HOLY F*CK: HEALING THE CORPORATE WORLD WITH MICHAEL VENTURA

Think you have to drop out of the mainstream to tap into soul-deep healing? “Real world” mystic Michael Ventura chats with Alexandra Roxo about infusing the corporate landscape with cosmic creativity …

holy fuck holy f*ck alexandra roxo moon club ruby warrington applied empathy michael ventura the numinous

“Yes, I’d have a hard time smudging the conference rooms of some of our clients without getting some serious side-eyes, but we can ‘smudge’ in different ways … ” – Michael Ventura  

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During the height of my Saturn Return at age 29, I felt like the world was caving in on me and I sought a LOT of healing assistance. Peyote. Ayuasca. Reiki. These were dark days for me, and served as my own initiation into the underworld, into becoming a healer myself, and as a woman.

When I stumbled upon Michael Ventura during this time, I had no idea what to expect. I went into this dark ad agency late at night, empty except for a treatment table and a tall bearded man.

In the years I worked with Michael, he helped heal my own relationship to masculine energy, and my grudge against the patriarchy and my own dad, in addition to giving me courage to see myself as a healer and step into that path.

Michael models something I preach about in Moon Club and aspire to myself- by day, he runs a creative agency in the “regular” world, and by night he does magical healing work on the top floor.

Through these double worlds, he’s helping to create a new world where instead of us all quitting our jobs to become healers and yoga teachers, we bring conscious healing work to all the industries that need it.

I sat down with Michael to chat empathy, healer archetypes, and changing the corporate world from the inside out …

holy fuck holy f*ck alexandra roxo moon club ruby warrington applied empathy michael ventura the numinous

Alexandra Roxo: You are the CEO of a creative agency that works with mega brands and you are also a healer! What are your thoughts on the different types of healer archetypes that are awakening within so many people as they bring those practices to a diversity of industries?

Michael Ventura: One of my teachers once told me, “We don’t need more monks in monasteries, we need monks in our cities.” I’ve always loved this notion and have hung onto it.

I wholeheartedly believe that as our own intuition and gifts are awakened, we have a great opportunity to help bring our full self to the communities we serve. For me, bringing myself to a board room is no different than a treatment room. I am the same person. I have the same tools in my toolbox.

Yes, I’d have a hard time smudging the conference rooms of some of our clients without getting some serious side-eyes, but we can “smudge” in different ways. With different tools. As we learn and increase our capacity to work with energy, to work with people, and to work with the elements, all of this becomes part of our daily expression of our self.

As the saying goes, “not all heroes wear capes,” and to the same effect, not all healers need candles and sandals to work their magic.

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AR: I always describe your work as energy work that combines Reiki, shamanism, and Chinese medicine. What kind of traditions and modalities did you study?  

MV: I often refer to my work as “indigenous medicine.” My practice has roots in both traditional Chinese medicine as well as the Mesoamerican shamanic traditions of the Nahuatl indians.

But what’s also true is that part of my work is derived from that which is most indigenous to my own spirit. As I have refined my work over the past decade, I have come to trust my oldest, innermost voice, and to use that trust to help expand the work I offer.

Whether we are in the mountains of Peru, the river lands of China, or simply in the depths of our own spirit, there is powerful medicine waiting to teach us. We don’t always need to travel around the globe to find ourselves. Sometimes, our true self is right here beside us, waiting to open up and teach us something new.

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AR: I used to be very private about my spiritual work while working in the commercial directing space, but now I’m more open. How do you bring your energy work into the advertising world?

MV: Interestingly, what’s happened a lot over the years is that a mutual friend of mine and the client’s will come and see me for a session and then share their experience with the client in casual conversation. I often then get an email or text that says something like “I’m with so and so and they told me you do energy work. I want some!”

To me, those are great moments where worlds collide. And that’s how it should be. We are all living in a real world and have real lives and are trying to not just get by, but to thrive. If I can be of service to someone in that way, I can sleep well at night knowing I did something right with this existence.

