As the world awaits the announcement of the winners of the Academy Awards, the Asheville Wisdom Exchange is proud to present Jörg Thomsen, the founder and curator of the Museum of the Andes in Montevideo, Uruguay.  He will enlighten us about the story behind the story of “Society of The Snow”, the recent internationally acclaimed feature film on Netflix, and clear frontrunner for the “Best Foreign Feature Film” Award. It is the most accurate accounting to date of the tragic plane crash which occurred in the Andes Mountains in 1972, in which 16 of the 45 passengers and crew [most of whom were on the Uruguayan Rugby team], survived.  He will describe how they miraculously overcame the harrowing ordeal after 72 days of sustained freezing conditions. Without having sustainable provisions, far from civilization, high on the remote snow and ice covered slopes of the Andes they persevered.

His book, “Touched - The Story Behind The Museum Of The Andes 1972 Ordeal” celebrates the spirit of the survivors. It provides details on how and why it was important for him to create a museum to commemorate this incredible story. It is a testament to the passion and serious commitment of the founder, the survivors, and the families of those who died in preserving the memory of this tragedy.

Jörg will address how humans grow beyond themselves when faced with a harrowing and unexpected calamity. The universal values of hope, goal setting, courage, resourcefulness, teamwork, and love are wonderfully portrayed by Jörg. The museum provides a sanctuary to recall the event in a personal and intense manner. It is seldom that visitors leave without being touched. It has evoked various moving testimonials which makes us realize how fragile life really is. It serves to remind us of the importance of a “Never Give Up” attitude”. Ultimately, the heart of the story attempts to answer the questions, when everything is taken from you, why do you want to live, and for whom do you want to die.

Jörg P.A. Thomsen, born in Montevideo, Uruguay, is an internationally renowned Uruguayan businessman and expert in the manufacturing, marketing, and application of thermal insulation. He has been working in the acoustical insulation sector since 1975. Traveling the world as an ambassador of his company, he takes the flag of his native country all over the globe.

Please join us for a rare opportunity to open up the possibility of discovering a special healing space inside that strengthens us even further as resilient human beings in our own battles.

Password for Zoom session: 2021

Susan Allen is an internationally renowned Evidential Psychic Medium & Animal Intuitive. Connecting with Spirit, Susan consistently delivers powerful messages with gentleness, compassion, warmth, and wit, providing her clients healing, peace, and closure. Having spent decades cultivating her innate spiritual gifts, Susan draws from her experience as an Energy Healer, Ho’oponopono Practitioner, Author, and Spiritual Mentor. Susan works with individuals and groups from celebrities to doctors, professional athletes to moms, families, and more.

Learn more about Susan »

Password for Zoom session: 2021

Doctor of Divinity & Quantum Physicist, Cynthia Sue Larson

The challenge of these times provides opportunities for us to remember our true nature, connect with our fundamental inspiration, and sense our core purpose. This is an excellent time to dream most desirable possibilities into reality, living lucidly in a waking dream.

Cynthia Sue Larson is the best-selling author of six books who helps people visualize and access whole new worlds of possibility. Cynthia hosts Living the Quantum Dream on the DreamVisions7 radio network. She has been featured on the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, Coast to Coast AM, and the BBC, and has presented papers at international conferences on science, spirituality, and consciousness.

Since 1999, Cynthia has shared findings from scientific research in the fields of quantum physics, quantum biology, the placebo effect, positive psychology, sociology, and alternative medicine. Cynthia's articles have appeared in journals ranging from Cosmos and History, to Magical Blend, to Parabola.

Results from Cynthia’s "How Do You Shift Reality?" surveys conducted in April 2000 and June 2013 document incidences of the most commonly experienced types of reality shifts, and her RealityShifters web site has compiled one of the most extensive collections of reality shift reports in the world. Her popular e-zine, RealityShifters, is eagerly awaited each month by thousands of subscribers world-wide.

Cynthia has a degree in physics from UC Berkeley, an MBA degree, and a Doctor of Divinity. Cynthia reminds us to ask in every situation, "How good can it get?"

