Exclusive interview with author "Theresa Dominguez-Weiss"
Retired Family Nurse Practitioner Theresa Dominguez-Weiss’ story begins in the early 50’s, the first-born child to adoring parents in Southern California. Her mother and father were first generation Mexican Americans, whose own parents had fled to the U.S. to escape the Mexican Revolution. Growing up with seven siblings in an all white middle-class neighborhood just south of Los Angeles, she was never short on adventure.
For over 20 years she was involved in the medical field, starting at 16 as a candy striper, and then as a nursing aide as she put herself through college. She then achieved her dream of becoming a Registered Nurse and worked in most aspects of medical care including emergency rooms, labor and delivery, Intensive Care, and orthopedics, always devoting herself entirely to her patients. On a quest for more knowledge, she eventually obtained an advanced certificate for Nurse Practitioner (FNP) from the University of California, Davis’ School of Family Medicine. As a Nurse Practitioner she was fortunate to work in a rheumatology practice (the study of immune system diseases) with a leading authority on the immune system. Her work took her to a Neurology practice with a nationally recognized neurologist/psychiatrist who specialized in chronic pain and headache management.
Having extensively studied the field of neuro-immunology since the early 80’s which is now known as neuroscience, she has also been trained in and practiced various forms of subtle energy medicine and holistic medicine. This included instructing patients in the Neurology practice in behavioral and cognitive techniques to help with pain control, anxiety, stress and sleep disorders.
She believes that the practice of allopathic Western medicine in various medical disciplines, coupled with the over 40 years of in-depth metaphysical studies and energy medicine knowledge, allows a unique perspective in bridging science and spirituality.
Theresa left the field of medicine in the early 90s to help run Power Places®, an international custom group tour company her husband Toby Weiss, with his PhD in the History of Consciousness from the University of California founded in the early 80’s. Power Places was inspired by experiences she and Toby had in Cozumel, the ancient Mayan sacred site of the Mother/Creator goddess IX CHEL. Power Places® is now a commonly used term that relates to mystical sites around the world with special powerful energies, such as the Great Pyramid, Machu Picchu, Stonehenge, and the ancient temples in Tibet.
In “Deathwalker, Journeys of Life, Death & Beyond,” she tells the story of Deathwalking her beloved Grandma Rosie to the "OtherSide" at the moment of her death in 1982. It was so overwhelming and so unheard of that she completely suppressed it for 17 years. It was during a professional experience that the memories of that extraordinary event came bubbling to the surface and once it did she was compelled to write it all down.
During her life Theresa has had experiences around death and dying which profoundly impacted her. She has had life transformative experiences at Power Places, which most would consider outside the realm of ordinary life. Woven together, these tales detail her extraordinary shamanic “peak” moments have been springboards to living a more meaningful life.
Exclusive Interview
“DEATHWALKER-Journeys of Life, Death and Beyond” is quite a title. How did you come up with it?
My husband Dr. Toby Weiss, was the genius behind the themes and titles for our international conferences held at sacred sites. Civilizations of antiquity such as the ancient Egyptians, Incas and Mayans have left us clear evidence in their art and architecture of their beliefs on “life, death and the Beyond after death. These beliefs infused their every moment in day to day living; religion was not a separate them for them. Today there are some cultures whose beliefs infuse their day to day living without separating “spirit.” The first culture that comes to mind are the Balinese.
Starting in 1990 we started a series of “Life, Death and Beyond” international conferences with keynote speakers and leading transformational experts at Power Places including at the foot of the Great Pyramid. We also had events in Bali, and at the pyramid at Chichen-Itza and Crete (the site of the ancient Minoan civilization).
In 1999, I finally remembered the details of my abuelita Grandma Rosie dying in 1982. I actually took her to the OtherSide and come back. I was a Deathwalker. Bear in mind I wrote the book back in 2000, and was not familiar with gaming or anything like that. I had never heard the term “Deathwalker” before; however, it described ME!” in that experience. That had to be the name of the book.
After I wrote the Deathwalker chapters, I stepped back and reviewed other different transformational episodes in my life and their impact. It was clear these stories were detailing my journeys of life, death and beyond.
What was your main impetus for writing the book?
As mentioned above I started remembering the buried memories of walking my grandma to the OtherSide back in March of 1999. I was running one of our conferences (title, you guessed it!), “Life, Death and Beyond,” something triggered and it came pouring out in one afternoon.
Was it a difficult book to write? Yes, and no.
NO because I loved going back to my journals of my adventures at Power Places throughout almost three decades. Once “Deathwalker” was written down I started looking at what in my life has caused really deep change within myself. Those shamanic transformative changes have led me to live a life with meaning.
Writing about my experiences with a fellow classmate’s suicide in 7th grade, my mid-life crisis, my favorite patient who was five years old dying right in front of my eyes when I was only 19 and my reaction to her sudden death seemed to have to be a part of this book.
YES, because I was so surprised at how hard it was to write about Mary’s death, the five-year-old patient. It was only in writing that story that I realized I had never processed her death one bit! I had never mourned her. I also found that in writing this book I was really exposing who I am inside as a person. As a woman, as a little girl, as an over two decades long medical professional with a strong science and research background, as a successful business owner, as a wife.
As someone who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s in Southern California, a Mexican American girl in the white “surfer” culture, at the beginning of the hippie times and feminism, Chicano power and the Vietnam War, I was showing my warts and all. In many places I felt really naked; mentally, emotionally and psychologically. But I found that in delving deep I was being honest, and I discovered I didn’t want to write any other way but with passion, transparency and honesty.
