The Ultimate Orgasm

The Ultimate Orgasm

Let’s all orgasm as often as possible, shall we? 

We are all looking for the ultimate, phantasmic cum-ination of our desires. We’re all pushing and grasping to be happy. And we love when our bodies experience release. 

We awake every day and venture to bed every day fantasizing about reaching a place of not only comfort and peace but ultimate pleasure.

I knew that the pleasure I was enjoying at the time was limited, so I kept digging.

The more and more I delved into spiritual practices, I would have moments that blew my mind, but it felt like the carrot was always 10 feet in front of me. I knew there were other realms and experiences to be achieved, but I also knew that my desire to achieve these things opposed the path I was embracing.

At the time, I was often consciously leaving my body and engaging in myriad spiritual activities – whereby my spirit was engaging with reality in ways that were not textbook. Other Beings were contacting me, I saw aliens from other dimensions, and I had a ridiculous amount of light coming through my hands, which was helpful to some – and alarming to others. I was a diamond in the rough.

My level of electricity was quite alarming, and I was a bit wild. While it wasn’t a time of awareness and decency (I was clearly a work in progress), I was earnest in seeking the highest good and the most vibrant light.

I met Amma, The Hugging Saint, in a tiny room in Cambridge, MA, where I immediately fell to the floor in worship. Later, I opened her retreats with playful, spiritual lectures. I studied the teachings of Chogyam Trungpa and Osho. At the time, I was a children’s TV show host and traveling comedian, and for years felt a conflict within me around being in the world while knowing what it was like to be around Amma – there was nothing more illuminating. 

I was itchin’ to evolve but I had a ways to go-  from Oversexed Comedic Yogi to Bearer Of Light. 

Tantric Sex

I was fascinated by the idea of channeling my energy rather than depleting it. While it took me years to achieve, I was later able to channel my sexual energy upwards from the root chakra through to the crown and beyond – all with orgasms at each chakra and without ejaculating. I loved the energy tantric sex gave me. Without the release, my body vibrated and attracted great success – and over time, my third eye burst open.

It’s better than pizza. 

While the intuition and psychic abilities that emerge are quite wonderful, they pale in comparison to the sense of divinity one can achieve through the process of moving the kundalini upwards in the body.

Given the tingling from each mini energy burst (orgasm) in the chakras as the kundalini rises to the crown, it’s something I’ve continued and appreciated throughout my whole life.

Even so, for a long while, I was still identifying with the body, not the All That Is.

I know that sounds a bit lofty, but it’s quite real – and yes, achievable.

We are continually seeking pleasure – and that’s a good thing. 

By seeking pleasure, we seek The Divine – possibly a transconditional reality – whereby, whatever is happening in our lives, regardless of the circumstances, we become present to joy of spirit and body – or we embody bliss. We know this is possible because our essence, our Being, our electromagnetic sets of memory impressions, have experienced it before, either in other realms or other lives. Or in parallel! 

I’m not talking about what happens in college when we experiment with our pinkies and various holes – I’m referring to other-worldly experiences.

We might believe that our memory of divine bliss involves the human body, but it doesn’t.

It’s incredible how each of us can fool ourselves.

The False Tantra

Let’s get into the mechanics of tantras.

The Kama Sutra, written by Vatsyayana Mallanaga, is primarily concerned with kama, one of the four aims of traditional human life in Hindu philosophy. It deals with desire, love, relationships, and sexual intercourse. While it is not based in the non-dualistic principles found in the ancient Advaita Vedanta or the Buddhist Noble truths, for a time, it became a manual for dualistic, holistic, if not, hedonistic living.

Tantras are a genre of religious scriptures found in Hinduism and Buddhism covering a wide range of topics, including philosophy, rituals, prayers, yogas, and styles of worship. 

The confusion between the word “tantra” and “tantric sex” stems from a combination of cultural misinterpretations, oversimplifications, influencer hype and misdirection, and the sensationalization around a tiny insignificant sexual discourse found in the outskirts of the more sacred traditions. In short, people in the west twisted the concept of Tantras because we prefer sex over enlightenment.

The Real Tantra

“Tantric yoga” focuses specifically on yogic techniques for spiritual growth that have nothing to do with sex. These techniques move the Qi (Chi) or Kundalini upward to heal our spirits and illuminate our souls.

Some call the kundalini a “sexual energy” – which is misleading. It’s energy – that’s it. Too many “Tantric sex” phonies are our there trying to convince you that their sex addiction is sacred – and it’s not. 

People who become involved in “tantric sex” cum to believe that sex is the most important part of that technology – but that’s the farthest thing from the truth. 

The most important aspect is the Qi – the life force. Our furry, moist, and erect parts have little or nothing to do with the sacred nature or results of the Qi’s movement throughout our systems.

Tantric Yoga deals with the breath and spirit beyond what we might call “pleasure.” This is the REAL TANTRA.

Today’s Tantra Teachers

There are many “tantra” teachers out there professing the embodiment of divine bliss through sex, sharing only the glittering and ejaculatory aspects of these ancient teachings, thereby creating karma for themselves – and all the while misleading you.

Pleasure can be seen in the Sanskrit word Ananda (Joy), which has an embedded illusory emotion, and in the transcendent form of pleasure – bliss, found in the Sanskrit word Paramananda. This points to a divine fulfillment on the path to illumination and enlightenment. 

In this sense, tantra or sacred practices that do not require the body’s fulfillment can be seen as phenomenal ways to embody pure, unrelenting paramananda. 

The sexual juices that flow from our bodies and the elation that results from our achievement of desires are tied to our bodies, not our spirits. After all, our desires are temporary and can only invite roller coasters of suffering.

Let’s Do Tantric Sex!

Tantric Sex occurs through mutual manual masturbation or consensual penetration. 

During the tantric act of intercourse (all sexual activity with a partner is intercourse – the interplay between two sets of energies), we use breath to move the kundalini up from the root chakra to the other chakras. 

Amid the intercourse, we imagine a specific colored light at each energy point, and through breath, we achieve not an externally manifested ejaculation, but a pleasurable energy release through each chakra. 

This, for a moment, can feel orgasmic – and it is. 

It’s a form of pleasure that feels ultimate and divine for a brief burst of time – but only because we tie our divine pleasure to the body, which is unnecessary. Pure Tantra does not require enmeshment with another soul – or their furry parts.

In fact, it’s far more illuminating if you can learn to move your kundalini up and down your spine through yoga and breath. In this way, you experience a less codependent healing and release in your chakras – without being bound to another. 

Many of today’s tantra teachers are ejaculating like race horses, and encouraging the same – as if that’s the whole point. It’s not.

Yes, tantra – sacred practices – are quite wonderful, but most tantric sex teachings fail to have integrity. They also require a lot of time – and who has that kinda time?  

Tantric sex has become yet another device that deters you from knowing who you are – like a dildo, rubber vagina, sex doll, or other mechanical and illusory devices used for personal pleasure. 

These things only add to the cycle of Samsara – and are often more confusing, debilitating, restrictive, and alienating than we might assume. 

How lonely do you have to be to buy batteries to fuel your bliss? 

Dive deeper and get to the root of your loneliness. Get up early, instead, and put your batteries in a flashlight, so you can find your way to a carpeted area of your home.

Now, get on the floor and start breathing deeply, meditating, and doing yoga. If your pants are always on fire, get into Kundalini Yoga. It’s phenomenal for unlocking everything related to loneliness, blocked emotions, the roots of trauma, overly kinky behavior, and the things that hold us back.

What Is Transconditional?

Even the momentary experiences of satisfying simple pleasures or mundane desires can invite enough joy to fool us into thinking that we’ve transcended something. Though, we have not.

We may have captured, for a moment, a spark of divine energy, but we have not embodied it. We may, for a time, have forgotten all that ails us, but we have not transcended it. 

By the way, I’m not saying do not masturbate, ejaculate, or orgasm in the traditional sense. I’m suggesting a better, more spiritualized, more energizing, and healthier way to engage your life force and all of your body’s related energies and requisite juices.

So, where is my orgasm? 

Hint: it has nothing to do with oral sex, penetration, or manual stimulation of the tip or clit.

What, then, is the ultimate tantra or technology that will illuminate me into a concaving, coalescing, explosive, wild state of release?

Consider the essence of your Being far beyond the physical and mental layers that you often mistake for your true Self. Explore deeper practices that help you detach from the superficial layers of reality. Seek unconditional joy – paramananda.

The quest for the ultimate tantra or technology is, in essence, a journey inward, a navigation through the layers of Self that leads to an explosive release not bound by conventional understandings of pleasure or satisfaction. It is about finding that core of stillness and unbounded ecstasy within, which does not depend on external stimuli – but is a natural state of Being. 

Dismantle your many layers of conditioning, expectation, and attachment that cloud your perception and hinder your ability to experience pure bliss. 

This is not a $50 workshop on Instagram – it’s a process that requires patience, dedication, and a willingness to embrace the unknown, ultimately leading to a state of being where happiness and fulfillment are not conditional but are intrinsic to your very essence.

When we move our kundalini upward through Sadhana (spiritual practices), we experience a serene, profound illumination whereby we can go through a whole day entrenched in divine bliss – loving all aspects that we encounter. This is your birthright.

The Spirituality Two-Step

We are all dancing around the spiritual practices that have been shared with us since the beginning of time. We quote gurus and masters, and we go back to buying Teslas and Rivians, which comprise the perfect embodiment of exactly what no one needs.

We might meditate or chant for a moment, but in the next moment, we’re drawn back into the whirlwind of consumer culture, captivated by the latest symbols of status that signify success in the material world. This juxtaposition highlights a fundamental tension within many of us: the desire to live spiritually fulfilling lives while navigating the demands and temptations of contemporary society.

The calling, then, is to engage with the world in a way that enriches rather than detracts from spiritual growth, using the insights and practices of ancient spiritual teachings and masters to navigate the complexities of modern life.

By consciously integrating spiritual principles into our daily lives, we inch closer to knowing who we are and what reality comprises.

But Wait – What About My Orgasm?

We are all obsessed with our orgasms, but truly, to move the kundalini upward in the body, without release, gives us the energy we need to embody a divine consciousness and become vessels of love and light throughout the day, week, month, year, or longer. 

Every spark we withhold and put to work for our betterment and the betterment of humanity dissolves our karma and gives us more resolute and everlasting joy.

