Today we’d like to introduce you to A. M. Penn.
So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
“Spirit said ‘This being is a teacher,’” these words by Naha Armády, head of faculty at 22 Teachings School of Hermetic Science and Magical Arts, foreshadowed my journey during a middle pillar energy healing in 2016.
At this time, I was an ambitious public relations professional who had worked my way up to become a communication Vice President for a Fortune 100 company, in one of the biggest media markets in the nation. But this company was on the brink of national scandal. The organization’s corporate culture had become as toxic as the news media would soon report, but it hadn’t always been that way in my experience.
When I was first hired, I enjoyed telling the moving stories of generous philanthropy and true heart-felt volunteerism that helped to raise awareness for the nonprofits that the corporation supported across Los Angeles. But as news was beginning to leak of the company’s past fraudulent business practices, the office culture I found myself a part of became more and more back-biting and mean-spirited, and retaliation for whistleblowers was inevitable. At this time and place in history – if you had a problem, you were the problem.
So, for the first time in my life, I became a disenfranchised person and felt completely voiceless, unsafe, and unable to advocate for myself or my team. I needed to make money to pay the bills that go along with the “American Dream” I had been so ardently pursuing – a mortgage, a car payment, a family – and like most Americans I didn’t have enough of a financial safety net to afford the luxury of being able to quit or lose my job.
So, I began seeking.
Seeking anything that could offer me some answers, tools, or understandings to help me cope with the worsening work environment I felt trapped in. What I was searching for was direction, guidance, or clarity – I needed something or someone to help me stop swirling in despair and anxiety and offer me an anchor of hope and a light at the end of the Twilight Zone tunnel I was being forced to navigate.
That person was Naha, and what she offered me were the ancient wisdom teachings of Hermetic Qabalah. What she did through her teachings saved me. Or more accurately, she taught me how to save myself.
But I’m not unique in this narrative if you speak to any of Naha’s students or clients most of us will say the same thing – something along the lines of “She really helped me when I couldn’t find my way.” “She’s been a mentor.” “She has taught me so much.”
Well, I’m no different, but I am very fortunate in that I am now able to help amplify her amazing work, by contributing to the 22 Teachings lineage as the astrologer of the school and healing center she founded in the Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles in May of 2019.
I’m still a communications professional during the day (at a different and wonderful corporation), but now I get to “pay forward” what I was given to a new wave of spiritual seekers, primarily through the elegant, philosophical system of Hermetic Qabalah on nights and weekends.
Qabalah means “to open” or “to receive” and the truth is, even though the corporate culture I was in during 2016 was indeed abusive, I had a great deal of unhealthy ego and blocks to love that I needed to dissolve in order to be able to open to the higher guidance, clarity, and hope that I was seeking.
In short, my soul was longing to move beyond being driven by purely ego and appetite, and this is what “waking up” to conscious awareness is largely about. We start to become “woke” when we realize and actively try to understand a deeper meaning, purpose, and connection – when we’re willing to look beyond physical reality – and open up to metaphysical universal truths.
Now, more than four years after spirit told Naha I was a “teacher,” it is my honor to teach within the beautiful community of seekers that 22 Teachings is constantly evolving into.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced our community to get creative, and we’ve moved our readings, meditations, rituals, classes, and courses to an online format. But we hold the group intention to gather in person again, as soon as it is physically safe to do so.
In addition to tarot and astrology chart readings, I teach two levels of Astrology School, now over the internet through the Zoom platform:
• Level 1: “Understanding Astrological Energy”
• Level 2: “Beginning Western Astrological Natal Chart Reading.”
My goal in my teaching is to help students find clarity, embrace the connection of all things, and create compassion for the authentic natures of self and others through a deep understanding of the archetypal energy found in astrology.
I’m very clear that teaching these courses is much bigger than just me being “a teacher,” but it is about me helping others in the same way that Naha helped me. I’m grateful for the seekers, students, and community that helps me to do this.
One of my daily prayers is to “reach my highest and best good so that I may help others to do the same” – and as spirit noted while I laid on Naha’s healing table those many years ago – “This being is a teacher.” And so it is.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
My metaphysical journey, like any process of self-realization and growth, has not always been easy or smooth, but I think the most challenging part was when people didn’t really “get it” and actively discouraged me from pursuing my studies.
A few vocal folks tried to say things to disparage, shame, or embarrass me, often through my family. It took a little bit of a toll on me when the people who had traditionally been supportive of my interests started to question my sanity and motives.
But eventually, when my family saw how much metaphysical study was helping me, and noted how happy it made me, then everyone in my life got onboard. Some of my biggest early critics are now my strongest supporters, and it really taught me that when others don’t support you, sometimes you just need to support yourself.
Now my biggest challenge is balancing the demands of my communications career with my passion for teaching students and reading for clients. I don’t have much free time, but it is a sacrifice I’m happy to make if it helps improve the quality of life of even one person in Los Angeles, or now that we’ve moved online, across the nation.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
The services I provide are tarot readings, astrology natal chart readings, energy work, group meditations, lectures, and teaching 8-week astrology courses.
I’m especially proud of the Astrology School courses. I set out to use my communications experience to create the courses that I would want to learn from. And it turns out my 15 years in PR has helped me become pretty adept at boiling down complex subjects to make them easily understandable and useful. Yet I try to provide enough advanced insights, that just like an all-levels yoga class, my courses are appropriate for students at any stage of their metaphysical journey.
What really makes the courses I teach different is that some of the understandings of the information I’ve channeled through pathworking meditations utilizing the tree of life of Hermetic Qabalah. The courses are taught through this lens and use the tarot as a pictorial guide to the archetypes at play in Western astrology.
In my opinion, these courses offer one of the deepest understandings of astrology available because they use the whole system of Hermetic Qabalah to help students acquire a strong fundamental framework of knowledge that they can continue to build on. The 22 Teachings Astrology School courses are designed to enable serious wisdom seekers to create more love, empathy, unity, and connection in their lives – and I think they activate on all of those things – and this is exactly the legacy I hope my work will leave in the world after I’ve left it.
I also really enjoy being able to work with clients and students one-on-one during readings, which can help to clarify the karma that their soul agreed upon for this lifetime, and helps them to identify the optimal path available to them to accomplish what they came into their incarnation to achieve.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was pretty shy. I watched a lot of old movies and basically acted like a mini-adult. As a child, I liked animals, music that told stories, and I enjoyed dance class. I did fairly well in school, but for the most part, I just wanted to fly under the radar and not attract too much attention to myself.
If I didn’t believe so strongly in the benefits of the work that we’re doing at 22 Teachings I’d probably still just want to fly under the radar, but I truly trust that Hermetic Qabalah can help people, especially right now – and I’m living proof of its effectiveness. As I tell my students, “We put service over nervous” when we’re in a position to be able to help others.
Pricing:
- Tarot Readings: Special discounted pricing on tarot readings with me, to help anyone in need of guidance during this time of COVID-19 distancing: 30 minutes for $60, 45 minutes for $80, 60 minutes for $100
- Astrology Natal Chart Readings: Includes a written interpretation and 75-minute reading for $250
- 8-Week Astrology Courses: $280 (and when we meet in-person again there is also a $40 materials fee, which is currently waved for online classes)
Contact Info:
- Address: 900 E 1st St Suite 312
Los Angeles, CA 90012
by phone and online - Website: https://22teachings.com
- Phone: 323-362-2615
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @tenth_house_sun
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/22teachings
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