Password for Zoom session: 2021

Brigitte Mars is an herbalist and nutritional consultant of Natural Health with over fifty years of experience. She teaches Herbal Medicine at Naropa University. She has taught at Omega Institute, Esalen, Kripalu, Sivananda Yoga Ashram, Envision, Arise Festivals, Burning Man, and even The Mayo Clinic. She is a founding and professional member of the American Herbalist Guild.

Brigitte is the author of many books and DVDs, including The Natural First Aid Handbook, Natural Remedies for Mental and Emotional Health, The Country Almanac of Home Remedies, The Desktop Guide to Herbal Medicine, Beauty by Nature, Addiction Free Naturally, The Sexual Herbal, Healing Herbal Teas, Rawsome! and co-author of The HempNut Cookbook. Her latest project is a phone app called IPlant and an online course.

Online Course: https://sevenroots.com/herbal
For a discount use code Healing10

A few of those who have NDE's are shown Earth's future. David Suich's talk will focus on the near-death experience and their descriptions of humanity's future.

David Suich is a retired engineer and certified spiritual counselor who founded and operated Steps of Hope Outreach, a nonprofit organization that served orphanages in Nepal, Mexico, and Haiti from 2003 through 2018. During a painful and chronic physical condition that triggered severe depression, he clicked on a YouTube video about an atheist who died momentarily and saw Heaven. This led him on a 15-year journey of research into near death experiences including the testimonies of over 1000 people who have died, seen the afterlife, and returned.

Links:

• Book Web Page

• Spiritual Counseling

• Book Preview

• YouTube Channel

• Rumble Channel

• Book Purchase on Amazon

• Book Purchase on Barnes & Noble

Join Aditi as she discusses her experience as a hospice physician and end-of-life doula. She will discuss the valuable work of hospice and palliative care and talk about ways a doula can support an individual transitioning from life. She will discuss the various integrative modalities available for supporting someone in their final season of life as they face one of the most mysterious experiences of their lives.

Dr. Aditi Sethi is a hospice and palliative care physician, end-of-life doula, and musician. Featured in the forthcoming film The Last Ecstatic Days, Aditi is an emerging and important voice for shifting our culture’s understanding and approach to dying, death, and bereavement care.  She is the founder and executive director of the Center for Conscious Living & Dying.

www.aditisethimd.com

www.ccld.community

Brett Senor, MD is a board-certified internal medicine physician with Blue Ridge Premier Medicine, a group of concierge medical providers. He is also a diplomate of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine- a branch of care that uses nonpharmacological and nonprocedural approaches to improving the health of patients. The interventions are centered on evidence-based behavior modifications in areas such as nutrition, physical activity, stress management, sleep optimization and avoidance of toxic substances. Patients that embrace these changes have demonstrated substantial health improvements, including reversal of diseases that historically have been regarded as progressive.

He and his wife recently started a company, Wellspring Health Collective, to share Lifestyle Medicine with a broader audience, in hopes of positively influencing the health of people beyond his concierge practice.

Brett has been a speaker at state and national conferences, as well as with thousands of physicians and other members of healthcare systems from across the nation. He is scheduled to speak at several upcoming events for lay audiences and healthcare providers.

Brian will discuss how he went from a life of fear of death which kept him paralyzed, to embracing all life has to offer including death. Brian will discuss a new relationship with death from a spiritual, philosophical, and scientific standpoint and how embracing this new view makes life more meaningful and easier to live.

As a young man, Brian suffered from an intense fear of death. When his daughter unexpectedly passed at age 15, he was devastated. But after receiving visions and messages from her after her death, he immersed himself in researching the afterlife from both a scientific and philosophical approach. This spiritual quest has resulted in his becoming a sought out public speaker and his writing the book Grief 2 Growth; Planted. Not Buried.

Chuck Pisa, BS, LMBT, LMT, CPEH is an energy healing therapist, coach and massage therapist currently working in Brevard, NC and Sarasota, FL. He holds certifications in both Esoteric Healing (NAEH) and Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB) and is an Ordained Minister in the Priesthood of the Order of Melchizedek.