In today’s world, where achieving the Big O can seem like a competitive sport, complete with its own commentary and instant replays, the ancient art of kundalini yoga and yogic breathing offer a less… climactic approach to ecstasy. 

While many are on the hunt for that explosive moment of joy, there exists a more sublime and, dare we say, electrifying way to channel that energy.

I promise you – once your energy is harnessed, the results are quite lovely and remarkable. You move through the day with extraordinary sparks of light and love. You resolve tension more quickly. You sense into other people’s feelings and positions with great empathy and awareness. You nurture more and think less. And you more easily access, allow, and release emotions to produce a more clear state of mind and heart. 

To the naysayers, I’ll add this: This process can be challenging and it’s not always perfect. Sometimes you feel the need to clean the pipes, so you do. I’m just suggesting there are far better ways to toss your energy pellets.

Capture All The Spark You Can!

Instead of letting the fireworks explode and fizzle out, then napping until the morning alarm goes off, gently coax your kundalini serpent up your spine, and teach it to climb like a skilled acrobat, all the while keeping the grand finale at bay. 

This isn’t about turning your back on fleeting pleasures; it’s about becoming a spiritual powerhouse – one who electro-magnifies and projects their essence through the day.

By rerouting your inner sparkles to light up your chakras, you’re not just hoarding joy – you’re becoming a mobile disco ball of divine consciousness. 

The next time you’re chasing the dragon of ephemeral, fantastical ecstasy, remember: 

Through the process of kundalini yoga and moving your consciousness and energy upward to the crown Chakra, you become a supernova – a pulsating, light-emanating, enduring, and stable cluster of stars.

The real party is not in your pants – it’s at the base of your spine, where it lights up your soul, dissolves your karma, and turns you into a beacon of love and light, emanating the pure essence that created The Cosmos.

The Difference Between Oracle Cards and Tarot Cards

 

 

 

Photo from Shutterstock: tarot cards and oracle cards

The Difference Between Oracle Cards and Tarot Cards

Divination, or the use of tools in the occult arts to connect with otherworldly knowledge, is most popularly identified in the use of oracle cards and tarot cards. If you were to glance over at a table where someone is offering a reading to another with the use of a card deck, it might be very difficult for you to tell the difference between oracle and tarot cards.

While it’s true that both types of cards are used very similarly on the surface, there are actually fundamental differences to each that play a huge role in how they can affect a reading and whether your situation would call for their use.

If you are seeking guidance from a psychic that uses divination, you’ll want to know exactly what the difference is between oracle cards and tarot cards before you make a decision about your reading. Let’s dive in!

The History of Using Cards for Divination

The use of card decks to glean insights beyond the immediate reach of knowledge is not a new practice at all. In fact, it is one of the oldest forms of divination that we know about in the history of psychic practices. Tarot cards, in fact, are so old that they originate from playing cards used as early as the 1300s.

In their earliest forms, they even still kept much of the structure and imagery that we identify today as playing cards, such as with the 4 sections (clubs, spades, diamonds, and hearts).

Oh and if you love deep, healing, and predictive, you’ll LOVE The Shankara Oracle.

But how did the use of these cards transition from gambling and play to fortune-telling? Humans have this incredible talent for recognizing patterns and getting in touch with our “gut” feelings. Attaching luck and superstition to the order and times in which certain cards turned up during play was not such a huge leap! Suddenly, people were pulling purpose and meaning from each card in the deck, and the original tarot card deck was born.

Over time, people began mixing the original playing cards with mythological and religious imagery, such as from the Catholic Church and Roman legends. In the 1900s, tarot cards became popularized again by the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, setting the stage and much of the standardized imagery and meanings that are still used today across the board in tarot cards. While the Rider-Waite-Smith deck is the standard, it didn’t stop various movements throughout the 90s, especially the Hippie movement and the New Age movement, from putting new spins on the tarot deck with different imagery and interpretations.

It wasn’t until after the tarot card deck had been the standard for hundreds of years that oracle cards came about. While oracle cards are a much younger form of divination, that doesn’t make them less powerful or helpful – just different!

The Structure of Tarot Cards vs. Oracle Cards

One of the biggest differences between tarot cards and oracle cards is that tarot cards have a set structure, or are at least much more standardized than oracle cards. Most decks consist of 78 cards. There are also decks you can get, though less popular, that have less. The 78 cards are broken down into 22 Major and 56 Minor Acana cards. Much like their origin – the playing card deck – tarot decks break down their Minor Acana cards into four suits and even keeps them numbered: Swords, Wands, Pentacles, and Cups. The meanings and imagery of each card also has stayed largely unchanged and standard across decks, meaning that someone practiced in reading tarot card decks can typically pick up any deck and read it well.

Even the use of tarot cards has a standard structure. Most often, tarot card readers will use the Celtic Cross practice, which is the set way one turns over and sets down the cards they draw in the sign of a cross on the table. This means that the reader does not only rely on the specific card they pull for meaning, but also on where the card is placed within the cross.

On the other hand, oracle cards have almost no structure, standard, set meaning, or even widely-accepted use. They also typically come in smaller decks and cover a wide range of themes. Anyone anywhere can create their own oracle cards, and it is often more of a personal spiritual journey to create or find oracle cards that speak to your own needs than picking up a tarot deck. While you can find a range of styles and themes for both, tarot cards will keep the same meanings for each set card, and oracle cards will have meanings and structures unique to that set.

For example, oracle cards can come in decks of any number with any structure. They may or may not use sections, suits, and numbers. More often, they’re a deck of cards with unique imagery on each card where the creator has decided how that specific deck should be interpreted. There is also no set way to pull the cards from the deck and read them!

The loose standards for the creation and use of these cards derive from their more recent origins in the free-flowing, individual-centric feelings of the modern ages. In fact, they came into play as tarot cards went out of style for a while before the 1900s and were made popular by a French fortune-teller, “Lenormand.” Like tarot cards, oracle cards can thank the Hippie and New Age movements for increasing popularity and continued use by diviners everywhere.

The Difference in Meanings Between Tarot and Oracle Cards

There is no easy way to explain for sure how oracle cards and tarot cards differ in meaning other than the fact that tarot card readers study a very specific set of interpretations and methods while oracle card users are not stuck in a system. Even if the themes of the tarot card decks you pick up are different — such as if you own a deck themed with nature and a deck themed with pop culture characters — you’ll ultimately be following the same structure and interpretation guidelines. If you choose to use oracle cards, you’ll follow the theme of the deck you’ve chosen and not any other exterior set of rules. You’ll typically receive a guidebook that helps you interpret that specific deck or oracle cards.

When it comes to interpretation, tarot cards can also be much more serious. They address all aspects of life as well as past, present, and future, and they will reveal all kinds of things whether they are negative, neutral, or positive. Oracle cards, on the other hand, tend to lean more toward positive and uplifting interpretations.

Oracle cards will also focus much more on “big picture” concepts than tarot cards. Tarot cards are much more intensive, with more cards and set interpretations, meaning that they can be used to get very specific and detailed readings. Oracle cards, on the other hand, are much more about capturing themes, feelings, and larger ideas that can guide the user towards a more general interpretation.

Should I Use Oracle Cards or Tarot Cards?

Which type of card deck — tarot or oracle — you choose will entirely depend on your goals. If you are looking for loose guidance that helps with self-growth and stays more positive, you might enjoy oracle cards much more. They’ll also take much less practice, time, and brain-power to learn and interpret. They’re great for beginners! Tarot cards will take time to learn and practice, and you’re much better off going to someone who understands them well for a reading. You’ll also want to make sure you’re open to hearing a much more in-depth and well-rounded reading from the cards.

There’s also no shame in using both! Many people choose to use oracle cards to open a session before diving into a more detailed reading with tarot cards. Oracle cards can help set the stage and provide a loose understanding of what the reading will be about, and then tarot cards can help further interpret.

What you choose to use for guidance on your journey is entirely up to you. I’ve even created my own deck, called The Personality Cards, which you can check out here!

REMEMBER!

You are a beautiful Living Being filled with light and love, born from stardust. You are unlimited potential in every direction. With a focus on discipline, virtue, and your own goodness, you can become as expanded and liberated as you desire.

Pray for others and the Universe prays for us.

LOTS OF BLESSINGS TO YOU!

purchase-the-personality-cards-oracle-tarot-deck

There is no “Other.” There is only you experiencing yourself.

 

Meet Paul Wagner

Paul Wagner (Shri Krishna Kalesh) is an intuitive mystic, clairvoyant reader, and a loving life & business coach. He created “THE PERSONALITY CARDS,” a powerful Oracle-Tarot deck that’s helpful in life, love, and relationships.

He created The Shankara Oracle, a profound divination tool that includes 18 gemstones, a lavishly designed divination board, and over 300 penetrative oracle cards – all to help you heal to your core and illuminate your Being.

Paul studied with Lakota elders in the Pecos Wilderness, who nurtured his empathic abilities and taught him the sacred rituals. He has lived at ashrams with enlightened masters, including Amma, the Hugging Saint, for whom he’s delivered keynotes at Her worldwide events.

Paul tours the world lecturing on spiritual liberation. He lovingly offers intuitive readings, inspirational coaching, and illuminating courses to help others with self-discovery, decision-making, healing, and forgiveness. Book a session with Paul: HERE

Unleash Your Heart Into The Wild – At Waffle House

Unleash Your Heart Into The Wild – At Waffle House

Venture not into the heart of a Waffle House, and you forsake the raw, uncut essence of humanity itself. My spirit, ablaze with a ferocious love for every soul I encounter within its walls, undergoes a rebirth every time I walk through those double-glass doors. Here, my heart doesn’t just open – it detonates, reborn into the crucible of pure, unadulterated existence.

I fucking LOVE Waffle House and every person in it.

This sanctuary of eggs and dreams is a prism, refracting the human spirit in a spectrum so vivid, it cuts to the core of what it means to be viscerally, messily, even crazily human. 

You’re thrust into the bursting, boiling cauldron of raw, chaotic existence, where shadows and light dance in the most intoxicating embrace. Escape is futile, but then, why would you ever wish to flee from such a feast for the soul?

For those who’ve danced with their own shadows, traversed the infernos of personal hell – you know what I’m talking about. This isn’t about the gloss and veneer of Being or sweetness; it’s about becoming the raw nerve of truth, quivering with the electric, unpredictable dance of life.

