Meet Mari
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"Learning is finding out what you already know.
Doing is demonstrating that you know it.
Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you.
You are all learners, doers and teachers"
Illusions by Richard Bach
Life-Long Metaphysical and ET Experiencer
I've spent my life studying ancient knowledge, hidden history, sacred geometry, quantum particle theory, the nature of consciousness and spiritually cultivating (as a 40+ year student of an ancient Chinese occult meditation practice) in an effort to understand the nature of our reality and my own experiences.
I'm a professionally trained performer (don't worry, I hung up my head shots a long time ago, I only use my powers for good now), writer and a former skin care product developer and mom-preneuer. Through all my muggle, mundane endeavors my spiritual practice and study has always remained primary; the driving force and the very heart of everything I do.
What I've learned in my many orbits and incarnations, what comes through me, doesn't belong to me.
It is my delight to be of service to you and watch your dreams and wishes materialize.
My Story
Don't think finding my teacher and spiritual practice in my early twenties paved my path or bubble wrapped my challenges. On my thirtieth birthday I'd been traveling in Australia for six months. I was divorced (after a whopping 11 months of marriage), just north of 70 lbs and barking mad (seriously, you couldn't hold a conversation with me). Eleven years of anorexia and everything that drove it came to a head one night on a sailboat in the middle of the Whitsunday Islands off the coast of Queensland. In the wee hours of the night I collapsed in the head, (the bathroom on a boat, and yes, that is funny. The irony is not lost on me). I was in and out of consciousness all night. While I didn't have a classic NDE (near death experience), I could almost push my hand through the veil to the peace and freedom of the other side. All I could think was I wanted to go Home, back to Source, All That Is. I didn't care about anything else. At some point I got angry, white-hot fury raged through. I began to bargain with the nonphysical being with me, "IF I stay.... then EVERYTHING changes!" Which I later learned is a prayer that never goes unanswered (none of them do, but this one can have the sting and propelling power of ten thousand rubber bands).
I managed to get my scrawny ass back to the states and agreed to treatment. I'd made my agreement with All That Is; everything meant everything and the eating disorder - and everything it hid - was the first on the list. On the ward they told me I'd be eating disordered for the rest of my life and barfed out statistics that ensured I'd be dead within five years if I didn't do everything their way. I had no idea what life looked like on the other side of treatment, and it scared the hell out of me, but I knew for sure it didn't include eating disorder in any form. I was finished with all of that and I wasn't interested in their sticky, conditional version of "recovery".
In retrospect didn't set out to "recover" and drag the dead weight of what once was with me for the rest of my life. I set my course to what freedom looked like for me, what I wanted, what They said didn't exist. Healing. I didn't care what they said. I did the work. Baby steps. Inchworm steps. On the days I couldn't take a step I leaned in the direction of my freedom. It wasn't long before I noticed I was actually living the freedom I had set my course to. The eating disorder felt like a book I once read, a movie I once saw. It was just a story, it had no hold over me.
The eating disorder left me with obvious gifts, stronger, more resilient and compassionate. And not so obvious ones, a passion for the art of dining and cooking. The ability and skill to create delicious, soul-feeding food any time, anywhere, with virtually any ingredients or dietary restrictions (the origin story of a Kitchen Witch). Proof that our greatest gifts are hidden within our biggest challenges. As long as we're mining for the gems, that is what we will find, regardless of the size of the slag heap.
There've been many more un-bubble wrapped challenges and adventures since then, too many for one pool-side novel or spicy memoir. But that's okay. Life is messy, untidy and staggeringly beautiful. It's not about getting it right or wrong, not falling down or doing it "perfectly". Nothing is empirically or intrinsically right or wrong, good or bad, holy or evil, WE give it meaning. WE choose what we think and so how we feel and so what we experience. It doesn't matter what other people think (or more precisely, what we think they think), that's theirs and none of our business.
The weather of life is going to come. The question is are you going to dance in the rain and splash in the puddles while the wind whips your hair into a crazy mess or are you going to retreat to the "safety" of an hermetically sealed box, insulated from the nourishment and adventure of water and wind? Are you gonna surf the giant waves or get tossed and smashed on the rocks, a victim of the ocean? Are you gonna whine and complain about the muck and mud or are you gonna sift the grime for the gems?
I choose to dance, find the shiny rocks and surf the big waves. Because that's where the magic happens, where transformation lives. Where you'll find me.
"I haven't failed, not once. I've discovered ten thousand ways that don't work."
Thomas Edison
Even before I could put words to it, I could see and feel things other people couldn't. I often knew what people were thinking or trying to hide (awkward). I was also aware of the movement of energies wherever I was. A playground or a high mountain meadow, a box canyon, a shop or a living room, I felt each unique unique swirling flow or dank stagnation.
Guided by my clever mother and playful grandmother, I learned to translate the harmony and flow I felt in nature into spaces. Every spring I watched my mother and grandmother take up the rugs, push the furniture into new places and move decor around. Suddenly everything felt fresh and full of new life, like the budding trees outside. In the autumn, as the air gained a chill and the trees shed their leaves, the rugs would be put back down and the furniture moved into cozier, more intimate and introspective arrangements. It wasn't until years later, when I became a student of a Chinese Master, I realized the profound effect the seasonal furniture shuffle had on the health and well being of our family and home.
It was that Chinese Master who helped me understand all the weird things I experienced in my life. Through old school, silent, ass-on-the-cushion meditation, I learned the importance of building a strong internal foundation and connection with the Inner/Higher Self. I learned to work with the energies I felt, allowing them to guide me. I honed my ability to listen, surrender and face the small self. Probably most important, I learned to face the dragons of my fears until I could see they were not what I'd made them out to be.
My Commitment to You
If I'm doing my job, you don't need me.
Fostering dependence is the opposite of empowering.
I know you don't need me to find the answers you seek, I'm just handing you a lantern and reminding you how to use it. Because the greatest secret in the world is we all have direct access to Source/Universe/All That Is/ The Field. And, (more good news) there is no one "right" way to access your Knowing and experience connection with All That Is. My job is to arm you with information and tools that will lead you back to your own connection and Knowing; to remind you of what you already know.
I trust you. Only you can know what is right for you. I take all of my cues from you and proceed at your pace in the manner that is most appropriate and supportive for you.
What you do with the information I offer is up to you. I have no emotional or ego investment in what you do with what we discover together. As my grandmother said, take what works and leave the rest.
I do this work because it is my joy, my passion and delight. I do not profess or pretend to have all the answers (beware of those who do). In fact, there's a lot I don't know. Which is fine with me, being willing to not know is the beginning of the adventure to Knowing. I am not a master, I am a student of this work so I learn as much as you do when we work together. Through your questions we discover new things, new understandings and refinements I never could come to on my own. The thrill and excitement of the process and co-created discoveries is what I live for.
In the natural course of Spiritual Mentoring and Meditation Instruction sessions I will have occasion to read your energy in order to answer questions accurately and guide you. In Sum Faht Feng Shui consultations, I will read the energies of the inhabitants of the space in order to find the most harmonious pathways and placements, etc. In an Intuitive Reading session I will not read anyone not present without their consent. In all cases I will never invade your privacy. Delicate matters are always handled with great care and only with your consent.
Above all, my commitment to is to be of service to you in alignment with the highest good for All. I do not have an agenda or idea of what that should be or needs to look like. Every person, every situation is unique.
