Tuesday, December 1, 2009

An Amazing New Way to Instantly Create Any Reality You Desire

An Amazing New Way to Instantly Create Any Reality You Desire

This was the most fascinating class. It was free. But at first I felt fidgety. I didn’t want to stay long. The guy teaching it seemed a bit long-winded in his explanation. Boy am I glad I did not leave, I stayed through it. It may have changed my life in fact. Instantly.
The guy who taught it, Keith Varnum, himself has spent 40 years in the healing arts. He has had masters and teachers of all varieties, shapes and sizes. What’s funny is even the most advanced shamans say that the ceremonies that they perform, the feathers, the smoke, it’s all “show.” But it is a ceremony for a very special purpose. Its to distract your mind enough to get you permission to slow yourself down, to get yourself into this space.
Well Matrix Energetics gets you there immediately. None of the years of meditation, long hours of difficult yoga positions tying up yourself in a pretzel. You can actually get there instantly. As hard as it is to believe, it is true.
To access this special place of possibility Richard asked us some very important questions. And if you are reading along, take a few moments to go along with me on this journey:
1. have you ever had an experience in your life that time seemed to bend, or change, or happen differently from ordinary reality?
2. what special cartoon, mythical, saints, or other characters do you really resonate with who inspire you to enter into their morphic field?
3. have you ever experienced déjà vu? Can you take yourself to that special moment time or place?
4. What about an experience where you experienced your body differently, the physical world as more unreal, more of a flow than you can ever imagine? (in one extraordinary example Paige told the story of a man who drove headfirst through a child standing in the middle of a street. He was full speed ahead. But instead of crashing through him, the car screeched right through, and the boy and man were both equally shocked that nothing happened. The driver’s wife was on the phone at the time and she heard horrible screeching, and the man driving was shocked and feeling a bit hurt.)
5. What actually stops you from embodying, dwelling, and living within this special supreme reality all the time?
The point of all of these was that you all live in a special reality, it’s just important to look for it. And that was the other point: look for “what’s new and different in my life?”
The other phase of theory is quantum mechanics, quantum physics: the basic building blocks of the universe is energy, wave/particles. Asking ourselves “what’s the matter?” we overly focus on the most apparently dense but least relatively real aspects of ourselves. It is in focusing on our energy nature that we can perform miracles that the evolved masters on this planet, e.g. Buddha, Jesus, etc. have all performed, and that we are capable of. And we can experience in each of our lives the same miracles.
The next phase of this free demo class held at a Peace of the Universe this evening was experiential: each of us took turns standing up in the front of the circle. He then would ask to choose a point on our bodies that was tense, hurting, or otherwise drew our awareness. And then choose a second point, a reference point. A point in your body that feels “useful”. Don’t over think this. Then close your eyes, while he holds the space of oneness, of infinite possibilities in the quantum world in between his hands, each placed at these special points.
He did this for each of us. Everyone experienced a dramatic shift. Even in just a few minutes in this space, people standing up would wave back and forth, often falling back in surrender. Feeling instantly more relaxed. Sometimes beaming with a smile. Many reported experiencing waves.
I was among the first few of the dozen attendees to experience this. I stood up in center of circle. Chose a point on my forehead, and in back of my heart. Close my eyes and he held the space. Threw a pebble containing my dreams and wishes into the pool of life’s possibilities. And as I did that I felt those ripples enter my being. Or more accurately, I felt my being, my body dissolve into waves of oneness. Each wave passing through me as I became it. It became so pleasant and peaceful. I couldn’t help but crack a smile.
The woman in front of me observed my energy field turn into waves. She said, in fact, that she almost expected that I would become invisible as my body turned into waves. Keith remarked on my golden aura. What’s wild is that I was just thinking earlier during the class about hilary’s remark that I could become invisibile. And also my meditations as taught by Amma that I practice involve experiencing myself as golden. Quite the powerful feedback. And neither person made the same comment about any other individual present.
He asked us to continue remaining aware within the next 3-4 days, what is new and different in my life, financially, emotionally, physically?
So, you stand at the brink of infinite possibility. It’s easier than you think. That is, if you go beyond your thinking mind. Ask yourself these questions. Explore the quantum space that you are. You may be in store for a pleasant surprise.
Keith’s website is www.thedream.com, 602.861.2631, keith@thedream.com

Monday, November 30, 2009

What does the future hold for 2012?