Amidst the quiet lulls, more often than not, Waffle House is a tempest of raw humanity – unfiltered, untamed, unnerving, and unsettling. And yet, therein lies its staggering beauty. A cacophony of life in its myriad forms: shouts of ire – “I need my damn fucking coffee,”  the haunted eyes of those battling their demons, the veneer of troubled politicians, the laughter of families, and the solitary souls seeking refuge in the embrace of caffeine, served with unassuming grace in mugs born in the 50s.

Even the menu, with its poetic ode to hashbrowns – smothered, covered, chunked, and more—mirrors the tumultuous journey of our hearts in search of solace, mirroring the scars we bear from our loves lost and battles fought.

This isn’t the musings of a spiritual neophyte – a newbie influencer who memorized the soundtracks from Glee. This is the battlefield of existence and I’m a spiritual warrior. No matter how enlightened we fancy ourselves, we are all conscripts, even pawns, in this harsh war of life.

Amidst this theater of the soul stands the valiant, the unyielding waitstaff – warriors of empathy, serving not just meals but moments of raw truth, echoing the no-nonsense therapy of the ancient sages, demanding we confront our truths without pretense or excuse. It doesn’t need to be pretty to produce liberation.

Feast upon the offerings of Waffle House, and you court the divine madness of life itself – each bite a delicious defiance against the mundane, in opposition to your health – a testament to the sublime but delicious chaos of existence.

Here, in the undercurrent of overheard conversations, lies the unvarnished truth of our journeys. We are reminded of the folly of our insulated spiritual quests, our convoluted philosophies that distance us from the visceral tapestry of real, unadulterated life.

“I got off the streets, where’s my free meal?”

“I love you but I can’t stay in this relationship.”

“I’ll be at the office soon – on an errand.”

“Where the FUCK is my coffee!”

We are called not to the superficiality of pretense but to the profound depths of authentic existence – where raw emotion and spiritual truth coalesce into the alchemy of true transformation.

~ Dare to live out loud, to scream your truth into the void.

~ Let tears be your testament in the most unexpected of places.

~ Embrace the liberation of chaos, if it means the purging of your soul’s anguish.

~ Be raw, wild, and free amid whatever fantasy thrills you.

This, the essence of true release, of letting go of the accumulated disease of a life half-lived, is where healing begins.

In the sacred space of a Waffle House, amidst the second cups of rule-defying, heart-abusing coffee, revelations unfold. The farce of modern spirituality is laid bare, revealing the path to authentic Self-discovery and a hurricane-styled liberation from the shackles of societal expectation and personal illusion. You are not your false Self – that person you pretend to be, after all.

We are at once oppressed and the oppressors of our own essence, caught in the webs of transient identities and expectations. Yet, here, in the crucible of the real, we are offered the keys to our own chains.

~ You owe no allegiance but to the truth of your own spirit.

~ Break free, and in doing so, become the lighthouse for others lost in the fog of existence.

~ Embrace the unrelenting, untamed, and unreasonable heart of your Being, and in its unbridled expression, find the path to true freedom.

The journey is not one of conformity to the illusory safe harbors of reality, damn it. It’s a voyage into the tempestuous seas of your own spirit’s journey, guided by the stars of your deepest truths – and the truths you have avoided for lifetimes..

Masters of the Spirit – of the eternal – have always known this: The path to enlightenment is not in the stifling of desire, but in its understanding, its expression, and ultimately, its transcendence.

So, let the cat not just out of the bag – but thrust it into the wild, where it can breathe, live, and teach us the meaning of freedom.

In the end, those ensnared in the seductive but shallow allure of faux spirituality, who have lost themselves in the maze of their own Instagram contrivances, serve as beacons – not of enlightenment, but of warning: The path is not pretty or purple. And mermaids and angels are nothing when compared to a raging, addicted man-bitch in heels at 6am at Waffle House.

~ Rise above.

~ Forgive, not just others, but yourself. 

~ It’s time to step into the boundless realm of your raw, free Self and embrace your true potential.

You are not a mere participant in the cosmic dance, my friend – you are its choreographer, born of the wild, untamable essence of The Universe, eternally beloved, limitless in every conceivable way.

Drink that third cup of coffee and devour those last bites of your smothered browns. The day has just begun! YOU GOT THIS.

Oh, and…

In this journey of self-liberation, rituals like Changing The Book Of Life and The Seven Arrows Ritual can be your guideposts, and for those seeking divine insight, The Shankara Oracle awaits to illuminate your path.

The Life & Love Of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The Life & Love Of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

In my articles, I cover all kinds of famous figures, spiritual gurus, and divine masters who have graced this earth with their messages and leadership. None are quite like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, one of the modern era’s most profound spiritual leaders and change-makers. The life of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is both astounding and inspiring, and everyone would do well to learn more about him and delve deep into spiritual practices using his guidance. In fact, I urge you further to get involved, explore his many resources, and bring his light to others as well.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Early Start

By the age of four, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was already being singled out by his teachers as extremely intelligent both academically and spiritually. He hails from Southern India, was born in 1956, and grew up affected by the world’s tumultuous tendencies of war and conflict. Out of this time of darkness and uncertainty, Shankar became a light of love, anti-violence, and anti-stress.

Before he was five years old, Shankar could recite the entire ancient Sanskrit text used for meditation called the Bhagavad Gita. At 26 years old, he committed to a period of silence for 10 days. It was out of this period of silence that Shankar began developing his now-famous breathing technique, The Sudarshan Kriya. He also finished up his academic pursuit of knowledge with degrees in both the Vedic language and in physics.

Ravi Shankar’s Message For the World

From an early age, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar began spreading his message. He began saying at first, “I have family everywhere. People are waiting for me.” Then, his message slowly formed that the whole world is one family – that we cannot be divided and pitted against each other because of cultures, religions, or location. His mission became to unite everyone in peace, nonviolence, and compassion for each other. schedule-intuitive-reading-with-paul-now

Ravi Shankar believed that everyone should live a deeper and more joyous life, so he created countless tools and techniques that spread his message and helped others escape their woes. The tools and techniques that Shankar has provided aim to improve everyone’s emotional, physical, social, and spiritual health.

Founding The Art of Living

Much of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s influence in the world has come through his humanitarian organization called The Art of Living, which he founded in 1981 and has helped to grow rapidly. The organization is a global nonprofit that spans multiple initiatives, making everything possible including trauma and crisis relief, solving hunger, uplifting education, and even improving infrastructure across undeveloped populations. schedule-intuitive-reading-with-paul-now

The first project that kickstarted The Art of Living was an initiative to help support a failing school in India. Shankar wanted to ensure that all kids in India could have access to education and to the food that they could receive while attending. Now, this humble project has turned into the revival and installment of 702 schools that remain free to attend for over 80,000 children living in the rural regions of India.

Since then, The Art of Living’s reach has grown across the globe in truly extraordinary ways. The organization has its hands in 156 countries and has been estimated to reach, inspire, and help over 500 million people.

Shankar’s Courses, Tools, and Programs for Humanity

Throughout Ravi Shankar’s efforts, he has created 57 different courses that help all kinds of people in a wide spectrum of situations and institutions. His courses include all kinds of topics, including Yoga, prison programs, meditations, blessings, ayurvedic cooking, and so much more.

For example, one of Shankar’s most successful programs is The Art of Living Prison Program, which offers outreach to prisoners to help with mental health and reform. The program has reached out to rehabilitate over 800,000 prisoners globally and spreads the message that each prisoner is not a totally bad person, but instead a victim crying for help.

Shankar also has a few programs in the United States, including the Welcome Home Troops program to uplift veterans out of the suffering of depression and PTSD and a youth empowerment program to fight gang violence and addiction in the inner cities.

The Legacy of Guradev Ravi Shankar’s Global Conflict Resolution Efforts

At the heart of Shankar’s message is nonviolence and an stress-free world, so naturally, a large part of his efforts was in helping to resolve political and cultural conflicts across the globe. Shankar spoke to militiamen, terrorists, and political leaders alike to change hearts and minds and unify war-ravaged countries. schedule-intuitive-reading-with-paul-now

Starting in India, Shankar convinced thousands of militants to lay down their weapons in exchange for participating in unified meditation. He was also able to end a 52-year-long conflict in Columbia, eventually winning him the highest citizen award in the country. Even in Iraq, Shankar has hosted several peace conferences to bring relief to such a conflict-torn country full of terrified and struggling citizens. The Hizbul Mujahideen Terrorist Outfit even openly spoke out that they realized the wrongs of their ways because of Shankar’s message and decided to spread messages of love and nonviolence in their land instead.

Over the years, Shankar has been publicly thanked by several political leaders for his efforts and message, including the Crown Prince of Fujairah Mohammed bin Hammad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi in the UAE and the Vice President (now President) Joe Biden of the US.

COVID-19 Initiatives

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s The Art of Living organization helped fight the many facets of the coronavirus pandemic as part of its humanitarian initiatives. This specific project was named the “I Stand With Humanity” Initiative and included projects both in his home country India and abroad.

The initiative identified that wage-earners across India were working throughout the duration of the pandemic despite the fear and dangers, so they provided over 80 million meals to those workers in over 170 cities. There were also 6 tonnes of food distributed to over 5 million families who were struggling to stay afloat.

To support the healthcare system and its workers, who were crushed under the physical, mental, and emotional weight of COVID-19’s impacts, The Art of Living Organization also helped to set up 7 new COVID care hospitals stocked with over 200,000 PPE kits. Shankar also decided to offer mental relief programs to migrant workers and COVID response heroes who were suffering.

The World’s Meditate campaign was also born from COVID to push back against the mental impact that the pandemic had on people. Shankar hosted live virtual meditation sessions two times a day for anyone across the globe seeking relief.

Not Even The Environment Is Forgotten

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s life and legacy even surpassed the betterment of society. His programs also included many initiatives to help the environment. In its existence, The Art of Living has been able to revive 49 of India’s rivers and thousands more bodies of water, as well as run over 100,000 drives to clean up trash and plant 81 million trees. Further, there have even been initiatives to teach farmers about natural farming, spread education about environmentally-friendly sources of energy, and empower rural villages across India to use solar energy. Overall, there is a massive network across the globe of volunteers who help respond to climate disasters affecting communities everywhere.

Live A Life Informed By Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Anytime you tell yourself that one person could never possibly change the world, remind yourself of the incredible impact Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has had across the globe. He is only one person, but with a beautiful message, a huge heart, and a drive to spread his light and love, Shankar has left no stone unturned in his destiny to better humanity. There’s nothing stopping you from doing the same!

