No Shortcuts

In 2014 my friend Kris Cahill and I met to talk about starting a new kind of teaching organization, something that was reflective of the way that we saw the world changing, and what we perceived were changes in the way energy was moving in spiritual and energetic practice spaces. We were dissatisfied with the status quo, and uncomfortable with the lack of diversity we experienced - and demands for conformity in energy.

We had both been practicing and teaching meditation, healing, and clairvoyance for many years both on our own and within other people’s teaching organizations; we had a craving for something that was lighter, more modern and forward looking in focus, and with a unique artistic sensibility - both of us having been through art conservatory education ourselves. We weren’t quite sure what it would end up looking like, but we had a shared desire and vision for something new, exciting, and different.

Around this same time, in 2015 I travelled to London, England and Paris, France on holiday to see some friends and have some time and space to consider what I wanted to do with my life; my corporate career was becoming more and more unsatisfying and a decade of self-study and teaching had led me to a unique crossroads. I never thought that teaching psychic tools would be what I did with my life - was this truly where I was headed?

A chance meeting with a friend of a friend, who I had never met before, at a bar on my birthday in London - and the conversation we had that night - emboldened me to make the choice to jump full time into starting a new teaching and learning space of my own.

Upon my return to the states, Kris and I started a weekly reading exchange group that we called the “Psychic Hit Squad” (🤣) with some colleagues we’d gotten close with over the years. For about two years, this rag-tag group of healers had a lot of fun meeting every week and exchanging readings and healings, learning more about group dynamics as teachers working together, and looking forward to what it meant to be psychic in the 21st Century. We had started to lay the tracks for what would eventually become Art of the Seer Academy.

During this I left my home in Chicago for the second time and bounced around teaching classes and workshops in Minneapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and New York before landing in Portland, living and teaching there for a long while. Now in 2022, finding myself back in Chicago again post-pandemic, it feels like a circular journey that has brought me back to myself and where I began, in a super natural and evocative way.

Along the way, many teachers and a great many students have come and gone in the spaces I’ve created both online and in person, each showing up to have the exact experience they needed and then moving on to other experiences, which is how it should go.

In the spiritual learning space, nobody is meant to stay forever - that would turn this into something very different than I have meant for it to be. Creating and Destroying is the essential part of being psychic, and I feel like I’ve gotten to learn something extraordinary over the last few years about this in the relationships I’ve experienced and shared space with as a teacher, a student, a friend, a colleague and more.

I find myself today reflecting on this journey, and am eternally grateful for Kris Cahill, who was collaborating with me at the start, and of course Ryan Fukuda and Tieara Myers who have been with me pretty much the whole way, since 2015. In addition to this time, we’ve all known each other almost 15 years now.

Looking back over the last 8 of those years since setting out on my own journey of creativity I am filled with gratitude for where we have been together, what we have experienced together, but even more importantly - filled with enthusiasm for what is being created right now as a teaching body in harmony, affinity, and a sense of magical possibility.

Here at Art of the Seer Academy there are no guru’s, no “ascended” beings, no reverends, no father or mother figures. Each of us is doing our own work, and doing it together makes it more fun, more light, and easier to laugh at ourselves. Calling ourselves teachers doesn’t mean that we have the answers, it just means we feel confident enough and comfortable enough within ourselves to help show people the path to their own.

Community here at AotSA is not about being in a “church”, a “safe haven”, or a place to hide or separate from the rest of the world. It’s not about relying on this group to keep you safe and protected, or as a surrogate family. Learning how to harness your personal sensitivities and spiritual creativity should deepen participation in your relationships, your work, your communities IN the world. I envision AotSA as a place to share a bit of one’s journey shoulder to shoulder with others in a way that is fun, engaging, enriching, friendly, and stimulating. It’s been a road to get to a refined and exacting picture of what this is and how it works. Now that we are clear and conscious, it’s easier to hold that space for ourselves and others.

It’s taken a year to get Art of the Seer Academy off its sea legs, but it’s also taken me 20 years of commitment to my personal craft, commitment to cultivating my self, and a commitment to - again and again, even when it’s been excruciatingly difficult - creating a space for others to learn and heal. Making dreams and losing them over and over along the way has been a personal practice for me in non-attachment, creating and destroying, and finding my sense of humor in all situations and in the face of all sorts of gnarly judgements and opinions. It’s taken us as a teaching group almost a decade to evolve into something that feels truly reflective of who we are as artists, as sensitives, and as human beings. I’m quite passionate and excited about where we find ourselves today, with gratitude for those who gave in a myriad of ways to the process in their own way.

We are thrilled about what we have created online to offer students and clients, and have nothing but gratitude for those who join us for some time on this path. While we are not able to see what’s coming, we know that whatever it is, it will be from and of us - our dynamic as a group of teachers, our personal commitment to our individual practice and spiritual growth. And we’re excited to share that with those who are interested and equally passionate about their own journey and sharing that in a new way with others, including new offerings that are coming this fall - like pre-recorded class content, travel retreats, and in-person classes again.

On the path to self-mastery, energy awareness, consciousness training, and learning how to create a life from one’s own energy that is an expression of the deep-self, there are no shortcuts - the long and winding road is the only road. I am reminded today of this song, “No Shortcuts” by Heather Maloney & Darlingside:

“Well I was sittin’ in the meditation hall and I didn't know why I was there.
Well maybe I was runnin’ from the noise outside or maybe I was runnin’ to the stillness there.
And then I came upon greed, hatred and delusion and oh, how I did fear.
I said "Hey...
what's the quickest way to freedom and love, how do I rise above?"
Said "Hey...
I'm feelin kinda weary I've been sittin all day with my mind in disarray."

And they said "Baby there aint no shortcuts on your way.
Baby there aint no highways in these parts.
You know baby gonna have to drive yourself down every little windy road,
If you really wanna get to where you're goin."