On July 7th, 2014, I wrote a post about how I had a prophetic dream – a dream that would launch me into making my film on intuition.

What really launched me though was not the dream itself, but that I woke up out of that dream at 4:44am. I immediately Googled What does 444 mean? And I was shocked at the response.

What I read would change my life.

I mention this now because that post, strangely, is my most read post ever.

Every day, it’s read by people around the world.
Every day.
And I wrote that post two and a half years ago.

How many people? I don’t know. I guess I could add the figures, if I had the time and inclination. I have neither. But I notice, when I go through the analytics for this site, that every day that post appears towards the top of the posts that are read that day.

I didn’t even tag the post. I don’t do any of those nifty things that draw people to your site. I figure that if people find me here, they find me – and if they want to stay, they’ll stay.

What is it about that post that attracts people? Well, it’s startling. I found the whole thing startling at the time. I still find it startling.

And as I say, that dream, and 444, changed my life.

Here is the post again, in full – written in July 2014, before I began my film: Today I woke up at 4:44

Today I woke up at 4:44

How does the universe connect with you? Prod you? Encourage you?

Guide you?

It does so in a variety of ways, and one of those ways is the use of numbers.

The startling use of numbers.

I’ve been troubled lately. Soon I will be starting filming on PGS – INTUITION IS YOUR PERSONAL GUIDANCE SYSTEM. My plan is start filming in India, then go across to the US and film there. I feel very strongly that I need to get this film going.

But I will be taking a financial risk starting when I believe I should start. And that’s been troubling me. I’ve been wondering if I should delay, and wait till all the finance locks in.

Last night I dreamt vividly. In my dream I saw myself equivocating – questioning whether it was the right thing to do, to commence filming in September. And then my dream took me to an image of several computers, lined up one beside the other, all connected by cables.

And I knew immediately what this was. This was an image of how the Spierig brothers made their first film – a very inventive film which they made at home, in their spare time and on their own dime. They didn’t have the money for a powerful computer to do all the film’s digital imaging work, and so they cobbled together a bunch of cheap home computers which, in series, gave them the computing grunt to do what they wanted to do.

The resultant digital work was brilliant, the film got made and it launched their careers.

I woke up immediately with the very clear message that I had to get on with it. That I had to do what I intend to do. That I shouldn’t equivocate. I shouldn’t have doubts. Everything will work out.

Then I looked across at the bedside clock, and it was 4:44.

It hit me very powerfully.

4:44

I quickly googled: “What does 4:44am mean?” And this is what I read:

444 asks that you pay attention to your intuition and inner-wisdom as your connection with your angels and the angelic realm is very strong at this time.  You are encouraged to continue on your current path as your drive and determination will lead to success and fulfilment.

444 is a message that the angels and Archangels are with you, encouraging and guiding you. They are offering you positive energies, inner-strength and 
support to enable you to get the work done that you need to.  

They know and understand that you have been toiling diligently towards your goals, and encourage you to continue on your current path to achieve the success and results you desire. Use your strong connection with the angelic realm to your benefit and be open to their promptings and messages.  

Listen to your intuition and follow its guidance.

444 is a message that you have nothing to fear in regards to your life, work and Divine life purpose and soul mission. When you take positive action towards your highest intentions, aspirations and goals, the Universe works in your favour and helps you to establish solid foundations and advance you along your path. 

Know that the angels surround and support you, encouraging you to keep up the good work you have been doing.  

Do I believe in Angels?

Damn right I do!

Do I believe that the 4:44 on the clock was a sign?

Damn right I do!

I’ve been told clearly that I’ve got to stop doubting and get on with it…

Podcasts are cool.

They’re the new way of accessing information that you won’t find on more traditional media.

To say they’re new though is fake news. They’ve been around a while, quite a while in fact – but lately it seems they’ve made a big shift into the zeitgeist.

I listen to podcasts on my walk to the editing room each morning. I listen to This American Life, which launched Serial, the true crime podcast that started a worldwide interest in podcasting. I also listen to Alec Baldwin’s Here’s the Thing, and Real Time with Bill Maher, and lately I’ve been listening to Crimetown. 

