Welcome to Spiritual Gangster Club

Thank you so much for deciding to start or continue your Spiritual Journey with me, Emma. I am so excited to be sharing this space with you. If you are reading this then you are thinking about, curious about or have already decided to join the Gang. Congratulations, by the way!

So, what is a Spiritual Gangster? What does that really mean?

The name “Spiritual Gangster” came to me one day while sitting in meditation with my main man, Acorn (Chief Spirit Guide). It dropped in during a session where I was contemplating the question “what’s next for me, my journey and my work?”.

“Spiritual Gangster” he says. When I asked what that was, he showed me a tribe of peep (a gang) standing in front of me and as I gazed at their faces they all looked like a reflection of me. Seriously? Hundreds of me?

No, not literally. There is only ever going to be one of ME, like there is only ever going to be one of YOU! Symbolically he was showing me an image of myself (people like me) from years ago.

Spirit works in weird and wonderful ways with me and my Guide said, “Create a space where you can be you and which allows others to be their own unique selves too, as they explore their own Spirituality”. Create a Spiritual Gang where the rules are (1) There are no rules and (2) If in doubt, refer to rule #1 and (3), if still in doubt, make your OWN!.

So let’s break “Spiritual Gangster” down. The word “Spiritual” means “of, or relating to, or consisting of spirit or soul”. That’s me. That’s you. We are all Spiritual in nature, travelling in a human space suit we call a body, right?

A Gangster is member of an organised GANG. It’s taken on a nefarious meaning as an Americanism with reference to criminals and their activities, but in its essence, to me any way, it just refers to a group of people.

So a “Spiritual Gangster” is just a gang of people who come together to learn, grow, work and play from a Spiritual perspective. Given that a “Gangster” traditionally, is someone who defines the rules or creates their own, I thought it a perfect word to describe me. Let me explain further.

For me, “Spirituality” is whatever I want to make of it. It took me a long time to figure that out. I grew up within the traditional Spiritualist Church ethos and like all organised religions, it includes dogma (rules and regulations) about Spirit, Spiritual connection, God and the Universe and all that jazz. There are rituals and traditions, like all religions, that define the boundaries of practice. I’ve never really been one for following the rules…don’t tell me I can’t do something. That will just trigger a “but why?” question.

When I decided to get serious about staying on my life path, which is to help others through my own connections to Spirit, and later to teach and guide others along their own path, I found so many rules (and attached EGO) about how that needs to or should happen. Rules about what to do and what not to do. Rituals that seemed unnecessary and sometimes contradictory to me. The more I learned, the more I felt my innate Spiritual connection abilities becoming stifled. The more I learned, the less natural it felt and the more disconnected from Spirit I became.

Always curious as a kid, constantly needing to know the “why” of things, “just because” as an answer frustrates me and was never fully satisfying either. ‘Why do I have to do it that way?’ has been a constant catchphrase in my life and I am sure a frustration for my teachers too as they didn’t always have the answers to satisfy me either.

The teachers (and I had many!) “way” mostly didn’t work for me and as I become more frustrated with the ‘rules and just because’s’, which sometimes boiled over into tears and foot stamping, and self-doubt and disappointment, I almost gave up completely. I lost confidence in my abilities, my progress was slow and while I was grateful to my teachers, I was secretly hating on the whole industry. I was feeling less connected to Spirit than I ever had before. And I was about to give up this whole silly notion of living my passion.

I remember one particular “chat” with one of my guides (I’d at least managed to connect to him), that makes me blush. In hindsight, I was a bit mean to him during this process, although he was always kind, gentle and caring towards me. I declared to him one day, “If I am meant to do this work, then you need to remove all the “blocks to strong and true connections” I had been told I had. If only I could just “let go of Ego” (which I was told by one teacher was my real problem) and do it the way I was being taught (her way), then everything would fall into place. Hmmm…

One day I asked for a sign to help me move forward in my development or help me “let go” of this desire to work “spiritually” once and for all. It was the ultimate “piss or get off the pot” challenge to the Big U. Universe has mostly sent me number sequences for validation so I wasn’t expecting what happened over the next few days!!

