Who is the Spirit Solver?

So you feel stuck in life, like you know you want something more but you aren't sure how to cultivate it.

You sense your own creative spirit, but feel limited in your opportunities and abilities to express it.

You feel lost on what your calling is.

You believe everybody has gifts but are not quite sure what your gifts are.

You believe life has a natural spiritual dimension to it but have trouble finding real answers in religion.

Perhaps I might be of service to you.

By using a non-dogmatic approach, I help you attune to what is most meaningful in your life and from an awareness of that, we start clearing confusion away from your path to fulfillment and success.

I am trained in a variety of guiding mediums, including pastoral counseling, astrology, feng shui, zen tarot, meditation, yoga and holistic health.

When you engage with me for the first time, you introduce me to who you are and where you are in your life and on your path. I then note your daily habits and lifestyle choices, review your natal zodiac chart for clues into your strengths and challenges, address your existential and spiritual beliefs, and get familiar with your desires and goals.

Through our discoveries and dialogue, the confusion and mental fog will begin to clear away and the path to your success will open before you, one step at a time.

More often than not, it is not being clear within our own minds about our true dreams and goals that keeps us stuck in a life that feels less. In other cases, you may have a vision of your goal, but are not clear on which initiating steps you should take. Sometimes when we see the big picture on the horizon, it can be a challenge to stay centered on the first few steps, but as we work together, clarity and confidence will naturally begin to grow.

When we are able to stay focused on what it is we truly want out of life, it is never a matter of "if", it simply becomes a matter of "when".

When you think of your life as your greatest opportunity to be creative, you become the artist and your day-to-day reality becomes the art.

I am looking forward to hearing from you!

-carter

My Mediums and Professional Trainings

My mediums and professional trainings include:

* Non-Dogmatic Multi/Interfaith Pastoral Counseling - training: the Candler School of Theology, Emory University and Clinical Pastoral Education through the Care and Counseling Center of Georgia

* Eastern Philosophy, Meditation and Yoga practices and techniques - training: the Gangaji Foundation, Kashi Ashram and the Kashi Church Foundation, Osho Meditation Commune and Resort, The Drepung Loseling Institute of Tibetan Studies, Soto Zen Center, Dharma Punx.

* Feng Shui - training: self-taught using classic, intuitive Black Sect Feng Shui

* Western Spiritual Astrology - training: Michelle Gregg, Counseling Astrologer with Astrosphere http://www.astrosphere.net/

* Osho Zen Tarot - training: self-taught, Osho Meditation Commune and Resort

* Traditional Usui Reiki level 2 - training: Reiki Master Libby Smith

* Naturopathic Medicine - training: Clayton College of Natural Health

* Aromatherapy - training: Roz Zollinger with the Heal Center

* Spirit Animal Messages - training: Red Earth, Counselor/Shaman and Don Simmons, Psychic Reader

Additionally, I have studied many of the teachings and practices of popular spiritual wizards of our time including Neale Donald Walsh, Deepak Chopra, Byron Katie, Thomas Merton, Dr Christiane Northrup, Louise Hay, Marianne Williamson and A Course In Miracles, and Suze Orman.

If you have questions or would like to make an appointment, please call me at (404) 285-6278 or email premajaya@bellsouth.net

I have a cozy home counseling office for residents of the metro-Atlanta area. For others, I have a phone/email service plan through which we can work together effectively.

my pricing plans

At my office:
35 minute in-person session - $40
60 minute in-person session - $65

In the privacy of your own home:
phone/email plan A: 20 minute phone call + 5 email exchanges - $50
phone/email plan B: 35 minute phone call + 10 email exchanges - $85
monthly unlimited email exchanges - $85/month

(please note: as an avid writer, I will spend at least 45 minutes personally responding to each one of your emailed inquiries. You will get loads of insight and information to ponder and entertain.)

Feng Shui (I come to YOU!)
brief home/business Feng Shui consultation (1 hour) - $75
full home/business Feng Shui consultation w/written report (2 hours) - $150
feng shui implementation/organization - $135/7 hour work day

Astrology:
(insight into your personality, psychology, and karmic path)
emailed natal zodiac sun/moon/ascendant - $35
emailed natal zodiac full chart review - $75

Weddings!
ceremony design and officiation - starting at $95

Aromatherapy
relax your body, recharge your mind, and heal your spirit!
custom 1oz essential oil blend in a quality jojoba skin oil - $8
custom 4oz essential oil blend in a quality jojoba skin oil - $16

Usui Reiki
currently I do not perform hands-on reiki healing, but if you would like for me to set aside time to do "distance reiki" on you or a friend or loved one, I ask only that you offer a donation. If money is tight, I will happily accept food, artwork, poetry, or music!

