Hello all, hope the end of winter is finding you well! Today I have an amazing interview with a practitioner who brings a different perspective and a wealth of knowledge. I would love to introduce everyone to Janet an Alaka’I, which is a Hawaiian spiritual guide, and also an Artist working out of New York.
As always here are the links where you can find Janet’s work or connect to schedule IRL.
and also on the Feminism and Religion
On Facebook TheMysticPagan
Now let’s get to the good stuff…
In a few sentences describe your business.
I write books and I do workshops. The books and workshops are a shaman’s eye view of the Hebrew Bible. The books reveal the sacred knowledge of the ancients. The teachings behind the stories and words of the Bible are based upon Pagan wisdom that was hidden but not completely lost. I have studied with many powerful shamans to experience the path of spirit. I have traveled to sacred sites around the world to gather knowledge, learn traditions and to glean the ancient fountains of life from which these wisdom teachings arose.
What is your Mission Statement?
My task is to present new, yet ancient, foundational paradigms for us to build our lives with more harmony and more love. As we heal ourselves, we can set out to heal our world. It all starts with love. By understanding these ancient teachings, we can raise our consciousness to live more mindfully, lovingly, and peacefully.
What is your favorite part about what you do?
I feel like a forensic detective. I look for hidden meanings both in ancient language or in cross-cultural shamanic studies. When I hit upon treasured connections and a teaching falls into place it is deliciously exciting.
Why did you start this professional Journey?
I began over 25 years ago while walking my own healing journey. When I learned such exciting wisdom and I experienced, personally, its power, I not only wanted to learn more for myself, but I have also sought out and continue to seek out ways to share this knowledge with others.
What can you offer customers that your competitors can’t?
A unique perspective. I have been ordained in two shamanic traditions. I bring the knowledge of the earth and Pagan based teachings to stories that we thought we knew.
How would you handle a herd of cats?
Cats gotta be cats. I would praise and cheer on their cat-a-tude!
Tell us more about your business?
I’ll give an example that shows how this study can change our perceptions of our foundational beliefs. The name Eve in the Bible is Hawwah or Chavah depending on how it is transliterated. Eve means “life.” Genesis 3:20: “The man called his wife’s name Eve because she was the mother of all living.”
There were two trees in the Garden of Eden from which Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat. The second tree was the Tree of Life. This was HER tree. There was a long Middle Eastern tradition of Goddesses in Trees who nurtured humankind.
Think about how our lives would have been different if this was also our birthright knowledge. Instead of a separation and a curse, that has haunted we humans for millennia, what if our beliefs were that this special tree was a gift and a promise of nurturing?
What superpower would you like to have? and why
I would love to go back in time and be a fly on the wall (or bushes as the case may be) on so many historic events, especially in Biblical times. Oh can you imagine being, say, a flea on Moses’s shoulder?
When you are not working what do you do?
I guess that would depend on one’s definition of work. For me, my life is filled with the fullness of the “work” of living whether it is walking the dog, brewing some coffee, doing yoga, or taking photographs.
How do you include your Pagan faith in your work?
It is who I am and how I see the world. Often, when I begin talking, people are surprised I call myself a Pagan feeling that the term is pejorative. But then I explain that “Pagan” simply means people of the earth. It is those who study the stars, the cycles of the seasons, the patterns of life, the progressions of the days and hold this knowledge in sacred trust for all of humanity.