SIREN SPOTLIGHT ~ Theresa Schlee Valenzuela, Author of Penelope In The Divine

Theresa Schlee Valenzuela is the author of Penelope in the Divine. She’s also a pole dancer, a speaker and a coach certified as a NLP Trainer, hypnotherapist and Time Line Therapy™ Practitioner among many other things. I discovered her website while searching for more research and resources on sexuality, sensuality and spirituality and what I found was an incredible goddess that inspires me, makes me laugh and is so freaking awesome! Theresa graciously agreed to allow me to interview her and I am happy to share what she has to offer in a two part series.  Please enjoy.

Everyone meet T.S. Valenzuela.

SLY: What is your divine mission?

TSV: First I want to say thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me. I appreciate the opportunity to share my work and I am happy you have gotten something out of it.

My divine mission is to help people see that they have ultimate power over their lives. They can live with pleasure and they really don’t need to suffer. They can craft the juicy lives of their wildest dreams.

SLY: I read on your online bio that you have extensive experience with transformation through grief and loss. Can you expound on that?

TSV: Sure. My first baby died when she was born and shortly after that I had a series of tragedies happen back to back, including the death of my mother. I could not handle all the grief and emotion and my body shut down – I went into severe adrenal fatigue. From that experience I learned that we don’t have rituals for grief in our society and how damaging this is to the psyche. I also gained a deep understanding of what it really means to “die.” I have a richer understanding of life and death now and it has transformed the way I live. I get what’s truly important, which is, as corny as it sounds, love and connection. The day my daughter Phoenix died was a huge turning point for me and I can honestly say, one of the best days of my life, because through her death I truly experienced life for the first time.

In my Pleasure Manifesto (available for free on www.inthedivine.com) I talk about the importance of grieving rituals and taking time to grieve. I understand now that if one cannot honestly experience grief and loss, one cannot experience true pleasure. I hope that my work makes an impact on others who are going through the grieving process. It doesn’t matter what you’re grieving – loss is loss and it’s part of the human condition. We don’t help anything or anyone when we turn our backs on it.

I don’t want to give too much of the storyline away, but in “Penelope In The Divine,” Penelope’s experience of grief comes directly from my experience.

SLY: What is “The Pleasure Manifesto” and what prompted you to write such an inspiring document? (I underlined just about every sentence!)

I wrote the Pleasure Manifesto as I began to heal from my illness. I was about three years into the illness at the time and I had lost my will to live. One day I got tired of complaining, tired of feeling like shit all the time, tired of the twelve different practitioners and doctors I had seen, tired of all the supplements. I knew I had to either live or die – my choice. I decided if I was gonna live, it better be a damn good life, so I decided to devote my life to pleasure. I remembered so many authors and teachers who said happiness could cure, so I went for it.

My life immediately shifted when I made pleasure my #1 priority. Shortly after that, I found S Factor and my life has never been the same since. The more I dived into pleasure, the more I healed.

SLY: Penelope in the Divine. First, thank you for writing such a life affirming, amazing and powerful book. I needed it! What inspired you to write Penelope?

TSV: Wow, so many things. After my daughter Phoenix died, I wanted to write a story about my experience with her. I had a flash of insight that at the moment of conception, a woman touches the finger of God (however you define he/she/it), much like “The Creation of Adam,” Michelangelo’s fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel where Adam and God’s fingers just touch. At that moment, you are “in the divine.” When that connection is broken – either through abortion, miscarriage or stillbirth – it is a cataclysmic shock and I don’t feel enough attention is given to this important transition that many women go through. As you can imagine, that book was too hard to write.

During this time I was seeing a naturopath to get all my health issues resolved and I started to learn just how fucked up our food supply system was and how it was all run and fed by big business and governmental lobbying. I noticed how TV played a huge part in promoting both sickness and pharmaceutical cures and it all seemed too suspicious to me. I started to write a self-help book about this and everything else I’d learned in my 20 plus years of studying human potential, and the book was so damn boring I couldn’t even read it!

In one of my many efforts to heal myself, I took up creative writing again and Penelope just walked onto the page. I wanted to create a better version of myself – a woman who could dance, who was so in touch with her sexuality and sensuality that she simply exuded confidence and strength, someone who a Nordic-looking god like Penelope’s lover Nate Forsythe could fall in love with.

