The second person in my series of women who inspire me to live a healthy and balanced life is Betty Bethards. She is known as the common sense guru, a mystic, teacher, healer and psychic. I was lucky enough to live in a town where she often lectured and I met her a few times, each having a powerful impact on how I worship and my own concept of personal responsibility. At a time when I was confused on which religion to embrace and how to go about having a fulfilling spiritual life this down to earth mentor to so many touched me and affected to this day how I approach my spiritual practice of living as a human on this planet. I remember that Betty and I talked while smoking and drinking sodas. Not every teacher comes in a white robe or chanting a mantra.
Betty Bethards had a very conventional Baptist upbringing and was firm in those beliefs until visited by the spirit of a friend who had passed to the other side. Her world was rocked and continued to drastically change as she started to have precognitive dreams and hear voices speaking to her. After a near death experience she began to form a relationship with her inner teachers and eventually took on her life purpose of healing, teaching, and writing about our spiritual nature, karma, healing, energy, dreams and meditation.
She wasn’t reinventing the wheel by any means. Her ideas are not extraordinarily unique or earth shattering. What impresses me about her teaching is how grounded she was in finding your own truths and not being gullible to habitual ways of believing that didn’t sit right with you.
The name of one of her books is Be Your Own Guru and that is what she taught, that the answers are within and that we don’t need some leader outside of ourselves to connect us to the Source. She also espoused that we take the best and chuck the rest, meaning we don’t have to buy into concepts or beliefs that don’t fit for us and we can choose at any time to take what works and leave behind that which our intuition rejects as not right for now.
In her book Techniques For Health & Wholeness she taught me how disease was an energy imbalance and how we can work on internal imbalances through relaxation, meditation, visualization, and affirmations. Before hearing this I remember thinking the only tool there was had been prayer and thanks to Betty I learned I had an arsenal of powerful techniques to develop and call upon and that I have the power to heal.
She taught that dreams give us a peek into our inner self and are there to guide and inspire. Her dream symbol dictionary in The Dream Book is always spot on when I look up an image from a recent dream. Studying our dreams allows us to tune into a guidance and knowledge which can give us a snapshot of sorts of where we are at in life and what needs to be addressed.
For over twenty years now I have turned to her simple lessons on meditation, dreams, and prayer and I still get the same rush of excitement knowing that she was right…I AM my own guru and I know my answers come from within.
Betty left this world in 2002 but her work lives on through The Inner Light Foundation, a non profit group Betty had founded that carries her books and tapes still today.
Here is an excerpt from an interview with Betty that can be found at Share Guide.
The Share Guide: So there’s a difference between mystic and psychic?
Betty: Oh absolutely. A mystic takes self-responsibility for all their thought, words and actions. A Mystic works hand in hand with God in order to change their lives, to rid themselves of all fear, to help their fellow man in a much higher way.
The Share Guide: And a psychic?
Betty: Everybody’s psychic. Their channels are only as good as the person behind it, that they have coming through them. Everybody can get their own answers. Why should you pay somebody else for it?
That’s how Betty inspired me the most. Who else would tell a girl going to the junior college that she could be a mystic and co-create her world along with the Source of all that is? She would and I am eternally grateful she did. I hope sharing my experience of her teachings reaches others as she reached me and reminds us all that the healer lies within.
Thoughts to ponder: Who lives in such a way it inspires you? Do you believe you could be your own guru? Would you be a good one?