This is an initial exploration of my thoughts for what the future holds for 2012 based on my latest research. Whether or not you believe in these changes doesn't matter. The fact is that countless people, cultures, and texts anticipate dramatic changes; these expectations alone are enough to affect behavior and world politics.

Hollywood expects apocalypse, if you believe the latest movie they released this year. Many people just consider it a superstitious date. Others expect a Judgment Day, and a time of cataclysmic earth changes. Still others in the new age and metaphysical community expect to be abducted or ascended.

After carefully reviewing the research I believe the future to be a hybrid of all the above.

Let’s look at the indigenous tribes prophecies. Mayans consider 2012, specifically 12-21-2012 to be the end of time. Note this does not mean the end of the world. This means the end of one epoch the beginning of a new. Drunvalow Melchizadeck has participated as an initiate in some very special Mayan ceremonies and a representative of this culture. He has direct knowledge of a very fascinating time predicted and has an excellent youtube video that has been released. Watch it and you will learn and see.

From the Mayan perspective, the earth

Apparently David Wilcox indicated that the great pyramids of Egypt also contain a calendar, that coincidentally ends at the year 2012.

The age of aquarius also dawned upon us in 2007, this signifies a new age of spirituality, harmony, technology, and possibility.

Interestingly on this date in Dec 21, 2012, the earth will be in the precise physical center of the galaxy. Also it will have completed its precession of the equinoxes.

There are also a 26,000 year cycle and approximately 5,000 year cycle that both culminate on this date as well. 13,000 years ago it was speculated that the poles actually reversed. The shifting of poles, which was associated with dramatic almost violent weather changes, could account for why wooly mammoths were discovered flash frozen in North America; why the dinosaurs went extinct. Another interesting bit of data is Egyptologists confirmed the great sphinx has water damage not wind or sand erosion. This happened about 13,000 B.C. Great civilizations during this Golden Age perished almost overnight as a result of this cataclysmic change.

It is more likely a process not a destination that something will happen on an exact date.

Other interesting astronomical facts include that the other planets appear to be experiencing dramatic changes as well. Solar flares are at an all time high, and highest in 40 years. Solar flares tend to be associated with increased accidents and agitation and the fall of the stock market.

The earth’s magnetic field is changing rapidly. Whereas pilots decades ago can rely on previous magnetic maps to navigate, now they must check these every time they take off and land.

Combine this with the fact that we have some very dramatic trends affecting us today. Knowledge is increasing exponentially, thanks to the internet boom and our increased connectivity. More knowledge was generated in 1900s than in previously 1000 years. Knowledge kept doubling every decade, then every year, now every month…approaching the speed of light.

The global economic system is at the brink of collapse, caused by greed and unsustainable practices. Other unsustainable practices are our society’s reliance on oil and other fossil fuels, overconsumption, and waste. The critical turning point we are approaching as a civilization literally force us to evolve into a new level of human being, discover advanced solutions to our problems, or perish, as have many other advanced civilizations before us. This is a daunting challenge, but one that we can tackle.

The experience of time is certainly changing. Most people are stressed because they can’t seem to pack all their experience into one single day. This is a common complaint I hear from all my most productive friends and associates.

David Wilcock, currently developing a movie Convergence with the producer of the movie Contact, states a much more promising vision. This includes the possibility of disclosure, that someday soon the government will finally reveal the truth that has been hidden in plain sight in many of the so-called “science fiction” movies…that there is life on other planets.

Some of the more promising vision include that there is a possibility for a life 100 times more beautiful and pleasant than we ever imagined in this current epoch. That we are done learning through struggle stress and suffering, a period for humanity to discover who it is, its divine nature. Wilcock believes that the Second Coming of the Messiah, the Rapture, all refer not to the physical arrival of a spiritual leader but rather the discovery of that leader within. An evolution in consciousness.

Wilcock also spoke of major world-changing events occurring more rapidly than ever, with less time in between. For example, the fall of berlin wall in 1980s followed by fall of soviet empire in 1991, then the 9/11 bombing in 2001, then the banking crisis of 2008, these were dramatic sudden changes—we will begin to see these yearly, then monthly, then weekly, then daily as we approach 2012. Each major announcement of dramatic news changes our entire world view.