BLESSINGS TO YOU! STAY GRATEFUL!

schedule-intuitive-reading-with-paul-now

There is no “Other.” There is only you experiencing yourself.

 

Meet Paul Wagner

Paul Wagner (Shri Krishna Kalesh) is an intuitive mystic, clairvoyant reader, and a loving life & business coach. He created “THE PERSONALITY CARDS,” a powerful Oracle-Tarot deck that’s helpful in life, love, and relationships.

He created The Shankara Oracle, a profound divination tool that includes 18 gemstones, a lavishly designed divination board, and over 300 penetrative oracle cards – all to help you heal to your core and illuminate your Being.

Paul studied with Lakota elders in the Pecos Wilderness, who nurtured his empathic abilities and taught him the sacred rituals. He has lived at ashrams with enlightened masters, including Amma, the Hugging Saint, for whom he’s delivered keynotes at Her worldwide events.

Paul tours the world lecturing on spiritual liberation. He lovingly offers intuitive readings, inspirational coaching, and illuminating courses to help others with self-discovery, decision-making, healing, and forgiveness. Book a session with Paul: HERE

What Is Thought And How Does It Connect To Reincarnation?

What Is Thought And How Does It Connect To Reincarnation?

Thought is an automatic, self-generating emanation from an outdated, flesh-based tool (brain-mind-consciousness as contrived separate from Brahman – the Ultimate One Eternal Reality). 

Thought is unnecessary for our success, safety, pleasure, peacefulness, intimacy, engagement, and illumination. It takes us beneath our potential and sedates our illumination.

Thought arises with or without provocation, and triggers the fleshy tool’s creation of additional thoughts, feelings, emotions, and projections, which often trigger more thought, more emotions, myriad reactions, and further, conjurings, fantasies, and emotional and psychological bindings. 

If we cannot control our attachment to arising thoughts, they will continually infirm us and immerse our souls in a dualistic reality. This will cause the continual mental inflammation and the accumulation of our 12 unique types of karma, which eventually create and comprise the contrivance enveloping the soul and its impulse to continue the life, death, birth and rebirth (reincarnation) cycle.

Brain, Mind, Consciousness

Our exploration of the brain, mind, and consciousness transcends mere anatomical or psychological understanding; it leads us to a deeper realization about the nature of reality, our spiritual needs, and our true self. 

Brain

The brain, a remarkable biological structure within our skulls, beneath a thin epidermis, serves as a necessary tool in the functioning of our bodies. It processes sensory information and supports cognitive functions like thinking and memory, enabling our interaction with the physical world.

Mind

Looking beyond this physical tool, we arrive at the mind, which serves as a broader canvas where thoughts, emotions, perceptions, and memories intermingle in the sustaining of the small individual self (Jiva). The mind, while appearing to be a product of the brain, is actually an arena where the play of dreams, desires, and projections unfold. The mind is not confined by the physicality of the brain; rather, it is where Jiva experiences life’s drama, ideas, and conjurings through various states and activities.

Consciousness

Beyond the mind lies the realm of pure consciousness, or pure awareness, which lives in every particle and boson in all of Creation throughout spacetime. 

Consciousness is considered the fundamental essence of existence. It is not merely an attribute of the mind but is the very basis of all that is perceived and experienced. It envelopes and includes EVERYTHING. 

This Consciousness is identical to Brahman, the Ultimate One Eternal Reality, which is unchanging, infinite, and omnipresent. It transcends the limitations imposed by the brain, body, mind, and physical world.

Our brain-mind-consciousness journeys ultimately invite us to realize our pure and eternal nature. 

Truly, our individual existence (thoughts, feelings, projections, desires, dreams) – is merely a play of Maya (illusion), a manifestation of the deeper, unchanging reality that is Brahman experiencing Herself.

Understanding this helps us see beyond the ephemeral nature of our experiences to the eternal presence that underlies and unites all existence and ALL BEINGS THROUGHOUT SPACETIME.

This is what it means to be alive. Life is not just about navigating the physical, mental, and emotional challenges, but about awakening to the truth that we are not merely isolated Beings limited by our minds and bodies – and all the related desires, impulses, reactions, and projections. 

We are expressions of a vast, divine consciousness that pervades everything.

If we can realize this concept, even for a moment, it can both enlighten and enchant us, inviting us to experience life with a profound sense of unity and wonder, recognizing the divine, living, expressive interplay woven deep into the fabric of our existence – including all we have been throughout myriad lives and all we imagine ourselves to be.

The 12 Types Of Karma

Karma is not just a scoreboard or tracker of deeds – but a profound architect of our soul’s destiny, influencing and provoking the cycle of reincarnation, amid the circus of events that reappear life after life after life. This cycle, driven by the accumulated actions of past and present lives, serves as both a binding chain and a transformative journey toward our awakening – liberation – Moksha.

Each of the 12 types of karma has a unique role and impact, and orchestrates the ongoing processes surrounding our reincarnations, compelling the soul to return, time and again, to the Earthly plane or a similar realm to burn away what barely exists.

These types of karma reveal the depths of how our actions resonate beyond the immediate, and how they create future experiences and shape our continual quest for self-realization – and finally, our liberation from the cycle of birth and death.

Sanchita Karma: A vast collection of accumulated deeds, thoughts, and actions from past lifetimes, waiting to be learned from and resolved.

Prarabdha Karma: The portion of accumulated karma that is due to be experienced in this lifetime, dictating major life circumstances like health and family.

Kriyamana Karma: Fresh karma generated by everyday actions and decisions, shaping immediate future outcomes.

Agami Karma: Actions taken today that will yield results in future lives, emphasizing the continuity of the soul’s journey.

Nitya Karma: Daily rituals and duties performed out of discipline and devotion, without desire for personal gain.

Naimittika Karma: Duties that arise from specific events or needs, calling for action beyond personal boundaries.

Kamya Karma: Actions performed with specific desires in mind, aimed at fulfilling personal ambitions ethically.

Prayaschitta Karma: Actions taken to atone for past misdeeds, aimed at cleansing and redemption.

Aprarabdha Karma: Dormant karma that has not yet influenced our lives but may activate under certain conditions.

Adhidaivika Karma: Involves larger forces like natural events or divine interventions that are beyond personal control.

Adhibhautika Karma: Results from interactions with other beings and the environment, stressing the importance of respectful and conscious living.

Adhyatmika Karma: Stemming from one’s own physical and mental actions, focusing on self-care and inner harmony.

Om Purnamadah Purnamidam, Purnat Purnam Udachyate

Purnasya Purnamadaya, Purnameva Vashishyate

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

Translates roughly to: Taking away from the whole, the whole remains.

Going Deeper

Advaita Vedanta teaches that the ultimate reality is non-dual (Advaita)l, meaning there is no fundamental distinction between the individual and The Universe – the part and the whole. Everything is essentially one and the same reality, known as Brahman, which is pure consciousness.

There are several levels of reality: Paramārthika (ultimate reality), Vyavahārika (empirical or practical reality), and Pratibhāsika (illusory reality). 

The brain and the mind are considered part of Vyavahārika, the empirical reality where dualistic distinctions (such as between the brain, mind, and consciousness) exist and are functional. 

However, in the ultimate reality (Paramārthika), such distinctions dissolve into the non-dual consciousness – The One Eternal Universal Consciousness.

In Advaita Vedanta, the mind (Manas) along with intellect (Buddhi), ego (Ahamkara), and memory (Chitta) – collectively known as the Antahkarana (inner instrument) – are seen as tools through which the self (Atman) interacts with the empirical world. These are considered manifestations of Maya, the cosmic illusion, which makes the empirical world appear as real.

 

As we absorb, believe, and engage the dualistic reality that we contrived, we mostly create karma, thereby continuing to believe ourselves as separate from The All That Is – Brahman – The One Eternal Universal Consciousness.

 

Jiva vs Atman

In the philosophical teachings of Advaita Vedanta, the concepts of Jiva and Atman are central but distinctly different, each playing a unique role in understanding the nature of self and reality.

Jiva refers to the individual soul or self that is identified with the body, mind, and senses. It is the embodied state of consciousness that experiences the dualities of life, such as pleasure and pain, and is subject to the laws of karma and the cycle of birth and death. 

Jiva is essentially the personal self, which perceives itself as separate and distinct from other beings and the universe. Jiva forms and worships the personality, amid myriad positions, titles, and projections, all of which give it confidence in its illusory construct and related activities.

Atman, on the other hand, is the universal self or soul. It is the eternal, changeless reality that is identical with Brahma. Atman is the pure, undivided consciousness that transcends individual existence and is inherent in all Beings. It is not affected by the physical changes or the flow of life’s experiences; it is beyond birth, death, and karma.

Jiva identifies with the body and mind and perceives itself as separate from the universal spirit or consciousness. In contrast, Atman represents the true essence that is eternal, indivisible, and inherently immersed with the absolute reality, Brahman.

Jiva is bound by ignorance and the illusion of separateness (Maya), leading to suffering, extenuating circumstances creating karma, and the cycle of reincarnation. Atman is inherently free and unbound, always existing in a state of pure Being, Consciousness, and bliss (Sat-Chit-Ananda).

In Advaita Vedanta, the ultimate goal of the spiritual journey is the realization that Jiva is not different from Atman. This realization, known as self-realization or enlightenment, involves transcending the individual ego and experiential duality to recognize one’s true nature as Atman, which is non-dual and identical with Brahman.

Enlightenment & Liberation

Our Ultimate Goal (Or hidden desire)

Our ultimate goal is Moksha (liberation), which is achieved by realizing the true nature of the self (Atman) as non-different from Brahman (Eternal Self or Consciousness). This realization transcends the mind and its operations, leading to a state where the distinctions imposed by the brain, mind, and ego are seen as illusory.

How Atman and Karma engage together:

Atman as Pure Consciousness: The Atman is considered the true Self, which is pure consciousness, unchanging, and eternal. It is identical to Brahman, the ultimate reality, implying that individual souls are not different from the universal consciousness.

Karma and the Illusion of Individuality: While the Ātman is beyond birth and death, the apparent (contrived) individual self (Jiva) experiences birth, life, and death due to ignorance (Avidya) of its true nature. This ignorance gives rise to ego (Ahamkara) and mind (Manas), which engage in actions (reactions, desires, projections, and more), thereby accumulating karma.

