Wisdom Keeper Podcast

Lynn Bell: Astrology, Redemption, and the Aquarian Age of Revolutionary Change. Ep. 18 In this episode of the Wisdom Keeper podcast, I’m delighted to host master astrologer Lynn Bell, whom I affectionately call the Oracle. Lynn and I take a skeptic’s approach to understanding the mechanism underlying astrology, asking how the soul and cosmos interact, and how studying historical patterns, both above and below, can lead us to redemption. Finally, Lynn gives us an astro-forecast for 2024 including the highly anticipated transit of Pluto into Aquarius this November, coinciding with the US elections. The last time this transit took place ushered in the American and French Revolutions. You’ll want to heed the Oracle’s advice on how to prepare to meet this turning point. In this episode Lynn Bell and I discuss: - How a challenge to her eyesight in childhood, became an opportunity to develop a deeper vision and more attuned relationship with the world. - How we can look back on our personal and collective history and patterns to predict future outcomes. - Because every pattern repeats itself in cycles of time, we can always have a chance at repair or redemption. - How the psyche or soul and the cosmos or planetary alignments interact. - How astrology involves being attuned to the environment, and what the moment is presenting, so that we can skillfully choose how to respond. - The signature of the outgoing Piscean age and the incoming Aquarian age. - How to purposefully re-interpret and work with the challenges of our age such as misinformation, AI, socio-political division, civil unrest, and structural collapse. - The Astro forecast for 2024 including the anticipated transition of Pluto into Aquarius in November during the US election, and the American and French Revolutions that transpired the last time this transit occurred. - Lynn’s parting message of tolerance for cognitive dissonance, remembering our common humanity, and staying in the vibration of compassion over fear. Bio Lynn Belle is a world-renowned, master astrologer with over 40 years of experience. She specializes in psychological and spiritual perspectives with a specific interest in family systems, as well as mythological and archetypal themes. She lectures and offers workshops globally including online with Astrology University and her books include Planetary Threads focusing on the transgenerational inheritance of family patterns and Cycles of Light focusing on the implications and trends of the solar return. Her website is www.lynnbellastrology.com For Lynn Bell’s upcoming seminars and workshops visit: https://lynnbellastrology.com/upcoming-events/ For Lynn Bell’s books: https://lynnbellastrology.com/books/ Dr. Miles Neale is a Buddhist psychotherapist in private practice, instructor at Weill Cornell Medical College, author of Gradual Awakening (Sounds True, 2018), and founder of the Gradual Path for inner and outer journeys. His forthcoming book is Return with Elixir: Pilgrimage of the Soul Through Death and Rebirth (Inner Traditions, 2024). Join Miles’ mailing list to get the latest news on courses, pilgrimages, and podcasts: https://www.gradualpath.com/contact Follow Miles on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/milesneale

In this unique episode of the Wisdom Keeper Podcast I’m joined by Tibetan medical practitioner Christiana Polites and Vajrayana teacher and author Lama Justin von Bujdoss as we reminisce on our shared experience as students on the Antioch Buddhist Studies Program in Bodhgaya, India during our early twenties, and the ensuing impact it had on our lives and careers. Sit back and enjoy this intimate three-way conversation filled with stories of tenderness, synchronicity, resilience, and self-actualization as we trace how the Dharma seeds of those early days ripened for each of us during the global pandemic and beyond. Nothing is a coincidence; we are all interconnected and on an enduring pilgrimage in search of healing and purpose. Bio: Christiana Polites received her Bachelor of Arts in the Comparative Study of Religion at Harvard University and has been immersed in Eastern spiritual traditions for over twenty years. She has studied both Tibetan and Chinese Daoist healing arts and received a Masters in Acupuncture from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. She has