When I thought about creating the antagonist, I asked myself, “What is the worst evil on the planet today?” The answer I came back with was “enslaving the human mind.” The worst way to do it is covertly, so that it goes unnoticed. If you look at the obesity epidemic and our enslavement to the little screen you can see what I mean. We’re slaves bound in service to mega-corporations who thrive by keeping us emotionally, mentally and physically ill and in a state of victimhood. In the novel, all of this is perpetrated by the evil Forsythe Candy and Satellite Manufacturing Corporation.

SLY: When is the release for part two of Penelope in the Divine?

TSV: The projected release date is Valentine’s Day, 2013. Okay, now I’ve said it officially, so I better get moving.

SLY: What are some of your favorite books?

TSV:  Hemingway has been a big influence on me since my time studying creative writing in college. I particularly love his short stories. I also still adore The Count of Monte Cristo – once you start, you cannot put that thing down! Of course, I’m a huge Harry Potter fan as well, but probably my favorite book is “Fingerprints of the Gods,” by Graham Hancock. It’s an alternative take on history and archaeology – my favorite subjects. In one of the scenes from the novel, it’s the book that Penelope’s teacher Goba is reading it.

SLY: At one point, you were the Editor in Chief of Vertical Art and Fitness magazine, my favorite pole magazine by the way. Tell me the biggest lesson you learned working in that field and holding that leadership position?

TSV: I have to say the best part about that job was assisting people in improving their writing skills. I loved that.

I enjoyed the creative process and working with the massively talented people at the magazine. The most surprising aspect for me though, was the waves of transformational stories I received from women all over the globe. I knew nothing about the pole outside of my local S Factor class, so I thought it was just little ol’ stay-at-home-mom me whose life had been irrevocably transformed at a core level by the pole and erotic dance. I learned it’s a worldwide movement whose time has come. That was a big surprise to me, but right in alignment with the current rise of the Feminine Divine.

SLY: You speak a lot about Source Energy and the Feminine Creation Vortex. For those unfamiliar with your work, can you provide a teaser on what that means?

TSV: Sure. Source Energy is the same as God/Goddess/Spirit/the quantum field of possibility. The great vibration that encompasses, that makes up who we are.

My definition of the Feminine Creation Vortex™ is the cosmic source of power, manifestation and magic organic to all women. I just filmed a video series on this very topic and it will be available first week of May 2012. There are certain God-given aspects that women have that make them powerful vortexes of creation. The problem is, this power operates on default most of the time, so you get what you get and it isn’t always what you want. Part of my mission is to teach women how to operate their Feminine Creation Vortex with intention so they can magnetize the juicy life of their wildest dreams.

SLY: You’ve written that your highest life value is freedom. What does freedom mean to you?

TSV: Freedom means the ability to speak my mind while still being accepted – in private, in public and in a romantic relationship. It means financial freedom to live the way I desire and move where I need to go. It means the freedom to expand my mind.

SLY:  What projects are you currently working on?

TSV: Just finished filming the Feminine Creation Vortex video series, so now I’m editing it. It will be available on www.inthedivine.com the first week of May. When this launches I’ll also have a monthly membership where, for less than the cost of a cup of coffee a day, you’ll get one or more videos on how to live a juicy live and operate your Feminine Creation Vortex with intention.

I also have a “Penelope In The Divine” screenplay adapted from the novel, so I’m shopping that around as well. There will be a feature film if I have anything to do with it!

I’m working on an illustrated version of Penelope In The Divine with the lovely and talented Drew Hand. A true artistic genius. If time permits I’m going to use Apple’s new iBook software and do a multi-media version as well so the reader can dive deeper into the teachings without going anywhere else. That will be super-fun.

And of course there’s my blog at www.inthedivine.com

Theresa thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions and to share so much. I am very excited about part two of our interview that will be released tomorrow where we talk about pole dancing, sexuality and measured steps towards self love among many other things. I love you Theresa! That’s the best way to put my sentiment. My life is better because you are alive right now living out your divine purpose.

Connect with Theresa

In The Divine website

T.S. Valenzuela on twitter

I also wrote a book response about Penelope In The Divine

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