OMTimes Radio Archives

Aired Wednesday, 7 December 2016, 8:00 PM ET

One of my favorite songs by Justin Hayward and Ray Thomas of the Moody Blues is “Are You Sitting Comfortably,” a transcendent, meditative piece from the 1969 album, “On the Threshold of a Dream.” Backed by a soothing blend of Thomas’ flute, Hayward’s guitar and Mike Pinder’s mellotron, the lyric invited us to take a magical journey to an ancient time.

Ride along the winds of time and see where we have been,
The glorious age of Camelot, when Guinevere was Queen.
It all unfolds before your eyes
As Merlin casts his spell.

What if we could be magically transported back to those days of chivalry, romance, magic and adventure. What if Camelot were here and now?

My guest, Carmel Niland, give us this gift with a little bit of a twist in the first novel in her series of Merlin’s Secrets, A Darker Magic This Way Comes.

Carmel, a true renaissance woman, is as fascinating a character as the ones she creates. In public, Carmel Niland has been a formidable leader, a CEO working for the largest state government in Australia, heading multifaceted agencies that champion gender and racial equality, human rights, child protection and disability services. In private, Carmel has been fascinated with historical legends, particularly the tales of King Arthur and his famed magician, Merlin.

For decades Merlin captivated her imagination. Blending her keen interest in Arthurian legend with a passion for Roman British Archaeology, Carmel devoured every piece of literature she could get her hands on and visited every Iron Age and Roman fort in England, Scotland and Wales crossing hill and dale and climbing any fortifications associated with Arthur. This desire for knowledge about the once and future king compelled her to use her research to reimagine his and Merlin’s story. Now she has created her first novel based upon the ancient legends. A Darker Magic This Way Comes is the first book in a series of five for readers, who like her, love secrets, mysteries and something very strange. Carmel resides in Sydney with her husband John and share a wondrous garden at Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains. She is also President of the Iris Society of Australia.

Aired Wednesday, 30 November 2016, 8:00 PM ET

See if this description fits you. You are bright, talented, have amazing gifts and want to share them with your co-workers, your community or even the world. You are also a perfectionist who hesitates to share your work until it is above reproach, an over-achiever who takes on too many tasks simultaneously and as a result of these traits, you procrastinate and lose direction. Is there a way you can turn this around, fulfill your dreams and be successful?

My guest this week on Destination Unlimited, Sam Bennett, knows well the attributes I just described. She lived them and found simple, easy and fun ways to turn them around. Sam created the Organized Artist Company to help creative people get unstuck and achieve their goals. She is a writer, actor, teacher and creativity/productivity specialist who has counseled thousands of artists and entrepreneurs on their way to success. Sam is the author of Get It Done and she joins us this week to share her new book, Start Right Where You.

Aired Wednesday, 16 November 2016, 8:00 PM ET

What is the relationship between faith and health? Can prayer really heal? Do believers outlive non-believers? These questions came up for me recently during a conversation with a new friend who is struggling with his health. I offered prayer and spiritual healing and he openly admitted that he does not believe in prayer or in fact, any form of divinity. In an effort to bring him some evidence of the power of faith, I began researching the topic and came across the work of Dr. Harold Koenig, my guest this week on Destination Unlimited.

Dr. Koenig is currently board certified in general psychiatry, and formerly boarded in family medicine, geriatric medicine, and geriatric psychiatry, and is on the faculty at Duke University as Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Associate Professor of Medicine. Dr. Koenig is Director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University Medical Center, and has published extensively in the fields of mental health, geriatrics, and religion, with nearly 500 scientific peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and more than 40 books. His research on religion, health and ethical issues in medicine has been featured on dozens of national and international TV news programs (including ABC’s World News Tonight, The Today Show, Good Morning America. Dr. Oz Show, and NBC Nightly News), over a hundred national or international radio programs, and hundreds of newspapers and magazines (including Reader’s Digest, Parade Magazine, Newsweek, Time, and Guidepost). Dr. Koenig has given testimony before the U.S. Senate (1998) and U.S. House of Representatives (2008) concerning the benefits of religion and spirituality on public health, and travels widely to give seminars and workshops on this topic. His books include The Healing Power of Faith and his latest book is You are My Beloved, Really?

Aired Wednesday, 2 November 2016, 8:00 PM ET

There are times in everyone’s life where we seek answers to seemingly difficult and unanswerable questions. We search for these answers with family and friends, diligent research and sometimes deep introspection and despair. Is there another way? Is there an intrinsic, spiritual source that we can turn to for guidance? My guest this week, Debra Landwehr Engle, says yes and that source is our spirit guides.

Deb Engle is the author of The Only Little Prayer You Need: The Shortest Route to a Life of Joy, Abundance and Peace of Mind and Grace from the Garden: Changing the World One Garden at a Time.

She is the co-founder of Tending Your Inner Garden®, a program of creativity and personal growth for women that has been featured in TIME and Woman’s Day magazines. Deb teaches classes in A Course in Miracles, as well as workshops that use journaling and writing as tools for self-discovery. She and her husband Bob live in Madison County, Iowa, home of the famed covered bridges.

This week, we will discuss her latest book, Let Your Spirit Guides Speak: A Simple Guide for a Life of Purpose, Abundance and Joy.

Aired Wednesday, 26 October 2016, 8:00 PM ET

Little children (and some adults) dressed up as witches, goblins, monsters and yes, a famous politician or two. Halloween is almost upon us and what a lovely time of year for the inner child in us to emerge again. My inner child remembers sharing spooky and scary tales of monsters, ghosts, ghouls and witches. Those stories, when retold well, stirred the soul and the imagination.