(Note: if the only thing holding you back from contacting me are my prices, contact me anyway. No "unsolved spirit" is ever turned away empty handed and I am sure we can come up with some means of exchange that is honoring to both.)

Contact!

by email: premajaya@bellsouth.net

by phone: (404) 285-6278

by mail or drop in: please call or email for details

Understanding Astrology...

Astrology is so very much more that the weekly horoscope you see in the newspaper. It is an opportunity to uncover your personal architecture, or, in other words, the energies that form your conscious self and your karmic mission (path).

By studying where the planets, planetary bodies, and major points fall in your particular chart based on your particular birth time and place, you have a precise view of your particular talents, your areas of difficulty and challenge, your kind of emotional woundedness, your areas of good fortune, and the kinds of relationship dynamics you are likely to find yourself in along with what lessons these relationships have to offer.

For me, studying astrology has been extremely helpful in allowing me to see precisely the profound differences between individual people and how these differences play out in relationships and interactions. This has really helped me to cultivate sensitivity and awareness in all my interpersonal dealings and as a result, many of my relationships have greatly improved.

I have also begun to understand why I have some of the instinctual reactions to certain stimuli that I have again and again...and some of those reactions were really in need of fine-tuning!

When you work with me on exploring your natal chart, I'm not just going to tell you that you are naturally creative or naturally pragmatic, I am going to get into the nitty gritty of the karmic lessons your life path is dishing out for you to chew on!

Remember, the more awareness you have around your life within the BIG picture, the greater number of beneficial choices you can make to expediate your path towards happiness and success!

For example:
* If you are an Aries, a Leo, or a Sagittarius you are a Fire sign and are naturally quite passionate. You are driven through life by your instinctual "gut" responses...but be wary of "burning" those who may appear to be standing in your way!

* If you are a Taurus, a Virgo, or a Capricorn, you are an Earth sign, ruled by pragmatism and your senses. You tend to be sensual, practical, and hard-working. You are also more hesitant than all of the other signs to embrace new ways of thinking.

* If you are a Gemini, a Libra, or an Aquarius, you are an Air sign, ruled by intellect and society will pat you on the back for how smart you are...but you tend to live in your head, out of touch with your feelings and are often bewildered by the illogical behaviors of people around you.

* If you are a Cancer, a Scorpio, or a Pisces (like me!), you are a water sign, ruled by your emotions. You feel your feelings long before you attach ideas to them. You may feel a little out of place in the world because modern society seldom slows down enough for our emotional needs, which is why if you are any of these signs, you must be wary of burying all those feelings in addictive behaviors and irrational fantasies.

the link below is a 2.5 minute talk on astrology given by Jhampa Shaneman, a Buddhist Astrologer and long-time student of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan tradition:

www.buddhist-astrology.com

Does Feng Shui really help???

Have you ever noticed how when you enter a place of worship or spiritual retreat, there is "something in air"? You relax, you let your guard down, and you feel uplifted. There is something about that space that effects you profoundly and in a way that is both nurturing and healing.

Feng Shui is an ancient Asian art form used to cultivate an optimal energetic response in places of living and working.

Think for a minute about your home. It's the one place where you can really let your guard down and be your most natural self, which makes it automatically your personal sanctuary, sometimes shared with loved ones or living mates, sometimes just for you on your own.
Since we spend so much time in our homes, and are so comfortable being there, our home becomes an extension on our own true selves, reflecting back to us our most natural habits, tastes, and ways of being.
(If you live with roommates, depending on the dynamics of the situation, you may prefer to consider your personal rooms your home as opposed to the entire living space.)

Often, we pass up the opportunity to think of our home as the one true sanctuary to ourself, and it becomes more of a closet, full of background baggage and extra "stuff" we feel like we need to keep. We come home and are barraged with unfinished chores and projects or a "good enough for now" decor.

Is "good enough for now" the energy you want to immerse yourself in day after precious, fleeting day?