I love podcasts.

So when Dan Mullins contacted me to see if I’d be interested in being interviewed for his new podcast show – My Camino – I was really chuffed.

Dan is a Sydney based radio producer. Each morning for the past seventeen years he’s produced a news-based talk show that consistently tops the ratings for the breakfast slot – a highly competitive time slot. This must make Dan Mullins one of the most successful radio producers in the country – if not the most successful.

Last year he walked the Camino, and it affected him deeply. He came back home to his wife and children and took up yoga and meditation. Like many before him, the obsession with the Camino didn’t end with the walk though, it was just the beginning. He wanted to “keep an engagement” with the Camino, as he said, and so he began a podcast.

Dan interviewed me late last year, before the podcast was launched. I was in Los Angeles at the time, working on PGS – my film on intuition.

As the interview progressed I noticed a couple of things about Dan –

#1  He’d done his homework. He was well researched and well prepared. You’d think this is Journalism 101, but too often it’s not the case. Too often interviewers try to “wing it” with sketchy research pulled from a cursory glance at Wikipedia.

#2  As an interviewer, he listened, and followed up on what I said. Once again, this is a skill sadly lacking in many less experienced journalists. It makes for a more organic interview.

#3  He subordinated himself to the interview. Again, particularly in podcasts, this doesn’t happen often. Often the podcaster uses the platform to spruik themselves. It’s their show after all. Not Dan.

The result was a well informed and lively chat about everything from the weight of my backpack to the underlying spiritual imprint of the Camino – and how it can change you.

I also spoke about how I walked the Camino intuitively, using my PGS – my Personal Guidance System – to lead me along The Way, from day to day. And I spoke about the alchemy of the Camino – how it can unlock the potential for transformation, if you allow it.

Dan very generously allocated two podcasts to our talk – two half hour shows. (weeks three and four on the podcast…)

As Dan says, you don’t do these kind of podcasts to make money. It’s a passion project – and even after just four weeks from the launch, he’s finding the reaction from around the world has been extraordinary. And he’s already lined up plenty of amazing characters, and wonderful stories, for future podcasts.

Here is a link to the podcast –

You can also get it from your regular podcast app.
It’s called My Camino – The Podcast 

Subscribe to it – it’s a weekly half hour show – because it promises to be a fabulous resource to further your understanding and appreciation of one of the great pilgrimage walks on this planet we call Earth.

Dan Mullins – My Camino, the Podcast

While walking my first Camino in 2013, on this blog I talked about the “soul imprint” of the Camino.

What does this mean?

It means that all those millions of pilgrims who have walked the Camino since even before the time of Christ – because it was a pagan pilgrimage before it became a religious pilgrimage – that all those people who walked with intention left a soul residue on the path they walked. An energetic imprint.

Why is it that the Camino heals? Why is it that people as old as 90 can walk the Camino – defying all physical and medical logic?

It’s because of this energetic soul imprint.

I was listening to Lee Carroll channel Kryon the other day while I walked to the editing room, where I’m working on my film on intuition. I’ve interviewed Lee as part of the film – he’s regarded as one of the world’s great channels – and he travels extensively, channeling to sell-out audiences. He later puts all these channellings up on his website for free, and these are what I listen to as I walk to work.

The other day I listened to a channel he did at the beginning of the year, in Boulder Colorado. He was talking about the Akash – the energetic history of everything you have experienced on the planet earth, spanning all your lifetimes.

Here is a Youtube audio of Kryon explaining what the Akash is…
Structure, Keys to the Akash – Kryon channelling.

It was interesting. From a spiritual perspective, Kryon doesn’t refer to our “past lives,” he refers to them as “expressions of energy.” He says:

“To you, life is everything. To us, we see life as passing, as you in transition constantly, from one to another to another. We never see a life, we see a system. There is no death. You just move from one system to another, from one paradigm to another.

“The very essence, the soul – all that you think is gone and lost isn’t. It’s all still there, and the beauty of the system is that some of it literally goes into the veil of the earth. Every life expression you’ve ever had, part of your soul goes back into the planet and the grid when you leave, and it stays here. 