Chuck began studying Esoteric Healing after his own dramatic and miraculous recovery from a life-threatening illness and wishes to help others with their journey from illness to health.

Chuck’s unique blend of Esoteric Healing, reconnection therapy and coaching allows all aspects of healing, whether physical, emotional, mental or spiritual to proceed according to the clients own specific needs using a variety of self-discovery systems.

Chuck also teaches classes on energy therapies, esoteric studies, esoteric astrology, Human Design and The Ageless Wisdom along with facilitating both in-person and on-line discussion and “deepening” groups with the goal of offering support, knowledge and wisdom toward better understanding and love of oneself and others.

CoreyPine Shane RH (AHG), founder and Director of the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine near Asheville, NC, has spent over 25 years helping clients and teaching people by artfully blending Chinese and Western herbal traditions with a focus on local plants. His new book “Southeast Medicinal Plants” covers how to identify, ethically harvest, and use the wild plants of the Southeast. CoreyPine has taught across the United States and in Europe, at many national herb conferences, and is a Professional Member of the American Herbalists Guild.

In this talk, we will discuss this deep connection available to all of us, and talk about some ways in which we can more directly connect to the plant world around us. Whether you live in the city or out in the country, there are ways to directly connect to the living world of the plants.

The deepest healing of holistic herbalism is the recognition that our medicine is all around us. We are not strangers on this earth but intimate partners whose ancestors have used wild plants for food and medicine for tens of thousands of years. We don’t have to do it all ourselves, the woods and the wild have remedies to support us. We are not strangers on this earth, we are already home.

Penny Wittbrodt accepted her first position as a Cardio-thoracic ICU nurse. Most of her nursing career was spent in critical care. She was forced to give up her nursing career when in 2013, she was assaulted by a patient. The attack left her with a spinal injury which required a lengthy surgery and left her with permanent nerve damage in her spine, left arm, and hand. Unable to work, she fell into a dark depression and began isolating herself. This led to overwhelming social anxiety which in turn, caused her to withdrawal even further.

Several months after surgery, she developed a mysterious autoimmune condition (mast cell activation disorder) which caused eighteen bouts of respiratory failure, over two-and-a-half years. Doctors had no answers and every treatment they prescribed failed.

During two episodes of respiratory failure, Penny had near-death experiences and was brought into the presence of God. There she learned what she needed to do to overcome her illness and took action.

That decision dramatically changed the course of her life. Based on her experience, she was invited to write a chapter for Dr. Penny Sartori’s book, “The Transformative Power of Near-Death Experiences.” Penny is now in the process of writing her first book, “A Life Reclaimed.” 

Penny now hosts two podcasts. One on Rumble called Covid19 Warrior and the other on YouTube called, Life From A Near-Death Perspective.

https://rumble.com/c/PENNYWITTBRODT

https://youtube.com/@pennywittbrodtnear-deathpe6489

Gabriela Patania is the author of Awakening the Inner Power of Love published in 2021 in USA. She was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina. After living twenty five years in Spain and almost two years in South Africa. She now lives in Greenville, SC. with her family and their two dogs.

Gabriela has also written about mindfulness and personal growth and is currently nominated for the South Carolina Upstate Latins Award as best local author.

Gabriela's biography is a testament to her tireless spirit, as well as her passion for helping others to remember their true nature and deeper understanding of themselves, to better cultivate their self-love and empower their inner potentials.

Gabriela's purpose is to inspire and empower people to embrace their inner power by remembering their true greatness, in order to overcome life's challenges and achieve their dreams.

Gabriela has the deep certainty that, if each one of us take responsibility for ourselves and working for our own inner-peace, we can create a more harmonious world for all of us.

Gabriela's website: gabrielapatania.com

All of us are receiving a constant flow of messages from Spirit. However, each of us “receives” in our own unique way. Do you recognize the signposts or synchronicities?

