The Mystic Cave
Brian E Pearson
An exploration of the soulful terrain on the far side of conventional religion. A sanctuary for seekers.
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Top 10 The Mystic Cave Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The Mystic Cave episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The Mystic Cave for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The Mystic Cave episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
10/27/24 • 56 min
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The Indigenous culture that European colonizers encountered here in the New World, and then so brutally suppressed, is the very repository of wisdom we now need. Elizabeth Buller Page knows this personally. Deep into a midlife descent, Liz turned to her family's Indigenous roots to discover not only the healing she sought but the path she'd lost.
Resources
The book on Cree history and culture that Liz can't be without: The Plains Cree: An Ethnographic, Historical, and Comparative Study by David Mandelbaum; University of Regina Press, 1940 & 1978 (revised)
The Calgary Gallery that features Liz's art: https://moonstonecreation.ca/elizabeth-buller-page-1/
Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]
Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022
09/29/24 • 57 min
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We dwell within a realm of spacious possibility; and it dwells within us. The mystic experiences this firsthand. So does any seeker alert to the subtle movements of the heart. Cynthia Bourgeault knows the territory well. She's lived it, and she's written about it. But, being human, she's also continuing to learn about it, sometimes by trial and error. Fortunately, our spiritual education is not completed in this lifetime.
Resources
Cynthia's Websites: https://wisdomwaypoints.org; https://wisdomwayofknowing.org
Center for Action and Contemplation: https://cac.org
A Sampling of Cynthia's Books
"Love is Stronger than Death;" Random House, 1997
"Mystical Hope;" Cowley Publications, 2001
"The Wisdom Way of Knowing;" Jossey-Bass, 2003
"Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening;" Cowley Publications, 2004
"The Wisdom Jesus;" Shambhala, 2008
"The Heart of Centering Prayer;" Shambhala, 2016
"Eye of the Heart;" Shambhala Publications, 2020
Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]
Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022
05/29/22 • 47 min
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We might think of the desert as a wasteland, a place devoid of life. But that's not how Richard LeSueur sees it. He's spent over thirty years not only studying the wilderness of the Middle East but leading pilgrims out into its vastness for overnight excursions. He knows that in the silence and apparent emptiness of the desert, the richness of one's own spiritual journey can only rise to the surface. After all, it was the wilderness that turned Jesus from a carpenter's son into the Son of God.
To see the topics covered in this conversation and their time markers, click on the Chapters tab above.
To learn more about Richard's pilgrimage tours: https://pilgrimroutes.ca
To contact Richard directly: [email protected]
Recommendation: "Letters from the Desert" by Carlo Carretto; Orbit Books, 1982.
Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]
Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022
12/11/22 • 77 min
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It was indeed intense, but I was learning the ways of Soul and shedding the fears that prevented me from knowing and living out, fully, my purpose on the earth. As we camped in the woods and wandered and drummed and danced and dreamed, I knew something important was happening. I was becoming ... myself. Naturally.
To be guided through the threads of my conversation with Liz Wiltzen, click on the Chapters tab, above.
Links
Liz Wiltzen, Life Coach: https://www.lizwiltzen.com
Liz Wiltzen, "Tracking Yes" podcast: https://www.trackingyes.com
Resources
Animas Valley Institute: https://www.animas.org
Bill Plotkin, Soul Craft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche , New World Library, 2003
____________, Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World, New World Library, 2008
____________. WildMind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche, New World Library, 2013
____________. The Journey of Soul Initiation: A Field Guide for Visionaries, Evolutionaries, and Revolutionaries, New World Library, 2021
Photo Credit: Alexis Antonio on Unsplash
Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]
Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022
11/27/22 • 51 min
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Morning coffee with one's spouse? Listening to other people's stories? Reading whatever you want? This is spiritual practice? If you've been on the spiritual path all your life, then, yes. Because in the end spiritual practice is whatever works, not whatever others have told you to do.
My conversation with retired minister and former spiritual director John Griffith is filled with wise insights into the spiritual journey. There's a reason we've been taught to listen to our elders.
Referenced in this episode
Hillhurst United Church: https://hillhurstunited.com
Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]
Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022
11/13/22 • 46 min
Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).
