The two questions I am asked most frequently are:
- “Are you religious?” and
- “Why Mary Magdalene?”
I was a church going Christian for several years, I even helped run the Alpha course in our local town. Then I began to feel constrained by the ‘script’, and reincarnation was not part of the ‘dogma’. I met Simon, who had spent +20 years in a Christian monastery, who told me about a spiritual practice which was stronger than anything he had come across (well he didn’t get out much..) . Simon told me there was a 5 day retreat in Dorset in November 2004 and suggested I went. When I met the leader, Ratu Bagus, I literally saw God in his face – I had never seen such unconditional love. He taught bioenergetic meditation, which seemed strange as a newcomer, but listening to the other students, a few of whom had experienced ‘miraculous’ healings, I was keen to learn more and travelled to Ratu’s ashram in Bali In April 2005. I have been going ever since – I have been blessed with too many gifts to list – needless to say I am eternally grateful.
Ratu respects all religions; he often talks of Jesus, Krishna, Buddha in the same sentence. Bali is mainly Hindu, and Ratu has been made a Brahmin priest, not for himself, but out of respect for the Balinese (who believe in black magic).
Some of my local church members did not like me going to Bali. As my respect for Ratu grew along with the suspicion from my Christian community, I felt I had to make a choice. I stopped going to church.
Why Mary Magdalene?
I feel she chose me, but I have no idea why.. If she is trying to get a message out it would have been better to choose a successful author rather than an Oxfordshire housewife ‘who always wanted to write’ (apologies for the cliché..)
In November 2017 when I was on the ashram, a Dutch student called Claudia came up to me and said very matter of factly that Mary Magdalene was standing next to me while I had been meditating that morning. I am accustomed to unusual events occurring on the ashram but was still a little taken aback. I asked her what she looked like and she said a ‘dark pink energy’. She also suggested I visit Glastonbury as Mary Magdalene had been there.
In January 2018 I was assisting the late Susanne Prabhuta at a heart meditation workshop in Avebury. Avebury is known as the heart of England and believed to be older than Stonehenge – it is also free, so if you haven’t been put it on the list. I took this photo – see the pink oval shape around the orb? (see ‘Apostle to Mary Magdalene’ for an explanation of orbs). I didn’t twig straight away, but when I showed it to my friends they all asked what the pink oval shape was. Then I remembered what Claudia had said.
My writing began in February 2018, experimenting with automatic writing. I would look at ‘The Flower of Life’ image for a few minutes and just start writing. This is the beginning of my book ‘Apostle to Mary Magdalene’. I felt guided to go to Glastonbury; we parked in Magdalene Street outside St Mary’s chapel.. I picked up two books on Mary Magdalene in a bookshop. We climbed the Tor and visited Chalice Well gardens – nothing amazing happened but a great day out.
I devoured the books I had bought felt guided to write an A-Z on Mary Magdalene in an accessible, dip in and out, format for both experienced and less travelled spiritual adventurers. I included other spiritual phenomena to ‘explain’ my sources.
Since then I have not stopped writing…I am on my third book of the series which will come out in 2020.
When the doubt creeps in I take comfort from the words of Albert Einstein (1879-1955), one of our most brilliant scientists:
“I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious”.