The Vision for Ramaka Temple
Stewarding a vision for healing, teaching, and devotion
Those of you who have been following me for a while will know that the vision for Ramaka Temple came to me in March 2023 during a trip to Colorado Springs. The vision came in as a tsunami of ecstatic energy and synchronicity. For a time, I was taken over by the creative force of it. But I couldn’t sustain it. The time wasn’t ripe and neither was I.
By the time I got back to Kentucky, the energy began to dissipate. Then, a month later my legal troubles began.
If my path had a name, it would be Ramaka. The manifestation of Ramaka into physical form is the work of this lifetime. I will carry this vision as far as I can. If I fall, another will pick it up, or I will come back and try again.
At first, the vision only had a name - Ramaka - and a sense that it would be a place of healing, teaching, and devotion to Mother/Father God.
That is still the essence of the vision. But more continues to come through.
I spent a decade as a Kriya Yogi and student of the perennial wisdom tradition before I ever sat with the medicine. I came to the medicine because I was stuck. I gained a lot of awareness and insight over my decade of yoga, meditation, and study. But I had plateaued and struggled to embody my realization or change my life circumstances.
My subtle body carried too much density. I had too much social conditioning, and carried my own unhealed trauma and that of my ancestors. My realization was a spark of awareness running through my spinal column that could not penetrate the density of the rest of my body/awareness.
When I found the medicines I knew I had found the bridge between Heaven and Earth. The sacraments of the Great Mother were the other half of the equation I had been looking for. When the self-discipline of yoga and the insight of Dharma are combined with the radically transformative potential of the medicine, exponential spiritual growth and transformation is a certainty.
I’ve had the honor of sitting with a lot of medicine over the years in different communities, sets and settings.
One thing that has become clear is that the medicine can do a lot of things, but it can’t teach us self-discipline. You have to do that on your own through your own personal effort. It may make things like meditation and yoga easier and more appealing, but ultimately, you must commit to the practices and do it.
As non-dual teachers I’ve also learned that the medicines can be amoral. They often accentuate distortions in the process of healing them. They ripen our karma and help us work through it quickly, by leading us toward the experiences we need to learn the lessons necessary for our healing and evolution. But experience is a difficult way to learn, and not always the only or best way. I say this from experience.
I’ve often had to learn the hard way, because I didn’t trust the advice and counsel of others or tradition. Often for good reason. But experience alone is a slow and difficult path that often leaves us more confused than when we began.
It is better to learn what works from those who know, and through the traditions and scriptures that have withstood the test of time. This can be perilous too, since so much superstition and distortion has entered into the wisdom traditions. So there is still a place for experimentation. But it is important to know the rules before you break them, and to come into integrity with truth when it is no longer debatable. It is also important to cultivate a community of practice that is dedicated to knowing and embodying truth. Community experience can often save us the trouble of learning things the hard way.
These are the insights that inform my vision for Ramaka Temple. It is to be a place of unification, transformation, and ascension; and of healing, teaching, and devotion. My prayer is that it be a beacon of unconditional love, through the divine union of the masculine and feminine polarities. A place where the sacraments and compassion of the Great Mother come together with the self-discipline and wisdom of the Father to birth Christed presence in the hearts of all sincere pilgrims who seek its mysteries.
I know this is an ambitious vision. But it is one I wish to execute in the humblest of ways - slowly and from a place of deep listening. All that is truly needed is the cathedral of nature and a gathering of kindred spirits devoted to serving the good of all - it is from this fertile ground that all good and beautiful things may grow.
This is not a thing I can do alone. But I am the holder of this vision and must take responsibility for stewarding it. All that I ask from others is curiosity. I ask for nothing that cannot be given without complete confidence in me and the vision that is unfolding. I do not ask for faith in the vision or me. Trust must be earned, and we must proceed slowly.
But if you are curious, let us walk together, and see where truth leads us. Perhaps our paths converge at Ramaka.
RAMAKA KRIYA
At the behest of my lineage I have started teaching yoga through the vehicle of Ramaka Kriya, which literally translates to "Rama's Spirit in Action." Ramaka Kriya is a path of self and god realization dedicated to restoring Dharma through the use of effective spiritual practices and the righteous use of energy.
It is universalist in the sense that it honors the perennial wisdom tradition and seeks ever greater integrity with truth. While truth is an endless exploration, the key pillars of the tradition are based in mystical Christianity, Hinduism, and indigenous Earth based spirituality.
SATSANGS
I have begun traveling and teaching Ramaka Kriya to raise funds for Ramaka Temple. If you would like to sponsor an event please reach out.
MEDICINE COUNSEL
I offer mediation services and consultations on entheogenic law and integration coaching through Medicine Counsel.