Many years ago, I had an unusual Grade 13 English teacher at Bathurst Heights Collegiate in Toronto. Her family was very out there it seemed, and her brother hosted a weekly cable tv show about UFO’s and other psychic stuff.

One day, somehow in the context of an English lesson, our teacher  asked us to lay on the floor and facilitated a guided visualization describing the spinning Hindu wheel of Nirvana, the wheel of birth, life and death. Moving through it through lifetimes, one’s goal is to eventually reach nirvana, or liberation. (Nirvana is also a Buddhist concept. Since that time I’ve had a belief in reincarnation.

The daughter of a Welsh immigrant mother and Canadian born father, whose mother was a Welsh war bride, I was raised in a Christian tradition in the Welsh United Church in Toronto. Like many of my generation I found the church lacking, and left it when I was about eighteen years old.

I had my brief  ‘agnostic’ phase during university, then in my early thirties was introduced to “New Age” books, (hate that expression), by early authors like Shakti Gawain and Louise Hay. From that time on, like many boomers, I considered myself  “spiritual but not religious”.

For many years my beliefs have embraced the concept of a Higher Power, (the Light, the Source, the Universe, not necessarily the word God per se, but all having the same meaning ). Also I have a recognition of Ascended Masters, such as Jesus, Paramahansa Yogananda, the Hindu and Buddhist goddeses and Gods, (Lakshmi,  Ganesh, The Taras, for example). Tibetan Buddhism plays a small part in my eclectic belief sysem. Both here in my home community and in Dharamsala, India my partner and have attended Tibetan Buddhist teachings, and have many dear Tibetan friends who are practicing Buddhists.

Lately I have been questioning some of my long held beliefs. At times my foundation has felt like it’s cracking, the result of my introduction to the Divine Love Foundation last July, with attendance at prayer circles and a retreat in August.

The mission of the foundation is: To awaken humankind to the wonders of Divine Love and to be channels of love, peace and healing for our planet., a beautiful goal.

The main tenets of a belief in a male or female God figure; choice whether to accept this Higher Power; the power of prayer and the idea that the soul rather than the mind is what connects all fit within my eclectic personal belief system, the one I’ve developed over close to fifty years.

So far so good then.

During the hour of prayer, while a beautiful energy pours around us and into us, a very special, gifted medium channels supportive, encouraging and loving messages from the higher realms. Quite early on I received very personal messages: Confucius told me to keep asking questions, that it was my soul seeking answers.

My second personal message concerned reincarnation. During the retreat, much to my surprise, I discovered that this philosophical, (not religious), group does not believe in reincarnation. Channelling but not reincarnation…hmm…confusing to someone with my beliefs. One night, with only four of us in the room, the First Soul, called Aman, or Adam, came through with a special message for me, for “the sister who believes in reincarnation”. Aman told us that out of  the many thousands of souls he had met, he had never come across one that had reincarnated. I was quite astounded, firstly to hear that information, and secondly that the first soul would come through with a message for me, a relative newcomer to the group.

Since that time I have relaxed into the process, softening my beliefs a little. It does not really matter what my brain decides to believe, it’s all about the energy. We are all travelling in the same direction so to speak, towards the light, and the group folks are happy to have me as part of their circle, as long as I want to be there.

My meditation and prayer enhance each other, each becomes stronger because of the other.  Every few weeks as I change my prayer changes and deepens. Recently I have been visualizing showering the planet in light and Divine Love and praying for her to be healed, for governments to stop mistreating people, and for people all over the world, as well as my community, friends and family.

And so my spiritual life continues, very much a living process.