Alchemical Dialogues - from Lead to Gold: Recent Episodes
Henry Cretella
Alchemical Dialogues are live and unscripted conversations recorded on Zoom brought to you by the great folks of Amber Light International. We choose topics from our current social and cultural climate, with an emphasis on humanism and spirituality.
In today’s The Labyrinth podcast, Lisa Carley interviews retired psychiatrist Henry Cretella to share both his philosophy and personal experience with surrender. We begin our conversation with Eckart Tolle’s view that surrender requires an expansion (and often suspension) of our rational mind. From there, we discuss the general nature of surrender and the role of intuition. We move into sharing stories about times when we felt a deep intuition/calling to stretch the boundaries of our limited rational frameworks and take a leap. The podcast ends with Hazrat Inayat Khan's essay on the future of humankind.
Bio of Lisa Carley
Hosting the podcast, 'The Labyrinth,' Lisa Carley is passionate about India, existential and phenomenological philosophy/psychology, and maternal mental health. She chooses to explore her passion through travel, connection with others, and writing. She holds a degree in English Literature from SUNY Albany, and has worked toward a Psy. D. in Clinical Psychology with a Masters in Existential Humanistic Psychology from Saybrook, is a mother, student of Philosophy and English, artisan, and poet.
Recorded for Alchemical Dialogues podcast, Henry Cretella hosts Lisa Carley regarding mental health and spirituality and Lisa's lived experience.Avoiding and easing unnecessary suffering is a worthwhile goal, but so is the less often discussed opportunity for transformation that distress provides.
Mystics teach that the heart and mind open through suffering.
The good news is that we don’t have to look for upsets, they find us quite easily.
Join Henry Cretella and Lisa Carley as we discuss her journey through mental illness and how it led to her personal heart-mind opening and impacted her life for the better.
It’s a journey of courage to explore and change, using all the tools that are available to understand and ease the pain while never closing the door that has been unlocked.
Host of her podcast, 'The Labyrinth,' Lisa Carley is passionate about India, existential and phenomenological philosophy/psychology, and maternal mental health. She chooses to explore her passion through travel, connection with others, and writing. She holds a degree in English Literature from SUNY Albany, and has worked toward a Psy. D. in Clinical Psychology with a Masters in Existential Humanistic Psychology from Saybrook, is a mother, student of Philosophy and English, artisan, and poet.
This conversation with Lisa Carley, host of the podcast The Labyrinth and Unraveling Religion's Joel Lesses explore the podcast 'The Labyrinth' and its slogan 'Destination Unknown' and its relationship to the 'Unraveling Religion' podcast, whose own slogan 'What You Are Is More Than What You Want.'
These two old friends share a deep vision of hope and work toward a brighter future as they deconstruct meaning, mission, and purpose, and the mechanisms of what comprises the most vital aspects of life and relationship. In this brief discussion, Lisa and Joel outline the parallel journey of spirituality and curiosity that forms the basis of their timeless bond.
In Part 3 Lisa, Rich, and Joel examine the secret to the existential dilemma and how to resolve it.
The answer, 'service.'
Also, surfing and meditation and the story of Reb Zusha, a Hasidic Master.
A Jewish Kabbalistic look at death, judgment, and Heavenly Decrees, ultimately who judges us?
Does human life have spiritual veils and what do they hide?
Also discussed is American Zen Buddhism and the two most influential books in American Zen, 'Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind' and 'The Three Pillars of Zen.'
From Zen Mind, Beginner Mind, 'The basic teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of transcency or change.' and 'That everything changes is the basic truth for each existence.'
What actually determines the quality of our life: is it what we receive from others, or what we give to others?
What is our relationship to Death?
What are we forced to let go of in life and what returns to us in the future?
These explorations build into a final poem Lisa wrote and reads.
In Part 2, Lisa, Rich, and Joel explore knowing the 'why' and knowing the 'big picture' versus being in the flow of life.
The talk continues in the examination of life asking 'What is being asked of me? What do I need to learn about this situation? What do I need to perceive in this situation?'
Also, asking questions of life, and responding to life's obstacles in a way that challenges our mental health and our existential paradigm, and the relationship to reconstructing ourselves, Phoenix-like, after allowing ourselves to 'fall apart.'
Deeper into the conversation, the topic of the Existential Abyssand Kierkegaard and Nietzsche and Heidegger, and looking at 'being true to [oneself] in the deepest possible sense.'
The talk opens to the complexities and wonders of being human.
Finally, existentially reassembling ourselves and its relationship to mental health and mental health distress.
In Part 1 of this three part episode, Joel lassoed Rich Grego and Lisa Carleyinto a conversation recorded weaving threads through time and space and love, itself.
This conversation meanders among these three old, dear friends, and touches on nihilism, dissolution and romanticism, Dharma decay andDharma renewal, changes and transformations.
Is there room for Hope in the world today?
Optimism?
Does the state of the world allow a falling away so that things might improve, a sense something better might come.
What does Enlightenment look like? What does Enlightenment feel like?
In this deeply intimate talk, Rich, Lisa, and Joel explore aspects of the existential path requiring courage and bravery, and the conversation deconstructs aspects of the work required to build a strong existence or spiritual foundation.
Lisa, Rich, and Joel examine challenging and evolving social constructs, darkness versus light, mission and meaning and purpose, how do we find mission meaning and purpose?
Asking 'how' versus asking 'why?'
Fundamentally, what makes us feel we are far from where we should be, what makes us feel we are far from 'home.'
Richard Grego is Professor of philosophy and cultural history at FSCJ. His research interests focus on cross-cultural themes in religion and science— including philosophy of mind, comparative world religions/world civilizations, and the metaphysical - theological implications of theoretical physics and cosmology. His publications have included studies in the history- philosophy of science and conceptions of nature in the history of western philosophy, as well as cross-cultural perspectives on mind/ consciousness in western philosophy - psychology and the neo-Vedanta Hindu tradition. Prior to his academic career, he was a criminal investigator-polygraph examiner for the Florida Office of the Public Defender and in the private sector Instructor at the Criminal Justice Institute and International Academy of Polygraph Science in Florida, and national Academic Director of the Criminal Defense Investigation Training Council.
Lisa Carley is passionate about India, existential and phenomenological philosophy/psychology and maternal mental health. She chooses to explore her passion through travel, connection with others, and writing. She holds a degree in English Literature from SUNY Albany, has worked toward a Psy. D. in Clinical Psychology with a Masters in Existential Humanistic Psychology from Saybrook, is a mother, student of Philosophy and English, artisan, and poet.
Joy Harjo and Joel connect in this dusted off, older episode, to open and discuss our shared human experience in its different forms and the pervading spirit found in mountains and rivers, water and air, in people and the Earth. The shared community we live in calls us to understand our actions affect others and the Earth. Joy and Joel discuss spirituality, Joy's history and development as an artist, shared responsibility for our communities, Native teachings, Buddhism, Joy's plays, music, poetry, and art. Also discussed were generational influences and wisdom and how in years past there was a closer connection to our heart and mind. Joy and Joel also discuss the intelligence of the body and how common sense is spirituality, expressed. Joy and Joel share many aspects of spirituality and life, and conclude reflecting on Joy's Eagle Poem. The end of the talk mentions Maj Ragain and A Gathering of Poets commemorating in 1990 the 20th anniversary of the shootings at Kent State, which introduced Joel to Joy Harjo's work.