More practically, I also find that some of the work we do for clients allows us to bring a sense of integrity, wellness, mindfulness, or simply kindness into their brand. And while some organizations just aren’t ready, I encourage our team to use those projects to help put more fuel in our collective gas tank to do more with the communities we serve. In some long karmic loop kinda way, I have to believe that it’s all worth it in the end.

holy fuck holy f*ck alexandra roxo moon club ruby warrington applied empathy michael ventura the numinous
Michael’s Applied Empathy Card Deck

AR: Do you think everyone has an inner “healer” archetype that wants to come out? Or just some of us?

MV: Everyone is a healer. 1000%. I have no doubt. It is just that many of us lose touch with – or never explore that side of – ourselves.

The capacity to heal comes from YOU. I’m just a pair of old jumper cables helping you to get your car running smoothly again. I recently read a quote from a Chinese medicine practitioner who said that he calls everyone he treats his “student.” He said that every session is an opportunity for them to learn more about themselves, for them to learn how to heal themselves. I loved this idea and think it’s absolutely true.

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AR: You’ve created a beautiful deck that displays what you call the “archetypes of empathy.” How did you create these archetypes and how do we embody them?

MV: Over the span of about 6 months, myself and a group of colleagues here at Sub Rosa (my design firm) explored behaviors that allow us to understand each other. We looked at our own habits as well as those we worked with and admired.

We started to see a variety of themes emerge. Once we felt like we had found a strong group of seven behaviors, we utilized a spectrum of questioning called the “whole self” that’s based on the chakras, among other things. These archetypes explore the physical self, the emotional self, the aspirational self, and others.

Each archetype helps us see the world from a different vantage : 

The Sage: Be Present. Inhabit the here and now.
The Inquirer: Question. Interrogate assumed truths.
The Convener: Host. Anticipate the needs of others.
The Alchemist: Experiment. Test and learn at all costs.
The Confidant: Listen. Summon the ability to observe and absorb.
The Seeker: Dare. Be confident and fearless.
The Cultivator: Commit. Nurture and intentionally grow.

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AR: I’m feeling a personal move from the “alchemist” archetype (major curious human who will try anything) to something new. Do you think we move through different archetypes as we grow? 

MV: Actually, I believe that all of us embody all seven of these archetypes – just not in equal measure. Some we feel very comfortable with, but others are daunting. That’s the point. The cards and the questions within them are meant to help you “limber up” a bit and stretch your perspective in order to make you a more well-rounded empath. Your desire to shift to another archetype is totally normal. You are all of them. Keep trying different ones on and you’ll see how all of the perspectives start to emerge from within yourself over time.

holy fuck holy f*ck alexandra roxo moon club ruby warrington applied empathy michael ventura the numinous

AR: What’s the role of self-work in your healing practice? What does being devoted to your path mean to you? 

MV: In the past decade, I’ve observed that more and more people are realizing that the best service they can provide to others is to start with healing themselves. Years ago, many people would be mortified if others knew they were seeing a therapist or a Chinese doctor. People’s reactions would immediately go to “what’s wrong with them that they need someone like that.” That era is long gone and self-work is no longer taboo.

But the pendulum can also swing in the other direction. It’s not uncommon for me to hear about someone doing an ayahuasca ceremony, followed by a week of intensive Rolfing, then doing a 10-day cleanse of some kind, then this, then that. It’s important to walk the spiritual buffet line from time to time, see what’s on offer and what you’re called to, but it’s also important to commit and focus on the things that work. To go deep and not be tempted to just try the next thing that comes through the door.

For me, the balance of freedom and discipline in all of this self-work is where the real medicine resides.

Listen to Michael and I chat more on his podcast Applied Empathy, buy the cards for your next date or dinner party, and book a session with him in NYC here!

HONOR + PROTECT: A READING FOR THE 2016 CAPRICORN FULL MOON

The message of the Capricorn Full Moon is to create structures that allow you to honor and protect your most emotional self, says Sandra Sitron.

Capricorn full moon 2016 on The Numinous

We experience a Capricorn Full Moon on July 19th at 6:57pm EDT.