“How does it make you feel to know that you’re part of the dirt of the earth? That’s part of the grid that starts to work with other human beings. Your wisdom, and what you’ve learned, stays here, and works with your next incarnation.

“Don’t be shocked and surprised when you walk into the forest and you feel family. You’re feeling you!”

When I heard this, I went wow! That’s what I’ve been saying about the Camino’s energetic soul imprint. You walk the Camino and, if you let it, if you are open to it, you can take in the soul energy of those who have walked before you, who have allowed a part of themselves to seep into the earth’s energetic grid.

You may choose to believe this or not believe it.
I happen to believe it.
I’ve felt it – I’ve experienced it.

If you’re interested, here is Kryon’s full 26 minute channeling… it’s fascinating listening.
Kryon at Boulder, January 2017 

Yikes!

I published some fake news last post on the inaugural Australian Camino Festival.

I indicated that it was a joint effort between Tony Jacques, and Rowan & Margaret at Glenella. In fact it was Rowan’s baby from the get-go – his brainchild and his and Margaret’s organisation behind it all.

Rowan had noticed how Parkes, a small town further west, had created a huge annual festival celebrating Elvis Presley – and he twigged that maybe he could do the same thing with a Camino festival in Blackheath, in the Blue Mountains behind Sydney.

The pilgrim dinners that Tony and Ce had established, and are always held at Glenella, had become a big hit, and Rowan thought that maybe he could do something larger, such as a four day festival and expo that’s Camino-centric.

His instincts were sound because already, even a couple of weeks before it kicks off, it looks like it’s going to be a big success. Registrations are strong – and they’ve run out of speaking slots.

My apologies to all concerned for the fake news. I’d made an assumption, and I should know from my previous incarnation as a journalist that you never make assumptions.

(Maybe that’s why I sashayed into being a dramatist… !)

Here are the details again:

Dates: February 23rd to 26th
Where: Blackheath, Blue Mountains (Glenella Guesthouse & Restaurant)
Registration & info: www.auscamino.com.au
Contact Rowan: festival@auscamino.com.au
Accommodation: auscamino.com.au/accommodation

Rowan & Margaret / Glenella, Blackheath NSW

I started back in editing this week on my mammoth undertaking – a film on intuition. I’m calling it: PGS: Intuition is your Personal Guidance System. 

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve been making this film since 1999. At the time, I was in New Orleans working on a movie, and I was driving to the airport very early one morning when a voice told me to slow down.

I was approaching an intersection – it was before dawn – there were no cars on the road at that time of the morning, so there was no sense of impending danger. But this voice was insistent, so I slowed down.

As I entered the intersection, on a green light, a truck suddenly hurtled through running the red light on the cross street. Had I not listened to that voice, I would have been killed.

My intuition saved my life.

Ever since, I have been determined to find out what that voice was, and why it saved my life. And being a filmmaker, that determination has expressed itself in the making of a film.

After years and years of researching, then trying to get the film financed in a traditional way, without luck, I started shooting in September 2014. I went out and bought a camera and started shooting it myself.

That’s not as crazy as it might seem, because I have been a professional photographer since the age of 17 – I’ve shot second unit on most of my movies – I’m an Associate Member of the Australian Cinematographers Society as well as an Accredited Member of the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers. Plus I’ve been directing feature films since 1983. So I know my way around a camera.

Even so it was daunting – and I had to skill myself in a lot of areas, particularly sound, in a very short period of time.

I decided I would look at intuition from three viewpoints: science, religion, and spirituality. That took me to India several times, and Italy – to the Vatican, and to Bhutan, to interview the Prince of Bhutan and his Spiritual Advisor (a Buddhist Grand Master), I went to Dharamsala to the Dalai Lama Palace, to Turkey to talk to Sufi Masters and a descendent of Rumi, and several times to America to speak to scientists and psychics and spiritualists.

On some of these trips I took cinematographer extraordinaire Pieter de Vries. He’s better than me at camera stuff…

Anyway, I ended up with about 90 hrs of footage for a 90 minute film.

