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Remembering: The Autobiography of a Mystic
This autobiography of a mystic is a true story -- a story of life after death and love beyond the grave, her quest for a love from a past life whose eyes haunted her dreams, and of contact with a great being from the Other Side whose influence brought illumination to one in search of light. The events that led Earlyne and her husband, Robert, to found Astara, an international organization of spiritual seekers established nearly fifty years ago, are recounted here.
370 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1981
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About the author
Earlyne Chaney
45 books15 followersEarlyne Cantrell Chaney (1916-1997), was a mystic, healer, author, and teacher who wrote more than 100 books on spirituality and New Age subjects. In 1951, with her husband, Robert, she co-founded Astara, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the exploration of spirituality. A native of rural Texas, Chaney abandoned a brief Hollywood acting career to study and advocate the uniting of Eastern and Western religions. She developed a new discipline of meditation and prayer called Lhama Yoga. Among Chaney’s books are the degree series titled Astara's Book of Life and many others, such as Initiation in the Great Pyramid, The Mystery of Death and Dying and Remembering: The Autobiography of a Mystic.
Earlyne's life achievements earned her an honorary Ph.D. in Theology, and renowned commendation in the books, The World's Who's Who of Women, Two Thousand Women of Achievement, and the Who's Who in California. Her Modern Mystery School, Astara is 70 years old and thriving with world-wide members and students spreading the Light and Love of the Book of Life lessons.
"But the real Earlyne Chaney's life cannot be encompassed in biographical statistics. They cannot tell of her childhood psychic experiences, the cosmic illumination of later years, the extraordinary interweaving of lives and circumstances which first delayed and then developed her writing talents, nor the thousands who have benefitted from her philosophy and her natural capacity to heal those who are suffering from a troubled mind and a painful body."
Earlyne's life achievements earned her an honorary Ph.D. in Theology, and renowned commendation in the books, The World's Who's Who of Women, Two Thousand Women of Achievement, and the Who's Who in California. Her Modern Mystery School, Astara is 70 years old and thriving with world-wide members and students spreading the Light and Love of the Book of Life lessons.
"But the real Earlyne Chaney's life cannot be encompassed in biographical statistics. They cannot tell of her childhood psychic experiences, the cosmic illumination of later years, the extraordinary interweaving of lives and circumstances which first delayed and then developed her writing talents, nor the thousands who have benefitted from her philosophy and her natural capacity to heal those who are suffering from a troubled mind and a painful body."
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June 16, 2023
THE CO-FOUNDER OF ASTARA TELLS THE STORY OF HER LIFE AND EXPERIENCES
Astara co-founder Earlyne Chaney wrote in the ‘From the Author’ section of this 1974 book, “A few pause to scan the stars and ponder… A few begin a search to understand the mystery of it all. These become the mystics, the searchers. I am such a one. From my tenderest years, I think I have known that my life was destined to be filled with a soul-driving search for a God beyond orthodoxy---a greater God---a God in whom I COULD believe. And a gnawing search to understand the mysteries of death. And… to write a book about it to help other seekers. This is the story of my quest and the long way of my finding the light I sought… I hope you will walk the steps of my journey with me. Perhaps such a journey can lead you to the light that I have found: a blessed assurance of a life beyond death; the sure knowledge of a God of love. The God man created is dead. The God who created man can never die. The God man created---the God of wrath, the God who would send His wayward children into the deeps of eternal fires and everlasting punishment---such a God has no place in this age of light. But the God who created man---the God of love, the Supreme Being, the Great Architect of the universe and its multitudinous souls---this God still holds our little world in the hollow of His Hand. And waits to heal us, bless us, guide us and preserve us---eternally.”