2012 is a revolution of consciousness as the very least. What can we do to prepare? Meditate daily, yoga, engage in spiritual practices of one form or another that can keep you calm and centered in these challenging yet exciting years ahead. This will help make sure you are awake, aware, and tuned into what you need to do in the coming times.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Orgnonomy at Gunpoint


Philadelphia, PA. 22nd street and pine, September 1998. A gun is pointed in my face. I was parking my car for my first appointment with Dr. Herskowitz, DO, a psychiatrist, the last student personally trained by Wilhelm Reich before his death.

It happened like this: as I am opening my door to get out of my car, a 1990 Chevrolet Corsica with North Carolina plates, a large Afro-American man approaches me an asks if I am a "narc." I say no and forget about it.

I go back into my car to gather a few more belongings, and the car door is still ajar. Moments later, the same man points a gun to my face through the crack fo the car door.

He has my complete undivided attention. He tells me this is a gun and unless I do exactly as he tells me he will kill me. He tells me to leave the car, and with gun still pointed, gets in the car and forces me to get in the car as well.

His eyes are glazed as if he is high, and he starts demanding personal information. The gun is still pointed so I am not at liberty to resist. He paws through my wallet. He then asks me to take him to an ATM. I didn't know my way around Philadelphia because I moved to the area just a few months ago. We ended up in South Philadelphia where I pulled cash out of an ATM.

Next we ended up at a jewelry store, with gun hidden under his jacket we walked into a jewelry store. I attempted to charge a $2000 gold necklace charge on my AMEX and it was declined. I kept trying to hint to the employee I was in danger at the same time while not jeopardizing myself.

He got increasingly upset and we returned to the car where things escalated. Next we went to modell's sporting goods store, next door. He was belligerent to the staff and started grabbing shirts and shoes which he piled on for me to buy. He whispered that he will shoot me if I try to run away. So I am in line, charging the purchases of the clothing, and with shaky hand I try to signal to the staff that I am in danger but they do not notice.

As we are walking towards the exit, I feel increasingly alarmed that unless I get out of this situation immediately, I could be the next homicide story. As we walk through the exit gates, with the bag in his hand, the alarm goes off...apparently staff forgot to remove the tag on one of the items and the alarm went off. That is when I shouted for the police and immediately ran back into the store for cover and hid in one of the back rooms. I was concerned he may run into the building and hold everyone hostage. Instead apparently he ran outside with the bag of purchases.

This whole ordeal took place from about 10:00 AM to noon, so I was held hostage for about 2 hours.

The police arrived and took me down to the station for questioning. First they asked the staff at modell's sporting goods and then they asked the jewelry store what happened. The jewelry staff seemed incredulous that I didn't signal to them otherwise that I was in danger. Perhaps I could have indicated and written down on the receipt "call police." but the charge was declined, which I suspect because the amount was so high and such an unusual purchase.

They then took me to the station for questioning. Ted Wolkiewicz was the detective who interrogated me. I was placed into a dank room with nothing but a table, swinging lamp, and his enormous body and mine. I told him my story, which he didn't believe. He threatened obstruction of justice, jail time. I still stuck to my story. He even questioned whether this is some sort of credit card scam or gay cartel I was running.

Ted asked me the million-dollar question: "why didn't you run away sooner?" I was dumbfounded by the question. But my later answer would be "where was your fat ass when all this happened?"

Then he brought down my significant other at the time, Diane, for questioning. He said that the majority of people who come down to the station change their story because they lie, and that's why they have to treat everyone so harshly--because some may change their story under pressure and others who are telling the truth will stick with what they originally said. He threatened to interrupt one of Diane's classes to question her, but she stood firm.

The irony is that I called Dr. Herskowitz from the station apologizing that I missed the appointment because I was at the station held for questioning after a hostage situation. He later told me that he thought I was making up my story.

After giving me a lineup of possible culprits to look on the computer, Eventually they released me. But not without impounding my car and the beautiful leather jacket that my father bought me years ago in high school. They apparently were searching for prints. Weeks later, after calling repeatedly, I finally got my car back but it was ransacked; the locks were forced open. The police were unsympathetic.