THE MOON AND ITS MESSAGE
“We can be parents to ourselves by adoring and providing for our own Inner Child. Let’s figure it out. Let’s help ourselves grow.”

A Full Moon always creates awareness between two opposite energies. And since it requires a lot of energy to expand into greater awareness, Full Moon vibes are always active, outward, and high-intensity.

The opposite energies involved in this Full Moon are: Sun in Cancer and Moon in Capricorn.

The ancient archetype of Cancer is Mother. Cancer teaches us to actively nurture. Cancer is focused on the personal and the private. Emotions, home and family.

The ancient archetype of Capricorn is Father. Capricorn shows us the importance of building structures and organizations that can function efficiently. This energy teaches how to prioritize what is important to us. Capricorn is focused on the formal and public. Career, institutions, society.

And so the polarities of this Capricorn Full Moon have to do with home vs. professional life, and emotion vs. rationality.

When I did a journey to understand the energy of this Full Moon more clearly, the symbol that came through was: A lizard half submerged in water.

The lizard reminds us to slip down into our emotional waters. To center ourselves in our inner truth, yet adapt to our environment. To find a way to be fluid in where there is structure. To become so efficient and effective that we can remain emotionally robust.

And so any time your actions out in the world feel at odds with your emotional needs during this Moon phase, lean in to what feels self-supportive instead. For example, if you are feeling overwhelmed remember you can always soothe yourself with empathetic words.

To find balance in the beam of this Capricorn Full Moon, call in archetypical Mother and Father energy.

Father: (Capricorn)
Protect yourself. Create structure in your life. Make sure you are safe and provided for.
Mother: (Cancer)
It’s all about nurture and love. Show yourself how cherished you are. Give yourself unconditional love.

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URANUS IN ARIES
“We are training the vine in a new direction. We are wild, free and autonomous. We take bold action in service of our growth.

The Capricorn Full Moon also forms part of a T-square, with Uranus in Aries as the focal planet. The symbol that came through for this t-square aspect was: A duel in the wild west.

The Sun and Moon are in the signs that manage the emotional and the vocational. They are trying to reconcile with each other and are simultaneously in a tense aspect to Uranus in Aries—the planet of change in the sign of leadership. The energy of this moment is fraught. This intensity can feel like it leaves us with no option but to make hard and fast decisions, simply for the sake of survival. Impatience, and a desire to take action are running the show.

This aspect can feel like who you are and what you do are being questioned. It can feel like shifts need to be made immediately. Freedom becomes of utmost importance. I call this “eject button” energy. Something’s got to give and it’s got to happen now!

But whenever there is a T-square (which looks like an arrow in the sky, and holds both motivating and challenging energy) we can look to the sign that is unactivated to find resolution—the logic being that if three signs are activated, it’s like a table that has three legs and is missing the fourth. Thing’s are a little wobbly.

The signs that are activated right now are Cancer, Capricorn and Aries—while the unactivated sign (or missing table leg) is Libra.

Libra reminds us that relational skills are needed now. So to work with this Capricorn Full Moon, try to put yourself in other people’s shoes. Veer toward compassion. Communicate with diplomacy. If you get angry, go slow. Allow the adrenaline to subside before you speak. Unless you are facing a true emergency, know that you have time to breathe and decide rationally how to set a boundary.

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MARS SEXTILE THE MOON
“We are comfortable with our light and our shadow. We support ourselves by allowing our emotions to flow.”

Action planet Mars is another supportive force for this Capricorn Full Moon. He makes a tender trine aspect to the Sun and a harmonious sextile to the Moon.

Mars is currently in Scorpio, reminding us that all the answers we are looking for are available when we dig deep. Go inward. Find the places in our body where old emotions have been stored. Mars in Scorpio gives us permission to let go. To cry. To go all the way down into our center, to where we feel feel grounded.

Feeling all the things we never let ourselves feel before actually helps us feel safe. To feel whole. It shows us that we are complete. This cathartic process of grieving and letting go is how we can mother ourselves through any conflicting emotions the Capricorn Full Moon may bring up at this time. Your job is to simply allow.