She recalls, “Our preacher assured us that if we weren’t saved we’d go to hell after we died, and burn forever… I was nine when I was ‘saved.’ Our bombastic, taut-nostriled Brother Cunningham joined hands that summer with a traveling evangelist who set up a huge tent in our town to hold a revival… He and Brother Cunningham were determined to make a rigorous drive toward increased membership in our church, and the saving of souls. It was during the heat of the revival that I was saved, and all … Christendom never recorded the saving of a more zealous, repentant sinner than I..” (Pg. 40) Later, she adds, “I can’t remember ever thinking of saving people FOR heaven---only saving them FROM hell..” (Pg. 45)
When she was twelve, she states, “Suddenly I felt a quiver over my body… And then I heard his voice. It was not like a human voice… Then I saw him… I finally said to him, ‘Are you God?’ … ‘No,’ came his answer. ‘I am someone who has watched over you a long time. Do not be afraid or me.’ ‘Are you Jesus?’ I asked. ‘No,’ he answered, ‘but I am his disciple.’ … ‘I am your Teacher’… I will come again.” (Pg. 51-52)
Later, “Returning to school, I worked enthusiastically toward finishing my last year. Although I experienced a release from my deep grief, my elation was fused with a strange restless longing for something I could not define. I labelled this indefinable yearning ‘The Call.’” (Pg. 69)
Later, “the Master appeared… He explained why he would retreat from the foreground of my life so that I would not be constantly experiencing restlessness and a reaching to understand The Call… He assured me that Brother Cunningham was totally unnecessary to my salvation. He described how I had scored a victory in discriminating between that which was false and that which was true… He assured me that so long as I recognized the difference between that which was right and that which was wrong and always sought to do that which the Master Jesus would approve… seeking always for more light… I would have no cause to worry about salvation.” (Pg. 78-79)
She became an actress, and during World War II sang with the U.S.O. groups visiting hospitals. (Pg. 114) She planned to marry a man named Marvin Moore, but he died in a plane crash. (Pg. 181) She mused, “The Call had become a song within, Losing Marvin was a high price to pay for my answer to The Call. But through the years when I searched for the right way to go, now I know I was searching for God. I think I am on my way now… Like a slow-parting curtain had come the gradual realization that I was not fulfilling all I should or could. I was running higher and yon, visiting all the Spiritualist churches, metaphysical centers, Unity, New Thought, Religious Science, Christian Science---everything. But mostly I was haunting the Spiritualist churches and sitting in my psychic unfoldment classes… the experience of my own contact with Marvin had been enough to keep me ‘glowing’ for a long time… Claiming to be in touch with Marvin, some of the mediums had given me messages that were so preposterous I could only find them humorous.” (Pg. 229-230)
Finally, “I knew I must begin work in earnest to put the steps of the spiritual discipline to practical use. Now I would have no need to find a teacher, for my own Master had shown me the way, just as he had promised long ago. I ceased wondering why he had let me search so long… He wanted me to become aware that when it came my time to be a leader, he would hope for greater tolerance… a readiness to admit that others could reach God, too… But mostly he wanted me to be aware there IS a secret path beyond dogmatic religion, beyond crystallized science… a path to union with God attainable to all who hear the inner Call.” (Pg. 254)
Later, she began studying meditation, etc. “After receiving my instructions in The Penetralia, and experiencing such incredible inner events. I went seeking my friend the Swami, to share the remarkable happenings. He was not immediately available so, accidentally meeting his chief disciple on the lawn of the church, I poured out a portion of my report…” (Pg. 272)
She states, “After practicing The Great Work for a while, I began to receive additional astonishing Teachings. They poured into my consciousness. It could only be described as a pro0cess of clairsentient intuition… I received strong indications I was to write the Teachings, and that they must one day be made available to countless other seekers.” (Pg. 286-287)
Ultimately, she met psychic Robert Chaney: “In thirty years, here was the first man I had ever found that I knew I wanted to marry… How strange it was that I had fought against marriage for so long, even with Marvin… Now I knew that … wanted to be wherever he was… There were not gnawing doubts.” (Pg. 312-313) They married in 1947. (Pg. 336)
She summarizes, “In 1951 we journeyed to Los Angeles---to stay. It was on October 17th of that year that we opened the new church. Remembering the unhappy days of my spiritual wanderings, its precepts were based upon the principle that all religions were good and needed; that those who wanted to become affiliated with us could bring with them their own God concepts. Although it was a church of mystic Christianity, it was also a place where people of every faith could meet in fellowship and understanding. Nor were members required to relinquish membership in their ‘home’ churches… we extended our concept of Spiritualism to encompass a philosophy wide enough for all the human family. We called the new center ‘Astara---a Place of Light,’ because that was the name given us by our unseen Teachers.” (Pg. 338)
This book will be of interest to those studying Astara, or similar religions.
Astara co-founder Earlyne Chaney wrote in the ‘From the Author’ section of this 1974 book, “A few pause to scan the stars and ponder… A few begin a search to understand the mystery of it all. These become the mystics, the searchers. I am such a one. From my tenderest years, I think I have known that my life was destined to be filled with a soul-driving search for a God beyond orthodoxy---a greater God---a God in whom I COULD believe. And a gnawing search to understand the mysteries of death. And… to write a book about it to help other seekers. This is the story of my quest and the long way of my finding the light I sought… I hope you will walk the steps of my journey with me. Perhaps such a journey can lead you to the light that I have found: a blessed assurance of a life beyond death; the sure knowledge of a God of love. The God man created is dead. The God who created man can never die. The God man created---the God of wrath, the God who would send His wayward children into the deeps of eternal fires and everlasting punishment---such a God has no place in this age of light. But the God who created man---the God of love, the Supreme Being, the Great Architect of the universe and its multitudinous souls---this God still holds our little world in the hollow of His Hand. And waits to heal us, bless us, guide us and preserve us---eternally.”