Diane's sister Michelle, a probation officer, assisted by helping me get in touch with the District Attorney's office to file an official claim against the city. Eventually I was reimbursed about $1,800 for damages and the car was restored. Also she put me in touch with Inspector James Tiano, with whom I discussed my mistreatment at the hands of the city.

For weeks, months even, I was traumatized by the event, and did not want to live alone in my apartment for fear the man would track me down and return. I was also shaky and paranoid, feeling very unsafe. The police never caught the man, or at least never notified me that they did

The sunny side of the story is that this traumatic experience triggered me so intensely, a perfect state for me to do my inner work and take this into the NWTA, a men's weekend retreat. Also, to continue working with Dr. Herskowitz releasing sense of lack of physical safety. I can't say for sure whether all my fears have been cured, as I still feel unsafe at times in this planet when I think of all the violence. But at very least I am more in touch with it and know that I can survive and live through virtually anything.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Happiest Highlights from Monroe Institute

Since I first read about The Monroe Institute in Ostrander and Shroeder's revolutionary book: SuperLearning, I was fascinated with their work. Around 1991 I had mailed a letter to them requesting an information packet; their address was in the Appendix of SuperLearning.

I promptly received a package chock full and brimming with information. This package included a reprint from Omni magazine detailing the author's journeys into vast new realms of consciousness during a Gateway Voyage, a weeklong group journey featuring audio excursions using Hemi-Sync technology. I was enchanted by the photo in the article featuring the beautiful property nestled among the lush hills of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.

I absolutely had to participate. So I sent them a letter requesting an interview, telling them I wished to contribute. My sweetheart Emilie and I drove down there, from Virginia, where she attended Mary Washington University. It was fall and the leaves were absolutely beautiful. My heart thrilled at the opportunity to visit this place.

The first sight that opens up is the Gatehouse, and on top of that hill are the main buildings including a studio and research lab and a main guest house featuring a cafeteria, hall, and dozens of CHEC units.

I remember being first greeted by the laboratory engineer Dave Wallis, and then the musician and editor Mark, also the Professional Division manager Shirley Bliley and Skip Atwater, Research Director. They were initially skeptical about my participation, as they never had a staff intern or volunteer. A further writeup about my experiences can be found in the TMI focus journal and in several articles I've published.

I had a mind-blowing week at the Gateway Voyage, which the staff comped me for my contributions to their week.

I kept in touch with TMI over the years. Phillis and Arnie Popkin lived in a home literally a block away from the New Land. Arnie was an opthamologist who ran a private practice and invited me to listen to him play the piano. Phyllis reads the spirits of deceased people and pets and was written up in publications about this.

I also kept in touch with David Wallis and Leslie France, and stayed a few nights in their beautiful home carved into a mountain wall at a meadow at the end of the last road before the hill leading up to the Gatehouse. The house overlooked a large green meadow, at the end of which was a huge hill with a stream running through it. There they would throw a massive 4th of july party which was as close to heaven as I could ever imagine. Beautiful spirited people, lovely food, music, fireworks, kids and families playing, all sprawling along their beautiful two acre field.

Dave Wallis was definitely not of this world. I remember having such profound discussions about the cosmos, engineering, other life forms. One night we were driving back to their house in the snow and he revealed to me his age, I was stunned to discover he mentioned he was in his 60s.

That same summer I met Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, and volunteered at her Death and Dying center in West Virginia, an hour or two drive north of the New Land. There was a beautiful carving from one angle looked like a suffering dying man and on the other angle was an angel bringing him ascension. We were all helping to paint her center. Then one day, sad news, I heard that the center was closed because of rumors that the locals were accusing her of polluting the stream with AIDS water. I also heard rumors that the locals had burned down her house.

Also once I drove to Yogaville, VA, Sachitananda's ashram. I also went to the New House? a home near Monroe Institute in which someone from a different religion lived in each room, which was lavishly decorated with fabrics and books.

I attended this with Rita Fisher.

While at 4th year at Duke, I drove up to spend a halloween with Rita Fisher, a Swiss-German woman who was taking care of Phyllis Whitney, a writer who was living off of Robert's mountain road. I stayed at Rita's home underneath. and dressed up as Stephanie, much to the entertainment of Phyllis. Phyllis at the time was in her 70s. Her daughter and son-in-law lived next door. Ed I believe was son in law but what was daughter's name?

