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Butterflies appear as a synchronistic sign every time I visit a sacred site, but I never expected a psychedelic paper butterfly to be one of mystical route markers upon my spiritual travels. In a previous blog I shared the story of the sign I received from the ancient oracle during my visit to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Well, the magical presence of the butterfly totem did not end with my visit to Greece. In all of the other spiritual places I was to subsequently visit I would encounter butterflies at every sacred site, and also at other special moments of spiritual and personal significance. The butterfly phenomenon took an unexpected turn when I arrived at a country inn in Gottsdorf, outside Berlin, Germany. This was to be the venue for a four-day spiritual retreat I was attending. The event was set to take place in a cozy Yoga studio attached to the small hotel. The moment I entered this room, I noticed a small altar the seminar organizer had set up in this space. The display was charming and colorful, but that was not what drew my attention. No, what struck me instantaneously was the large, vibrant butterfly hanging on the brick wall behind the altar. Yes, indeed. I had received yet another mystical route marker along this personal odyssey into self-realization. The sacred cycle of transformation begins by cultivating life experiences and embracing the evolving human spirit. Meaning, purpose and joy are our birthright and by dancing our sacred dream we create a richly woven tapestry of spiritual thought and action ~ Micheal Teal This time the butterfly was not black and white, like the one who came to whisper in my ear at Delphi. Instead a brightly colored paper butterfly waved hello to me from above! It was like a psychedelic kaleidoscope reminiscent of the shapes one sometimes sees in sacred geometry art or tie-died T-shirts from the 60's. Another butterfly sign? What was it doing up there? Was this moment the next step in my transformation; did this butterfly signal the next phase of my personal rebirth into a new era in my life? Mr. Butterfly flashed me an affirmative smile. ​Two days later I had the opportunity to discuss my experience at Delphi with the course facilitator. I was curious as to why he brought the butterfly along, because he was not using it any way during the seminar. But to my disappointed he revealed that he was not the one responsible for the butterfly on the wall. He found it there upon his arrival and decided to leave it up, since it made a colorful contribution to his own display of spiritual items. ​I then turned to the owner of the venue for answers. I had to know who put up that butterfly, and why? After my experience in Greece, I knew there was more to the presence of that unusual item of decor, and to discover the answers, I had to find out how it got there in the first place. ​“Aaah, der schmetterling,” the German inn-keeper sighed, “It does not belong to me either.” She then explained that just prior to our arrival, there was a shamanic workshop conducted at the same venue. The shaman who conducted the classes is originally from Peru and he was in a hurry to leave on the last day. He had asked her to keep the butterfly safe for him, and bring it with her later, when she went to Berlin for shopping. Such a coincidence,” added the inn owner, “He contacted me just yesterday to ask how his butterfly was doing!” I just smiled at her and said, “When you speak to the shaman again, please thank him for the butterfly medicine he brought into my life.” The butterfly featured as symbol of transformation in Aztec, Inca and Mayan culture. In Peru over 90 varieties of butterfly are found, where they are considered a symbol of transition and celebration. The enchanting Morpho didius, or Blue Morpho is the most famous in South America and considered a national symbol of Peru. ‘Morpho’ means changed or modified. This shimmering butterfly is also an epithet of Aphrodite and Venus, the goddesses of love, beauty, pleasure, and prosperity. © 2013 Anthon St Maarten ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

A brash neon sculpture of Jesus was the closest I personally came to anything of spiritual significance in the city streets of London, apart from the gilded bronze angel on top of the Victoria Memorial. It just goes to show...never say never. To be fair, I did not visit to the city of London solely for esoteric purposes, but as a highly sensitive person I did find the energy signature of this city spiritually quite different and stark, compared to Athens and Berlin. The atmosphere recently in Berlin, for example, felt electric, yet peaceful. Stepping off the U-Bahn at Wittenberg Platz in the middle of the high season, I was engulfed by a comforting low-level 'buzz' of German families and tourists doing their Saturday afternoon window shopping. The people there did not seem to have a care in the world. The streets were crowded , much like that of London, but not once did I sense angst or claustrophobic nervous energy. The vibe was welcoming and pleasant… and this really is a big deal for a 'highly strung' empath like myself. Berlin woke me up on a Sunday morning with the nostalgic chiming of church bells. I was staying inside one of the surviving wings of the Neues Schauspielhaus on Nollendorf Platz, in the Schöneberg district of Berlin. It was built in 1905 as a theatre and concert hall, in the then fashionable Art Nouveau style. Survival is for the human animal; fear the motivation. For the spiritual being survival is irrelevant. Curiosity, compassion and creativity are the name of the game; unconditional love the motivation ~ Peter Shepherd While the bells were ringing in the distance, I almost expected Christopher Isherwood’s character Sally Bowles to sneak down the corridor of this old building, back from a busy, decadent night at the Kit Kat Club. Maybe Bertold Brecht was in here in the 1920s, discussing his plays with someone in the very room I slept in that night, or maybe the bands Depeche Mode or The Human League used it as a dressing room in the 1980s. ​​The Tiergarten park in Berlin is breathtaking and also has amazing energy. I was very tempted to buy a sleeping bag and simply move into the park on a permanent basis! The entire park is apparently larger in size than the principality of Monaco and makes Berlin one of the greenest cities in the world. I even tried to find a four leaf clover there, but had to settle for cheating, the same way Liza Minnelli did in this same park in a scene in the movie Cabaret, by putting two sets of leaves together to form one! Then I stumbled into London. If only I had found that four leaf clover, because it might have been very helpful. After spending some magical moments on the Acropolis in Greece, and in the lush greenery of the Tiergarten forest in Berlin, I was now suddenly in whirlpool intense energy and soon at my wit’s end. ​Just a few days earlier I was meditating in the center of Stonehenge, and before that I was watching people pass by peacefully at street cafe’s in Schöneberg and on Potsdamer Platz. I was poorly prepared for the cut-throat hustle and bustle of the downtown streets in London. Arriving at Paddington Station in the midst of the Friday afternoon peak hour also did not help! Maybe my distress was due to the lingering effect of the recent energizing experience I had at Bath Spa, as well as the once in a lifetime visit to Stonehenge. This could very well be what set me up for the subsequent shock to my system. The sheer contrast of it all! Or maybe I was suffering from a lack of peaceful sleep, after being woken up several times in Athens, Berlin and Wiltshire by an unidentified phantom who was compulsively sweeping and mopping the floors outside my door every night? I still do not know who she was, but for some reason she followed me around in Europe… until I arrived in London. Then she disappeared without a trace. I can't blame her. At least London exorcised the ghostly cleaning lady... whom shall forever remain unknown. But all was not lost. I did find something somewhat spiritual in London after all! One day, while making my way through the brutal streets of Soho, I spotted a psychedelic looking piece of post-modern art on display in the window of an art gallery appropriately called Scream. This bold and brash sculpture was the closest I personally came to any real sense of spiritual significance in the London inner city. But still, it just goes to show: never say never. I have no idea who the artist of this bizarre piece is; I was in too much of a restless hurry to stop and ask. That is what one does in London Town. You rush. And you stay alive! London works hard, plays hard, and lives fast. During the day the city is highly stressed, materialistic and fast-paced. It has a sense of urgency, and survival of the fittest. And at night the city becomes loud, angry and intoxicated. No wonder the Jesus statue in that window looked so disappointed. I cannot imagine my highly sensitive ass ever living there. © 2013 Anthon St Maarten ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

