Danver Chandler
Mystic. Storyteller. Educator. Cosmopolitan Rebel.
ABOUT
I am a mystic and culture worker, specifically in the vein of nonmaterial culture transmission. It is a role I’ve held since the mid 2000s. This role has evolved from my position as a public school teacher delivering historical facts, perspectives, and knowledge to a desert community matriarch within the world’s largest leave-no-trace counterculture collective, to my current state as writer and online educator, working to bridge the wisdom gap by transmitting mystical knowledge and wisdom ethically, through storytelling and teaching globally minded fundamentals of spirituality.
LONG BIO
My personal odyssey into culture work for spirituality began in the Bible belt, where I was born into a Christian household. At home at the dinner table I was taught hermeneutics by my father. And my childhood days were spent proselytizing locally in the DFW area of Texas.
In college I enrolled in religious courses focused on the spread of Christianity across Africa, and more Biblical hermeneutics. In my early twenties I enrolled in religious courses taught from a non-denominational church.
The catalyst for my departure from the Christian religion came after a proselytizing trip to the Caribbean, where I visited orphanages and spoke to locals in Jamaica. My heart broke at the anti-intellectualism under what I was doing there.
So, by my mid twenties I packed my bags and flew halfway across the planet, seeking answers to my questions.
I landed in South Korea, and in a matter of weeks was enrolled in a spiritual school, where I was under the tutelage of a powerful, yet corrupt teacher. I did not know it at the time, but those two years were a rite of passage and my initiation into mysticism—crucial and formative for my identity as a mystic.
When I returned to the United States I had to reckon with the fact that I’d learned something incredibly precious, but it had been delivered unethically. It was manipulative, and not what spirituality was supposed to be about.
It has taken me more than a decade of unlearning and unpack that time, to reckon with what I had learned and experienced.
I have spent time in satsangas, sitting with Indigenous communities, training and obtaining certifications in other spiritual practices—and my offerings here are the result.
You do not have to enter the spiritual landscape ill-prepared. A reckless approach to the spiritual journey is not the call of modernity. The call of modernity is to close the wisdom gap with the ethical (and global) fundamentals of spirituality, and then embark on your own spiritual journey, prepared.
This cultural transmission is my work, and I currently see it across five stages, in which you remain the captain of your own ship. Perhaps you’ve landed here for this reason. Stopping here for a short while to simply get the resources you need for your own journey.
MORE
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Knowledge transmission is a highly valued skill in nomadic cultures, where the giving of knowledge and wisdom is critical to the survival of people.
I come from a lineage of culture workers—those who protected others from injustice, like my great grandmother Dorothy who by night helped network pathways of freedom for those in need. Like my mother, who taught science. Like my aunt and uncle who deliver medicine to those in pain and poor health.
I became a teacher, focused on building citizenry for the nation. Then I became a counterculture worker in a desert that abhorred commodification and gave praise a world based on gift giving. So today I transmit the depths of wisdom and spiritual knowledge that were transferred to me, and I do so ethically and in integrity.
We are not meant for our spirituality to be fucked with, and it has been—too terribly.
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I have a mixture of ancestry through my mother and father’s lines.
My mother’s lineage points to present day Mozambique in East Africa and Europe (Atlantic Celtic).
My father’s lineage points to present day England in Europe and North Eastern Africa.
Both lines of my parents also carry Indigenous N. American lines. -
As you may have read in my bio, I had a powerful, yet corrupt teacher. Because I am in the midst of a major creative project I am not yet sharing more details here. While I am 100% ready and willing to openly share my full lineage of study, I just ask for your patience until I have the security to share more.
The list below crosses many borders. Eastern Mysticism has its roots in modern-day India from Tantric forms of Buddhism which died out there, but which found its way across East Asia, and into Tibet, and is now traversing the globe. They are people I have learned from, whether in person, or through text.
To note and for their privacy, this list does not include the underground guides that I have studied with.
Mysticism and Meditation
Wŏnhyo (원효) / Machig Labdrön / Dajian Huineng (大鑒惠能) / Seongcheol (성철) / Gampopa Sönam Rinchen (སྒམ་པོ་པ་བསོད་ནམས་རིན་ཆེན།) / Daehaeng Kun Sunim (대행) / Ramana Maharshi / Adyashanti / Dr. Christopher Bache
Yoga
Vinyasa doesn’t directly follow lineage, but I provide my instructors and the known broader lineage.
My teachers: Brad Simanski / Alexandra Geringer / Alex Artymiak. The line of study: Patanjali / Sri Krishnamacharya
Cacao
I do not claim ceremonial Cacao lineage in any way, and I do not offer any ceremonies. To read about my introduction to Cacao and chocolate — and those who first taught me of this plant, visit here.
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Love
I’m here for the love.
Integrity
Self-betrayal is the worst — and keeping in integrity prevents all of that drama.
Growth
There is callus growth — sorta gross. Then there’s there the life-giving growth. I’m here for the latter.
Authenticity
To be honest, I am feeling into this and my mutable signs make it challenging. But I am definitely making the effort to show up as I am.
Health
I have been called a hypochondriac. Fine, I’ll take it. But good doctors — bless them — know what’s up and will guide you to your best health.
Wisdom
There’s a proverb…something like, “Wisdom cries from the rooftops and no one hear’s her…” Honey, my ears are all open — share your wisdom, let me learn some wisdom. I’m here for the wisdom too. -
Gene Key 64/Virgo Sun, Gemini Rising, Leo Moon/ 1,3 Generator
In part, I see my work and role here in a hybrid function across multiple mediums. At heart, a storyteller and translator of the mysterious. A bridge.
I love books. I love learning and helping others to learn too. I have a B.A. in Child Development and Language Study from Southwestern, and an M.Ed. from Vanderbilt in Curriculum Development, and I’ve been creating courses since 2005 - including a course for a National Historic Site in the U.S.
I began my Eastern mysticism study in South Korea in 2011. In 2013 I expanded this with a RYT® 200 certification. I taught meditation in L.A. and continued in my studies with flora and fauna medicines with medicine women and travels into sacred lands with indigenous peoples and healers.
I write about my experiences of adventure and psycho-spirituality at Icing On The Cake and I’m a member-contributor in the writer collective, Foster.
I was born on the ancestral land of the Caddo, Wichita, and Comanche people in present-day Texas. Currently I live on the ancestral land of the Iberians and Celts in present-day Portugal.
I love chocolate (and commune with it) so much that I attended and completed training with the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting. Consuming ethical, slave-free chocolate is very important to me, and this Chocolate Scorecard can help you choose better chocolate too.