I got the same sign repeatedly, and in different forms and it came in a way I hadn’t considered before as a “sign”. It was my first musically related message. Turning the TV on after that meditation, I found a Frank Sinatra Special playing. There he was singing “My Way”. While I love that song, it didn’t really have any significance to me and it wasn’t till later I laughed as I connected the dots. Next, I jumped on Facebook and there was an invite to an Elvis Tribute show. In the advert…the words “featuring greatest hits such as “My way” (another missed sign). I went to take the kids to school and guess what was crooning out of the speakers? You guessed it…”And I did it my wayyyyyy”. Still I am not connecting the dots. Sometimes I can be a little dim and not present in the moment (as are all busy mums with a million things to do, right?).

Anyway, while the signs kept coming without acknowledgment by me, the next time I sat to meditate and have one final “chat” with my Guide, I was preparing to say goodbye and thanks for being there but… and I heard in my head…”For what is man, what has he got?”. WTF? Huh? So, in true Emma fashion, I Googled it. What pops up you might well ponder? Song lyrics to the song “My Way” by Frank Sinatra. And other recordings of this song, “My way” by Elvis Presley. LOL. And then the penny drops. Oops. Sorry Guide, I thought you had left me hanging. That was my sign! Me bad? Yep! I seriously still needed to learn to trust more at that point.

But what did that mean? My way? What way? I knew nothing. I had learned heaps of techniques and different ways of working Spiritually but I felt I knew nothing. My way? Do you mean your way Guide? Nope. MY WAY. But I don’t have a way I say! The response was golden and delivered in a true Gangster voice. “Well, get one then, sweetheart!”

He went on to explain – take all you have learned, acknowledge the Teachers, acknowledge the Guru’s, acknowledge the learning, but now it’s time to do it your own way. “Own it Girlfriend! Do it any way it works for you. There is no right or wrong way after all, there is only the way that works for YOU. Combine what you know into what works for you!” DO IT MY WAY. Boom!

But what will people think (notice my little inner critic’s two cents worth slid in there?)? The messages were coming loud and clear. Do YOU. Be YOU. Stop hiding behind who you think you SHOULD BE and become who you were born to be. You are unique. We are all unique. What works for me may not work for you and what works for you may not work for me. AND THAT’S OKAY!

So, in that moment I stopped. I stopped trying to become like my teachers. I stopped placing so much importance on self-declared GURU’s advice. I stopped trying to fit in, conform, follow the rules set by others and I started to set my own rules and boundaries. First thing to go was all the “rituals”. My Higher Self, my Soul, my Source, didn’t need me to bow twice facing northwest, while standing on one leg and chanting “praise be” in order to hear me, work with me or help me. My ‘team” didn’t need me to ‘worship’ them in order to reward me or punish me. That was old school beliefs based in FEAR. So, I started to ask my Higher Self and my Guides some really important questions about “my way”. And once I started to do it my way, I was off and running.

That was years ago now but like all good relationships, it required me to surrender and trust. It took time to establish mutual trust and respect, to set boundaries that worked FOR ME and courage to finally BE ME publicly. And if you truly know me, you know I do things differently. And if you really know me, you will know I am all about helping others find THEIR way. MY way is only the best way for me. YOUR way, will become the best for you, should you have the courage to explore what that is and become a Spiritual Gangster for yourself. Did I cop criticism? Hell yeah. Did I care? Sometimes but eventually I learned you can’t please all the people all the time so you might as well please yourself!

If you are ready for that, I challenge you to become a member of Spiritual Gangster Club. Your tribe is waiting for you here. With no judgement. With no rules that confine or limit you, nor rituals you “must” engage in to develop and grow. And most definitely, no EGO or unrealistic expectations.

You will find unconditional love, compassion and support for you as you start and define your journey. Yes, I will show you how I do things, but I will also introduce you to others who can show you their way too. But along the way, you get to take what you learn and make it work for YOU.

This community, this GANG I am gathering, will support you and also show you what works for them too. I’m confident together we will help you find YOUR WAY and become your own special, unique Spiritual Gangster too. Make sure you join and participate in the Facebook groups. This is your forum to share, learn, grow and spread the love.

To join the Spiritual Gangster Facebook Page click here.

Love as Always,

Em x