One of the most memorable highlights of my spiritual travels is a midnight meditation in the inner circle at Stonehenge. I had the privilege of being a member of a small, private tour to this magical place. I was especially blessed, as I happened to position myself right in the center of the henge… and from my little hub at the core of the United Kingdom’s Unmissable Wonder, I sent out rockets of desire for our world to become a better place. A radiant dusk was upon us when we reached the top of the concrete staircase. Emerging from below, our trivial conversation abruptly ceased. We were stunned into an instant, breathless, respectful silence. ​Before us rose the towering magnificence of Stonehenge… graceful and glimmering in the late Summer sunset! Being so suddenly in the presence of the most famous prehistoric monument in Europe, was the most memorable moment of my entire journey. I had the privilege of being a member of a small private party on a special tour to this magical place. Our visit took place after hours, with special permission from the authorities. The exclusive access we were granted enabled us to visit Stonehenge at sunset, and later under starlight, after the site was closed to the public. Do you know how there are moments when the world moves so slowly you can feel your bones shifting, your mind tumbling? When you think that no matter what happens to you for the rest of your life, you will remember every last detail of that one minute forever? ~ Jodi Picoult Most importantly, we had the unique privilege to enter into the inner circle, which is not accessible to day visitors. We had finally reached Stonehenge after an all-day, and at times nerve-wracking, mad dash around the prehistoric English countryside. The fun began early that morning with a clockwise walk around the stones of Avebury. Our guide, Astrologer David Rowan, is a very passionate, dedicated man who has devoted a significant part of his life to exploring and studying the cultural history, archeology and astronomy of the sacred sites and Neolithic landscape surrounding Avebury and Stonehenge. David took us on a whirlwind tour of the area, including the Kennet Stone Avenue, the mysterious, artificial mound known as Silbury Hill, the Neolithic tombs of West Kennet long barrow, and the Sanctuary. After lunch we trekked on to the Stonehenge landscape, visiting sites like Woodhenge, Durrington Walls and finally Old Sarum, by which time my friend, Christine, and I were longingly eyeing the bottles of Celtic Mead and Strawberry Wine that English Heritage was selling at the gift shop. ​Indeed… it had been a long, taxing day. I had the whole group waiting for me earlier, because I got lost and had to use my intuitive radar to locate them at Old Sarum. If you have ever driven around England, on those roundabout, haphazard Celtic roads in a rented car, you will know the challenges I faced! Then came our first visit inside Stonehenge, just before sunset, and the stresses of the day were soon forgotten. We went right inside the ancient temple, where the ground below the inner circle pulses with a palpable, brilliant energy. Under the careful watch of the guards, we were not allowed to touch the stones, but we did have the once in a lifetime opportunity to wander among them and take amazing pictures. David describes these moments perfectly on his website: “To be able to do this as the light changes and feel the stones grow in stature as the sunlight fades is brilliant; the site really does change from being a load of rocks in a field by daylight to an enigmatic temple by night. According to David this tour is always held on a New Moon, “because when the Sun sets, the Moon is also below the horizon, ensuring that when you return to Stonehenge, the only lights in the sky are the stars. To see the night sky illuminated like a planetarium in that place, with the great trilithons in your vision, is simply breathtaking.” But the magic did not end there. After a much-needed dinner at a nearby manor house restaurant, we returned to the mysteries of Stonehenge for the second time. This time beneath the stars. Once inside the temple, David surprised us with a special Astrological chart he had prepared for that exact place and moment in time. He explained the significance of where the planets were positioned around us at that very moment, and then he offered guidance on what we should focus on, and what we might want to avoid, during our subsequent meditation within the inner circle. Of course, this was vitally important, as whatever thoughts, emotions, or wishes we would send out during our meditations would be vastly amplified by the forceful energy vortex emanating from Stonehenge. The Stonehenge is a powerful energy portal, since it is located at the heart of a network of ley line alignments. Then followed the most unforgettable meditation of my entire life. We were given the exceptional opportunity to each find a spot inside the Stonehenge, where we could sit or lie down in comfort to privately meditate for half an hour. David gave strict instructions as to maintaining silence, isolation and absolute darkness. All flashlights, phones and other devices were switched off, and once everyone got settled in, we all surrendered to the peaceful supremacy of this magical place. I was especially blessed, as I happened to position myself right in the center of the inner circle… and from my little hub at the core of the United Kingdom’s Unmissable Wonder, I sent out rockets of desire for our world to become a better place. © 2013 Anthon St. Maarten ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

Are you struggling to find a lasting, higher love? You can invite sacred romance into your reality experience by meditating on my set of guiding principles based on the twelve universal archetypes. The need for true love and meaningful romance is a profound longing we all share as spiritual beings in human form. But finding the love of your life is not an easy feat in this day and age. Yes, the pursuit of romantic love is certainly not for the weak and cowardly. I have heard many weary love pilgrims claim they have called off the search. Many even choose to believe that they no longer want an intimate relationship with anyone; they are completely content to remain single and unattached for the rest of their lives. Who needs a soulmate after all, right? The truth is that we all share a deep-seated need for affection and authentic connection with that one special mate. Deep down we all know it. We were not created to be solitary beings. In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine ~ Maya Angelou Research in neuroscience, for example, indicates that our brains are absolutely wired for social connection and belonging. But one does not need research findings, or sacred texts for that matter, to prove the basic need we all have for a shared love or romantic relationship with a significant other. ​All we need to consider is how much it hurts when our love goes unrequited, or when yet another relationship fails. If finding true love was merely an old-fashioned obsession for those who are foolish, or too needy, then why do our hearts break into a million pieces when love is lost, or rejected? Connecting with others is not merely a basic human need, like food and shelter, but it is also a sacred spiritual quest. For without entering into what author Marianne Williamson calls the “psychic womb” of a loving relationship, we become paralyzed in our ability to achieve our soul purpose and life calling. Our sacred mission of fulfilling our true destiny becomes barren, the outlook of our future bleak and unfruitful. Many of us also dream of a better, safer, more caring world, without realizing that it all begins with creating and maintaining a deeper love in our homes and in our hearts. Every moment of every day people who are all perfectly capable of giving and receiving unadulterated love and belonging, throw in the towel and give up on their dream of finding a sacred companion for this journey. As spiritual beings in the flesh we were all designed and constructed for love and belonging, but for many the quest is simply too emotionally demanding and painful, the process too challenging and complex. For some it also becomes impossible to find true love from inside their prison of self-righteous perfectionism, narcissism or materialistic greed. The solution is however simple from a spiritual perspective. The reason so many of us struggle to find and keep love is that we have lost touch with our sacred origins. We have forgotten our spiritual roots, the source of our being. We have lost the ability to see our potential beloved through the eyes of our inner divinity. We too often choose to see limitation, instead of potential. The reality coma has made of us numb. Our egotistical sense of entitlement in a superficial, materialistic world has made us blind to love. We no longer see, for we no longer feel or believe. If you are struggling to find and keep love, how can you change your approach to invite sacred love into your reality experience? In my consulting practice I use a set of guiding principles that I have devised based on Dr. Carol Pearson's system of the twelve universal archetypes. Pearson based her system on the archetype theories of renowned Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. We find these archetypes throughout ancient mythology and many sacred texts, and we continue to apply them in creating shared symbols, artworks, literature and popular entertainment. Yet, when it comes to our love lives, we have become devoid of any archetypal foundation. Love is a hero’s journey, and the hero’s journey is a noble but difficult path ~ Marianne Williamson I have been employing these twelve archetypal secrets of sacred love with much success in working with people all over the world, and have been witness to the miraculous transformation it has brought to clients who have made the effort to apply these archetypal keys to unlock the door to sacred romance and lasting relationships. I hope it will do the same for you, and therefore I am offering these twelve keys to you in the form of themes for meditation that you can incorporate into your daily spiritual practice. You can also apply these twelve archetypal statements as a set of affirmations of higher love. Use them the next time you encounter conflict in your current relationship, or when you write your marriage vows, or before you go on that nerve-wracking first date, or when you consider the qualities you are seeking when creating an online dating