Spiritual Guidance with Erin Reese

Standing at a crossroads?
Need a guide?

Spiritual Consulting with Erin Reese

Did you know that I offer spiritual consulting package options for clients desiring a deeper dive? This is an incredibly affordable option for those who wish to check in and receive support on a regular basis.

How does it work?

I offer spiritual counseling combined with regular intuitive readings on an ongoing basis. I meet with clients on a weekly or biweekly basis to check in on any professional or personal issues they are working with. We go as deep as you need. Some clients are working through relationship challenges, some need energy clearing to remove blocks in awareness. Some are learning to heal from reactive trauma in which I give them tools and we discuss the progress. Some clients need systemic constellation work to clear ancestral blocks in the family system. Some prefer more free association and personal or business coaching. Last but not least, some clients seek support with embodied spiritual awakening and deepening into the Self. Most clients request a look at the Tarot or their astrology chart for a short or long reading at some point in the session - a very good tool. In short, you bring to the table whatever you want to work through, and together we will find the tool to address it.

How much does it cost?

I offer one-time sessions at my normal rate of $125 per hour or $75 per half-hour, but by far the most affordable solution is to commit to a series of 4 sessions at only $350 which is just over $85/hr. I work with my clients via phone or Skype. I also allow any follow-up questions via email in between calls, if needed, to touch in on anything we are working with. You have my support. It's a great tool for folks that don't feel the call to traditional therapy or coaching but do want to go deeper and build trust with one person in a counseling fashion. And, of course, you have the added benefit of psychic readings as needed to go with it.

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What is your background?

In addition to 25 years of experience with astrology and the tarot, I am also an author and spiritual travel writer. I have training in transpersonal psychology, yoga and meditation, somatic therapies, recovery, and alternative healing. I have a strong business background, having worked as a corporate recruiter, website producer, and editorial consultant. I have undertaken long periods of spiritual pilgrimages and travel in Asia and Europe, along with five years living in India and studying with a spiritual teacher. My innate psychic ability has been inherited from the women in my ancestry and has been highly activated through spontaneous awakening of the Kundalini life force. I offer my work to clients all over the world in the spirit of service and healing.

For those who like credentials, here are a few other bits of training you might find interesting:

° Coaches Training Institute, Professional Life Coaching, San Rafael

° Sofia University (formerly Institute of Transpersonal Psychology), Palo Alto

° Certified Yoga Instructor. SVYASA Yoga University, Bangalore, India

° Systemic Constellation Training, Germany and United States

° Bachelors of Science, Highest Honors, University of California

° Masters of Science in Counseling (in progress), California State University

If you'd like referrals, please let me know. I have several ongoing clients that have offered to answer any questions from you as a reference for my work. You will know if you feel called to work with me.

How do I get started?

Please email me at erin@erinreese.com to set up an appointment time. Indicate whether you prefer phone or Skype appointments, and indicate a few options and times, Monday through Friday, that would work with your schedule on a weekly or biweekly basis. Payment can be made in advance or at the time of the first scheduled appointment via PayPal or with a bank card or check, your choice. We will find the best option for you.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

I look forward to supporting you on your journey!

With love,

Erin Reese

Erin Reese is an author, spiritual guide, astrologer, and modern psychic reader based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She works with clients all over the world.

For readings and spiritual counseling by Skype, phone or email, contact her directly. She can be reached at erin@erinreese.com.

The Amazing Grace of Failure

Success and failure may come and go, but there is a Source that is holding us far beyond any external happening.

THE AMAZING GRACE OF FAILURE

 

We know we’re starting to disidentify with the ego’s stronghold on our soul when we experience no difference between success and failure. No good, no bad. I’m sure many of you have read or heard the following Taoist parable in various forms:

We'll See
There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit.
"Such bad luck," they said sympathetically.
"We'll see," the farmer replied.
The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses.
"How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed.
We'll see," replied the old man.
The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg.
The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.
"We'll see," answered the farmer.
The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.
"We'll see" said the farmer.

We never know what is going to bring us real happiness so why not be happy no matter what the external circumstances? 

Believe it or not, I came to realize I had made real progress in my humble evolution when I fell flat on my face and failed miserably in front of a crowd of 2,000 people, and lived to tell about it. The ground did not swallow me up. I did not go to Hell for all eternity. People still spoke to me the next day. I probably dropped a few levels down in their rating book for about 20 minutes – then they forgot. People, and the world, all have A.D.D. these days – no one remembers what happens, the past doesn’t exist too long; most folks are so self-involved, it hardly matters what occurs. So it all goes back to the spiritual axiom, Keep the focus on your Self.

The day I failed miserably was the grand finale of my yoga teaching certification course at the Swami Vivekananda Yoga University in Bangalore, India. On the last night of the one-month course, a massive talent show was held for the students, faculty, and staff. The few of us foreigners were a tiny minority of the populace. Sara, an Austrian actress friend of mine and I decided to perform an experimental art piece in front of the school, based on poetry in motion. In the piece, I would half-sing, half-rap  a piece I had written on personality, and my willowy, talented friend would perform modern dance movements behind a screen with backlighting, creating abstract shadow effects. We recruited two of our male cohorts, Eduardo and Kamal (a long-haired Spanish hippie and a North Indian from Himachal Pradesh, respectively), to play “drums” for us on massive overturned plastic buckets.

