I found the Gnostic Movement at two pivotal times in my life. The first, when I had moved to the ‘big city’ and started out on my own, looking for adventure and to find more of a purpose in my life. The area I moved into had a library right around the corner and almost everyday I would visit its ‘new age’ and ‘occult’ section, devouring every book I could find on practical spirituality.
Despite my enthusiasm and motivation to explore spirituality, and what it means to be ‘awakened’ or ‘enlightened,’ I found I kept facing a dead end, as nothing was really providing a realistic or practical way to achieve it. On one of my trips to the library, I happened to notice a poster advertising a free introduction to a course on self-knowledge and meditation run by the Gnostic Movement.
I attended the introductory lecture, and was really impressed, and decided to check out the courses at their center. I attended for the self-knowledge course and part of the astral course, and was amazed at how much I was able to learn about myself and spirituality through the simple practices. Much more than I had reading stacks and stacks of ‘new age’ books in the library. It was also great to be able to talk to people about spirituality, and share experiences with a group of people looking to explore what life was all about. Unfortunately, a series of difficult events unfolded and I stopped attending the courses.
Fast forward two years, and the second time I found the Gnostic Movement I had set out on another adventure – parenthood! I was 4 months pregnant with a little girl when I started attending their new center, and it was an incredible time in my life. I was able to reconnect with friends I had previously made there, and as I started practicing the techniques again and exploring the topics I began to overcome and work through many of the aspects in my life that had weighed me down for so long, like anxiety and fear. I always looked forward to attending the various courses and events, and had many an interesting discussion on spiritual topics and experiences over what seemed like endless cups of tea. 🙂
After I had my daughter, I began to take the advanced courses with the Gnostic Movement and started to volunteer in various ways to help the organization, and eventually began to train to become a teacher. I learned a lot about myself from these experiences, and about life in general, as I was able to come out of my shell so to speak and explore things I would have otherwise felt too insecure to try.
I was able to meet Mark (Belzebuub) on a retreat that the Gnostic Movement ran, and I have to say he is a very caring, understanding, and down to earth person with an awesome sense of humor. 🙂 The experiences I gained from my time participating in the Gnostic Movement have continued to be a source of inspiration to me even today, and I am forever grateful for Mark’s efforts with the Gnostic Movement and all the people who made it such an incredible esoteric school.
Vida