profile or a vision board to attract the perfect partner. The Twelve Secrets Of Sacred Love Sacred Love is Adventurous We are both designed to search for a better life and a happier future, my beloved. You and I both wish to expand our horizons, and follow our unique dreams and desires. Let us support each other in our quest to remain true to ourselves while discovering new worlds. Let us together fulfill our separate and unique true life callings. Let us walk this road into the unknown together, hand in hand, just you and me. Sacred Love is Compassionate ​We are both designed to be caring, generous, selfless beings, my beloved. We are perfectly capable of helping and understanding each other. We both seek compassion and inter-dependence from one another, despite the modern myths of rigid independence and self-righteousness . Let us unconditionally care for each other in a cold, heartless world. Let us embrace each other with empathy and kindness. Let us be forever generous with our hearts. Sacred Love is Courageous We are both designed to be strong and brave champions, my beloved. You and I are powerful love warriors, skilled rescuers of the guiltless, determined defenders of the blameless. We both have the capacity to stand up for love, to show up and be strong for one another. Seeking sacred love is not a threat, or a form of weakness, for we know that we are both winners in our shared quest for affection and lasting devotion. Enter with me into this challenging arena, let us conquer together this potential battlefield to claim our prize of true, everlasting love. Sacred Love is Fun We are both designed to enjoy life and suck the marrow out of every day, my beloved. You and I can transform the mundane routine of our daily subsistence by making each other laugh more often. We can transform the necessity for physical survival into a constant source of excitement and joy. Let us be free and foolish together. Let us amuse and entertain each other. Let us fully embrace life together and make the most every moment. Let’s have some fun my love. Sacred Love is Innocent We are both designed to be innocent, spontaneous children seeking safety and belonging, my beloved. We both fear rejection and abandonment. Let us reach out to each other in trust and faith, for we can give ourselves permission to remain hopeful, inter-dependent and vulnerable in our innocence. Let us choose to see our innocent capacity for fidelity and sincerity in each other’s eyes. Let us be safe with one another my love. Sacred Love is Magical We are both designed to be magnificent sorcerers, my beloved. You and I hold the magical power to transform ourselves and each other through enchanted love; we possess the mystical talent to make our shared vision a reality. Let us harness our metaphysical power to truly love and be loved. Let us cast a spell on each other, let us be charmed by the miracle of romance and authentic connection. Let us pool our supernatural ability to conjure up true love. Together we shall invoke the ultimate romantic sacrament my love. © 2014 Anthon St. Maarten ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

The state of Divine Disconnect, when you are feeling out of touch, imperfect, inadequate or wanting in your life, is not a reflection of who you really are as a spiritual being. Neither is it some shameful personal defect that requires salvation. Divine Disconnection is in fact a reflection of who you are not, because you have become what you are not. This sense of being disconnected or separated from your Divine Self is not real, it is a distorted phantasm. It is your physical form trying to make sense of the distorted, grotesque image you have of your own Divinity. ​You are seeing yourself reflected in a house of mirrors lined with rows and rows of limiting fears, self-destructive beliefs and false idols. In this state you become cut off from your true Soul Purpose and Life Calling. You are no longer aligned with your Divine Self and you lose your direction and purpose. The anxiety, fear and pain that you then feel is your inner guidance system attempting to nudge you back into the right direction. Trying to access your inner Divine Being from such a limiting, ill-defined state of mind amounts to the impossible task of chasing rainbows. A mission impossible. A road to nowhere. Instead of chasing an imaginary pot of gold at the end of some man-made rainbow, you have the power to reawaken the flawless Higher Being that you truly are. No one and nothing outside of you can give you salvation, or free you from the misery. You have to light your own lamp. You have to know the miniature universe that you yourself are ~ Banani Ray You can be like a transparent, multi-faceted prism that bends, shapes, reflects and transforms the light of Divinity into the spectral colors of a truly blessed reality, filled with wonder, joy and purpose. Once you return to this natural state of being, you will no longer feel the need to go chasing after elusive, earthly rainbows, for you would have unleashed the true, multi-hued rainbow of your intended Divine being. You will then be the rainbow, the true reflection of your Divine origins. Thomas Troward explains that our spiritual reawakening from the Divine Disconnect is inevitable and will happen as a matter of course at some point in our earthly existence as it was originally intended, whether we are ready or not. He writes, ”The awakening to consciousness of our mysterious interior powers will sooner or later take place, and will result in our using them whether we understand the law of their development or not, just as we already use our physical faculties whether we understand their laws or not." While you remain spiritually asleep, or out of alignment with your original Life Plan, your Divine Self will constantly try to reconnect with you and guide you towards your intended Soul Purpose and Life Calling. You will experience this as an inner sense of urgency, restlessness, longing, sadness or nostalgia. It will feel like missing a loved one you do not know, or being ‘homesick’ for a place you have never been. Once you become aware of your true spiritual nature and recognize the existence of your inner Divine Being, you will automatically begin to receive the comfort, guidance and assistance to transform your life. Adapted from the book Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny by Anthon St. Maarten. © 2012 Anthon St Maarten ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

How do you find your Soul Purpose? Well, you cannot really 'find' something you already have. You already know what your Soul Purpose is; it is inscribed in your very being before you arrive in this time-space reality. After all, you did design it yourself before you came. Your Divine Self is fully aware and informed of your reasons for being here. Your Higher Self is after all the architect and designer of your current life journey. Creating a Divine Life is not a selfish act. Until we are able to find some degree of personal joy, inner peace and lasting contentment, we are actually of little use to our fellow man. If we are to be effective as our proverbial 'brother’s keeper,' which is essentially the foundation of our Life Calling, we need to first achieve a happier and more meaningful life for ourselves. To create a Divine Life, it is important to differentiate between your Soul Purpose and Life Calling (or Life Purpose). I prefer to use the term life calling, because 'life purpose' is too often confused with the concept of having a soul purpose. There is only one purpose for all of life, and that is for you and all that lives to experience fullest glory... everything else you say, think, or do is attendant to that function. There is nothing else for your soul to do, and nothing else your soul wants to do ~ Neal Donald Walsch A prevalent misconception is that Soul Purpose and Life Purpose describe the same thing, and therefore the two terms are often interchanged. There is however a very clear difference between the two concepts. Life Purpose Your Life Purpose or Life Calling refers to your external secular or human purpose in this lifetime; it refers to the contribution you hope to make while you are here in physical form. In other words, it refers to whatever legacy it is you hope to leave behind in this world when you return to the spiritual realm. Soul Purpose Your Soul Purpose is your inner spiritual or metaphysical mission. It refers to the soul growth and spiritual expansion you hope to achieve in this lifetime. Simply put, it refers to the spiritual knowledge, insight and wisdom you aim to take away with you when you depart from this time-space reality one day. The details of our Soul Purpose remain mostly unconscious for most of us, yet it informs and determines our daily choices, decisions and actions. The Divine Self always steers and guides us towards fulfilling our spiritual mission, with or without our cooperation or conscious participation. However, participating actively is much more fulfilling and yields more profound results. The only difference between those of us who are completing our mission unconsciously and those of us who are spiritually aware and mindful of our reasons for being here, is that the conscious spiritual seekers will ultimately be more successful and satisfied in their quest. Tragically, too many souls reach the end of their human lives only to discover too late that they have not achieved much in the spiritual growth department, nor have they contributed much to the expansion of the Conscious Universe. The spiritually awakened person is naturally not content with neglecting their Soul Purpose, because they know that we are spiritual beings having a physical life experience, and they wish to make the most of their Earth journey. The spiritually aware soul does not wish to return home ‘empty-handed’ one day. This possibility seems even more unattractive if one considers the notion that you might have to come back and do it all over again! Back to square one. The awakened soul would much rather move on to ‘bigger, brighter and better’ things, by taking on new journeys into other dimensions, alternate planes of existence, deeper realms of consciousness, or parallel universes. How do you then ensure that you stay on track with your Life Plan and ultimately achieve your Soul Purpose in this lifetime? Easy, you simply realign with your Divine Self and follow the instructions of your inner guidance system. There is no pressing need for you to know the exact details of your Soul Purpose. All you need to do is consistently maintain communication and connection with your Divine Self and follow the inner guidance you receive. To realign and maintain your connection to your inner Divinity you need to establish some form of daily spiritual practice, and begin to live a more mindful existence. Mindful living is a raised state of consciousness and awareness that is achieved by engaging in spiritual practices and activities that transform your thoughts, evolve your emotions, sharpen your senses and increase your intuition. These are the cornerstones of a Divine Life. Adapted from the book Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny by Anthon St Maarten. ​© 2012 Anthon St. Maarten ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

