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Central VA IONS Community Group Meeting November 18, 2017

Featuring a talk by Dr. Elena Mustakova-Possardt

Where: River Road Church – Baptist, 8000 River Road (NW corner of River and Ridge Roads),

When: Saturday, November 18, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by potluck lunch at the conclusion of the program.

Central Virginia IONS Community Group Program Title:

“A Systemic Approach to Health in a Troubled World.”

Our November 18, 2017 program will feature a talk by Arlington author, clinical researcher, developmental psychologist, and spiritually oriented psychotherapist, philosopher and metaphysician, Elena Mustakova-Possardt, Ed. D., LPC.

Dr. Mustakova addressed our group in September 2015 and is back by popular demand. As previously, her talk will focus on the multitude of existential, metaphysical, moral and spiritual
challenges we face in the modern world that often, if not surmounted, impede, impair or undermine our efforts to build healthy lives for ourselves, our families, and our local, regional, national and international communities.

More and more, we recognize that our modern world is creating the context for what the World Health Organization has identified since the year 2000 as a Global Social Breakdown Syndrome. This syndrome is ubiquitous and cross-cultural. No socio-economic group, no matter how privileged or well-heeled, is beyond its reach or immune to it.

While we may see its most extreme forms today in places like the Middle East and parts of Africa, we also see its effects across Europe and the United States at individual, community and societal levels.

Our homegrown epidemics of mass shootings, gun violence, suicide, opioid addiction and the extreme and unsustainable polarization of our social, economic and political systems are among the many ways this syndrome is manifesting itself in our own culture.

In 2015 Dr. Mustakova explored the implications of understanding a healthy life in terms of physiological, relational and social coherence. Now she will offer an integrated systemic framework within which to consider what a balanced approach to health may look like for ourselves, our families and our society in our deeply divided and dysfunctional modern world.

Dr. Mustakova is in great demand as a speaker both in the U.S. and abroad, and we are very pleased and grateful to have her for a return engagement as our November 18 guest speaker.

About Dr. Elena Mustakova-Possardt, Our Richmond IONS Presenter:

Dr. Mustakova is an Arlington-based psychotherapist and native of Bulgaria, who emigrated to the United States at 29. She has taught clinical psychology and related subjects at five universities in four countries (Zimbabwe, Switzerland, Bulgaria and the U.S.), now devotes full time to private practice, and has over seventeen years of clinical experience with individuals, couples and families dealing with anxiety and depression, relational dynamics, addictions, and severe mental illnesses.

As a scholar and educator she has authored Critical Moral Consciousness: A Study of Morality in a Global Historical Context (Praeger, 2003), and recently co-authored a volume entitled Toward a Socially Responsible Psychology for a Global Era. See www.elenamustakova.net for her full bio.

About Central VA IONS Community Group:

To find out more about Central VA IONS Community Group (Richmond IONS), please CLICK HERE.

To find out about our upcoming meetings, please CLICK HERE.

Central VA IONS Group Meeting October 21, 2017

Joanne DiMaggio Richmond IONS Featuring a talk by Joanne DiMaggio

Where: River Road Church – Baptist, 8000 River Road (NW corner of River and Ridge Roads)

When: Saturday, October 21, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by a potluck lunch at the conclusion of the program.

Central Virginia IONS Community Group Program Title:

“Karma Can Be A Real Pain.”

Our October 21, 2017, program will feature a talk by Joanne DiMaggio, Charlottesville author, spiritual counselor and past-life regression therapist, on her latest book, Karma Can Be a Real Pain: Past Life Clues to Current Life Maladies. She will share what she has learned in her Past Life Regression practice about how past lives can imprint on the current one.

Are physical and mental illnesses the result of karma acquired in a past life, and, if so, does uncovering that lifetime lead to healing? According to the yearlong research project conducted by Joanne DiMaggio, the answer is yes!

Fifty volunteers, ranging in age from 34 to 74, participated in the project. They came in suffering from such chronic illnesses as arthritis, diabetes, joint and limb pain, head trauma, weight and digestive troubles, sexual dysfunction, skin conditions, liver and kidney issues, drug and alcohol abuse, and mental illness.

