Jessica Maxwell

Last weekend’s “Roll Around Heaven at Ghost Ranch” workshop was as powerful as it was delightful, and definitely the best workshop we’ve had so far.  Attendees came to the red mesas of New Mexico from the South (North Carolina), Midwest (Michigan), West (Colorado) and the Northwest (Oregon), for a deep spiritual recharge…and a lot of fun.  Even the donkeys in the adjacent field joined in.  “The best money I’ve ever spent,” proclaimed one first-time RAH! workshopper. Stay tuned for the dates of our next RAH! at the Ranch workshop, in the works now.  Oinkito!

Come renew your Spirit at Jessica’s four-day springtime spiritual intensive in the rouge and coral mountains of north New Mexico.  http://ghostranch.org/roll-around-heaven/   About 130 miles north of Albuquerque near the hamlet of Albiquiu, this 21,000-acre desert haven sweeps through the mesas of the Chama River Valley immortalized by artist Georgia O’Keeffe.  With mountains in all directions and the 11,000-foot Brazos peak exalting the horizon to the north, Ghost Ranch produces a light so transcendent you want to eat it with two spoons.  A  heavenly landscape for powerful Self renewal.   Only $175 + lodging (meals included)  This one is already filling up so call the ranch now to register: 877-804-4678, extension 4152 or 4155

RAVE REVIEWS FOR “Roll Around Heaven at Ghost Ranch”

 Tashi Delek!  On April 8, Tom and I returned from leading our first band of a dozen merry spiritual pilgrims on our first private Art & Spirit BHUTAN  tour  (with stopovers in Dubai and Bangkok).  We flew Emirates, our new favorite airlines, whose representatives upgraded our entire group to Business Class!, rode Arabian camels, asked tough religious questions at the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding, visited Thai temples, enjoyed a classical Thai feast designed in person by world-lauded chef David Thompson, spied grey langur monkeys and a rare Himalayan partridge, were treated to a private purification ceremony by hilltop monks, were honored  guests both at home of Ugyen Rinzin (featured in Roll Around Heaven) and at our teacher Lama Karma’s wife’s 700-year-old family farmhouse. We also sat with a genuine Thai Buddhist master and were blessed by Lama Karma’s teacher, the revered Ngawang Tenzin Rinpoche of Paro, Bhutan, the reincarnation of 18th-Century Drubthop Chenpo Jinpa Gyeltshen Rinpoche. and one of the few masters to be called “Dorje Lopen,” a title given to those who have achieved the highest level of Buddhist realization.  On our last day we all managed to complete the daunting 6-hour hike to the Tiger’s Nest monastery, a fitting triumph for a triumphant tour.  We’ll share our notes, photos and treasures at a group art exhibit opening in Portland, OR, on September 9.  Stay tuned for details!   — Jessica

Jazz Great Les McCann & the Maxwell Sisters in L.A. on New Year’s Eve 2012
    Here’s to a much cooler scene in 2013!

Lama Karma Video IMG_0253  On Saturday morning, Dec 1 2013, our dear friend and Buddhist teacher, Lama Karma Namgyel of Bhutan, completed his 58th Riwo Sangchö Fire Ceremony at our home in Western Oregon. We especially honored the passing of Tom’s beloved father, Hank W. Andersen, in September, and the death of our friend and great supporter of RAH!, David Oliver Relin, author of Three Cups of Tea, and of his new book on two doctors’ affordable cure for cataract blindness which Random House will publish in June.  We are, Lama Karma explained, all vulnerable to external and internal obstacles due to karmic debt.  When we feel overwhelmed by difficult situations we can benefit greatly from a Riwo Sangchö ritual, an especially powerful booster rocket to our regular meditation practice.  In this ceremony we purified karmic debt by making fire offerings to all “mother” sentient beings of the six realms, and to Bardo (between-the-worlds) beings. If we have lost a loved one, we wrote his or her name on a piece of paper to be offered in the fire, along with any difficulties we, ourselves, were experiencing. These were offered to the fire with special prayers recited by Lama Karma. The smoke from the fire and incense burned during this ceremony was transformed into vast offerings blessed through the power of meditation, and offered to enlightened beings as signs of refuge and to all sentient beings as an act of compassion.  In this way, the Riwo Sangchö sends out beneficial waves of purification, and supports world peace and spiritual progress for all.   Amen.