I also stayed at the home of Emily and Dennis Galumbeck. Looking back at these experiences I realized that I experienced such incredible bliss, why did I ever leave?

Around 1995 I also reunited with the group from the Gateway Voyage, who attended another workshop: Guidelines or Lifelines. Trish was there, so was Jennifer Lewis who lived in Atlanta.

During my gateway voyage, I also remember David Mulvey and Franceen King moderated the group experience. One of the attendees worked for the Wall-Street Journal and wrote up an article which was subsequently published in WSJ that summer but it did not accurately portray the institute slant. "Institute Shows People a Way out of their Bodies" He was an undercover reporter. I also recall Jessica a psychic, Trish Smith, who I am still close friends with and she and I are part of an extended "Psychic Friends Network." I also remember Claudius, an Austrian being of light, as well as David ?? whose last name i do not recall.

Meeting Bob Monroe in 1994 was a fascinating experience. It was one of my last few days of work or employment there. I first met him and shook his hand and he said "oh I heard about you" and I felt an electrical shock. I later suspected this electrical energy could have been something he accessed to go out of his body which he wrote about in Journeys Out of the Body, Far Journeys, and The Ultimate Journey.

I met Robert Monroe again at my going away send-off party which the staff threw for me on one of the last days of my employment. Robert appeared and told me that it would be interesting to see how my interests would expand and evolve into the future. I mentioned my integrative interests in medicine and computer science, and pre-med.

That same summer I won a scholarship to the Institute for Humane Studies and George Washington University to study Objectivism and Liberty at Bryn Mawr College. I drove through a huge hailstorm to get there.

They paid me a stipend of $100.00 per week and I was amazingly happy with that stipend, living in that area. The cost of living is amazingly cheap.

The back road which led to 151 also drove past Synchronicity, a compound run by Master Brother Charles, which offered a similar technology.

Jim and Stu lived at the top of a beautiful ski mountain just nearby TMI.

During 1995-1996 I drove up to meet Trish and Jen at their completion of Lifelines or Guidelines. I also visited some guy's house which was filled with crystals and beautiful gemstones, he built this cabin off of Roberts Mountain Road.

There was also an ice storm which I visited Rita during, which I think was around 1996-1997. amazingly we drove up to skyline drive and the ice melted on the road but stayed intact on the mountains. And we drove up to this abandoned mansion near the 151 and 29 and the highway which

Also took skip out to lunch and he wrote me letter of recommendation for medical school, which eventually I had him rewrite for graduate school

Also the new CFO comped me for the Guidelines workshop because of my ongoing contributions to TMI.

during 1994 I met Barbara Bullard, who discussed and taught Accelerated Learning to special children in Orange County and shared this at the Professional Division seminar the first one that I attended. I performed some work for her doing literature review for her.

subsequently I attended the professional division seminar during which I met Edgar Mitchell.

I also did lectures promoting the monroe institute technology and offering free demonstrations. For example, in Durham NC during a spirit in business meeting, where i met AlexSandra Lett.

Monday, September 21, 2009

How Meeting Deepak Chopra Changed My Life


Durham, NC. An interesting chain of events led me to meet Deepak Chopra eventually.

Around 1993, as a sophomore in Duke University, I founded a mind-body medicine studies group. This founding was publicized by a reporter from the Chronicle, the Duke University campus newspaper. At the time I was a pre-medicine student, and took intensive demanding classes involving hard sciences: physics, chemistry, biology, organic chemistry...although I wanted to become a physician, I found something lacking in the soul of my education. This inspired my reaching out for alternatives, as I found no organized group providing integrative medical approaches that complement the hard sciences.

To get started, I made some inquiries starting during my first year of college about who was most actively involved in these activities--apparently there was a Mind-Body Medicine Studies Group at Duke University Medical Center; I was directed to contact Larry Burk, M.D., a Radiologist at Duke University Medical Center. His secretary Mirjana Cudic first answered. I indicated my interest in integrative medicine, and she told me I came to the right place.

We hit it off immediately. I introduced myself by telling him that I began my "field research" in alternative and complementary medicine by writing to all the integrative health centers in the back of the book "SuperLearning" and "SuperMemory: The Revolution" a revolutionary book by Ostrander and Schroeder about how to accelerate learning and retention by over 30% simply by listening to baroque music in a light alpha-state, breathing rhythmically. They listed fascinating resources in the back of the book. This was a revolutionary book for me that I read in high school because it indicated the vast underutilized potential of the mind, perhaps accessed by only a few.