The symbol that came through for Mars sextile the Moon was: A magical cloak that can transport us to faraway lands.

Maybe there is some tool or technique you can use to heighten your experience in this world. Look around. Is there something you can utilize that’s actually right next to you? Something that can help you better navigate your emotional state? It may be a mindset, a meditation, a favorite healer, yoga practice or book. Open you eyes, your heart and your mind, and it will be be easy to find and emotionally supportive.

The symbol that came through for Mars Trine the Sun was: A very young tree growing straight toward the Sun.

This image helps us remember that we find true alignment in striving for our essential truth and nourishing our root system. If you are looking for motivation, pay attention to your emotions. Make peace with limiting beliefs around your family and ancestral system, where you came from. Make sure that you are tenderly telling yourself the whole truth about how you feel.

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IN SUMMARY
During this Capricorn Full Moon phase, which will color the two weeks ahead of the August 1 Leo New Moon, make unconditional self-love your guiding principal—and choose your actions accordingly!

Protect and nurture yourself. Be loving toward yourself and create efficient structures designed to make you feel supported. Break free where you need to, but not at the cost of what you have so carefully built. Give yourself time. Through bravely investigating your emotions you will find relief and understanding. You will find your truth and discover new ways to protect it.

To book a private readig with Sandra email her at [email protected] or visit www.strongeyeastrology.com

SPEAK YOUR TRUTH: CHANELLING THE ANGELS OF ATLANTIS

Fear of public speaking? Imagine if the Angels of Atlantis had your back…Stewart Pearce, a.k.a. The Alchemy of Voice, explains to to harness Angel energy and express yourself from the heart.

Divine Consciousness by Daniel Sanchez featured on TheNuminous.net
Divine Consciousness by Daniel Sanchez via Behance.net

We’re currently living through a vast vortex of a spiritual revolution – this is known as the Human Potential Movement. Through this period we are reaching points of initiation where people are waking up to the fact that their soul is crucial to the fabric of their life. I tune people in to the Song of their Soul through my role as a voice coach. Coaching in this way is about working with a person’s inner being, because our voice is an intimate part of our psyche…”

Stewart Pearce is a Master of Voice, and created The Alchemy of Voice as a process of sound healing using the human voice. He also has a leading edge team of celestial helpers that appear as Orb Light Beings, and which we know as Angels. In fact, Stewart channels the Angels of Atlantis to help guide his clients, who have included Princess Diana and Anita Roddick among other luminaries, to an harmonic communion with the Divine.

The more, shall we say, advanced students among the Numi community will be familiar with the 12 Archangels, who in turn represent the 12 archetypes of consciousness. For the uninitiated, there follows a conversation with Stewart about his work, and an introduction to each Angel and their specific realm of Cosmic prowess…

Did you always have a connection to spirit?
“I grew up with the ability to see angels, but around the age of 9 or ten I shut that side of my self down because I realized that not everybody could see the things I did. I became an actor, and then a voice coach for actors, which is when I began to switch back on. I remember a leading actor in the West End telling me: ‘My God, you’ve helped me so much! But how could you know that my mother’s death had such an effect on me?’ I told him, ‘Well, she’s standing right next to you.’ And so I came out of the closet as a psychic.”

And when did you begin to work with the Angels of Atlantis?
It was in Glastonbury, during the time of the Harmonic Convergence in August 1987. This was a very unique astrological configuration, where it was suggested by the Mayans that 144,000 Rainbow Light Warriors would be awoken to prepare for the great shifts leading up to December 21st, 2012. During that weekend, I went to sit on the tor to meditate, which is when I heard these extraordinary sounds. I was sitting with my eyes closed and when I opened them, I saw huge orbs of light, and I heard inside me: ‘We are the Angels of Atlantis, and we are going to give you a Temple of Sound Healing, called The Alchemy of Voice.'”

