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Founder: Al Ackero Thank you for your interest in The UK Spirit Path Fellowship. I would like to welcome you, and share with you a little about myself and the way The Spirit Path Fellowship came into being. Please bear in mind that some of the beliefs and approaches held by this group differ in some ways from those traditionally held by recent western civilisations. Most of us revere great spiritual teachers such as Jesus and the Buddha and the great scriptures such as the Dhammapada, the Yogasutras of Patanjali, the Prasthana Trayi, the Vedas and the Bible, all of which, we believe, convey the same Higher Truth about the nature of the Universe. We also look to certain indigenous cultures, world-wide, that don't have written scriptures but whose spiritual traditions teach us much of value in the art of living and teach attitudes which can help to divert the human race from the path of self-destruction: destruction by the misguided masses stampeding roughshod in the pursuit of fool's gold, driven by greed and fear. I experienced one of the earliest hints that I was gifted during my childhood. When I was about 10 years old, I startled my learned elders by coming out with philosophical musings that were comparable to those of certain famous philosophers - things about the nature of reality, consciousness and the cosmology of the universe. My philosophical propositions were purely the result of my own intuition; not the result of any academic learning on my part. In my early 20s, I experienced profound enlightenment, satori/nirvana-style, seeing right though the illusions of maya and cultural conditioning into a direct experience the divine and spiritual nature of reality. It fitted in with what my philosophical intellectual speculations of earlier years had led me to suspect, but now I was seeing it as irrefutable reality by direct experience. This happened after I had been studying certain Eastern religions such as Zen Buddhism and ancient Yogic teachings accompanied by meditation practice. I attained a profound level of insight that changed my life forever. I suddenly understood the higher truth behind major religious teachings, Christian, Buddhist, Taoist and Vedantic. Around that time I noticed I was frequently experiencing some incredible coincidences, and these synchronicities seemed to further prove the spirtual nature of the universe, with its all-pervading Intellignece that has dominion over the known physical laws. Around this time, I discovered I could influence weather conditions by mental process. And I mean rapidly: I could cause the sun to come out on a dull day and dissipate clouds quite quickly by mental processes alone. This sounds absurd to most people who are immersed modern culture and beliefs, but such things are by no means alien to other, more ancient cultures. It's skill I seem to have lost in more recent years - possibly through disuse. (I didn't really have any good reason to affect the weather in that way). Nevertheless my spiritual life has continued to develop in other ways. My psychic gifts have been evident at many times throughout my life. I sometimes have prophetic dreams and I am an extremely gifted judge of character. When I say 'judge' I don't mean in the judgmental sense; I mean I intuitively 'know' an exceptional amount about a person's nature, and how they will behave, even after hearing them speak only a few sentences on the phone, for example. I have a strong intuition and this is one of the practical ways it manifests. Another significant thing I noticed was that I always seemed to be under the protection of a supernatural power. The first example of this I can remember was when I was a small child. I wandered away from my parents one day during an outing and fell into a deep canal. I was aware of sinking right down to the bottom, and coming to rest on a bed of water weed. Then, out of nowhere, an arm reached down into the water and lifted me right out and set me onto dry land. Similar things have happened on other occasions. These things led me to believe I must be under the protection of guardian spirits. It led me think that the powers-that-be want me here on Planet Earth for a reason. Now I think I know that reason. It is the same reason I am writing this. It is the reason why I was guided to start the Spirit Path Fellowship. My first contact with the ancient mysteries of the American Indians was when I first visited the USA in 1980. In order to make the trip possible, I basically gave up everything I owned in England. This in itself was a spiritual act of faith, and it had a profound effect on my consciousness. Unfettered by the burden of material encumbrance, for the first time since childhood, I was inwardly elevated and attained new levels of spiritual connectedness and awareness. Soon after I set foot in the States, I became aware of what seemed to me like voices of spirits in the wind. I could not identify individual words, but I could clearly recognise the general tone, as if through a sixth sense, of the discourse of many spirits - spirits who ride the wind. I sensed these spirits seemed excited by my visit to the continent. This was before I learned about the Native American concept of wind spirits. I allowed those spirits to guide me while I was in the States and I ended up in Florida, where I developed a very special and unique friendship with an elderly Cherokee lady who taught me many things of profound value to my spiritual development. Then one day I experienced something amazing on day while resting on my bed: I had a glimpse into another, parallel world. For years, I had no understanding of this experience, until I stumbled across literature about the ancient practice of shamanism. Then I realised that I may have glimpsed into "the middle world" of the shamans: a spirit world, parallel to the workaday so-called material world (which is in really also a spirit world in fact, but that is another matter). A few years later, I had