TAC Stories from "Messages From Spirit" by Colette Baron-Reid

Inspirational Articles

Excerpts from “Messages From Spirit” by Colette Baron- Reid

Transformational Arts College is proud to have two stories published in Colette Baron-Reid’s Hay House book “Messages From Spirit – The Extraordinary Power of Oracles, Omens and Signs”

By Colette Baron-Reid

When preparing to write this book, I prayed for a sign to show me who should be included, and Kathy Ryndak’s name kept coming up. I’d met her many years ago and remember how at first sight I was struck by something about her. She glowed with a sparkly, golden, fuzzy light that I’ve come to recognize as a sign for me that Spirit is present. She has a calm goodness, as well as integrity and a real aura of compassion. I always enjoy chatting with her, however briefly, when we met.

Kathy and her partner, Gord, are two of the most reputable and influential teachers in the spiritual community in Toronto. Their school, the Transformational Arts College, attracts people from all over the world to study in-depth metaphysics, spiritual psychotherapy, music for healing, and alternative-healing methods. They’ve changed many lives in the 20 years they’ve been doing their work, and I have no doubt that they’ll continue to do so.

Kathy’s name kept coming up and up and up – so many times that I had to contact her to ask if she’d like to contribute. At least six people mentioned the name of her school over two days, and every coffee shop I went to had old copies of magazines with brilliant articles that she and her partner had written. These were billboards; not just signs.

In her own words, then, here is her story from Kathy Ryndak.

“Moments of Synchronicity” by Kathy Ryndak
(Pages 119 – 120)

The first time I met Gord Riddell, my business partner at Transformational Arts College, I knew we would embark upon a profound spiritual journey that would come to transform my life and the lives of the thousands of students who would attend our school. A strong resonance of our energies and deep inner knowingness signaled that we were meant to work and co-create together.

Signs and symbols tend to come to me through people, events, my dog Chakra and moments of synchronicity. When Gord and I were forming our spiritual partnership I lived at the corner of Marlee and Ridelle in Toronto. That was the Divine anonymously speaking to me and giving me the thumbs up.

One summer day while resting under an oak tree, explaining the vision of the school and its name to a friend, the tree started to shower its acorns upon us. I laughed in amazement never having witnessed this before and wondered what sign the universe was sending me. In Celtic mysticism, the oak represents inner fire, strength, spiritual nobility and stepping through the “door” to create change.

The acorn is symbolic of huge potential in small things. That certainly is the story of the college. We started very small but have grown significantly over the years embracing the art of alchemy and transformation through merging the fields of spirituality, psychotherapy and holistic health.

I have always prayed for signs from the universe, especially when decisions are hard to make or obstacles are in the way. “Show me a sign, Higher Self, show me the way,” I would say when asking for Divine guidance. When we first started the school, we promoted many speakers but were not focused enough on developing our own material. While talking to Gord one day about why we weren’t manifesting more, I posed the question “Do you think we should be concentrating more on our own work?” Suddenly, a gust of wind blew the office window open, as if to answer my question. Indeed, many windows of opportunity did open for us when we shifted our focus to creating original material, since we were more aligned to our higher purpose.

I have learned that the Universe will always give us a sign when we put out the request. Often it’s more subtle rather than the strike of a thunder bolt. Our challenge is then to listen to it and take insightful action.

By Colette Baron-Reid (Pages 165 – 166)
Sometimes, however, the sign is quite straightforward. Here’s one of my favourite anecdotes illustrating this; it’s by Sister Joanne Morgan from Ontario, Canada.

“Cosmic Kisses” by Joanne Morgan

I felt called to do something extraordinary with my life and sought a connection to Something/Someone bigger than myself. This led to me becoming a nun in a Catholic International Missionary Congregation which took me on a journey to Peru, Rome and beyond. (I now live in Canada.)

These experiences have marked me in so many ways and strengthened my connection to Spirit. For instance when I was visiting our Sisters in Myanmar, I asked to go to the Buddhist monastery to spend the day with a Buddhist nun. It was like a home-coming, with an energy that felt so familiar. The synchronicity of this meeting led me to discover a few years later that Buddha is one of my Spirit guides.

I have experienced Spirit’s messages coming to me in many different ways. Once I was on a private retreat in Winnipeg. Spirit became the skywriter through cloud formations in the ever expansive prairie skies. The last day of the retreat, after coming home from a walk, I looked up in the sky and there - right above my apartment - were two huge double X’s or spiritual kisses. Indeed, it was a double confirmation and blessing of Divine love.

With permission from author Colette Baron-Reid, Hay House, Inc.

For more details on the book “Messages From Spirit - The Extraordinary Power of Oracles, Omens, And Signs” visit Colette’s website at www.colettebaronreid.com.

In June 2008, further TAC faculty stories on spiritual signs will be posted on Colette’s website. Contributors are Richard Hasting, Sandy Powell and Gord Riddell.