I make no claims regarding an exact recipe or steps to becoming a Cosmic Mystic. We are all so unique that no one set of processes or procedures will work for each one of us.
I can, however, tell you how I began becoming a Cosmic Mystic. What a wonderful and wild ride!
First, you have to be visited. How do you get visited? In all sorts of ways, probably. Without going into much personal family history and stories about my life, I will describe to you the highlights of how I got to where I am now and why the label, “Cosmic Mystic,” appeals to me. I am pretty sure that I needed to do most everything that I did to grow over time into this state of being.
How to be visited is a winding, sometimes turbulent path. Sometimes not. Many people have spontaneous experiences of the mystical, particularly in childhood. What I mean by the word "mystical" is a direct experience with what may be perceived as divinity of some sort, a spiritual awakening experience, or an ecstatic moment of pure and intense connection. Some people may never assign the words, “spiritual, mystical or sacred” to such an experience, and that’s just fine.
I may have always known at some level that I had not only a personality and a biological body but also some sort of soul or spirit or divine energy that I communicated with - but I wasn't conscious about this phenomenon when I was younger. Having been raised in the Deep South in a religious family did not give me the words that I grew into. I learned about God, Jesus and the Trinity in church, but very little about Mary or Mary Magdalene because the patriarchal Bible seems to have included only men’s writings, not publishing women’s theological teachings. That discussion is for another time though I will say that getting to know Mary, Mary Magdalene, and so many other feminine saints, goddesses, and witches has assisted me with my current ideas about Cosmic Mysticism.
Like most kids, I struggled at times growing up with so many “shoulds” and training about how I should be acting, much less feeling and thinking, I shaped and molded myself into a pretty good product for my time, even though unconsciously (at that time) I was terribly codependent, mostly trying to please and help others, without knowing why. I was serious and loved to learn although I was also playful, energetic and enthusiastic. Sometimes, I was told to calm down or to squash some of my animation, only later realizing and understanding how my excitement may have made others uncomfortable. I worked hard for approval and attention (ie. love) and got it some of the time.
This type of growing up worked pretty well for me, and I developed some good defenses and coping skills that helped me deal with (or not deal with) conflict and distress. Except that I didn’t really know how to get along in a primary intimate relationship very well until what I call my late adolescence (mid-30's) whereas everyone else seemed to have had gotten married much earlier than I. It took me a long while to run into a partner who fit well enough for me, and me for him. Having a child also helped me learn so much about attachment and detachment, intimacy, pain, suffering, and joy.
Not one who suffered a lot of complex trauma, I identified over time with the word, “neglect,” even though I had pretty wonderful parents who were usually doing the best they could in our family situation. I was lucky and blessed to be born into this family that nested me and supported me in becoming a “successful,” mostly good person. Always had shadows though, as do we all.
Only in my older years, when a few tragedies and major losses began to occur, did I get propelled into the spiritual, the mystical, and the quantum field of not just this three dimensional reality but into so many other dimensions, times and spaces. The pandemic helped with slowing down, too. Then, I decided to take some time away from working since I could retire, and began listening better and seeing more clearly than before, sometimes stunned at and amazed by what I heard and saw, supporting many of my beliefs and values. Like, we are all part of a whole, connected to each other, and what happens to one happens to us all, metaphorically and figuratively speaking. Sometimes, physically, too.
My life included being a psychotherapist for over 30 years, working with people in distress, as well as participating in all sorts of psychotherapy practices and alternative therapies as a client myself, setting up a context for a gentle and gradual explosion of awakening, becoming more aware about enlightenment and about so many realms and realities around me and inside me.
I did not see any UFO or UAP’s, nor did I get abducted, I did not join a cult with a magnificent guru, but I did participate quite frequently with groups of women (and some men) in person and online, people who became my tribe, who were also experiencing human life and Spirit in deeply personal, intimate ways. Direct experience with the Divine may, or course, happen at any point. What I know is that it took me until my 60’s when I slowed down enough to find the time and space to journey within and outside of myself at very vulnerable, intimate and lovely levels. The sacramental use of plants and molecules also helped me to explore and expand.
I began having visitations by what I call spirit beings, goddesses, elemental energies and more, while developing and deepening my connection with Mother Nature, Mother Earth, and with so many other mystics and spiritual masters. One important book was The Sophia Code, whose author, Kaia Ra, had channeled, and then developed a wide-ranging set of programs and a lively community. Another mystic and teacher/mentor has been Rebecca Campbell whose international presence comes from her working with people and sharing herself and her mystical skills in commercially public ways over time.