Science and religion have both failed to produce all of the answers we seek to the origins and meaning of our existence. Maybe the solution is to be found in science and spirituality combining its efforts? In Beyond the Postmodern Mind, Huston Smith writes that “Rationalism and Newtonian science has lured us into dark woods, but a new metaphysics can rescue us”. Mankind will never give up its quest to find spiritual meaning and purpose in this world. This quest is what has been driving both science and religion for centuries. The Buddha said, “The teacher appears when the student is ready.” The same principle applies to the human species as a collective. We have been exposed to new esoteric and scientific insights as we evolved – always when the time was right and the world was ready. Prominent religions all over the world were all founded on esoteric guidance and metaphysical wisdom delivered at various times throughout history by great teachers and prophetic messengers. But as time passed and these religions expanded, they were often contaminated by human bureaucracy, superstition, doctrine and dogma, which distorted the original teachings. Science developed out of this chaos, because dogmatic religion increasingly became unable to offer sensible explanations for the nature of reality and the Universe. In those early days the first scientists were in fact persecuted as “godless heretics” for questioning God and the church. Over the past century the pendulum swung back and the tables were turned, and we have been living in a world in recent times where scientific skepticism of all things esoteric or metaphysical has mostly been dominating the debate. The realms of religion and science in themselves are clearly marked off from each other, but there are strong reciprocal relationships and dependencies… science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind ~ Albert Einstein Both science and religion have however failed to produce all the answers we seek to the origins and meaning of our existence. Maybe the solution is to be found in religion and science coming together and combining its efforts? Albert Einstein said, “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” Hopefully the divide between the two will someday soon be bridged, once and for all. ​Today, as we venture deeper into the 21st Century, the rising popularity of metaphysics, alternative spirituality and the ‘new science’ seems to indicate that the world is indeed ready for a fresh approach to delving into esoteric wisdom, supported by a paradigm shift in scientific exploration. Sir Arthur Eddington writes, “Life would be stunted and narrow if we could feel no significance in the world around us beyond that which can be weighed and measured with the tools of the physicist or described by the metrical symbols of the mathematician.” Maybe the time has come to reclaim our transcendental values – even if we are currently unable to prove many of them scientifically. Once we change our approach and begin to accept that there is more to our world than meets the eye, we will find new theories and new methods to find the scientific validations we have been looking for. Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality ... The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both ~ Carl Sagan For example, should science begin to take seriously a metaphysical concept like Universal Consciousness, it might be able to ask all kinds of new questions about our reality and the Universe, and many new theories and concepts can grow from this new perspective. Science will never disappear or become obsolete. It will actually expand and grow, because it will have so many new frontiers and possibilities to explore, and new tools and words to do it with. ​​ Deepak Chopra writes in War of The Worldviews that “ordinary people aren’t going to give up emotions and inspiration just because science sniffs at subjectivity. Science shouldn’t be so edgy and defensive. Vandals aren’t going to smash their way into laboratories and throw Bibles at the equipment.” People will keep searching and asking, because they will always wish to understand what it is that they are feeling and sensing, and more and more they will awaken spiritually. For it is inevitable that our intuition must at some point in our lives force us to admit that there may be more to our existence than what we see in the mirror. Excerpt from the book Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny by Anthon St Maarten ​© 2012 Anthon St. Maarten ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

At some point in every human life a spiritual awakening is supposed to liberate us from Divine disconnection. Yet, many remain deeply stuck in the reality coma of the modern, material world. The separation between man and his Divine origins is the genesis of all religions, cults and belief systems in our world, and it is also the primary driving force behind all science, art and philosophy. Searching for metaphysical meaning and life purpose is a natural attribute of the human condition. Exploring the existence of God or Divine Consciousness beyond our current reality is an innate yearning we all have. No amount of scientific or technological advancement will ever extinguish this urge from human awareness. Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, we all feel the need within to bridge our disconnection from the Divine. We begin to distance from the Divine Self the moment we are born. At birth we have no sense of ‘self’, and we have no awareness of being separate from Spirit or Source. But in time we quickly begin to identify with our new physical environment and with the human Ego or Material Self that we choose to adopt, based on the feedback we receive from others. We gradually also adopt the social role assigned to us by our family, our peers and our community. In time we completely lose touch with our Divine Self, because as we grow up we are increasingly exposed to the man-made concepts, theories, paradigms, belief systems, cultures, traditions and history underlying our current time-space reality. We become attached to the Material Self or Ego, and we learn to cling to whatever we are taught to perceive as the parameters, or limits of our shared reality. ​ Many spiritual teachers – in Buddhism, in Islam – have talked about first-hand experience of the world as an important part of the path to wisdom, to enlightenment ~ Bell Hooks Eventually we end up fully conditioned and firmly ‘plugged into’ the co-created, human ‘reality matrix’ that forms the foundation for life here on Earth. In the process the memories of our original Divinity often fade completely. This state of separation and ‘spiritual amnesia’ is the Divine Disconnect. Why is our human incarnation consciously cut off from its spiritual origins for a large portion of our life? If we really are such Divine Beings, and powerful creators of our own reality, how is it possible that we lose so much of our awareness of the Divinity within, after we arrive on the planet? If we really do design our own Life Plan before we come, why do we allow this disconnect to happen? ​The Divine Disconnect in the early years of a person’s life is, in fact, a classic concept found in many ancient wisdom teachings, mythologies and religious traditions. One only needs to consider the biographical information of the well-known prophets, ascended masters and spiritual teachers throughout history to find evidence of the proliferation of this phenomenon: Abraham The founding father of the three largest mono-theistic religions of the world, namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, had an unremarkable life as a semi-nomadic shepherd and trader, until very late in his life. Somewhere in his 70’s God revealed to him his true destiny as the father of a nation and entered into a sacred covenant with him. Today Abraham is honored as the Father of Faith, yet his connection with the Divine happened very late in life. Confucious His reforms and teaching is reported to have only begun when he resigned from his position as Justice Minister in the Chinese state of Lu after the age of 53. Jesus Christ He lived an ordinary life and worked as a carpenter, until his baptism at the age of 30, when John the Baptist recognized him as the long-awaited Messiah. Shortly after, Jesus went into the desert for 40 days to fast and pray, and at this time he was unsuccessfully