I just had the great honor of being initiated as a Guide with The Modern Mystery School! On the first day of class our teacher, Ipsissimus Dave Lanyon, asked each student to answer: “Why do you want to be a Guide?” My answer was, “Before initiation I was barely living. I was suffering so much. I didn’t know myself. I didn’t have joy. I was asleep. I want to help other people. I want them to feel joy. I don’t want them to suffer. I want them to know themselves.”

What I’m referring to is the Empower Thyself and Initiation two-day class I took in 2017. I received my Life Activation a year earlier, which helped me begin the process of rediscovering myself. Before that, I spent decades losing myself to school, jobs, relationships, and outside expectations. I allowed other people’s ideas of who I should become dictate my choices. I bought into society’s narratives about what brings people joy.

I can tell you: the diplomas, the job titles, the promotions, the generous salary and benefits packages did not bring me any closer to joy. They satisfied my ego and allowed me to live a comfortable life, but ultimately, they led me away from who I truly was. They deceived me into thinking the world of the mind and physical possessions is enough, but my soul was yearning for meaning.

In Empower Thyself and Initiation I was told for the first time that I am a divine being. I was told that I deserve joy – that it is in fact my birthright (and yours!) to live in joy. I was handed down sacred tools to shape my life and make it better. I was shown a path to move away from being a passive participant and to become the creator of my life. I was given teachings that helped me understand my place in the universe and my purpose here. The answers to so many of life’s biggest questions started to unfold before me.

Since 2017, I’ve continued to study with The Modern Mystery School. I’ve become a Life Activation Practitioner, Healer, Teacher, Kabbalist and Ritual Master. The titles might seem foreign. What matters is that I’ve discovered a huge missing puzzle piece of my purpose: to heal myself and to help others heal as well. And now as a Guide, I will be able to offer Empower Thyself & Initiation to others! It is truly an honor and joy to bring this full circle.

I continue to do the work because the results are undeniable. I no longer have generalized anxiety disorder. I no longer suffer from agoraphobia. I run my own business. Joy and peace are my default states now. Before I struggled to get even glimpses of joy and peace. I love myself. I believe in my own power. I take responsibility for my thoughts, feelings, and actions. I’ve healed of traumas that held me back. I’ve shed masks that hid who I truly was. I live authentically and with integrity. I am an empowered woman because I create my life and take responsibility for everything in it. And I have the tools and knowledge to shift and heal what doesn’t serve me.

I truly believe initiation is one of the most powerful things available to help humans to create a better world. The edict of the Modern Mystery School is to Know Thyself. If we all knew ourselves, we would understand and better fulfill our purpose and potential. And that would create lives filled with joy. The world has a lot of things to offer to people today that are a decoy. They offer ways to become like other people, to fit into a mold. They tell you to role model yourself after others – how they dress, look, behave, what they buy, their life choices, etc.

This is all wrong. The path to joy is finding your own unique purpose and expression. It’s living your life authentically, guided by your heart and soul. It’s working with divine energies to manifest the life you deserve. It’s letting go of the parts of you that are getting in the way of your full potential. It’s forgiving yourself and others and moving past pain and trauma to a life of gratitude and self-responsibility. These things can’t be found in an ad campaign or spoon fed to you by a social media influencer. They require you to do the work in order to reap the rewards. The good news: the work is incredibly worth it!

In my experience, the tools given in Empower Thyself and Initiation are unlike anything else out there. They are the fast track to healing, manifestation and joy. Like any tool, they require you to use them in order to get the benefits. They require commitment to yourself. I tell my clients, it’s called a “meditation practice” because you have to practice. It’s the same with rituals and the other spiritual tools you receive in Empower Thyself. However, whatever time and effort I put into using these tools, I get back so much more in return. The amount of growth I’ve been able to achieve in 4 years dramatically surpasses all the growth I experienced in my lifetime before that. It’s a fast track to living life alive and authentically.

I’m incredibly grateful for the tools and teachings I’ve received through this lineage. And I’m grateful to be living in the time on Earth when they are available to anyone who asks for them. Until 1997, you had to be chosen, and these teachings were generally reserved for royalty and high priests and priestesses. It’s taken great courage, dedication, and commitment by many people over thousands of years to keep these teachings alive and pure. Most recently, it’s taken the incredible efforts of Founder Gudni Gudnason to make these teachings available to the general public for the first time in history. I’m also grateful to the teachers and administrators who have helped grow the school to the point where I could find it. I’m grateful to my Guide Karla Clark for introducing me to this path. I’m grateful to my Ritual Master and Guide teacher Ipsissimus Dave Lanyon. I’m grateful to my Kabbalah teacher Theresa Bullard-Whyke. There are hundreds of others in the school who have helped me in a myriad of ways. I’m grateful to every teacher of every class I’ve taken, and every person who helped behind the scenes to make our programs available.

I’m incredibly excited to begin offering Empower Thyself and Initiation in early 2022. If this sparks your interest, let’s chat. And whatever path you choose, I wish you the greatest joys and blessings in life.

Many blessings,  
Dawn Ressel