Tag: Lynn V. Andrews

Making Dreams Come True

by Weam Namou, posted in Communication, community, Consciousness, Pomegranate, Spirituality, writing

Written by (guest blogger) Gethen Christine

https://youtube.com/@GethenChristineMorris

A Once in a Lifetime Opportunity – how many of those do we receive on this Path of Heart? Several. How many do we see? Some. How many do we seize? Very few. For me, this particular opportunity revealed one of my most cherished, and secret, pleasures in life. One that almost slipped through my fingers. One that I had to earn my right, and discover my worth, during an intense period of Hollywood deadlines, being pregnant and raising babies during lockdown, and answering the most important questions: How can I step into my power and put myself first?   

My dearest friend Weam Namou and I met during the beginning of my apprenticeship with Lynn V. Andrews through the Mystery School. Weam was my destined mentor, when we quickly recognized our longtime soul-connection, and evolved as co-creators with our Acts of Power. She invited me to participate in a special part of her first feature film, Pomegranate and weaved my talents where I excelled most.

Knowing my secret dreams of being a singer/songwriter on a large scale, she asked me if I had any music she could listen to? Embarrassingly, I searched for decade-old music files to appease her curiosity, and unexpectedly she was profoundly moved. She asked my permission to include me in her 14th book, Pomegranate with my name and lyrics from her favorite song as someone the main character Niran can relate to, an underestimated and aspiring artist.

The paramount process of making her film pursued, and Weam inquired if I would want to write a song for a specific scene. I nervously agreed to the task, wondering would the song be good enough? Could I actually do this? She gave me a 24-hour window to watch the scene. So, I stilled the mind, grabbed my guitar and played a melody that had been stalking me for months. My point of view transported into Niran’s feelings during those whirling moments, and the song composed itself. I didn’t exactly know what to think of it, being new and freshly birthed, was this going to be an “ugly baby” or one of those babies with a perfectly shaped head?

To my shock and elation, this baby was a perfect fit, but parents are always biased. After she accepted the first draft, the next steps were uncertain. Like a novice, I began my search from without, as opposed to within. In those coming months, I experienced invaluable connections to the film and music industry, drawing upon professional resources, and created a music publishing agency in my limited liability corporation (LLC) to best represent my future career in music with media.

I went on to invest in myself, equipment and software to record and produce music for Hollywood quality films. As I tried to conquer skillsets that require undivided attention and inexhaustible time, I realized my expectations were unrealistic with a brand-new baby and toddler. I convinced myself I could manage this new music experience while the babies slept.

This resulted in sub-par results that I ignorantly thought multiple revisions would render a different answer. Weeks before the last possible deadline passed, Weam informed me that if I did not hire professionals to finish the song it would be rejected. Thank goodness for her candidness, and my resiliency. After that call, I collapsed on my knees and cried the loss for every time in my life I didn’t step up to the next level. Though my past choices were unconsciously stemmed in self-sabotage, this time was different and afforded me the mirror to heal deep wounds.

My husband helped me off the floor and I was determined to fulfill this dream. Within an hour, I found a professional studio down the road from my house that had the urgent availability and high standards this hour-of-need beckoned. My husband composed a bass line, the studio manager offered his skills on drums, and I played acoustic guitar and sang vocals. The day I went to record was the first time in 20 years, and I met the sound engineer for Third Angel Productions in Colorado Springs. Nonchalantly, he divulged he is the House Sound Engineer for the Pikes Peak Performing Arts Center. The city’s central hub for the most prestigious musical and theatrical performances in the country. In that moment, I knew GODdess was guiding me to get my music “Off This Ground” (also the song title).

The feeling of self-accomplishment and -worth continues to soar with me and successfully shattered any limitations I once carried. In the midst of chaotic unknown, I stepped into my power and put myself first. Thank you, Niran for being a fan and especially to Weam who saw the potential and professionalism in me that was always there… waiting to be birthed.

Recently, I was gifted a very special scarf, one of the hijabs from the making of the film, Pomegranate from Weam as a thank you for my song and participation in the film. It is a deep royal purple and signifies the creativity of the actors wearing it on set and director making the film. This is a cherished gift and I wear it knowing the blending of cultures is truth and beauty.

Currently, Pomegranate is touring film festivals. You can watch the trailer HERE and purchase the book HERE. Also, we’ve been adding interviews with the actors which you can watch on my YouTube channel (see link below)

Upcoming Interviews for this month

Articles I Wrote this month

Celebrating Our Chaldean Heritage

From Stage to Film: Heather Raffo’s ‘Nine Parts’

Check out my YouTube channel where you can watch the interviews live and subscribe. Be sure to set reminders/alerts so you can stay updated on Live and uploaded content.

