STEs, Trauma, and Spiritual Emergencies Panel
Betty Guandango - USA
Waking Up – A Life Transformed. Transformation and metamorphosis through a spontaneous kundalini awakening. Betty’s origin story begins in darkness, trauma and tragedy -drug addiction, sex work, atheism, the double suicide of my parents, poverty, and a myriad of abuses. In March of 2019, she had a spontaneous kundalini awakening that transported her to the space between life and eternity. She will share how she was taken through her pre-birth planning and was instantly shifted from a victim of circumstance to a divine co-creator of reality. She was shown her mission and alternate life paths. Her life transformed after returning to Earth. It was as if every cell in her body was reborn in a 180-degree metamorphosis. She went into a cocoon in the form of a long-term drug treatment center, met mentors, attended school, completed the program, and now creates a conscious communion with all that she encounters.
Betty Guadagno went from a drug addicted, sex worker, and self-described radical atheist to a devout believer in long-term recovery, working as a recovery coach, and manifesting a life beyond her wildest dreams. She will take you through her awakening journey where she was shown her pre-birth planning, her divine mission, and the interconnectedness of all things.
Emily Burfoot - UK
Awakening Experiences in the context of Spiritual vs Material Power Dynamics. Emily’s experience was that when she shared her thoughts and visions of Near-Death Experiences and altered states of consciousness with friends, family, and other devout “materialists”, she was persecuted through psychiatric sedation and imprisonment. She began to reflect on how the “religion of materialism” provides its followers with the comfort and security of a fixed world, which they need to survive and thrive. By contrast, Emily’s ability to thrive depended on the allowance, sight and discussion of dimensions beyond the material 3D+time dimension. She reflected on how these conflicting needs result in a type of “power war”: with the spiritualists needing spirituality to thrive, and the materialists needing the exclusion of spirituality to thrive – at least on the verbal and behavioral level. Emily thinks this “war” is fiercely fought in the psychiatric ward. To her psychiatrists seemed the guardians of the material world while spiritualists seemed a potentially devastating threat to their identity, and belief structure. As a peace-and-harmony seeker who would like to create more space for polarities such as this to co-exist, Emily invites discussion as to how we, as humans who need grounding in both the material and the spiritual world, can serve to bring peace in this arena through education and coherent action.
Emily Burfoot had her first NDE aged 21, while studying at Oxford University. Since then, she has had a further 5 STEs as the trauma of the event has become progressively more integrated. She has been admitted to hospital three times as a result of spiritual crisis events, and as a result has become dedicated to promoting compassion towards and understanding of spiritual experiences by mental health practitioners who frequently do not have spiritual education or training. In 2021 she became a founding member of Blue Lotus Network, whose vision is for every human to feel whole, and be empowered to find optimum mental health through exploring and embodying their own unique self-actualization. Through Blue Lotus, she is creating an online course and community dedicated to learning and practicing applied spiritual principles to improve mental health and wellbeing.
Dr. Marni Hill Foderaro EdD - US Virgin Islands
My Garage Sale Spiritual Awakening. Dr. Marni Hill Foderaro’s life was forever changed after surviving trauma-induced STEs-Spiritually Transformative Experiences. Marni experienced one spiritual and divine encounter after another at an ordinary garage sale that brought about her spiritual awakening. Marni was shown numerous signs and synchronicities which led to her devoting much time to researching NDEs and STEs to gain information to understand and validate what she experienced. Marni realized the inaccuracy of what she was taught to believe about life and death, and believes there is a deeper truth regarding our existence on earth. She now knows that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. Her life-changing encounters prompted her to write the 2020 Best Books award-winning spiritual fiction, “God Came To My Garage Sale”, prominently endorsed by James Redfield, bestselling author of “The Celestine Prophecy” and founding directors of IANDS, Santa Barbara’s Barbara Bartolome and Chicago’s Diane Willis.
Dr. Marni Hill Foderaro, EdD, is an award-winning author, speaker and educator. She earned her doctorate in education and completed postdoctoral studies at Harvard after a very successful and rewarding 35-year education career. Marni’s life was forever changed after experiencing numerous trauma-induced STEs-Spiritually Transformative Encounters. Marni’s 2020 Best Books Award Winning Spiritual fiction “God Came to My Garage Sale” is prominently endorsed by James Redfield, best selling author of “The Celestine Prophecy” series of books, among celebrity psychic mediums and founding directors of IANDS (International Association for Near Death Studies). Marni is a lover of animals, nature, music and world travel who handles life’s challenges with love and compassion. She values honesty, integrity, equality and goodness and prays for peace on earth. In addition to her speaking engagements and various writing endeavors on embracing Spirituality after surviving trauma, Foderaro is a contributing author to numerous anthology books.
Cristina Mohr - USA
How to Navigate your Spiritual Emergence through our Current Mental Health Paradigm. After her Spiritually Transformative Experience was diagnosed as bipolar disorder, Cristina had to work through my shadow-self before reflecting light. She had to work through my 4 bodies (mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical), but she was drugged for quite a few years which left her feeling like a zombie without an imagination. She had worked through her 3 bodies but was so drugged that totally didn’t even think about my physical body. She later realized that, during her initiatory crisis, in the E.R. the practitioners assumed it was psychological and NEVER did physical tests. Cristina does not want to see others suffer in the manner she had, so she has created a sort-of, crisis plan, to avoid medical abuse.
Cristina Mohr is Co-founder at Blue Lotus and creator and facilitator of Healing Through Creativity, and mental health system survivor. She had her initial Spiritual Emergence in 2013. It’s been a long road to recovery, discovery then action. Her experiences along the way have given her a Calling to help create a new mental health paradigm. She is now in college, on her way to becoming a doctor of transpersonal psychology, through CIIS as her goal. She has 7 years of training and 38 years of experience with art (including having experienced an art therapy program that she learned and grew from). She is now grounded, thriving, and would like to share her journey and what she learned along the way.