tempted by Satan. His return marks the beginning of his ministry and teachings. Moses The receiver of the Ten Commandments also had his spiritual awakening very late in life. After 40 years of being a humble shepherd, God appeared to him in a burning bush and instructed him to return to Egypt and free the Hebrews from slavery. Lao Tzu It is unclear exactly when he had his spiritual awakening, but there is more than one legend about his life that seems to reflect the concept of an initial Divine Disconnect. According to one popular myth he was conceived when his mother gazed upon a falling star, after which he stayed in the womb for 62 years and was born a grown man with a full grey beard and long earlobes, which are symbols of wisdom and a long life. Another legend has it that he grew weary of urban life and became a hermit at the age of 160. It was at this time that the classic Chinese text known as the Tao Te Ching is said to have come into being, when a guard at the city gate asked him to produce proof of his wisdom. The Tao Te Ching founded Taoism and strongly influenced Confucianism and Chinese Buddhism. Mahavira He renounced his kingdom, his family and worldly possessions at the age of 30 and subsequently spent twelve years as an ascetic who practiced constant meditation until he achieved arihant status, which means that he conquered anger, ego, deception, and greed, and attained perfect knowledge and perfect perception, while becoming passionless and gaining infinite power. Mahavira is known as the sage Vardhamāna who established the Jainism faith. Prophet Muhammad The Founder of Islam was orphaned as a child and brought up by his uncle. As adult he worked as an ordinary merchant and shepherd, until he became discontented with his life in Mecca. He retreated to a cave in the surrounding mountains to meditate and during this time he received his first revelation from God at the age of 40. Three years later he started preaching these revelations publicly. Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha He was born into the life of a wealthy prince, set to become king. It is said that he was shielded by his father from all religious education and knowledge of human suffering. Although his father ensured that he was provided with everything he could ever want or need, Siddhartha felt that material wealth was not life’s ultimate goal. His spiritual life began around the age of 29, when he left his father’s palace and became profoundly aware of aging, sickness, suffering and death among his subjects. This depressed him so much that he gave up his life as a prince and initially strove unsuccessfully to overcome human suffering, by living the life of an ascetic. He later changed the direction of his quest and subsequently attained true enlightenment and thus founded Buddhism. Zoroaster According to legend he was the son of a mediocre nobleman and he lived a conventional life as a priest, until he had a heavenly vision at the age of 30. In his vision an angel brought him to the god Ahura Mazda, who instructed him to found a new religion known today as Zoroastrianism. From these examples, among many others, there emerges a clear pattern of metaphysical awakening and spiritual transcendence, namely that it typically occurs towards the second half of a human life, after an initial period of Divine Disconnection. It is my belief that this initial period of Divine Disconnection is intentional, not coincidental. This preliminary stage of spiritual unconsciousness, or disconnection, is a period of physical orientation and data collection in every young human’s life. It is the preparatory time in our lives when we learn to adapt, function and survive in the Earth environment. During this time we also develop our Ego identity and learn to establish and manage relationships with others. Through trial and error we figure out how to use our intuitive and emotional inner guidance system to ensure our survival, and we begin to master the knowledge and skills we will need to accomplish our Life Calling later in life. ​ We seem to need this period of Divine Disconnect to truly focus our attention of the demands of the material world, in order to become fully contributing members of society. Only once we have established a firm footing and a solid understanding of our physical reality, are we ready to reconnect with our original spiritual mission and realign with the Divine Self. If we remove ourselves from the world, we are pretending that we can follow our own individual enlightenment and let the rest of the world go to hell, so to speak ~ Satish Kumar But our world was simpler in the past, when the pace of life was slower and more predictable, and religion provided a firmer spiritual structure to our physical existence. In our post-modern day and age it is increasingly difficult to spontaneously return to our spiritual roots when the time comes; when we are ready to awaken. Awakening is easier said than done for many people these days. The Material Ego has mutated over the past millennium into an exceptionally dominant and all-pervasive force that somehow paralyzes modern man’s spiritual inclination for much longer periods of time, even whole lifetimes, while enslaving him with fear, superficial materialism and hedonistic pursuits. We have created a manic world nauseous with the pursuit of material wealth. Many also bear their cross of imagined deprivation, while their fellow human beings remain paralyzed by real poverty. We drown in the thick sweetness of our sensual excess, and our shameless opulence, while our discontent souls suffocate in the arid wasteland of spiritual deprivation. The spontaneous spiritual awakening we are supposed to have no longer occurs as it should for everyone. Some of us become deeply stuck in the reality maze of the modern world and find it difficult to ‘wake up’. Some of us miss our target date, because of life’s distractions and our capacity for free will. We all will awaken spiritually at some point in this lifetime. As spiritual beings in human form it is inevitable. Unfortunately, this day only arrives for some people towards the end of their journey, sometimes even when they are already on their death bed, because they chose to go through life ignoring the signs and refusing to hear the call. Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow. You are here to realize your inner divinity and manifest your innate enlightenment ​~ Morihei Ueshiba ​ Such a late reconnection means they never have the opportunity to fully self-actualize, individuate and transcend in this lifetime. Therefore they never fully achieve their Soul Purpose, or wholly accomplish their Life Calling. Their Life Plan will remain partly unfulfilled when they depart from this time-space reality. Not accomplishing your Life Plan is a tragic act of free will. It is akin to charting an elaborate vacation itinerary before arriving at your holiday destination, with all kinds of plans for outdoor adventures and intentions to go sightseeing and shopping, but then ending up spending the whole trip in your hotel room ordering from room service and watching television. In a similar fashion the unconscious soul spends a lifetime in the semi-conscious state of Divine Disconnection and then returns home mostly ‘empty-handed’. Fortunately, all is not lost, because the Divine Self has many innovative ways to remind us who we really are when the time draws near for us to awaken. At the end of our lives none of us will be able to claim that we have never received any signs, messages or warnings to emerge from our disconnected slumber. We are invited to reconnect in some way on a daily basis. All we need to do is hear the Inner Calling. The Eternal is Omnipresent. Yet, despite all the messages and signs, many of us choose to remain spiritually deaf and blind. Many choose to continue their unfulfilled half life in a self-imposed spiritual exile… their self-created desert of human suffering. Some are awoken, but then choose to turn their back on the Voice within. Others are eventually forced to awaken through illness, trauma, or tragedy. Excerpt from the book Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny by Anthon St Maarten © 2012 Anthon St. Maarten ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

The founders of the world religions and greatest spiritual traditions all encouraged us to live our earthly lives with gratitude and appreciation, because they knew its importance in achieving our true Soul Purpose and Life Calling. If you only had time to adopt one spiritual principle or practice in your life, I would recommend making gratitude your first and only choice. Being more grateful will change your life. Some spiritual seekers tend to be very keen on beating the drum of prosperity, and becoming fixated on the Law of Attraction and manifesting abundance, which is too often merely a thinly disguised obsession with material wealth and earthly comforts. Most of us simply take too much for granted every day. We experience so many blessings of joy, beauty, forgiveness, protection and Divine grace, which we seldom acknowledge in our lives. We always have something to be grateful, or thankful for, no matter how difficult times may be. As a species we are very good at complaining about what we don’t have, but we seem to find it difficult to give thanks for what we do have. ​We seldom express our gratitude and appreciation towards those we love and cherish, and we hardly ever remember to share what we have with those who have less – not because we feel obligated, but because we feel so much appreciation that we simply want to share our abundant blessings with others. You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance. ~ Khalil Gibran Charity is not about lending a helping hand; it is about celebrating all that we have, and to share our joy and appreciation. Research