another spontaneous switch-over into the "other world" when I was lying on my bed one day. I suddenly became aware that I was now an American Indian - clearly apparent by the physical features and attire. He too was lying on a bed, occupying the same space. The experience was very real, clear and vivid. It seemed I had momentarily switched from one existence to another. After I experienced this apparent 'other self' a train of events followed that led me into certain Native American spiritual traditions. Native American beliefs were one set of traditions that I had never really studied in the past. What I was now guided into was a path that seemed to fulfil all of my spiritual needs, perhaps more than any other religion I knew of. The basic cosmology of this path is the same as my previously-held one: belief in a universal God or Cosmic Consciousness in which all things exist. It held a code of ethics comparable to those of Buddhism and Biblical religions. However, there were other elements - elements that seemed lacking in the other world religions I had studied. For example, despite the all-important code of ethics, it also traditionally encompassed an element of 'fun' and there is also the concept of 'spiritism', as it is referred to in the English language: the belief that places, things, plants and animals have spirit and consciousness. I had come across this kind of belief in the ancient traditions of Japan but had always cast it off as superstition. I was now willing to be more open minded. In so doing, I became aware of the way that this belief system fosters a special kind of relationship with Mother Nature. The belief system I was uncovering seemed to me like an advanced development of the religio-spiritual beliefs I had already known about originating in the Far East. And that is exactly what it could be, because it is believed that the Indigenous American race migrated from that part of the world thousands of years ago before venturing into the North American Continent via what is now the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia. The similarity in facial characteristics between many Native Americans and the people of the Far East seems to bear this up: the black straight hair, the high, prominent cheek bones etc. Even their traditional flute music has distinct similarities. My experience of life changed in a very positive way after my introduction to this tradition. I started thinking of plants and trees as conscious beings - which, incidentally, is now a belief that's backed up by science. See "The Secret Life of Plants" by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, and "Blueprint for Immortality: Electric Patterns of Life Discovered in Scientific Break-through" - by Harold Saxton Burr for example. I started to communicate more with animals and even plants. Talking to a bird, for example, would have been regarded as rather silly to me in previous years. Now I discovered the universal language that is understood by all animals, and plants alike: a language of emotion; the language of the heart: a language one can speak through speech, poetry, song, music, and even telepathy, of which animals and plants are sensitive. One of my own favourite methods for interacting with the animal and nature spirit world is through flute playing. I have been led to acquire a special cedar flute made in Washington State by one of the top makers of Native American flutes. The idea of land spirits also struck a welcome chord of recognition with me. Although I was brought up in an old-fashioned Church of England community, I had always been acutely aware of the inexplicable "spirit" or "personality" of certain places: something independent of the people currently inhabiting the place. I was also aware of the sort of spiritual "personality" or "soul" of the elements such as the sea and the wind. So the Native American spiritual path that I was now drawn to, came to me like a wonderful fulfilment and my spirit guide led me to them like a saviour. In some ways we are all ultimately alone in this world - and I in particular felt aware of this. But now, I no longer feel that. Besides our human friends, we have wonderful companions: living and supportive spirits of the land, spirits of the elements, spirits of the forest. With this awareness, one no longer feels reliant on human beiongs for moral support. I have always had faith in God, or the Great Spirit, but could not always recognise God's presence directly. One can see the myriad forms that exist in the Divine Mind, but the Divine Mind itself is really outside of the scope of the five material bodily senses in normal mundane circumstances. Now I realised that the Great Spirit was manifest all around me in the natural world of plants animals and places: all alive in spirit, and willing to be my allies if I approached them with due respect and a true heart. This spiritual outlook seemed to me to hold great potential in today's world because it fosters true reverence and respect for Mother Nature: something that is dangerously lacking in modern civilisation which seems to be stampeding towards the precipice of self-destruction. At the same time the traditions we follow provide ways to enjoy one's existence more. Bit by bit, I was guided further along this Spirit Path. My spirit guides made it clear to me that it is important to spread the knowledge of this path, and I could see that it was nothing less than a mission for me. So this is how the UK Spirit Path Fellowship came about. I warmly invite you to join us. Besides the fellowship and the techniques of spiritual empowerment we offer, there is power in numbers, and power is something we can use to affect the destiny of our planet. My role in this organization is too help to keep it on track. My aim is not so much to lead but to guide, for the True Teacher is your own inner guide who resides within your own being. Perhaps it was your inner guide who guided you to this web page...
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