Like so much else in India, Sri Sankaracharya’s  funeral felt dreamlike and foreign, comforting and familiar. When the main ritual began, priests poured offerings on the sage’s head. His bright silk shrouds were soaked with yogurt, honey, water and herbs, or ghee, one substance at a time. Between each anointing, the curtain closed and, half […]

After a late night drive from the Ramana Ashram to Kanchipuram, Vic and I slept late. When we left our hotel in the morning, hundreds of soldiers in tan uniforms blocked traffic near the Mutt. Thousands of people milled around, looking stunned, whispering and weeping. We didn’t know what had happened and couldn’t find anyone […]

Sri Sankaracharya had a fever and wasn’t giving audiences when we arrived in Kanchipuram, India for a third visit in 1994. We were disappointed, but not surprised. He was 99 and frail. Vic and I sat in meditation each morning in the area where we’d had audiences with him in the past, but the green […]

In late August 2022, Patricia Martin of the C.G. Jung Society of Chicago  interviewed me about my experiences with Marion Woodman from 1988 to 2011. Our enthusiastic conversation brought memories of the many ways Marion transformed my life, but the story began in 1988, decades before this interview. *** “Want to go to a workshop […]

Blurry from jet lag, we followed the desk clerk’s  vague directions and searched for the temple. Sari-clad women walked through dusty streets behind cows they were taking to pastures and ox carts lumbered along loaded with wood for restaurants. The morning darkness was scented with cooking fires, cow pies, and exhaust spewing trucks. We’d come […]

We grabbed our carry-ons and sprinted to the ticket counter. Our plane had just left, but the British Air agent found us seats on a different airline. “You’d better hurry,” she said. “It boards in a few minutes. Your luggage will be sent to Madras. Run.” We ran through long gray crowded hallways. My pack […]