A Bit about Me

I feel rather awkward writing about myself, but since so many have asked, here goes:

I am a New Orleans native and my family heritage here goes back over 250 years.

At an early age I was exposed to Tarot and Palmistry at , my aunt having an interest in the occult and my paternal grandmother being a medium at seances. My first psychic experience that I can remember occurred at age 9, my first mystical experience at age 6.

Therefore, more or less ever since I can remember I have had mystical tendencies, a sense of some cosmic force weaving its energy into the air we breath. The sky was not just a blue canopy, but an unending expanse of light and color and like the sun and moon and stars, was a witness to eternity. Animals,I was sure, were closer to the answers than we because they seemed some how to live a simpler life in search of only food and shelter, content with their lives, unlike human beings! Trees were living beings to me.

When I was 24 my mother broke down and and cried and revealed that she had always worried about the time when I was 10 and cried when the old willow tree in front of our house was diagnosed as diseased and was chopped down. Little did I know that this was my first indication that I would one day except the beliefs of the ancient kabbalists - that the life force exists in all things, human, animals,plants, trees and even inanimate objects.

While other girls dreamed of boy friends and wooed over the captain of the football team, I wondered not who created the world, but who created the world's creator.

Eventually this would lead me to pursue a degree in religion and theology graduating Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi from The University of Southern California with a degree in Religion and Judaic Studies with directed research in areas of mysticism. I later was admitted into the Rabbinic School of Hebrew Union College but abandoned my studies in search of a more free form path of inner peace.

My graduate studies did take me to Israel for a year and while visiting the tomb of Simeon ben Yohai,upon whose teachings the Zohar, the famous work of Jewish Mysticism was based, I had a profound mystical experience which has led me to to explore the inner path of self enlightenment ever since. Having studied Lurianic Kabbalah I started to use its teachings in my everyday life.

Finally, I have discovered that one must not forget the paths of ones ancestors. We can learn much from them. Through the paths of the ancients we can come to a better undrestanding of our own truth; everyone has their own and even one's own truth is rarely one dimensional.

I live in the heart of New Orleans' French Quarter wih my little dachshund Bageleh. My favourite pasttimes include collecting Julie Andrews stuff and playing my clarinet. I am particularly interested in Klezmer music, which to me represents the spirit and soul of the Jewish people.

If I can be of assistance to you, please contact me:

Sharon Murphy

828 Royal Street PMB #149
New Orleans, LA 70116