All afternoon in rehearsal, prior to the evening performance, we were on fire! The song was strong, the visuals were intriguing, the beat added soul. We were excited to share our passions with the rest of the crowd.

The night of the gig, the Indians at the event – both the audience and dozens of other acts performing – were in typical Indian “fever pitch” mode. This is when it hardly matters what is happening, there is sheer revelry in adrenalin, loud music and extreme acts however vulgar or sublime. The crowd went wild as students performed Bollywood pieces, folk dances, and comedy sketches in Hindi. As the night played on, our little four-piece Euro-Indo-American experimental ensemble was discriminated against as we were consistently edged out and nudged off the lineup. Pushy broad that I can be (ignoring the adage, don’t push the river), I argued with the MC, feeling it imperative: “Our show must also go on!” Though it was getting late, the crowd had clearly hit its peak, and the four of us had also lost our spark, somehow, I felt the hands of the gods with us. We had to perform!

After the audience was entirely spent from three hours of chaotic hysteria…they finally let us go on. And that’s when everything went wrong.

The screen behind which Sara was to move was too small, and the shadow-dance effects were blown. Our Spanish drummer was missing his cues, distracted by a gorgeous Indian girl in the audience he’d just fallen in love with. I was doing my best to keep time, out of time, and perspiring buckets under the spotlights, having stupidly chosen to wear jeans for the "cool" factor. Flop sweat.

And two thousand pairs of big brown eyes stared back at us. What in Lord Shiva’s name are these people doing up there? The whole dang avant garde shebang went right over their heads. Mixed media? Modern dance? Garage band bucket drumming? Spoken word rap? What the heck is she talking about?

HUH?

Culture clash. Burn and crash!

Yes, we were the bomb. And not in any hip sense. We actually BOMBED.

A meager clap or two came when the stage went black at the end of our piece. As we walked off stage it was clear to me: we had failed. Especially me. I was the lead, the writer of the piece, and the provocateur of the whole damned thing.

As I gathered my things and walked into the night to my dorm room, a few pals walked past without making eye contact. Surely, they were embarrassed for me. One friend gave me back my camera (I had asked her to take a few pictures of the show) and scurried away without so much as a good night.

Yes, it really was that bad.

Then, it washed over me in a flush of realization: FANTASTIC LESSON! One of the most important teachings of my yoga teaching course, implemented surreptitiously the final night – a timely coup de grace, indeed. I had failed, big time, and I was still alive! Breathing. Nothing had changed! I was still the same person I was before I went on stage and no one came and murdered me, the Earth didn't bury me alive. No! 

I’d just had a firsthand experience that WHO WE ARE is not outside ourselves. It is not others’ approval or disapproval. Success and failure may come and go, but there is a Source that is holding us far beyond any external happening. Staying connected to the Source (God, Universe, Higher Power, Existence, Consciousness) at all times is the only job. When that connection is unshakable, NOTHING can throw us. Nothing.

In that moment of realization, I felt, Heck. You know, I could have been on Oprah, live on national television at that moment, and bombed. It would have been okay. I would have survived.

I had learned to fail, with Grace.

The Dark Night of the Soul

This article is lovingly dedicated to those readers who are going through difficult times in the life.

Namaste, Erin

Varanasi on the Ganges

Diwali, October 2009

We’ve heard the proverbial term, ‘dark night of the soul,’ to refer to a particularly painful, seemingly hopeless point in the life – a period where nothing makes sense anymore. When we're in such a state, no matter where we turn, it feels like there is only emptiness. But this isn’t the sort of spacious emptiness or soul “spaciousness” we yearn for and aim for in meditative living. No, it is a deficient emptiness. Even to muster hope feels utterly useless and meaningless.

I’ve experienced my fair share of Dark Nights of the Soul in my life, yet it wasn’t until recently that I learned it is a term first used by 16th-century Christian mystic, Saint John of the Cross. The Dark Night of the Soul has at times been referred to as the Spiritual Emergency or spiritual crisis.

I’m here to remind you of something that you may remember the next time you’re way down in those gloomy depths: Believe it or not, The Dark Night of the Soul is a good thing.

Last spring, while in a spiritual transformation process, I went down to the bottom of my soul in a bucket – numb, uncaring, depressed… a pitch-black venture down into the earth’s molten core of my being - ‘taint pretty in there! It’s raw, it’s real, and it’s necessary.

A dark night of the soul primarily occurs when the old self-image is ready to go. This is the outdated identification of who you think you are – the ego structure. When the self-image becomes calcified in any way, a dark night of the soul comes rumbling in like storm clouds. Of course, there are myriad ways we try to push it away, like distractions and self-medication. But eventually, even those stop working, and we can’t resist. It is not just depression, though it can feel like it, and it is a form of ‘low pressure’ internal meteorology situation.