Impact of Karma on Reincarnation: The karma accumulated by the Jiva influences its cycle of birth and rebirth. Different types of karma (as outlined previously) determine the life circumstances and experiences of the jiva, pushing it through various lifetimes until the karma is resolved.

Liberation (Moksha): Moksha, or liberation, which is the realization of one’s true nature as the Atman, free from the cycles of birth and death. Achieving moksha means transcending karma (the 12 types outlined above), as one recognizes that the self (Atman) is beyond all action and unaffected by karma.

Role of Knowledge (Jnana): The realization of the Atman is identical to Brahman and achieved through knowledge (Jnana), particularly the knowledge that all dualities and distinctions (like those imposed by karma) are illusory. 

This knowledge dissolves the ego and the false identification with the mind and body, freeing the soul from the shackles of karma.

Finally

While karma governs the cycle of births and experiences based on actions, the soul or Atman remains ever pure and untouched by these processes. The journey through karma is essentially a journey through illusion or Maya, with the ultimate realization being that the soul is beyond all dualities, including those created by karma.

In short, don’t get too excited about karma. Allow circumstances as they arise and your karma will dissolve accordingly. No engagement and no drama, therefore no bondage. Seek enlightened masters and absorb their embodiment of these teachings – and all will be well.

Release thoughts as they emerge and love from your pure self, and you will heal and expand in ways you have never imagined. Releasing thoughts eventually clears our karma and dissolves the dualistic reality we imagine, freeing us to break free from the cycle of reincarnation.

Enjoy The Shankara Oracle – the most intense, enjoyable, and illuminating tool to help you walk the path of Self-realization.

What’s the Difference Between an Intuitive Coach and a Psychic?

Photo from Shutterstock: Intuitive Coach vs. Psychic Coach

What’s the Difference Between an Intuitive Coach and a Psychic?

If you’ve been seeking guidance, whether that’s in your love life, your family relationships, your career, or even your spiritual journey, you might be at a loss for where to look. These matters are very important and intimate, so you want to make the right decision surrounding who to confide in and trust for advice. Intuitive coaches and psychics can be some of the best confidants and helpers – they can see beyond to your true self, the root of the problems you’ve raised, and reach out into the spiritual world for you to gain otherworldly knowledge.schedule-intuitive-reading-with-paul-now

People who are highly sensitive and trained in this kind of cross-dimensional communication, however, choose to label themselves differently. After some research, you might be dying to know exactly what the difference is between an intuitive coach and a psychic, and which one would be a better choice for your specific situation and desired outcomes.

As an intuitive coach myself, I’d love to set the record straight and help you find the guidance you need!

Is There Really a Difference Between an Intuitive Coach and a Psychic?

At the end of the day, we’re all tapping into something. I like to believe that everyone has the ability to really dive deep into themselves and become one with the Universe. That Universe is the same no matter who you are, it’s just how we choose to or are able to access it that can differ. For this reason, lots of people choose their own titles for labeling their abilities, but it’s really just splitting hairs sometimes!

Highly Sensitive People and Empaths

On one hand, there are highly sensitive people who feel everything very deeply. They could be empaths – people who can connect so fully with other people animals, or objects that they experience the others’ experiences firsthand. They can connect and become one with the other, helping them to deeply understand the other’s situation – and if they choose – offer guidance with that knowledge.

Empaths are a subsection of what I call Highly Sensitive People. In general, these people have senses heightened beyond the normal levels. They might react more extremely to certain situations, emotions, and thoughts. Being a highly sensitive person does not always mean that you are connected to the beyond. It could mean that your brain is just wired differently and you react to things on a more extreme level. In other cases, having the symptoms of a highly sensitive person could be the result of an untapped ability as an intuitive or psychic.

If someone is a highly sensitive person, but not fully an empath, they might not be able to offer sufficient guidance. They can be a great confidant because they can connect with you on a deep emotional level and share your emotions, but they probably do not have access to the otherworldly knowledge or a formed skill in guiding others.

Even certain types of empaths might not be able to help you. They could be able to connect with you so deeply that they experience what you’re experiencing firsthand, but again, they might not have formed their skills in turning this connection into something that could help guide you.

True Intuitives and Psychics

While it’s very possible that highly sensitive people and empaths are also genuine psychics and intuitives, it’s often not the case. True intuitives and psychics have the ability to raise their consciousness, move their egos aside, and connect with the Universe beyond themselves. Some that have not completely tapped into and formed their talents yet might not be the best for guidance, but with time, they can become powerful coaches and helpers. schedule-intuitive-reading-with-paul-now

There are many types of psychics, and each individual is unique. How they choose to form their talents and practice their psychic abilities can inform the type of psychic they become and how helpful they are to others. For example, psychics have generally gotten a bad wrap for being con artists and scammers because many have chosen to lean into the stereotypes. They might use tarot cards and speak to the dead to tell fortunes and feed into people’s greed for knowledge about their futures and love lives. They might exploit their abilities for profit only.

Regardless of their intentions, there are a number of different types of psychics. There are psychics who can channel the consciousness of another entity through themselves in a trance-like state. There are also those who can sense past, current, and future events through extra-sensory perception like hearing, seeing, and feeling things that others cannot. This ability comes under the umbrella of “clair-“, and is subsectioned into clairaudience (hearing or sensing sounds), clairsentience (experiencing emotions or sensations), and clairvoyance (sensing things beyond normal senses).

If a psychic uses the occult arts, such as tarot cards and other tools, to glean knowledge, this is called divination. There are other rare psychic abilites such as the ability to move objects with one’s will, called psychokinesis, and the ability to pull knowledge from objects by touching them, called psychometry. So many other forms of psychic abilities exist that it would be too much to mention them all here!

Is There a Difference Between Intuitive Coaches and Psychics?

The tarnish on the term “psychic” has caused many with these talents to seek other labels for themselves. Most prominently, the term “intuitive” has become popular. You might still choose to distinguish those with greedy intentions with the word “psychic” and seek out only “intuitives” who are using their skills to genuinely help others, but do not count out all people who label themselves by embracing the term “psychic.”

Unfortunately, this means that seeking out the right help for your situation can become a bit of a word game rather than an exact science. It matters more that you feel truly connected to your guide and trust their intentions rather than which term they use to describe themselves. The only fully formed line between psychics and intuitives is that intuitives have abilities to sense things from the beyond just on the merit of knowing, while some psychics only pull knowledge through utilizing tools from the occult arts, such as tarot cards.schedule-intuitive-reading-with-paul-now

That being said, not all psychics and intuitives choose to use their skills specifically for coaching others. If you’re specifically looking for a coach in a certain area of your life, you’re better off making sure that person offers that specific skillset rather than worrying about whether they call themselves intuitive or psychic.

Do I Need a Psychic or an Intuitive Coach?

Which type of person you need for your situation is going to be entirely unique to you. You may also choose to seek out different forms of help before you decide which one works best for you. If you need to connect with a loved one or an event, for example, you can speak with an intuitive or a psychic. However, you might find that those who call themselves psychic spend more time helping people with that need than intuitive coaches do.

On the other hand, someone who calls themselves an intuitive coach is likely offering their services for an entirely different purpose. They most likely focus on helping their clients with self-growth and tapping into their true selves. With deeper knowledge of their souls and their life paths, these clients would be able to see their lives, specifically their relationships and their professional growth, with a clearer vision and more direct plan moving forward.

If your needs sound a lot more like the latter – for self-growth and better awareness of your life path – then I’m always open to speak with you for a private session or coaching plan!

BLESSINGS!

schedule-intuitive-reading-with-paul-now

As you reach toward liberation, you might want to explore having a coach, guide, or therapist to help you along your path. In the meantime, meditate, pray, and chant with loving attention toward the divine.

If you love this article, you will LOVE The Shankara Oracle.

Meet Paul Wagner

Paul Wagner (Shri Krishna Kalesh) is an intuitive mystic, clairvoyant reader, and a loving life & business coach. He created “THE PERSONALITY CARDS,” a powerful Oracle-Tarot deck that’s helpful in life, love, and relationships.

He created The Shankara Oracle, a profound divination tool that includes 18 gemstones, a lavishly designed divination board, and over 300 penetrative oracle cards – all to help you heal to your core and illuminate your Being.

Paul studied with Lakota elders in the Pecos Wilderness, who nurtured his empathic abilities and taught him the sacred rituals. He has lived at ashrams with enlightened masters, including Amma, the Hugging Saint, for whom he’s delivered keynotes at Her worldwide events.

Paul tours the world lecturing on spiritual liberation. He lovingly offers intuitive readings, inspirational coaching, and illuminating courses to help others with self-discovery, decision-making, healing, and forgiveness. Book a session with Paul: HERE

The New-Age Movement: Full of Narcissists Or Magical People?

The New-Age Movement: Full of Narcissists Or Truly Magical People?

It’s hard not to get really down thinking about humanity when you’re scrolling through social media or spending time on the Internet. Even just walking into a store can be enough to put you in the wrong mood. The New-Age movement has permeated our culture, and years ago, I would have been so delighted by this news. Unfortunately, the version of the New-Age Movement that dominantly exists now is not the movement that I came to love and grow within.purchase-the-personality-cards-oracle-tarot-deck

Our society truly has devolved into a mish-mosh mess of labels, fake identities, false claims, and unhealthy obsessions. The original New-Age Movement provided so many opportunities for growth, spiritual enlightenment, and light-seeking, but it has been hijacked by people seeking attention, thinking it’s trendy, and not fully embracing the purpose and meaning of becoming a person of the New Age.

If you’re wondering if you’ve been surrounding yourself with a bunch of New-Age Narcissists, or if you might be one yourself and want to change for the better, then let’s talk about the dangers of getting sucked into this label and identity-obsessed consumerist culture.

Appropriating the Spirituality of Other Cultures Without Embracing the True Light

We’ve all seen it. Maybe we’re even guilty of it ourselves. Some of the most inspiring Divine Masters of history and the biggest spiritual movements have come out of cultures we’re not a part of and haven’t even experienced first-hand. For instance, how many people do you know have been practicing Yoga but have never been to India and have not even bothered to become informed about the origins and true meanings behind this amazing practice?

So many Yoga classes available now are just empty shells of the practice. They are meant more for exercise than for genuine spiritual practice, or they just feed into the ego rather than cultivate spiritual growth. In reality, Yoga is an essential element to the faith and spiritual lives of so many people, but it’s been copied and pasted over to Western Culture without all that wealth of light, love, and divinity. Then, it’s been exploited through marketing and consumerism to the point that it’s almost unrecognizable from its true purpose.