During these auspicious times of great shift and change, it is more important than ever to trust our inner wisdom, and to recognize this loving support as we seek to understand and navigate our Life Path for our happiest and most meaningful life.

As I reflect over the decades of my life, these synchronicities outlined major turning points for my life and spiritual growth. Please join me as I share some of my journey and talk about the flow of synchronicity.

• Synchronicity – Recognizing the Flow

• A Dialogue with Spirit

• Ceremony and Ritual – Creating a Sacred Space

• Life Purpose – Sharing Your Gifts

Ananta's sadhana began in 1976 when he met Baba Muktananda. Subsequently, he spent many years with Baba and Gurumayi in their ashrams until meeting Ramesh Balsekar with whom he had a very close and long association. Ananta likes to say that Ramesh finished the job Baba had started. In 1997, 21 years after it had started Ananta's sadhana ended. Not with fireworks, but with an overwhelming calm of having come to peace with himself. He learned early on not to speak of the enlightenment and kept it to himself for the most part for more than a decade.

One day at his puja, Ananta heard Baba say "You have been given a gift and it's time to pass it along". He has been talking ever since. Ananta speaks of non-duality (Advaita Vedanta) with a touch of Kashmir Shaivism. He says that this life is only a dream and the body/mind is a virtual reality machine. His core teaching is: At essence we are all the same and in this oneness we are without boundaries.

A former park ranger in the belly of the Grand Canyon and at Denali National Park, Mare Cromwell continues to serve as "a humble servant to the Great Mother." She is an internationally-known Gaia Communicator & Priestess, Author and Healer. Some might call her a Medicine Woman. Called the “Voice of Earth Mother” by Rainbow Thunder Heart – a gifted Shoshone Elder, Mare’s work is to support the birth of the New Earth emerging now (Ascension). She was also told by Woody Vaspra, a Hawaiian Elder, that her work is in the Native Prophecies. Mare’s award-winning books include: “The Great Mother Bible”; “Messages from Mother…. Earth Mother”; and, “If I gave you God’s phone number…. Searching for Spirituality in America”.

Mare has studied with Native American elders for 25 years and is the visionary behind the 1000 Goddesses Gathering Global Grid. She has taught "The Great Mother Love Way" and led workshops on Earth Changes & Mother Gaia’s Broader Picture, Sacred Gardening, Womb Wisdom and more. Check out: www.greatmotherlove.earth

After receiving her Masters in Natural Resources at the University of Michigan in 1987, she worked internationally for five years co-leading an award-winning international environmental education network called the Global River Environmental Education Network (GREEN). Currently she is the director of Great Mother Love Way, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization. According to Mystic Muse Judith Hill, author of "Dazzling Wobble", "Mare Cromwell is one of our Great Listeners. She beautifully carries the ancient, necessary wisdom into our Present, so we may have a Future!"

Who were the Essenes?  How do their ancient teachings impact us today?  Ed Foote will share his expertise on this topic based on the readings of Edgar Cayce.

Ed Foote's two spiritual paths are the Edgar Cayce Readings and the book A Course In Miracles, and he travels throughout the country lecturing on these topics.  He has led over 400 church services for Unity, Presbyterian, and non-denominal churches in all parts of the U.S.  He has also taught Sacred Dance at churches from coast to coast.  He is a full-time square dance caller, having called for over 50 years in every state, ten European countries and in Australia and New Zealand, and has a home program of square dance clubs in the Pittsburgh area.

Kathie Kurtz grew up in a close Mennonite community that offered a rich life but did not completely satisfy her. While Mennonites were not as separated from mainstream culture as the Amish, Kathie still felt distinctly different in both visible and invisible ways. As a child she accepted the Mennonite tradition, but privately imagined herself in a wider world that sparkled beyond the boundaries of her ordinary life. She judged herself for wanting “unimportant” things rather than being focused on the needs of the world. At times she would question how of all people in the world, only the Mennonite beliefs were right ones. Over time, she learned to trust her own internal voice as a guide to authentic living. She said, "I came to realize that I didn’t need to choose one world or the other. I could choose what was of value in my tradition and what enriched me from the larger world, shaping life from that mix." Kathie believes that creativity is born in the tension between polarities, and even though living in that space continues to challenge her, it is the place where she finds vibrancy and joy. 