Last year I started editing, with a wonderful editor, Rishi Shukla. Rishi is a skeptic – which is what I wanted. (During the making of this film though he has become less of a skeptic!) We edited for 20 weeks last year. I ended up with a cut of 87 minutes. It was good – but I wasn’t happy with it.

It didn’t excite me as a piece of cinema.

I went overseas late last year, to do some more filming in America and Germany – and showed the cut to some select people. I got very positive feedback – but some notes too.

Good notes.
Useful notes.

They wanted more of me in the film – more of my journey. I’ve been reluctant to put myself prominently in the film – because I’m no expert, I’m just someone who’s curious.

But I took their notes on board.

I came back just before Christmas, exhausted from all the traveling, but also very confused. What do I do now? I knew I had to finish the film this year – 2017. But I couldn’t see how. I couldn’t see a clear way through the film. I couldn’t see an elegant way through the film.

I knew I had to start editing on Feb 6th – this last Monday – and as the day approached I got more and more panicked.

What was I going to do?

And then things slowly started to come to me. In dreams, and in moments of insight while I was contemplating, and meditating. I started to see the film on two levels – a search for this voice, and a search for myself. My true self.

I immediately started organising a two week shoot out in the desert next month for what I’m calling an existential magic-realism road trip. 

On Monday morning, this Monday past, I walked into the editing room and I said to Rishi:

Let’s play. 

So I played with some stuff. With an unconventional editing technique which I’ve been excited about for a while. Something very bold. Something quite unusual for this kind of film. I haven’t been this excited with an editing technique since coming up with the cutting style for my thriller KISS OR KILL many years ago.

This new approach scares the crap out of me.
I don’t know if it will work.
It’s a painstaking process that is very time consuming –
And it’s in-your-face.
It’s audacious and goes against the grain of films of this type.
Wussy spiritual films.
This won’t be wussy.

I walked to work that first morning listening to Deepak Chopra on my iPod.
I walked home listening to The Who.

I’m excited.
I’m scared, but excited.
Cinema is exciting me again…

And it occurred to me this morning that I’ve spent all this time trying to find the film – when in fact I should have let go and let the film find me.

Which is what’s now happened…
The film has found me.
Finally…

Following on from the last post, Michael Tamura – the healer in Mount Shasta – has sent me this reply, which I thought would make a great Guest Post in its own right.

Michael is a wise soul. Every time we communicate, I learn something immensely valuable from him. As I have done with his writing below. I value his friendship and kindness, and his reminders! I am reminded, in his post below, of what I should do, who I should be – or rather, who I am… Thank you Michael…

*****

Hello, Bill! 

Finally, I have a chance to comment on your wonderful “Mower to Mending” story….or, perhaps, it was the “Shoulder to Spirt” story! As always, you have a most delightful way with words and pictures to tell a story – even a painful one.  I don’t think I’ve ever read one of your blog posts that didn’t bring a smile on my face. 

That, of course, is one of the signs of a real healer, isn’t it? One who consistently brings joy and happiness to those around him or her. In fact, did you know that the word ‘miracle’ has as its root a word that means, “makes one smile”? And a miracle, no matter what kind, is always a healing, isn’t it?  When we are able to have the miracle, we are healed.  

As your friend, Susan Morris, says above in her comments, I was merely the facilitator for your healing.  You becoming receptive to the miracle, in other words, being able to validate Spirit, is what healed you. 

Why hadn’t you healed your shoulder before I sat down in front of you in your motel room in Mount Shasta?  Well, before that, you were more intent on getting the things you needed to do done rather than letting a nuisance of a painful shoulder keep you from that.  You didn’t want to resort to going for medical treatment since you knew that often the treatment can be worse than the problem. 

You also knew that given the correct conditions, the body would get well on its own.  But, you were still divided because you had a lot of important work to do on your plate and you didn’t want to “waste” any time or attention on yourself.  

Ah! What makes us decide that what we have to do is more important than tending to ourselves?  In a sense, it’s time and resources, isn’t it?  We decide that we have a certain amount of time and a certain amount of resources to accomplish a certain thing or a certain number of things during that time and we assume that we can’t have both accomplishing them as well as tending to ourselves. 

