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Annalisa’s Monthly Letter

RECENT Journey to the Goddess TV Episodes

Goddess News

What I’m Reading

Feature: In Memoriam

Upcoming Interviews

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Happy (belated) Diwali 🪔!

At its most basic, Diwali is the Hindu “festival of lights” that celebrates the triumph of the light over the dark. One of the stars of this festival is goddess Lakshmi. She is a goddess of beauty and maternal nurturance, and represents abundance, sustenance, and continued well-being in the material world. At this time of year, families beautify and purify their homes (as well as their bodies, hearts, and souls) in anticipation of Lakshmi’s arrival and the good fortune she brings with her.

(Want to learn more? Check out my interview, “Celebrating Lakshmi during Diwali” with Daniela Riva).

Diwali takes place after the summer harvest, around the new moon in late October (sometimes early November). To me, Diwali feels as though it is a beautiful precursor to similar cultural celebrations such as Samhain, Halloween, and Day of the Dead. The thread connecting these late fall celebrations is the dance of light and dark at the borderlands between the known and unknown, the seen and unseen.

As darkness begins to consume the Northern hemisphere of the world at this time, the veil between this world and the world of the spirits—including those of our ancestors—becomes ever thinner. But what is it that we are supposed to see, or unsee, or perhaps even to see-through, at this time?

Do these celebrations encourage us to live and experience life more deeply and profoundly?

~~ 🪔 ~~

For me, I am approaching this year’s festivities with a heart broken wide open by the sudden and recent loss of one of my most cherished friends, Justin Dixon. Justin and I met in graduate school and became instant friends. We literally spent thousands upon thousands of hours discussing mythology, Near Death Experiences (NDEs), the meaning of life and death, and how, in his words, “to be a part of the healing of this world.”

When I got the news of his sudden and fatal illness, all I could utter was, “my heart is broken.” When I wrote to inform Dr. Mahaffey—Justin’s beloved Hindu and Buddhist traditions teacher as well as the Chair of his dissertation committee—he shared with me that, “The Heart of Wisdom is a Broken Heart." And also that, “Prajnaparamita is the divine feminine in Mahayana Buddhism (her name means ‘perfection of wisdom’).”

As I shared in Justin’s eulogy, “this means to me that we can think of the divine feminine as the indwelling presence of God. She is the experience of God in the material world. In other words, is it through a broken heart that we can access Her Divine Wisdom, which then becomes a profound teaching to realize God, the Infinite, or the Great Mystery.

I am beginning to understand that in his passing—and my heartbreak—he is in a sense guiding me . . . into a deeper, more profound experience of what he called the Infinite, and more so to my true nature beyond my human form. This is probably the greatest gift one person can give to another. This is how he is continuing his work to be a part of the healing of this world from the other side of the veil.”

This deepening—a call to experience the profound heartbreak embedded in the human experience—is where I am currently swimming, here, in the liminal borderlands this Diwali season.

~~ 🪔 ~~

l will leave you with two questions:

Which in-sights, if any, are waiting to be discovered by you as we plunge into the liminal borderlands between life and death, light and dark, known and unknown, this Diwali season?
What blessings might Lakshmi, the goddess of well-being, have in store for you?

🪔 Annalisa, PhD

**In sweet memory of my friend, Justin Dixon**

Recent Episodes:

Join me in conversation with Dr. Megan Rose as we explore this deeply spiritual, personal, and not-so-uncommon experience of marriage to an otherworldly being. Join us as we “normalize the paranormal.”

• But what is Spirit Marriage?

• Can anyone marry a spirit?

• Why would a person even consider such a thing?

• What are the benefits?

Watch our fascinating conversation to learn more!

In this episode, Dr. Joanna Kujawa and I discuss her book, ‘The Other Goddess – Mary Magdalene and the Eros of Secret Knowledge’.

A self-proclaimed “spiritual detective,” Dr. Joanna Kujawa dives deep into the sacred feminine power hiding behind the surface of the Christian tradition in the figure of #marymagdalene

I’m also thrilled to note that we discuss how her personal experiences with sacred spiritual practices and philosophies—such as esoteric Hinduism (ie, tantra)—has shaped her quest to reimagine Mary Magdalene within a lineage of erotic goddesses and as a bearer of “Secret Knowledge.”

Watch our riveting conversation to learn more!

This video premiered in January 2021. It is a conversation I had with my late friend, Justin Dixon, about the power and meaning embedded in Near Death Experiences (NDEs). His wisdom and insights are timely and sorely needed in our troubled world.

Some key points from this video: Through his work with NDEs, and supported by Quantum Physics theories, Justin wanted to share with people what he said were “the key lessons in NDEs. Such as that they tell us how to make meaning in life for ourselves and how to frame our behaviors so that they are affirming of those lessons…The way we are in service to one another, the way we connect with one another, kindness and self-sacrifice and service are really the meaning in life. This is what we are here for.”

Justin also explained why a soul would want to be born into a physical body, “The physical body is a limiter—it’s insulation— so our minds are infinite [not the physical brain but mind as conscious awareness] and are part of an Infinite Mind which is the Universe itself. We embody in order to be isolated from that infinite connection that we all share. Acts of connection, empathy, love, acts of service, these are actually miracles that happen here in the world. Because physically we are all separate, we may seek connection with one another, we may experience connection with one another. We will never know or be known by someone completely.

We are having an experience of isolation from the Infinite. And that’s very important because you can’t grow spiritually without struggle. And if in this other place, you are constantly connected to the Infinite, there is no way to struggle, no way to grow, there is no way to practice empathy or to create love if it is always there and always embedded in everything you experience. So being here is a huge gift to each and every individual human being. Because we are given the opportunity to fight our sense of isolation, fight our sense of disconnect from one another and work to love, to be kind, to connect. That in itself is Glorifying the Universe itself.”

Watch the full interview to learn more.

Goddess News

BIG news!

I signed a publishing contract with Inner Traditions to transform my dissertation into a “real” book! That means (eventually) you’ll be able to read all about Inanna and Sacred Menstrual Power at a bookstore near you! Want to learn more about my work? Watch my presentation here!

Dr. Joanna Kujawa invited me to be a guest on her YouTube channel. I was able to share my doctoral work with Inanna and Sacred Female Power and so much more! We had a FABULOUS conversation. Watch it HERE!

Dr. Megan Rose has a new course coming out, too! Her course is called, “The Dark Goddess: Her Many Faces and Expressions.” Click here to learn more!

Dr. Joanna also has a brand new course on the Goddesses of Eros and Secret Knowledge, which will be released on Nov 11. Click here to learn more!

What I’m Reading

Women’s Power to Heal Through Inner Medicine

This book is a game changer. Maya Tiwari healed herself from terminal ovarian cancer at the age of 23. Recovering ancient Ayurvedic teachings about the female body that had nearly gone obsolete, Mother Maya teaches women how to heal our bodies by reconnecting us to our innate embodied feminine wisdom.

Feature: In Memoriam

Sacheen Littlefeather

was an actress and Indigenous civil rights activist, and author. (Photo Credit: UCLA Library Special Collections).

She accepted the academy award for “best performance by an actor” on behalf of Marlon Brando for his role in The Godfather. Her speech was moving, brave, and inspiring. Check out her acceptance speech here: Oscar Speech