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As many of you know, I spent 9 years researching and writing the book INTO THE LIGHT: The Healing Art of Kalman Aron, a story of courage, hope and transformation.  Born an artist in Riga, Latvia, Aron was caught in the Holocaust for 4 years and immigrated to America in 1949.  I met him at age six when he painted my portrait.  Fifty years later, he asked me to write his story.

In 2004 I went to Latvia to see the places of his childhood in Riga, the ghetto and camps where he was imprisoned.  I also went to the Rumbula forest outside of Riga where 25,000 Jews were killed over two days within 5 months of the Germans entering Latvia in 1941.  I had a stone placed in honor of Aron’s parents.   Last November, I was asked to present Aron’s story at an international conference in Riga.  I took time to return to the Rumbula forest to see the memorial to those lost.  I share this film with you.

What happened at Rumbula was unimaginable…beyond words.  Aron lost his mother there, but he survived, and over six decades of painting, Aron worked out the evil he experienced on canvas and turned it into truth and beauty.  More intimately, his paintings in the book reveal his remarkable journey of personal alchemy as he overcame evil and reclaimed his light. His life is a testament to the power of the human spirit to heal.  On this Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah), let us remember those who were lost, celebrate those who survived and commit to living in peace with ourselves and each other.  Blessings to all.

© Susan Beilby Magee, 2015. All Rights Reserved.

“Ask and ye shall receive.” How true. On each step of my spiritual journey I have found gifted teachers and guides. They are always present if we just pray that they appear. The last one, Master Chang, taught me that we hold within our bodies the answers to every question we have. He showed me how to go into my body, listen and heal whatever I found. I have entered my interior landscape so many times now that I no longer fear anything I might find. I am grateful to be conscious of what lies within so I may choose to heal it. As Michelangelo chipped away marble to reveal the David within, so we may remove sorrows, hurts and protective layers to reveal who we truly are so we may stand in our full radiance.

We are magical beings, full of light and grace.

© Susan Beilby Magee, 2015. All Rights Reserved.

I have always been curious about the meaning of life, our relationship to each other and the Divine. In my first decades I defined myself by what I did and accomplished. Then I hit a moment of exhaustion, and I took a leap of faith and quit working “for one year.” I stepped off the wheel of achieving and entered a void to spend time on a journey I knew not where it would lead. I began a conscious spiritual search to heal loss and trauma I had experienced growing up.

I started a Hindu meditation practice that quieted my mind; I did visualizations led by a gifted woman that opened the world of spirit to me in the most gentle and profoundly healing way; I studied the I Ching to understand the balance of yin and yang, the male and female. I read the Zen texts of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, finding a wonderful counterpoint to the western way of always doing instead of being. I read the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila and The Dark Night of the Soul by John of the Cross, exploring my European Christian heritage. I reread parts of the Old and New Testament, the so-called Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and some of the early Christian theologians. I explored our global humanity in Joseph Campbell’s books on mythologies around the world. I reread the Greek tragedies and Greek mythology. I uncovered earlier mythologies: the story of Inanna, the Sumerian Goddess of the Heaven and Earth who entered the Underworld and returned to the Upper World transformed (Descent to the Goddess by Sylvia Brinton Perera).

I was seeking understanding through my mind. The real healing occurred when I learned to go inside and listen to the energies and wisdom within my body…when I entered my interior landscape. I have been gifted with loving teachers and guides. The last one, Master Chang, taught me that we hold within our bodies the answers to every question we have, and we only need to go into our bodies to listen and heal whatever we find. I do this journeying within through hypnotherapy, visualization and meditation.

We all find ways to heal, reveal ourselves to the world and pursue our soul’s passion. On this sacred site I will share the main methods that have helped me go into my unconscious to heal and become what we each are: magical beings, full of light and grace. The methods include hypnotherapy, prayer, meditation, visualization, shamanic journeying and channeling.

Recommended reading:
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
The Way of Chuang Tzu by Thomas Merton
The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius
Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila
The Dark Night of the Soul by John of the Cross
Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas by Elaine Pagels
The Gospel of the Beloved Companion: The Complete Gospel of Mary Magdalene by Jehanne de Quillan
The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
Descent to the Goddess: A Way of Initiation for Women by Sylvia Brinton Perera

© Susan Beilby Magee, 2015. All Rights Reserved.

What does it mean to heal…to make ourselves whole?
Are we just talking about healing the physical body or healing the body, heart, mind and soul? On this site, I want to share the experience I have had in answering these questions.

Life is a pilgrimage. Our spirit enters this free will planet and brings with it certain gifts, challenges, passions and purpose. Our soul knows why it is here. When we are born, a veil slips into place between the visible and invisible worlds, and we cognitively forget the reasons we came. But the body remembers. It stores deeply within our ancestral heritage, soul history, beliefs and soul’s purpose. Throughout our life’s journey, we may choose to become aware of all that we are and believe. We may choose to wake up to our infinite possibilities and soul’s passion.

The question is: how awake do we wish to be?

© Susan Beilby Magee, 2015. All Rights Reserved.