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Thank you very much for all your kindness and good wishes. I feel like this has been one of my best birthdays. It has meant very much to me. It’s an honor to teach and a privilege to work with you. Thank you for remembering me in this way.
With loving sincerity, Barbara
By Adriana Paredes – Barbara’s student and SAI Staff
Photo by Silvia Viñuales
under CC license
All Spiritual Arts Institute students wish our dear teacher Barbara Y. Martin, the most joyous and happy birthday. We are so fortunate to have you in our lives. Thank you for all your years of dedication in your teaching career. Thank you to all the Angels that have work with you and helped us to meet you. Thank you for being our teacher. We love you!
By Dimitri Moraitis
Barbara Y. Martin in 1985
Barbara would be the first to say that she reluctantly entered the world of teaching. Despite years of training, preparation, and great talent, when it came to begin her career as a metaphysical teacher, she hesitated. At that time, there were few professional metaphysicians and making a career of it seemed risky. She wasn’t sure people would be interested in what she had to offer! She still had desires to pursue her creative writing. But what made her the most cautious was the responsibility. There’s a karmic responsibility if you misled a soul in any way. It is also a lot of work. Metaphysical teaching is a consuming endeavor. A teacher must follow the lead of divine inspiration. You work in and out of class. While she loved to help people, she knew that in being a formal teacher, her life would not be her own in many ways. Yet she also knew this was her destiny.
Her first professional opportunity came when she was working at an insurance company. She was friends with a co-worker and one day while they were having lunch together Barbara blurted out, “You’re going to get married again.” The woman was divorced with children. She thought the whole thing was crazy and said, “Barbara, who’s going to marry me with six children?”
Soon after that, the woman went to a class reunion and met up with an old boyfriend who was also divorced. Before you knew it, they were married! This woman was so impressed she kept telling people, “I don’t know what Barbara knows but she knows something!” She organized a lecture for Barbara. Afterwards, people came up asking to join her classes. Barbara said, “What classes? I don’t have any classes!” Well, from that day Barbara started teaching regularly.
As her classes grew, it became difficult to work and teach at the same time. She was getting the inspiration from the Higher to leave her job and teach full time. But she was reluctant to leave her day job. As she relates, every time she would drive to a class her car would work fine, but when she would drive to work, her car would have problems. She would take the car to the mechanic but nothing was wrong. One day, she was driving to work and the car broke down on the freeway. Then she got the message. That day, she agreed to make teaching her full time career.
As a teacher, a new world opened up for her. With every class, the divine would come close to her, putting together the many years of training and bringing fresh inspiration. Many times she would have a prepared lecture, but the Higher would come in and give an inspirational talk, or offer specific meditations and prayers. These years of teaching would lay the foundation for the book and manuals she would later write.
She became particularly known for her work with the aura, although she saw herself more as a teacher. She discovered that there were many people interested what she had to offer and she built her classes quickly. There were not many people doing her kind of work and all she had to do was mentioned the aura and metaphysics and people came. She did some powerful healing work as well which made her even more well-known.
During those pioneering days, it was a magical time. Yet there were many challenges. It was financially difficult. Students, friends and family did not always rise to the occasion which put more demands on Barbara. Yet through it all, Barbara laid the foundation for a whole new era of metaphysics, an era that is still unfolding. Our debt to her as spiritual students is incalculable.
In celebrating your birthday, thank you Barbara for all you have done for us. Thank you for the years of dedication and diligence in bringing these teaching through. Thank you to help us to truly reach our spiritual potential. And thank you Holy Ones for sending such a marvelous teacher.
By Adriana Paredes
Barbara at Los Angeles City Hall
Barbara knows how to get people’s attention.
Her participation in the Greek delegation at Los Angeles City Hall, shows the confidence needed to later blossom as metaphysical teacher.
By Dimitri Moraitis
Barbara Y. Martin – teenager
When people experience Barbara’s spiritual gifts and the apparent ease with which she expresses those gifts, what is not seen are the many years of training and development it took to develop those spiritual talents.
When Barbara was eleven year old, she met a woman who would change her life. Her family had moved to Kansas City, Missouri. There, she joined a well-known acting troupe headed by Dorothy La Moss. One day, Dorothy confronted her privately, saying, “You can see the aura.” Barbara didn’t even know that what she was seeing was called the aura! That day marked the beginning of her spiritual training in the art of metaphysics. It turned out Dorothy was a hermetic scientist, and she could see the aura as well. She had old, handwritten books that were passed on to her from her mother and grandmother. These manuscripts described the aura in detail, along with many other facets of the spiritual world. The young Barbara spent hours with Dorothy in her studio learning about her spiritual gifts and discovering the world of metaphysics. Armed with this new knowledge, Barbara now understood and could interpret what she was seeing.
