Freedom in the NOW: Spiritual Retreat with Erin February 5-7 via Zoom

Freedom in the NOW

Retreat with Erin Reese 

February 5 to 7, 2021

This is an unprecedented moment in time to drop into the Present, and discover the ultimate supportive resource of unlimited Being.

Such talks and meetings are called "satsang," which means "a spiritual discourse or sacred gathering." In Sanskrit, sat means "true essence, or nature" and sang means community or gathering. There is something powerful about gathering together in this manner, witnessing others' inquiries, and receiving transmission of wisdom in a safe, open space where the focus is on true freedom.

Therefore, I'm offering a three-day "intensive" the first weekend of February, wherein we will join together four times over a period of three days to go deeper into these teachings, which are called "non-duality" or advaita in Sanskrit ("not-two"). To put it most simply, All Is One, and the total and complete realization of this truth is called awakening by some. I call it freedom.

Freedom In the NOW

A 3-Day Intensive

Spiritual Talks and Meetings

with Erin Reese, M.S.

via ZOOM

Friday February 5 to Sunday February 7

Friday 4:30pm to 6pm PT

Saturday 10am to 11:30am PT

Saturday 4:30pm to 6pm PT

Sunday 10am to 11:30am PT

Saturday 12pm to 2pm (optional):

15-minute private meetings with Erin

Cost: $195 to $395 sliding scale

Scholarships Available

Register with Erin directly

There will be no outside "work" or practices outside of the satsang meeting times. It is entirely up to you how you spend your time between sessions, whether you choose to read, meditate, be in nature, dance, be with your family, journal, be silent, or work. The teachings will naturally deepen in you through simple Existence.

Some folks have expressed a sincere interest in participating, but are experiencing financial stress right now; therefore, I'm offering a scholarships, so please email me soon for information on applying. If you are drawn to attend, the way will be made available to you.

The whole point is freedom. Freedom from suffering.
The peace that is always and ever-abiding, in the NOW.

I look forward to seeing you soon.
With love,
Erin

Liberation is not an acquisition but a matter of courage, the courage to believe that you are free already and to act on it.

- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Erin Reese, M.S. is a contemporary non-dual spiritual teacher, author and guide. A modern mystic with over thirty years of experience, Erin Reese offers incisive, practical intuitive readings to her clients worldwide. She is a counselor, guide and mentor to those seeking an alternative to traditional psychotherapy or business coaching. Erin also offers non-dual meetings and retreats on embodied liberation and freedom from suffering. Visit erinreese.com for more information.

 

 

Fire in the Heart 🔥 New Moon in Leo

If you’ve been reading my articles, or had a session or attended a group with me over the past few months, you’ll note that I’ve often mentioned the incredible amount of HEAT on the planet right now. Mars’ long journey through the cardinal fire sign of Aries, due to a retrograde, lasts seven months, until the beginning of January 2021. Right now, this is being exacerbated due to a square to the prevailing ominousness of the Jupiter-Pluto-Saturn stellium in Capricorn that is raising hell with all structures, public health, political institutions, and control issues. Need I say more?

I’ve been talking about the heat, the fire, the kundalini shakti being raised all summer. I’ve suggested to my students and clients to stay ultra-aware of their energy field. To manage their internal energy systems with the keenest consciousness. To take responsibility for their own volatility, and tend carefully to what is needed internally and externally. I’ve discussed sex, food, cooling, electricity, anger, and family relations. I’ve advised exquisitely detailed listening to the body, mind, spirit. This is the way of responding and balance. 

As always, and obviously now, we must listen to the finest points of what our souls are asking. We will always know exactly what to do, and when to do it, so long as we are in the present moment. If you are fretting about the future, or dwelling in the past, you are already long-gone, and you will not be able to make any decision with clarity and confidence. This is why I teach Freedom in the Eternal Now and Unshakeable Presence.

Your life is always here, here, here. Nowhere else. (If you need assistance to see through the illusion of future-tripping, or past-melancholy, consider coming to an Awakening Group spiritual talk on Thursday morning, 9am PT. Email me directly for details.) It is vital that you drop into the moment, and embodied presence, if you want to be at peace through this great Transformation.

Things are heating up and will continue to do so over the next several months. Where is the reprieve? It is in your own heart. The opportunity hidden in disastrous planetary, political, and viral upheaval is to bring you back to what is already here, inside of the Self. It is from this place that you are able to make the move you need to make, to take the action that is being provoked, poked, and pushed by Mars’ fire at the moment.