Employing past-life regression and augmenting the sessions with soul writing, i.e., writing in an altered state of consciousness, the project sought to find the buried past-life story behind the present-day malady.

Joanne will speak of her experiences with some of those volunteers, sharing details of their regressions, the transcripts of their soul writing sessions, and the results of the follow-up interviews to determine whether the sessions resulted in the condition being healed, improved, or remained the same.

The results are fascinating. Joanne will show how ordinary men and women met their past-life aspects and discovered the karmic origin of their chronic conditions, resulting in healthier, happier lives in the here and now, and beyond. Karma can be a real pain, but lucky for us, there is a cure!

About Joanne DiMaggio, Our Richmond IONS Presenter:

Joanne DiMaggio, MA, CHt, is an inspired teacher who has been pursuing past-life research and therapy for over 30 years. Joanne earned her Masters degree in Transpersonal Studies and her Spiritual Mentor certification through Atlantic University. She trained at the Eastern Institute of Hypnotherapy, completed additional training in hypnosis at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL, and studied under Dr. Irene Hickman.

Joanne is also the author of Soul Writing: Conversing with Your Higher Self, and Your Soul Remembers: Accessing Your Past Lives Through Soul Writing. For more information about Joanne, please visit her website at www.joannedimaggio.com.

About Central VA IONS Community Group:

To find out more about Central VA IONS Community Group (Richmond IONS), please CLICK HERE.

To find out about our upcoming meetings, please CLICK HERE.

Central VA IONS Group Meeting September 16, 2017

Featuring a talk by David Miller

Where: River Road Church – Baptist, 8000 River Road (NW corner of River and Ridge Roads)

When: Saturday, September 16, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by potluck lunch at the conclusion of the program.

Central Virginia IONS Community Group Program Title:

“Introduction to The Sibold Effect”

Our September 16, 2017 program will feature a talk by John David Miller, award winning author of The Sibold Effect: Beyond Science, History, Ghosts, and the Appalachian Supernatural. He will discuss his extensive research about spirits on his ancestral land in Southwest Virginia.

While returning from a trip to the Coral Sea, Dave Miller, on the casual suggestion of his girlfriend, purchased a piece of land in Southwest Virginia he had never seen and knew nothing about.

Though the purchase seemed like a random act at the time, after closing he noticed his mother’s maiden name on the bottom corner of the survey plat. This led to the surprising discovery that his land was directly connected to three of his first generation grandfathers.

Thereafter, during a remodeling project on the property, strange and bizarre supernatural activity
began to occur and was captured on film. Dave became convinced this was not a haunting but
communications from beyond. Dave also began to realize it was no accident he had happened to acquire this ancestral property, and it must have happened for a reason.

He spent the next fifteen years investigating this
conundrum, trying to explain the unexplainable, in a personal quest to discover if destiny and purpose truly exist.

The Sibold Effect takes a multifaceted approach to Dave’s search for answers as to why and who brought him to the land of his ancestors, combining elements of science, spirituality and other disciplines.

Dave examined the “heavy” historical imprint on the property as well as the variety of terrestrial energy fields that converge on this geological hotspot. He also explored genealogical, numerological, archaeological, extraterrestrial, and sacred geometrical connections to the property.

But Dave’s ultimate conclusions finally came when he studied Cherokee folklore about the area, and Cherokee beliefs in the spirit/nature relationship. Dave’s saga is a fascinating journey that offers
profound lessons for us all, and we are extremely pleased to have him as a guest speaker.

About David Miller, Our Richmond IONS Presenter:

David Miller grew up in Bon Air, but spent every summer playing in the caves surrounding Greenville, West Virginia, deep in the Appalachian Mountains. This started a series of lifelong coincidences that one day would draw him back to the very place where he began his adventure. This life journey would prepare him for what he would find one day buried on the side of the mountain that contains the graves of his ancestors.

Dave has been a contributor to Smithsonian Magazine, Ancient-Origins.net, and Paranormal
Underground Magazine. Dave self-published The Sibold Effect: Beyond Science, History, Ghosts, and the Appalachian Supernatural in February 2016. It has since won six international book awards. More details are available on his website at http://www.thesiboldeffect.com.