Biography of Joy Harjo:
Joy Harjo, the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States, is a member of the Mvskoke Nation and belongs to Oce Vpofv (Hickory Ground). As a poet, activist, and musician, Joy Harjo’s work has won countless awards. In 2019, Harjo became the first Native American United States Poet Laureate in history and is only the second poet to be appointed for three terms. In addition to her many books of poetry, she has written several books for young audiences and released seven award-winning music albums.
Harjo is a founding board member and Chair of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and, in 2019, was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. She has since been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, National Native American Hall of Fame, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Harjo currently lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma where she serves as the first Artist-in-Residency of the Bob Dylan Center.
Dusted off as one of Unraveling Religion's original episodes back in 2008, Activist and Poet Chris Barbera joins Joel for a talk exploring the landscape of our collective sorrows and how to address them.
The terrain covers the root response to suffering found in exploring spirituality. The question of 'work' and how work is defined was answered. Chris begins with his own expressed spiritual development and biography, culminating with a deep awakening in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. The realization placed for Chris the understanding of the inequality of systems of power against many of its marginalized citizens, mainly due to the drive to consume and commoditize, an unexamined priorities, in our nation and world.
These power structures have sought to accumulate wealth and power, and in the talk Chris and Joel also explore the validities of all the world's religions. Chris came to realize G-d is not an idea but a living Reality. Through the talk, Chris and Joel discuss how these systems criminalize the poor. Also examined were ways to alleviate suffering, guided by various spiritual doctrines, and searching 'where does G-d fit into all of this?' The differences of science and religion, and how the ancient cultures made no distinction between the two.
A profound examination of humankind's direction, hope, and potential outcome.
Biography of Chris Barbera:
Chris Barbera has lived in the backs of empty churches and intentional communities and worked on various social justice movements and has, for many years, administered an educational nonprofit, Jesus the Liberator Seminary of Religious Justice, which focuses upon developing a “Prison Theology” with people incarcerated. He currently lives intentionally at the interfaith nonprofit, Network of Religious Communities. In short, he has lived and worked with poor people at the intersection of grassroots justice movements, spiritually lived ideas and experiences in relation with institutional structures, traditions, and nonprofit efforts, as well as at the intersection of poetry and theology. All is all in all rooted and wind.
Two friends find meaning in discussing life and reveal kindness as the lasting binding element; is it Plato or Aristotle? It is only how we define love that matters, because only love endures forever. Richard Wicka shares Sartre's 'The Wall' Joel Lesses shares a Chasidic Tale 'The Rabbi's Gift' each finds newness in understanding because this evening we were not alone, we shared an evening walk.
Bio: Richard Wicka is a Buffalo, N.Y.-based media artist and photographer and the proprietor of "The Home of the Future,"a media access center and production/recording studio based in his Kaisertown home. Wicka has been providing a forum for artists in all media, activists, and everyday citizens of his Western New York community since the mid-1970s. He provides interested parties with technical support, studio time, and production tools free of charge, encouraging them to express themselves in ways that mainstream culture has not historically sanctioned. With the advent of internet radio came ThinkTwice Radio in 2006, offering podcasts to anyone with a subject to discuss and the commitment to produce a regular show.
In 2015, in the wide expanse of spiritual and emotional terrain, before his passing in 2018, Maj Ragain, northeast Ohio's poetic fixture and teacher sits with Joel to talk of spirituality and mentorship, sharing poems, talking of tenderness and eroticism and the flux of life, 'all rivers run to the sea.' Bio: Maj Ragain was born into a small, southeastern Illinois farm town. Home-tutored and raised on Vernor Lake, he earned a BA in English at Eastern Illinois University, and an MA in English at the University of Illinois. He has been on faculty, off and on, at Kent State University since 1969, where he obtained his PhD in 1990. He is the author of seven chapbooks of poetry and five book-length collections, all of which contribute to Clouds Pile Up in the North: New & Selected Poems. Maj had served for more than thirty years as host to open poetry readings in Kent, monthly, downtown, mentoring hundreds of poets through the years.
In this brief talk, Joel describes the origins and purpose of Unraveling Religion, reviewing some of the guests and giving an overall flavor of what Unraveling Religion examines through its conversations.
Listen to and share our latest podcast with Joel Lesses.
Henry and Joel discuss lessons from lived experience with mental health distress, including:• lessons from trauma• isolation, loneliness• marginalization• existential crisis• how mental health distress may be a calling to become a healer leader and teacher in community.
Extracting lessons and asking the 'why' slowly begins to uncover answers, reveals meaning and purpose, calls us to understanding and wisdom of life's deeper questions.
There, passions reveal themselves, including for Joel poetry, spirituality and mysticism.
Education Training Center (https://www.joellesses.com), Joel's agency seeks to address areas of need for individuals marginalized by mental health, trauma, and psychological distress without distinction to cause.
Joel Lesses founded the Education Training Center as a means of counseling people marginalized by trauma, addiction, and psychological distress, and its effects including incarceration, homelessness, and institutionalization. He is dedicated to reframing mental health distress as a potential spiritual marker and existential opportunity. Also, vested in Poetry and Literature as an educator and poet, through writing workshops, poetry roundtables, poetry, and a manuscript. Finally, other passions include the intersection of poetry, spirituality, science, and phenomenology shared and disparate in the human experience, and transformative power of self inquiry and introspection through contemplative and meditative practices explored in his podcast, 'Unraveling Religion' mystical and practical discussions as an exploration of spirituality and its relation to religion and psychology. Joel was nominated and voted previously 'Buffalo's Best Poet'; he has been published in various magazines and publications, founded Ground and Sky Poetry Series, and facilitated numerous poetry workshops. Currently, he is working on an autobiography of poetry and prose entitled 'Odyssey of Autumn's Breath: An American Collection and Life.' He has worked as a healthcare administrator, trainer, facilitator, and consultant, leading the understanding in education treatment and advocacy regarding substance use, mental health, (and medical) issues.
Listen to and share our latest podcast with Dr. John Erhart.
Why is there such reluctance to allow people to be who they are? Are we so afraid of “not-me” so that differences become pathologized, forbidden, and beyond our limited imaginations? What does this do to us when we feel we must hide to survive? What does it mean that others must be feared?
We are in a time when something as basic, genetic, as the core of our being has been, and still is denied, and then may be used as a justification to unleash rejection, division, devaluation, bullying, and violence. It is difficult and painful for some of us to believe. Yet, some, perhaps even many of us, have lived through this….witnessed it directly or indirectly. And some of us may have even perpetrated some of the prejudice, unwittingly or not.
Psychiatrist, friend, and colleague John Erhart has lived through and witnessed personal and professional traumas and victories in his pursuit of being, accepting, living, and celebrating the person who he is. It is easier now, but….What about the road ahead for others? The work is not done.
John F. Erhart, M.D. After completing undergraduate studies at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Dr. Erhart received his doctorate in medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He completed post-graduate medical training at the University Of Rochester Strong Memorial Hospital. After an internship in pediatrics, internal medicine and neurology, Dr. Erhart completed a psychiatric residency and child psychiatry fellowship through the university’s Department of Psychiatry. He is a consultant for various agencies in the Rochester/Finger Lakes area.
In this brief talk, Henry and Joel Lesses examine the history and relationship between Amber Light's own podcast Alchemical Dialogues and Joel's podcast Unraveling Religion. Henry and Joel have been friends since 2014, and have cross-pollinated sharing ideas and wisdom including episodes regarding dreams, poetry, the spiritual path, psychology, and mental health. You can find Unraveling Religion on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unraveling-religion/id1510379967
Listen to and share our latest podcast with Hafizullah Chisti.