Allyson Grey, Jewel Net of Indra, 1988

At this week’s New Moon in Leo (Tuesday, August 18, 19:42 PT) the Sun and Moon are trining volcanic Mars, and there is a grand opportunity to make a superpowered leap into your next life circumstance. It is vital that you listen. There is always a window to jump through, a hole in the net, a portal. What is it that your fiery courageous heart is telling you? Now is the time to have 100% trust in the Self, and be carried into the next chapter. We cannot sit back and wallow, eating up only what we are being fed from the fear-based collective, no. Go beyond, to that place in your self that is ready to risk it all, to make a move even when it doesn’t make “sense.” Your very heart knows what I’m talking about. Pack light, and make the leap.

I love you,

Erin

The real world is beyond the mind's ken; we see it through the net of our desires, divided into pleasure and pain, right and wrong, inner and outer. To see the universe as it is, you must step beyond the net. It is not hard to do so, for the net is full of holes.

~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That

Erin Reese, M.S. is a contemporary spiritual teacher, author and guide. A modern mystic with over thirty years of experience, Erin Reese offers incisive, practical intuitive readings to her clients worldwide. She is a counselor, guide and mentor to those seeking an alternative to traditional psychotherapy or business coaching. Erin also offers non-dual meetings and retreats on embodied liberation and freedom from suffering.

Summer, Serenity, and the Beauty of Inanimate Objects

“Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift.”  ~ Albert Einstein

Hello Beloveds,

With the recent Summer Solstice and New Moon Eclipse in Cancer, we have entered the time when the solar life force is the strongest in the Northern Hemisphere. With so much intensity on the planet, it’s critically important to notice what helps you feel in alignment. If you’re feeling out of sync, off-kilter, confused or garbled, it might be a sign that you are not living in a way that is congruent with your soul, your authentic self.

When we live in accordance with our True Nature, we feel good. We feel good even when we feel “bad.” There is a residing peace and contentment, daresay happiness or even joy, underneath even the so-called “negative” emotions. When we are seated in our self, we experience grief, anger, sorrow, loss, even frustration, with an ease that permeates all. There is a knowing, a holding, a basic trust that we are exactly where we need to be.

Think about it. Think about times when you’ve felt the blood-boiling of rage, or the bone-core-barrenness of deep grief, and you’ve just flat out felt good about it. This is because it is TRUE. It is real, it is here, and it is the authentic You.

When you’re living out of alignment with True Nature, even that which is supposed to feel good has an edginess to it. This is a sign you’re coming from ego, from separation from Source. You’re living from an idea that this is what is supposed to be happening, this what you are supposed to be doing. But it’s an idea. It’s not reality.

Reality is always easeful. It is always here. It is the place of rest, no matter what is unfolding.

The Beauty of Inanimate Objects

In summer, as in all seasons, we are urged to listen to the land. Listen to the wind, the trees, the flowers, the clouds. Listen to the rivers, the lakes, the sky. Listen, and you shall know exactly what is needed and called for in each and every moment.

These days, I’m reminded of the beauty of inanimate objects, not just of those found in nature, but also things human-crafted, human-made. I love that in most other languages besides English, we have feminine, masculine, neutral articles (e.g. German, der/die/das; French, le/la; Spanish, el/la, etc.) to indicate the gender of an object. We refer to objects as “she” or “he” and the whole object comes alive even more. “Der Zug,” or “the train” in German gives us the impression of a mighty creature huffing and puffing up the hill as we say, “there he goes! Watch him climb!” “Die Blume,” or “the flower” becomes She. “Look how beautiful She is!” as we gaze at the perfect rose.

Even the most unlikely candidates become alive through hints in language. This is a great pointer to the fact that All is Consciousness. Recognizing the Consciousness and beauty inherent in inanimate objects, we find aliveness, alertness, consciousness and story even in a hayfield. Above and below are photographs I took last week of two pastures and their recently collected haystacks and hayrolls. We can have an entire conversation with a hayfield when we really look. I am enamored with their beauty.

Aliveness is everywhere…

The other morning, my Beloved and I were driving across the valley and we had to slow to a stop as the most beautiful pronghorn antelope was standing right before our vehicle. Gorgeous markings shone vividly on her face, as die Antilope stared directly at us. She was looking for an opening to the prairie but was blocked by the cattle fence. Luckily, no cars were coming behind us, so we were able to sit and wait for her to find an opening in the fence. After a moment, she dove into a small opening in the barbed wire and pranced quickly across the cowfields, off into the sunset plains. Free again!