traveled extensively around the world, seeking out authentic living lineages in both the healing and spiritual sciences. In collaboration with her teacher Dr. Nida Chenagtsang, Christiana founded Pure Land Farms in Topanga, California, the Sowa Rigpa Institute of Tibetan Medicine, and Sky Press publishing house. She teaches foundational courses on Tibetan Medicine, yoga and rejuvenation and guides retreats and practices in the Yuthok Nyingthig meditation tradition at Pure Land Farms, online, and internationally. https://purelandfarms.com https://www.sowarigpainstitute.org Lama Justin von Bujdoss is an American vajrayana Buddhist teacher, writer, and the is a co-founder of Bhumisparsha an experimental Buddhist sangha along with Lama Rod Owens. He is the author of Modern Tantric Buddhism: Authenticity and Embodiment in Dharma Practice published by North Atlantic Books, and contributor to Buddhism and Whiteness: Critical Reflections published by Lexington Books. From 2016 until December 2021 Justin served as the Executive Director of Chaplaincy and Staff Wellness for NYC Department of Correction where he also served as Staff Chaplain supervising over 30 chaplains and guided wellness programming for staff. Justin also has professional experience in home hospice and hospital settings as a pastoral caregiver. Lama Justin is currently the chaplain for Hart Island, New York City’s public cemetery. Justin was ordained as a repa, a lay tantric yogin in the tradition of Milarepa, by His Eminence Gyaltsab Rinpoche, one of the heart sons of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa. Lama Justin has presented on Buddhist practice at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, University of Chicago, Wellesley, Columbia University, has been a visiting instructor at Union Theological Seminary, teaches at Pure Land Farms. Justin is passionate about helping to create the conditions for authentic embodied tantric Buddhist spiritual practice in the West. https://www.bhumisparsha.orghttps://www.yangtiyoga.com  Dr. Miles Neale https://www.milesneale.com https://www.gradualpath.com In this episode Christiana, Lama Justin, and I discuss: • How we all felt ourselves to be misfits in childhood, and how this led to our sense of coming home to Bodhgaya, India in our early twenties. • The nature of the Antioch Buddhist Studies Program and what made it so instrumental in our personal and development. • Stories of tenderness and how teachers and associates alike found a way to open our hearts and speak to our soul. • Each of share how our early experiences in Bodhgaya shaped our professional careers, and how we chose to apply Tibetan Buddhism in unique ways in the world. • Stories of resilience and how dharma practice has offered refuge in times of chaos and uncertainty. • How modernity and technology has impacted our ability to have authentic spiritual experience. • Stories of how the early dharma seeds came full circle and ripened as crucial moments of self-actualization during the global pandemic. • Forecasting the future and working with the uncertainty ahead.

#pilgrimage #java #borobudur #bali In this episode of the wisdom keeper podcast I host anthropologist Patrick Vanhoebrouk a specialist in Javanese culture, Buddhist and Hindu tantric traditions, and the Dukun, indigenous shamans of the mystical island of Java. Patrick takes us on a pilgrimage into Java’s deep prehistory, decoding its prophesies that foretold of the cataclysmic events he thinks we are now amidst. He also brings us into the powerful megalithic sites such the Borobudur mandala, and explains how they are energetic portals used to align cosmos and psyche, ignorer to bring about a radical transformation of consciousness at this critical time in history. Patrick is anthropologist in residence at the Amanjiwo in Java. https://www.aman.com/resorts/amanjiwo He will be offering the welcome keynote lecture upon our arrival in Java on our next pilgrimage to the Indonesian Islands in September 2023. https://www.sacredearthjourneys.ca/current-tours/sacred-healing-in-java-and-bali-with-dr-miles-neale-and-geshe-tenzin-zopa Pilgrimages with Dr. Miles Neale https://www.gradualpath.com/pilgrimage Buddhist psychotherapy with Dr. Miles Neale https://www.milesneale.com/therapy  