has demonstrated an indisputable connection between gratitude and spirituality. It is no coincidence that gratitude is regarded as a much cherished and valued quality by most world religions, including the Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu Jewish, and Christian traditions. When reviewing the large body of research done on the subject, gratitude seems to play a much more noteworthy role in our happiness and well-being than most other emotions and personality traits. Several research studies in recent years have shown that people who have a tendency towards higher levels of gratitude also tend to report higher levels of psychological, emotional and physical well-being. People who are grateful have been shown to be happier, more optimistic and more content with their lives. ​They also appear to have lower levels of stress and depression, and they are more satisfied with their relationships and social interaction with others. Studies have also shown that increased gratitude increases a person’s tendency towards altruism, empathy, helpfulness, and generosity. Grateful test subjects were, for example, more likely to share their money in a financial game with others. It is therefore no wonder that our modern society, with its noticeable lack of gratitude and appreciation, displays such a disturbing shortage of charity, goodwill and compassion. Another study has shown that grateful people have a greater sense of control over their environment, life purpose, personal growth and self-acceptance. Grateful people also tend to cope well when facing life challenges; they just seem to deal better with problems in general and are much more successful at navigating life transitions. Grateful people also exercise more frequently, sleep better and are even more resistant to viral infections! ​It is interesting to note that one study reported major increases in people’s ‘happiness scores’ after they participated in an exercise of writing down their thoughts and feelings of appreciation in a gratitude journal. In fact, the increases in their happiness were so significant during the short experiment of one week that many of the participants chose to continue keeping a gratitude journal. If you only had time to adopt one simple life strategy or lifestyle technique to apply in your life, I would recommend making gratitude your first choice and main aim. Even if you had to ignore everything else, do make an effort to be more grateful. It will change your life. ​Gratitude is no doubt encouraged as a popular religious or spiritual sentiment because of its precious ‘side-effects’. The Prophets, Ascended Masters, Teachers and Founders of the diverse world religions brought us messages of encouragement to live our earthly lives with gratitude and appreciation, because they knew its importance in achieving our true Soul Purpose and Life Calling. When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs? ~ G.K. Chesterton Living in a state of true appreciation is the key to the expression and fulfillment of your Life Plan. A Divine Life is a grateful life. When you go to the seaside to enjoy a day on the beach, you do have a choice about how you will perceive and interpret your experience. You may choose to focus on feeling miserable all day and complain about the sand in your shoes, the noisy seagulls, the irritating wind, the smelly seaweed and the hot sun; or you can choose to appreciate the unusual texture of the sand between your toes, mindful of the fact that it was created through mechanical weathering and erosion of rocks, mollusk shells, and coralline algae over billions of years, by way of the cycles of the moon and the tides of the ocean. Our planet is indeed a marvel! And then you can set out to build an incredible sand castle to the delight of all the children that pass by, or use the ‘sands of time’ to exfoliate the protective organic miracle that is your skin, while you smile at the comical antics of the seagulls fighting in the distance over a piece of food. Don’t forget to bask in the warmth of the sun, which is perfectly balanced by the coolness and fresh smell of an occasional breeze from the magnificent ocean. Then take a deep breath in deep appreciation and sincere gratitude for this amazing experience that is your Divine Life. Counting your blessings go way beyond holiday season. Johannes A. Gaertner said, “To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven”. So much to appreciate, and so little time. No need to say ‘thank you’ at this year’s Christmas dinner table. Just live a thankful, grateful life every day of the year. Excerpt adapted from the book Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny. © 2012 Anthon St. Maarten ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

The New Children came to be the wayshowers for a new age in human evolution. We came to awaken, heal, teach, guide and help make the world a better place. We did not come into this time-space reality to be victims. We came to be warriors, to be pioneers. Therefore, we must stay strong, because we really do need all hands on deck. A zealous pastor once pointed at me in front of a congregation of churchgoers and said, “You, young man, will someday go into the darkest of places and bring many souls to the Light.” At the time I did not realize that I would first have to drag myself through a dark night of the soul, before his prophecy would finally become manifest and I would be of any real use to anyone else. As ethereal and cool as his words may have sounded at the time, the actual journey itself was certainly not a glamorous affair! Yet, I still consider myself to be one of the lucky ones. I have been asked why my first book, Divine Living, was dedicated to “those Indigo Souls of my generation who may have lost their way.” As a formerly lost, unconscious Lightworker, and one of the seemingly misplaced New Children, it was simply my hope that my experiences might inspire others of my kind. It was my humble attempt at helping to prevent the tragedy of more of us being unnecessarily lost to humanity and our true life purpose. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours ~ Ayn Rand ​I am one of the early New Children who arrived on the planet to pave the way for future generations. As a Lightworker, I struggled for many years to find my path and lacked the courage to spread my wings. Those of us who turned up very early, since the end of the Second World War until the advent of the Information Age, did not exactly hit the ground running when we arrived here. Quite the contrary…it was a rather bumpy landing! And it has been a roller coaster ride ever since. Every spiritual being in human form brings a special talent or unique gift to this world. Yet, we all come into this life with the same basic purpose or mission: to be of service. Some of us are meant to serve the environment or planet, while others are here to serve the animal and plant kingdoms, or our fellow human beings, or the realm of spirit. This mission to serve expresses itself in a unique and distinctive way through each one of us, no matter how simple or grandiose. And then there are those among us who come with a global mission. These are the souls alive on the planet today who are known as the Lightworkers. We are also known as the Indigo, Crystal, Rainbow and Diamond Children, or Empaths, Avatars, Starseeds, Earth Angels, Torchbearers, Wayshowers, Lightwarriors, and many other popculture names and esoteric labels associated with this phenomenon. No matter what we choose to call ourselves, our essential purpose remains the same. We are here to awaken, to heal, to teach, to guide, to uplift, and to help make the world a better place. We are a generation of souls who have chosen to incarnate at this pivotal time in human history to bring about a new spiritual awareness. We came to be the wayshowers for a new era in human evolution. In the foreword of Divine Living, I single out three such fellow lightworkers whose stories touched me the most. Maybe I chose to do this because I suffer from some form of survivor guilt? There was a time in my life when I also contemplated ending my own life like the three people on my dedication list. Some days I am still amazed I actually made it this far, despite everything I endured since childhood. I can only be grateful. What else can I say about this matter that would not sound feeble or totally self-righteous? I really have no words. The first Indigo soul listed in my dedication was a very close friend, Hilet, who chose to end her life in 2012. Hilet was an unmistakable Indigo Child with an all-encpmpassing love for animals, especially dogs, which I have never observed to such an extent in any other person of my acquaintance. She was in fact a radical activist when it came to the well-being of animals! Hilet’s premature departure from this world left a void in the cause for animal rights and the animal anti-cruelty cause. I was haunted by disturbing dreams and premonitions about her at the time and had made numerous attempts to reach out to her in the weeks leading up to her tragic passing. But true to her stubborn nature she would let nobody in. Instead she posted a smiling picture of herself on the beach with her dogs, telling her friends and family on Facebook how happy she was at the time. Soon after she was gone. A Lightworker with a sacred mission became tragically lost to us. And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom ~ Anais Nin The second person I mention in the dedication is Jamey Rodemeyer, the budding young activist who committed suicide at the tender age of 14. Jamey came out as gay at a young age and was severely bullied as a result. He posted videos on his YouTube blog to speak out against homophobia and encourage other gay teenagers and victims of bullying to be strong and have faith. “It gets better, I promise!” he