I also began joining communities of women on retreats at a beautiful, non-touristy beach, mostly facilitated by Tammy Roth, PhD, increasing my curiosity and enjoyment of life even more, turning me onto the quantum world through family constellations and astrology, guided mediations, and so much more. Richard Rudd and his book, The Gene Keys, and many of his programs also assisted me in my growth. Many other mentors, trainers, facilitators and friends have supported me during this transformative time so that I could become a more peaceful, grounded, centered human being, and more connected intimately with the Divine.
A year or so ago, I found a spiritual counselor which I never had been open to in past years. She contributed a great deal to my recognizing my core wounds, how to feel them and think about them, noticing my resistances - and how to shed some of my many skins, defenses, coping skills and barriers to opening up, to release and surrender even more of my long term conditioned patterns that helped me survive so “successfully” in the past. Once I could release some of these beliefs and parts of myself that no longer served me (or which weren’t mine to begin with), I could burrow down into myself and into Spirit. The visitations became more frequent.
I also began (after several years of using a Chinese medicine doctor who helped to open up my chi while helping my body heal) to find and use an Intuitive Channel of Divine Energy, Katie Todd, who is quite amazing. Energy is what we are, what the world is, what the universe and the cosmos are. Learning to notice, know, and play with energy is part of being human and getting healthier.
The day after one of my recent energy healing sessions I practiced a deep meditative method I sometimes use, and toward the end of that experience, I heard a voice, naming herself with one syllable that I couldn’t quite fully understand for several days. Turns out that when I was 1 - 2 yrs old, my mother hired a woman for only a couple of hours per week to help her with ironing. That was in the early 1950’s when many women tended to do everything for their families, including cooking, cleaning, loving, managing and handling everything about the house while supporting her husband and his career. The old days, I know!
My maternal grandmother and my mother laughingly told me as an adult that when this woman came to iron, I would be in the room with her chattering and babbling, and she would say one of these syllables I heard after my meditation. She had given me the gift of attention and feedback as if she was truly listening and understanding this young child’s pseudo-words. I think I remember the story partly because this must have been a wonderful resource for me at the time when my mother was so busy (as she always was) taking care of 3 kids, one of whom had heart issues. This woman sat while ironing, listening to me, or seemed to, and murmuring reassuring words of interest and fascination about what I was saying. What a delight for a young child starved for attention and nurturance!
My experience is that this voice came to me as a Spirit being or a blessing, illustrating how she and other spiritual energies have been there all along, sometimes even in human forms. When seemingly small things happen to each of us in our lifetimes, they can help change our lives, shift a trajectory, and we can call them whatever we want to, like spirit beings, miracles, or magic. These guiding lights help steer us toward growth, guiding us even when we are unconscious about their participation (and we usually are), when we are at a crossroads, or just when living our regular lives as human beings.
So then, why add the "Cosmic" to this "Mystic" word? Because I believe that we have eternal souls and that we live many lifetimes wherever we have been geographically. That we are all here now on this planet to learn about human life and to support each other and ourselves, to become more generous and kinder. And, that in our growth toward better health, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually, we are also here to share with others who on their own paths. And, perhaps help them as well.
That in community, we can learn to be our best selves, assisting humanity in transitioning out of long term patriarchal conditioning (at least, in our society) to a better system where the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine (and every other gender as well) are all parts of our systems of being born, living, growing, healing, and dying as physical bodies. Living within a stream of soul consciousness, inspiring us and supporting us cosmically, spiritually and for the benefit of all beings. That there is a Collective Consciousness that we often dip into, and hopefully share.
Perhaps you have experienced visitations, too? Maybe you have had a conversation with a cat or a star, a flower or a tree, or an experience of deep connection or ecstasy without knowing why, resonating in deep understanding, listening to, and seeing the symbolic and spiritual as a foreground and focal point in life.
However you learn and grow from such visitations, I hope that you will develop and deepen your own ways of listening to and/or worshipping whatever Divine beings you know and are open to knowing. Our lives change when this happens, becoming easier, so much less stressful, more peaceful and soothing - allowing us to be and act more loving and compassionate with all beings. Once we know this, life goes forward, and transformation, rebirth, and ecstasy are available more of the time. I invite you to witness and explore your own cosmic mysticism.