As a result of this experience, she started her direct training with celestial beings. Angels and other Holy Ones would come around her not only to support and bless her but to begin teach her. As she interacted with these divine beings, Barbara’s spiritual powers and talents increased.
Despite this developing spiritual life, she kept quiet about what she knew. During her high school years, she tried to put aside her spiritual talents and live a “normal” life, but the divine had other ideas for her. She eventually realized that the spiritual life was a part of her, but still thought of this as a personal journey, not something she would share with others.
At nineteen, she was producing variety shows for the USO that included such celebrities as Red Skelton, Mona Freeman, Susan Hayward, and many others. Yet the spiritual calling continued to beckon her. At a certain point, she realized that entertainment was not her destiny in life. The divine told her she was meant to be a metaphysical teacher. Barbara agreed and so began a period of inner spiritual training. She was shown many facets of the spiritual life from firsthand experience. Barbara began having intense spiritual visions and visitations with wonderful celestial beings from the other side who instructed her.
Then in her later twenties, while living in Los Angeles, she met Dr. Inez Hurd, a well-known mystic. Inez was an advanced soul who taught private groups and did not go on the lecture platform. She was very clairvoyant and had a developed connection to the spiritual hierarchy.
It was Inez who would help bring Barbara to the maturity of her spiritual talents and prepare her for the rigors of teaching. She told Barbara that she would one day speak publicly on the aura. This was a prophetic statement, because at the time very little was known about the aura.
Barbara studied for years with Inez, even living with her for a period of time. While working with Inez, opportunities started opening up to lecture on metaphysics. These opportunities eventually opened the door to her teaching career.
By Dimitri Moraitis
Barbara Y. Martin at age 4
Having worked with Barbara for many years, she has often talked about the rich and varied experiences of her early life. The combination of her early profound metaphysical awakenings, depression era struggles, and diverse family dynamics provided her with many important life lessons she would draw on later as a spiritual teacher.
Barbara’s adventure into metaphysics began at the age of three when she started seeing auras. Not knowing what it was called then, she saw colors and energies around her family and friends as well as around animals, trees, and plants. Soon she started seeing angelic beings who would come to visit her. They didn’t communicate to her at first but wanted to her to know they were there and supporting her. Slowly these visitations with angels and other spirit beings increased. These early experiences were wondrous yet mysterious as little Athena (as Barbara was called then) did not understand what they meant or what they were leading to. At that time, being a spiritual teacher was the farthest thing from her mind.
Her family didn’t know what to make of her visions. Worrying about possible physical maladies, her parents took her to doctors and gave her glasses to wear—but there was nothing wrong with her.
Barbara grew up during the Depression years. Being the daughter of a Greek Orthodox priest there was not much money and the family constantly moved. Barbara’s father was not only a priest but an engineer. The diocese would send him to various locations to build a church and organize a congregation, which he was very good at. Barbara was one of six children and even though they loved her, they did not understand her metaphysical inclinations. She loved her family very much but felt a little out of place as they did not have the same sensibilities as she.
Her clairvoyant abilities got her into trouble many times. When an aunt was late in arriving to a family gathering, little Barbara blurted out she wasn’t coming at all because she had died in a train accident. Her parents were horrified that she would say such a terrible thing. Yet the next day, they received the telegram with the tragic news that the aunt had in fact died in a train accident.
In another incident when she was four, at the end of a church service Barbara was asked to kiss the hand of the officiate archbishop. Even though the archbishop was regal and commanding, Barbara saw grotesque colors in his aura and refused to come close to the archbishop. When her mother insisted, she cried out, “No! He’s a monster! He eats children!” Barbara didn’t know why these things were happening to her or how she knew these things; they just happened. After many similar incidents, she learned to keep quiet about what she saw and experienced.
Barbara Y. Martin at age 10
Barbara was an excellent student, eventually skipping two grades of school. Even though she could be outgoing when she wanted to, Barbara preferred not to be the center of attention. Yet teachers would choose her to be the lead in a school play or to deliver a speech. Although Barbara resisted at first, these public experiences would prove excellent preparation for her later lecturing/teaching work.