You can also now find me on Tik Tok, where I’m letting loose and sharing morsels of my life.

The Mystery School

by Weam Namou, posted in community, Consciousness, Spirituality, writing

Throughout the ages, as the ancient and indigenous cultures were colonized, the teachings for an enlightened and empowered life had to be kept hidden to preserve the teachings’ powerful wisdom. Without this ancient wisdom, much of the world fell prey to strife and confusion. For over a hundred years, necessity has caused the Mystery Schools to emerge, releasing the teachings once again to the public. Today, there are many mystery schools that exist in plain sight. There are Buddhist, Hindu, and even Christian mystery schools. The school that drew me to it was Lynn V. Andrews’ Shaman Mystery School.

I stumbled upon this school in 2011 after reading Lynn’s book, <em>Writing Spirit</em>. Hugely influenced by this book, and because Lynn is an internationally bestselling author of 21 books, I called her up. An author and journalist, I wanted advice on how to move ahead with my writing career. Little did I know then the journey I’d be embarking upon. I had no idea who Lynn was let alone what shamanism meant. Looking back now, I see that was a blessing. Many people get caught up in names and labels and will solely pursue or reject a study based on the definition and popularity, or lack of, rather than what their instinct tells them about it.

Like magic, the Mystery School began transforming my life as a writer, wife and mother. It freed me of so much guilt and self-esteem issues, I ended up writing over a dozen books, which include a four-part memoir series about my experience in the school.

The ancient teachings were not strange to my ears. I come from a tribal nation called the Chaldeans, which are thousands of years old. My people are from Mesopotamia, where once upon a time long ago, similar types of teachings were the norm, causing that society to create incredible inventions such as writing and the wheel. When that land was stripped of those ancient teachings, it became a hell on earth.

On her website, Lynn describes shamanism as the oldest form of healing on Earth. It has been practiced across the globe for at least 50,000 years. She writes, “When you look at shamanic cultures today, you discover people who live with joy and a sense of purpose and knowing in life, people who do not contract the serious stress-born illnesses that we in the modern world do, even though they face a world that is encroaching on them and threatening to take away their very existence. It’s not that they don’t encounter the stresses of the modern world, it’s that their way of knowing life and resolving that stress is very different from ours.”

When Lynn lived in Beverly Hills, a spiritual quest led her to her apprenticeship with Agnes Whistling Elk and Ruby Plenty Chiefs many years ago. At first, she did not know that they were part of a very private ad anonymous gathering of shaman women of high degree from several native cultures around the world – the forty-four women of the Sisterhood of the Shields.  Nor did she have any idea that her life was about to change forever, that their work and their teachings would become her life’s work and her soul’s quest for enlightenment and that she would become initiated as a member of the Sisterhood of the Shields and their public face.

Lynn’s initial meeting with Agnes and Ruby came after she attended a La Cienega art exhibit and became obsessed with a photograph of an Indian marriage basket. After repeated dreams about the basket and unsuccessful attempts to track one down, she was led by a chance encounter with a Native American author to the two medicine women.

Lynn spent her first six months in the wilderness with her teachers. She wanted to stay with them, didn’t want to return to Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. But her teachers insisted she returns to the city and write a book about her experience with them. Agnes told her, “You are not Indian. The wilderness does not need you. Where do you think the world needs to be healed but in the cities? It’s very easy to be sacred with the trees and the wind. It’s very difficult to be sacred on the freeways of L.A.”

Lynn returned home and wrote Medicine Woman, the first of a long series that followed. In her books, she shares her travels around the world in the company and care to apprentice with the women of the Shields on four different continents and many, many different countries, from the jungles of the Yucatan to the Australian Outback, Nepal, Panama, the Solala region of Guatemala and the shores of Lake Atitlan, Egypt, the Hawaiian Islands and from the far North of Canada to South America.

Medicine WomanLynn describes these women as amazing and beautiful, many of them elders in their communities, all of them shaman healers of exceptional skill and personal integrity. “These are women who have survived the ravages of war, rape, the loss of children, the ruination of their countries by clashes between oppressive governments and rebel forces, the hatred visited upon indigenous peoples in so many parts of the world. And they are women who Know.”

To learn more about the Shaman Mystery School or other programs led by Lynn V. Andrews, visit <a href=”https://lynn-andrews-online-store.myshopify.com/”>https://lynn-andrews-online-store.myshopify.com/</a&gt;