their journeys seek to promote a deeper understanding of different cultures, the environment, the planet, and our interlinked coexistence. Zac is a practicing Theravada Buddhist and in this episode he shares about the storytelling nature of cultural immersion travel, how we can find a sense of belonging in the most unlikely places, and his involvement in the newly released award-winning, life-changing documentary, Maa Ka Doodh.
WEBSITE: https://vegantravelasia.com
RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL LINK: https://vegantravelasia.com/responsible-travel/
VEGVOYAGES FOUNDATION: https://vegvoyagesfoundation.org
DOCUMENTARY: https://maakadoodh.in/
© the spiritual forum 2023

Episode 202 - The Origins of Jesus - Myth and Man

“What if the gospel writers intended it not to be historical fact? What if it was meant to be a story?” These are the questions posed by author Geoff Roberts (now deceased) in his book, The True Origins of Jesus: The Myth Behind the Man.
In this episode Rev. Carol talks about these ideas with her guests, Colm Holland and Dean Wilkinson. Colm was featured in The Spiritual Forum podcast episodes 121 & 122. He is the publisher of the global bestseller The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and the author of the Amazon #1 bestseller The Secret of the Alchemist. On matters of faith and religion, Colm takes a Jungian view where the power lies in myth and the many ways unconditional love effects change for good. He identifies as an “alchemistic Christian.” Dean Wilkinson is an industry disrupter and lifelong learner. He is trained in spiritual direction, leadership, and business. Having spent much of his life in all levels of church service and leadership, Dean experienced a completely new and different Bible when he read it “for the first time” without the lens of prior teaching. He now encourages people to be open to all that Christ can be and to not abandon their faith because they think they need to take the bible literally.
Colm is the editor of the book, The True Origins of Jesus: The Myth Behind the Man, and Dean wrote the forward. This was a lively conversation and these are some of the topics we discussed:
We read the Bible as if we already know, not with fresh eyes
There are hidden truths in the Bible that we don’t see when we look at it literally
There were multiple competing religions during the emergence of Christianity
Gnosticism was a dominant faith in the early Christian years; the Gnostics view was divinity was not about believing in an external deity, but finding the God within
Myth gives shape to chaos - the human psyche concretizes myth
There is a similarity between Beatitudes, gospel stories and Buddhist teachings – content, verse and pentameter
Carl Jung was concerned about Christianity being about sinlessness and not the full spectrum of humanity
What is the definition of Christianity?
There is a diaspora of agony for those who have rejected the literal but also the divine
You have to go to the darkest places to find God – not just the light
Religion is meant to bind us together
Unity churches emphasize the inner Christ/Divine spark, do not interpret the Bible literally and welcome everyone!
Book link: https://www.amazon.com/True-Origins-Jesus-myth-behind/dp/1789049040
©️ the spiritual forum 2023

Episode 201 - The Light of Man

“The Light of Man brings science, religion, history, spirituality, quantum physics, metaphysics, and belief systems all together to create a pivot, a transformational moment in the world's history and what people believe God or a higher power is.” — Kevin McCrudden
In this episode Rev. Carol talks with motivational/leadership speaker turned filmmaker, Kevin McCrudden, about his award-winning documentary, The Light of Man. The Light of Man® is about the origins of God, God's relationship with humankind, and humankind's relationship with God (aka Spirit, Creator, Mystery, Source, etc.). It has guest appearances by renowned physicist/consciousness researcher, Dr. John Hagelin, physician/philosopher/NDE expert, Dr. Raymond Moody, and the Dalai Lama among others. The film has been selected for viewing at 20 Film Festivals around the world, most recently The Cannes World Film Festival in Cannes, France. It was awarded the Best Inspirational and Best Short Documentary in Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas, London, Paris and Rome. Kevin is a practicing Catholic and found himself inspired to bring the idea of the Divine Light in humankind to life via film in hopes of awakening and inspiring humanity to evolve spiritually. Here's what we talk about:
How are we evolving? (hint: we're not!)
All religions point to the same thing - a higher power
There are multiple ways to interpret the Bible
God/Creator/Source/Spirit created ALL beings with a spark of divinity
There is an explosion of Light at conception
There is Light at death
The journey is inward not outward Science universally points to God/Creator/Source
The miracles and synchronicities associated with the making of The Light of Man
The power of meditation
The meaning of Namaste
The Light of Man documentary: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22183984/
The Light of Man trailer: https://youtu.be/F3yHaOfh3Jk