Snake Oil
Dharma: Visions of tomorrow today
As much as I was comfortable with the home, family, and where I was born, I knew at a young age that I would move away. There were signs and directional arrows that pointed to a future move. I lived in the same Long Island home, in a middle class neighborhood until I got my first apartment. I moved to Arizona when I was twenty five. At the age of twenty-one I got my first apartment with a buddy and then I shared a rented house with another friend for a few years before I decided to move west. It was clear to me early on that the task of finding a way to make enough money to buy a home on the Island and live comfortably was not going to be an easy one. While you could make more money than in most other states, the costs to live in New York were extremely high. I had great friends and a mostly supportive family, but I really got the push to leave it all behind when I was around 23. I was a few years into my studies of metaphysics and I had read books about Sedona, Arizona and began to think that was the place for me. While I had never been to Arizona or California, or really even knew anyone who lived on the west coast, it seemed to me that it was simply a better spot for my growing spiritual interests. I was tired of the cold, snowy and wet winters, and the pull to move became increasingly overwhelming.
While I intuitively knew I would move, I needed to see how it physically felt. I made the decision to travel to Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Sedona during the same trip in early February of 1989. I landed in Phoenix, and got off the plane to experience an extremely well received 75 degrees. I instantly fell in love and felt like I had come home. It felt like things were clicking into place. My excitement around the potential move was stronger than any fear I may have had. California and Sedona were awesome but also really expensive. So Phoenix was my destination of choice. My first apartment was $349 a month, and it was a really nice one! I made the move in late 1989.
There were all kinds of practical details that went into my decision to move, yet it was the metaphysical ones that were the most pivotal. Even when I was young there were many different signs that I would move west. I was fascinated by the Mary Tyler Moore show and specifically the theme song in the seventies. The whole idea of going to another city and starting over intrigued me.
“How will you make it on your own? This world is awfully big, and girl this time you’re all alone. But it’s time you started living. It’s time you let someone else do some giving. Love is all around no need to waste it. You can have a town, why don’t you take it. You might just make it after all...”
Replace the “girl” for “boy” in the song and I knew that this was something that I was destined to do when I was old enough. Mary went somewhere really cold, Minneapolis - I wanted to go where it was warm! Playing in the snow and aspects of winter were fun when I was younger, yet when I became an adult, snow was mostly a pain in the ass. I absolutely loved the spring, summer, and fall when the weather was warmer to even hot. I was happy and less pessimistic when it was sunny and warm. One of my favorite songs as a child was California Dreaming by the Mama’s and the Papa’s. California and the west coast in general was where it was sunny, and people seemed to be pretty, buff, and happy. It was scary to consider leaving everything I knew behind, along with all the securities and comforts of my home. Still, I also knew that I needed to really find out who I was, without the chains of my past holding me back. I needed to start fresh and take risks in order to mature. I knew that the metaphysical path was calling me, and the west just seemed like the place I needed to be to find what my path was going to be all about. Coming to Phoenix and being only two hours away from-what I thought to be the most metaphysical town in the U.S. (Sedona) was just too hard to resist.
Dharma is our direction karma. While we always have free will and make choices about what we do, we also come into our lives with blueprints or maps of probable directions we will likely move toward. This is what our dharma is. We can often see much of our dharma in our Astrology charts, Numerology charts, and with other types of oracles. This is why I decided to develop expertise with these tools; to understand my unique path and to help people understand theirs. I had many other glimpses of aspects of my dharma throughout my life. When I was 13 I had a vivid lucid dream of a library. I began to pull books off the shelves because there were a lot of them! I saw dozens of books that were written by Jim Ventura. I knew I would become a writer someday. When I was a kid, I used to enjoy recording pretend radio shows with my friends on cassette tapes. In my early forties I started doing my weekly radio show. For the most part, everything I have always enjoyed doing, especially the things I thought of as “play” have become successful aspects of my work. On countless occasions I have felt that familiar click when I could see how I had been led to doing what was now falling into place. I thankfully have always been blessed with an ability to see “signs.”
Even if you don’t feel like you ever had enough prophetic signs or any visions in your past, there are other ways to see one’s dharma. Going on a Vision Quest is a great way to get a clear view of where we are heading. All cultures have some version of this process. In Lakota tradition, a boy goes on a Vision Quest at puberty to find his identity, name, and direction. He isolates himself for four days and nights on top of a hill without food and water. The site is isolated and protected by a Medicine Man. We don’t have to do something this extreme to Vision Quest. Short vacations and retreats into nature will often help open our “eyes.” Even with brief visits, nature seems to amplify our intuitive vision and help to release the blocks that often interfere with our ability to hear our intuitive voices.
