bennett/gyanarthi

GYANARTHI BOOKS. I've been busy cataloging books from my old bookshops to sell at Gyanarthi Books on TomFolio(dot)com, an online bookseller's co-op - check it out and let me know what you think!!
Along with the Esoteric books, I'm also adding original Haight Ashbury Concert postcards and handbills...they're listed under the "music ephemera" category

For the last couple of years I've been exploring getting old. It's a fascinating process, and I want to write more about it. But not here, except to say that the aging process seems to be an external one that becomes internalized the more you buy into it. Our internal reality is timeless, but our bodies get older and our life stories longer. How we go about integrating this inner and outer reality is pretty important.

Bob Dylan: Those who are not busy being born, are busy dying (Its Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding).

This line really bothered me when i first heard it in 1965. I recognized its truth and set about birthing myself. But I was fortunate. I was blessed with an uncomfortable childhood. Nothing made sense to me, and I didn't fit in. So, when I stumbled onto my community and my music I went for it, and the trip has been a magic carpet ride, and a jump into an abyss all rolled into one. Music and dance has been the key.

Seed moments: Folk music in Greenwich Village, Provincetown, and Newport; Early Haight Ashbury scene where soon to be famous local bands played danceable insane venues; The inexplicable gathering of family in Woodstock. The magic of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (aka Osho) and the guidance of all of my teachers, for which I am eternally grateful.

Oliver Wendell Holmes: Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.

North Florida is so beautiful. I've been here for 20 years now and have had no desire to be anywhere else all this time. I've lived all over the country, but the first time I sat by a river lined with cypress, and live oaks dripping with spanish moss, I was hooked. Tallahassee's a bit too big, but it's grown on me too. Drumming and dancing and festival celebrations have been my passion.

There's a heavier, more intense side to me though. It comes up around all we do as a people to keep ourselves and others enslaved. I see life as a challenge and an opportunity to find, celebrate and maintain freedom and to help all our brothers and sisters do the same. I spent most of 2000-2004 working on several political/social action sites: www.whoseflorida.com and www.whitecloud.com

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELING - I began my professional work as an astrologer in 1972. My role in this regard has been to help my client gain a deeper understanding of his/her life. The astrological chart can be an effective tool in helping a person gain insight and awareness into internal dynamics and patterns of response to past and present life events.

My clients and I work together in this exploration - we share an active role in the process. I have found the benefits from this experience are directly proportionate to the energy we invest in the process.

I do not do any prediction work. I have no interest in divining what may or may not happen in my life much less anyone else's life. It is not the happening of events that is important - it is how WE happen to events. The more we understand about ourselves, the more we accept ourselves - the more we are able to respond totally and authentically to all life brings to us. And then we can begin to rest more easily in our relationship with the "world," turn our attention inward, and open the space to find "the face we had before we were born," the eternal presence that has always been with us, has always been us. That is to say, maybe, one day, maybe, we wake up...

I started studying astrology in 1968, when I opened the Aquarian Age Bookstore in Baltimore, MD. The store had a 12 year run and was the focal point for an emerging, dynamic community eager to explore the variety of esoteric traditions. We were one of only a handful of esoteric bookstores/centers in the country at the time.

I had many teachers over the years - my first being John Kirk Robertson . (m**pace denies access to this link, but it is functional and has links to some of his unpublished writings:(members(dot)aol(dot)com/esotericsymbols). John was my teacher/mentor in Baltimore, and without his guidance neither the bookstore nor that beautiful community would have blossomed. He counseled me early on to make sure I remained free to "go wherever I needed to go to learn whatever I needed to learn."

I took that guidance to heart, and traveled extensively in the 70's and 80's visiting as many of the centers in the US and Canada I could find. I studied with many teachers, and sat at the feet of some of the great masters of our time.

In Baltimore, our bookstore/community hosted many of these teachers and authors. That was how I met Dane Rudhyar , whose presence and teachings on Humanistic/Transpersonal Astrology touched me deeply and continue to shape my astrological work.

In addition, I've had many years experience working as a therapist/counselor in a variety of mental health and substance abuse treatment settings. This, combined with a lifetime of personal experience in growth, self acceptance, and love help me to frame the safe, non-judgmental, person-centered view I strive to bring to my astrological consultations.

I like this quote:

If I'm not for myself who will be?
If I'm not for others what am I?
If not now, when?