Is Mysticism Dangerous?

Send us Fan MailMaybe you have a dozen browser tabs open right now, from packing lists to a forum thread on the biggest Camino mistakes. Underneath them sits the real question, the one no gear list can answer: am I actually going to do this? Whether you're dreaming of the Camino de Santiago or a hidden road few pilgrims have ever walked, the most important preparation begins long before you pack.In this episode, Nina Hirlaender OFS, who has guided sacred pilgrimages for fifteen years, counts down the ten things she wants every pilgrim to know before they walk. You'll find out the astonishing numbers behind the famous Camino routes and the hidden one. Discover how intention turns a long walk into a pilgrimage, and how to prepare your body without training for a marathon.Nina also shares what happened when a pilgrim arrived with brand-new boots straight out of the box. Ready to go deeper? Join Nina for a free live class, The Camino Experience: Everything You Need to Know About Spiritual Pilgrimage, on Saturday, November 14 at 1:00pm ET, where she'll answer your questions live.What You'll Learn:Which Camino is which, and how to choose the road that matches your desireHow to to choose an intention that turns a long walk into a pilgrimageThe pilgrim practice capable people find hardest of allYour Next Steps:Join the free live class, The Camino Experience (Saturday, November 14) >>Walk the Camino of St. Ignatius with Nina in May 2027 >>Support the showRate, Review & FollowIf Holy Rebels has helped you practise your spirituality in real life, would you take 30 seconds to leave a quick rating and review? Your review helps new listeners decide to press play.Not sure what to write? Try one sentence:“Holy Rebels helps me ________.”And hit Follow so new episodes show up automatically in your feed.Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.comConnect: Instagram | Facebook

Send us Fan MailHigh on the serrated mountain of Montserrat in Spain, pilgrims climb a stairway glowing with golden mosaics into a small chamber walled in silver. There she sits: the Black Madonna of Montserrat, serene, with a golden orb resting in her hand. Kings and shepherds have knelt on the same stone floor before her for a thousand years, and medieval pilgrims saved for years and walked for weeks to meet her gaze.In this episode, Nina Hirlaender OFS explores where the Black Madonnas of Spain came from and the mystical theology they carry. You'll discover the legend of how the Madonna of Montserrat chose her own home, and hear what history and the mystics each say about the statue’s coloring, including a 2001 discovery the guidebooks skip.You'll also meet the Madonna found in a thornbush at Arantzazu, in the green mountains of the Basque Country, and find out what her name offers anyone walking through a difficult season. Nina also shares her own first night in the silver chamber, alone with the Black Madonna.If Black Madonna has been calling you, join Nina for a free live class, The Camino Experience: Everything You Need to Know About Spiritual Pilgrimage, on Saturday, November 14 at 1:00pm ET (10:00am PT). Nina will show you the road that runs between Arantzazu and Montserrat and answer your questions live.What You'll Learn:The legend of Black Madonna and the origin of the singing caveThe controversial one-word change in the Bible verse that undermines her true powerThe Madonna found in a thornbush, and what her name means for youThe knight who laid down his sword, and who he becameYour Next Steps:Join the free live class, The Camino Experience (Saturday, November 14) >>Walk the Camino of St. Ignatius in May 2027 >>Support the showRate, Review & FollowIf Holy Rebels has helped you practise your spirituality in real life, would you take 30 seconds to leave a quick rating and review? Your review helps new listeners decide to press play.Not sure what to write? Try one sentence:“Holy Rebels helps me ________.”And hit Follow so new episodes show up automatically in your feed.Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.comConnect: Instagram | Facebook

Send us Fan MailWhere is the line between mysticism and the occult? Maybe you long to touch the mystical side of existence, and you've felt drawn to tarot cards and the saints alike. Then a worry crept in: am I opening a door I shouldn't? The mystics mapped this territory centuries ago, and you can learn to recognize which path is right for you.In this Halloween episode, Nina Hirlaender OFS reveals what mysticism really is and how to bring it into your everyday life. You'll discover why the veil is said to grow thin on All Hallows' Eve, and why All Saints Day may be the most underrated feast of the year. Then find out what the motto of Aleister Crowley, the infamous occultist who called himself the Great Beast, reveals about the occult, and why Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross held themselves to stricter rules than the judges who put them on trial.Nina also shares her personal journey from looking outside herself for answers to mastering her inner compass and a deep connection with God. You'll leave with five questions to test any spiritual practice or teacher, including a key warning sign that a spiritual community is quietly shrinking your world.The episode closes with a memory from the candlelit cemeteries of Nina's Austrian childhood and a ritual to honor your ancestors for All Saints Day.What You'll Learn:The two origin stories of Halloween, and how All Hallows' Eve got its nameA simple All Saints ritual to honor your ancestors and the everyday saints who shaped youThe Renaissance scholar who took orders from "angels," and where they led himFive questions that give you real confidence in your spiritual pathMysticism and the occult: what each path promises, and the hidden price of oneYour Next Steps:Take the Quiz: Who Is Your Mystic Mentor? >>Explore the brand new Mystical Spirituality website >>Connect with Nina on Instagram >>Support the showRate, Review & FollowIf Holy Rebels has helped you practise your spirituality in real life, would you take 30 seconds to leave a quick rating and review? Your review helps new listeners decide to press play.Not sure what to write? Try one sentence:“Holy Rebels helps me ________.”And hit Follow so new episodes show up automatically in your feed.Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.comConnect: Instagram | Facebook