The Consciousness present in this animal was clear as a bell, as we looked directly into each other’s eyes.

We instinctively and collectively know there is intelligence present as we anthropomorphize animals and inanimate objects in Pixar, Disney, graphic novels, fairy tales. A teapot transforms into a friendly trickster, a pelican embodies the wise old man, a sea turtle a surf bum.

Non-humans are smart, flawed, perfectly imperfect, and just as conscious as we humans. Any animal lover will know that True Love is there and a connection is made, eye-to-eye, when one truly looks. This goes for trees, rivers, lakes and streams as well. Who’s to say that the Love is not reciprocated? Perhaps we experiment with extending this idea to every apparent separate object, every inextricable part of the whole.

Consciousness is everywhere. May joy and aliveness fill you as summer reveals its splendor and gifts!

With love,

Erin

Erin Reese, M.S. is a contemporary intuitive, spiritual counselor, author and guide. A modern mystic with over thirty years of experience, Erin Reese offers incisive, practical intuitive readings to her clients worldwide. She is a spiritual counselor, guide and mentor to those seeking an alternative to traditional psychotherapy or business coaching. Erin also offers non-dual meetings and retreats on embodied liberation and freedom from suffering.

  

Full Moon Lunar Eclipse: Healing Separation and Division

Prayer I, Angu Walters (Cameroon)

Today, we have a full moon lunar eclipse in the mutable fire sign of Sagittarius, most ardent seeker of truth, the big picture philosopher, thrusting for wisdom.

Where, we ask, is the wisdom in our world these days? The people are in great pain. Our nation is pain, our world is in pain, our Black brothers and sisters are in pain, our collective hearts are breaking. How to respond wisely, skillfully?

Each of us will make choices based on what we feel is good and true and congruent in our hearts. Sometimes, within the same family, individuals will react differently to world events, protesting or pandemics. Partners may be on on different, yet allied, pages. Your girlfriend may be more politically involved and engaged than you. Your husband may be wired to read the news and dialogue constantly. Your best friend may be sick with rage while your neighbor seems to have left for another planet, opting out of everything all at once.

As for myself, I am a bit of a modern monk, with a hint of anchorite. I want to say a few words to those readers who also work from a more internal, contemplative realm...

We cultivate serenity in the midst of suffering. Some of us act as go-to allies, as healers or empaths. Our job is to keep cleaning up the internal shadow, and through that, we aid the collective to face its own shadow. Our task is to remain fiercely aware of calcified beliefs and duality, aware of all forms of entrapment, within and without.

Becoming attached to any point of view perpetuates divisiveness and strife. Our job is to keep cleaning up on the internal level, plumbing the depths. Resisting nothing: all places of horror and pain, disgust and rejection that we carry within ourselves. Our job is to face everything. The ego, the superego, cultural expectations, separations and division within the self. Everything.

"To be free means to open your heart and your being to the fullness of who you are, because only when you are resting in the place of unity can you truly honor and appreciate others and the incredible diversity of the universe." ~ Ram Dass

Trust the unfolding. If your guidance is to be an activist right now, do it. If you are outraged, use your voice. If you need to take a break so you can keep on keeping on, take a time out. You will be no good to anyone if you are strung out. Come back to center. Stay grounded. Remember your infallible connection to Source. This will nourish you in every way.

This is not a spiritual bypass. I repeat: this is not a spiritual bypass. This is because, until one is ready and actually doing the “work” to FACE EVERYTHING – everything arising in the world, the Self, Existence – every horror and racial injustice, evil, shadow, within and without. Nothing must be excluded.

This work is not for sissies. We are talking about freedom, in the here and now. One must be willing to allow the passing away of beliefs, concepts, ideas of right and wrong. Attachments to image, appearances, the ego. It’s a fire sale: everything must go.

Use your sword of discernment, activating the principle of viveka - the ability to discern the true from the false. When you come up against a calcified bit of consciousness, a belief that is ultimately entrapment in disguise, use your sword – yes, use it skillfully, but use it you must. Cut away that which is not true. It is from this place that we do our very best work, within and without.

Erin Reese, M.S. is a contemporary intuitive, spiritual counselor, author and guide. A modern mystic with over thirty years of experience, Erin offers incisive, practical intuitive readings to her clients worldwide. She is a spiritual counselor, guide and mentor to those seeking an alternative to traditional psychotherapy or business coaching. For more information, visit erinreese.com.