The Magnolia Tree

Deep in the American South of the 1950s, my grandmother’s backyard was a wild, unplanned garden and home to many trees that I loved. Pecan trees, chinaberry trees, mimosa, black walnut, giant oaks. Then there were the crepe myrtles that bloomed in late summer at the same time as the spider lilies and canna lilies. Wisteria, fig trees and pomegranate bushes inhabited my world. For me as a child, these were fascinating beings full of magic and mystery. There was an old wisteria vine that grew all around and up in the limbs of one of the chinaberry trees, which became one of my favorite spots. I could spend hours playing there.

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Interview with The Mystical Positivist podcast

The Mystical Positivist is a podcast hosted by Stuart Goodnick and Robert Schmidt and dedicated to the application of reason in the pursuit of spiritual practice and development. It consists of commentary, book reviews, interviews, and discussion in and around the local and larger spiritual community. The thesis of the show is that rationality is in no way the antithesis of deep mystical experience, in fact, we assert that it is a necessary ally.

The Mystical Positivist: The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #406 - 03DEC22

This week on the show we feature a pre-recorded conversation with Mary Angelon Young about her recent book, The Art of Contemplation, published in 2021 by HOHM Press. In this compassionate and resourceful book, Angelon gently guides the reader into a larger awareness, reminding us of simple ways to stay grounded in the present moment and connect with what is real in an increasingly unreal human world. With personal narrative, meditative reflections and invitations to creative expression, she draws us into the garden of her inner world. Here we witness how it is possible to transform the suffering we experience in ourselves and others into a nourishment that feeds our essential being.

With a background in Jungian studies and counselling, and decades of life within a contemplative community, Mary Angelon Young draws from a wide range of faith traditions as well as from transpersonal, psychosomatic and archetypal psychologies. She fearlessly engages both the soul and the shadow elements of our human nature, inviting us to confidently welcome the potential for self-understanding contained without our dark moods, doubts and even our despair.


More information about Mary Angelon Young's work can be found at:

Mary Angelon Young's website: www.maryangelonyoung.com

The Art of Contemplation at HOHM Press: www.hohmpress.com

Maturing on the Spiritual Path

Many of us come to the spiritual path to be freed from our suffering, bringing with us a bag full of personal wounds or traumas, illusions, assumptions, and naïve expectations about the promise of transformation, enlightenment, and liberation. The call to surrender to a traditional path, or to a guru or teacher, and ultimately to the Divine, does not absolve the individual of responsibility …

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Michael Meade & John Densmore - How Your Unique Genius Can Help Heal Nature and Culture

Legendary storyteller, author and scholar of mythology, anthropology and psychology, Michael Meade will show why we desperately need to awaken the genius within each of us – not only to achieve personal fulfillment, but to have any hope of addressing our global crises, restore the natural world, and heal our culture. Accompanied by John Densmore, legendary drummer of The Doors, he will weave storytelling, performance, mythology and street savvy. Introduction by Nina Simons, Bioneers Co-Founder and President.

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The Magic of Glastonbury

Nine years ago I was traveling with a friend in the early autumn beauty of Somerset, England. The weather was spectacular as we made our way across the channel from France to London, and then by car into the pastoral beauty of what was once known as the Summer Country. We were intent on exploring an unusual hill and its sacred springs, a place known since antiquity as “the Tor” of mythical Avalon. These sacred sites exist today as part of the small town of Glastonbury …

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Dancing with the Unknown

As the world spins and slides from here to there, not knowing where we will land, every day is a dance with the unknown. In this year of the wrathful virus, we are given a hard nudge toward radical change. Everything is different now, in this vigil we keep. Now, after some weeks of social distancing, constant disinfecting, washing hands, and staying alone, in pairs, or within family systems, it has become a time of retreat. It’s a time when I experience in sharp, earthy, deep and poignant ways my common connection with humanity. It’s a time when we all have a great urgency to turn to sources of spiritual inspiration to cultivate faith, courage, and a steady heart.

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Awaken Me

It was a mild, late spring Sunday. We drove for about thirty minutes down dirt roads across the prairies above the long gash of rock canyon that houses the narrow, lush, and green (as the Spanish name says) Verde River. We had just slowed down to rattle across a rusty cattle guard when Thomas commented, “Did you see that pigeon? That’s weird…it didn’t fly away or even move when we drove through.” I thought nothing more of it, and we kept driving toward our destination.

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Hear the Wild Bird Sing

A few days ago I was out walking just before sunset when my attention was captured by the sweet, clarion songs of a solitary bird. This bird had a repertoire of mellifluous trills, chirrups and tweets that came forth in an aria of birdsong. I looked toward the horizon and saw that the purple mountains in the west were tipped with molten gold. Scanning for the lone bird, I located one small, ordinary grey mockingbird sitting at the top of a tall juniper tree, facing the setting sun and singing its heart out for the end of the day.

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The Lure of the Unknown

Despite the simply joys of sheltering in place, I do miss traveling—the momentum, the uncertainties, the inevitable breakdowns and breakthroughs, the unexpected encounters in the big, wide, beautiful world. Traveling gives me a certain edge that awakens my senses, jostles me into vigilance, brings fresh perspectives. When traveling I have to pay attention in ways that I can forget in the comforts and rhythms of home, where I might be more likely to just hum along in a zone.

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The Greatest Possible Good – Walpurgisnacht

My husband Thomas, who is German, was checking out the news from Europe on his cell phone on the night of April 30 when he turned to me and said, “The witches are jumping over the fire in Sweden!” There was a hint of “bravo!” in his voice, a stirring of the native psyche that piqued my curiosity.

“Why do they jump over the fire?” I asked.

“It’s Walpurgisnacht,” he answered, as if that explained everything.

Naturally, I began to pepper him with questions …

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Living with Dignity and Nobility

Global pandemic has brought about changes, and there are more to come. Some of those changes will be welcomed, and some will cause great suffering for many. And there is plenty of suffering already. The political climate brings daily shocks and outrages, as we slide toward more and more governmental control over daily life, greater isolation, a virtual terror of death. Many things about our situation are heart-rending. The looming economic disaster alone is an immense, far-reaching dark cloud that hovers over the ordinary people and families who work for a living. With the exception of the very rich and wealthy, many of us may all have to downsize before this is over.

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Sheltered in Place

So far I have not felt the life-threatening effects that many have endured in this time of COVID-19. No one I know has died or been infected. I have not lost my job. I am still eating organic veggies. The sky is a deep, stainless blue—the airplane trails are gone. It is quiet and peaceful where I live—just me, my husband, and a daily cast of birds, squirrels, rabbits, and chipmunks. I can still get in the car and go into town to the grocery store or for a doctor’s appointment if need be. I have vitamins, supplements, herbal teas and coffee at my beck and call. Living off grid, I can get Netflix movies in the mail if I want.

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