Saint Michael the Archangel by Jesus R. Sanchez on TheNuminous.net
Saint Michael the Archangel by Jesus R. Sanchez via Behance.net

Far out! So how can we connect to the Angels with our voice?
“We’ve been educated to be very cerebral, but we can all learn to emit certain frequencies, particularly through our voices, that allow us to feel a preternatural, a supernatural presence. What I do is I use sound, be it through speaking, or through chanting, to help people to feel a sense of harmony with their Angelic guides. There’s no formula to working with the Angels. It’s an experience. Do we think fall in love? No. We just know we’ve fallen in love. We feel it. And while humans love for the sake of being loved, Angels love for the sake of love, and so what they do is help us awaken to what’s in our own hearts.”

Why do people choose to work with you?
“Most people come to me because they’re sad, the shit is hitting the fan, or they feel that life is completely moribund and mundane. The questions they ask are: “Why is this happening to me? What is my purpose? Where is the joy in my life?” There begins a conversation about the crises and the conflicts that have taken place in their experience, that have taken this beautiful being, this person of crystalline light, away from the source. What I do is plug people back in, so that the Angels can begin to provide them with magic and miracles again. We create an opening, an aperture into the council of the divine. And life is never the same again.”

In what ways do people begin to express themselves differently?
“This relates to speech because when words arise from the heart, they will enter the hearts of those who are listening. And also because as soon as you plug back into the core of what we and life are all about, it is like falling in love – you want to tell the whole world. Out of that love, our physiology in turn opens up, and we become immediately very expressive. For as soon as we move into this frequency, people step forward with congruence. The quality of conversation one is having matches the quality of frequency one is holding. As with everything else, our experience is not happening to us, it is responding to us. That’s the Law of Attraction.”

Stewart Pearce introduces the Angels of Atlantis…

Archangel costume sketch by Milan Covacevic on TheNuminous.net
Archangel costume sketch by Milan Covacevic via Behance.net

:: G A B R I E L ::
Archangel Gabriel is the DIVINE MESSENGER of God, who brings us inspiration in order to assist us with transition and change. Gabriel inspires us to receive divine unction directly from the Source. For Gabriel’s messages align us with who we truly are, blessed in the soul’s arousal of our spiritual path. Therefore, receiving this Angel’s inspiration means we fully discover that love and compassion are the only way forward to freedom – an initiation that is announced in the breath of heaven.
Click here for a meditation with Archangel Gabriel

:: H A N A E L::
Archangel Hanael invokes us to champion our willpower with the shield of humility, and to live sustainable love through strength, integrity, courage and purpose. As the SACRED WARRIOR, Hanael evokes our spiritual muscles to be in peak condition, fostering a sense of direction that emits peace through each breath, hope in each movement, and integrity in each step. For make no mistake, we are receiving cosmic encouragement from the Angelic kingdom at this time of great soul-striding, to harmonize our cardinal virtues, so that we may meet the ascending vibrations of the Galactic Heart, and to ultimately move into the fifth dimension.
Click here for a meditation with Archangel Hanael

:: J O P H I E L ::
Archangel Jophiel is the cosmic force brought forth to aid us with the nature of our spiritual liberation. Jophiel lovingly frees us to comprehend the greatest teaching of the HOLY LIBERATOR, and like the great Buddha, to detachment through stillness. For this profound quality always releases us from conflicting feelings and erroneous thoughts, thereby we stir forgiveness, liberation, meditation and ultimate joy within our lives.
Click here for a meditation with Archangel Jophiel

:: M E T A T R O N ::
Archangel Metatron brings us the iridescent force of the SUPERNAL TEACHER concerning the things that were, things that are, and things that have not yet come to pass. Thus Metatron speaks from the core of this Oracle with Divine intelligence, miraculous power, refined wisdom and great mercy, startling us to act upon that which concerns our soul, that which helps us to recognize our wholeness.
Click here for a meditation with Archangel Metatron

Archangel Raphael by Carlos Quevedo on TheNuminous.net
Archangel Raphael by Carlos Quevedo via Behance.net

:: R A P H A E L ::
Archangel Raphael, like the calm of the woodland spring, exists as an exquisite HOLY HEALER bringing our beings to commune with Mother Earth. This enriches our journey through the knowledge of interconnectivity, empathy and oneness, bringing all aspects of our lives back into harmony as we embark on our soul’s odyssey.
Click here for a meditation with Archangel Raphael