Neurodivergence—also known as autistic spectrum—is now more frequently recognized, especially vis-à-vis neurotypicality. The latter is often viewed as the expected pattern, and those of that ilk wield much power in our society. Hafizullah views himself as neurodivergent and Henry as neurotypical. Henry agrees. Surprisingly or not, they have found interesting intersections, similarities, differences, and overlaps.Join these two friends and colleagues as they explore what these labels might really mean, not only abstractly and theoretically, but also on a personal and relationship level. Journey with them as they delve into the psychological and social ramifications their neurodivergence and neurotypicality have led them to experience and witness in their own lives, in their relationships, on their spiritual paths, and in organizations. What has helped them maneuver? What has hurt them? What can we learn and use to move us forward in being truly more inclusive and respectful of our gifts? Hafizullah Chisti is a murshid in the Sufi lineage of Hazrat Inayat Khan and got his start on “self-work” through Gestalt Therapy and deep bodywork—leading him, in-turn, to some years of Buddhist practice, and then to the “embodied” path of the Sufis.
Hafizullah has a special interest in the interface between psychology and spiritual practice, and is currently enrolled in a three-year trauma-therapist training program in the Somatic Experiencing™ approach. He has also been challenged and gifted in life and on the spiritual path by his own neurodivergence, and is developing guidance for neurodivergent spiritual seekers and their neurotypical guides.
Listen to and share part two of our podcast panel discussion with Aude Chesnais, Henry Cretella, Tania Day-Magallon, Joel David Lesses, and Margot VanEtten.
Aude Chesnais, Ph.D., has encountered various spiritual traditions before finding her family on the Sufi path since 2017. She is a political ecologist and senior researcher for the Native Lands Advocacy Project, and has been working closely with native communities in the USA for the past 10 years on issues of land sovereignty and Traditional Ecological Knowledge, particularly in support of regenerative food-systems transitions. Aude’s work reflects strongly on her positionality as a white researcher working in Indigenous settings. Although her spiritual path has led her on the quest to understand oneness, Aude’s professional path and commitment to social justice constantly reminds her of the real social impacts of human distinctions on their lives. Reconciling these two coexisting realities is Aude’s lifetime quest.Aude received her MA in social and solidarity economics from Université de Haute-Alsace, France and her Ph.D. in sociology from Colorado State University, CO, USA.
Henry Cretella, M.D., is the host of Alchemical Dialogues and co-director of Amber Light International. He is a retired psychiatrist who received his medical degree from Vanderbilt University and his post-graduate training at the University of Rochester’s Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY. Henry was raised Roman Catholic and later began initial studies in Shamanism and Tibetan Buddhism, as well as in the martial arts before finding a home in the Sufi lineage of Inayat Khan. Henry no longer practices an exoteric religion, but teaches and guides others in a mystically oriented spirituality that incorporates the wisdom from many traditions and disciplines. For Henry, he believes that we are in an era calling for each of us to find and follow our own unique spiritual path. He also believes that we can connect with others and a power greater than ourselves, in order to further a positive expansion and evolution of human consciousness.
Tania Day-Magallon is an artist born in Mexico City and has collaborated in various art events and exhibits in Chicago, Mexico City, and Rochester, NY. She identifies as Muslim and is a Sufi practitioner. Tania started her art education at a young age, and she attended prominent art institutions in Mexico City. Tania’s art frequently uses symbolism and imagery emphasizing her own cultural identity and spiritual views. Tania became a member of the group formerly known as Women of Color in the Arts (WOC-Art) collaborative, where she curated an art activity and installation titled “Hands of Sorority”. Tania was also commissioned to design the cover of an issue for the academic journal Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies entitled Deterritorializing Frontiers.Tania earned her BA in Visual Arts from SUNY Empire State College, where she continued her studies in visual arts and psychology. She is currently earning her MS in Mental Health Counseling at SUNY Brockport. Tania believes that mental health, spirituality, and the arts are interwoven, and her current work is focused on exploring her roots, the Divine Feminine, and decolonial mental health approaches that include the creative process as a fundamental aspect of human wellbeing.
Joel David Lesses, who has lived in Nepal and Israel, is a poet expressing the landscape of our existence and capturing the mystical elements of our human being. He believes world religion, poetry, spirituality, and meditation encompass the makeup of our mind and life. The crux of his own journey is the manifestation of questions and answers to his own koan “What is the matter with me?” For Joel, this reveals the individual and universal aspects of our inherent and potent creativity. Everything is flux. Everything is poetry. His other passions include the intersection of poetry, spirituality, science, and phenomenology shared and disparate in the human experience, along with the transformative power of self-inquiry and introspection through contemplative and meditative practices. Joel holds the belief that the fundamental transformation of individuals and our collective comes through barreling inward, relentlessly asking the questions, "Who am I?" or "What am I" or "What is the matter with me?" The latter, for Joel personally, shattered a false sense of self.Joel was previously voted ‘Buffalo’s Best Poet’, founded WNY’s ‘Ground and Sky Poetry Series’, and created the podcast Unraveling Religion, which explores world mysticism and spirituality. His autobiography, Odyssey of Autumn’s Breath, is in-progress, and combines much of his life’s poetry with prose.
Margot VanEtten has a wide and varied background in spirituality and meditation, interfaith study and dialogue, martial arts, and ministerial practice including as a lay minister in the Catholic Church for many years. She holds a Master’s degree in Sacred Theology from St. Bernard’s Institute in Rochester, NY. From 2000 to 2019, Margot was the campus minister and director at the Brockport Newman Center where she was involved in ecumenical and interfaith work with the local ministers, student organizations including the Muslim Student Association and Campus Ambassadors, Interfaith campus ministry organizations across the Rochester area, and with the Diocese of Rochester’s Catholic/Orthodox Commission exploring relations with Eastern Orthodox churches.
After retiring, Margot began working as a pastoral minister for St. Monica’s Church and Emmanuel Church of the Deaf where she became the first woman who was not a nun to be named Pastoral Associate in the Diocese of Rochester. Prior, she was a sign language interpreter and liaison to the chaplain’s office at the Rochester Institute of Technology. This fits neatly into her early background: Margot grew up in a town on Long Island (Great Neck), which at the time, had a rather diverse religious and cultural population, and it was there that she grew to deeply appreciate the Jewish tradition, as well as her own Christian faith.
Listen to and share part one of our podcast panel discussion with Aude Chesnais, Henry Cretella, Tania Day-Magallon, Joel David Lesses, and Margot VanEtten.
Spirituality and religion are not the same, but this can be confusing for many. Westerners, in growing numbers, identify as “spiritual, but not religious.” Likewise, there are many who list their religious affiliation as “other.” Atheism and agnosticism are growing, often touting the benefits of community without the perceived negatives that religion and spirituality add—or do not. What are the implications of spirituality, of religion, or neither?
Join this panel discussion with five practitioners who are either involved or have been with both spirituality and religion. Listen as they explore their views and experiences.
Aude Chesnais, Ph.D., has encountered various spiritual traditions before finding her family on the Sufi path since 2017. She is a political ecologist and senior researcher for the Native Lands Advocacy Project, and has been working closely with native communities in the USA for the past 10 years on issues of land sovereignty and Traditional Ecological Knowledge, particularly in support of regenerative food-systems transitions. Aude’s work reflects strongly on her positionality as a white researcher working in Indigenous settings. Although her spiritual path has led her on the quest to understand oneness, Aude’s professional path and commitment to social justice constantly reminds her of the real social impacts of human distinctions on their lives. Reconciling these two coexisting realities is Aude’s lifetime quest.
Aude received her MA in social and solidarity economics from Université de Haute-Alsace, France and her Ph.D. in sociology from Colorado State University, CO, USA.
