Stories for a Living Future with Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

The nature of the light which I have described in these recent podcasts is that it comes direct from the Source, from the undifferentiated Essence. It awakens us to an awareness of the oneness and multiplicity of creation, and the primal need for praise and thanksgiving. With this light we can return to the wonder of the first day—to the song of creation that is alive in the love within our hearts...

In this episode I talk about death, a subject central to the life of a mystic. The Sufi says that we should “die before we die,” die to the ego, and its illusory sense of a separate self, and awake to the truth of our eternal nature. Lifetime after lifetime I have made this journey, from the mountains of Tibet to Zen monasteries, and finally to the green hills and coastal wetlands of California. H...

The teachings of the Tao have always been a hidden influence in my own journey, its qualities of silence and stillness, and a relationship to the “natural order of things.” Here I explore the way the teachings of the two great masters, Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, give us a “firm foundation” to living in these toxic times, helping us to reconnect to the song of creation, the primal spirit that moves th...

The path of the mystic has drawn me deep into the inner worlds. Returning to our fragile Earth and my own vulnerable self, I become a place where the worlds come together. In this meeting something comes alive; an unnamable, unknowable Essence takes on form, receives a heartbeat and a breath. And we can participate in this mystery, our individual consciousness be awake to divine beauty and wonder,...

My own story has been a journey of love. Sitting at the feet of my teacher I experienced a love that was all-embracing, and which took me on its path, back to the Beloved and also into life. Half a century later a new quality of love has returned, simple and most ordinary, a living light in the web of creation which stretches to the stars and beyond. And because love belongs to oneness, I know tha...

A final piece that describes part of my own journey into the light and back again, a personal description of the landscape of light and love into which I was taken, and how this landscape has defined much of my later years. I also hope that the angels and devas that have become the companions of my old age will at some time in the future be a part of a reawakening world, an animate Earth becoming...

We are surrounded by many unseen worlds of angels and nature devas, spirit guides and elemental beings, and yet we have cut ourself off from these worlds, their wisdom and guidance. We are helped in so many mysterious ways about which our present culture knows nothing. This short reflection reminds us of the multidimensional world in which we live, these hidden companions of our journey in life.

Praying for the Earth as a living being, I feel the love that runs through all things, every cell and every star. I sense that love is really all we have to give, and the meaning behind every experience that touches the soul. Love is life’s greatest gift and our greatest gift back to life. And especially at this time the Earth is calling out to be loved, to be held in the heart, in prayer and than...

In this time between stories, where are the visions to guide us, the dreams to follow? How can we understand the conflicting forces that define our world and our shared future without this deeper wisdom? We have to learn once again how to listen to the rivers and wind, and to open the door to the visionary worlds that guided our ancestors. 

In this third podcast series I return to familiar themes: living at the end of an era, in a time of great dying, and yet holding a thread to a living future—a thread woven in ancient memories as well as visions of a new way to live with the Earth and Her more-than-human inhabitants. But this series is also more personal, what it means for me as a mystic to grow old in such a darkening landscape, h...

As an interlude between Series 2, From the Edge of the World, and Series 3, Stories of the Heart, I want to go back to the beginning, to a talk “Awakening” given in 2007. This talk explores the foundational question of the relationship between our own individual spiritual journey and the Earth changes taking place which I have described in the previous podcasts, in particular how our spiritual awa...

The final podcast in this second series is the shortest, but in many ways the most essential. One morning I awoke long before dawn with the clear knowing of the seven foundational qualities that belong to the next era. I describe them in the way they came to me.

Watching the stars, the Milky Way stretching across the sky, I sense how the changes happening within the Earth reach far into the cosmos. Our journey together with the Earth is taking us through the debris of a civilization causing ecocide, but also reconnecting us with patterns long forgotten, with myths and sacred meaning lost from our rational minds, a landscape which includes the heavens.

Getting older I find it easier to be more fully in the moment, a place without clocks or calendars. The present moment is all around us, though mostly hidden, covered by our thoughts and the patterns of the day. It contains both the outer physical world of the senses and also the mystery of the soul, a dimension full of meaning and spiritual secrets.

Oneness is a foundational principle for the new era, but in order to recognize how we are a part of this living wholeness we need a new quality of perception, less rigid and more fluid. We need to become more aware of the patterns of interconnection that link together the biosphere, and also the worlds of magic and sacred meaning.

In order to understand more fully the changes taking place I try to let the Earth and my heart speak to me, tell me their story, how the threads of creation are being rewoven into a new pattern. What does it mean that a doorway between the worlds is opening? How can those whose hearts are open become part of a prayer that speaks to the Earth, that welcomes what is being born within Her?

Around us we can see the cascading crises of the end of an era, but we have little awareness of how the Earth Herself is changing. Even as the Earth is suffering, life is recreating itself. There are deep patterns of realignment taking place, patterns that need our cooperation, our co-creation.

Collectively we are walking along a fault line where two eras meet, forces constellating deep within our psyche and within the Earth. And yet we have little understanding of these primal powers that are the great determining factors. How can we include the voice of the Earth, work together with the changes taking place within her body and soul?

The axis of love runs through all things, present in every grain of sand, every drop  of rain, every laugh, every tear. And this axis is coming alive in a new way—our hearts are being turned back to the physical world and the wonder of divine presence. We need to reaffirm the sacredness of the Earth we can see and touch, and how it is all a part of one living divine Being. And love will help us to...

In this liminal landscape, a place between stories, it is more and more important to find a place of belonging. In my own journey this has been the gift of a garden, a place where the worlds come together, the spirits of the land and the beings of light, together with the beauty and colors that change with the seasons.

As I experience our world becoming darker and more self-destructive, I am drawn more and more into prayer as a refuge and response. Prayer, like the first cry of a newborn baby or the final gasp of a dying person, is that most essential response of the heart and soul. It returns us to the only connection that can truly sustain us. 

What should we do in response to the present time of darkening and cascading crises? Although there is much work to be done in the outer world, there are also simple steps taking us from witnessing to grief to love, so that we may participate in the transformation of the Earth Herself.

At the edge of the world one can see not only storms building far out to sea, but also forces forming across continents. If we are to walk through these transitioning times of radical uncertainty, we need an awareness of these patterns, which often develop deep in the inner worlds, and determine so much of our shared destiny.

This short piece is an interlude between Stories for a Living Future Series One, and Series Two: From the Edge of the World. It explores the need to hold a space between stories, between the known and unknown worlds, a space that is also present with each and every breath.