Scrolling through Instagram, I bet there are at least one or two people who come to mind who you see posting their Yoga journey. They have endless selfies and photoshoots of them striking popular poses, meeting with their spiritual teachers, and wearing expensive clothes and accessories that call to mind South Asian cultures.

All of this, I bet, is just a play on their ego. They’re obsessed with their self-created identity as a Yoga student, getting in touch with their spirit, and they want everyone everywhere to know it. Their identity is marked and advertised to the world through their clothes, home decor, trips to the studio, and endless posts online.

Now, I’ve talked a lot about Yoga, but that’s only just one example. Many other practices have been hijacked and turned into consumer products and services that entirely miss the authenticity and purpose of these things. purchase-the-personality-cards-oracle-tarot-deck

Traditional Chinese Medicine, for example, also has so many amazing practices like Qi Gong, acupuncture, and Chinese Herbal Medicine that have been hijacked and turned into purely exercise or spa treatments.

Next time you find something in the New-Age Movement that you’re thinking about trying, first ask yourself: Am I taking on this practice because I fully understand its importance and purpose and have the intent to change my life through it, or am I just attracted to the consumerism and altered identity it will give me?

Obsessing Over Trauma, Fears, and Hurdles With No Intent to Grow and Move On

Similar to how many people take on spiritual practices for the sake of feeding their ego, the New-Age Movement is also overflowing with people who have adopted the language of self-awareness and reflection but not the intention to be reformed and healed.

The New-Age Movement, or at least the original version, urged us to dive deep within ourselves, identify our flaws, recognize our dark sides, and pursue the light. We’re supposed to seek change, evolve, and become our best selves. In the New-Age Movement culture that exists now, we’re focusing way too much on speaking about ourselves and dwelling on our past and the negatives.

Think about it: how many conversations have you had where the formula is always the same? “Oh, I’ve had a very terrible childhood full of toxic family members. I still struggle with the trauma and all the bad habits that I have left over from that.” And then they make some really quick, disingenuous remark about how they’re working on themselves.

Or maybe you hear this a lot: “All these people around me are way too negative. They are really bringing down my mood, vibes, and spiritual health. I really need to cut these people off.”

How about this? Do you know that one person that just never stops talking about themselves and their growth? Do they constantly word-vomit about their feelings, leaving no space for others, and have no intention of hearing anyone else’s advice or proposed solutions?

All of these behaviors are the result of self-obsession. These New-Age Narcissists believe they are participating in the New Age Movement by identifying “toxic” people and relationships and purging themselves of trauma and fear. At the same time, they’re never rolling up their sleeves to truly heal, find spiritual growth, or better themselves in any way. They never fully turn inward or reflect on how their own flaws might be causing their problems – or other peoples’ problems!

Feeding Into the Consumerism of New-Age Movement Symbols, Trends, and Products

We’ve already touched on this a bit, but I want to emphasize that the original New-Age Movement has been overrun with consumerism. It doesn’t take long for companies to identify trendy images, symbology, and practices that it can turn into a product or service and make major profits.

Gym and fitness chains have fully taken on Yoga classes as a daily exercise offering. Spas and resorts have embraced incense, essential oils, crystals, acupuncture, and culturally-distinct massage techniques. purchase-the-personality-cards-oracle-tarot-deck

Every cheap, fast-fashion mall store sells jewelry and clothing that consumerizes Asian and indigenous cultures for Western profit and enjoyment.

What’s at the very heart of consumerism? Narcissism. We buy these things because they feed into our ego. They help build our outward identity. That next pair of dream catcher earrings, that new incense holder, that fresh yoga mat you just bought – all of those products make us feel more trendy and more “in-tune” with our spirituality without actually feeding our spiritual growth.

Confrontation Is Not Only Scary But Completely Unwelcome

Finally, New-Age Narcissists are terrified of confrontation. They are so fearful of being confronted about themselves, in fact, that they’ll label anyone who dares to do so as toxic and turn them into outcasts.

How dare you insinuate that the Yoga studio I’ve been attending is led by a disingenuous guru? Can you believe that person told me I should stop being so obsessed with what kind of Starseed I am, or which number on the Enneagram fits me, and that I should instead start delving deeper into who I am and feeding my true light?

How dare they.

Self-obsessed, identity-obsessed, label-obsessed people are more concerned with introducing themselves to the world as a type of alien or personality label than they are with doing the deeper persona work. New-Age Narcissism is a religion for children, avoiders, and deeply broken people who are unwiling to face reality. They have no true intention of discovering themselves, they just want to follow the celebrities, influences, and trendy gurus that tell them lovely things and don’t really challenge them to change.

All these things are a replacement for the virtue, integrity, loving intention, and spiritual growth that are the hallmarks of the original genuine New Age Movement. I wish you luck on your journey to full enlightenment, and luck as well in finding others who are genuine light-seekers just like you.

REMEMBER!

You are a beautiful Living Being filled with light and love, born from stardust. You are unlimited potential in every direction. With a focus on discipline, virtue, and your own goodness, you can become as expanded and liberated as you desire.

Pray for others and the Universe prays for us.

LOTS OF BLESSINGS TO YOU!

purchase-the-personality-cards-oracle-tarot-deck

There is no “Other.” There is only you experiencing yourself.

 

Meet Paul Wagner

Paul Wagner (Shri Krishna Kalesh) is an intuitive mystic, clairvoyant reader, and a loving life & business coach. He created “THE PERSONALITY CARDS,” a powerful Oracle-Tarot deck that’s helpful in life, love, and relationships.

He created The Shankara Oracle, a profound divination tool that includes 18 gemstones, a lavishly designed divination board, and over 300 penetrative oracle cards – all to help you heal to your core and illuminate your Being.

Paul studied with Lakota elders in the Pecos Wilderness, who nurtured his empathic abilities and taught him the sacred rituals. He has lived at ashrams with enlightened masters, including Amma, the Hugging Saint, for whom he’s delivered keynotes at Her worldwide events.

Paul tours the world lecturing on spiritual liberation. He lovingly offers intuitive readings, inspirational coaching, and illuminating courses to help others with self-discovery, decision-making, healing, and forgiveness. Book a session with Paul: HERE

How To Be An Effective Intuitive Coach

Photo from Shutterstock: How To Be An Effective Intuitive Coach

How To Be An Effective Intuitive Coach

Coach. Leader. Guide. Mentor. These are just a few of the titles given to those people in our lives that encourage and lead us to be better. If these people in our lives do right by us, they can help us let go of the bad things about us, help us shed the old and ugly or broken parts of ourselves, and help us grow and develop into higher versions of ourselves.

An intuitive coach can have a much stronger effect on the lives of their clients because we can tap into the Universe, and connect with the higher presence in order to guide others to a deeper understanding of themselves.

What Does It Mean To Be “Intuitive”? 

Being intuitive means that we have the ability to have a sense about things from beyond, just simply by knowing it.  It is similar to common intuition, but stronger and more focused, as the sense is through a higher connection to the Universe – and the knowledge comes from beyond normal senses.

Tapping into the normal senses, a keen observation, and the skill of really listening to another individual – being able to put yourself in their shoes and understand where they are coming from – are essential parts of this ability too.  But the connection to a higher understanding is what gives intuitives knowledge beyond the normal senses and our ability to tap into yourself and your journey well beyond what you might have before.

What About Intuitive Coaching?

To be an intuitive coach requires having a specific skill set. Without having the abilities of an intuitive, you cannot be an effective intuitive coach (obviously).  While many claim to have these abilities, or lead people in need astray through the smoke and mirrors of faked or disingenuous psychic and intuitive abilities – they are looking for profit or power or both at the expense of others.

True intuitive coaching helps clients with self-growth, guiding them on the path of tapping into their souls and uncovering their truest selves.  Your role as an intuitive coach, and my role as well, is to lead clients to a deeper soul-knowledge and awareness of themselves:

      • What battles do they face? 
      • What lies have they been told or have they told themselves?  
      • What is it that they truly want out of their relationships? 
      • What does their life path look like?
      • What do they want from their career?
      • What is the plan moving forward?

All of this just scratches the surface of what it means to be an effective intuitive coach.  Let’s go deeper.

Understanding Your Role As a Coach

When we are young, our parents – if they are good parents – are our first source of guidance and discipline. However, as time goes on, we may rebel against our parents or start pushing back. This is natural, of course, and most people have done so in one form or another at some point in their lives. It’s possible that we feel they tell us what to do for their own benefit, or their advice is too predictable because we’ve heard it all before.

If the rebellion happens at a younger age, this is where coaches can come into our lives. They are parent-like figures that are not our parents – we somehow inherently take their advice and leadership more seriously because they are not as closely involved. As we grow up, we do not lose that need to have mentors that can both become intimately connected with us and still remain removed enough to offer unbiased, objective guidance.

Just as we often find ourselves listening to coaches more so than our parents at a young age because we can choose them as our leaders instead of the Universe assigning them to us, we need mentors in our adult lives that can help us see things from a different perspective. Sometimes, we just need to speak with someone who won’t stand to benefit from one outcome over another, who we haven’t grown up around to the point that we have too similar views and influences, or who won’t repeat predictable advice. 

Your role as a coach is to understand why your clients would need you in the first place: as a mentor and confidant who can evaluate situations from the outside, apply new perspectives, and not cast judgments that fall too close to home.

Finding Inspiration In Other Coaches

These days, coaches can be seen almost everywhere you turn, and they take many forms. You might be looking to be an intuitive coach, but there’s a lot to be learned from the way different types of coaches lead their subjects. The most noticeable and perhaps public form of coaching that we see today is that of the sporting variety, but there are very famous coaches to be found under other titles – religious leaders and teachers, for example. 

Secular Coaches

Some of the most famous coaches in history include Vince Lombardi, Mike Krzyzewski, and Bill Belichick. Wisdom such as “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect,” (Vince Lombardi) can be found on walls in halls of fame, and heard repeated at youth sporting practices across the country.

While helpful in guiding young people in the direction of building better lives, these iconic quotes and leaders are not applicable to all corners of life. These figureheads and their words of wisdom can guide us in the right direction, but they often lack the spiritual, higher note that we crave – that connection to something more.  This is why we need to turn to our religious and spiritual leaders and begin the journey of finding intuitive coaches to help guide us in finding a deeper understanding of ourselves and the Universe.

