About The Spirited Soul & I

Spirituality, personal growth & healing, nature, culture, creativity… Energy is where it’s at! 

Greetings to you, from me Maggie, and welcome to my blog, The Spirited Soul!  I try to post something at least once a month, give or take, depending on available time. As you will see, the evolution of the internet has allowed me a small vicarious fulfillment of my dreams. Growing up I wanted to be a traveling photo-journalist, perhaps working for the Peace Corps? Other options I considered were: catholic nun, homemaker, postal carrier, forest ranger, weather caster, and later, nutritionist, massage therapist, chef, restauranteur, B & B owner, museum curator, primatologist, ethnologist… Eclectic, yet thematic.

About The Spirited Soul:

Since I’ve named my site The Spirited Soul, it makes sense that I would let you in on my definition of terms…

SPIRIT = Our unique personality attached to this body, this lifetime. Spirit is all about attitude! Ideally, we HAVE Spirit!  We are Spirited!

SOUL = Our unique little piece of God-Self, which is attached to our mortal body while we are in it, giving it animation in this life/lives to come.  It retains wisdom and lessons learned, but not specific memory of details.  Our Soul and its Divine Origin are immortal and everlasting.  We ARE Soul. We are Soul-Full!

I believe both are of Divine Origin, and are part and parcel of Universal Love and Knowledge.  The Universal Life-Energy that flows from above, into and out of our bodies, circulating in prescribed pathways, is what creates, organizes and sustains our physical body, giving us LIFE. WE are the interface where God, Soul, Spirit, Mind and Body come together in Holy Union.  That makes us co-creators, co-procreators, and co-conspirators!  That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ by it!  :)  Thus, what I enjoy most is anything related to the “spirited-soulful-ness” of the human condition.  The endless ways in which that inherent energy is creatively expressed is what I like to call the “Emergent Divine.”  Investigating and exploring that human potential is what excites me.

In 1990 I received a B.A. in Anthropology, which relates nicely to the Energy Work I do now. Anthropology is the study of humankind: physical, biological, linguistic and cultural (learned and shared behavior). There are several examples on my “Sites of Interest” blogroll of anthropologists that have done interesting things with their lives and education:  Jane Goodall was the first to study chimpanzees in the wild and now 50 years later is an endangered species activist with her own Jane Goodall Institute  She is actually the one who made me want to study anthropology; Helen Fisher, Ph.D., of the Chemistry.com dating service, came up with their 4 personality types for testing and compatibility matching; Ralph Blum, co-author of the book The Healing Runes did graduate work in anthropology at Harvard, took his knowledge into the healing profession, focusing on an ancient oracular tradition and form of communication known as Runes; and finally, Martin Gray, anthropologist and National Geographic photographer, created, Sacred Earth, making his joint passions come together in a beautiful book of tribute.

Advanced Energy Medicine is as comprehensive as Anthropology.  It sees connections within the human experience.  Energy Medicine considers Subtle Energy to be that which pervades all physical creation and is the blueprint beneath it.  (As implied, I consider it Divine in Essence).  Both are inclusive ways of viewing and understanding human beings and our link to the different realms of existence.  I guess you could call Energy Medicine a sort of philosophical anthropology, which is the study of the nature and essence of humankind.  (I don’t remember studying that in school, so I’ll have to do some research on it and get back to you ).  Obviously, because of the premise underlying both disciplines, there is plenty of room for everyone and everything.  (I’m basically giving myself carte blanche to talk about whatever I like …).

About Maggie: 

Currently I am self-employed as an Associate Polarity Practitioner. I’m working with my mentor Dr. Richard Metz, offering holistic healthcare at our Center for Advanced Energy Medicine, based on his Fundamental Field Theory.  The name of my business is called Maggie Begley Energetic Evaluation & Bodywork ~ Gentle Balancing with the Fundamental Field.  Quite a mouthful, I know.  My own personal healing is, and has been, a priority for me.  As a result, I feel very accepting, empathetic, compassionate, and qualified to do the work I do, because I have lived it first hand.  I have been one of Dr. Metz’ patients since 1992; worked as his Office Manager for 7 years; and have been his colleague since 2005.

I feel I can relate to a lot of things because of my life experiences and challenges, good and bad, both in far and recent past.  In spite of this, or maybe I should say because of it, I consider myself extremely open-minded, non-judgemental and optimistic.  I am curious, creative, expressive, silly, playful, serious, surface, deep, pragmatic, realistic, committed, conscientious, nurturing, encouraging, affirming, easy-going.  But, can be tightly wound, verbose (no?!), elusive and reclusive, straightforwardly honest, strident, strong in my convictions, detail-oriented, obsessive-compulsive, perfectionist, sometimes vain and self-absorbed.

It would make sense to people who believe in such things, that I am a Libra, with Sagittarius Rising, a Pisces Moon, Venus in Scorpio and have several planets in Virgo.  I’m also considered a Serpent in Chinese astrology; a Vata-Pitta dosha in Indian Ayurveda; mostly an Observer by the Enneagram; a “Highly Sensitive Person” via author Elaine Aron, Ph.D.; a Negotiater per Chemistry.com; and am working on Ether issues according to Polarity Therapy!  Also, for those who are interested…on the Meyers-Briggs Test Indicator (MBTI) based on the work of psychologist Carl Jung (a test used by many professional institutions and businesses), my personality is considered to be an Introverted-Sensate-Feeling-Perceiver (ISFP)!  

These labels don’t define me (or anyone); I use them as an insightful way into self-understanding, and you can too.  They are belief systems revered in many ancient cultural traditions, for good reason.  Though they can be superstitiously based at times, irregardless, if they weren’t helpful they wouldn’t still be in use.  (That tells us something about the power of belief as well).  So don’t be afraid to investigate the possibilities. I am finally fully embracing who I am, can you tell? After all, isn’t that what getting older is all about? Never say never!

Energy is dynamic & so are we! 

(Last edited 2/02/12).