The News
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- Written by John Michael Thornton
- Category: family
It’s been a wonderful holiday season. This was the second Christmas Joe and I have shared, but last year I had the flu so it barely counts. This was also our first year to get a Christmas Tree for my house, my first Christmas tree. I haven’t ever bothered to decorate this house for the holidays, I would always spend them at my parent’s house, and Mom loves to decorate, but this year we had a tree. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed having the tree and decorating, it made me really feel we were sharing a home.
As I write this, Joe is sitting in his new office, the dogs are roaming around the cats are peering out from their little hiding places. It feels like Home and a great start to the New Year.
Already the calendar is starting to fill up with classes, fairs and special little side projects, but I have a New Year’s gift to you:
From now until January 15th, Hour Long Psychic Readings are only $65! I want you to get all the guidance you need to start this year off in the best way possible, so enjoy these prices while they last!
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- Written by John Michael Thornton
- Category: family
Let me begin by thanking all of you who reached out to me following my Grandmother’s transition. Your letters, cards and stories were beautiful, breath-taking and kind. You enrich my soul, thank you.
This year my Fall Fair Season ends on a high note with the Victory of Light Expo November 23rd and 24th. It is an amazing expo, this year I will be in booth 525 with the delightful Karen Kenny and I will be lecturing Sunday at 2pm ~ Anything You can Breathe Through, You Can Live Through. You can listen to my Great Conjunction episode, Victory of Light, interviewing Victor Paruta, Maria Celeste and Alice Langholt in the Great Conjunction Archives.
It has been an amazing season of expansion and growth. I am now teaching twelve yoga classes, you can check out my new Yoga Site at BlueDragonYoga.com, and the Great Conjunction Radio show has been phenomenal, it is weird and wonderful to meet people “out in the wild” who only know me through the show – I love my listeners. I feel so blessed.
We only have a few more episodes until the end of the year, you can check out our schedule at ParamaniaRadio.com and listen to past shows at GreatConjunction.org and on iTunes.
I am now teaching three classes at The Yoga Room in Niles, OH and you can expect to see some special classes and workshops there in the New Year. It is a wonderful space and the energy has been amazing, you all must come check it out.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Hanukkah and a Blessed Holiday Season. I will talk to you again in December, but if you want to talk to me, schedule a reading, book a party, private yoga class or anything else ~ I am here for you.
Be Blessed,
John Michael Thornton
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- Written by John Michael Thornton
- Category: In Memorium
My Grandmother passed away on Thursday, Oct 10th at the age of 101 – I was surprised how it still came as a shock.
Grandma Jo taught me that there was treasure everywhere – secrets, knowledge, beauty, faith and understanding if you were patient enough to see it. She showed me it was more important to know how to find a fact than to keep it in your head. She demonstrated grace and forgiveness as she moved through the world.
Over the last few years she slowly slipped into Alzheimer's. Every year there was less and less of the brilliant woman I grew up with, less and less of the sharp minded reference librarian who could find out anything with just a bit of time. In her late 90s she rediscovered a love of playing Dominoes, she would spend hours playing with the residents and staff of her retirement community and even as her memory slipped away she could still add up a game board faster than anyone else at the table.
From her I learned a deep love of knowledge and reading. She was endlessly curious about everything, clipping articles, reading constantly and absorbing knowledge from every possible source. It was a heartbreaking tragedy that her mind was slipping away at the same time the internet was opening up boggling amounts of information, she would have loved having access to all the world.
When the call came I felt the air escape my lungs as my world shifted slightly on its axis. The days that followed were busy with a psychic fair in Columbus followed by a quick trip to Texas for the service. There were only passing moments to mourn – only seconds to breathe.
I took a walk Tuesday afternoon after the funeral. The light was fading toward sunset and as tired as I was I needed to walk. Grandma always found treasure when she walked - shells, pretty stones, feathers and colorful leaves. Nestled in the grass was a purple flower with a bright yellow center, it was no bigger than a pencil eraser. Without her I may never have seen such a tiny bit of beauty. Without her I may never have known that the world is full of treasure.
From The Obituary:
Josephine Rose Furry Williamson
February 25, 1912 - October 10, 2013
Josephine Rose Furry Williamson, 101, of Beaumont, died Thursday, October 10, 2013. She was born in Beaumont on February 25, 1912, to Lucy Eberspacher Furry and Harley Furry. Josephine graduated from South Park Junior College and The University of Texas at Austin. She was a librarian at Tyrell Public Library and later at Lamar University. Her hobbies included oil painting, gardening, and reading, and she was a lifelong member of St. Mark's Episcopal Church.
Survivors include her daughters, Jo Williamson of Port Arthur and Janet Thornton and her husband, Jim, of Youngstown, Ohio; grandson, John Thornton of Youngstown, Ohio; and many nieces and nephews.
She is preceded in death by her husband, John E. "Red" Williamson; sister, Mary Fulton; and brother, Harlan Furry.