No, we assume, as the saying goes, “We can’t have our cake and eat it, too.”  Or, we only have this much time in – or this much money and other resources with – which to accomplish one of these two goals.  

I used to tell my teaching students that I meditate every morning to start off my day, but on the days when I know I’m going to have to get a lot more done, I meditate twice as much.  Most of them had a hard time understanding this because they were beholden to time constraints.  Most of them ended up running around like a chicken without a head on their insanely busy days because they not only didn’t have time to meditate twice as long but they believed they didn’t even have time to meditate at all – because they had to get so much done.  A few may have even thought I had a few loose screws in my head.

One day, however, I was redeemed.  I was doing a bit of research on the Protestant Reformation and, naturally, I came across some quotes from Martin Luther.  The one that stuck out was about him saying to people repeatedly, “I start every day on my knees [in prayer and meditation] for one hour, but on those days when my plate is especially full, I stay on my knees for two hours.”  Hahaha!  I found an ally.

I knew that Martin Luther knew what I discovered: Everything Goes Better With Meditation and Prayer!  Hahaha… (That would be the commercial jingle.)  We can live life with more grace when we spend extra time and attention on going within to Spirit especially when times are more challenging or when we need to get important things done. 

I’ve learned that when I take the extra time for going within, even the intense day goes more calmly as well as I end up getting more done.  I’ve also learned that when I didn’t do this, I not only had a much more frustrating day, but I also couldn’t get all that I thought I needed to do done anyway.

We experience miracles only when we make space for them in our busy lives.  I’m a healer only because I give people permission to have them.  You are the same way with other people, but with yourself sometimes you fail to give that same permission.  All of us who are givers and healers tend to have that problem.  We often believe that it is more noble to give to others and take away from ourselves. Yet, when we do that, we are actually being arrogant, not noble. 

After all, God gives to each and every one of us unceasingly.  Who are we to refuse that in favor of others?  In truth, the more we refuse healing for ourselves, the less we are able to give healing to others for healing is one, limitless, eternal and whole.  We cannot divide healing and only give healing to those who we deem worthy or needing it more.  The very nature of healing is restoring that which is divided back into wholeness.  We can’t do that by seeing division, but only by seeing the undivided.

What I did when I gave you that healing was to see more of your true undivided light that you are rather than confirming where you thought you were divided within yourself.  All that I spoke of to you was to bring that awareness to you. 

For example, what I said about your son and your relationship to him was to restore your vision of division within yourself about him to more wholeness.  When we are “stuck” or in doubt or in some form of conflict about someone or something, we are divided within ourselves.  We experience as certainty and clarity and lovingness our increasing wholeness – or healing.  

True intuition comes from having certainty in Divinity, in the limitless, timeless, undividedness of Spirit.  Meditation begins with us remembering ourselves that we are spirit.  Prayer begins as we remember God in everything we experience.  With the practice of meditation and prayer, we hone our certainty in the Divine through direct experience and we begin to live a truly intuitive life.  Our path then becomes one of healing and experiencing the wholeness that is Life, that is Truth, that is Divine Love.

I am ever grateful to see your light shining in this world.

With love and laughter,
Michael

It’s nearly four years since I walked my first Camino, and the impact of that pilgrimage walk continues to resonate.

It resonates in a number of ways.

Physically –

I now walk everywhere. Whereas prior to the Camino I would drive up to the shops, or I would drive from point A to point B, now whenever possible, I walk.

Last week I walked 82kms. That’s not a huge distance, but in amongst my work and everything else I was doing, it’s still a healthy distance. I average about 300kms a month. If I need to go somewhere, my first thought is: can I walk there.

Somehow, I’ve healed my knee.

I’m really not sure how I’ve healed it, but this is a knee that had lost all its cartilage. I was bone-on-bone. My surgeon told me that, quote: “A knee replacement is not a matter of if, but when.”

I didn’t accept that. I bought a brace, wore that on a couple of shorter Caminos, then this last year I walked the Portuguese Camino without the brace at all. My knee was a bit twingey a few days, but basically it was fine. I now don’t wear the brace at all.