There is apathy, and a near-suicidal feeling, like “I’m just plain DONE.” It feels like an end of life – and, in effect, it is. There is a sense of “I don’t know what could come next and frankly, I can’t muster any feeling to care.”

A Dark Night of the Soul can last months, years, or even lifetimes. Perhaps the time correlates to the degree of ego identification – how hardened that self-image is. Who you thought you were is dying. It is not your physical body passing away.

One of the most curious appearances of the dark night is when it crops up in otherwise truly positive, ‘spiritual,’ healthy folks. How could this occur? Two reasons: first, the positive, healthy, loving, spiritual emanation has itself become a self-identification (even “nice” personas are eventually painful); second, the soul knows you are ready to enter a dark night experience; the soul is strong, aware, and courageous enough to go through this period of consciousness.

For spiritually inclined people, one of the hardest parts of a dark night is that it seems even God (Consciousness, Spirit, Higher Power, Existence, the Universe) has abandoned us.


EXOSKELETON: THE SELF-IMAGE TRAP

The self-image is an invisible shell that comprises who you think you are…

I had a vivid, wild dream last spring around the time of my dark night of the soul. I dreamt I had an exoskeleton – an external shell that was like a human cage. It was made of metal. It appeared that it would protect the soft underbelly and vulnerable human within, but in reality it was uncomfortable, cramping, cutting, and even biting me with its razor-sharp edges like teeth. It was a violent shell, and I couldn’t move about without harming myself in the process.

When I woke, I knew immediately that it was symbolic of the self-image – the body-life mask we wear to protect ourselves, but is ultimately harmful.

The key with the dark night is to not resist; JUST SAY NO to the glomming self-image that says you need to be pretty and pleasant. Be depressed. Hate everything. Be ugly. Do you need medication? Maybe. Maybe not. You and your health care advisor will decide. Most often, I’d venture to say the answer is NO. You can ‘give in’ to the experience. It’s a death process – a part of you IS dying.

THE DARK NIGHT AND SPIRITUAL AWAKENING

Even in ‘awakened’ people, the dark night process occurs. Eli Jaxon-Bear, a non-dual spiritual teacher whom I respect along with his wife Gangaji, faced a dark night that he calls a "resurrection through hell" upon coming out about an affair (Shift Network webcast, spring 2011). This occurred some twenty years after his primary spiritual awakening. Eli admits that even in being awake, there is still a state – the blissful state – that is also a TEMPORARY place. After coming out honestly about his affair with another woman, the whole façade, the self-image of what it meant to be a ‘Spiritual Teacher’ came crashing down: slander, rejection – all of it flew in through the window. Yes, it was hell. And yes, it passed to reveal a new cycle of spiritual evolution. As many spiritual masters have explained, waking up is just the beginning.

THE GIFTS OF DEPRESSION

Author and Christian mystic Thomas Moore has a great chapter called “The Gifts of Depression” in his book Care of the Soul, in which he states, “…we may have to develop a taste for the depressed mood, a positive respect for its place in the soul’s cycles.”

In 2007, I wrote Mr. Moore directly to thank him for these insights. He in turn replied how perfect it was to hear from me at that exact time because, you guessed it: he was going through dark tunnels himself. One does not simply get a 'degree' of graduating; the transformation goes deeper throughout a spiritual life.

EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL IS NOT LINEAR

The cycle of expansion of consciousness is hardly linear; it is more of a spiral. When we grow higher and brighter, the soul has capacity to plunge into deeper and darker territory. When we go further into dark places, it appears (though there is no guarantee) that a growth spurt of fresh awareness and expansion follows. Expand, contract. Contract, expand. When we plummet to the depths, the place where ‘you’ barely exist at all, it is likely you will emerge with a gift. It is like the Hero’s Journey described by Joseph Campbell in the Power of Myth. There’s a grail in that there murky, monstrous place of meaninglessness.

The last time I went through a dark night, the usual raging flame of awareness became a tiny dot, a wee spark of “I.” It was as if “I” might completely disappear into the inky black void, and yes, it feels like borderline madness.

Luckily I’ve experienced surfing of consciousness, and I know that it is OK to dissolve into the Nothingness that is Everything, to release the illusory separation and settle into EXISTENCE.

Remember:
(1) you’re not alone
(2) you’re not crazy
(3) you are okay
(4) allow it to take as long as it takes

Let me reiterate an important point: resistance is futile. Attempting to do anything to FIX a real dark night of the soul may only make it worse or last longer. See, what you are most likely going to try to do, courtesy of the superego of society’s ‘should’ approach, is attempt to DO something. That very doing-of-something will likely help perpetuate the very ego structure, the self-image that is dying.

Guides, therapists, healers and shamans can be useful at this time. Priests and priestesses, monks and nuns who have the understanding may be able to hold space for the unraveling. Yet, if the counselor or therapist attempts to fix things, sugarcoat, or make you feel better, they probably don’t get it, and they certainly haven’t gone through the eye of the needle themselves. Remember that the best source to ‘hold’ you in this dark place is the very Self.

Erin Reese is an intuitive consultant, astrologer, author, and spiritual counselor. She works with her clients worldwide via Skype, phone and email.