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The Love of a Master Southwest Tour 2018 [with Photos]

 

After New Year’s, I realized that I would have two weeks free later that month to take a road trip around the Southwestern United States. With the support of my publicist, Teri Breier, the plan quickly came together with grace and ease—last-minute, spontaneous and true to form! I threw a few boxes of books in the backseat, asked Amazon to print and ship copies of The Love of a Master to Boulder, Colorado, and off I went.

The Southwest tour began in Tucson, Arizona on Friday, January 19th. After an awesome nine-hour journey that felt like I was driving J-R, I met up with Don and Donna Cook, who hosted me at their beautiful new home. Not only did they put me up for several nights in the guest room, but we also held the events there. On Saturday, the local ministers and initiates showed up in fellowship, some from quite a distance—including people like Samuel Flagler and many other wonderful souls.

We sat together in Satsang as I began with a talk about The Love of a Master book, detailing my experiences with J-R, then showed a 23-minute video clip from The Mystical Traveler movie focused on the gnostic parts: chanting of the tones, a discussion of the various realms, what is the Mystical Traveler and Preceptor. The following day, we spent seven hours together watching a J-R seminar marathon and screening The Mystical Traveler.

At one point, I flashed on a childhood memory when my mom had escaped my stepfather and ran off to Tucson from Orlando, Florida. My recollections of living there when I was quite young brought back memories of a wonderful time.

Next I was off to Phoenix, where Judi Goldfader, and Angie and Mike “the Colonel” Nicolucci hosted an evening event. I am the Godfather to Judi’s daughter, Ella, which allowed me to play a temporary parent role. We shared a Dairy Queen experience together that she called, “delicious quiet;” it was a sweet, beautiful moment of peace with my spiritual daughter.

In Prescott, Arizona, Frankie Cardamone, his friend, and I gathered in Satsang, watching a seven-hour J-R Seminar Marathon and Mystical Traveler film screening. Our sacred time together was completed by Frankie juggling us to Spirit. On this trip, it seemed I was visiting my past—way back in 1986, I had been Frankie’s volunteer in the Products Department at Prana. We joyfully reminisced about pizza parties, shipping Discourses, and sharing fellowship in love, serving the Travelers.

Making my way to Santa Fe, New Mexico, I spent several days with Robert Waterman and Karey Thorne. If you have never visited or worked with Robert and Karey, give yourself the experience and check it out. What was revealed to me while staying at their home is the Gestalt, an inner knowing that there is an illusion ridden by the negative power out there that J-R is gone. For instance, my sentimental attachment to locations in L.A., such as Prana, Mandeville, and the USM building, as reminders of John-Roger, creates an opening for a distorted perception of “it’s not the same,” “the energy is different,” and so on. It’s a reactive, reptilian-brain “fight or flight” process, where the negative power comes into play; it is the mind running this misperception. Yet, following my intuition, I am Traveling all over the world; not to escape, but to sit in Satsang with Initiates and Ministers, which then activates the Satsang inside of me with John-Roger.

This deep realization and strength-building inside of me happened far from the influence of L.A. J-R used to say it takes two years to see clearly regarding any relationship, business, or something new to realize if it’s for you or not. The last three years since his transition have given me a perspective of newness because I don’t have any set thought forms, patterns or inner objects sending my reptilian brain into a negative spin. When I’m in the loop with new locations and meeting new people, it’s God greeting me with a new birth.

Rebecca Skeele arranged for a wonderful The Love of a Master book signing event at a local hotel one afternoon, followed by a J-R marathon & Mystical Traveler screening hosted at her lovely home the next day. We had a fantastic turnout at both events. Continuing the theme of revisiting my past, I enjoyed flashbacks of Rebecca facilitating some of my PAT trainings in Lake Arrowhead.

I had a few days off, so I spent some time with my Sikh friends at Yogi Bhajan‘s Ranch in Española, New Mexico, known as the Hacienda de Guru Ram Das Ashram. During a tour of his retreat center, it really brought home the missing of J-R. I saw how they hold their guru in reverence and how we likewise hold our Wayshower, John-Roger, in reverence. I realized that I was seeing another group that suffers the same way and misses their teacher the same way that we do. I loved hearing about how modest and “ordinary” Yogi Bhajan was. He lived his final days on the Española property. God bless him, he was a good man. It brought back a lot of memories, such as when Yogi Bhajan insisted that all of his congregation read John-Roger’s book, “You Can’t Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought.” I remembered that he, John-Roger, and myself were all in Russia in 1990 to attend a religious forum. Pretty awesome.

Capping off the Southwest book tour, I headed up to Catherine Corona’s ranch home in Boulder, Colorado, the first weekend of February. It was a spectacular drive. The last time I’d been to Boulder was 20 or so years earlier, with John-Roger. Madonna and Tom Smyth supported this part of the trip; it was amazing to see them, as well as Bertrand Babinet and Tom Boyer—more flashbacks to early days. My USM Class of 2016 reader, Julie Klingel, also showed up to The Love of a Master book event, where I ended up selling over 25 books. Nice! Following the J-R Marathon and Mystical Traveler film screening the next day, I was invited by Mary Ann Downs to the ministers meeting (and Super Bowl party) on Sunday. It was amazing to once again experience the energy of “where two or more are gathered,” there is the Christ…there is J-R…there is the Traveler and Preceptor…

On my way home to L.A., I stopped off in Helper, Utah, about 2 miles from where John-Roger was born. I rented an Airbnb and shared some meals with his brother and sister-in-law Delile and Elda Hinkins. I ran into Louise and Charlie Hamilton, who had helped with The Wayshower movie, and Willie Ellington, a very good friend and local institution. It was great to see that this town is booming economically since we shot the film there in 2010.

Next stop on The Love of a Master 2018 book tour: the land Down Under. Thank you, Nicole and John-Roger. Love You!

 

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