Send us Fan MailWhat does God's voice actually sounds like? A thought arrives in prayer, clear and strong, and you can't tell whether it came from God or from your own mind. When the decision matters, that uncertainty can feel daunting, and the fear of getting it wrong can leave you anxious and second-guessing every step. Here's the hopeful part: hearing God's voice is a skill you can learn. In this episode, Nina Hirlaender OFS draws on the ancient wisdom of Anthony of the Desert and Ignatius of Loyola, along with modern anthropological research from Stanford, to help you hone that skill. You'll be able to tell true intuition apart from fear and wishful thinking, and feel more peace and confidence in the choices you make. Nina also shares her own experience of that inner pull: a time she talked herself out of it and a time she said yes, and how she learned to tell the difference. You'll find out what each moment taught her, and you'll leave with five questions to ask any inner voice before you trust it.Registration is now open for the May 2027 Ignatian Camino, two weeks walking the route Ignatius himself walked through northern Spain, learning one of his Rules for Discernment each morning.Your Next Steps:Register to Walk The Ignatian Camino >>Take the Quiz: Who Is Your Mystic Mentor? >>Support the showRate, Review & FollowIf Holy Rebels has helped you practise your spirituality in real life, would you take 30 seconds to leave a quick rating and review? Your review helps new listeners decide to press play.Not sure what to write? Try one sentence:“Holy Rebels helps me ________.”And hit Follow so new episodes show up automatically in your feed.Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.comConnect: Instagram | Facebook

Send us Fan MailYour prayer is distracted. Your mind wanders to your grocery list. And you're quietly wondering if you're doing it wrong. Here's the good news: Teresa of Ávila, the first woman Doctor of the Church, spent twenty years struggling through distracted prayer, and she became the greatest teacher of contemplative prayer the Western mystical tradition has ever produced.In this episode, Nina Hirlaender OFS introduces the real Teresa of Ávila: the charming nun torn between the convent parlor and the chapel, whose honesty about her own messy prayer life makes her the patron of every distracted pray-er alive. You'll discover Teresa's masterpiece map of the soul, the Interior Castle: a crystal castle with God dwelling at the center, which means the spiritual journey is in, not up. Nina walks you through the rooms at the level of what they feel like, so you can locate yourself on the map today, and shows you how to tell the spiritual feelings you manufacture from the ones God actually gives.Nina also shares practical steps for seasons of spiritual dryness, tells the story of her own 40-day silent retreat, from compulsive boredom games to a moment of overwhelming joy in a snow-covered field, and leads two full minutes of real, guided silence on air: your first step through the castle door. The episode closes with Teresa's beloved prayer: Let nothing disturb you. Plus, find out whether Teresa is your mystic mentor with Nina's free two-minute quiz.What You'll Learn:The Interior Castle explained room by room, and how to find where you are on Teresa's map of the soulThe four waters of prayer, and why prayer gets easier the longer you stay with itHow to recognize real consolations in prayer, and Teresa's warning about chasing spiritual feelingsPractical steps for when prayer feels dry or dead, including Teresa's "determined determination"Nina's story of a 40-day silent retreat, plus two minutes of guided silence you can pray along withVocal prayer vs. contemplative prayer: the difference between talking at God and being with God, and which one your soul is craving right nowYour Next Steps:Take the Quiz: Who Is Your Mystic Mentor? >>Explore the brand new Mystical Spirituality website >>Connect with Nina on Instagram >>Support the showRate, Review & FollowIf Holy Rebels has helped you practise your spirituality in real life, would you take 30 seconds to leave a quick rating and review? Your review helps new listeners decide to press play.Not sure what to write? Try one sentence:“Holy Rebels helps me ________.”And hit Follow so new episodes show up automatically in your feed.Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.comConnect: Instagram | Facebook