About Central VA IONS Community Group:

To find out more about Central VA IONS Community Group (Richmond IONS), please CLICK HERE.

To find out about our upcoming meetings, please CLICK HERE.

Central VA IONS Group Meeting August 19, 2017

Featuring a talk by Jim B. Tucker, M.D.

Where: River Road Church – Baptist, 8000 River Road (NW corner of River and Ridge Roads), Saturday,

Saturday, August 19, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by potluck lunch at conclusion of program.

Central Virginia IONS Community Group Program Title:

“Children Who Report Past-Life Memories”

Our August 19, 2017, Central Virginia IONS Community Group program will feature a talk by Jim Tucker, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia, who is continuing the work of Dr. Ian Stevenson with children who report memories of previous lives.

Beginning with Ian Stevenson, researchers at the University of Virginia have investigated children’s reports of memories of previous lives. Over the past fifty years, they have studied more than 2, 500 cases from around the world.

Common features in the cases include a child talking about a past life at a very early age and behaviors that appear connected to that life such as phobias related to the mode of death. Sometimes, there are also birthmarks or birth defects that correspond to wounds the previous person had suffered.

The presentation will include a review of the research and the details of recent American cases.

About Jim B. Tucker, Our Richmond IONS Presenter:

Jim B. Tucker is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia. For several years, he worked with Dr. Ian Stevenson in the Division of Perceptual Studies. They studied children who reported memories of previous lives. When Dr. Stevenson retired in 2002, Jim Tucker took over and continued the project.

In his book, Life before Life, he presented an overview of the research. In his latest book, Return to Life, he has focused on American cases and tells of his experiences with some of the children.

More details are available on his website at http://www.jimbtucker.com.

About Central VA IONS Community Group:

To find out more about Central VA IONS Community Group (Richmond IONS), please CLICK HERE.

Central VA IONS Group Meeting July 15, 2017

Featuring a talk by Shay Martin

Where: River Road Church – Baptist, 8000 River Road (NW corner of River and Ridge Roads), Saturday,

Saturday, July 15, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by potluck lunch at conclusion of program.

Central Virginia IONS Community Group Program Title:

“A Book About You! Numerology: Ancient Wisdom for Our Modern World.”

Our July 15, 2017, Central Virginia IONS Community Group program will feature a talk by Shay Martin, Richmond-based Numerologist, Intuitive, Empath, Certified Reiki Healer, Certified Holistic Health Consultant and aspiring author.

Shay will explore the language of words and numbers and how they affect your life. She will share how numerology can help you understand the meaning of life, your purpose and how to achieve it. She will share this ancient science in a way that is easy to understand and use in our modern world.

Shay offers a Numerology Profile she designed herself that tells the story of who you are, what you are here to learn, and what your purpose is. Numerology is a tool that uses numbers to help us recognize, organize and read patterns of energy.

Everything that exists is simply energy, and there are three basic energies that unfold into nine dimensions. Once we understand the meaning of energy, we can organize what we perceive and read the patterns like a book.

All our technology is based on patterns of numbers and every day we are either working for numbers to put into our bank accounts or using numbers to buy the things we need to live.

Everything can be reduced numerically, including the letters in your name. The energy vibration of your name reveals your innate talents and skills, and the numbers of your date of birth determine the trajectory and circumstances of your life. Your name and date of birth each reduce to one number and these two numbers represent what you are here to learn to achieve your life purpose.

Join us as Shay shares practical knowledge and ancient wisdom that will make your life easier to understand, more meaningful and more fun. You will gain powerful insight into our modern world, learn what is out of balance and have access to the tools you need to enjoy a happy, successful life!

About Shay Martin, Our Richmond IONS Presenter:

Shay Martin has spent over ten years studying religion, philosophy, quantum physics, metaphysics, psychology, sociology, habits, the law of attraction, healing and physical health.

