In this episode I am joined by Ishtar, an independent mediation teacher, mystic, and spiritual guide.Ishtar shares his unusual childhood including near constant encounters with ghosts, early spiritual experiences, astral journeys, and precognitive dreams.Ishtar details his life of spiritual seeking, years of intensive meditation practice, encounters with the cult groups, dark nights of the soul, and more.Ishtar also recounts the car crash which both killed his mother and plunged Ishtar, at 13 years old, into a near death experience that would change his life forever. …Video version: https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep278-the-mystic-ishtarAlso available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’.…Topics include:00:00 - Intro00:42 - Ishtar’s unusual childhood02:16 - Early encounters with ghosts04:35 - Distress of constant ghost encounters 05:33 - Becoming Sherlock Holmes for ghosts07:19 - Discovering the personality10:48 - Beginning to suffer and developing roles12:48 - Becoming a good faker13:21 - Car crash, NDE, and the death of Ishtar’s mother 23:34 - Anger towards God 24:08 - A strange silence and bliss26:59 - Grief and searching for transcendence29:43 - Beginning of spiritual seeking31:03 - Meeting local psychics 31:48 - Considering careers33:12 - A powerful palm reading36:15 - The mad monk inside37:07 - 6hrs of practice each day 38:36 - Past life memories and spiritual proclivities43:33 - Out of body experience 45:38 - Astral travel to floating cities48:12 - Shaft of light49:38 - Precognitive daydreams 50:17 - Further precognition53:39 - Reading “Autobiography of a Yogi” and praying to Babaji56:52 - Joining the Ishaya Foundation and living in ashrams01:02:39 - Leaving the ashram and entering a dark night of the soul01:05:44 - Repercussions of leaving a cult group 01:07:40 - Suffering returns and facing death 01:09:42 - The magic returns and teaching meditation01:11:47 - Meeting his future wife 01:13:21 - A tough 201601:14:19 - Breakthrough to fully merging with everything01:14:56 - Visions of Tuscany and experiences of blended time01:19:20 - Reconciliations and purifications01:19:43 - Leaving Portland and move to Portugal01:21:47 - “I” vs “we”01:22:52 - How did Ishtar spend his daily 6hrs of meditation?01:26:18 - Spinning the wheels of meditation and trying to force results 01:27:40 - Powerful psychedelic experience 01:30:40 - Ishtar reflects on losing his mother at age 1301:32:42 - An experience of maternal reconnection and affirmation01:34:38 - Inner child work01:36:11 - Mother’s embrace in Florence 01:37:44 - What does Ishtar’s teach01:38:54 - Ishtar’s recent spiritual breakthroughs 01:41:40 - Psychic powers are not the bullseye 01:43:25 - Ishtar’s concluding thoughts and advice 01:47:29 - Christopher Wood, the stick peddler …To find our more about Isthar, visit:- https://www.ascension-meditation.com/ - https://www.awakenedlightastrology.com/ - https://www.youtube.com/ishtarishaya…For more interviews, videos, and more visit:- https://www.guruviking.com Music ‘Deva Dasi’ by Steve James