Kathie Kurtz, DMin, is a retired Mennonite pastoral counselor who lives with her husband in Harrisonburg, Virginia near where she grew up. She is the author of The Blistering Morning Mist: a Memoir (Wipf and Stock, 2021) In addition to writing, she enjoys gardening, pottery, cooking, baking, reading, and spending time with family and friends For more about her go to kathiesblog.com

Could it be possible that we in modern times are praying "backward"? Is our petitioning to God for a result in fact re-creating the very condition that we are seeking to move beyond? Rev Dale Allen Hoffman reveals stunning insights from the original ancient Aramaic teachings of Yeshua that sheds evolutionary light on the obvious truth that we may have gotten it all wrong.

Rev. Dale Allen Hoffman is an Ancient Aramaic Wisdom Keeper, mystic and energetic healer revealing long-suppressed ancient secrets and healing modalities. Since coining the term "Aramaic Toning" in the early 1990’s, Dale is the frequent "go to" authority for many well-known spiritual teachers, celebrities, business icons, musicians and everyday people on how to awaken the experiential core of ancient teachings in the most practical ways possible. He has published numerous audio and video programs and is author of the book Echoes of an Ancient Dream: Aramaic Toning on the Path of Light.

What awaits in 2023? Join us for an Astrological Forecast from Spiritsong Mary O'Shannon who says to get ready for revolutionary change as Pluto enters Aquarius for the first time in 250 years. Spiritsong will open our 2023 AWE series with an exploration of the astrological influences we'll be experiencing in the exciting new year. Her presentation will delve into how we can deal with these new energies and will be followed by a Q & A period.

Spiritsong has been studying astrology for over 40 years. She has guided others as a professional astrologer for 17 years. She’s also a healing facilitator, and uses modalities such as guided imagery, energy healing, and aromatherapy in her sessions. These are sometimes combined with astrology readings.  Spiritsong is also a licensed minister, spiritual counselor and ceremonialist. She often uses the gifts of music in her healing work, which she calls an “Inner Journey”.  In all of her service, Spiritsong delights in guiding and uplifting others into their most joyful life.  She looks forward to sharing some of the most powerful astrological influences we'll be experiencing in 2023 and how we may use them to create a better world within and around us!

Angie has been teaching the Enneagram for more than 20 years. She will discuss its roots in spiritual traditions and evolution as a psycho-spiritual model for understanding and growth. The Enneagram is a reminder of how we are each and all a part of the bigger picture with unique (and universal) gifts. She will talk about how we hide from, run from, distort those gifts—the Enneagram also shines a light on our hard-wired survival patterns of behavior that are less-than-helpful when it comes to building relationship, community, or creating a sense of belonging for ourselves and others. We can discuss how the Enneagram is a never-ending teaching and practice for continued growth and discovery—and like oh-so-many sacred practices and teachings, this is a practice and teaching that is sometimes painful in the process of enlightenment.

Angie Arendt is Director at Big Stone House: a Center for Courageous Living and a Partner and Senior Consultant at Deep Life. She is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ (USA), master Enneagram Teacher, writer, integral developmental coach and spiritual contrarian who has had the privilege of engaging thousands of people all over the world in the art of sacred living and leading for more than two decades. Angie has pastored churches of 150 members, ministered to congregations of 3500 members, keynoted local and national conferences, taught with the Enneagram Institute, and worked with non-profits, congregations, and global organizations all over North America to plant seeds for more empathy, compassion, reverence and kindness at work, at home, and in the world.

Angie lives in Almonte, Ontario with her husband (and business partner) Peter McGaugh, their two golden dogs and two tabby cats in a big, old stone house on the river, spending her days writing, listening, mentoring, teaching, meaning-making, training, ritual-ing, and creating community to connect and grow through the real stuff of life. Her first book on (re)claiming reverence is in the works.