When she discovered Numerology, she was amazed how her name and date of birth confirmed that, although a creative and artistic person, she is meant to focus on gaining knowledge and wisdom and sharing it with others in this life. Numerology gave her clear insight to move forward with confidence for her mission to update the traditional Pythagorean method of Numerology for practical use in our modern world.

Shay has now spent more than five years developing a profile that makes life easier to understand, and gives insight into the purpose of every individual’s life and how to achieve it. You may visit her website at www.shaymartin.net.

About Central VA IONS Community Group:

Central VA IONS Community Group (Richmond IONS) is an unincorporated association and a local community group of The Institute of Noetic Sciences, an international association based in Petaluma, California (www.noetic.org). Central VA IONS is not associated with any religion, religious organization, doctrine or set of beliefs or practices and is open to all.

Central VA IONS Meetings are held each month at locations announced in its program notices and are open to all.

Click here for our upcoming meetings.

Central VA IONS Group Meeting June 17, 2017

Featuring a talk by Artist Vandorn Hinnant, moderated by AnaMaria Walle

Where: River Road Church – Baptist, 8000 River Road (NW corner of River and Ridge Roads), Saturday,

Saturday, June 17, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by potluck lunch at conclusion of program.

Central Virginia IONS Community Group Program Title:

“Sacred Geometry, Art and the Effects of Shapes on Consciousness.”

Our June 17, 2017, Central Virginia IONS Community Group program will feature a talk by artist Vandorn Hinnant, Durham, N.C. painter, sculptor, poet and educational consultant, moderated by his wife, AnaMaria Walle.

From an early age, Vandorn Hinnant consistently endeavored to translate his inner visions and other-dimensional experiences into something shareable with the world.

In 1989 he began his formal studies of Sacred Geometry under the tutelage of physicist and inventor Robert L. Powell, Sr., who became his mentor.

Since that fate-filled day, Vandorn Hinnant has developed a body of two and three-dimensional works of art, painting and sculpture, that some recognize as more than art. Many have encountered them and experienced transformative and expanded states of awareness.

Drawing inspiration from naturally occurring geometries and utilizing the Golden Ratio (also known as The Golden Proportion or Section), Vandorn Hinnant creates elegant compositions that embody fractal phenomenon. In doing so, he joins a long line of artists from Leonardo da Vinci to Salvador Dali who have used empirical methods to achieve aesthetic ends.

Vandorn Hinnant: Before We Knew

“Before We Knew: From The Mother of Everything” – Artwork by Vandorn Hinnant

AnaMaria Walle began her studies of metaphysics in 1973 and never stopped. She tracked down Vandorn when she saw an image of one of his works, entitled “Voice,” on a postcard while on the West Coast.

Her immediate response was, “I must meet whoever created this work of art.” Now together 15 years (married for 3), they continue to collaborate exploring inspirations they encounter in the realm of the metaphysical.

Join Vandorn and AnaMaria in conversation and entertaining questions posed by the audience as they share images of his work, creative explorations they have pursued such as pyramid power, meditation chambers and more!

About Artist Vandorn Hinnant, Our Richmond IONS Presenter:

Vandorn Hinnant received a BA in Art Design from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C., and studied sculpture at UNC-Greensboro. His works of art are in private collections in Africa, North America, and Europe, and in public collections across North America.

He is co-author (with Robert L. Powell Sr. and Jr.) of the book The Rest of Euclid. He has served as guest curator of exhibitions, as juror of many fine art competitions, and guest lectured at colleges and universities. He serves as an independent arts educational consultant working with both youth and adult learners.

Currently Vandorn is developing sculpture maquettes (models) to be fabricated into permanent materials. For more information and images, please visit his websites at http://lightweavings.com and www.vandornhinnant.com.

About Central VA IONS Community Group:

Central VA IONS Community Group (Richmond IONS) is an unincorporated association and a local group of The Institute of Noetic Sciences, an international association based in Petaluma, California (www.noetic.org). Central VA IONS is not associated with any religion, religious organization, doctrine or set of beliefs or practices and is open to all.