:: M I C H A E L ::
Archangel Michael is the embodiment of the Art of Alchemy, and like the Egyptian God Thoth, the Scribe of the Gods, skilfully enchants cosmic forces through us into direct rays of action. For Michael is the COSMIC LEADER of the Angels of Atlantis, lasering our lives in order to cleanse all negativity. Michael is aligned with the planet Jupiter’s energy, which moves us to expand our horizons through transmutation, patience, and the I am Presence, bringing us to enchantment. In this, Michael uses the love of the heart as a unique dialling force to make sure integrity takes full lodging in our consciousness.
Click here for a meditation with Archangel Michael 

:: R A Z I E L ::
Archangel Raziel is the keeper of the DIVINE MYSTERIES and so this guardian Angel of Illumination is the keeper of the supreme knowledge of the soul, just as the Great Pyramid and Sphinx hold the secrets of bygone civilizations. Therefore, drawing Raziel into your daily devotions will allow you to experience life drawn from a deeply profound connection with the sacredness of the Cosmos. Once you allow this magic into your life the veil of illusion parts, and you will see life truly as it is, full of a love that stretches for infinity.
Click here for a meditation with Archangel Raziel

:: S A N D A L P H O N ::
Archangel Sandalphon’s unique force is as the SACRED GUARDIAN of the Planet, and of our earthly presence. Sandalphon is destined to draw the creative energy of Planet Earth into the evolutionary ascension of the Galactic Force, and through all living beings with love, intention as seen in the icon of Avebury Henge.
Click here for a meditation with Archangel Sandalphon

Archangel Michael by Romnick Toledo on TheNuminous.net
Archangel Michael by Romnick Toledo via Behance.net

:: S H A M A E L ::
Archangel Shamael is the ultimate DIVINE GUIDE who watched over Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemene, and is appointed to equally look out for you in moments of great challenge. The vast love of this great Angel creates a ray of hope that always overshadows the burden of the mortal flesh, and transforming us to create the beauty that is always waiting to emerge.
Click here for a meditation with Archangel Shamael

:: U R I E L ::
Archangel Uriel represents the union of Heaven and Earth, made manifest through the great OM, and the beauty of the human heart, for within the individual heart is a space for a potential marriage between the physical flesh and the Godly Spirit. For the sonar of the heart is where the super coherence between Heaven and Earth, between Human and Divine takes place, in order for us to be conduits for the abundance of the Cosmos.
Click here for a meditation with Archangel Uriel

:: Z A D K I E L ::
Archangel Zadkiel as the DIVINE COMFORTER bestows beneficent wisdom upon us, allowing clear vision to take place over the obstacles that perpetuate the self-limiting beliefs we may hold – the impediments that stop us from enjoying spiritual abundance. Zadkiel not only shows us what needs to be brought forth into the light to be healed, but also clarifies how to intuitively heal it, which brings gratitude and security. So this exquisite Archangel, who governs the Tenth Chakra, and who arises from Uranus, teaches us to trust in God’s utter benevolence and guidance – to yield and let God comfort us.
Click here for a meditation with Archangel Zadkiel

:: Z A P H K I E L ::
Archangel Zaphkiel inspires us to great acts of sacred loving and thus governs the Second Chakra, which contributes to the depth of our relationship behaviors, and encourages us to feats of personal compassion and divine romance. Zaphkiel arises from Venus, the Planet of Love, and always appears when we call, reminding us of the love that arises from deep within the Source, that can be easily forgotten. This Angel moves us to find true compassion and ecstasy through the romance of life – those ideals of love that replenish our force – allowing us to surrender to passion, and pulsate with bliss and devotion for the Divine.
Click here for a meditation with Archangel Zaphkiel

STEWART SHOT 2013 1Stewart Pearce will be hosting a workshop titled The Angels of Atlantis and the Enchantment of Love in Los Angeles on February 14 2015. For more information visit Thealchemyofvoice.com