Barbara’s life changed when she was ten years old and the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri. She was an excellent writer from an early age. The family was friends with the owner of a local radio station. Barbara would write religious radio dramas that the station would produce and air. This fanned her interested in drama. She joined a acting troupe headed by a well-known acting teacher and director Dorothy LaMoss. Dorothy would change Barbara’s life and became her first metaphysical teacher.
By Barbara Y. Martin and Dimitri Moraitis 
With the explosion of people awaking to their spiritual potential, it is more important than ever to understand what a spiritual teacher is and why he or she is an essential part of your spiritual growth. In the spiritual arena there are many types of people. There are those who are very good at sharing spiritual principles. Then there are those who are charismatic and good at motivating people to action. Then there are those who are heartfelt and share their personal spiritual experience to inspire you along the path. There are all wonderful way of helping souls along the spiritual path of evolution. Yet a spiritual teacher is something different.
A teacher of Divine Light is a soul who has the skill to help you reach your spiritual potential. When you have had your spiritual awakening, it is a signal that it is time for you to walk the path of Divine Light. It is the divine calling you. As you answer that call, you begin your spiritual climb. How far up in your spiritual ascent you can climb is what is termed your spiritual potential.
While no one can do your growing for you, there are many things to learn and develop to reach your spiritual potential. In truth, it is the most demanding discipline because it brings every part of your nature into action. Yet with great demand brings great reward. To fulfill your spiritual potential is one of the greatest accomplishments you can do on this earth.
You do not climb the spiritual ladder on your own. At every turn you have the spiritual hierarchy helping you in your ascent. Yet in addition, because there is so much involved in unfolding all the facets of your spiritual powers, every mystical tradition has emphasized the need for a spiritual teacher, someone who has walked further down that path and has the ability to help you unfold your spiritual powers.
One does not become a teacher overnight. It takes years of training and development to be qualified to teach. A genuine teacher is ordained by the divine; they do not choose this of their own. The Higher calls on them to teach. And this reveals an essential truth: The teacher is the connecting link for the spiritual hierarchy until the student can reach that place of direct communion with the divine on their own. This is not a psychic connection, but the direct mystical union with the divine which, sooner or later, is destined to experience. Through this direct communion, the door to enlightenment is opened.
There is a saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” If it has been your great fortune to fine a qualified spiritual teacher, it means you are ready to climb the spiritual heights. Take full use of this sacred opportunity. You don’t know how long in spiritual preparation you have been to reach this point. Make every minute count.
June 25, is our founding teacher’s birthday, Barbara Y. Martin. In her honor, please join us on Aurablog.org, Facebook, Twitter as we share stories, insights, and testimonials. Feel free to send in your comments and insights and pass along the celebration with your friends and family.
According to Barbara Y. Martin, and Dimitri Moraitis, the root chakra contains the spiritual drive you need to propel all you creative endeavors. It is used for sexual expression, bearing children, artistic and inventive pursuits and perhaps most important it helps fuel your drive to reach your highest spiritual potential.
Join Barbara and Dimitri and discover how to effectively work with the energies of your root chakra in an exciting online workshop, Sex and Your Spiritual Ascent, Saturday June 8. To join us for this interactive webinar go to: www.spiritualarts.org. Or call Spiritual Arts Institute: 800.650.AURA (2872)
Join us for our first interactive online workshop
Conducted by award-winning authors and teachers Barbara Y. Martin and Dimitri Moraitis
One of the most compelling yet bewildering aspects of spirituality is the relationship of sex to spiritual growth. Sexuality is a natural part of life so more than ever it is essential to understand how to harness this power in your spiritual ascent.
Join Barbara Y. Martin and Dimitri Moraitis in this illuminating workshop as they explore how sexual energy is part of your creative drive and how you can better harness this divine power to achieve your spiritual goals.
Explore:
- What sexual energy looks like in the aura
- Romance, marriage, and sex from the esoteric perspective
- The role of abstinence and celibacy in spiritual development
- Meditative tools to enhance and strengthen the spiritual powers connected to sexual and creative expression
- Spiritual keys regarding your romantic partner
- Your root chakra and the creative drive for procreation, sexual pleasure/intimacy, or spiritual liberation
Demonstrations of clairvoyant aura readings are part of this event!
Register Today!
or
Contact Spiritual Arts Institute:
800-650-AURA (2872)
Date: Saturday, June 8th
Time: 2:00pm – 4:00pm PST
Workshop Fee: $30 Space is Limited!
This is an interactive audio/video event. You can join from a computer, tablet, or smart phone for the video portion.
You can join the audio from the internet as well as by phone. No group calls. Each person will need their own unique link or call-in number.
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