Growing Into Wisdom and Grace: Evolving From Religion to Spirituality

By Toni C Romano

My hope is that you will be inspired to face life's challenges, such as health, death, work, decision-making and relationships, with the help of universal laws and time-proven metaphysical exercises. Learn about how the tools I applied when evolving from conservative, evangelical Christianity beginnings to inclusive Spirituality; negative belief

• Language: English
• Publisher: Toni Camille Romano
• Release date: Dec 18, 2020
• ISBN: 9780578806396

Book preview

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Kudos

Growing Into Wisdom and Grace is a fascinating portrait of one woman’s lifelong journey to come to know her own soul on the way to discovering who she was always meant to be. Toni Romano has written an honest and compelling memoir rich in detail and heartwarming anecdotes. The book provides a glimpse into the joy-filled life of a compassionate connector dedicated to serving the world and the kind of faith that can sustain us during those moments of tragedy that are part of life on earth. Toni’s unique path to better understanding wisdom and grace is both a welcoming personal story and a guidebook, offering practical advice to anyone ready to apply spiritual principles in their lives and fulfill the ancient mystical mandate to Know thyself.

M.K. Welsch

Sacred Journey: Edgar Cayce, the Bible,

and the Path to Enlightenment

Toni Romano’s life story unfolds at the intersection of seeking and service. Rather than these two great life-themes pulling her in opposing directions, they instead each enrich and support Toni’s efforts to better understand herself and the universe in which she lives, while at the same time providing wisdom and passionate devotion to the care and well-being of others. I have experienced this creative dynamic in Toni’s life as an observer and friend for 30 years; but these interlocking themes become even more evident to me in reading her memoirs. Anyone who personally wants to be on a path of self-knowledge and who wants to make a difference in our troubled world will surely gain inspiration and hope from reading Toni’s story and the eight-and-half decades that it spans. As I read Toni’s story, I am also struck by what an appropriate subtitle she has chosen: Evolving from Religion to Spirituality! Like a square that grows into a cube, Toni’s journey—just like our own—doesn’t need to negate the foundation from which it began, even as life-experiences awaken us to a higher dimensional way of knowing and living.

Mark Thurston

Author, University Professor, Co-Founder of the

Personal Transformation and Courage Institute

No two words capture the essence of Toni Romano better than Compassionate Connector. I first met Toni when she was creating a core team for the A.R.E. Heartland Region in Chicago. There were nearly a dozen strong personalities in that group, and I watched in awe as Toni masterfully supported and inspired each of us to work as a cohesive team and do some truly innovative work together. Later, she initiated my leading an A.R.E. Team of my own in Charlottesville, VA. Over the years I have turned to her for leadership advice and have learned much by watching her enormous capacity to forgive. As a speaker, leader, friend, mentor, and now as a writer, she continues to be an empowering and loving guide. This memoir is an exemplary example of a soul who truly walks her talk.

Joanne DiMaggio, MA, CHt

Author, Speaker, Past-Life Researcher

I believe that upon passing from this plane of existence to the next, each individual is given the opportunity of having a life review—a personal encounter with their most meaningful experiences (both positive and negative). Rather than waiting for that enfoldment, Toni Romano has done an incredible job of reviewing her life while she is still living it! In an easy-to-read narrative that explores her upbringing (and the insecurities we all face growing up), through the various roles we play in life, through a wealth of experiences (from being a shy student, to becoming a preacher’s wife, to being a mother and even losing a child, to undertaking a variety of management occupations, and continuing to be of service even now) she examines a full and diverse 85 years. It is a story that explores how an individual can evolve from the narrow confines of a system of personal beliefs to a broader and more open understanding of the oneness of all life. It is a story that explores a full life, filled with growth, and possibilities, and challenges. It is the story of each of us, told through Toni’s own experience. I recommend it.

Kevin Todeschi

Executive Director and CEO of Edgar Cayce’s

A.R.E. and Atlantic University

This book is exhilarating! Toni Romano is bright, energetic, and very accomplished. Growing up first generation American in a down-home fundamental Christian family, her story evolves into a college educated freedom fighter deeply engaged in a life of purpose and determination. Highly organized and motivated to manage her young family, Toni must keep things financially stable. She is forced into the professional work world while raising three beautiful daughters. Faith carries her through impossible trials, sorrow, and turmoil eventually forcing her to grow, question, and explore personal belief systems. Carrying the IDEAL OF SERVICE AS HER SOUL’S HIGHEST PURPOSE, Toni Romano evolves as a leader for the ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH AND ENLIGHTENMENT. Her life is a beautiful manifesto of honestly embracing the true self and the soul’s highest purpose. Her pilgrimage carries her through many venues while seeking happiness through relationships and understanding of the human element. We can all learn from this excellent book. Now in reflection we, the reader, get a glimpse of the many gifts and blessings Toni Romano has brought to the world.

Betsy York

Retired Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation

Former Member of the A.R.E. Board of Trustees

A compelling and intimate portrait of a carefully examined life. That Toni is one of us—a long-time student of the Cayce readings and a veteran of the A.R.E.—makes her story all the more insightful. Toni explores love, family life, illness, deaths and births—but above all, a life of service. Finding her way helps us to find our own. By finding her emotional center, we are better equipped to find our own.

