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Toby has a new book out: an updated, revised and expanded edition of his classic soft sci fi romance novel
SECRET MATTER -- with its quirky and mystical spin on what it means to be gay. Click on the title for info.
There's a funny coincidence/synchronicity about the release of this novel

Table of Contents Search Site Also on this website: Toby Johnson's books: TWO SPIRITS: A Story of Life With the Navajo (with Walter Williams) GAY SPIRITUALITY: The Role of Gay Identity in the Transformation of Human Consciousness GAY PERSPECTIVE: Things Our Homosexuality Tells Us about the Nature of God and the Universe SECRET MATTER: updated, revised & expanded edtion from Lethe Press with Afterword by Mark Jordan Read Toby's review of Samuel Avery's The Dimensional Structure of Consciousness Funny Coincidence: "Aliens Settle in San Francisco" GETTING LIFE IN PERSPECTIVE PLAGUE: A NOVEL ABOUT HEALING. Charmed Lives: Spinning Straw into Gold: Reclaiming Our Queer Spirituality Through Story Books on Gay Spirituality: White Crane Gay Spirituality Series   Articles and Excerpts: The Simple Answer to the Gay Marriage Debate Why gay people should NOT Marry Wedding Cake Liberation Gay Marriage in Texas What's ironic Shame on the American People The "highest form of love"  The cause of homosexuality What is homosexuality? What Jesus said about Gay Rights The purpose of homosexuality What the Bible Says about Homosexuality Mesosexual Ideal for Straight Men Varieties of Gay Spirituality Why Gay Spirituality: Spirituality as Artistic Medium "It's Always About You" The myth of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara Joseph Campbell's description of Avalokiteshvara You're Not A Wave Emptiness & Religious Ideas Experiencing experiencing experiencing Going into the Light Meditations for a Funeral Meditation Practice The way to get to heaven Curious Bodies What Toby Johnson Believes The Joseph Campbell Connection Campbell & The Pre/Trans Fallacy The Nature of Religion Being Gay is a Blessing Freedom of Religion The Gay Agenda Gay Saintliness Gay Spiritual Functions The subtle workings of the spirit in gay men's lives.  "The Evolution of Gay Identity" "St. John of the Cross & the Dark Night of the Soul." Avalokiteshvara at the Baths.  Eckhart's Eye Let Me Tell You a Secret Religious Articulations of the Secret The Collective Unconscious Driving as Spiritual Practice Meditation Historicity as Myth Teenage Prostitution and the Nature of Evil Allah Hu: "God is present here"   Adam and Steve The Life is in the Blood Gay retirement and the "freelance monastery" Seeing with Different Eyes What are you looking for in a gay science fiction novel? The mystical experience at the Servites'  Castle in Riverside The Great Dance according to C.S.Lewis The Techniques Of The World Saviors Part 1: Brer Rabbit and the Tar-Baby Part 2: The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara Part 3: Jesus and the Resurrection Part 4: A Course in Miracles The Secret of the Clear Light Understanding the Clear Light Mobius Strip Finding Your Tiger Face How Gay Souls Get Reincarnated About Alien Abduction In honor of Sir Arthur C Clarke The D.A.F.O.D.I.L. Alliance The Rainbow Flag Toby's friend and nicknamesake Toby Marotta. About Michael Talbot, gay mystic About Guy Mannheimer The Gay Spirituality Summit in May 2004 and the  "Statement of Spirituality"

Back to main page: The Gay Spirituality of Toby Johnson The Erotic Body of Christ, a website by Hunter Flournoy. In the Way of Christ, our passionate, desiring, sexual Love expressed through selfless giving and unconditional receiving, is the only thing that can reunite us with God. Queering the Church: towards a reality based theology. There is a homoerotic strand deeply embedded in the history of Christian spirituality and mysticism. A number of modern writers are also exploring queer spirituality, both within and outside the Christian tradition.  