In August of 1976, upon sitting for meditation the first time, I had a radical kundalini awakening, which is discussed at length in The Book of Fire Vol 1. During the nine months of the waxing period of this phenomenon were many seminal visions, experiences. In one such dream, I was expressing (to no visible person) that I yearned to “go to India” – a destination whose significance was clear, to a student of comparative religion (such as I was at the time, at Lewis and Clark College, in Portland, Ore.); over the ages, India is a land of spiritual enlightenment, in the psyche of the collective. A voice spoke out of the ethers, saying simply: “You have to go through Africa, first.”
Those were the few, but telling words given, pregnant with the intimations of things to come, to be prepared for – before light, and freedom, the jungles of the unconscious, like wide, wild rivers full of rapids, and unknown creatures of the deep, would have to be crossed. The journey ensued; the ferment I was predestined to encounter traversed and, to what extent I have been capable, transform. Thus the material for Mother of Light: The Book of Fire came into being, and the story written down.
Formal studies abounded in and around the turbulent travels of the inner realms: I graduated from a nationally-renowned academy of natural healing, which was oriented in body-centered psychotherapy and its adjuncts. Traditional scholastic pursuits include the field of Comparative Religion, studied at the University of Virginia, and Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, as well as Transpersonal Psychology, at Temenos Institute, in Connecticut.
I went on to do extended work in chakra/karmic clearing, and a further, in-depth apprenticeship in shamanism. A small healing center was created around a crystal shop I opened, in 1987.
My search for wisdom has carried me to places as diverse as India and Germany. I took the Reiki initiations, through the 3rd degree. I have been an avid student of astrology and metaphysics since the age of 18, and spent a year in Virginia Beach to devote concentrated time at The Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.), founded by the great mystic, Edgar Cayce.
There are many different ways to look at this book:
- It is a pitched battle for liberation, recounting many missteps and mishaps encountered along the way which, once synthesized, yield pointers in navigating the karmic labyrinth
- Mother of Light covers spiritual initiations 1, 2, and 3 (not to be confused with Reiki initiations), special attention being paid to the disciple’s encounter with the dark force, whose presence threatens at these thresholds
- Great consideration is also given to the problem of the “imperfect master”
But The Book Of Fire is ultimately about the cosmic principle of the Divine Mother- also known as The Devi – specifically in Her present incarnations as Amritanandamayi, and Mata Meera.
This time has been christened “the hour of the Mother” by some in the realm of spiritual endeavor; the passage from one age –“yuga”- to the next, is said to be fraught with immense difficulty; but in this case, the human race is likewise presented with unparalleled opportunities for quantum leaps in spiritual evolution and karmic clearing, individually and collectively. For this reason, the Divine Mother, whose force shepherds the material plane through its growth crises, is making Her presence felt in the world in a forthright manner, and making Her incarnations known, and available, at a remarkable level. To be of aid in this work, in some small measure, is the purpose for the manual, Mother of Light: The Book of Fire Vol 1 and ll.