Sidney & Nancy Kirkpatrick

Authors: Edgar Cayce: An American Prophet and

True Tales from the Edgar Cayce Archives

Growing Into

Wisdom and Grace

Evolving From Religion to Spirituality

Toni Camille Romano

Copyright © 2020 by Toni Camille Romano

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Interior Design by Darlene Swanson: www.Van-garde.com

Cover design by Carol Hicks: www.Art-World.com

Edgar Cayce readings used by permission: Edgar Cayce Readings

© 1971, 1993-2007 by The Edgar Cayce Foundation,

Virginia Beach, VA. All Rights Reserved.

March 26, 2019 Daily Word: Reprinted with permission

of Unity, publisher of Daily Word

Contact Toni at: [e-mail]

ISBN: 978-0-578-80638-9 (paperback)

ISBN: 978-0-578-80639-6 (ebook)

Contents

Kudos

Dedicated to

Special Appreciation

Foreword

Introduction

Significant Events in My Life

Part 1 Where Did It All Begin?

Chapter 1 Uncovering Life Patterns

Chapter 2 My Foundation and Early Childhood

Part 2 Discovering New Spiritual Principles

Chapter 3 What is an Ideal?

Chapter 4 Living a Life of Service: Part 1

Chapter 5 Can Service Go Too Far?

Chapter 6 Importance of Will and Choice in Living One’s Ideal

Chapter 7 How Prayer, Meditation, and Faith Support My Ideal

Part 3 Applying Spiritual Principles

Chapter 8 Facing Physical Health Challenges

Chapter 9 Be Careful What You Ask For

Chapter 10 Dreams and Out of Body Experiences

Chapter 11 Other Psychic Phenomena

Part 4 I Couldn’t Do It Alone

Chapter 12 Support Groups

Chapter 13 Influential People in My Life

Part 5 The Finale

Chapter 14 A New Understanding of Death Emerges

Chapter 15 P.S.

Afterthoughts

Photos

Dedicated to

Special Appreciation

Rosalie Deer Heart in 2018 read the spiral bound book I put together for my 80th birthday and said, You have a memoir here! She was my inspiration, my mentor, my friend.

Una Marcotte, a writer friend, worked with me throughout the writing of this book and used her professional skills to help me find my writing voice and make my story into a more lively, readable narrative.

Dennis Chrisbaum, with his eagle eye, gave the first pass at correcting punctuation, tense, and other technical matters. He was very helpful.

Alice Bonnefoi, special friend who found errors overlooked by others.

Carol Hicks, artist extraordinaire, and technical expertise, added her creative designs and

artful expressions.

Nancy Delle Femine, who posed as my audience to give me helpful feedback as I wrote each chapter of my story.

Judith Stevens and Mary Elizabeth Lynch assisted me with technical information regarding A Search for God and Personal Transformation and Courage Institute.

Special appreciation goes to Sandra Clark who, with her keen eye, untiring energy, and warm heart, made the editing process a fun experience.

I have so much gratitude and appreciation to

all my family and friends who encouraged me as I moved along to tell my story. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Foreword

Writing your first book is

a daunting task—especially when you have lived through eight and one-half decades! It is a courageous act for a woman to dare to write lived memories that include: hopes, heartbreaks, emotional and mental patterns, dreams, moral dilemmas, breakthroughs, and epiphanies.

Toni’s story is multi layered and multi-dimensional. Reviewing the significant events in one’s life takes courage, energy, focused intention, perseverance, compassion, and a large dose of humor. A woman’s journey is circuitous regardless of the timeline that appears immediately before Chapter 1.

The task for a memoirist centers on the question, How do you remember yourself? From a historical perspective, what matters most is how specific events continue to inform our decisions and expand both our consciousness and our sensitivity.

Being introduced to the philosophy and works of Edgar Cayce in 1983 was a Future Pull event for Toni. For thirty-seven years she studied and embodied his principles about ideals, nutrition, intuition, meditation, prayer, and the continuity of life. When she ushered others into their dying time, she had full confidence that their life would continue in another dimension. She graduated from being a devoted student to being a teacher.

Toni discovered her wholeness as she embodied the emotional, intellectual, and physical ideals of service. She took to heart Cayce’s reading 488-6, KNOW the ideal. Measure the moral life, the social life, the material life, the spiritual life, by that standard.

As a dedicated student and later a teacher of the works of Edgar Cayce for thirty-seven years, Toni identified service and love as two of her ideals.

Midway through the reflective writing process, Toni discovered that writing was another aspect of her ideal of service. Furthermore, she dared to listen to her own inner prophetic voice and shares her intuitive insights.

Like many women, Toni learned at an early age how to be an over-giver and an over-achiever—sometimes at the expense of her own soul growth. Gradually, she realized that she needed to balance going outward and caring for others by returning inward and loving herself. Without committing time for honest introspection and gratitude, Toni would not have completed this book. Extending service and love to herself was a major life lesson.

