1.
What is your newest book, Tales of an Urban Mystic,
about? I tell the
spiraling stories of my life, beginning with my memories in the womb, of the
mystical, spiritual, transformative experiences that define me as a person and
shape my work as a writer and a teacher.
2.
What inspired you to write it? For years I’ve reflected on the amazing
things that have happened to me – visits from dead grandparents, remembering
past lives, talking with angels and God, which both ground me in the prophetic
traditions of many cultures, and in our culture make me wonder if I might be
crazy. Being locked in the house in fire season and then during Covid gave me
time and the impulse to think about my life, and then God told me that She
wanted me to write them all down, for myself, to support others who have
similar experiences, and to inspire readers to own their own inner wisdom.
3.
Why do you feel it essential that we ground ourselves
in ancient wisdom? We are living in the face of possible
climate extinction, with political, racial, class, and regional divisions
growing stronger, in a time of increasing violence against the planet and
against each other. This breaks my heart. More than 90% of the violence in the
world is done by – men. And as a man myself it seems essential, if we’re going
to survive as a species, that we own our ancient innate Earth-wisdom, own what
we brought with us from our previous incarnations and from the ancestral wisdom
in our bodies that’s allowed us to survive for so long.
4.
What are some examples of beliefs or actions that you
hope people expose themselves to, and embrace, in an authentic way? I hope that
readers of my work will massage themselves every morning and evening, to ground
in their body in a deep spiritual way. I hope when they’re outside that they
won’t listen to podcasts, music, or talk on the phone, but notice everyone and
everything they pass. I hope they’ll open to clues from past lives. For
example, they grew up in a Mexican or a Sudanese family, but from the time they
were little they loved Japanese food, art, and music! And one of their
grandmothers was an herbal healer. Their parents teased her about that, in the
face of the American medical industry, but that innate gift – a connection to
the Earth and its power to heal – they inherited and can awaken in themself.
5.
How did you come to attain the wisdom that you have
now? I’d say I
was born this way. That it’s a genetic trait. Other people have different
genetic traits that I lack. I’m vision-impaired, can’t dribble a basketball or
drive a car, but I can open up to the inner wisdom that I carry and can share
with others, and have shared for decades in my writing and teaching. And I’m not the only one who can do
this. There are so many of us.
6.
What does it really mean to be a mystic? To be open to what
some people call God, All That Is, The Eternal. To be open
to our inner voices and outer visions. To not be afraid to experience the world
in ways that we were not taught to do in school, and rarely see reflected
around us in positive ways. And to share what we experience with others, for in
every culture in history there were people who did this, seers, prophets,
visionaries. It’s both unusual, and a job – like cook, nurse, babysitter,
car dealer, bus driver.
7.
Why were you ordained (a maggid) twice, both by a
rabbi and a pastor? About 15 years ago
three rabbi friends said, “If we were Orthodox, you would
have been ordained a rabbi a long time ago, and we want to ordain you.” I planned to apply to rabbinic school when I
got out of college, but I was newly out as gay, knew there was no way that I
would be accepted if I told them, was too young and proud to go back in the
closet, and there was no one there to tell me to be quiet about it, that no one
would ask. Honored and delighted by
their offer, I said I needed to think about it. That night in meditation I sat
down with my ancestors. The Orthodox ones said “Your Hebrew is terrible and
your Aramaic is worse.” The Communist ones said, “So you’re going to sign on
with the enemy.” I went back to the friends and said, “Thank you, but no thank
you,” and one said, “Well, you’re actually more a maggid than a rabbi.” A
maggid is a storyteller in the Jewish tradition. I mentioned this to a few
other friends and one day, spontaneously, a rabbi friend and a pastor friend
pulled me to my feel in the sanctuary of my synagogue, where the pastor’s
church meets on Sunday, and they ordained me as a maggid. A
few months later the rabbi of my synagogue ordained me again
as a maggid, publicly, in the midst of our community. I do feel like a maggid,
but sometimes I wish I’d said yes to the rabbi offer.
8.
You say that all of your work -- as a writer, healer,
professor, book editor, and writing coach -- is about the power of
stories to heal our world. What is the key to conveying a good story? Let the story flow
from your heart and soul, not from your brain. Let the story flow through your heart and soul from your muses,
however you experience them, as
ancestors, angels, God, your own inner voice. Both ground
your stories in the world and in the stories of our/your ancestors, and own
your inspiration, your tradition’s sacred texts, and don’t be afraid to rewrite
them, even radically.
9.
You have authored or co-authored 20 books. One of them
was a run-away best-seller, Ask Your Angels, which sold over 650,000
copies. Why do you feel that one resonated with readers and became so
popular? Angels are such a
part of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions, which the majority of people in
this county come from, even if they don’t remain believers. And I know from
personal experience and from talking to hundreds and
hundreds of other people over the decades, that
angels are whispering to us all the time, and lots of
us want support in learning how to better hear them,
hence the power of our book, which teaches readers how to do that, step by
step.
10. Several of your
acclaimed books straddle diverse worlds of angels, Jewish spirituality, and
queerness. How do you reconcile each of them and bring what you have learned
about each of them into a cohesive approach to life? I
think of myself as an insider-outsider. And from having lived in the world for
so long, in several different places, I know that
everyone is in some way a composite entity, seeking to weave together who they
are, who they were taught they’re supposed to be, who they want to be, and who
they hope to become. I’ve had amazing teachers who guided me in my journey, and
now as an elder it’s my task to pass on what
they taught me through the lens of my own experiences, to support others in
their own chosen journey.
Do You Need Book Marketing Help?
Brian
Feinblum can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com He is available to help authors like you to promote
your story, sell your book, and grow your brand. He has over 30 years of
experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him
be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!
About Brian Feinblum
This award-winning blog has generated over
5,600,000 page views. With 5,500+ posts over the past 14 years, it was named
one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2021
and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” Copyright 2026.
For
the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He
formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the
head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the
director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many
first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with
best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen,
Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard,
Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C.
Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.
His
writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s
The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully). He was recently interviewed by the IBPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BhO9m8jbs
He
hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and
has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah
Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association,
Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and
Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the
2024 IBPA Book Awards.
His
letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal,
USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester)
and The Washington Post. His first published book was The
Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook. It
was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.
Born
and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids,
and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.
You
can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum
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