Judson Davis, PhD, is a university educator, author, spiritual counselor, filmmaker, and world traveler. He holds a Doctorate in East-West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies (2012) and a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology (with emphasis in Jungian Depth Psychology; 2006) from Pacifica Graduate Institute. He is founder and director of the Institute of East-West Interdisciplinary Studies, where he offers counseling and online courses on the interface of Jungian and Tibetan Buddhist Studies. Judson has taught on the university, college, and corporate levels in California, Germany, Japan, and South Korea, has produced documentary films, and has presented his work in a variety of public venues. Dr. Davis is the author of the book "The Sacred Image: C. G. Jung and the Western Embrace of Tibetan Buddhism" as well as numerous peer-reviewed journal publications dealing with spirituality, psychotherapy, and consciousness studies including “Alchemy and Transformation, East and West: A Cross-cultural Analysis of Jungian Psychology and Tibetan Tantra". More on his work can be found at: www.east-westinstitute.com In this episode Judson and I discuss: ∙His ‘dark night of the soul’ experience during lock down in Thailand ∙Owning your shadow and reclaiming your disenfranchised projections ∙His round the world pilgrimage and Campbellian call to adventure ∙His mystical experience in the Himalayas, meeting the Tibetans, and becoming small in the face of immensity of the mountains. ∙The archetype of coming undone, in order to be recreated, both personally and culturally. ∙The collective dark night of the soul of our civilization, and the early dawn of an expanded global consciousness. ∙The Astrology of the Great Year, cycles of time, and waking up during contraction. ∙Psychedelic therapy and venturing into alternative dimensions of reality and meeting non human beings ∙Jung’s notion of the Self compared with the Tibetan notion of the void and clear-light of Dharmakaya ∙Sense-making the global crisis through myths from world cultures, Jung, and Joseph Campbell ∙Jung’s encounter with the East: Chinese Alchemy, Buddhism, and Tantra ∙Esoteric traditions emphasis on a direct personal experience of awakening into Christ consciousness or Buddha nature ∙The use of sacred symbols such as deities, mandalas, pilgrimage, sacred mountains, tree of life, and the diamond as aids to alchemical transmutation ∙Judson defines and deconstructs Jung’s process of active imagination ∙How to work with “Big dreams” ∙Jung’s view of the unconscious and its relationship to shadow, persona, and Self. ∙The thrust of the Self, to integrate the split of shadow aspects of our collective unconscious, will drive a social leap forward in our evolution to be more sensitive and inclusive beings. *** The Wisdom Keeper Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify CONTEMPLATIVE STUDIES PROGRAM Courses, Community and Buddhist Pilgrimage https://www.gradualpath.com/ 25% off all courses with coupon code WISDOMKEEPER More about Dr. Miles Neale on his website https://www.milesneale.com/ Follow Miles Neale on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/milesneale/

In this episode, Ray and I discuss: ∙Early discovery of esoteric transitioning including astrology ∙Break through meditative experiences with his spiritual teachers ∙Intellectuals history of astrology ∙A symbolic world view, how we lost it, why we need it ∙How does the cosmos impact the psyche? ∙The Great Saturn-Jupiter conjunction of 2020 that ushered in the pandemic ∙Planetary causal effects vs synchronicity ∙“The universe is composed of stories not atoms” ∙Destiny vs free will in your horoscope ∙The relationship between psychology and astrology ∙The Great Year, precession of the equinoxes and the Yuga cycle ∙Hallmarks and shadow of the Aquarian Age ∙Individual rights, power to the people, and the rise of narcissism ∙The war in Ukrainian and the the United States undergoing its Pluto return ∙The rise of fascism and facing the legacy of racism ∙Ray’s biggest lesson after 50 years of practice. RAY GRASSE is a Chicago-based writer, musician, photographer, and astrologer. He is author of eight books including Stargates, The Waking Dream, Signs of the Times, and his most recent opus When the Stars Align. Ray received a degree in filmmaking from the Art Institute of Chicago under experimental film pioneers Stan Brakhage and John