Central VA IONS (Richmond IONS) is entirely dependent upon voluntary donations of its members and friends to support its programs, mailings and other costs, and a love offering is requested at each meeting from those attending who are not dues paying members. Central VA IONS meetings are held each month at locations announced in its program notices and are open to all.

Central Virginia IONS Community Group Meeting, May 20, 2017

Featuring P.M.H. Atwater

Where: River Road Church – Baptist, 8000 River Road (NW corner of River and Ridge Roads)

Saturday, May 20, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by potluck lunch at conclusion of program.

Central Virginia IONS Community Group Program Title:

“A Guide to Living for This Life and Beyond.”

Our May 20, 2017, Central Virginia IONS Community Program will feature a talk by P.M.H. Atwater, world-renowned Charlottesville author and NDE researcher on her just published and latest book, A Manual for Developing Humans (April, 2017).

Celebrating the worldwide release of her latest book, P.M.H. Atwater will share reflections on her life as a prayer chaplain, visionary, counselor, wife, mother, grandmother, and her 43 years of work both with near-death experiencers and those who have had an intense spiritual transformation.

Although it’s the fifteenth book she has authored, A Manual for Developing Humans is the third book P.M.H. Atwater was instructed to write during her third near-death experience in the 1970s. Based entirely on threes, there are no chapters . . . only the development of conscious, subconscious and superconscious aspects to each topic―every topic―for the Manual contains the basics on every level of life―from how to use your mind, develop and use intuition, understand color, sex, relationships, children, how to take out-of-body trips, interact with spirit beings, meditate, bend time, and rethink money.

Aliveness jumps from every page―of soil, rocks, mountains, vegetation, the air we breathe, our planet, our solar system, our universe―even electricity and energy itself, along with The Void (the ultimate “cradle of creation”). The six main parts are separated by thought-form drawings.

What Ms. Atwater has learned from 80 years of living and challenging every aspect of living is interwoven into what “The Voice Like None Other” showed her how to do. A Manual for Developing Humans is filled with surprises, as will be Ms. Atwater’s talk about it. We are blessed to have her back on our stage once again, and grateful for it.

About Our Central VA IONS Community Group May Presenter:

This month’s Richmond IONS presenter will be P.M.H. Atwater, the world’s most prolific NDE author, as well as one of its original, most indefatigable and highly respected researchers.

Inspired by three NDEs of her own, Ms. Atwater began her research in the mid-1970s, some 43 years ago, just after moving from Idaho to Virginia. Since then she has investigated nearly 7,000 NDE cases and others involving intense spiritual transformation around the world and authored fifteen books on this fascinating subject.

Ms. Atwater has won many awards, appeared on numerous TV shows and spoken at the United Nations and around the world – always inviting people to look beyond the surface appearance for the deeper truths underlying what we think we know. You may visit her website at pmhatwater.hypermart.net.

About Central VA IONS Community Group/Richmond IONS

Central VA IONS Community Group, also known as Richmond IONS, is an unincorporated association and a local community group of The Institute of Noetic Sciences, an international association based in Petaluma, California (www.noetic.org). Central VA IONS is not associated with any religion, religious organization, doctrine or set of beliefs or practices and is open to all.

Central VA IONS is entirely dependent upon voluntary donations of its members and friends to support its programs, mailings and other costs, and a love offering is requested at each meeting from those attending who are not dues paying members. Central VA IONS meetings are held each month at locations announced in its program notices and are open to all.

Central VA IONS Community Group Meeting, April 15, 2017

Featuring Carole Louie

Where: River Road Church – Baptist, 8000 River Road (NW corner of River and Ridge Roads)

When: Saturday, April 15, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by potluck lunch at conclusion of the program.

Central VA IONS Community Group Program Title:

“From Meditation to Co-Creation.”

Our April 15, 2017 Central VA IONS Community Group program will feature a talk by Carole
Louie, Medium, Past Life Regression Therapist, Interior Designer, Feng Shui Consultant, and Author.

Carole will share the creative process that led to her just-published book, Conversations with a
Hungry Ghost −Memoir of a Reluctant Medium (March 2017). It is an exploration of the afterlife beginning with a journey into the Tenth Hell of the Buddha, a place where people go when they commit certain “sins,” according to Buddhist teachings.

