Copyright © 2009 by William R. Mistele. All rights reserved.
Biography
I
was born in Detroit, Michigan. My
parents were extraordinarily dynamic.
They were patrons of all the major Christian evangelists in the United
States. They had contact with many
political and business leaders. When it
came to motor boats, sailboats, planes, and cars, they either set new records
or owned some of the most famous ones in the world.
In this enchanting environment, you could
come down to breakfast in the morning and meet a house guest like Captain Fuchida who led the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. You could hear the Captain and my mother
discussing previously undisclosed details about the causes of World War
II.
However,
surrounded as I was by relatives who were masters of engineering, business
enterprise, law, and accounting, I pursued a different path.
I graduated from Wheaton College in Wheaton,
Illinois with a BA in philosophy and a minor in economics. At that time, I began studying esoteric, oral
traditions. In genuine mythology,
individuals come into contact with the creative powers of the human
spirit. Words and language possess a
symbolic and imaginative quality that is magical. To understand an idea is to experience it
from within. This involves a life long,
transforming journey--if you change the self, you change the world.
As part of my field research, I lived in a
Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Berkeley, California. I next studied Hopi Indian culture and
language at the University of Arizona where I received a Masters degree in
linguistics. At that time I became the
only accepted student of a Hopi Indian shaman.
While living in Tucson, Arizona I began
studying the Western hermetic traditions and the nature religions of Wiccans
and Druids. I worked with a number of
extremely gifted psychics and parapsychologists whose primary focus was on
experimentation and research. I also
practiced evocation with a Sufi master.
I then moved to Hawaii in 1982. There I studied with the relocated abbot of a
Taoist monastery that existed for over two thousand years in China, a
Vietnamese Zen master, and one of the foremost Tai Chi Chuan masters of
China.
Since 1975, I have been a steadfast student
of the system of initiation taught by the Czech magician, Franz Bardon, who died in the fifties. This system has provided
the methods for contacting nature spirits and interacting with them in a
personal and original manner. Franz Bardon’s mission was to offer a system of self-initiation
that maximizes the spiritual powers and creativity of the individual.
Over the years I have worked as a group
facilitator and a mediator in family and divorce mediation. I have taught as a civilian instructor for
the U.S. navy and marines. I have
researched investing strategies for individuals’ portfolios. I am also a life long student researching
strategies for resolving international conflicts.
I consider myself a spiritual
anthropologist. Expanding on Bardon’s purposes, I am integrating into his system the
wisdom of all traditions. To this end, I
have created a new genre of modern fairy tales.
These stories are not about belief or faith but direct experience. They open gates to other realms where we
discover the keys to what is missing from life.
In 1998, I created a teaching website
where I post my research and writings.
This site currently offers a free correspondence course and on-going
seminar for developing undine empathy. I
am also establishing an archive on this site that gathers individuals’
experiences with undines from around the world.
The goal is to expand and add clarity to the body of world literature in
this area.