Luther-Scofill. He studied with various esoteric teachers in both the Kriya Yoga and Zen traditions. He's lectured extensively on the topics of astrology, synchronicity, and mythology, and maintains an active astrological practice with clients around the United States and abroad. I discovered Ray’s work in 2019 as I was preparing for my class Return with Elixir, and enjoyed tremendously his lecture series titled Secrets of the Esoteric Traditions on Youtube. Ray’s website: https://www.raygrasse.com Ray’s New Book, When the Stars Align: https://www.amazon.com/When-Stars-Align-Reflections-Astrology/dp/0578394383 Ray’s YouTube lecture series, Secrets of the Esoteric Traditions: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgd5q-JA8xpJtWu28QgcRxeJWtpKltPD8 *** The Wisdom Keeper Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify CONTEMPLATIVE STUDIES PROGRAM Courses, Community and Buddhist Pilgrimage https://www.gradualpath.com/ 25% off all courses with coupon code WISDOMKEEPER More about Dr. Miles Neale on his website https://www.milesneale.com/ Follow Miles Neale on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/milesneale/

In this episode of the Wisdom Keeper Podcast I’m delighted to host Freddy Silva one of the worlds foremost experts on ancient civilizations, crop circles, and the use of sacred monolithic sites and structures for transformations in human consciousness. Freddy leads us on a journey to rewrite history gathering clues from diverse cultural sources that point to an ancient, high civilization lost in last ice-age, but far older and more advanced than our current, mainstream picture of the world would suggest. What this ancient pre-diluvian, sea fearing civilization knew about the cosmos and of the psyche is nothing short of staggering, and anyone with interest in esoteric wisdom and initiatory rites will be sure to enjoy this conversation.  Freddy Silva is a bestselling author, and leading researcher of ancient civilizations, restricted history, sacred structures, and their interaction with consciousness. He is also the leading expert on crop circles and leads pilgrimages to sacred sites in England, France, Egypt, Portugal, Yucatan, Peru/Bolivia, and Scotland.  Freddy has produced thirteen documentaries and published seven books in six languages, among them The Missing Lands, The Divine Blue Print, the Lost Art of Resurrection, and his most recent release Scotland’s Hidden Sacred Past.  His website is https://www.invisibletemple.com/  Freddy and I discuss his:  Departure from corporate advertising to follow an inner call to study crop circles and other mysteries. Learning to trust what he calls “the management” - unseen spirit guides of alternate dimensions that aid him in his research and quest. Theory of an ancient, lost civilization of prehistory and its sacred wisdom of navigating the cosmos and the soul. Attempt to thread together myths and prophesies found across cultures about a lost, pre-diluvian sea faring civilization possessing high art and technology.  Fascinating common accounts of the “shinning one’s” or the “people of the serpent“ who may have taught the Mayans and Egyptians, and cultures as diverse as Armenia, India, Japan, Scotland and Easter Island. The cataclysmic impact of a meteor around 10,500 BCE, its ensuing effects of sea level rise, and relationship to the universal presence of flood myths throughout culture.  Freddy responds to his critics of the ancient civilization hypothesis.  The connection between sacred monolithic sites, astrological positions, and ritual initiations.   The Maiden’s Cave in Scotland and its ritual use for a rite-of-passage leading to resurrection of the soul.  His new book Scotland’s Hidden Sacred Past is available here. *** The Wisdom Keeper Podcast is available on: APPLE PODCASTS GOOGLE PODCASTS  SPOTIFY   CONTEMPLATIVE STUDIES PROGRAM Courses, Community and Buddhist Pilgrimage  https://www.gradualpath.com/ 25% off all courses with coupon code WISDOMKEEPER More about Dr. Miles Neale on his website https://www.milesneale.com/  Follow Miles Neale on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/milesneale/