Carole’s quest is to discover her ancestral roots in China and of healing the past. It is also a story about the detours along the way that led her to research the teachings of reincarnation.

Carole Louie is on a spiritual journey. Born on Columbus Day to a Caucasian Southern Baptist
mother and a Chinese Buddhist father, during the era of miscegenation shortly after WWII, she
began her journey across the seas of discrimination into new territory.

When Carole overcame her lifelong fear of ghosts to communicate with her father’s spirit, her world turned inside out. She juggled the experiences of her spiritual journey with the mundane world and learned how to integrate the two.

Conversations with her father’s ghost helped her accept her gift as a medium and unraveled a Gordian knot, propelling Carole on a spiritual exploration of all religious/philosophical beliefs and cosmologies.

Her explorations into her father’s Buddhist beliefs
about ghosts and reincarnation inspired her to delve into reincarnation research and her own past lives.
Carole will share a guided meditation to explore consciousness and the group’s energy to heal, transform and grow spiritually.

About Our Central VA IONS Community Group April Presenter:

This month’s Richmond IONS presenter will be Carole Louie, a gifted Medium, Past Life Regression Therapist, Intuitive Development Coach, Meditation Coach and Author, as well as an award-winning Interior Designer. She has studied relaxation response, guided imagery meditation and Holotropic Breathwork™ with Joseph Spano, M.D., and meditation and channeling with Sanaya Roman.

She is also certified in Past Life Regression
Therapy with The Weiss Institute and Carol Bowman. Carole founded THE CENTER –RVA, a center for spiritual growth, to empower you
on your spiritual path (thecenter-rva.com).

Carole was born in San Francisco, moved to Florida with her mother when she was nine, and relocated to Richmond in 2004. Learn more about Carole and explore the Conversations photo gallery at www.carolelouie.com.

About Central VA IONS Community Group/Richmond IONS

Central VA IONS Community Group, also known as Richmond IONS, is an unincorporated association and a local community group of The Institute of Noetic Sciences, an international association based in Petaluma, California (www.noetic.org). Central
VA IONS is not associated with any religion, religious organization, doctrine or set of beliefs or practices and is open to all.

Central VA IONS is entirely dependent upon voluntary donations of its members and friends to support its programs, mailings and other costs, and a love offering is requested at each meeting from those attending who are not dues paying members. Central VA IONS meetings are held
each month at locations announced in its program notices and are open to all.

Upcoming Meetings:

May 20, 2017: P.M.H. Atwater, Charlottesville author and world-renowned NDE researcher, on her latest book, A Manual for Developing
Humans (April 2017).

June 17, 2017: Vandorn Hinnant and Ana Maria Walle, of Durham, on sacred geometry and the effects of shapes on consciousness.

July 15, 2017: Shay Martin, Richmond numerologist and intuitive extraordinaire, “Using Numerology to Find Your Purpose in Life.”

August 19, 2017: Jim Tucker, M.D., psychiatrist, author, reincarnation researcher, Director, UVA Division of Perceptual Studies.

September 16, 2017: Nelson Marquina, D.C., M.Sc., Ph.D., President of USA Laser Biotech, researcher and former Senior Scientist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, on mind/body/spirit connections from a scientific perspective.

Central VA IONS Community Group Meeting, March 18, 2017

Central VA IONS Community Group March Meeting: Sandy Ward — Sandy Ward: The Gift of Mediumship

Featuring Sandy Ward

Where: River Road Church – Baptist, 8000 River Road (NW corner of River and Ridge Roads)

When: Saturday, March 18, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by potluck lunch at conclusion of the program.

Central VA IONS Community Group Program Title:

“The Gift of Mediumship”

Our March 18, 2017 Central VA IONS Community Group program will feature a talk by Sandy Ward, a spirit medium who recently relocated from Virginia Beach to Richmond. Our previously scheduled speaker, Lucia Williams, had a last-minute scheduling conflict, so we are very blessed and grateful that Sandy, with whom we already were in contact about being a guest speaker at a later date, was able to make herself available for us now.

