User:Anne Wavely/sandbox

Nancy Seifer was a social and political activist early in life. In the 1960s, she served in the Peace Corps in West Africa, worked at the African-American Institute in New York City, and joined the staff of New York City Mayor, John V. Lindsay, becoming Aide to the Mayor for Ethnic Affairs in the early 70s. She then worked at the Institute on American Pluralism, directing the Center on Women and American Diversity, where she wrote numerous articles, papers, and chapters for anthologies. A monograph written at that time, and a book of oral histories—Nobody Speaks for Me!: Self-Portraits of American Working Class Women (Simon and Schuster, 1976)—are still being used in college courses.

In response to an inner call, Nancy embarked on a quest for spiritual truth that led her to the Ageless Wisdom and to diverse experiences, including immersion in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia in the 80s and 90s as spirituality was reemerging there. After writing Russian Odyssey (Xlibris, 2003), a spiritual memoir born of that experience, she began work on When the Soul Awakens in the goal of helping to make esoteric wisdom available to a wider audience.

Martin Vieweg has been a student, writer, and lecturer within the esoteric community for over three decades. Early in life, he pursued a wide range of spiritual teachings and practices from Ernest Holmes’ “Science of Mind” to Edgar Cayce’s “Search for God.” While working at the Association for Research and Enlightenment in Virginia Beach, he lectured on reincarnation, dream study, and extra-sensory perception. In the mid-70s, he enrolled in a program for esoteric training at the Lucis Trust, publisher of the Alice Bailey books. Later, joining the headquarters staff of the Trust in New York City, he served as co-director of a global meditation project and frequent lecturer. He is currently Director of Data Management for the United Negro College Fund in Northern Virginia, where he and his wife, Nancy, have co-authored When the Soul Awakens.