The other thing that was difficult was sitting sometimes with just ONE sentence sometimes for half an hour plus, trying to make it perfect. At first I thought that made me a little strange and obsessive about writing. However once that “perfection” was reached, there would be such a surge of energy and being jazzed. I must admit that high is addicting.
The very hardest thing for me was actually taking steps to get the book published! It took over 20 years to get the courage up to do that. I would be admitting for all the world to see that I have had these very unusual happenings which some would call over the edge of normalcy. I didn’t want people to think I was a goofball or a wacko. However, those who know me personally and professionally would vouch for the balanced and “feet on the ground” type of person I am.
How do you think writing changed you, or did it?
I started writing a journal/diary when I was 15. Of course it was about boys, insecurities and the usual angst of those years. Throughout my life I have always kept journals, loved to write letters and send postcards to my parents and others, or sit in a coffee shop writing a just inspired poem on a napkin. Now that this book is coming out I can say that writing HAS changed me, albeit unrecognized previously. I admit and acknowledge that I am a writer. My goal is to eventually be able to spend most of my time writing. It is fun and when I finally get it right, I am happy and contented.
What would you like readers to take away from reading it?
Hope and a sense of optimism. That facing one’s fears, no matter how large, can be the biggest freedom that they have ever experienced. And in that freedom, find true meaning in their lives with an accompanying sense of fulfillment.
To consider taking an adventure outside their comfort zone. And once considered, taking the plunge and DOING IT (an adventure that would do no harm to themselves, or others, or the environment).
To look at their life through a “different lens.” Something as simple as opening a door with your left hand if you are right handed, or walking backwards up a hill on a wide path! I have a great story about doing that with Grandma Rosie and why she would do that.
Observe their own life, and then comment on it as if a stranger was doing that.
Take pleasure in, and be restored and rejuvenated by nature.
Seek out and enjoy silence. The self-discovery that can happen is amazing.
Remember what things “make you feel like a kid again!”
“VIDA LA VIDA” (LIVE THE LIFE) with gusto and passion!
Our entire planet is going through such a shift right now. It’s a confronting time. How do you feel your book can address what people are currently going through?
In 2018 there was close to 7.6 billion people on earth. Never before in history has almost the entire earth’s population been affected by, and be thinking of, the same thing. It is a most confronting time, for most a deeply disturbing time. Everyone has been called upon to “surf the quicksand” of this new ‘COVID’ reality and stay balanced, or one will suffocate! Everyone’s lives no longer fit, personally, professionally, and relationship-wise for starters. We are being called upon to create a “new” inner self that will go with this new COVID reality.
Throughout the book three themes consistently come up. These three themes are a treasure map for re-creating a “you” for your own new personal world.
First, “STAY IN THE MOMENT”
Second. Trust your intuition, your gut, your inner voice, your own inner wisdom. No matter what!
Third, The power of self-love. Note that I write self-love. It is in loving self, and the acceptance of self can the love we express be unconditional, and even healing.
The energies of everyone and everyone are all upside down and spiraling sideways. Nothing is as it was and will never be again. This treasure map of three wisdom take you to the power place within yourself, providing a foundation for re-creating a new self, propelling one to living a more meaningful life.
You and your husband, Dr. Toby Weiss, run Power Places, an international custom group tour company. Tell me a bit about it. Do you feel that there’s a tie in between Power Places and your book?
Absolutely there is a tie-in between Power Places and my book. The greatest adventures of my life have been at Power Places, as well as have some of the most meaningful “peak” experiences. Those types of experiences you review and “relive” as you go over your life, especially at the ending of our life. Those experiences have profoundly altered me and transformed me. At Power Places our motto is: There are Places in this World, that have Proven their Power To Energize, To Heal, To Transform the Traveler. They are Waiting for you Now…
We take people by the hand, so to speak, to travel to the most unique and power places in the world so that they can partake in the extraordinary energy and power at those ancient sites while experiencing profound, often life-altering insights and experiences. “Peak” moments that they will remember the rest of their lives
What other projects are you currently working on?
I’ll be collaborating on a book with Emil Shaker, a long time dear friend of myself and Toby. He is a world leading Egyptologist and importantly the world’s expert on ancient Egypt’s hidden mysteries and esoteric secrets and the understanding of this ancient wisdom. For years he and Toby conducted tours through the incredible temples and ancient sites of Egypt. They talked about writing a book together however my beloved Toby passed three years ago and so that never happened. In the recent re-writing and drafting up of the book for publication I enlisted Emil’s expertise and assistance to review the chapters that deal with ancient Egypt. During that time the project of working together on he and Toby’s book came up.
Then I have six other books in mind and two movie treatments.
For more information, please visit http://theresadominguezweiss.com/
When Theresa Dominguez-Weiss experienced the death of her beloved grandmother something extraordinary happened, but it was so overwhelming she completely buried the memory. Seventeen years later, the remembrance of “Deathwalking,” accompanying her abuelita Grandma Rosie to the OtherSide, bubbled to the surface She knew she had to share this remarkable experience with the world, every detail in all their shimmering glory.
Dominguez-Weiss has experienced many transformative events that most people would consider outside the realm of ordinary life. In the hopes of inspiring others, she has woven them together in this captivating book. Her life is extraordinary, and her stories are fascinating.
Deathwalker-Journeys of Life, Death and Beyond includes her experiences with death and near-death, intuition, past lives, telepathic communications with pets and shamanic adventures at ancient power places such as the Great Pyramid and Machu Picchu.
For Dominguez-Weiss, these “peak” moments have served as springboards into a more meaningful life.