Rev. Mangala Meridian

"It is time to LIVE IN JOY and choose to see life as a blessing
for personal healing and transformation." 

My mission is to share with others the understanding that it is time for us to know that our true essence is to live joyfully, to see ourselves as already whole, and to choose to see life as a blessing to share with others.

The journey of my life brought me from St. Louis, MO to the Bay Area in 1973 where a path of spiritual healing and personal growth led me to many healing modalities.  As a “truth seeker” I knew I needed to heal my spirit before I could heal my emotional, physical or relationship issues. 

Through my loving partner of 23 years (Rev. Scott Phillips) I found the powerful, loving, compassionate Raja Yoga Path of Paramhansa Yogananda and the unconditional love and compassion of Amma, “The Hugging Saint”.  These teachings expanded my heart so that I could surrender to gifts that life has to offer me, both the exquisite and the painful. These spiritual paths introduced me to the concept of bringing spirit into my daily actions, and that the truth is inside me.

At the Ananda Church of Self-Realization near Grass Valley, CA (an intentional spiritual community based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda), Scott and I met Doug Hughes and Bhavani Gerard who became the founders of the Interfaith Circle and helped facilitate its minister training program.  The four of us, along with Muriel Paranteau and two others were ordained in 1997 by Rabbi Gelberman who founded the New Seminary in New York (out of which came the Golden Gate Interfaith Seminary and The Interfaith Circle).

Since 1997, I, along with my husband, Scott Phillips, and others, have been core ministers at the Interfaith Circle in Alameda. For over the last 10 years we have been offering worship services featuring a different faith tradition each month, officiating in weddings and other ceremonies and acting as spiritual counselors.

The Interfaith Circle offers an open, sharing and inspirational space for all who are interested in different faith traditions.  I am honored to be among this talented, loving and caring group of ministers who offer selflessly to others an inclusive perspective of what religions have to offer.

Along with the Interfaith Circle ministry, I began to study energy healing modalities and received a Naturopathic Degree from Clayton College of Natural Health with an emphasis on energy work. I then became an instructor and practitioner of the Spiritual Unfoldment Network (S.U.N.) esoteric energies (www.spiritunfold.com).  I am also a Clarity Breathwork Practitioner (www.claritybreathwork.com).  I call this breathwork “The Adventure of You”.