Along her journey, Toni realized that her soul’s growth demanded that she face her shadow—the disowned and unloved parts of self that we project on others at our peril. One of the gifts she bestows on her readers is her discovery that until she integrated her shadow aspects, she was not fully present to claim her own ideals, gifts, and talents.

Forever a curious student, Toni’s inquiring mind asks repeatedly:

What did I discover?

What is mine to do?

What is mine to become?

In her later years, Toni discovered that it is our Presence that matters—not so much what we do. A surrendered life requires letting go of control and embracing the present and the future as places of revelation—not fear.

I have witnessed Toni being an angel to people who were suffering alone and sometimes dying. Although she would dismiss my observation with her elfish smile, I have witnessed her consistently and persistently uplifting the spirits of many. She has learned how to presence herself and not only uplifts the spirits of others, but also invites others to embrace their authentic selves.

Part of the beautiful legacy that she leaves her daughters is a joyful, surrendered life that is grounded in service, love, and compassion. As readers, we, too, are blessed by both her life and her legacy.

Rosalie Deer Heart

Author of Joy Re-Awakened

Introduction

F

ive years ago as I

turned 80 years old, I was struck by how old 80 seemed to me. I didn’t feel old, yet 80 years on the planet sounded ancient!

How times have changed in eight decades. Something as simple as how we communicate with one another has evolved tremendously. Our first home telephone line was shared by a neighboring party and was four digits in length: 4022. In a few years it became 2-4022, next 422-4022, and eventually 217-422-4022. Today nearly everyone has a cell phone, many discontinuing their landline altogether. In fact, when I travel overseas, I can call, text, or FaceTime with family and friends. I was even able to send money to someone using my cell phone.

We started in the ’50s with small black and white television sets, then color TV, now some folks have a TV in each room in the house! Of course, we now have computers or iPads to connect us to the Internet, cable, Facebook, zoom, and many ways of staying in touch. It is possible to get an education online, even a PhD. Can you imagine?

We’ve gone from a potato masher and a hand-held whip to a gadget for every food preparation task imaginable! We have electric mixers, coffee makers that brew from a single cup to gallons for special occasions, crock pots, steamers, electric fryers, choppers, blenders, stick mixers, juicers, salad spinners—too many to name all.

Milk was delivered by a horse-drawn cart when I was a child, next a motorized truck, then milk became available in the local grocery store, and finally in a supermarket that is oftentimes part of a mall that includes general department stores, hardware stores, dress shops, shoe stores, luggage stores, appliance stores, and camera shops.

Until I was a junior in high school, we walked to school and rode the city bus to get where we had to go. Now children are picked up on the corner to ride on a school bus or taken to school by car.

Transportation has changed dramatically over the years. Families have at least one car, maybe a van or an SUV. Some vehicles are hybrids that use less gas, and now they make electric cars that use no gas. What’s next? Cars that drive themselves? Yes, actually.

When I was a child, we had a family doctor that made house calls on occasion. Today I have a Primary Care Physician, an Endocrinologist, Gastroenterologist, Oncologist, Pulmonologist, and Ophthalmologist! In addition to an X-ray, I’ve had a diagnostic CAT scan, PET scan, Octreotide scan (tumor-localization scan), and finally the latest: the Gallium 68 Dotatate PET/CT scan.

Many more changes could be included. These are the major ones that have touched my life.

As I spent the last few decades of my life searching, examining, sorting, evaluating, changing my beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and actions, I realized that my daughters really didn’t know me anymore. I had evolved from evangelical Christian teachings to a secular non-religious life and eventually to a new understanding of inclusive spirituality.

I realized I needed to pull pieces of myself together to leave some kind of legacy for my daughters and others to understand how these changes within me came about. As I looked around the room for a starting point, all I could find were partially filled notebooks of journaling, notes from classes I attended, scraps of paper I had jotted thoughts on, and other miscellaneous sources of information. Some legacy!

I decided for my 80th birthday I would assemble the things I’ve written over time in a somewhat chronological order, assembling newspaper clippings of photos that appeared over the years as well as articles that were published. I put it all in a spiral bound book with a cover of a Veil Painting I had created in a class with my friend, Kathleen Reilly.

Once these spiral bound books were completed, I gave copies to my daughters and sisters. A couple of years ago I shared my collection with a friend, Rosalie Deer Heart. Upon examining the collection, she said she saw a memoir in three parts. So my thinking process began. I’d spent my life taking classes, reading self-help articles and books, and I learned new principles and participated in exercises that served me well. As I examine each decade of my life, I realize I’ve done some very interesting things along the way. Perhaps my experiences would help other seeking souls find their way.

And so I began writing this memoir. Rosie gave me some pointers and I read a book on how to write such a book. Then I took an on-line class to learn the process. I began organizing my thoughts on how to convey my life of self-examination and application of what I had learned.

I was side-tracked for a few months traveling and doing some other projects, and then the pandemic of 2020 hit. Suddenly, all the distractions melted away as I quarantined myself per order of the Governor of Virginia. I set a new intention