The mystical journey is a decision.

The mystical journey is the decision to undergo purification, illumination, and divine union consciously and directly at the level of the soul. Most people experience this journey unconsciously, allowing life to force transformation upon them through suffering and circumstance. But the mystic says: ‘Call me by name. I want it directly.’ Let me walk straight into the fire, into the light, and allow the transformation to burn itself into my soul.

Please enjoy this session from my live workshop “Entering the Castle,” presented in 2009. If you’d like to see the rest of this workshop – you can click here to learn more »

This workshop emerges from my lifelong relationship with the great Saint Teresa of Ávila—a relationship that forever changed the way I understand how heaven, and our perception of heaven, descends into ordinary life and becomes real. Though Teresa entered history as a Catholic saint, she ultimately became something far greater: a cosmic mystic who transcended the boundaries of the world she was born into. Her masterpiece, “The Interior Castle”, inspired my own work, “Entering the Castle”, and continues to offer one of the most profound maps of the soul’s journey ever written. 

It is an extraordinary privilege to offer this workshop on Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross in the very place where they lived and taught. For me personally, this is an exceptionally rare experience—one I will likely never have again. Together, we will explore not only the lives and teachings of these two great mystics, but also the deeper significance of studying mysticism in our own time, when so many people are searching for meaning beyond the structures and certainties that once defined spiritual life.