My guest this week on Destination Unlimited, Judika Illes, presents the essence of those amazing stories in The Weiser Book of The Fantastic and Forgotten: Tales of the Supernatural, Strange and Bizarre. Judika is an independent scholar, educator, and author of several books of folklore, folkways, and mythology about the subjects of magic, the occult, divination, diverse spiritual traditions, witchcraft, and the paranormal.

She is the author of four popular encyclopedias: The Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells, The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, The Encyclopedia of Spirits, and the brand new Encyclopedia of Mystics, Saints, and Sages. Her other books include Pure Magic, Magic When You Need It, and The Weiser Field Guide to Witches as well as The Weiser Field Guide to the Paranormal (published under the alias Judith Joyce).

Judika’s frequent radio appearances include Coast to Coast AM with George Noory, Ripley Radio Oddcast, Fangoria Radio, the Hilly Rose Show and the X-Zone with Rob McConnell. She has been featured in publications including The Witches’ Almanac, The Spirit Guide to Spellcraft (Australia), and Prediction Magazine (UK).

She joins us to share the real story of Halloween, witches, some of the Fantastic and Forgotten and her own story!

Aired Wednesday, 12 October 2016, 8:00 PM ET

Consciousness and Real Estate are terms that one would think are mutually exclusive but not according to my guest Matt Parker. Matt says a well-balanced life style, including a balanced approach to home selling and buying is important to both the Millennials and the Baby Boomers. He says wrong home choices can negatively impact our health and happiness! He also addresses the needs of the growing LGBT and same-sex couples

Matt Parker is a real estate professional in Seattle, and became a top producer in his market during the real estate collapse of 2008, before he was thirty! He works entirely paperless and happily lives in a 560 square foot condo with his wife, prioritizing living and not clutter.

He is the author of Real Estate Smart: The new Home Buying Guide, the Amazon #1 Ranked Real Estate Secrets and his latest book, The Real Estate Agent Talks..

Aired Wednesday, 5 October 2016, 8:00 PM ET

An old wives tale said that if you do not hold your baby and stroke the spine, it will shrivel up and not thrive. Numerous scientific studies have shown that contact between mother and child actually reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol, promotes relaxation and a sense of security for both and results in babies that sleep longer and better!

But what about adults? How important is physical affection to our growth and wellbeing, both physically and emotionally? My guest this week on Destination Unlimited, Edie Weinstein, says that touch is just as important for us grown up kids as it is for the little ones and is active in facilitating touch events!

Edie is a colorfully creative journalist, inspiring transformational speaker, licensed social worker, interfaith minister, editor, radio host, BLISS coach, event producer, Cosmic Concierge, the author of The Bliss Mistress Guide To Transforming The Ordinary Into The Extraordinary and co-author of Embraced By the Divine: The Emerging Woman’s Gateway to Power, Passion and Purpose. She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. Edie writes for The Huffington Post, Psych Central, Beliefnet as well as a growing number of other venues and she is Co-organizer of Hugs Across America on October 15th.

Aired Wednesday, 28 September 2016, 8:00 PM ET

There was a time when the divine feminine was preeminent in this world. The aspects of Mother Goddess represented the feminine soul and recognized it as creator. Somewhere in the mists of time and the advent of western religion, she was almost forgotten. The 20th century saw a renaissance of appreciation for the divine feminine but many women, and men, were not aware of it or somehow could not embrace it.

My guest this week on Destination Unlimited, Meghan Don, is one of the pioneers in raising feminine divine consciousness. Meghan is an initiate of the Sophian Lineage and founder and leading guide of the Gnostic Grace Circle. An award winning author, spiritual mentor and retreat presenter, Meghan is the author of the new Llewellyn book, The New Divine Feminine-Spiritual Evolution for a Woman’s Soul.

Aired Wednesday, 21 September 2016, 8:00 PM ET

We all have negative feelings and emotions from time to time. Sometimes they are easy to process and let go. Other times they seem to linger and prevent us from living fully and freely. What if there were simple steps you could take to clear those destructive and inhibiting feelings like fear, anger and hurt out of your body? What if it were as simple as setting a “self-cleaning” emotional oven?

My guest this week on Destination Unlimited, Dr. Deborah Sandella, uses cutting-edge neuroscience techniques and her revolutionary “Regenerating Images Memory” or RIM technique to show how blocked feelings prevent us from creating the life that we choose. Dr. Deb has helped thousands of people for more than 40 years as an award winning psychotherapist and university professor. She joins us to share her revolutionary technique which she writes about in her new book, Goodbye Hurt and Pain: 7 Simple Steps for Health, Love and Success.

Aired Wednesday, 14 September 2016, 8:00 PM ET

In ancient times, before the Abrahamic monotheistic religions, there was a deep, heartfelt desire to commune with the divine-to become one with the Gods and earn their favor and blessings. My guest this week, Brandy Williams, shares that this path, called theurgy, thrives today and wants to share her more than 25 years of research and practice with those who seek this knowledge. Brandy is a ceremonial magician and founder and director of Seattle Pagan Scholars. She has served as President of Covenant of the Goddess and maintains involvement with Ordo Templi Orientis and the Temple of Light and Darkness. She is the author of Practical Magic for Beginners, The Woman Magician, and she joins us this evening to discuss her latest book, For the Love of the Gods, The History and Modern Practice of Theurgy.