So much of life is arranged to avoid the very paths of darkness that lead us to the light we long to know. -Michael Meade One of the Christian bible stories I learned when young- and which I think all children in churches learn- has to do with the tree in the Garden of Eden, the first two people there named Adam and Eve, an apple and a snake. I acknowledge that some people take the story literally and as a belief that they are sinful when they are born, and that by living an upright life and following bible teachings they will have a chance to be redeemed from their inherent wickedness and go to heaven after their death. In studying many different religious and spiritual traditions throughout my adult life, I have learned to take for myself bible stories, religious teachings, myths and folk tales as teaching...

I’LL HURT YOU BACK A LITTLE LESS We learned the sad news of the death of Bert Hellinger, the creator of Family Constellations, on September 19th, 2019. While Kelly and I never got the opportunity to study directly with Bert, we will always be grateful to our teachers, Peter and Jamy Faust, for integrating what they learned from him and passing it on in their program they named The Constellation Approach. Peter and Jamy studied directly with Bert for several years in the first cohort of students in the U.S,. and they have trained many facilitators in the ways to heal through the family lineage, working with the numinous energies of the family soul. Through Family Constellations, Bert brought great wisdom gained through his observations working with thousands of individuals and families. He also embodied his life’s many profound experiences, growing up the son of Catholic, resistant parents...

“Learning lessons is a little like reaching maturity. You're not suddenly more happy, wealthy, or powerful, but you understand the world around you better, and you're at peace with yourself. Learning life's lessons is not about making your life perfect, but about seeing life as it was meant to be.” Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, author of “On Death and Dying” Experiencing the recent death of a close friend and colleague has expanded the space around me for the last week, and filled it with something undefinable. There’s a portal through which we come to life that is created by the union of our birth parents, which is somehow nested within and part of a greater passage that includes the ways they came to their lives through their parents. I imagine this mysterious passage existing in no-space and no-time, connecting us through our family lineage to our life’s source with the divine....