Shokti, a blog by Shokti Lovestar, a British Faerie, described as  "Tales of Queer Mystical emergence." Payam Ghassemlou MFT, Ph.D. is a gay Iranian who writes on spirituality, counseling, LGBT issues, and more. He has a psychotherapy practice in West Hollywood. His website contains interesting articles on gay psychodynamics. Travel and adventure--"pilgrimage"--are traditional spiritual practices. Spirit Journeys  offers Gay Vacations, Travel, Tours, Weekend Getaways and Men's Retreats. Spirit Journeys trips offer play, adventure and relaxation, as well as the potential for personal growth and the exploration of spirituality and sexuality. The Narrow Way by Chris Lemig—a book and a webblog—subtitled A Memoir of Coming Out Getting Clean and Finding Buddha. Beautifully written meditations/essays/blogs on a gay man's path to enlightenment. Gay Tantra. Brother William Schindler, a prolific and insightful gay spiritual writer, has created Ashram West as a spiritual community for gay men in the Tantric Hindu tradition. Gay Dating Sites provides information on how to safely use online gay dating sites in a manner that minimizes the risk to the individual of assault or violence. Gay men face some unique risks when it comes to online dating, and many of the incidents which are occurring go largely unreported in the media. Consequently it is the goal of Gay Dating Sites, to inform the GLBT community of those risks and how to minimize them. Anchorhold: a space managed by David Townsend for the spirituality of gay and bisexual men. We have within ourselves the resources for our healing, liberation, and growth. Connecting with each other, we encounter the grace to lay hold of a richer, juicier life. Losing ourselves in deep play, we rediscover the bigger, freer, more joyous selves we're capable of becoming. (Related to Eaton Mountain Retreat Center). The Study of Myth, a new website sponsored by the Joseph Campbell Foundation & the Pacifica Archives, keeping Joseph Campbell's message vital. A WONDERFUL book about the true meaning of religion and spirituality from the joint perspectives of a gay man and a transwoman, with an only partly tongue-in-cheek title: Can Christians Be Saved? Personal Finance Guide for LGBT. A very important and useful guide to living in the economic reality of modern life as sexual minorities with certain, sometimes out of the ordinary, needs and concerns. Info on same sex marrying, getting a mortgage, living with HIV, finding scholarships, etc. New Wings: Supported by prominent theologians and sacred activists, New Wings is an inclusive organization committed to healing the collective pain body of the LGBT community, facilitating self exploration, inquiry, networks of support and expanded education, and providing a safe environment to realign all affected with their divine nature. Martin Brant is author of some seven gay novels with enlightened sensibility. His blog, Enlightened Male 2000, contains interesting "counseling tips" and a plethora of beautiful and sexy images. Resources for Gay Christians. This is on a dating website. Independent of the site, the links are good and there are more interesting articles about gay issues and about other religions. (This site was recommended by the mother of a gay son who found it helped her understand how to think about gayness in a religious context.) TheGayPrayer.com -- I am thankful that I am gay. I am proud to be the person I am.  I will try to be the best person I can be. I promise to be good to those who are less fortunate than me. I understand that I represent a greater truth, and that by being strong and that by being the person I am, the world is a better place. The Land of Four Quarters is a beautiful tract of land in the Allegheny foothills of south central Pennsylvania that has been set aside to promote the twin missions of Earth Based Spirituality and Earth Balanced Living. Not specifically gay, but VERY welcoming.   A comprehensive consumer guide to "LGBT mortgages" explains the different approaches that same-sex couples can take in jointly owning property, getting a mortgage and other legal issues that lgbt couples may face Marie Friend has published a novel titled Star. It's described as "a brilliant tour de force through love bonds that were forged during the time of Akhenaton, strengthened during the reign of Henry XIII, and then climaxed in New York during the September 11 fall of the World Trade Center. The connections between various time periods are compelling and brilliantly wrought, yet what stands out in this wonderful novel is love. Friend’s subtle portrayals of love relationships from both the male and female perspective are deep and thought provoking." Wonderful essay Is Jesus Gay? by Dirk Vanden offers some eye-opening retellings of the stories of Jesus that will shed some light on his title query. The Flesh & Spirit Community is "an intentional community of queer men, based in San Franscisco, who bring enlightenment, love, liberation, healing, knowledge, power, and wholeness around issues of queer men's identity, spirituality, and sexuality. Fr. William Hart McNichols is a former Jesuit priest and icon painter, a student of Robert Lentz. His icons, modernized, but in Russian tradition, are wonderful expressions of sainthood for today. Michael, the "Kahunka," gives good