Siyo! Aya Gvhe dagwado'a, nogwo Tsunatokiasdiyi geha. Pαnawάhpskewi wαpánahki, nočəyewe Tsunatokiasdiyi, nətəli-wisi Pə̀so. I live in the place where the horses race. I am an Eastlander from the Penobscot river, I am called Bobcat.

Nicholas Thorne is a Penobscot teacher in Asheville, NC. Living far from the land of his people in the North East, he has learned everything about himself from the land of the Cherokee people. Humans have called this land home for over 16,000 years, from when mammoths and bison roamed these once ancient forests. With a bachelor's degree in ecology, from UNC Asheville, Nicholas works to understand how the land's most familiar relatives describe the land and our experiences with it. For countless generations, Tsalagi (Cherokee) has been used to describe these mountains and their relatives. Nicholas uses language and stories to provide multicultural perspectives of the world's ecosystems, including Asheville. Named Bobcat, after his great uncle John Sapiel, he plans to teach on Native reservations across the country. Inspiring future generations, through the languages and stories of the land's most intimate relatives, is how he walks in the way of his ancestors. Wskitkámikʷe nətαnkawαčəmówewα. "The upper world, I translate for them.”

The world appears to be crumbling all around us as the crisis in culture and nature accelerates faster than anyone of use thought it could, while apocalyptic nightmares seem to haunt our dreams, news feeds, art, and film. We are also deeply divided as a species on who or what to blame. However, it is also true that the world has always hung by a thin, mysterious thread, and that the soul is awakened by crisis which can also be a source of opportunity and deep creativity. However, to help germinate the awakening of the soul during troubled times we must engage the art of unknowing to cleanse the eyes and ears of the heart to ‘see’ and ‘hear’ again with the sacred faculties of wonder, awe and mystery which are like nutrients for the soul. In so doing, we can drop from the head into the heart and enter the timeless world of now where new solutions emerge organically from the soil of the soul moment by moment, neither spiritually bypassing nor getting ‘stuck in the muck’.

Michael will guide us on a short sound healing meditation journey into our hearts center as we discover the pure, clear, wisdom heart that lies at the inmost center of the human heart and connects us to the deep truths of our inner nature and to each other, and perhaps most importantly to the ocean of peace that lies within.

Dr. Michael Brant DeMaria’s life turned inside out and upside down after the first decade of his professional life when he underwent a life transforming vision quest (lament in the wild) without food or water, guided by a native elder. He went there suffering compassion fatigue, burnout and despair after working for years with over 2000 cases of severe cases of child abuse as a child protection team psychologist. The experience provided a profound healing, a course correction and a vision for his life, while also reconnecting him to his first love - music. Ever since his mission has been guiding others to, “The ocean of peace that lies within each human heart.” He does this through his work as a sound healer, wisdom teacher and artist employing the creative mediums of music, story and film. His healing music is heard over a million times a week around the world, garnering him four Grammy® nominations, 8 ZMR awards, 6 #1 albums, a Native American Music Award and appearing on the Grammy® Winning album, All About Bullies Big and Small. He is also a Sounds True recording artist with his music being featured on projects with Eckhart Tolle, Mark Nepo, Peter Kater and Noah Levine. He is the author of 5 books and is the creator of the book and free online program Peace Within: Calm your mind, open your heart, embrace your soul and heal your life. You can find more about his work at www.michaeldemaria.com

Don’t miss this event! Ed will present three short talks:

1. Introduction to the Edgar Cayce Readings

2. Introduction to A Course In Miracles.

3. A brief look at "Discovering Your Soul's Purpose.”

About Ed Foote

Ed Foote's two spiritual paths are the Edgar Cayce Readings and the book A Course In Miracles, and he travels throughout the country lecturing on these topics. He has led over 400 church services for Unity, Presbyterian, and non-denominal churches in all parts of the U.S. He has also taught Sacred Dance at churches from coast to coast. He is a full-time square dance caller, having called for over 50 years in every state, ten European countries and in Australia and New Zealand, and has a home program of square dance clubs in the Pittsburgh area.