Send us Fan MailEight hundred years ago this week, St. Francis of Assisi died happily, singing, owning nothing. This year, people stood in line for hours just to see his bones. Why does the world still belong to this barefoot man?In this episode, released during the Church's Jubilee Year of St. Francis marking the 800th anniversary of his death, Nina Hirlaender OFS traces the astonishing legacy of history's most beloved saint: the Canticle of the Creatures that gave Pope Francis's Laudato Si' its name, the science journal that proposed him as the patron saint of ecology, the unarmed walk across Crusade battle lines that made Assisi the world's address for peace, the first nativity scene, and the first stigmata.You'll also find out why Nina became a Franciscan Sister, meet eighteen-year-old Clare of Assisi, who gave up everything to rewrite what was possible for women, and walk through Assisi itself: San Damiano, the Porziuncola, and dinner with the joyful Franciscan Friars.Then the episode turns to you. What has power over you right now: money, status, other people's priorities? Why do you keep saying yes to things your heart already said no to? And why do your best intentions keep losing? Nina asks the question at the center of Francis's revolution and reveals where the honest answer has been hiding all along: somewhere much closer than your thoughts. Plus, registration is now open for the spring 2028 Assisi pilgrimage, and the new Who Is Your Mystic Mentor? Quiz reveals whether Francis is the teacher meant to guide your season.What You'll Learn:How to take your power back from money, status, and other people's priorities, and reconnect with the purpose that actually energizes you (Francis's specialty)How one poor friar shaped 800 years: ecology, interfaith peace, the nativity scene, and a pope's nameThe story of St. Clare of Assisi, the teenage noblewoman who rewrote what was possible for womenWhy willpower fails every time you try to change your life, and what actually works insteadHow to read your inner compass of consolation and desolation, the built-in guidance system that never liesSupport the showRate, Review & FollowIf Holy Rebels has helped you practise your spirituality in real life, would you take 30 seconds to leave a quick rating and review? Your review helps new listeners decide to press play.Not sure what to write? Try one sentence:“Holy Rebels helps me ________.”And hit Follow so new episodes show up automatically in your feed.Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.comConnect: Instagram | Facebook

Send us Fan MailAre angels real? What does the Bible actually say about angels, and why does nearly every angel in scripture open with the words "Do not be afraid"?Released on the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, this episode takes on the question underneath a lifetime of fascination. Nina Hirlaender OFS explores what angels actually look like to the people who encounter them, including Hildegard of Bingen's answer, which will change how you picture them forever. You'll meet the three archangels the Bible names and discover the gift each one carries for your own spiritual journey.Then things get delightfully surprising. Nina reveals where modern physics and ancient angel teachings converge, on light, on time, and on everything our eyes were never built to see. She offers a grounded way to think about guardian angels, signs, and angel numbers like 11:11, and shares a true miracle story from her pilgrimage in the south of France that you will never forget. Plus, some big news: the gorgeous new Mystical Spirituality website is live, along with a free two-minute quiz that reveals which of the seven great mystic teachers is meant to guide you in this season of your life.What You'll Learn:What angels actually look like, according to the mystics who saw them (hint: it’s nothing like the paintings!)Who the archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael really are, and the three gifts they carry for every spiritual journey: you need all threeWhere modern physics and ancient angel teachings unexpectedly agreeHow to approach guardian angels and angel numbers like 11:11 with both groundedness and wonderYour Next Steps:Take the Quiz: Who Is Your Mystic Mentor? >>Explore the brand new Mystical Spirituality website >>Connect with Nina on Instagram >>Support the showRate, Review & FollowIf Holy Rebels has helped you practise your spirituality in real life, would you take 30 seconds to leave a quick rating and review? Your review helps new listeners decide to press play.Not sure what to write? Try one sentence:“Holy Rebels helps me ________.”And hit Follow so new episodes show up automatically in your feed.Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.comConnect: Instagram | Facebook