advice for mind & body. There are several videos of him giving cooking instructions shirtless. Michael's article on "The Law of Attraction" is one of the best statements of this idea I have ever read--the good sense, logical explanation without the "magical thinking." Wonderful essay on experiencing spiritual bliss in the context of sexual lovemaking by Eric L. Hays-Strom, posted on Kitt Cherry's Jesus in Love blog Lorin Roche, Ph.D., a zesty life-affirming approach to meditation. Very interesting site, with a good discussion of gay spirituaity by a meditation teacher in Los Angeles www.glbtbookshelf.com a great new resource for gay genre books. You can search by category. GSspirit, a site that explores new areas of thinking and experience of what it means to be Gay. GSspirit > can stand for Gay ( S) sacred, soul, spirit, shaman, sexuality - Spirit or spirituality. A web-community, social network site based in Australia. Gay Spirituality - Creating the New Myth Would Jesus Discriminate? Gay rights from a Bibilical Christian perspective. What were "eunuchs" in Bibilical times? Eva Thayer is a wonderful "wise old woman" in San Antonio. She writes: "The purpose of life is to enjoy it. To do that it is necessary to love ourselves. My perception is that human me cannot love Me the way Creator Me can. Connecting ourselves to our Creator is a sure way to love ourselves. Check out her website MeLand Mountaine Mort Jonas is a highly experienced trainer, conductor, actor, and musician in the rich honoring of true personal stories that is called Playback Theatre. He is also a long-time facilitator of Breathwork Medicine, a form of intensive breathing (similar to "rebirthing") which is a potent technique to advance self-knowledge, personal growth, transformation, and healing. Souldancer's site for Gay Retreats worldwide: Retreats By and For Gay Men OutImpact.com -- A new gay Internet magazine-- "Making a positive impact in the gay community. Make yours." --referred to me by the same people who created GayEvolution.com. Tom Berg: How One Pubic School Teacher Awakened His Students to The Cosmic Super Self Within Rick Freeman, shamanic wisdom at Dolphin Pond. Bruce Grether has a new project Male Mystery School -- wonderful ideas and training in the spiritual dimensions of sexuality and masturbation. Donald Engstrom-Reese has a wonderful site and blog offering a gay conscious nature religion and spiritual view of life. Walking in Beauty Sell Books and Textbooks Online  BlueRectangle is all about books. We not only buy back used books and textbooks; but also offer Video book reviews. Concise and fascinating insights into a wide variety of books. Sweet Corn provides media productions and products that affirm self-esteem and social equality. The website, buddybuddy.com, of Demian, an actor, director, producer, world saver includes the very extensive Parterns Task Force for Gay & Lesbian Couples as well as an International Guide to Gay Theater Groups. Easton Mountain Retreat Center is a gathering place in the mountains outside Albany NY, an intentional community, which might be characterized as a gay spiritual "freelance monastery," hosts a variety of events and conferences. Contemplations of the Heart: A Book of Male Spirit: Photography, Digital Imaging and Text by Peter Grahame.  A wonderful collection of "new age" style homoerotic photographs with wise sayings and meditative texts. A delight! Walter L. Williams, author the the groundbreaking book The Spirit and the Flesh and co-author with Toby Johnson of TWO SPIRITS, has a website with a wonderful re-presentation of the Teachings of Jesus for the modern day. Sexual Fables by Martin Blythe is a wonderful site with revised versions of the great stories of Western Civilization, told with the sex angle written in and instead of written out. Especially, look for the gay angle in the stories Age of Consent, Women in Trousers and Vampires in Venice. BE SURE TO CLICK ON THE B&W SPIRAL called "Down the Rabbit Hole" Here's a link to an interesting book of meditations called MESSIAH SEED by gay spiritual writer Story Waters. Check this out: Limitlessness.com Here's a link to Ashe an interesting webzine of experimental (and gay) spirituality Bruce Grether has a wonderful website on Erotic Spirituality for Men and Mindful Masturbation as a spiritual practice called www.mm4m.org Christian de la Huerta of San Francisco's Q-Spirit has a very extensive website at Soulful Power Information about de la Huerta's important and groundbreaking book Coming Out Spiritually: The Next Step   An interesting new book: A SPECIAL ILLUMINATION: Authority, Inspiration and Heresy in Gay Spirituality by Rollan McCleary. Toby's written a review of McCleary's book for Lambda Book Report. The book has a curious history in Australia as lightning rod for the debate about Jesus's sexuality. For more info, check out www.rollanmccleary.com Ko Imani's Shirt of Flame: The Secret Gay Art of War a wonderful book about the gay political movement as spiritual work Canadian lesbian Caffyn Kelley has created a beautiful website (including complete text of her book) "Mapping Queer Meaning"  The website lists a variety of images and symbolic meanings of queer lesbian and gay identities.   