The process of temporarily retreating from the noise of the world itself can help us get in touch with our dharma. We are surrounded by a steady stream of loud noise in this world. On top of this we are frequently bombarded by the noise of people telling us what we “should be doing.” All of this chatter can make hearing what our intuitive self is saying, harder to hear. I had one of the most profound and clear views of my life while sitting on the edge of the Grand Canyon in 1990. I saw vivid details about my near future and was clearly able to see the problems that were blocking my way. I was struggling with some major issues at that time and the vision wasn’t an easy one. I needed that clarity and it helped me to let go of a number of blockades including an extremely abusive relationship I was involved in. Prophetic visions and new creative ideas often come when I am on vacations. I frequently get insight about where I am heading in my future while on drives to Las Vegas! Some of my best writing, videos, and other creative ideas have come to me this way! You don’t have to be born with powerful intuitive and psychic abilities to benefit by tapping into your dharma. Like any other skill in life the ability to “see” can be developed with practice. There are many different ways to increase our ability to get direction about where our path is heading, but a Vision Quest is something everyone can do.
Jim Ventura 1-2014
Editors Note:
2014 is really off to a great start. I am getting ready to do my third YouTube video. All the promotional work I have done in the last few years has put me in a good spot with business and reaching new clients. My decision to do another video has more to do with my creative side and how much I enjoy making them. The “ham” in me really enjoys doing things like this!
I had some phone issues in January. It seems the landlines in my area aren’t up to par. Some of my clients have told me they called and they couldn’t get through. I am hoping it gets resolved within the next few weeks, but not sure if they are prioritizing land line repairs. It may be something that is slowly getting phased out. A lot of people don’t even have land lines anymore because cell phones have become so much more reliable. Any calls will get forwarded to my cell though, so If I don’t return a call within a few days definitely call back. Better yet, email is actually the best way to contact me for booking, since I check it a few times a day in my home office.
I wouldn’t post a column mentioning the Mary Tyler Moore show or them without including some links for you to view and listen too. Enjoy!
“Mental or physical pain is telling you to do something. Do what needs to be done and the pain will go away.” Dick Sutphen
Channeled corner. I read many, many books from different trance channelers in the 80s and 90s. Unfortunately many of these books are now out of print, but I still have a huge collection and will share some of the best material I have collected over the years.
Question to Channel: I have noticed a flurry of coincidence lately. Is there any meaning to them?
Yes. As when your TV set crackles when an appliance is plugged in or when you see lightening flashing among the clouds, connections are being made so that energy can flow. Basically, coincidences are signs of coming change in your personal weather.
The changes so indicated, I might add, are always healthy, the transformation always beneficial. Even if no outward change comes from this flow of energy, at least your daily life will take on a grace, ease, and spontaneity it did not have before. So look for coincidences to be the forerunners of pleasant changes or of deepening abilities on your part.” Answers from a Grander Self by Tom Mossman
Spring Classes
ASTROLOGY-101 (two beginner classes) 
Whether you have some astrological knowledge or if you are a beginner, this series will teach you the basics of Astrology. By the end of this class, you will be on the road to knowledgeably interpreting your own chart, as well as those of others. You will learn about the house placements, signs, symbols, angles, and a lot more! We will explore how powerful the influence of astrology is in our lives. You will not only truly understand your own life, but become even more aware of why the people around us have a different focus and perspective! If you already have your own chart, please bring it to the class. If you need your chart done, information will be given beforehand about how to get your free chart for the classes.
Sundays noon until 2:30 pm March 2, 9th. Two classes $35.00 (prepaid $30.00, $25 for current Regular clients pre-paid). Maximum of 8 students for this home class (one student may call in out-of-area on speaker phone) and minimum of 4 sign-ups to hold the classes. A $10 deposit is required to hold your space in this series.
* What is your soul age? The soul age of friends and family ? How does soul age influence us?
* How do past lifetimes influence us in the present ?
* What does karma feel like, and how does it work ?
* How does your chief negative feature impact your life, and can it be changed?
* What happens when your partner is an idealist and you are a realist ?
* What is your life goal? Is it dominance, acceptance, flow, discrimination, growth, or submission ?
*What is your essence, your soul mate’s essence ? Artisan, priest, king, server, sage, warrior or scholar ?