Henry Cretella, M.D., is the host of Alchemical Dialogues and co-director of Amber Light International. He is a retired psychiatrist who received his medical degree from Vanderbilt University and his post-graduate training at the University of Rochester’s Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY. Henry was raised Roman Catholic and later began initial studies in Shamanism and Tibetan Buddhism, as well as in the martial arts before finding a home in the Sufi lineage of Inayat Khan. Henry no longer practices an exoteric religion, but teaches and guides others in a mystically oriented spirituality that incorporates the wisdom from many traditions and disciplines. For Henry, he believes that we are in an era calling for each of us to find and follow our own unique spiritual path. He also believes that we can connect with others and a power greater than ourselves, in order to further a positive expansion and evolution of human consciousness.
Tania Day-Magallon is an artist born in Mexico City and has collaborated in various art events and exhibits in Chicago, Mexico City, and Rochester, NY. She identifies as Muslim and is a Sufi practitioner. Tania started her art education at a young age, and she attended prominent art institutions in Mexico City. Tania’s art frequently uses symbolism and imagery emphasizing her own cultural identity and spiritual views. Tania became a member of the group formerly known as Women of Color in the Arts (WOC-Art) collaborative, where she curated an art activity and installation titled “Hands of Sorority”. Tania was also commissioned to design the cover of an issue for the academic journal Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies entitled Deterritorializing Frontiers.
Tania earned her BA in Visual Arts from SUNY Empire State College, where she continued her studies in visual arts and psychology. She is currently earning her MS in Mental Health Counseling at SUNY Brockport. Tania believes that mental health, spirituality, and the arts are interwoven, and her current work is focused on exploring her roots, the Divine Feminine, and decolonial mental health approaches that include the creative process as a fundamental aspect of human wellbeing.
Joel David Lesses, who has lived in Nepal and Israel, is a poet expressing the landscape of our existence and capturing the mystical elements of our human being. He believes world religion, poetry, spirituality, and meditation encompass the makeup of our mind and life. The crux of his own journey is the manifestation of questions and answers to his own koan “What is the matter with me?” For Joel, this reveals the individual and universal aspects of our inherent and potent creativity. Everything is flux. Everything is poetry. His other passions include the intersection of poetry, spirituality, science, and phenomenology shared and disparate in the human experience, along with the transformative power of self-inquiry and introspection through contemplative and meditative practices. Joel holds the belief that the fundamental transformation of individuals and our collective comes through barreling inward, relentlessly asking the questions, "Who am I?" or "What am I" or "What is the matter with me?" The latter, for Joel personally, shattered a false sense of self.
Joel was previously voted ‘Buffalo’s Best Poet’, founded WNY’s ‘Ground and Sky Poetry Series’, and created the podcast Unraveling Religion, which explores world mysticism and spirituality. His autobiography, Odyssey of Autumn’s Breath, is in-progress, and combines much of his life’s poetry with prose.
Margot VanEtten has a wide and varied background in spirituality and meditation, interfaith study and dialogue, martial arts, and ministerial practice including as a lay minister in the Catholic Church for many years. She holds a Master’s degree in Sacred Theology from St. Bernard’s Institute in Rochester, NY. From 2000 to 2019, Margot was the campus minister and director at the Brockport Newman Center where she was involved in ecumenical and interfaith work with the local ministers, student organizations including the Muslim Student Association and Campus Ambassadors, Interfaith campus ministry organizations across the Rochester area, and with the Diocese of Rochester’s Catholic/Orthodox Commission exploring relations with Eastern Orthodox churches.
After retiring, Margot began working as a pastoral minister for St. Monica’s Church and Emmanuel Church of the Deaf where she became the first woman who was not a nun to be named Pastoral Associate in the Diocese of Rochester. Prior, she was a sign language interpreter and liaison to the chaplain’s office at the Rochester Institute of Technology. This fits neatly into her early background: Margot grew up in a town on Long Island (Great Neck), which at the time, had a rather diverse religious and cultural population, and it was there that she grew to deeply appreciate the Jewish tradition, as well as her own Christian faith.
Listen to and share our latest podcast with Alice McDowell, Ph.D. Note: Please be aware that because of sound latency and technical issues on Zoom, the spoken quality of this podcast is not as precise on the recording as it was in person.
There is a thread of wisdom that flows through many traditions. That thread orients us toward our true nature, empowering us to be our true selves rather than personas. This true self is much larger than we ordinarily experience ourselves to be. It is full of light and love; it is collaborative and empowering; it is magnetic and inclusive.
Alice McDowell has devoted her life to orienting herself and others toward this light. She gives us a glimpse of her journey and recommendations in her latest book, Dance of Light: Christian, Sufi and Zen wisdom for today’s spiritual seeker, a wonderful introduction to exploring the perennial philosophy and message of love, harmony, and beauty.
In our podcast, we will explore more of Alice’s background and journey as well as delve into some of the essential tasks in which all spiritual seekers engage as they travel their own unique paths.
Alice McDowell, Ph.D., is an author, spiritual director, workshop leader, retreat guide, and founder of the Hidden Treasure Program—a three-year training in personal growth. She co-founded Light on the Hill Retreat Center in Van Etten, NY in 1991 where she continues to guide people on their spiritual journeys. Alice is author of Dance of Light: Christian, Sufi and Zen Wisdom for Today’s Spiritual Seeker and Hidden Treasure: How to Break Free of Five Patterns that Hide Your True Self. As a professor of religious studies at Ithaca College for 18 years, Alice taught courses in mysticism, world religions, depth psychology, and women’s studies, and received the Dana Fellow for Excellence in College Teaching. Alice has a doctorate in theology from Fordham University, and has trained with Sufi and Buddhist teachers, Christian contemplatives, and transpersonal psychologists.
In Alice’s new book, Dance of Light, she writes about spiritual life as a captivating dance. Sometimes, the steps are easy to follow; other times, they become confusing or lost from view. In a clear and compelling voice, Alice guides the reader through the steps of the dance, which include feeling lost, finding the way, awakening, purification and detachment, illumination, dark night of the soul, and unitary consciousness. This is a wonderful resource for beginners or more advanced seekers and helps us all stay true to our own unique paths.
For more information about Alice’s work, please visit: www.alicemcdowellauthor.com
Listen to and share our latest podcast with Amir Peter O’Loughlin. We are all likely to experience many losses through death before we ourselves transition, some of them very close to home, or in our own home. Psychology teaches us that there are many ways to grieve and many stages to navigate; otherwise, we can become mired in the process. All religions and spiritual paths conceptualize death, especially our own, and these concepts sometimes offer comfort when others die as well. Yet, when a loved one passes, be it a partner, parent, child, or a most cherished friend, the “rubber meets the road.” We must go on living and experiencing, even when our world is turned upside down. We need to make choices that help the heart break open, not break down.
Have our spiritual beliefs and practices helped or blocked our grief process? Going forward, does our grief affect the spiritual foundation on which we have built and lived our lives? Can we stop blaming the grief-stricken for not “following the program?” How is our view of our own death—and life! —affected? Is there a way to go beyond platitudes and non-satisfying rituals? If so, how? What, if anything, needs to change?
We invite you to explore these and other reflections in a deeply personal session with friend and spiritual seeker Amir Peter O’Loughlin.
Amir Peter O’Loughlin has been one of Vancouver’s foremost ambassadors of interspiritual music for over 40 years. A Psychotherapist and musician by profession, he has followed and taught the Sufi path in the lineage of Hazrat Inayat Khan since 1980.