This is a wonderful contribution to the discussion of gay spirituality, a new medium for conveying important and needed insights, likely to reach people the printed word no longer reaches. Out & About with Brewer & Berg is a philosophical travelogue of Europe with two zany guys in an amazing filmed documentary of their vision quest in search of a new mythology that includes gay and lesbian consciousness. This is a delightful adventure innovatively filmed (with European sights I'd never seen before) with lots of Joseph Campbell's appealing wisdom. I totally concur with the provocative worldview Brewer & Berg proclaim. Jesus in Love is a wonderful book, a Life of Christ, told in the first person of Jesus, but presented as a "modern person," psychologically and sexually aware. The "autobiography" of Jesus, written by lesbian Christian minister Kittredge Cherry, portrayes Jesus honestly--and wonderfully--dealing with the sexual dynamics of his human life. The book was sent to Toby Johnson for advice during preparation for publication. DO watch for it. And in the meantime, check out Kitt Cherry's website. (Look at the page called "Pray with us" for some wonderful graphics, including an attractive Jesus rising from the tomb. An example of Modern mythopoesis: The Drums of Legenderry, a collection of fantasy short stories  by writer/poet/drummer--and Foothills Family member--John Orlando. About the meaning and "magic" of rhythm. "The Ways of the Spirit: A Course in Spirituality for LGBT People" A rado broadcast and podcast from WRPI radio created by Harry Faddis and Patrick Cheng Mark Thompson, author of Gay Spirit: Myth and Meaning, the book that arguably started the gay spirituality movement, has a website showing his photos of gay spiritual leaders from the exhibit Fellow Travelers, with links to Thompson's books   Leather sexuality from a spiritual perspective by a German gay leatherman living in London and occasional contributor to White Crane Journal at meFFisto   Christ, the Gay Martyr is a blog by an African American gay man in Kansas City who goes by Stuffed Animal. There are postings about Christianity and homosexuality. Very positive and uplifting. Khaemille is American Gay High Priest initiated as a Babalawo (diviner) of the Yoruba Ifa religion as well as the founder of the House of Amun, a spiritual training system based upon the teachings of Ancient Egypt designed for Gay healers and metaphysicians. This link is to a YouTube video about the black gay spiritual Path of the Golden Beetle. The Human Rights Campaign has a page called Out In Scripture, a free weekly online resource for clergy and lay people of faith.   The website will provide distinct insights into the Bible, week after week, from a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight-supportive perspective. Health-Sites-Directory.com / News and Media - News and Media Web Directory The first "Bible" was originated written by Marcion of Synope; The Savior's name was Isu Chrestos. A similar Savior with a similar message was Apollonius of Tyana. Students of the origins of Christianity will be interested in reading about the precursors to the Gospels. Check out Chrestos.com

Toby Johnson, PhD is author of eight books: three non-fiction books that apply the wisdom of his teacher and "wise old man," Joseph Campbell to modern-day social and religious problems, three gay genre novels that dramatize spiritual issues at the heart of gay identity, and two books on gay men's spiritualities and the mystical experience of homosexuality. In addition to the novels featured elsewhere in this web site, Johnson is author of IN SEARCH OF GOD IN THE SEXUAL UNDERWORLD and THE MYTH OF THE GREAT SECRET (Revised edition): AN APPRECIATION OF JOSEPH CAMPBELL.

Johnson's Lammy Award winning book GAY SPIRITUALITY: The Role of Gay Identity in the Transformation of Human Consciousness was published in 2000.

His Lammy-nominated book  GAY PERSPECTIVE: Things Our Homosexuality Tells Us about the Nature of God and the Universe was published by Alyson in 2003.