Published work thus far — and more coming…
The Other Goddess: Mary Magdalene and the Goddesses of Eros and Secret Knowledge
Is there a lineage of goddesses that claims the evolutionary power of female sexuality? And if so, why were they pushed to the shadows and demeaned as harlots? Was Mary Magdalene one of them, and what were her teachings?
Dreaming Havana, published in HEAT and Best Australian Stories 2004
I wrote this story after a 2001 trip to Havana. After some experimenting I decided to write the piece in the second person to give it a sense of immediacy and intimacy. The story describes two lovers……
Wild Horses, Best Australian Stories 2005
This is an erotically charged story of passion and emotional addiction. Here, too, the setting (Bali in this case) is one of the main characters of the story…..
Sketches in Exile, Space 3 (2006)
I wrote this story many years earlier, while I was still living in Toronto. It was written as part of a tryptich: Sketches in Exile, Letter to Modigliani and Bateau Lavoir. All three stories……
Explorers, Writers, and Other Creative Strangers, Griffith Review 15 (2007)
This is a spirited essay based on a chapter from my PhD (published in 2010), and applies a different look at immigration, attempting to debunk……
Package, Etchings 5 (2008)
This was one of the first stories I wrote in English: I re-wrote it again and again over several years. It is a tale about the tragic and comic ironies……
Migration, Belonging, Alienation (2010)
An in-depth exploration of the concept of belonging, particularly the possibility of cosmopolitan citizenship. I decided to publish this book through Verlag (Germany) because I wanted to share my ideas with a broader public, rather than just……
Jerusalem Diary: Searching for the Tomb and House of Jesus (2012)
I simply could not resist the adventure. As soon as I finished my PhD and was expected to pursue a career in academia, my desire for adventure returned. And, voila, I met two men who claimed to have discovered……
Nomadic Tendencies: a History of Wanderlust, Griffith Review 37 (July 2012)
My second piece of literary non-fiction published by Griffith Review plays with Bruce Chatwin’s idea of wanderlust as a natural human impulse, as primal as the desire to settle……
‘Inverting the Tourist Gaze’, Journal of Literature and Aesthetics vol.22.1, University of Sydney (Nov 2012).
This essay is a reflection on the beauty of travel. My intention was to convey the transformational aspect of travel, how it enhances our perception of beauty and Self-reflection……
The Mystery of Jesus’ Lost Tomb. The Age (29 March 2013).
When I embarked on my adventure to Jerusalem in 2005, my heart was on fire. As a scholar and aficionado of all things mediaeval, I already loved the city for its high drama, fervent passions and brutal history. But nothing prepared me for its power – its palpable, multilayered energy, and the waves of love and despair that seemed to move through the streets…..
Journeys and Destinations. Cambridge Scholars Press (Oct 2013).
After almost two years of waiting my chapter in an academic book on philosophies of travel is finally out. My chapter (chapter 6) is on hot mamas who travelled in times when women were not allowed to travel, wrote and published about their travels and spiritual journeys when no one else did. Here it is to all hot, smart, rebellious mamas.
Something About Mary Magdalene: Recovering the Central Figure in Early Christianity. Australian Broadcasting Corporation, (April 2015)
Mary Magdalene presented a challenge to early Christianity: an independent woman, a privileged disciple, an interpreter of Jesus’s teaching that inspired a following. So why is she overlooked?
Sexuality and Spirituality: Can the Gnostic Gospel of Philip Bridge the Gap? Australian Broadcasting Corporation, (June 2015)
The highly publicised debate over same-sex marriage presents a welcome opportunity to highlight the need for a more inclusive way of looking at human sexuality – and, specifically, the relationship between sexuality and spirituality.
Spiritual but not Religious: What are Today’s ‘New Pilgrims’ Looking For? Australian Broadcasting Corporation (December 2016)
Some years ago, when my friend asked me why I was going on a Christmas pilgrimage to Jerusalem, I was not sure what answer I could give her.
Our Connection with God: A Very Personal yet Universal Journey. 1god.com (e-magazine)
To define my own connection with God, I would say that it is a universal creative, conscious energy that is not static but dynamic, and is always evolving.
A Visit to the Sea of Galilee. 1god.com
This is an excerpt from my book, Jerusalem Diary: Searching for the Tomb and House of Jesus. The Sea of Galilee has a poetic history.
The Nazareth House. 1god.com
An except from Jerusalem Diary: Searching for the Tomb and House of Jesus, focusing on the Nazareth home of Mary and Joseph.
Mary Magdalene: The Myth and the Mirror (essay 1). Return to Mago
For ages, tradition portrayed Mary Magdalene as a prostitute. Was it just the simple male fantasy of a beautiful sinner saved by Grace? The story itself probably wasn’t true.
Mary Magdalene: The Gnostic Mary Magdalene (essay 2). Return to Mago
It was only years later, while living in Melbourne and no longer connected to the Catholic Church, that I found my way back to the Gnostic Gospels. Surely I had heard something about the Gnostics when studying at the Pontifical Institute in Toronto?
The Tomb. 1god.com
An excerpt from Jerusalem Diary: Searching for the Tomb and House of Jesus.
Journaling to Manifest the Lost Goddess in Your Life: Secret Gnostic Traditions of Sophia and Mary Magdalene
I created this workbook in answer to two important questions that I have asked myself: 1) How can I help people in a practical and simple way with the knowledge of gnostic teachings and my obsession with Mary Magdalene? and 2) How can we get unstuck by using structured journaling?
Please check it out, either on Amazon.com here, or at my webpage shop for a printout of a pdf file to start working on it immediately. The AUD$10 price is to recover production costs.
Tourism Management Perspectives – Special Issue
I had the pleasure of co-editing the Special Issue of Tourism Management Perspectives with two super colleagues, Dr Joseph Cheer and Dr Yaniv Belhassen. I also wrote a heartfelt chapter on the differences between spirituality, institutionalised religions and the authentic spiritual experience. I analysed some famous travel memoirs (Paul Brunton’s In Search of Secret India, Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love and my own Jerusalem Diary) as grassroots quests for an original spiritual experience away from institutionalised traditional religions. I also co-authored a theoretical chapter on spiritual travel as well as the introduction to this book. (Click on the image to download the full article in PDF format.)
Archetypes of Angels: Beings of light, Photons and the Fallen Ones – 1God
For a long time I have been waiting for an intelligent explanation for Angels. I am not satisfied with the androgynous winged beings that look like high fashion models on New Age divination card decks.
Travel along the Journey – Light on Light Magazine
When, in my thirties, I undertook my first bout of spiritual travel I was unaware I was doing something that 100 million other people were also doing every year.
I am honoured to be on the cover of volume 2 of the New Humans of Australia and have my life story recalled there. It is good to remember what we have done so far and the choices we have made under often difficult circumstances so we can continue living our lives with beauty, courage and can inspire others.
Why We Still Go on Pilgrimages? – Journal of Tourism & Hospitality
As Christmas holidays are approaching, millions of people are planning to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. About 2 million will crowd the streets of the city of Jerusalem during that time. But pilgrimage is not only a Christian idea.
https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/why-we-still-go-on-pilgrimages-2167-0269-1000392-107167.html
She Rises 3 (volume 3) – My Encounter with Mary Magdalene (an essay)
I am so very happy to be one of the international contributors to the She Rises Volume 3 where you can find my personal essay on Mary Magdalene (of course!).
Along the Journey – Light on Light Magazine
Once upon a time, I was happy to be published in the same collection with a Noble Prize Winner for literature. Today I am so happy to be published in the same issue of Light on Light magazine with Deepak Chopra, with my column on pp 60-61.