TASHI MANNOX is one of the world's foremost contemporary Tibetan calligraphers and Dharma artists, regularly exhibiting his art in New York, London, Moscow and Bhutan. He was formerly a monk in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, and completed the traditional four year closer retreat under the guidance of renown Tibetan masters. He is the author of Sacred Scripts: A Meditative Journey Through Tibetan Calligraphy (2016) and has recently released a new course on Tibetan Calligraphy host by the prestigious Wisdom Publications and the Wisdom Academy Online. https://wisdomexperience.org/courses/tibetan-calligraphy/  In this episode of the Wisdom Keeper podcast I’m delight to be joined by Lama Tashi Mannox, one of the world’s foremost dharma artists and Tibetan Calligraphers. In this conversation we follow Tashi Mannox from his most magical and auspicious childhood, into his deep four year Vajrayana retreat where he offers us an intimate glimpse of his limitless imagination, and right on through to his karmic fortune to work directly with the King of Bhutan. Throughout we see just how essential it is to collect karmic merit in order to create a truly inspiring life for oneself and others. Lama Tashi Mannox is an embodiment of integrity and joy that few can resist. I know you’ll enjoy this podcast. In this episode of the Wisdom Keeper podcast Lama Tashi and I discuss: ・The magic of his childhood immersed in the first wave of the transmission of Buddhism to the West. ・Tashi’s early life and education as an artist, and how he happily never quite fit into the mainstream. ・His experience of being in a formal Tibetan four-year meditation retreat including day-in-the-life of his rigorous schedule. ・We get an intimate look at the mind of a visual artist as Tashi explains the construction of a mandala in his own visualization practice during retreat. ・How Tashi Mannox became a calligrapher, and what calligraphy means to the preservation and transmission of Dharma. ・Exciting experiences on his first pilgrimage to Tibet and the ethos of wonder in which Tibetan culture experiences the world. ・Finally Tashi discusses the role and honor he played in preserving the cultural legacy of calligraphy in Bhutan, and how we must go back in order to move forward. What an honor to bask in the glow of Tashi’s humility and radiance. *** The Wisdom Keeper Podcast is available on: APPLE PODCASTS GOOGLE PODCASTS  SPOTIFY     CONTEMPLATIVE STUDIES PROGRAM Courses, Community and Buddhist Pilgrimage  25% off all courses with coupon code WISDOMKEEPER More about Dr. Miles Neale on his website https://www.milesneale.com/  Follow Miles Neale on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/milesneale/

DR. IAN BAKER is a Tibetan scholar, yogi, explorer and author with more than 40 years experience studying and teaching Tibetan Buddhism. He is an international fellow of the Explorers Club and was honored by National Geographic Society as one of six ‘Explorers for the Millennium’ for his ethnographic and geographical field research in Tibet’s Tsangpo gorge and his team’s discovery of a waterfall that had been the source of myth and geographic speculation for more than a century. Ian is the author of seven critically acclaimed books on Himalayan and Tibetan cultural history, environment, art, and medicine including The Heart of the World: A Journey to the Last Secret Place, The Tibetan of Art of Healing, and The Dalai Lama’s Secret Temple, a collaborative work with His Holiness The Dalai Lama that illuminates Tantric Buddhist meditation practices. Ian’s latest book, Tibetan Yoga: Secrets from the Source. Ian has also written for National Geographic Magazine and has contributed to academic journals in the fields of Tibetan yoga in Vajrayāna Buddhism. Ian also leads pilgrimages to sacred sites in India, Tibet, and Bhutan. In this episode of the Wisdom Keeper podcast Ian and Miles trace his own Hero’s journey from his childhood expeditions in mountaineering, to his first pilgrimage to Nepal at 19 where he met some of the most celebrated Tibetan masters of the last century, to his first experience of awakening, kensho, during meditative retreat, and to his pioneering efforts to practice the Tibetan yogas under the advise of His Holiness the Dalia Lama in solitary retreat in a secret cave. The conversation cuts to the heart of dzongchen, where we dance between illusion, the self-imposed limits of mind, and the boundless luminosity of our own true nature. This is one pilgrimage you won't want to miss. In this episode Dr. Ian Baker and Miles