bravely told his followers. Soon after, on September 18, 2011, Jamey chose to end his life. He had a bright future as a human rights advocate and LGBTQ educator. But another Lightworker with a sacred mission was tragically lost to us. The famous singer Amy Jade Winehouse completes my grim trilogy. Amy has been called “the voice of her generation” and was one of the New Children who was meant to bring a powerful message of healing and self-empowerment to the world. She was meant to ultimately be an inspiring role-model for her generation. She knew from a young age that she was destined for great things; she even wrote a note at the age of 12 stating, “I want people to hear my voice and just… forget their troubles for five minutes.” Amy struggled for years with substance abuse and ultimately died of alcohol poisoning. Another Lightworker with a sacred mission once again tragically lost to us. I saw a television documentary a few years ago about efforts to save a species of sea turtles from going extinct. These endangered turtles breed once a year on a piece of land near a specific beach. They have traveled to this beach to lay their eggs for centuries, but in recent years a highway had been built through that area, cutting off their breeding grounds from the ocean. Due to property development and human interference, more predators alienated from their habitat are increasingly also scavenging the area for food. After hatching from their eggs, the baby turtles are easy prey and face much danger crossing that busy road. Very few of them ultimately make it back to the ocean. Watching this tragedy unfold on my TV screen made me think of the many Lightworkers who may have lost their way in this lifetime, only to be lost to our cause due to a premature, untimely death. Like those tiny turtles, many of the early arrivals of New Children from my generation did not make it. Arriving here as pioneers, we found ourselves in a hostile, harsh environment which led some of us into very dark places, and sometimes much danger. Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us….You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world ~ Marianne Williamson Finding our way in this world has not exactly been a walk in the park for the New Children, and for many the struggle continues. Some could simply not go on and have meanwhile aborted their mission by ending their own lives, while others remain trapped in tragic, aimless lives of self-imposed suffering, learned helplessness, victimhood, and self-pity, many of whom self-medicate with drugs, alcohol and over the counter medication. They have forgotten who they really are; they do not know their own strength and power. 'Short-staffed and over-worked' the rest of us continue to break new ground and pave the way for those who have come after us, and will continue to come. It’s a sometimes dirty job, but someone has to do it, because there are more and more of us arriving each day, as humanity and the planet is in much need of healing, protection, guidance and support. All members of the tribe of Lightworkers have a sacred duty not only to humanity and the planet, but also to each other. We are our brothers' and sisters' keepers. We must reach out to each other and offer the necessary support and guidance. We need to stand together in our efforts, and we must especially take better care of the young ones. The Lightworkers or New children of our generation did not come into this world to be victims. We came to be warriors, to be pioneers. Remember who you are. There is much work to be done, much courage to be mustered. Be brave my fellow Indigo. Stay strong. We need all hands on deck. © 2015 Anthon St. Maarten ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

Instinct and intuition are said to be the same thing - an innate, primitive intelligence. But is intuition truly nothing more than a primal urge? It is my belief that instinct is the unconscious language of the body, while intuition is the unconscious language of the soul. Primitive man greatly relied on his intuition, because he thought in images and symbols, and listened to his ‘inner voice’ and trusted his ‘gut’. Early man fluently spoke the language of the intuitive mind, the language of his spiritual origins. Man is born intuitive, because man is of spiritual origin. Intuition is the earthly language of Spirit and it transcends the limitations of this time-space dimension. Some scientists argue that intuition is merely an aspect of our normal human intelligence developed out of primitive man’s animalistic survival instincts. The concepts of “relying on your instincts” and “following your intuition” is therefore often used inter-changeably or in the same context. Many people assume that instinct and intuition are the same thing. This is however an incorrect assumption. Every time you don’t follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness ~ Shakti Gawain As spiritual beings in human form, we do have physical bodies with certain natural instincts, such as the fight or flight response when we sense danger, or the primal urges to seek pleasure and avoid pain. These instincts have not evolved or changed much since prehistoric times. We may have become technologically advanced and intellectually sophisticated, but we remain subject to our primitive instincts to this day. It therefore makes no sense to propose that our intuition is merely an evolution of our original instinct. Surely there is more to our innermost being than mere physical survival? We may have become technologically advanced and intellectually sophisticated, but we remain subject to our primitive instincts to this day. It therefore makes no sense to propose that our intuition is merely an evolution of our original instinct. Surely there is more to our innermost being than mere physical survival? It is my belief that instinct is the unconscious language of the body, while intuition is the unconscious language of the soul. The human body speaks the dialect of urges and physical needs, while the soul speaks the dialect of symbols and imagery. Intuition is an archetypal wisdom. Intuition is what gives us access to our inner Divinity, our spiritual origins, the eternal Higher Self. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Belief consists in accepting the affirmations of the soul; unbelief, in denying them.” We cannot access the Soul or the Divine Self through pure intellect, reason or analytical thought. We never will. Consistent evolution of our species has increasingly brought is into a state of Divine Disconnection. We began to focus on cultivating the intellectual, rational mind, at the expense of the intuitive, symbolic mind. We have replaced symbols, images and intuitions with words, concepts and facts. We have increasingly banished the innate intuitive capacity of our ancestors to the realms of our dreams and the elusive subconscious mind. Intuition is neither the ability to engage prophesy nor a means of avoiding financial loss or painful relationships. It is actually the ability to use energy data to make decisions in the immediate moment ~ Carolyn Myss In Metaphoric Mind: A Celebration of Creative Consciousness, Bob Samples writes, “Albert Einstein called the intuitive or metaphoric mind a sacred gift. He added that the rational mind was a faithful servant. It is paradoxical that in the context of modern life we have begun to worship the servant and defile the divine.” In the 1980′s the Harvard Business Review conducted a survey of the top 100 CEOs in the United States. Each participant was asked to name the one major factor they feel had contributed most to their business success. Amazingly, all the subjects reported that it was their reliance on their intuition that helped to bring them all the way to the top of the corporate ladder. More interesting is the fact that many of them confessed to keeping this fact a secret, because they feared disapproval or ridicule from their shareholders, colleagues and staff. Modern man often chooses to ignore or deny his intuitions, referring to it as “just the imagination” or “New Age woo-woo”. But whether we choose to accept it, or not, we are constantly receiving non-physical information and spiritual guidance from the intuitive mind. To create a truly Divine Life we need to relearn the finer nuances of this subtle and symbolic inner language of the Soul. Excerpt adapted from the book Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny. © 2012 Anthon St. Maarten.ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