Religious/Spiritual

There are a wide array of religious and spiritual leaders that cultures and religions across time and oceans have turned to for help. Some whose teachings I lean on often in my coaching and life journeys include Amma, the “Hugging Saint,” Anandamayi Ma, and many other inspiring divine masters.

Spiritual “coaches” like these take a much less simple, yet often more profound approach. They see things from a much higher level and can break down life based on value, purpose, and meaning rather than just in-the-moment, superficial consequences. 

A great intuitive coach will find inspiration from both the secular and spiritual gurus of the past and present to guide them in forming their own style. They can use a mix of superficial logic and high-minded thought, always staying flexible in their approach based on the client’s personality and needs in each session.

How To Be a Good Intuitive Coach

There are all kinds of coaches: There are strict and impatient disciplinarians and lenient, patient, and flexible coaches. There are coaches we remember with loathing and the coaches whose wisdom we carry with us through the rest of our days. Ultimately, we strive to be mentors who effectively change the course of our clients’ lives and their outlooks, but it takes a special kind of formation, practice, and mindset.

Learn From What It Means To Be a Bad Coach

We all have had those people in our lives that claimed to be helpers but we knew were either liars or users. They were manipulating us or the people around us for their own gain.  Bad coaches don’t fall far from this tree.

Many times, a bad coach is not dissimilar to a so-called psychic.  A large number of people who claim to be psychic have done so without honing what abilities they have to connect with a higher consciousness.  This leads to many frauds giving themselves the title of psychic while using the tarot cards and smoke show to create a profit for themselves using a soul’s need for help.

If you lack the skill set to be an intuitive coach – that is, if you do not have a good or strong connection to the Universe, or simply do not have the natural intuitive abilities – you should not be an intuitive coach.  However, if you have the natural intuitive inclination, but have not ever used it, fear not.  With time and practice, you can harness that natural intuitive gift into something that can grow your connection to your true self and the Universe around you.

Without the ability to move their own egos aside, these people will have difficulty being able to actually help their clients, and this may only lead others into more hardship.

Evaluate Your Intentions and Limitations

Much like being a professional athlete, a star musician, or anything exceptional, it takes a particular kind of person to be a good and effective coach. Beyond having the inherent talent and wisdom, you’ll also need the motivation to commit and the desire to truly serve others.

Coaches need to genuinely want to be around the people they will be guiding or leading. Coaches need to want to help those around them, to challenge them to be better, to grow both as people in general and in whatever it is that the coach is leading them towards. That being said, if you do not like being around people, particularly difficult or distraught people in challenging situations, coaching may not be for you. 

Coaching comes with all sorts of challenges. Many different personalities will come to you, requiring guidance. And depending on the kind of coaching you will be engaging in, you may have to learn how to manage those personalities and situations both on an individual level and as a unit. You must get them to learn how to work with others as well as with themselves. If you do it right, you’ll be able to enjoy watching different personalities develop and evolve, and that is a beautiful and powerful thing that you can have the honor to guide.

It’s also important to remember that you are not the coach for everyone, and not every client is the client for you. Learn which personalities you work well with, and learn to read the intentions of people who approach you for guidance. Being able to discern well which clients you should accept and reject will be crucial to your own well-being and the success of your clients.

Only Coach What You Know

Ultimately, you’ll need to have a particular skill set that a client is looking for. Coaching requires one to be an expert, or at least nearly so, in whatever area or industry one is going to focus on as a coach. Oftentimes, the worst coaches are the people who have barely scratched the surface personally, yet have decided to advertise themselves to mentees as experts. Or even worse, they have taken up the title with no experience whatsoever just to have a position of power.

So, if you are particularly good at something – in this case, intuitive guidance and readings – and have the desire to help others grow, then I would highly recommend you as an intuitive coach. You might then also choose to niche down even further. If you have a tremendous amount of experience in business, for example, you might consider specifically being an intuitive business coach.

Build Your Intuitive Toolkit

Strengthening your intuitive abilities takes genuine commitment and willingness to dive deep into oneself, no matter what one might find. It requires learning true forgiveness, being wholly accepting of yourself, and sharing your beautiful light with others.

Some ways I’ve gotten in touch with myself are my favorite rituals, mantras, prayers and sutras. Specifically, I love getting myself through the day by repeating the Ho’Oponono mantra hundreds of times. This chant is one of full, genuine forgiveness of oneself and of others so that you are left with no attachments to guilt, regret, or hurt. Doing this allows me to center myself and better serve my coaching clients. It breaks down all physical barriers and attachments to this world so that I can connect with myself and the Universe more fully. I highly recommend creating a mental toolkit of all the spiritual and centering practices that will help you become a better coach, and make sure to make them part of your daily routine.

When it comes to your coaching sessions, make sure you’ve set up a sacred space. Tapping into your psychic and intuitive abilities requires a safe, clean, and spiritual space conducive to high vibrations and devoid of interruptions. Make sure you store all your divination tools with sacred respect as well, whether you set up a shelf or an altar for them. Build up your collection of tarot cards, oracle cards, crystals, oils, and more that can help you fully tap into your knowledge and abilities.

Finally, practice turning your intuitions into practical, grounded advice that’s truly helpful to your clients. As an intuitive coach, your role is more than just channeling messages to your clients. You help must interpret these messages in applicable ways so that your abilities are used for genuine guidance and formation. Never forget to show gratitude as well, both to the Universe and to your clients.

Consider My Personality Cards for Guidance

I would recommend building into your toolkit the Personality Cards I developed some time ago.  They might add some fun and depth to the tarot card reading experience for clients.  When used in the right way, the Personality Cards are always spot-on and help lead clients to a deeper understanding of themselves.

The Personality Cards don’t have to be used just for clients, either!  You can use them yourself in your daily preparations – during prayer, meditation, or self-reflection.  A good intuitive coach does not stop practicing or deepening their connection to the Universe.

If you lose that close connection, and that intuitive understanding gets muffled, you will not be able to help your clients – you may only hurt them and yourself.   

The Personality Cards are a great and fun way to stay on track on a day-to-day basis.  They are also an effective tool to help your clients open their eyes to deeper understanding and assist you in the guidance process in their sessions 

Contact Me For Further Intuitive Coaching Formation

Intuitive Coaching requires the skill set of having a deep connection to the Universe and being able to harness that natural ability.  Having a deep desire to help people is also necessary, and beyond that, a unique ability to understand others – to step into another person’s shoes and guide them on their journey to finding the right path.  Let the Universe guide them through you, and both you and your client can reach a more enlightened state of consciousness.  

If you are thinking about starting down the path to becoming an Intuitive Coach, or are not sure if that is a path you want to take – please feel free to reach out regarding a coaching plan or private session.

YOU ARE LOVE!

You are a beautiful Living Being filled with light and love, born from stardust. You are unlimited potential in every direction. With a focus on discipline, virtue, and your own goodness, you can become as expanded and liberated as you desire.

Meet Paul Wagner

Paul Wagner (Shri Krishna Kalesh) is an intuitive mystic, clairvoyant reader, and a loving life & business coach. He created “THE PERSONALITY CARDS,” a powerful Oracle-Tarot deck that’s helpful in life, love, and relationships.

He created The Shankara Oracle, a profound divination tool that includes 18 gemstones, a lavishly designed divination board, and over 300 penetrative oracle cards – all to help you heal to your core and illuminate your Being.

Paul studied with Lakota elders in the Pecos Wilderness, who nurtured his empathic abilities and taught him the sacred rituals. He has lived at ashrams with enlightened masters, including Amma, the Hugging Saint, for whom he’s delivered keynotes at Her worldwide events.

Paul tours the world lecturing on spiritual liberation. He lovingly offers intuitive readings, inspirational coaching, and illuminating courses to help others with self-discovery, decision-making, healing, and forgiveness. Book a session with Paul: HERE

How Mushrooms and Trees Communicate and Thrive

How Mushrooms and Trees Communicate and Thrive

Deep in the forests, in places uncharted or untouched by man, there is an incredible and unfathomable network of living organisms that accomplish things we never dreamed they could before. The ability for other living organisms to communicate with each other, even organisms that many of us view as the lowest on the “food chain” of life, is actually astounding. One of these amazing instances is how mushrooms and trees communicate and thrive in their natural habitat.

That’s right – mushrooms are truly magical, and that’s not just because so many species of mushrooms are dubbed “magic mushrooms” for their hallucinogenic properties. They’re truly magical because they’re so complex beyond our understanding.

How Do Mushrooms Work, Exactly?

When you think of mushrooms, you probably get the image of the cute little mushroom cap popping up out of the damp soil. While this image is correct, it’s actually leaving out a much bigger picture. The mushroom caps you see popping up are the equivalent of the fruit that grows on a tree – they are the reproductive parts of a much larger system that we cannot see underground.

To fully understand how mushrooms and trees communicate, you’ll need to understand the different parts of the mushroom network. The three major parts of the mushroom network to understand are the mushrooms themselves, their spores, and the mycelium.

What is Mycelium?

Mycelium looks and acts a lot like roots do for a tree. While we cannot see the mycelium unless we dig it up and study it, the structures are quite massive. Mycelium spreads out much further and wider than the mushroom caps we can see, yet they are still only made of thread-like roots that grow no more than a few thousandths of a millimeter in width per thread.

Mycelium spreads and penetrates food sources nearby, such as organic materials from which it can extract sugar. To extract sugar, mycelium needs to secrete enzymes that break down the organic materials it attaches to.

While mycelium sounds like its structure is fragile, it’s actually a very complex and intentional system of threads that last well beyond the lifespan of any mushrooms it sprouts! In fact, mycelium continues sprouting new mushrooms throughout its lifetime to continue the cycle of life.

Because mycelium is so complex, researchers have been discovering new ways to take advantage of such a resilient and interesting structure, such as paving way for new opportunities in sustainability and healthcare.

What Do Mushrooms Do?

The “fruits” of the mycelium network are the mushrooms we see sprouting up from soil or wood. There are too many species of mushrooms to count, so it’s hard to define exactly how they look. The most popular structure of a mushroom looks like a trunk with a cap on top, and even these types of mushrooms come in endless colors and variations. There are also mushrooms and fungi that grow more like tubes or mounds.