discuss: ・His childhood interest in adventure and mountaineering which helped him learn to push beyond self-imposed mental limitations and would later inform his yogic practices. ・His college junior year abroad that took him to Kathmandu and changed the course of his life when he meet some of the greatest Tibetan masters of this century. ・Ian discusses his first break through meditative experience into the nature of mind during a college retreat and its residual impact on the course of his life. ・He describes his return to Nepal for intensive meditation retreat in a High Himalayan cave practicing the advices given to him personally by the Dalai Lama. ・We frame Ian life as one that converges the outer, inner, and secret forms of pilgrimage. ・Ian discusses the union of wisdom and bliss found within the nervous system and accessed through Tibetan Yogas. ・We discuss the intersection between psychedelics Greek and Tibet mysticism, including a new research project of his exploring the use of soma in a very secret Tara cult in India. ・Finally we reflect on what it means “to go back in order to go forward.” The Wisdom Keeper Podcast is available on: APPLE PODCASTS GOOGLE PODCASTS  SPOTIFY CONTEMPLATIVE STUDIES PROGRAM Courses, Community and Buddhist Pilgrimage https://www.gradualpath.com/  25% off all courses with coupon code WISDOMKEEPER More about Dr. Miles Neale on his website https://www.milesneale.com/  Follow Miles Neale on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/milesneale/

Lama Glenn Mullin is a Tibetologist, Buddhist scholar, and teacher of Tantric Buddhist meditation. He divides his time between writing, teaching, meditating, and leading tour groups to the power places of Himalayan region. He studied and received vital lineage transmissions from over thirty-five of the greatest masters of the time from all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Lama Glenn Mullin has authored more the 30 books on Tibetan Buddhism, many of them focused on the lives and translations of the works of the lineage of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Glenn Mullin’s website: https://www.glennmullin.com  In this conversation, Lama Glen Mullin and Dr. Miles Neale discuss: ・The meaning and role pilgrimage plays in Tibetan Buddhist Culture ・The outer, inner, and secret forms pilgrimage ・The relationship of mythology and sacred geography ・The power of pilgrimage to heal sickness ・The magic of the Kathmandu valley ・Secrets of the Boudanath and Swayambunath stupas ・Psychedelics in Hindu and Buddhist tantra ・Padmasambhava cave and Vajrayogini shrine in Pharping ・Advices for embarking on pilgrimage The Wisdom Keeper Podcast is available on: APPLE PODCASTS https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-keeper-podcast/id1605486380  GOOGLE PODCASTS https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcHAua2FqYWJpLmNvbS9wb2RjYXN0cy8yMTQ3NDkxNzI3L2ZlZWQ  SPOTIFY https://open.spotify.com/show/3XS7wPneL9STu8kMltzmFd?si=a24b1d4fe4c74b6d  CONTEMPLATIVE STUDIES PROGRAM | Courses, Community and Buddhist Pilgrimage |https://www.gradualpath.com/ More about Dr. Miles Neale on his website https://www.milesneale.com/  Follow Miles Neale on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/milesneale/

Who will you trust for guidance as the world transitions to a new eon? Wisdom keepers are the elders, mentors, yogis, scholars, and holders of sacred knowledge committed to guiding us through a process of spiritual transformation. As we ride the waves of the emerging paradigm shift more of us will be looking to these reliable guides to help us sense make and navigate the challenges and complexities of the human experience. Each episode of the Wisdom Keeper podcast brings you into an intimate conversation designed to deepen your self-reflection, integrate your shadow, inspire your contemplative practice, and enliven your experience of being in the world. Your host Dr. Miles Neale curates mini-series complementing depth with breadth on a wide range of topics from spirituality and psychology, mythology and astrology, to sacred art and pilgrimage. The Wisdom Keeper podcast is available on Youtube, Apple podcasts, Google podcasts and Spotify For courses, community and pilgrimage visit the Contemplative Studies Program. More about Dr. Miles Neale on his website. Follow Miles Neale on Instagram.