How did this happen?

I didn’t accept what the doctor told me. I listened to my body, I took it easy, I exercised it, and gradually my knee improved. Whether the cartilage has grown back, I don’t know. I don’t take vitamin supplements, I haven’t had any injections – I’ve just walked most days, and as I say, I’ve listened to my body, and throttled back when the knee’s got cranky.

Emotionally –

I don’t get het up about things like I used to. On the Camino, I adopted a mantra: What’s the worst that can happen? That mantra has stayed with me.

If I’m faced with an issue that, prior to the Camino, would have caused me concern or anxiety or stress, now I ask myself: What’s the worst that can happen? And invariably, if you honestly consider the worst, then the worst isn’t so bad.

For that to have full benefit though, you have to have your shit together.

For instance, I don’t consider death or disability or ill health to be so bad. I don’t consider loss or lack to be so bad. I trust that I am being guided on my right path, and what falls along that path falls for a very good reason. Those reasons I agreed to before I was born. So if I believe I agreed to them, how can I bitch and moan?

What’s the worst that can happen?
Really, nothing.

When you get to that realisation, life becomes very simple. I’m not there yet fully – in truth – but I’m working at it. I now meditate religiously each day, a minimum of 21 minutes, and that helps a lot.

I don’t let things bother me anymore. Even when I get back to my car and a ranger is writing me up a parking ticket, I figure: Poor bugger, I bet a lot of people yell at you.

I used to.

Also, another thing I’ve brought back from the Camino is the concept of what I call Incremental Achievement. Incremental achievement is walking 800kms across a country by walking 20kms a day, day in, day out. Putting one foot in front of the other, and not giving up till you get there.

I write.
A book is 80,000 words, give or take.

If I apply this Incremental Achievement concept to writing a book, then if I write 1,000 words a day, then in 80 days I’ll have written a book! 80 days is, what? less than three months? Bloody hell. All I have to do is write a 1,000 words a day and in less than three months, I’ll have written a book.

Wow.

That’s the same as if I walk 20kms a day, in 40 days I’ll have walked the Camino Frances. That’s a pretty powerful concept, Incremental Achievement. I’ve brought that back from the Camino, and it’s changed my life.

Spiritually – 

Where do I start?

I’m not the person I was before my first Camino. Period. Before my first Camino I had the potential to be the person I now am – but I needed that experience to bring it into full realisation.

I now am in awe of wonder.
I now am in awe of possibilities.
I now have an inkling – an inkling – of life’s purpose.

And it leaves me in awe.

It’s difficult to bring the Camino back with you, back into your everyday life when you return. You have to work at it.

You have to remember what you learned.
What you experienced.
How you felt.

Maybe for you it was just a walk.
It wasn’t for me.
For me, what I learned continues to resonate.

(By the way, in the photo below, there’s too much headroom)

It all started with the lawn mower.

Damn thing wouldn’t start.

You start my mower by pulling a cord – you know, to turn over the motor.

I pulled and I pulled.

Wouldn’t start.
It had dirty spark plugs or something.

I pulled harder – and without realising, I tore a tendon in my shoulder. There was no immediate pain. No warning that I’d done any damage, But later, quite a bit later, I discovered that my shoulder was hurting like hell.

I’ve mentioned this before on this blog – that I never go to the doctor, and I believe that if you listen to your body, and you’re sensible, the body will heal itself. It has that power, and you have that power.

So I let it be.

But the hurt got worse. So bad that I couldn’t sleep on my shoulder at night.

I’d roll onto that side of my body and the pain would wake me. And I also discovered I had limited movement in my arm and shoulder. For instance I couldn’t stretch my arm up vertically, without considerable pain. And I couldn’t reach behind me.

However, I figured that it would heal itself soon, and so I continued to let it be.

But the pain got worse, so I went to a physio.

She examined me, and sent me to have scans done.