She recalls, “Our preacher assured us that if we weren’t saved we’d go to hell after we died, and burn forever… I was nine when I was ‘saved.’ Our bombastic, taut-nostriled Brother Cunningham joined hands that summer with a traveling evangelist who set up a huge tent in our town to hold a revival… He and Brother Cunningham were determined to make a rigorous drive toward increased membership in our church, and the saving of souls. It was during the heat of the revival that I was saved, and all … Christendom never recorded the saving of a more zealous, repentant sinner than I..” (Pg. 40) Later, she adds, “I can’t remember ever thinking of saving people FOR heaven---only saving them FROM hell..” (Pg. 45)
When she was twelve, she states, “Suddenly I felt a quiver over my body… And then I heard his voice. It was not like a human voice… Then I saw him… I finally said to him, ‘Are you God?’ … ‘No,’ came his answer. ‘I am someone who has watched over you a long time. Do not be afraid or me.’ ‘Are you Jesus?’ I asked. ‘No,’ he answered, ‘but I am his disciple.’ … ‘I am your Teacher’… I will come again.” (Pg. 51-52)
Later, “Returning to school, I worked enthusiastically toward finishing my last year. Although I experienced a release from my deep grief, my elation was fused with a strange restless longing for something I could not define. I labelled this indefinable yearning ‘The Call.’” (Pg. 69)
Later, “the Master appeared… He explained why he would retreat from the foreground of my life so that I would not be constantly experiencing restlessness and a reaching to understand The Call… He assured me that Brother Cunningham was totally unnecessary to my salvation. He described how I had scored a victory in discriminating between that which was false and that which was true… He assured me that so long as I recognized the difference between that which was right and that which was wrong and always sought to do that which the Master Jesus would approve… seeking always for more light… I would have no cause to worry about salvation.” (Pg. 78-79)
She became an actress, and during World War II sang with the U.S.O. groups visiting hospitals. (Pg. 114) She planned to marry a man named Marvin Moore, but he died in a plane crash. (Pg. 181) She mused, “The Call had become a song within, Losing Marvin was a high price to pay for my answer to The Call. But through the years when I searched for the right way to go, now I know I was searching for God. I think I am on my way now… Like a slow-parting curtain had come the gradual realization that I was not fulfilling all I should or could. I was running higher and yon, visiting all the Spiritualist churches, metaphysical centers, Unity, New Thought, Religious Science, Christian Science---everything. But mostly I was haunting the Spiritualist churches and sitting in my psychic unfoldment classes… the experience of my own contact with Marvin had been enough to keep me ‘glowing’ for a long time… Claiming to be in touch with Marvin, some of the mediums had given me messages that were so preposterous I could only find them humorous.” (Pg. 229-230)
Finally, “I knew I must begin work in earnest to put the steps of the spiritual discipline to practical use. Now I would have no need to find a teacher, for my own Master had shown me the way, just as he had promised long ago. I ceased wondering why he had let me search so long… He wanted me to become aware that when it came my time to be a leader, he would hope for greater tolerance… a readiness to admit that others could reach God, too… But mostly he wanted me to be aware there IS a secret path beyond dogmatic religion, beyond crystallized science… a path to union with God attainable to all who hear the inner Call.” (Pg. 254)
Later, she began studying meditation, etc. “After receiving my instructions in The Penetralia, and experiencing such incredible inner events. I went seeking my friend the Swami, to share the remarkable happenings. He was not immediately available so, accidentally meeting his chief disciple on the lawn of the church, I poured out a portion of my report…” (Pg. 272)
She states, “After practicing The Great Work for a while, I began to receive additional astonishing Teachings. They poured into my consciousness. It could only be described as a pro0cess of clairsentient intuition… I received strong indications I was to write the Teachings, and that they must one day be made available to countless other seekers.” (Pg. 286-287)
Ultimately, she met psychic Robert Chaney: “In thirty years, here was the first man I had ever found that I knew I wanted to marry… How strange it was that I had fought against marriage for so long, even with Marvin… Now I knew that … wanted to be wherever he was… There were not gnawing doubts.” (Pg. 312-313) They married in 1947. (Pg. 336)
She summarizes, “In 1951 we journeyed to Los Angeles---to stay. It was on October 17th of that year that we opened the new church. Remembering the unhappy days of my spiritual wanderings, its precepts were based upon the principle that all religions were good and needed; that those who wanted to become affiliated with us could bring with them their own God concepts. Although it was a church of mystic Christianity, it was also a place where people of every faith could meet in fellowship and understanding. Nor were members required to relinquish membership in their ‘home’ churches… we extended our concept of Spiritualism to encompass a philosophy wide enough for all the human family. We called the new center ‘Astara---a Place of Light,’ because that was the name given us by our unseen Teachers.” (Pg. 338)
This book will be of interest to those studying Astara, or similar religions.
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