Along the way, Amir founded the interfaith Universal Gospel Choir, led Universal Kirtan, and produced two highly acclaimed albums of his own contemporary Sufi music (“Merhaba” and his collection of musical settings of Rumi poetry “Opener of Wings” with The Keemia Ensemble). Amir is currently working on recording a collection of songs using the poetry of Hazrat Inayat Khan, teaching Sufi philosophy and practice, and finishing a book of poetry and photography about the passing of his beloved mate, Chloe Majida O’Loughlin, in 2017.
For more information about Amir’s music, please visit: http://inayativancouver.org/sufi-music/
Listen to and share our latest podcast with Sura Charlier.
Note: Please be aware that because of sound latency and technical issues on Zoom, the spoken quality of this podcast is not as precise on the recording as it was in person.
Sura Charlier senses we are in a time of awakening to our own inner wisdom and power. We need not do this alone. In fact, we are meant to support each other. Often, mentors or spiritual guides assist us along the way. These guides are not intended to be permanent authority figures whom we follow blindly for all time. Rather, they are friends on the path with whom we choose to learn from, travel, and grow. Sura shares some of her experiences, both as a guide, and being guided. We will learn how music tunes us to the infinite as she plays some of her creations live during the podcast. Likewise, we will share in her experiences of hope, faith, confidence, collaboration, and courage. Sura views these experiences as essential ingredients for our development, along with a kind of self-examination that honors, but does not require becoming attached to, and reliving our painful stories ad-infinitum. Respecting these qualities is especially important as our feminine nature is now rising and becoming a major source of inspiration and guidance. Together, as we grow our individual capacities with wisdom and power, we will harmonize and create a more beautiful and sustainable world.
Sura Charlier is the Founder/Director of the Kalyan Center (kalyancenter.org), a Sufi Universalist center in Bradenton, Florida. The center is dedicated toward the awakening of humanity to the divinity of the soul. She serves as a spiritual guide, minister of the Universal Worship Service, and offers retreats and seminars for personal and spiritual growth (sacredhealingsacredretreat.com).
Sura is also an accomplished professional composer and musician who seeks to use music as a means of collective healing, connection, inspiration, and embodied joy. Sura dances, writes, and is an advocate for living in harmony. She supports living in harmony with one another, and all our relations, sustainably with this beautiful wondrous planet Earth.
Listen to and share our latest podcast with Rudy Rivera.
We all have wounds. We all have wounded others. Accompanying these wounds are tremendous gifts. Rudy Rivera has found that when we persevere, work on healing ourselves, finding those gifts, and then turning to serve others in our own way, we contribute to a still greater re-balancing and wholeness than we at first thought possible. That’s the journey Rudy has lived and shared with us.
Rudy was challenged with what most of us would call obstacles. To him, they were fuel for a greater purpose that he at first could not see. Mentors were pivotal in Rudy’s life and remain so today. He honors them through his work at the Father Tracy Center in Rochester, NY. In these days of over-specialization, Rudy refuses to be saddled with a constricted mission. He aims to provide total service and attention to the betterment of the human condition through outreach in his designated sphere of influence. Hear how Rudy has found his purpose, grown through his challenges, and has been inspired and now inspires others—including us.
Rodolfo (Rudy) Rivera is the CEO of the Father Tracy Advocacy Center, which he founded in 2017. Rudy has been in public service all of his life, having worked as a youth advocate, HIV outreach worker, community program analyst, and more. Throughout his career, Rudy has worked to address the human condition by dealing with the entire needs of a person, rather than simply looking at one issue. In Rudy’s role as CEO, he continues this approach and sees himself as a researcher, investigator, teacher, and advocate for the improvement of the quality of life of others.
For more information or to make a donation, please visit: https://www.fathertracycenter.org/
Listen to and share our latest podcast with Reverend Lewis Stewart.
Henry's partner Kathleen connected him with Rev. Stewart about doing an interview for our podcast. Henry thought they would spend a half-hour or so getting to know each other and sketching out a topic. Two hours later, Henry had made a new friend who felt like an old friend. We expect that the same will happen to you.
During their conversation, Henry suggested to Rev. Stewart that he discuss his work as a community activist. Rev. Stewart gently corrected Henry and said that he considers himself a “Liberationist.” Then, as their discussion deepened, we gained greater insight into what he meant. Hear how Rev. Stewart was inspired by the people he met and his enormous interests, his spiritual education and path, the causes and challenges he confronted, and his commitment to work for the liberation of all, especially the oppressed and disadvantaged. The goal of Alchemical Dialogues is to allow something new to emerge from a conversation. It has so far, it did with Rev. Stewart and Henry, and we are confident that this podcast will inspire and liberate you as well.
Reverend Lewis W. Stewart, Jr. was born in Newburgh, New York, earned an AAS degree from Orange County Community College, a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science and History from SUNY Brockport, and a Master of Divinity Degree from Colgate Rochester/Bexley Hall/Crozer Theological Seminary. He then studied at Syracuse University School of Social Work. Rev. Stewart was ordained as an Elder in the Churches of God in Christ in June 1972 in New York City, and as a Baptist Minister. He served as an Associate Minister at Second Baptist Church in Mumford, New York under the leadership of Dr. Charles Thurman, and at Christian Friendship Missionary Baptist Church under the leadership of Dr. John S. Walker. Rev. Stewart is presently the Pastor of Christian Community Church.
Rev. Stewart has been active in community and social initiatives throughout his career. His focus includes racial injustice and inequality, peace, and social justice. Rev. Stewart has applied various skills such as writing, organizing, serving as a prison chaplain, advocating and developing programs for police accountability and community relations, exploring methods to decrease gun violence, running for political office, and more. In August 2013, Rev. Stewart and a group of pastors co-founded and organized the United Christian Leadership Ministry of Western, New York, Inc. (UCLM). Rev. Stewart was elected the organization’s president, a position he holds to this day.
Throughout his life, Rev. Stewart has been a man of great faith who does not designate himself as a “community activist,” but rather a “Liberationist.” He believes in the prophetic calling for social justice. Rev. Stewart’s commitment is to the systemic transformation of the community and nation, and the eradication of social, economic, and racial inequities. In effect, he is a disciple of Jesus the Liberator.
Rev. Stewart has lived a full life! As a young man, he wrestled, boxed, and was a former student of both Taekwondo and Jeet Kune Do, which he studied for several years. He is an avid reader in history, biography, literature, philosophy, theology, archaeology, astronomy, space exploration, science fiction, and fantasy. Rev. Stewart writes both fiction and non-fiction. He is an enthusiastic board and computer gamer, studies dreams, and practices meditation. His greatest enjoyment is studying and reflecting on the sacred word of God as manifested in the Bible and regards the scriptures as his life’s map.
Rev. Stewart served as a member of the Mayor’s Judicial Screening Committee and is presently a board member of the Greater Rochester Community of Churches, Co-Chair of the Rochester Coalition for Police Reform, current President of UCLM, and has strong support from his wife, family, and friends. He is also a cancer survivor despite enormous odds.
Henry is very proud to welcome Tania Day-Magallon for a compelling discussion on art and spirituality.
Artists are agents of personal and social change. On a personal level, Tania explains that art is an ancient, primal way of expressing inner feelings without words. As artists surrender to their craft, their intuition develops, and perhaps without knowing it, they begin to see “beyond” the personal. Their art then becomes a mystical expression for society as a whole of something deeply felt in the culture, but often hidden from awareness.