The scans came back and evidently I had Bursitis. I’d never heard of Bursitis, but I was told that it’s a painful inflammation caused when a tendon tears. Here’s what WebMD.com says about Bursitis:

The physio said it would take up to six months or longer for the Bursitis to fully subside. She gave me a print out with diagrams of a series of exercises I had to do, using an elastic strap. She said if the pain hadn’t abated in a couple of months, then I’d have to get a Cortisone injection.

I was about to go overseas for two months – America and Germany. I packed the print out, and I packed the elastic strap – and decided not to do a damn thing. I was going to be traveling, I’d be busy – I didn’t have time to do exercises on my shoulder.

Stupid me.

The pain persisted.
I couldn’t sleep.
I couldn’t move my arm or shoulder properly.
It was sore.
Bloody sore.

I found myself in Mount Shasta – one of the most powerful spiritual vortexes on this planet.

At Mount Shasta is a man who is an extraordinary healer. Michael Tamura and his wife Raphaelle have become good friends, ever since I met and interviewed Michael for my PGS film on intuition about two years ago.

At the time, Michael healed me of a persistent hacking cough that had been plaguing me for about eighteen months. It literally disappeared overnight, after Michael worked his magic.

I’d gone to Mount Shasta to show Michael and Raphaelle a cut of the film. The next day we met up again, and as we were finishing up lunch, Michael pulled me aside and asked if I wanted a healing.

To explain: Michael doesn’t do personal one-on-one healings anymore. It’s part of an agreement he’s made with his folk upstairs. So for Michael to offer me a healing was an extraordinarily generous gesture, and one I gladly and gratefully accepted.

We returned to my motel room, we sat opposite each other, and Michael began the healing.

It’s hard to accurately describe what Michael Tamura does during a healing – other than he goes somewhere else – but in his trance-like state he’s exploring my energy field, dipping into my past lives, and looking for those energetic blockages that are causing distress.

(Michael, please forgive me if I am not explaining this correctly!)

In this instance he told me that I was carrying energetic burdens relating to my work and my family –  and it was the weight of these burdens that was causing pain in my shoulder. He asked if I wanted these burdens lifted, and I said yes – and Michael dealt with them.

He also gave me information about my film – what I was to do, how I was to handle various issues in the coming months. And later, I felt that this was the reason he wanted to do the healing session – to give me these instructions.

What he told me, what came through him for me, was exactly what I needed to hear – answers to dilemmas I’d been wrestling with concerning the film.

That night I slept soundly for the first time in months. I still had some feeling in my shoulder, but the pain had largely gone.

I continued my travels in the US and then Germany, and came home for Christmas. I never did any of the physio exercises, and the elastic strap I’d bought remained in its wrapping, unopened.

And yet my pain left me. Within a week of Michael’s healing, it was all but gone. And this was an ailment that I was told would require months of physiotherapy – and could even require a Cortisone shot.

Nup.

It was an amazing spiritual healer in Mount Shasta who fixed me.

I’ve been on a journey for a bit now – and it’s by no means over.

There’s still such a long way to go.

I’ve always been a big reader. From an early age, after mum and dad kissed me goodnight and turned the lights out, I would grab a torch and under the covers I would read until I fell asleep.

I’ve always read a lot of fiction – and if asked, I would probably say that the two greatest books I’ve ever read are Salman Rushdie’s MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN and Charles Dickens’ DAVID COPPERFIELD. I’d be tempted to throw Cormac McCarthy’s BLOOD MERIDIAN in there too…

But lately my reading has been focused on books of a metaphysical nature – and as a number of you have privately asked me to recommend books for you to read, I thought I’d do a post of the books that have had an impact on my spiritual growth. So here they are, in (very rough) order that they came to me.

(And books come to me, I don’t come to books…)

It starts with a book I found in the drawer of the bedside table of a Tokyo hotel in 1970. I had just turned 17. It was a Buddhist Bible, and it would have a profound effect on me in the years and decades to come.

I then began to study Buddhism, and discovered Dr. Walpola Rahula’s What the Buddha Taught. It became my companion for many years. And that led to other books on Buddhism, then onto Hinduism, and meditation, and later yoga, and so on.

