David is a linguist, a devoted student of languages (French, German, Russian, Japanese and Indonesian), exploring the impact of words on our culture, in our relationships with each other, and the way we engage with our perceived "understanding" or meanings of things. David was raised in the ancient Druidic tradition of the Oghama -- an investigation of the sense-world-relationship. He coalesces these studies into his work as a Teacher at the Nine Gates Mystery School.

Pat Talbot has a diverse business and professional background spanning 30 years. She is a lawyer and maintains her membership in the California State Bar. She currently has her own business providing loans to low income borrowers to purchase mobile homes. Her background also includes Engineering and Risk Management.

Dr. Gay Luce is a Transpersonal Psychologist, author of five books translated into seven languages, and three-time recipient of the American Psychological Association award for journalism. Dr. Luce also founded SAGE, a revitalization program that became the prototype for current work on aging. During her spiritual initiation, she spent a month in India with Gopi Krishna, joined Claudio Naranjo's Seekers of Truth, and worked extensively with Rinpoche Tarthang Tulku and other Tibetan masters.

David Matthews is now retired, after over 40 years experience in the computer industry working with and for large corporations in both the US and Europe. David's work experience includes managing multi-national engineering groups, marketing organizations, product management groups and starting up entrepreneurial small businesses within large corporations.

Mary spent 16 years in the computer software industry doing technical support, course development and training. She later received her Master's degree in Counseling and did post-graduate work in Clinical and Paranormal Psychology, as well as in Organization Development at the Humanistic Psychology Institute. She worked part time as a psychotherapist intern and has also developed, administered, summarized and reported attitude surveys for organizations.

Rigby Leighton has over 50 years of experience in the health care field with expertise in statistical research and evaluation, financial planning and modeling, information system design, quality assurance, new program development and executive management. He is currently an independent consultant in managed health care.