Some forms of prayer seem to assume that we must capture the attention of a far-off God, like lassoing a star. Contemplation assumes God's already here, deep within, and not just within us, but within all created beings. Liz Rees, a contemplative teacher and guide, talks to me about how contemplative practice connects us deeply to the natural world.
Resources:
Berry, Thomas. "Dream of the Earth"; Sierra Club, 1988
Keating, Thomas. "Open Mind, Open Heart"; Continuum International Publishing Group, 1994
Loorz, Victoria. "Church of the Wild"; Broadleaf Press, 2021
Merton, Thomas. Kathleen Deignan (ed). "When the Trees Say Nothing"; Sorin Books, 2015
Green Exodus: [currently offline]
Inner Sanctuary the Podcast: found on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere
Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]
Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022
10/30/22 • 43 min
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When it comes to change in our lives, our rational minds can carry us only so far. Our bodies take us further. But rituals connect body and mind to Soul, creating transformative experiences that help us move through life's most significant passages.
Sarah Kerr, death doula and ritual healing practitioner, speaks to me about the power of rituals, their constituent parts, and what difference rituals make to how we live our lives. It could be that the cosmos is counting on us to become agents of transformative change, in other words, ritualists.
Episode Links
Sarah's Courses and Services: https://sacreddeathcare.com
Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]
Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022
10/16/22 • 50 min
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Don't we all want to belong? Don't we miss it, and yearn for it, when we don't? Out here, on the other side of church land, belonging to a community is what seekers miss most about their religious pasts. But not all community is good community, and not every community lasts. In this conversation with Janet Handy, we explore the range of possibilities for human belonging. In the end, we may be more a part of things than we realize.
Resources
Jan's book, The Secret Tribe, on Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/Secret-Tribe-Memoir-Resilience-ebook/dp/B07DQ9TGVB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=VHN64HIKU2MO&keywords=The+Secret+Tribe&qid=1663371759&s=books&sprefix=the+secret+tribe%2Cstripbooks%2C182&sr=1-1
Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]
Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022
10/02/22 • 52 min
Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).
Out here, on the other side of church land, how do we give voice to the deepest longings of our hearts? Might poetry help us? Reading poems, might they become our sacred texts; writing them, our personal prayers? Poet Richard Osler believes that poetry delivers us to the deep and holy places of our own souls, places of healing, of inspiration, and of profound Mystery. In this conversation, Richard reintroduces us to the power of poetry ... which, he warns, is not for sissies.
Episode Links
Richard's web site & blog: http://www.recoveringwords.com/site/
Resources mentioned in this episode (and a few others):
Roger Housden, ed, Ten Poems to Last a Lifetime
_____________________, Ten Poems to Set You Free
Also, by the same editor:
Ten Poems to Open Your Heart
Ten poems to Change Your Life
Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation
Garrison Keillor, ed., Good Poems
______________________, Good Poems for Hard Times
Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]
Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022
03/16/25 • 53 min
Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).
We don't tend to think of the corporate world as 'soulful.' But some companies realize that paying attention to social and environmental values, and not just to the bottom line, is good for the workers, good for the world, and, as it turns out, good for business as well.
Sona Khosla is Chief Impact Officer for Benevity, a tech company that brings working people and worthy causes together. The "impact" Sona seeks applies equally to creating a human work environment and making the world a better place. Please, can we have more of this?
A Link to Benevity: https://benevity.com
Personal Links
My web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.ca
My email address: [email protected]
Series Music Credit
"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022
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FAQ
How many episodes does The Mystic Cave have?
The Mystic Cave currently has 157 episodes available.
What topics does The Mystic Cave cover?
The podcast is about Christianity, Spirituality, Soul, Religion & Spirituality, Spirit, Podcasts, Religion, Journey, Church and New Age.
What is the most popular episode on The Mystic Cave?
The episode title 'Paying Attention: John Griffith on a Spiritual Practice of His Own' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on The Mystic Cave?
The average episode length on The Mystic Cave is 39 minutes.
How often are episodes of The Mystic Cave released?
Episodes of The Mystic Cave are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of The Mystic Cave?
The first episode of The Mystic Cave was released on Jan 5, 2021.
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