So here is my list. It’s by no means comprehensive. These are just the major works that have impacted on me, and brought me to this place where I am right now…

The Teaching of Buddha (The Buddhist Bible)
What the Buddha Taught – Dr. Walpola Rahula
The Bhagavad Gita
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying – Sogyal Rinpoche
An Experiment in Mindfulness – E H Shattock
Tranquility & Insight – A Sole-Leris
Flight into Freedom – Eileen Cady
Jonathan Livingstone Seagull – Richard Bach
Hatha Yoga – The Yogi Philosophy of Physical Well Being – Yogi Ramacharaka
The Science of Breath – Yogi Ramacharaka
The Complete Yoga Book – James Hewitt
Light on Yoga – BKS Iyengar
Light on Pranayama – BKS Iyengar
Autobiography of a Yogi – Paramahansa Yogananda
The Holy Science – Swami Sri Yukteswar
Wherever you go, There you are – Jon Kabat-Zinn
The Art of Mindfulness – Thich Nhat Hanh
Old Path, White Clouds – Thich Nhat Hanh
The Tao of Physics – Fritjof Capra
The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
His Dark Materials Trilogy – Philip Pullman
The Wizard of Oz – Frank Baum
The Complete Works of Florence Scovel Shinn – Florence Scovel Shinn
Eastern Astrology for Western Minds – Joni Patry
Astrology of the Seers – Dr. David Frawley
Varieties of Religious Experiences – William James
The Rig Veda – Ralph TH Griffin
A Course in Miracles – Dr. Helen Schucman
Unveiled Mysteries – (Saint Germain series, Vol I) – Godfre Ray King
The Magic Presence – (Saint Germain series, Vol II) – Godfre Ray King
Anatomy of the Spirit – Caroline Myss
A Dweller on Two Planets – Phylos the Tibetan
The Rumi Collection – Rumi Foundation
The Systems View of Life – Fritjof Capra
Kriya Yoga – Swami Yogananda
The Conscious Universe – Dr. Dean Radin
Ascension Handbook – Tony Stubbs
Don’t think like a Human – Lee Carroll
The Sermon on the Mount – Emmet Fox
Adventures of the Soul – James Van Praagh
The Seat of the Soul – Gary Zukav
You are the Answer – Michael J Tamura
The Soul and its Mechanism – Alice Bailey
From Intellect to Intuition – Alice Bailey
Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path – Rudolf Steiner
Intuition – Knowing beyond Logic – Osho
The Human Soul Revealed – Monika Muranyi
The Other Side – Tony Stubbs
The Light Worker’s Companion – Amanda Guggenheimer
The Channel’s Companion – Amanda Guggenheimer
I am the Word – Paul Selig
The Book of Love and Creation – Paul Selig
The Book of Knowing and Worth – Paul Selig
The Book of Mastery – Paul Selig

As I said, this is not a comprehensive list, nor does it include many works that have helped me enormously along the way. And as you can see from this list, there are big big gaps in my knowledge and reading.

I have only really dipped into the Saint Germain series for instance, and I have yet to read Baird Spalding’s Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East. There is so much for me to catch up on, and learn. 

I am currently finding Paul Selig’s series of books incredibly powerful and transformative – but I couldn’t have really got what they are saying without having first read Amanda Guggenheimer’s The Light Worker’s Companion, and before that, Tony Stubbs’ Ascension Handbook. 

I’m finding that the right book comes along when it’s needed. Having just finished Paul Selig’s Book of Knowing and Worth, I’m now currently reading Deepak Chopra’s The Higher Self.

I’ve also found Lee Carroll’s channellings of Kryon to be of huge help to me in my understanding of how it all works. He posts them on his website as free podcasts. It’s an incredible resource. Here is a link: http://www.kryon.com/k_freeaudio.html

Every person comes at it from their own unique perspective, and they call to them books that they need to aid them along their path. My list is my list. It’s not Jennifer’s list, and it won’t be your list. But I can certainly recommend any and all of those books above…

And it all started with this one – the original book from that hotel bedside drawer at the New Otani Hotel in Tokyo, in 1970…  (By the way, I didn’t pinch it, I paid for it!)