A gathering of Mrs. Williamson's family and friends will begin at 1:00 p.m. with her memorial service to follow at 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 15, 2013, at Broussard's, 2000 McFaddin Avenue, Beaumont, with burial of her cremated body to follow at Magnolia Cemetery, Beaumont.
The family would like to thank her caretakers, Liz Yelverton, Joyce Baker, Joan Sensat, and Debra Teague, who had become like family to her.
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- Written by John Michael Thornton
- Category: Great Conjunction Transcriptions
Great Conjunction
"Interview with Paul Funfsinn"
Original Air Date: 10/25/2012
Welcome to Great Conjunction. I'm your host, John Michael Thornton and this week we're speaking with Rev. Paul Funfsinn, Co-founder and Director of Celebrating Life Ministries.
I've known Paul for a very long time now and I'm always astounded by his grace, faith and the simple truths that he brings to everything he does. Let's get started.
JMT: Paul Funfsinn, welcome to Great Conjunction.
PF: It's my honor to be here with you, John.
JMT: I met you for the first time back in the '90's and at that time you were traveling with Ron Roth and Celebrating Life Ministries was still very young, it seemed to me, and it was more about Ron's ministry. How did you begin traveling with him and how did you get involved in your spiritual journey?
PF: Well, that's a fun story I'd like to share with you. Growing up Catholic, my parents received the "baptism in the Holy Spirit" and they started attending Ron Roth services because he was a charismatic Catholic priest. So for two-years they were following him and they always wanted me, as their second son, they wanted a priest in their family so I was their best bet so they were pushing toward that and I resisted it totally. But eventually I'd made a boy's retreat and I felt touched by the Spirit.
My parents spent two-years inviting me to come to Ron's services and I resisted until I'd had that retreat. So I said, "Okay, on one condition. I'll go but I'm going to bring my friends." So they said okay, fine. What they didn't know is that we stopped at the bar and got drunk and then we went to the service. A lot of courage there, huh? Anyway, during the service I just felt this same Spirit with which I was touched a couple weeks ago with in this retreat and it's like all my friends didn't return, but I continued to return every week with my parents and something stirred within me. Eventually, Ron invited me to join him in ministry and, of course, what brought a fear in me was, "Oh, my God, he's going to make me a priest."
So I ran away for six-months because, again, I think whenever we know we're "called" to something, fear, I think, is the first thing that pops ups in our mind or heart so we try to resist it. To me the Spirit broke it down and eventually it returned again, the invitation, and then I said, "Yes".
JMT: About when was this? How old were you when this started happening?
PF: Seventeen when I actually received the Spirit and twenty-five when I responded to the Spirit. There was a lapse of time there.
JMT: So there was a small lapse. Just a little bit of a lag.
PF: To me, it really has, I think in everyone's life, we want. If we believe in God, we believe in a higher power, we want to fulfill what may be our destiny or our Call. But because of fear we seem to sabotage that. For me, I was doing that for how many years until finally the Spirit got a hold of me and said, "This is your destiny".
So I worked with Ron for twenty-eight years, yet those twenty-eight years were not easy years. It was about formation. It was about "obedience" because as a Catholic priest, you know I traveled with Ron and so I had all these conditions. I only knew what Catholicism said and of course, in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, the priest, whatever he says is true. I had to figure that out in my own walk with God and with Ron. "Is he telling the truth or not?" "Is that just his human opinion or is this God's opinion?" So in my walk it really took me about ten-years to figure that one out and eventually I knew I was always supposed to walk with Ron and finish his mission but yet, I also had a mission in mind.
What Ron was taught was to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons. Whatever that means, I want to follow that because I know I'm a Christ follower so I desire to now fulfill that even now though Ron has passed on the last three years.
JMT: I'd like to back-track a little bit here. While I know we've got some listeners from Celebrating Life Ministries , which of course, is the organization that you and Ron started, but for those people who are not familiar with Ron Roth, tell us a bit about who he was and how he started his ministry.
PF: Ron Roth was a wild character. My first impression of him was, "He's not a real priest". He was so happy and so joyful. He was full of life but he also healed the sick. You know, going to a regular church service you don't see that at a daily Mass or the Sunday Mass. And he inspired us to grow in our relationship with ourselves and with God but also have fun in life and that just blew my mind because growing up a conditional Catholic with twelve brothers and sisters we just obey what our parents said. So that conditioning stuck with me then Ron kind of blew me out of the circuits and said, "No, there's more; with the spirit you can have a fulfilling life. You can obey the Lord but also enjoy life to the fullest." Because of the gift of the Spirit that manifested in his life, it really awakened me to the truth that is within me and is within every listener today. There's a promise that we can actually have a loving relationship with God.
Ron, "they" would call him a charismatic priest, revealed the gifts of the spirit. He healed people of cancerous tumors; getting out of wheel chairs, blindness; I've seen them all and was a witness to that. Then after twenty-five years of being a Catholic priest, Ron left the priesthood in order to fulfill, I think, the greater Calling to go out into all the world and not just the Catholic church. So he opened that door and that's how Celebrating Life Ministries was created by him and I.
Read more: Great Conjunction ~ "Interview with Paul Funfsinn"