Tania Day-Magallon’s art is a sharing of her spiritual journey, founded on re-connecting with the divine feminine and integrating this into an overly patriarchal social structure. When Tania explored her cultural and family heritage, she discovered that most of her influence came from a lineage of female ancestors who were healers and community leaders. She emigrated from Mexico and recently took citizenship in the United States. This experience of being a migrant sensitized her even more to the trauma of disconnection and the pain of neo-colonialism. She attributes her perseverance, including surviving patriarchal art teachers and schools without losing her center, to “stubbornness”; but as you will hear, this is really a deep passion and commitment to truth.
We invite you to hear Tania speak about her journey and her art. A selection of her work is available on amberlightinternational.org. In the Activities menu, go to Friends of Amber Light (NEW)→Tania Day-Magallon. This selection of Tania’s art was discussed during the podcast recording.
Tania Day-Magallon was born in Mexico City and has collaborated in various art events and exhibits in Chicago, Mexico City, and Rochester, NY. She has exhibited her work at Casa Hispana in Nazareth College, the Rochester City Hall, the Multi-Use Community Cultural Center (MuCCC), and at other venues. Tania has collaborated in projects at the Rochester Contemporary Art Center (RoCo) and at the Rochester Museum and Science Center (RMSC) where she currently has an installation made for the Changemakers exhibition. Tania started her art education at a young age, learning portrait drawing at a private artist studio. She attended prominent art institutions in Mexico City, such as the San Carlos Academy and the National Institute of Fine Arts, a renowned university where Frida Kahlo taught for several years, contributing to a legacy in the style Tania employs. Tania has embraced this artistic influence manifested in the symbolism and imagery of her paintings, emphasizing her own cultural identity and spiritual views. Tania has participated in collaboratives, presentations, documentaries, and performances, and has given art workshops at different venues. In addition, Tania is also passionate about body art including henna design and tattoos; she owned a tattoo parlor in the city of Chicago which has influenced and enriched her artistic career. Tania became a member of the group formerly known as Women of Color in the Arts (WOC-Art) collaborative, where she curated an art activity and installation titled “Hands of Sorority”. She is a member of a Chicago-based art collective, Pintoras Mexicanas (Mexican Women Painters) and Artist Breakfast Group in Rochester. She currently has her work exhibited at the Mexico City Cultural Center, formerly the Presidential House, as part of a project that represents overlooked women that changed the history of Mexico. Tania has a public art piece displayed on a Rochester building designed for a collaborative project called "Underpin and Overcoat" presented by RoCo; Tania’s design for this project can be seen on 17 East Main St. She has also collaborated in a project called “The Warp & Weft”, a multilingual archive of stories told by different artists, curated by Mara Ahmed, and exhibited via RoCo. Tania’s story for this project is entitled Language is my Land, my Identity, and can be read and heard at https://www.maraahmedstudio.com/2021/03/06/el-lenguaje-es-mi-tierra-mi-identidad-por-tania-day-magallon-2/. In addition, Tania was commissioned to design the cover of an issue for the academic journal Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies entitled Deterritorializing Frontiers.
Tania earned her BA in Visual Arts from SUNY Empire State College, where she continued her studies in visual arts and psychology. She is currently earning her MS in Mental Health Counseling at SUNY Brockport. Tania believes that mental health, spirituality, and the arts are interwoven, and her current work is focused on exploring her roots, the Divine Feminine, and decolonial mental health approaches that include the creative process as a fundamental aspect of human wellbeing.
Visit Tania Day-Magallon online! Website: https://daymagallonart.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daymagallonart/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/magallonday
Henry is very proud to welcome Dr. John Erhart for an enlivening discussion on the Montessori Intervention Program.
Dr. Maria Montessori was a force with which to reckon. Trained as a physician in the 1890s, a first for a woman of her culture at that time, she quickly realized that the children to whom she was assigned and who were designated as untreatable and mentally deficient were actually capable of accomplishment, sometimes above average. Dr. Montessori devised a method that brought them out of their shell to which they had withdrawn because of their general treatment, and then devoted her life to education. Over the decades, Dr. Montessori's approach has found its way into other educational settings and is seen as a basis for harmony and peace among people and nations.
John Erhart, M.D is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who collaborated and developed the Montessori Intervention Program (MIP) with Monica Sullivan-Smith, MS Ed, a Montessori teacher. The program has received recognition by New York State as a model program serving children with emotional and developmental disabilities. For more information, please visit: https://montessoriinterventions.org/
Honoring Traditions and 'The Deep River Flow' of Life, Walking an Autumn Path, Making It One's Own: A Talk with Henry Cretella, M.D on Spiritual Development
Today, we are showcasing the talents of Joel Lesses, host of the religious and spiritual podcast Unraveling Religion.
In this walk and spontaneous talk through a local neighborhood and nearby meadow in Rochester NY, Henry and Joel discuss Henry’s development in spirituality, syncretism, Indigenous teachings, Shamanism, forces in nature, Tibetan Buddhism, and Sufism. While walking through the rustling leaves, Henry and Joel explore synchronicities, Henry’s guides and teachers, various lessons, and how he opened up to deepen his human experience beyond a successful career as a psychiatrist. Henry and Joel also discuss the development of Amber Light International, the Alchemical Dialogues podcast, and his various classes. The areas of manifestation through the study of desire, wish and will, and connecting to community through the universal practices found in Sufism, including life’s teachings and lessons, are very personal to Henry. As a lifelong student of humanism and seeking the freedom of many traditions and paths that spirituality can offer, Henry and Joel explore the universal aspects of the different paths through our shared human experience.
Unraveling Religion’s mystical and practical discussions are explorations of spirituality and its relation to religion and psychology, with questions always. Beyond a specific religion or spiritual practice; what do we share, what do we have in common? These talks are a work in progress evolving our rich inner life, including reflections on religious texts, poems, art, and what is common in our human experience enhancing understanding of our relationships: with ourselves, with one another, and with the world we share. You can find Unraveling Religion on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unraveling-religion/id1510379967
Joel David Lesses’ background is in psychology and counseling with other passions including the intersection of poetry, spirituality, science and phenomenology shared and disparate in the human experience, and transformative power of self-inquiry and introspection through contemplative and meditative practices. Joel was nominated by Artvoice in 2013 and 2014 as Buffalo’s Best Poet and won the honor in 2014. He has been published in various magazines and publications, founded Ground and Sky Poetry Series, and facilitated numerous poetry workshops.
Henry welcomes back Joel Lesses for a thought provoking discussion on mysticism and poetry.
The arts are instrumental in creating change within ourselves and in the world. This relationship of the inner and outer reflects the unity of mystical experiences, defined as those that connect us and the world with a power greater than our individual and collective selves; however we may wish to call it. Joel is particularly immersed in poetry, and for him, this art form is an expression of humanity’s mystical longing. He also explores other avenues of change through his podcasts on Unraveling Religion, his commitment to revisioning our conception of mental health issues and treatment, his spiritual practices, and reflecting on his own personal journey. Join us and dive into the change that we all long to embody.
Joel David Lesses crafts poems about the landscape of our mind and life, capturing the mystical and spiritual elements of being human. He explores our humanness and resilience in the face of true suffering, overcoming these with the transformative power of self-inquiry, introspection, contemplative, and meditative practices. Joel grounds our human experience and spiritual realms in poetry. He has lived in Nepal and Israel, and now resides in Western New York. Joel was previously voted 'Buffalo’s Best Poet', founded WNY's 'Ground and Sky Poetry Series', and created the podcast Unraveling Religion, which explores world mysticism and spirituality. His autobiography, Odyssey of Autumn’s Breath, is in-progress, and combines much of his life’s poetry with prose.