Send us Fan MailThe old chapter closed. The new one hasn't opened. And the intelligent, productive part of you is getting restless — because it knows how to act and plan and figure things out. It does not know how to wait.In this eighth and final episode of The Soul's Eight Thresholds of Transformation, Nina Hirlaender OFS arrives at Yule — the Winter Solstice, the longest night, and the turning point where darkness reaches its maximum and the light begins, quietly, to return. Through the Neolithic darkness of West Kennet Long Barrow, a personal story of being forced into stillness during the 2020 pandemic, and the steady theology of Julian of Norwich, Nina explores why this threshold catches high-functioning seekers off guard — and what it means to practice trust when nothing visible confirms progress. This episode completes the full revolution of the Celtic Wheel of the Year and offers a grounded, practical way to inhabit the seasons of your life when clarity hasn't arrived yet and the only honest posture is presence.What You'll Learn:The difference between genuine trust and passive stagnation.What John of the Cross discovered about hope as a loosening of the grip — and how white-knuckling a specific outcome blocks what's actually trying to reach youWhy Julian of Norwich's "All shall be well" is a radical theological claim forged in plague and grief, and how to let it hold you in your own long winterHow a five-thousand-year-old burial chamber engineered for the midwinter sunrise teaches your body what your mind keeps refusing to learnYour Next Steps:The Celtic Shamanism in England pilgrimage (May 23 – June 2, 2026) is now SOLD OUT. To join the waitlist, reply to Nina directly: [email protected] all Dancing Spirit Tours pilgrimages: https://dancingspirittours.comListen to the full 8-episode series from Episode 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/holy-rebels-podcast/id1654779565?i=1000747635070Support the showRate, Review & FollowIf Holy Rebels has helped you practise your spirituality in real life, would you take 30 seconds to leave a quick rating and review? Your review helps new listeners decide to press play.Not sure what to write? Try one sentence:“Holy Rebels helps me ________.”And hit Follow so new episodes show up automatically in your feed.Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.comConnect: Instagram | Facebook

Send us Fan MailA flock of birds joined our drum circle inside a sea cave on the Cornish coast. What they unlocked in ten minutes had taken one woman years to carry alone.In this seventh episode of The Soul's Eight Thresholds of Transformation, Nina Hirlaender OFS guides you through Samhain, the Celtic threshold of shadow — the sacred season when the soul stops moving forward and turns inward to meet its own unfinished stories. Through the extraordinary acoustics of Merlin's Cave at Tintagel and the contemplative wisdom of John of the Cross, Nina explores what becomes possible when you stop avoiding the dark and discover that shadow met with compassion becomes your deepest wisdom.What You'll Learn:The 5 unmistakable signs your soul is asking for the Samhain threshold — and why each one is an invitation, not a warningWhat happened when rock doves joined our drumming circle in Merlin's Cave — and the reconciliation it unlocked for a woman carrying years of unfinished griefWhat John of the Cross actually meant by "the dark night of the soul" — and why it's far more hopeful than popular culture suggestsA five-minute embodied practice for meeting shadow with self-compassion instead of avoidance or dramaYour Next Steps:SOLD OUT! Get on the waitlist for our final Celtic Shamanism in England pilgrimage (May 23 – June 2, 2026): https://dancingspirittours.com/journeys/england/Support the showRate, Review & FollowIf Holy Rebels has helped you practise your spirituality in real life, would you take 30 seconds to leave a quick rating and review? Your review helps new listeners decide to press play.Not sure what to write? Try one sentence:“Holy Rebels helps me ________.”And hit Follow so new episodes show up automatically in your feed.Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.comConnect: Instagram | Facebook

Send us Fan MailThere's a version of you that's already over. You can feel it in the quiet dread of playing a role that stopped fitting somewhere along the way. What you haven't done yet is give it a proper ending.In this sixth episode of The Soul's Eight Thresholds of Transformation, Nina Hirlaender OFS takes you inside West Kennet Long Barrow — a 5,000-year-old Neolithic chamber in the English countryside — to explore the Autumn Equinox, the Celtic threshold of release. Through the story of Helen, a professor who spent two years carrying a devastating institutional betrayal entirely alone, Nina traces what becomes possible when you finally set down an identity that's already run its course. Drawing on Thomas Merton's theology of the true self and false self, somatic body wisdom, and the rhythms of autumn itself, this episode offers a grounded path from exhausted performance to genuine, recovered selfhood.What You'll Learn:The somatic signals your body sends when an identity has expired — and why the tiredness you feel isn't physical What Thomas Merton's theology of the true self reveals about which roles actually belong to you and which are performances you've been maintaining out of fearHow mature, conscious release differs from clinging to what's expired or letting go in a panic — and what it feels like when grief and freedom arrive togetherA 5-minute practice for releasing the false self and returning to the true self that remains underneathYour Next Steps:ONE SPOT LEFT! Register for the final Celtic Shamanism in England pilgrimage (May 23 – June 2, 2026): https://dancingspirittours.com/journeys/england/Support the showRate, Review & FollowIf Holy Rebels has helped you practise your spirituality in real life, would you take 30 seconds to leave a quick rating and review? Your review helps new listeners decide to press play.Not sure what to write? Try one sentence:“Holy Rebels helps me ________.”And hit Follow so new episodes show up automatically in your feed.Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.comConnect: Instagram | Facebook