* What is a soul mate, task companion, heart link ?
* What do the higher centers feel like?
After this workshop you will understand all of these questions and many more, and more importantly have the answers.
There are no tests to pass, just some great information. 5 classes, 2 hours each.
The main goal of the Michael teaching is agape or unconditional love. The teaching views life as a learning game in which fragments of the Tao - that essential part of each human being - set up lessons which continue over lifetimes. These lessons are learned via the personality which Essence chooses each lifetime. Michael teaches us what the components of the personality are so that we can learn to use and see these components in ourselves and in others. In that way we can learn to understand why human beings behave as they do. Michael is composed of 1,050 individual Essences who have lived on the physical plane and now teach from another plane. One of the most basic and important principles of the teaching is that it is not a religion or a belief system. Michael encourages their students to self validate all of the information they receive. The system was originally in print in over 12 volumes of information. “My studies of this material have been extensive and now I offer what I have learned to my students” Jim Ventura (Old Scholar). The classes will help you to use and understand the material without the need to read all the out-of-print books.
Saturday mornings 10 am till noon, March 29, April 5, 12, 19, 26th. $90.00 for all five classes ($80.00 pre-paid and for current Regular clients). Maximum of 8 students for this home class (one student may call in out-of-area on speaker phone) and minimum of 4 sign-ups to hold the classes. A $20 deposit is required to hold your space in this series.
You see, we are both "servers". Recognizing that in each other, it's been so easy to put the other one's needs ahead of our own without any resentment or animosity.
It's important to me to let you know that your influence has helped to make my "golden" years so wonderful. Don't stop doing what you do.” Former Michael student.
New Client Promotion -Last month for this promotion
New clients who have never had a session with me before can take advantage of my current Winter special. Any of the sessions I offer (check out the different options on my website) are discounted $15 (plus an additional $5 off for in office cash payments) off my listed rates! 45, 70 and 90 minute sessions all receive the discount. No other offers or discounts apply with this special. The new client’s $15-20 discount is good for in office or phone sessions and ends March 1st 2014. You can buy one for a friend (new client) at this rate even if you have already had a session with me in the past if you want to give someone a gift!
“The narrower the mind, the broader the statement.” Old Saw
Snake Oil Radio
Thursdays at 3:30 pm (there will be three live broadcasts this month)
My next live broadcast of Snake Oil Radio will be Thursday,February 6th, at 3:30 p.m. (MST -AZ doesn’t use daylight savings time). Almost every Thursday you can catch a new show. Each 45 minute show will expand on my current column’s subject matter. It will also offer an opportunity for you to call in live (or chat with other listeners in the chat room) with comments and your thoughts about the topic of discussion. Halfway through some of the shows you can even ask me for a free 5 minute mini reading with your personal question. If you miss the live show, you can catch any of my previously recorded shows on the web site’s archive. You can also catch Snake Oil Radio on I-tunes (download my pod-casts there)
To hear a live show, all you need to do is be at a computer and tuned into: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Jim-Ventura You may also access it by going to blogtalkradio.com. Type “Snake Oil” into the search option.
You can also go to the shows that are currently “On air” at that time and find me. The call in number is 646-200-3966 for questions and comments.
"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us."
~ Helen Keller
~ Helen Keller
Here’s my contact information to make an appointment for a session, or information on current classes: Phone: (602) 957-3035 text: 602-349-0746 Email: Venturasag@yahoo.com
Information about the different sessions and types of readings and services, past Snake Oil columns, and how to order my books and audio CD’s can be found at my website: Http://JimVentura.com
“Friend” me on Facebook to get other extra offers and in between column extras! Signing up for my fan page will get you even more extras and first shot at reading specials. Simply click on “like” on the fan page and you will automatically get my weekly updates.
All sessions/readings for 2013 are: Full (70 minutes) $110.00; Shorter session (45 minutes) $80.00; Extended session (90 minutes) $130.00 (two people can split an extended session back to back for $65.00 each). Email me for information about my Regular Client Program for even bigger discounts on session prices with the added benefit of monthly or quarterly check-ins.
All Current Snake Oil subscribers get $5.00 off all listed prices for any 45-90 minute sessions. Local in office visits receive another $5 off listed prices for cash payments.
I accept cash, checks, debit cards, Master Card, Visa, and PayPal for payments on sessions and for books and classes. Send me your birth month, day and year to get added to the yearly Birthday mailer promotion.
