Redvelations: A Soul’s Journey to Becoming Human, by Sera Beak
Sounds True, 9781622039135, 288 pp., 2018
It’s not every day you hear someone proclaim they hold the soul fragment within them of the long abandoned daughter of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. Sera Beak in her poignantly funny and captivating new book, Redvelations, details her personal experience of soul retrieval as she becomes one with the missing piece of her soul named Sarah and the impact this has on her spiritual journey. The book is non-fiction and documents Beak’s lived experience of reclaiming her soul to embody love in true form by coaxing Sarah home.
Redvelations is written in a rather poetic form. There are five sections in the book: “Welcome,” “Backward,” “The Past,” “The Present,” and “Forward.” Each section is broken down into short chapters. The chapters are only a few pages long and they are written much like stanzas in a poem. There is a clear flow, but the book can be choppy at times, switching between past and present. It feels as though Beak is sharing her story in quick bursts and she smooths this over by guiding the reader through her process, writing “Break Time” after laying heavy information.1 Visually, the book is appealing with red words cover the stark white pages, bringing a visceral feeling to the read through the sensation of the colour.
As Beak lets the reader know right off the bat, “much of this book takes place in the soul realm.”2 She describes how the soul realm does not rely on rationality, what history has taught or much sense at all. Rather, the soul is concerned with how one feels. The expression of the soul’s reality can cause disruption in the collective agreed-upon reality and it is for this reason one may be quick to dismiss her story as a figment of imagination. However, through Redvelations it is evident Beak has a clear sense of clarity of her soul’s process, without inflation of ego or madness of psychosis. Although, at times I am sure she felt both!
The premise of the story is focused on Beak’s journey to reclaim Sarah, a missing fragment of her soul, who is the long exiled daughter of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. Beak presents her story with humour, as she is well aware of the both audacious and radical notion she is putting forth. Redvelation serves a Beak’s own living testament to the power of love and the authentic journey of the soul. Her portrayal of the story fosters a sense of connection between her and reader, as though she is speaking to a close friend or confidant. The way she makes fun of her experience, incredulous at the twists and turns of it herself, convinced me she was living out a piece of her own soul’s journey. I could relate to how things can just get weird in the soul realm and you have no choice but to continue to follow the path to see what may unravel.
Beak’s writing is powerful in its simplicity. She offers an entirely new vantage point to understand the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, from the point of view of the their daughter, Sarah. She was created in sublime love, as Jesus and Mary copulated and shared in the ecstasy of union with another. Through Sarah, the reader experiences the crucifixion of Jesus and subsequent journey of Mary to continue to pass on the teachings of what her and Jesus uncovered together. Sarah continually feels like somewhat of an outsider, as her parent’s fame cast a shadow over her life. In time, certain men want to cover up the truth of her parent’s teaching. Sarah is the living embodiment of the love shared between Jesus and Mary and therefore becomes a threat to the doctrine being developed, which is straying from the message of love her parents conveyed. As a result Sarah is manipulated, abandoned and left in the dark where no one will be reminded of her. This leads to immense soul trauma in Sarah, who disassociates from the connection to the source of love at this time, until Beak revives her through her synchronistic and deeply transformational journey.
Beak’s journey and Sarah’s become one as they move through a slow process of reconnecting. Sarah is fragmented from her own connection to the soul through love, and is simultaneously the missing piece of Beak’s soul as well. This sounds more confusing than it is because once Beak explains the concept it is quickly compounded. It was interesting to read about this interconnection between Sarah and Beak on a soul level and the citations that arose as a result. For instant, Sarah reacted to circumstances in Beak’s life that were triggering to her wounds, such as public speaking, for she had seen the destruction of her cherished family for being vocal about what they believed. Beak has to not only deal with her own wounds, but also the scars of Sarah’s past life experiences. There is a fascinating connection explored in the story between the soul retrieval process, the wounding of past lives, and Beak’s physical body. At one point in the story, she actually needs a surgical procedure in connection the wounds she is working through both internally and through Sarah. Beak remains courageous in the face of physical pain, mental anguish, and soulful revelation.
I highly enjoyed Redvelations and felt Beak was being very honest in her writing. I was hesitant to read this book, because I was not a fan of her earlier The Red Book: A Deliciously Unorthodox Approach to Igniting Your Divine Spark, as it did not seem to come from a place of genuine spiritual wisdom. It felt like she was trying to create an image and was caving to external demands of how a spiritual journey should look. I was surprisingly refreshed when Beak acknowledged herself in the past writing, “although I passionately (and publicly) preached the opposite, the truth was that I was gravely disconnected.”3 Redvelations has a much more quality feel and Beak’s depth of wisdom gained from her reclaiming of Sarah is a true redemption of her writing.
There are forces inside and outside of us that want us to think we’re “crazy” for having these kinds of experiences, thereby succeeding in separating us from the only Reality that can make us Whole. We believe these forces not only at the cost of our soul, but also at the cost of our body and this very planet. We need to believe in Something Bigger: Ourselves.4
Reading Redvelations was empowering for my own spiritual journey. Beak really inspired me to honour my own soul’s guidance and knowledge, even when it seems absolutely against the grain of what is commonly believed or accepted. I feel it is powerful when authors begin to write the truth of their lived experience, akin to a revolutionary act. I agree with Beak that more so now than ever it is vital that we learn to listen to the story of our souls and have the courage to share that truth openly and honestly with others. History is being rewritten through those who have the bravery within to go deep into the wounds and resurrect love into the world. People around the globe are beginning to question their faith, as Christianity is re-examined. It is vital to tap into our feelings, honor our bodies and uphold the sovereignty of soul. These are messages that Beak communicates in her writings and ones that I feel are vital to be brought up at this time.
I can’t be a Goddess. Or an Enlightened Masteress. Or the immaculate child of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. I have to be everything my inflated ego and deflated wounds and this fixing, perfecting, proving, achieving, winning, self-helping, enlightenment-seeking, spiritually overambitious culture resists being. I have to be human. It is the only Way True love can Incarnate here.5
I absolutely adored Beak’s humbling conclusion that all we can be is human. Being in the world is an incredibly special journey of love. We are the opportunity to hold our wounds with care and release the barriers that we have erected towards true love. Beak, despite her profound experience, realized it is not about establishing herself as special, or some authority on spirituality. The key is cultivating compassion, for ourselves and others, as we battle the fear of disconnection and abandonment from our spiritual centre. I deeply respect the way she was always to share a story, one that turns thousands of years of Christianity upside, and in the end declare herself as nothing more than an average human being. Putting herself into the same category as myself, as everyone else in the world, she does a service towards ushering in a new paradigm of spirituality. Hierarchies no longer need to propagate history, control the truth or distort how we share love among one another. Each soul has it’s own unique path to follow, its own knowingness from within and love to bring forth. This is a revelation I am on board with.
I recommend Redvelations: A Soul’s Journey to Becoming Human to anyone interested in reclaiming pieces of the soul and the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. While the book is not a light read by any means, Beak has done a wonderful job of writing a story that readers will be able to resonate with at a soul level, while laughing and crying along with her. She invites us to feel the pain of the sacred wounds, embody our experiences and emerge with the radiance of love.