So I wrote to all the resources in the back of the book, and heard about the Monroe Institute, which I eventually landed the first intern position ever offered.

Larry was impressed by my unusual initiative, and after a few discussions, agreed to serve as my faculty sponsor for this study group. I also enlisted the help of a colleague to co-found the organization with me, Ali Zomorodi, now a full fledged neurosurgeon at Duke.

On a monthly basis I began inviting community practitioners from the local community. For example, Carol Sanks, RN, an integrative nurse and bodyworker, who discussed an integrative model of the human by overlaying transparencies, one over the other; Jon Seskevich, nurse clinician at DUMC, who taught simple energy work and therapeutic touch; Jim Spira, tai chi; Mark Eisen, M.D., to discuss anthroposophical medicine; Larry Burk to discuss peak performance through anodyne imagery, a special visualization protocol to minimize chronic pain and enable peak performance, and Jon DiJianne (sp?) offering an acupuncture demonstration.

The study group took a peak when I participated in the promotion of Deepak Chopra came to speak at a large auditorium on West Campus. I landed several free tickets, and invited Ali Zomorodi, Ally McCoy, and Leila, and my girlfriend at the time, Emilie Slechta to attend.

From the vantage point of the upper balcony, I watched and listen as the internationally renowned Ayurvedic physician Dr. Chopra spelled out the concepts of integrative medicine, and the quantum physics behind the concept of "ageless body, timeless mind" which is also the topic of his latest book.

In one of the most influential (and prophetically accurate) intuitive reading of my life, Tomiko Smith, elaborated in a reading Chopra's concepts: although our cells atoms and subatomic particles are comprised mostly of empty space, this so-called empty space is teeming, vibrant with energy particles. This energy responds to our consciousness, in fact, it IS our consciousness. Through an awareness of our ageless nature, we regain a quantum awareness of our timelessness, as the concept of time as a human construct.

Hearing Chopra's concepts rang true to me; the vast, incredible success he experienced sharing his integrative medical concepts, bringing the ancient wisdom of Ayurvedic medicine from the East to the West indicated to me how hungry the public was for this type of knowledge. Instead of becoming a neurosurgeon, I decided that I wanted to become a doctor but not not in the conventional sense of a diagnostician who is attempting to label and identify disease, but rather as a creative practitioner who looks deeply to the root cause of an ailment, and doing so systemically, not simply looking at the physical body.

Following the speech I attended Chopra's book signing, and introduced myself. I shared with him how inspired I felt by his words, that it was a privilege for my group to promote his appearance. He autographed his book Ageless Body Timeless Mind, which I displayed proudly on my bookshelf of autographed books.

Chopra serves an excellent role model for what it takes to pioneer a field and the enormous success that can come to someone who is a leader in a new field.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Celebrity Jane Seymour Revealed to Me When I Met Her


First during a phenomenal exhibition of her artwork creations at a special exhibit at Simic Galleries in old town Scottsdale, Arizona around 2003. She was unusually talented in painting still lives that brought her and others joy. I felt inspired by her work and approached her to an interview.

She obliged and shared with me the contact information of her publicist in the LA area. As a reporter and regular columnist contributor to the Scottsdale Times, I knew my editor would be interested.

When I interviewed her, she revealed how painting was something she took up during an especially challenging financial period of her life resulting from a divorce. She painted in between filming as well, and her work caught the eye of the film crew. Her work caught wind and eventually she was approached by major labels to feature her work, e.g. Discover Card, and other cosmetic companies.

This interview was eventually published in the Dream Network, (Vol. 24 No. 4 & Vol 25. No 1), Interestingly the editors published this interview, because Seymour reported having a near death experience on the Larry King Show, May 23, 2005. Click here for further details about her amazing experience.

The near death experience is indirectly related to dreams because it occurs in a state of consciousness related to the dream state but surpassing it.

I found Ms. Seymour to be classy, sophisticated, and gracious in the way she carried herself. I respect her humanitarian efforts and her public encouragement of "green" values. In fact, Jane mentioned that she was recognized by the Queen and received a title comparable to knighthood.