When you design your living space to be a place that soothes, heals, and uplifts you, while enhancing your gifts and better qualities, in a very real way, you are creating a better life for yourself. When you walk through your front door and sigh in peaceful relief, just as you might sigh when you walk into your place of worship, or into a lovely environment in nature, you are in that moment opening yourself to authentic inner peace.

Our lives in the world have become so hectic and overwhelming. Why not make home your very own special peaceful retreat.

If you want to check out spiritual teachers, here's a few I like!

So here's my abridged list of recommended eastern-oriented spiritual teachers.

Please note, my own teacher, Gangaji, does not appear on this list. Gangaji is the perfect teacher for me because I have a profound transpersonal connection to her, but minus this connection, her teachings do not dramatically differ from anybody elses...
It's more her soothing voice and ethereal gaze that draws me in.

Ok, here we go!

1. Dr. Deepak Chopra - a leading western medical doctor turned mystic in the Vedanta tradition. After watching several DVDs of his lectures and being thoroughly impressed with the articulation and ease that he discusses quite advanced spiritual concepts, I read his famous Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. Since there are seven days of the week and seven laws, I embarked on the practice of applying one law to everyday of the week. I have found this practice to be remarkably helpful towards my goal of cultivating a heightened sense of spiritual awareness in the activities I do on a day-to-day basis. After several months of practice, the Spirituals Laws of Success are naturally incorporated into every worldly encounter...and success is exactly what is manifesting for me!

2. Byron Katie - I have always been endeared by Byron Katie's personal story and now I am equally impressed with the stunning simplicity yet absolute profundity of her "Work" method. She makes personal transformation of perception and the cultivation of self-love and detachment remarkably easy! Just get her book, follow her four easy steps and watch your Inner Universe unfold before your very eyes!

3. Marianne Williamson - I just adore Marianne Williamson because her story of her 20-somethings sound so much like mine, I am excited to think that my 40-somethings could end up like hers! Like many of us, she was confused and unsure of herself in her youth, yet through her journey with A Course in Miracles, she transformed herself into one of the most inspirational spiritual figures in progressive America today. For those of your unfamiliar, A Course in Miracles is a thick, lengthy book full of heady language, a turn off for a lot of us. But Williamson's book, A Return to Love, highlights the main points in A Course in Miracles and explains them in easily comprehensible and engaging language.

4. Ken Wilber - his first book Spectrum of Consciousness, which he wrote at the unbelievable age of 23, changed my life! It answered every existential question I'd ever had and it helped me to understand my own psycho-spiritual make-up. It was upon approaching the final chapter of this book that I experienced a total resolution of my suffering, my search for spiritual truth ended and I began to live quite fully in the hear and now.

5. Noah Levine - I don't think I've ever plowed through a book faster. I simply did not put this one down but skipped out on precious sleep to watch Noah's heart-warming spiritual journey unfold. He started out as a California punk rocker right when it was at its coolest and ended up as one of the better up & coming western Buddhist teachers. I have high hopes for Noah because I believe that younger people, especially those who are more interested in hip culture than hippie culture, will really connect with his story and teaching approach. Plus he's got a heart the size of Mt. Kailash!

6. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche of the Tibetan "Bon" tradition - I bought his book the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep and Dream because I was having a lot of unusual and seemingly profound dreams and was looking to understand how I might better integrate them into my overall spiritual awareness. This book provided the key! But not only did it help me to better understand my dream life, it helped me significantly to better understand my waking life. The Bon tradition in Tibetan is an amalgamation of classic Tibetan Buddhism and Tibet's pre-existing tribal shamanism. It also appropriates some principles from Chinese Taoism. His writing is exceptionally articulate and his explanation of how our minds create karma, even neurologically, was very helpful to me in understanding the mysteries that weave themselves in and out of my day-to-day experience.

7. Suze Orman - She's the guru of money...and we all need more money! Seriously, the dynamic Ms. Suze was a 1970's-era hippie who somehow happened upon a chance to be a stock broker and broke through the spiritual/financial spacetime continuem....If you need money, and you listen to what she's saying and take her steps seriously, you will attract more money. Enough said!

8. Thomas Merton - Because of Thomas Merton, I have to confess, I am a bit of a closet Catholic! He is by far one of the most brilliant contemporary spiritual writers in the west. And even though he was a monk (he's now deceased) he comes across like he'd be just as comfortable, if not more so, hanging out with the hipsters in Little 5 Points. His ability to articulate Catholic dogma into ideas around the individual evolution of conscious awareness and perception is unprecedented!...And he's a pretty funny guy!