It is a myth that everyone is supposed to meet a ‘soulmate’ in this lifetime. Don’t get me wrong, soulmate connections do exist, but in my work I have found this phenomenon to be quite rare. It is a singular spiritual anomaly that is certainly not predestined for most of us. In a world where intimate relationships have become extremely challenging to navigate, the search for the ever-elusive soulmate has become a contemporary obsession. We have co-created a modern society where detachment, loneliness and disconnection reigns supreme, despite our easy access to social media and communication technology. Against this background, the manic hunt for the ‘love of our life’ has become one of our generation’s most profoundly tragic acts of free will. In my view, the most disturbing aspect of this ‘wild goose chase’ is the fact that it is so often encouraged, or even set into motion, by well-meaning psychic advisors and relationship coaches! In my career I have had to help pick up the pieces of a broken heart, or a destroyed life, too many times. A soulmate is someone to whom we feel profoundly connected, as though the communicating and communing that take place between us were not the product of intentional efforts, but rather a divine grace ~ Thomas Moore So many times have I dealt with the tragic aftermath of false expectations someone else has created for one of my clients, often with a sweeping statement like, “Oh, yes dear, he definitely and absolutely is your soulmate!" The most memorable case, which will probably haunt me for the rest of my life, was the desperate, broken woman who cried like a lost, little girl. She was begging me to help her reverse the damage she had done to her 30 year marriage... as if I could somehow turn back time. “Please Anthon,” she sobbed, “tell me what to do. I will give anything to just have my old life back!” But there was nothing to be done. Her previously devoted, long-suffering husband had finally given up, and he had since moved on to a dream home, a beautiful young wife and a brand new life, while she had become practically homeless, trapped in a dysfunctional relationship with an abusive drunkard, and surviving on the meager income she earned as a newcomer to the job market… at the age of 48. All because of a charming, catfish Don Juan whom she met online; a so-called ’soulmate’ who in reality was never meant to be. Look, I do not claim to be privy to all the answers to the mysteries of the universe. By no means. All I know is what I know, based on my own spiritual insights and metaphysical experiences, as well as the psychic work I have been doing with people all over the world for the past 13 years. And based on my first-hand experiences as a professional psychic medium and destiny coach, soulmate relationships are in truth few and far between. In fact, they seldom come up in destiny readings, because it is simply not an automatic or mandatory part of everyone’s life plan. So-called “soulmate contracts,” when they are actually built into a person’s original life plan, always serve a higher spiritual purpose. These soulmate connections reach far beyond mere human companionship, partnership, or procreation. Spiritual ‘power couples’ are destined to come together in their lifetime to jointly fulfill their life calling, and to contribute to the greater good. Famous examples of such predetermined soul agreements include the radiology pioneers Pierre and Marie Curie; spiritual altruists Desmond and Leah Tutu; interracial marriage activists Richard and Mildred Loving; sexual revolutionaries Bill Masters and Virginia Johnson; artists John Lennon and Yoko Ono; same-sex union advocates Michael McConnell and Jack Baker; and metaphysical teachers Esther and Jerry Hicks. ​These couples were absolutely meant to cross paths in their lifetime. Their coming together was planned and agreed upon before they arrived on the planet. Their union was an integral part of their shared destiny to shift humanity, change history, and help make the world a better place. You have half our gifts. I the other. Together we make a whole. Together we are much more powerful ~ Joss Stirling In contrast, most relationships experienced by most people throughout their lifetime, are merely romantic entanglements they create and attract for themselves as powerful creators of their own reality experience. This manifesting process often begins at a very young age. Have you ever carefully observed little girls playing nuptials with Barbie and Ken? For this reason it is so important that awakened parents teach their children spiritually sound values and expectations when it comes to relationships, sex, love and marriage… instead of youngsters basing their intention for a future partner on popular culture, misogynistic fairy-tales, or the dubious role-models provided by the mainstream entertainment media. Is it any wonder that one in every two marriages end in divorce nowadays? The truth is we are failing at love miserably, and it is often a matter of “careful what you wish for!” We are therefore not all destined to achieve groundbreaking scientific, charitable, humanitarian or spiritual advancement with our life partner. This does not mean we are somehow spiritually inferior or unworthy. No, it simply means that each of us has a unique calling and singular spiritual mission in this lifetime. Sure, for some their life purpose may require the mutual support and inspiration of a significant other with a similar, or related life purpose. In these cases the two partners actually do ‘complete each other’ in a far-reaching manner beneficial to their joint life’s mission. But for the rest of us, the ‘love of our life’ is usually just a travel companion; a fellow-adventurer whom we have manifested in order to make this human joyride all the more educational and exhilarating. And some of us even intended to travel alone, without the distraction of a co-pilot. Soulmates tend to find each other during their respective pursuits of their soul missions. Creating a soulmate could be seen as a spiritual reward that we give ourselves, after pursuing many soul contracts rife with discord ~ Linda Brady So, how do you know if a soulmate partnership is a part of your life plan? One can access this kind of esoteric insight through various forms of spiritual practice, including meditation, prayer, psychic reading, channeling, divination, past life regression, akashic record retrieval, and shamanic journeying. But, truth be told, if a soulmate partnership is really meant to be for you, you will probably know it by now, especially if you are spiritually aware and have a robust, clear connection with your inner guidance system. In this instance, your constant yearning for a life partner or ’soulmate’ will not spring purely from a personal or selfish romantic need. Instead it will mostly emanate from a deep, altruistic desire to touch the lives of others, or to make a real difference in this world, by combining your efforts with that of another. This awareness often makes itself known to us in our childhood. You will know early on that the ultimate fulfillment of your life calling will require the addition of certain traits or qualities you may be lacking, which can only be brought to the table by the complimentary cooperation of another soul. You will most likely find it impossible to imagine yourself completing your spiritual mission successfully, without that special ‘partner-in-crime’ by your side. You will have an innate knowing that you need that someone extraordinary to share your vision and join you in getting your hands dirty! Now, if a soulmate is not in the cards for all of us, then why do we sometimes experience such a profound connection with someone whom we feel simply must be “The One?” Well, some of that “special feeling” has a lot to do with our state of mind at the time, or our emotional well-being, while some of it is often nothing more than the psychological effect of raging hormones! However, metaphysically speaking it is also to be expected that when the potential partner we have been creating and attracting deliberately (or unconsciously) finally manifests in our life… the person standing in front us may feel very familiar, for example, or somehow extremely noteworthy. The powerful proximity of their energy will resonate very strongly with the radio signal of desire we have been sending out for so long. “Hey, there you are, finally!” we might exclaim, “I have been looking for you everywhere, what took you so long?” ​ In some cases, however, this special reverberation with a love interest may be short-lived. Yes, that man you thought might be ‘The One’ sometimes does disappear in a disappointing puff of pink smoke! Or the woman who ’stole your heart’ sometimes turns out to be not whom you had hoped for. Why? Well, it is certainly not because you made a foolish mistake, but simply because that person was another signpost or stepping stone along the way to finding the love of your life. They entered your reality experience to teach you more about yourself, or to affirm your progress, or to question your choices, or to expand your desires and show you more of what you really want. Or sometimes the right one does actually show up, exactly as requested, but we are simply too blind at the time to see them through the eyes of love, instead of through our favorite lenses of judgment. Meeting your predestined soulmate is typically fairly easy to achieve, since it is mostly beyond your control. They usually just show up at the right time. All that really needs to be done, while we await their arrival, is to focus on our own spiritual development, or even begin the work without them. Similarly, attracting a romantic life partner is often just as simple to do, but certainly not always equally successful, because the creation process often happens unconsciously. Many people leave it up to ‘fate’ and then have to endure several trial runs and test drives before they finally figure it out, if at all. Deliberately manifesting your ideal life partner, on the other hand, is a much better way to go! Consciously using the Law of Attraction is a far more effective metaphysical process, but it is also more challenging. It is certainly not for the weak at heart… and the higher your standards, the longer it takes. Patience and courage are essential. Sometimes several ‘prototype partners’ may show up along the way to help the process along, or to keep you on track. All the lovers you encounter in your life will always show up for a reason, a season… or a lifetime. Whatever their purpose may be, there somehow always is method in the madness. And when you meet them, all of them will most likely offer a highly resonant vibrational match to the vision you hold for your future love match. Whoever resonates with you at the time, do not ignore them. Embrace their presence in your life. They have shown up because they were meant to. Go with the flow, follow the signs, learn the lessons, and give them a chance. But, never automatically assume that your connection with this person ‘feels so right’ because you have finally found your soulmate. © 2016 Anthon St. Maarten ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.