The most important job of the mushroom is to produce and distribute spores, which are the reproductive “seeds” that spread and set up new mycelium networks if they land in the right places. These spores root and grow mycelium much like a seed from the fruit of a tree would under the right environmental conditions.

Once the job of the mushroom is done – whether its spores are spread by the wind, passing animals, or other transportive means – it dies away. When it comes to the lifespan of a mushroom, though, there is a wide range depending on the species. While some smaller, simpler species of mushrooms can be fully grown in just one day, other large mushrooms can take a few months.

What’s So Important About Fungi and Mushrooms?

For many people, mushrooms are gross, ugly, and are signs of moldy and damp areas. For others, they are merely good for mealtime. In the wild, though, mushrooms play an extremely important function in the environment’s survival. We should truly look at them as a sign of rebirth!

Fungi and mushrooms are an entirely separate category of life all on their own. While plants use photosynthesis to generate energy from the sun and animals eat food to digest nutrients, fungi externally digest nutrients before they absorb the food into their network.  Fungi break down dead and decaying organisms in the environment to fuel themselves, making them nature’s great recycler.

Without mushrooms and mycelium in our environment, the world would be a wasteland of dead plants. Fungi is the reason why dead plants can decay and make way for new life.

Okay, so maybe you already know that. But did you know that there’s an even cooler function for mushrooms and their mycelium in the wild? It has to do with allowing trees to communicate!

How Mushrooms and Trees Communicate

Despite popular knowledge, plants DO talk! In fact, trees can communicate with their neighboring trees much like herds of animals can communicate and work together for survival. How do they do it?

As you can imagine, the lifespan and survival prowess of mycelium underground lends itself to quick expansion. Spores continue to plant and create new mycelium networks in the soil and organic materials endlessly, and mycelium can literally live forever. Mycelium, therefore, expands underground and connects tree roots to other tree roots, creating a massive communication network that trees have learned to utilize for survival.

The network that mycelium creates for its own survival is also a tool for symbiosis with trees. The trees use the mycelium to transport nutrients and messages to each other. The mycelium graciously allows the trees to use them as a network for communication and offers nitrogen and phosphorous to the trees. In exchange, the mycelium is allowed to extract sugar for fuel from the tree roots. Scientists have found that mycelium actually digests 30% of the sugar that trees create from their photosynthesis efforts.

This symbiotic network is now referred to as the mycorrhizal network.

Wait… Trees Do What?

I bet you never imagined that scientists could claim that “mother” trees talk to younger trees to warn them of environmental threats. Old, wise oaks can tell saplings not to chase the light or shed leaves for fear of dooming their successful growth. One tree can even warn another tree of an impending drought or spreading disease.

Mainly, trees use their mycorrhizal networks to send resources back and forth to their fellow trees. Often, they share carbon that they’ve harvested from the atmosphere to ensure that the trees within their network are all thriving.

Beyond their carbon food, they can also send messages to alert others of danger. These trees use a method called “allelopathy,” which is the transmission of certain chemicals from one tree to another to warn them of a specific type of threat.

In response, the neighboring trees can act appropriately to defend themselves from the threat. Usually, this means they will excrete certain chemicals to stop the growth of a predatorial plant, prevent spreading disease, or ward off threatening infestations of insects.

This awareness and subsequent defense against environmental threats don’t even stop at biological and natural threats. Scientists have been able to prove that forests of trees can become aware of major destruction like deforestation and send warnings through their mycorrhizal networks to their fellow trees!

Believe It Or Not, Trees Can Be Tribal

Your mind is probably already blown away learning about mycorrhizal networks, and it certainly is a complex concept on its own. To make it even more complicated, trees can actually decide which trees they want to communicate with through these fungal networks.

Not just any mycelium network can create a symbiotic relationship with any tree species. Certain fungi prefer specific tree species so that both the tree and the fungi can benefit to the fullest extent from the exchanged nutrients. While it is believed that all trees are capable of forming these mycorrhizal networks, not all trees take advantage of them due to the lack of the correct fungi in their environment.

The majority of mycelium-tree symbiotic relationships consist of the “arbuscular mycorrhizal network,” which creates extensions of complicated structures that attach to the trees. The other remaining 35% or so of networks use combinations of fungi.

In addition, trees can prefer to only network with trees of their own species! For example, a birch tree might only be willing to connect with other birch trees. How can they tell? Specific tree species send off unique chemical compounds that identify them, and other trees can either recognize or not recognize that compound as their own unique compound.

Scientists have named this sort of “tribal” behavior within species as “kin recognition.” While they can’t prove that this kin recognition is happening for a specific reason, scientists believe that trees do this to ensure that trees of their own species survive and outlast other species so that they can become dominant in the area through easier reproduction.

At the same time, there are species of trees that are willing to connect with each other and share space within the same mycorrhizal network. Scientists have found birch and fir trees connecting and interacting through mycelium as a way to improve their resilience and longevity. Diversity is important, even nature knows it!

What Exactly Do the Communication Signals Look Like Amongst Trees?

Similarly to how scientists delve deep into researching the vocalizations and body language communications of animals, scientists are just now realizing that they can begin to decifer the language of trees. How mushrooms and trees communicate is one thing, but now how do trees use the mushrooms to communicate with each other?

In short, researchers describe the communication signals amongst trees as hormonal or chemical messages and slow-pulsing electrical signals through the mycorrhizal network. One Swiss scientists, Edward Farmer, is beginning to decipher the electric pulses that trees send to each other. He now believes that the majority of communication is a language of stress and warnings – they mainly communicate dangers to each other rather than content social speech.

Another scientist based in Arizona, Monica Gagliano, has been working on detecting if trees also communicate by emitting noises. She believes that trees can create sounds at a frequency of 220 in their roots, which is inaudible to humans but would sound like a crackling noise.

Finally, scientists have discovered that trees communicate with each other through the air and actually have senses of smell and taste. A great example is the way acacia trees can emit warning pheromones to surrounding trees that giraffes are beginning to eat their leaves. In response, the surrounding trees begin producing tannins at such large quantities that the leaves become sickening or even deadly to large herbivores.

Humorously enough, giraffes have become wise to this tree’s ability, so they’ve begun feeding downwind to prevent the trees from being able to send warning smells in the air.

Another intriguing example is the pine tree and the elm tree have to release warning pheromones when they detect catepillar saliva on their leaves. These pheromones are actually meant to attract the very species of wasp that enjoy feasting on catepillars! Many trees also recognize the taste of deer saliva and will begin producing chemicals to make the leaves taste bad to ward the predators off. We know that these chemicals only happen in response to the saliva because other kinds of injuries, such as snapping a branch, do not elicit the same response.

Peter Wohlleben’s Controversial Yet Astounding Work

Learning how mushrooms and trees communicate and thrive isn’t just a startling discovery for you. Scientists are still trying to grasp just how far this communication among plants goes. In fact, a forester in Germany has only in the past few years put together what is now his life’s work for a large audience in his book The Hidden Life of Trees.

Peter wanders through the forests near him, pours himself over research, and makes astounding discoveries about how these mycellium networks and communicative properties of trees actually stabilizes and supports the whole ecosystem. In one example, Peter discusses how he once came upon a once-gigantic tree that was felled with only the stump remaining. Upon a closer look, Peter discovered that the stump was still alive and processing chlorophyll, which would be impossible without his deeper understanding of the mycorrhizal networks.

How is this stump alive? Peter explains that the surrounding trees are still pumping nutrients and water to the stump despite its inability to provide for the rest of the trees in the network. “They are reluctant to abandon their dead, especially when it’s a big, old, revered matriarch.”

The amazing network of trees doesn’t end there. Peter further asks us to explain how such small young seedlings in dense forests can possibly obtain the sunlight and water they need to survive when crowded out by much older, larger trees.

In answer, he explains that the surrounding trees in their network provide for them so that they can grow and thrive. These seedlings receive the sugar they need through their roots rather than by photosynthesizing all of it themselves. In other words, Peter says, the mothers “suckle their young.”

Peter understands that applying such anthropomorthic phrases to trees is overdoing it by a little. At the same time, he hopes that the way he presents the community of trees in a way that’s highly intelligent and social, full of respect and support for each other, will help others see nature in a different light. He hopes that it will raise awareness for just how destructive and horrifying actions like deforestation really are, and that the world will wake up to having a deeper respect for our natural world.

What Can We Learn from How Mushrooms and Trees Communicate and Thrive?

The Universe is all interconnected. To dismiss the complexity and sentience of beings other than ourselves is not to rob ourselves from absolute beauty and wisdom, but to disrespect them and rob them of the treatment and empathy they deserve. I often hike through nature myself and can no longer ignore just how amazing our world is, how motherly and intelligent nature truly is. It can be difficult to not get frustrated when others can’t see what I see.

I urge you to stop and find stillness every day. Don’t let the hustle and bustle of daily life distract you from just how awesome and powerful our Universe is. Look within yourself, recognize that we are part of something so much bigger than ourselves. Learn from the sense of community and responsibility for those in need that even the trees and the mushrooms have.

Identify and nourish your symbiotic relationships with others. Send love, recieve love. Send forgiveness, receive forgiveness.

REMEMBER!

You are a beautiful Living Being filled with light and love, born from stardust. You are unlimited potential in every direction. With a focus on discipline, virtue, and your own goodness, you can become as expanded and liberated as you desire.

Pray for others and the Universe prays for us.

I am here to help you awaken and bravely create an inspired life. Learn more about my services today and start changing your life in the most positive way.

If you find this process helpful, you might also check out The Shankara Oracle

Meet Paul Wagner

Paul Wagner (Shri Krishna Kalesh) is an intuitive mystic, clairvoyant reader, and a loving life & business coach. He created “THE PERSONALITY CARDS,” a powerful Oracle-Tarot deck that’s helpful in life, love, and relationships.

He created The Shankara Oracle, a profound divination tool that includes 18 gemstones, a lavishly designed divination board, and over 300 penetrative oracle cards – all to help you heal to your core and illuminate your Being.

Paul studied with Lakota elders in the Pecos Wilderness, who nurtured his empathic abilities and taught him the sacred rituals. He has lived at ashrams with enlightened masters, including Amma, the Hugging Saint, for whom he’s delivered keynotes at Her worldwide events.

Paul tours the world lecturing on spiritual liberation. He lovingly offers intuitive readings, inspirational coaching, and illuminating courses to help others with self-discovery, decision-making, healing, and forgiveness. Book a session with Paul: HERE