9. Terrence McKenna - Despite how much fun I had when I was in my 20's, I am no longer endorsing experimentation with natural psychedelics. Terrence McKenna, however, is. I don't agree with everything he writes, but his willingness to search into the depths of the substance-induced shamanic journey has revealed some innovative and fascinating insights into reality and the nature of human consciousness. He takes on questions which most religions scoff at, but which are asked honestly by people in our society every single day. For that, he gets my star of approval!

10. Me! - why do I think I am a talented and exceptional teacher? Because I am young and cool and I like to go out dancing and see bands play and wear hip fashion, but I also take my commitment as a spiritual being living in the world very seriously. I see opportunities to engage in culture as opportunities to have profound spiritual meetings in unexpected ways. Not evey one is going to sign up for yoga or spend their vacation money on some kind of intensive or retreat and I am especially interested in meeting the people who might never otherwise engage a spiritual point of view.

Books I like!

Besides the many authors already mentioned on this site, here are a few of my favorite titles that have been extremely helpful to me: (grouped by subject)

On Buddhism

The Attention Revolution: Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind - by B. Alan Wallace
- Categorizes stages of consciousness that one passes through when one commits to daily meditation practice including complications that can arise as one begins to encounter one's own inner being.

HoloBuddhism - by Derek Kittle
- Presents Buddhist ideas of consciousness and enlightenment in a way that may seem more palatable to Westerners.

Zen for Christians - by Kim Boykin
- A personal tale of Kim’s journey from secularity to Buddhism and towards Catholicism while outlining simple meditation practice and the underlying concepts that make these two religions complimentary and mutually beneficial.

On Holistic Healing

Acu-Yoga: Designed to Relieve Stress & Tension - by Michael Reed Gach
- A step-by-step guide to essential healing yoga positions that will make a real difference in the way you feel and the way you think!

On the Chakras and Your Psycho-Spiritual Self

Your Aura & Chakras: The Owner's Manual - by Karla McLaren
- Outlines specific exercise to “cleanse and tone” your aura and your chakra energy centers

Eastern Body, Western Mind - By Anodea Judith
- Clinical psychologist and mystic Anodea Judith offers up a manual of useful and accurate information about how chakra imbalances manifest in our lives as physical, mental and social dis-eases. She also gives practical information on how to identify, process, and correct these imbalances. No therapist should be given a license without this book on their shelf!

On Prosperity, Manifestation, and the Law of Attraction

The Energy of Money - by Maria Nemeth, PhD.
- Most of us don't directly associate our money and our financial matters with our spiritual path, yet as Nemeth points out, in doing so we are sabotaging our own opportunity to manifest the wealth we need to support our path. This book has blown me away because it's forced me to look at areas of my life I would never, ever associate with my finances and yet in exploring those areas, my ability to take on my financial issues with clarity and confidence has increased tremendously. If you are on a spiritual path and yet are repeatedly finding yourself to be struggling financially, start reading this book right now. You have absolutely everything to gain!

On Astrology

A Spiritual Approach to Astrology - by Myrna Loftus

- Sadly this gem of a book has gone out of print. It is put together in a way that can be off-putting to beginners, but will prove a most reliable manual further into your journey with astrology. It's chock full of data and it is put together in a way that weaves a syncronistic thread through the art of astrology. She gets deep into the science of the planets and then relates the actual physical traits straight into the metaphorical traits seemlessly! She also gets into aspects, but articulates the aspects in an inviting way so that the karmic lesson is apparent but not intimidating.

Other GREAT practitioners in Atlanta!

For health and physical healing issues: Master Herbalist Susan Kramer, 404-248-1784

For intricate relationship compatibility inquiries: Counseling Astrologer Michelle Gregg, http://www.astrosphere.net/

For chiropractic AND psychic/etheric field cleansing and attunements: Dr Suzan Rossi, office: 770-955-1100 email: suzanrossi@bellsouth.net

For the best psychic readers: Don Simmons and Linda Sherer at the Phoenix & Dragon Bookstore

For the absolute BEST, funniest, most accurate while totally entertaining weekly horoscopes: http://www.freewillastrology.com

For the greatest last minute spiritual getaway: Green Bough House of Prayer in Adrian, Georgia (478) 668-4758 (Christian, and open-minded!)

...and of course, if you're looking for "The Secret", it's right here! :)