Sandy will share with our group the poignant and fascinating details of her personal story, and her long and sometimes arduous journey to mediumship. Though imbued with spirit connections from early childhood which enabled her to effortlessly feel, see, hear and touch spirit presences around her constantly, she learned early on to keep these connections to herself.

She learned that most others did not have these kinds of spirit connections and often reacted to them with fear, suspicion, hostility and ridicule, leading Sandy to hide her gift for many years.

This personal strategy proved over time to be unsustainable, as her spirit connections would not be denied. Eventually, with the love and support of her husband and family, Sandy awakened to the realization that her unusual ability to interface with the spirit realm is her gift to the world, and she finally learned to acknowledge it, embrace it and use it to help others in need.

Since then she has trained with a number of mediums to improve and strengthen her skills, including world-renowned psychic and medium James Van Praagh.

She now dedicates herself to using her gift to help people in a variety of ways, including personal readings and forecasts, helping the bereaved connect with departed loved ones, assisting police and victims with unsolved criminal investigations, etc.

If time and conditions permit, she may give a brief mediumship demonstration during her talk at Richmond IONS/Central VA IONS Community Group.

About Our Central VA IONS Community Group March Presenter:

Our Richmond IONS March Presenter will be Sandy Ward. She was born in California, the youngest of ten children and a Navy brat. Her dad’s Navy career enabled her family to live in some great locations, including California and then Hawaii, where she fell in love with the culture and the people. She eventually ended up at Virginia Beach, where her dad retired and she met her future husband.

Throughout her youth and young adulthood, she found herself studying spirituality as a means of trying to understand her gift of mediumship. Her childhood also had her spending many hours in church, as this was where she felt closest to spirits and found her passion for serving people.

She has trained with world-renowned psychic and medium James Van Praagh, and now is sharing her gift full-time with the world in a variety of ways. She can be reached on her website at www.newenergymedium.com or on Facebook at Sandy Ward New Energy Medium.

Central VA IONS Community Group Meeting February 18, 2017

Featuring Robert Bushman, Ph.D.

Where: River Road Church – Baptist, 8000 River Road (NW corner of River and Ridge Roads)

When: Saturday, January 21, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by potluck lunch at conclusion of program.

Central VA IONs Community Group Program Title:

“Exopolitics in the 21st Century and Beyond.”

Exopolitics is a relatively new term referring to our relationship to those outside our planet, that is, to extraterrestrials (“ETs”). It is formally defined by the Exopolitics Institute as “…an interdisciplinary scientific field, with its roots in the political sciences, that focuses on research, education and public policy with regard to the actors, institutions and processes associated with extraterrestrial life, as well as the wide range of implications this entails through public advocacy and newly emerging paradigms.”

Robert has studied exopolitics extensively for more than a decade, attended conferences and participated in study groups on the topic. He also has interviewed experiencers and contactees, and discovered a treasure trove of little known information he will share at this meeting.

His in-depth study of this subject has opened a window of insights into a broad spectrum of human concerns and aspirations, including noetics.

Robert will explore questions such as: Are we alone? What is the evidence we are not? Who is visiting us and how long have they been visiting? What are or have they been doing? What do they want? What are they like? What can exopolitics teach us about human history, identity and potential?

Does our government have dealings and/or agreements with ETs? Why does our government not tell us about it? What is the U.S. doing in space that they are not telling us about? Are ETs involved in our current global power structure? How reliable is information on exopolitics? What are we learning from ETs and how can we make personal contact with them? What is the outlook for the future? How can I learn more about this?

These questions and more will be addressed, and this is one program you won’t want to miss if you ever spent a moment wondering about these subjects.

About Our Central VA Ions Community Group February Presenter:

Robert Bushman is a long-standing member of IONS, and has served as the IONS community group coordinator in both Alexandria, Virginia and Eugene, Oregon. As a scientific linguist, he was a visiting professor of linguistics, a supervising linguist in a corporate translation office.

He was also a supervisor of a university language instructional program and a developer of commercial language training materials. In addition, he developed the first course in Estonian for the language school of the US State Department. He has been retired since 2003.