You can find Unraveling Religion on Apple Podcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unraveling-religion/id1510379967
Henry welcomes back Mahdiah Esther Jacobs-Kahn for a wide-ranging discussion on music and sound.
Note: Please be aware that because of sound latency issues on Zoom, the sound exercise with the syllable "ah" is not as precise on the recording as it is in person.
Music and sound therapy have become a part of our medical healing modalities in recent years. They have been integral to indigenous and spiritual healing for millennia. There is something in music and sound that activates subtle centers that open people to the essential states in their own bodies that heal. In the teaching of the Sufi Master Hazrat Inayat Khan, he says that the purpose of a Healing activity is to Awaken Humanity to the power of the Divinity to heal. Ancient wisdom has always used sound as a way to heal our bodies, hearts, and souls. Pythagoras saw us as living in a singing universe and Inayat Khan saw us as musical instruments that are healthy when we are tuned to the vibration that Pythagoras called the symphony of the spheres.
Mahdiah Esther Jacobs-Kahn, LCSW is a senior teacher, shafiyat, and retreat guide in the universal Sufi lineage of Hazrat Inayat Khan. She is an experienced therapist and a teacher of the Diamond Logos work.
Mahdiah has worked with sound from a variety of perspectives and holds a certificate in Sound Healing from the California Institute of Integral Studies. She does Healing with tuning forks. Mahdiah has also studied voice and Indian music with Karuna Mayee, played the harp, and gone deeply into the practices and teachings on sound from Hazrat Inayat Khan and Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan. She spends much of her time tuning her body, heart, and soul.
Listen to Henry’s insightful and thought-provoking conversation with Lee Anne Byrne, a psychotherapist.
Lee Anne firmly believes that uniqueness is natural and mindfully created within each one of us by something bigger. Her spiritual journey began as a child when she would walk to church while the rest of the family slept. In her thirties, her spiritual explorations expanded in diverse directions. Now, she considers herself a freelance spiritual pilgrim. This life course, along with her professional training and experiences, solidified her worldview. Recognizing, developing, and cherishing our own natural uniqueness—OUR Natural SELF—is central to happiness, self-acceptance, and a sense of purpose. From OUR Natural SELF, we also develop our deepest connection to the source that created our unduplicated self. We hope you will join us and explore how to bring this alive in each one of us!
Lee Anne Byrne, LCSW is a psychotherapist in private practice in Kalispell, Montana. She received her BA in Social Work from SUNY College Buffalo in 1981, and her Masters in Social Work from SUNY in 1986. She blends holistic and conventional approaches to support people in recovering from trauma and loss. Lee Anne’s work always centers on encouraging people toward a more authentic expression of their natural selves. While her professional journey began 40 years ago, her personal recovery journey had begun at age 13 when she promised herself that she would leave certain family patterns behind her. Lee Anne has continued to focus on her personal and spiritual growth ever since.
These professional, personal, and spiritual journeys informed the writing of Lee Anne’s yet to be published book: "Nourishing YOUR Natural SELF: Embodying Who You Naturally Are In a Life That is Truly Yours".
Check out Lee Anne’s inspiring and informative posts on: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/leeannebyrneauthor Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/leeannebyrne_/ Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/leeannebyrne_/
Listen to Henry’s lively and humorous conversation with Iqbal Jonathan Lewis, a meditation teacher and disciple of Murshid Samuel L Lewis.
Warning: This podcast contains occasional mild language that may be uncomfortable for some listeners.
It may sound like an oxymoron, but Jonathan Lewis, Iqbal, believes that we are already spiritually “awake”; we just don’t know it. This ignorance is a mask. We search elsewhere for what is inside each of us or don’t seek it at all. Our wanderings, when successful, bring us back to ourselves, sometimes with quite a surprise! Iqbal Jonathan Lewis is an original disciple of Murshid Samuel L Lewis, having lived with him at Sufi Khankah, the Mentorgarden in San Francisco. Sam was a Sufi Murshid, as well as a recognized Zen Master, and gained illumination at the Anandashram in India under the guidance of Swami Papa Ramdas. OM SRI RAM, JAI RAM, JAI, JAI RAM.
After Murshid Lewis died, Iqbal studied (hung out) with Joe Miller (Zen) for 20 years, and then Don Gilbert, the 77th Patriarch of the Choe Ge Jong Zen tradition.
So, what does all of the above have to do with Iqbal Lewis? Nothing and everything. The teacher’s illumination is not the student’s illumination, but it helps enormously to study with a realized teacher. Each of these streams offers incalculable wisdom and methods toward living and realization. If you keep looking through real keyholes, eventually you will see and wake up to the real goal of all life.
Listen to Henry's candid conversation with Dellenna Harper, a Licensed Master Social Worker and author.
Warning- This podcast contains sensitive material that may not be suitable for some listeners and listeners with children. Discretion is advised.
To say that Dellenna Harper’s life has been a roller coaster ride, is a massive understatement. As she so openly describes in her autobiographical work, God’s Teardrop: My journey of healing from addiction and prostitution published in 2020, she barely survived from one day to the next until, in her words, she became “spiritually bankrupt.” Dellenna held on dearly to her values, but was not living them. When she finally bottomed out spiritually, she managed to find that hope and light others had seen in her. From then on, the roller coaster became more like a bullet train, not without its curves, but with a clear direction led by her heart.
Dellenna Harper is a Licensed Master Social Worker whose passion is advocating for and working with formerly incarcerated women who struggle with mental health, substance abuse, trauma, and other difficult issues. Her former lifestyle that included many of these struggles became the fuel for her healing work. Dellenna is currently Director of Hope Harbor and Harvest Hill Programs at the Salvation Army in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was previously the Director of Spiritus Christi Prison Outreach Jennifer House in Rochester, N.Y. where she had been a resident in 2006. Dellenna is a proud alumna of Monroe Community College, Nazareth College, and The Greater Rochester Collaborative of SUNY College at Brockport and Nazareth. She was one of the first graduates of the Addictions Counseling Program at MCC. Dellenna was also the recipient of the 2013 Jessica Shackelton Maclay Distinguished Alumni Award, presented by the Nazareth College Social Work Department and was also an honoree for the prestigious Rochester Women’s Network “W” Award.
God’s Teardrop: My journey of healing from addiction and prostitution is available from booksellers and in e-book formats.
Listen to Henry's enlightening conversation with Shahabuddin David Less, a meditation teacher and author.
It is now common to hear how quickly the world is changing and that we aspire to a “new normal.” Despite this, the reality is that we have been conditioned to see and reach for traditional goals. These goals and our conditioning do not serve the evolution required to embrace this revolutionary change in humanity. Without modifying our lens, we will not embody what is needed for the possibilities that lie ahead.
Shahabuddin David Less, author of Universal Meditations, has taught meditation across the globe for 45 years. He has brought his meditation expertise to directing Whole Heart at Whole Foods Markets, recording over 150 guided meditations to The Winter Feast for The Soul, founding and directing Rising Tide International, a nondenominational meditation and consciousness center in Sarasota, FL.
David promotes understanding instead of blame as a path to peace in Israel and Palestine via the Abrahamic Reunion, an interfaith peacemaking nonprofit he co-founded in 2004. He is currently Chair of the Board working with a team of Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Druze, and secular peacemakers.
In 2001, David founded Rising Tide International, a universal spiritual community in Sarasota, FL. He spends the year offering group and individual retreats, workshops, seminars, and classes on inner awakening in the US, UK, Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand, and Australia, in addition to spiritual pilgrimages and tours throughout the world.
