My husband, Frankie Cardamone, and I recently did something that we had not considered prior to the moment we took the first step. I don’t know why we hadn’t considered it. I suppose it’s true that sometimes things don’t come into our consciousness as a possibility until we witness them in some way. Over recent years, we have watched through live stream many events with our beloved Traveler John Morton as he travels on the physical level to different communities. In the middle of one particularly lovely evening where John did a seminar from the living room of a fellow minister, Frankie and I both felt touched by memories of how John-Roger began his ministry in the homes of those who invited him, and we looked at each other and said almost simultaneously, “Why don’t we invite the Traveler to our home?”
In 2017, I came to serve on PTS staff for a second time when I was invited to take the lead in bringing forward a second master’s program for our seminary, the master’s program in transcendent leadership. When I started working closely with the MSIA and PTS staff again, I was continually in awe of what I was noticing about John Morton, and what everyone seemed to be noticing, because it seemed to me that everyone was frequently commenting on the beautiful way that John always shows up! I invited John to meet with me and provide guidance on how to allow Spirit to lead the design of this new program. I invited him a few times to join the faculty who were co-creating the program, to have lunch and conversation about this service we had said yes to for MSIA and PTS. I invited him and Leigh to meet with us to review the courses and the design as each course was completed. And he always showed up. At some point in the process, we were sitting with Leigh having a meal (after I invited him to have a specific conversation), and I shared with him how grateful and in awe I was at the way he shows up. And his response lives in my heart still. He said, I tend to show up when I’m invited.
That statement has stayed with me and influenced how I participate in my work, my relationships, and the world. John is without question a master at showing up, in his presence and his service, his honesty and his kindness. John’s willingness to say yes and to put his body on the line is unique. I’m not saying that I expect that others will always show up if invited. But he did help me to realize that if I want someone to show up, the place to start is with an invitation. So, I have become much more adept at inviting my friends and family, as well as acquaintances and strangers. I invite people to meals, to conversations, and to envision and serve the world we want to live in.
And of course I will keep inviting John. This year for the first time, Frankie and I realized that we could invite John to come to our home and have a conversation with us and other ministers and initiates. So, we did.
When it came time for the Arizona Reps to work with the MSIA staff to plan our involvement in the southwest travel, we asked them what they thought of inviting John to do an event for ministers and initiates in Prescott, Arizona. Prescott is a small town with only five ministers. Frankie and I have lived here for 32 years and for many of those years we were the only ministers. Recently, our numbers increased to 5, but that didn’t seem to me like enough people to have an event. But the staff said the magic words. They said, Let’s invite him and see how he responds. So, we did.
On November 14, the day before Frankie’s birthday, John and Leigh blessed our home as John held a Q&A for Ministers and Initiates from our living room. It was a dream come true. There he was, sitting in the corner of our living room and Leigh sitting directly across from him. They were surrounded by things that we know as sacred, such as a bronze dove that had belonged to J-R, a HU candle that came from Mandeville, a heart sculpture made by a beloved friend and minister-angel, and a photo of John-Roger that another beloved friend gifted me in 2013 when I was going through a cancer adventure so that J-R could look over me throughout the journey.
What a glorious experience it was to sit in our own living room across from John and Leigh, with John-Roger looking over us all, and know that we are always connected to ministers and initiates around the world.
Our in-person event was small and intimate. Our little living room, that I thought could hold 40 folding chairs, had about 20 people in it, pretty equally divided with friends from among my first ministerial community of Phoenix, Arizona (where I first discovered John-Roger and MSIA through meeting Frankie), my second ministerial community of Los Angeles, California (where Frankie and I have served on staff and lived at Prana), and our current ministerial community here in Prescott, Arizona (where we are part of a wonderful little community of Steve Fogel, Mariza Fogel, Virginia Norris, Frankie Cardamone, and me). And we filled the rest of that room with our love, and our joy, and our gratitude, through our open invitation to have the Traveler in our hearts.
As Leigh called us all forward to the presence of the King of Kings, inviting us to open our hearts, she asked John-Roger to be with us, and there he was looking at us all over her shoulder.
Leigh continued to call forward the Light, and she offered this blessing:
God bless Prescott, where we are. May, at this moment, each one of us place a column of Light, coming from God’s heart, through us, deep within the Earth and with each minister who is holding the Light here, through all of Arizona. We’re grateful, John and I, to be with you, we would have come, almost no matter what! And we are here. We share with you the blessing of this living Traveler, John Morton.
I felt my heart fill, thinking of all the ways the Traveler answers our invitations. When Leigh thanked John for being our shepherd and showing up “no matter what” I felt the joy of the blessing of John always showing up and the joy we receive when we show up. In that beautiful moment, in our living room, I felt the joy that comes with the truth of knowing that nothing could keep me from the Traveler, and nothing can keep me from knowing that the Traveler is here. With us. Always.
As John began the evening with us, he spoke beautifully to everything that has been in my heart about invitations, showing up, and being with the Traveler.
I figured I’d just do a little presence with you. Welcome! Especially welcome to those of you in the room, in the way this Movement started. It started in people’s homes, for the most part. Gatherings like this on a very regular basis, while John-Roger was working full time as an English teacher.
The Traveler Consciousness has no bounds, no limits. If I show up in the part of the Consciousness that’s in a body, with these things we call the keys, which is spiritual authority, spiritual ability, it could be ham and eggs, and then it could be something like this. So, where I’m at is if I can get a hold of the consciousness, that’s easy, because it’s always present. It’s that one that says, ‘I’m always with you.’
John later shared on Blessing This Day about the “beautiful gathering” at our home in Prescott, and shared about how he and Leigh were served in Arizona: “I was getting… we were getting… some things I would call treatments.” He went on to describe how beautifully the Arizona ministerial community cared for him and Leigh, by providing or leading them to some wonderful health-focused massage, acupuncture, and more. And of course, he made us all happy to know that he was still remembering that first comes taking care of himself.
Leigh also shared her appreciation. She said that they had so much fun, and said “it was wonderful being in Arizona. It was a revelation for me.” She continued, “I had made a couple of film projects there when I was younger, and I loved it, but this was a revelation. It’s so beautiful. The air is so beautiful. The landscape is so majestic. And we were with our friends… We just love everybody in Arizona. Just like we love everybody everywhere, but we really had a wonderful time with you.”
John-Roger in Arizona, at the Grand Canyon, September 1973
The blessings continue and we are delighted to know that not only were we served and gifted by the presence of John and Leigh in our communities, but they were served and gifted as well. The invitation was given, and as importantly, it was received.
One of my favorite teachings from John-Roger, and the one that most leads my life, is his reminder to keep your attention on your intention. In so many ways J-R and John remind us to keep our focus on where we want to go. Today in my heart, I hear the words, Keep your invitation on your intention. It is my intention to always invite the Traveler to my heart, and to my home, to guide me in all ways. The Traveler through John, and the Traveler that is in each of us.
Great article. Love this!