For more information about David’s work or to make a donation: Rising Tide International https://risingtideinternational.org/ Abrahamic Reunion https://www.abrahamicreunion.org/
Listen to Henry's conversation with musicians Moksha Sommer and Jemal Wade Hines of the band HuDost, whose transformative music stirs the heart and lifts us into new states. Their journey is an inspiration to all of us to pursue our passion. It is often said that music is the spirituality of the future. The future is here.
HuDost has a folk quality yet is quite postmodern; the band offers new takes on ancient words and melodies, cross-cultural hybrid transcendental chill-out music with an edge.… This is not fluffy new-age music—it’s serious, complex fare with no aversion to addressing agony. Sommer’s vocal execution is precisely orchestrated, her voice-opening, hollow-toned vortexes piercing through the tough spots… a journey of music and spirit. — Chronogram Magazine
HuDost’s core musicians are Moksha Sommer from Montréal, and Jemal Wade Hines from Kentucky. Having toured the U.S., Canada, and Europe constantly since April 2006, HuDost has grown and expanded. In this time, they have grown as artists, as seekers, as a couple, and as a family. HuDost's music is a powerful expression of life's journey and discovery. In 2008, Moksha went through a painful process of brain surgery due to a tumor. The healing from this included re-learning language skills, losing and regaining proper sight, and experiencing seizures. This could have been staggering but instead served as learning that has fueled a potent desire to bring healing through sound. It is through music that the losses and gains, pains and triumphs, and excruciating beauty of life can be given a voice of empathy to the synonymous lives of all people. Both critics and fans have said time and again that the music of HuDost is this very expression. HuDost’s message comes from real experience, real emotion, and real concern for the world— from the birth of a child, to the healing of the body, to the healing of the planet, their words and music echo the human experience.
HuDost functions as a duo or as a band, including guest musicians of varying sensibilities and backgrounds, and often including dance in their shows. As a duo, their instrumentation includes vocals, harmonium (Indian Pump-Organ), NORD Keys, guitars, Dulcinet, percussion, and a slew of sonic ambient effects. Their music is a rich, eclectic blending of pop and rock with traditional Sufi music, Bulgarian, Croatian, Macedonian and Balkan folk music, Farsi, Turkish, Arabic, and folk. Their sound crosses all borders and barriers, taking the listener on a journey they will never forget.
Since 2015, HuDost have also been highly engaged activists, doing advocacy work as KY Congressional District Representatives for ONE, a non-profit organization working to end extreme poverty and, specifically, the sexism of poverty.
Visit HuDost online! Website: www.hudost.com (support the pre-sale campaign for their new album!) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/HuDost/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/_hudost Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hudost/
There is a lot of conversation about spiritual transformation, but what is it really? This podcast explores what actually changes when people pursue a spiritual path and how that change manifests in the world. It has been described in many ways, but what actually changes is how we see ourselves, how we view the world, and how others see us.
Mahdiah Esther Jacobs-Kahn, LCSW is a teacher of Universal Sufism in the lineage of Hazrat Inayat Khan. She is also a teacher of the Diamond Logos work founded by Faisal Muqaddam. She is a graduate of Hunter College and of the New York University Graduate School of Social work.
Mahdiah has explored issues of growth and transformation for over fifty years. She is an experienced therapist who holds a certificate in sound healing from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Her current focus is on Ancestral Wounding and Healing and how epigenetics may offer us new tools for transformation.
For Dr. Aude Chesnais, decolonization is more than restoring political and governmental independence to present and former colonies. We must decolonize across all areas of our lives, and to do this one first must confront the distinctions and differences our present predominantly white, western, patriarchal worldview imposes on ourselves — on how we perceive, think, relate, and act. True decolonization is rooted in a deep respect for both our uniqueness and our interconnectedness. In actuality, its foundation is spiritual. We must fearlessly deconstruct ourselves and how we have been colonized from independent beings with an easy connection to each other, nature and the cosmos into rigid belief systems emphasizing separateness and dominance, forcing allegiance to other than what is natural. This solid spiritual base affects our perceptions and informs our actions, but it confronts systems of power which resist its emergence in so many dimensions: personal, cultural, political, religious, gender, sexuality, racial, and more.
Aude Chesnais, Ph.D. (Aziza Noor) has encountered various spiritual traditions before finding her family on the Sufi path since 2017. She also is a political ecologist and senior researcher for the Native Lands Advocacy Project, and has been working closely with native communities in the USA for the past 10 years on issues of land sovereignty and Traditional Ecological Knowledge, particularly in support of regenerative food-systems transitions. In her work, Aude has had to strongly reflect on her positionality as a white researcher working in indigenous settings. Although her spiritual path has led her on the quest to understand oneness, Aude's professional path and commitment to social justice constantly reminds her of the real social impacts of human distinctions on their lives. Reconciling these two coexisting realities is her lifetime quest.
Dr. Chesnais received her MA in social and solidarity economics from Université de Haute-Alsace, France and her Ph.D. in sociology from Colorado State University, CO, USA.
For more information about Dr. Chesnais's work or to make a donation: https://nativeland.info/ https://native-land.ca/
Henry Cretella continues his discussion with Sensei Margot VanEtten.
In our last conversation with Henry and Margot, some questions were asked by our participants about the nature of the sword. Here is a deeper dive into that discussion, along with the relationship between a practitioner and her sword.
Henry Cretella, M.D. talks with Sensei Margot VanEtten about women in martial arts and spirituality. Martial arts is a spiritual discipline. Its focus on awareness, being in the moment, and mastery of the body and mind lead to a greater freedom, especially from fear. When practiced appropriately, this naturally encourages non-violence. What is less recognized is how it opens one to a power greater than oneself. Women and feminine energy play a pivotal role in making all of this immanent, real in the present moment in one’s body, mind and heart. As the martial arts have played a role in increasing women’s physical and mental confidence, they also have allowed a greater freedom for women to choose their social roles rather than accepting only what is expected. In turn, their involvement has increasingly allowed for what mystics call “the divine presence” to become felt and realized in our very being, right now. As we learn to reconnect to our natural world and our natural selves – including our bodies – the energy of the feminine plays a pivotal and increasingly important role.
Margot VanEtten has a wide and varied background in spirituality and meditation, interfaith study and dialogue, martial arts, and ministerial practice. She holds several black belts in related forms of Karate-do and Japanese sword arts. Margot has studied and taught martial arts for more than 37 years at Harp Karate/the Martial Arts Center of Rochester, as well as developing and teaching women’s self-defense classes. Her integrative interests lead her to teach an Inner Development class at Harp Karate for many years, further developing her expertise in the mind-body-spirit connection within the martial arts and in the rest of life.
Henry Cretella, M.D. talks with Donald Londorf, M.D. Lac about multidimensional healing. Don views healing on a continuum. The different healing modalities at our disposal are not competitive with each other. They create a landscape or map which allows us to explore the many dimensions of health. This multidimensionality is the hallmark of being human.
Dr. Londorf graduated from McGill University medical school with the Campbell-Howard prize in clinical medicine. After his residency in emergency medicine at Emory University and a fellowship in emergency medicine at McGill University, he practiced and taught this specialty at University Medical Centers until 1996 when he opened his own Chinese medicine practice.
Dr. Londorf received his acupuncture and Chinese medicine training from Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China. He is certified as a diplomate in acupuncture from the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM). Dr. Londorf studied with Grand Master Tzu Kuo Shih and became a certified qigong therapist and second level qigong Master. He has also trained in Peruvian Andean shamanic medicine, and studied and practiced meditation since the age of 12.
Dr. Londorf practices at the Inner Sage Healing Arts Center in Pittsford, NY. Visit his website: https://innersagedoctor.com