Naveh haMarah Sanctuary

Reverend Carole Stephenson-Snell

Reverend Carole W. Stephenson-Snell began her spiritual quest at age 12 when she chose to be baptized in the Presbyterian Church. Its doctrine of predestination indicated a governing intelligence in the universe.
At age 26 she was struck by an inner light that altered her personality. In a shocking instant, the young passive stay-at-home mother became a driven seeker, demanding empirical proof and impeccable logic on her way to two college degrees.
Maturing through atheism, existentialism, the "God is Dead" movement, then studying Paul Tillich and the Transcendentalists, she realized that human personalities are expressions of The One. As such, humans control their spiritual growth -- they have free will whether or not to do Inner Work, and her quest intensified, continuing over the years.
While teaching English at the university level, then working and receiving early retirement from a Fortune 500 oil company, she constantly read, took workshops, and searched for a meaningful direction. Finally, Helena P. Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine and Alice A. Bailey's A Treatise on Cosmic Fire appeared and became her logical esoteric foundations. When the Qabalistic Western Mystery Tradition surfaced, its practical esoteric Buddhism instructions and bold 1-2-3 Hermetic approach to spiritual transformation attracted her with divine compulsion. Gratefully, she plunged deep into Mystic and Theosophical practices. Three years later, "Follow me", spoken in tongues of fire burning through her body, took her into the wilderness to live in isolation and silence. There she had a mystical experience that initiated chakra opening and gave her certain knowledge of the Ascended Masters of Compassion.
"Follow Me" also entailed two pilgrimages to India. The first, to Brindavan, Bangalore, initiated her and irrevocably validated her innate spiritual abilities, bringing them to consciousness. The second pilgrimage, to Prasanthi Nilayam, initiated her ability to consciously receive transmissions from the Ascended Masters. She returned home with "The Practical Mystic: How to Become One," at once a book to read, a path to follow, and a course to be taught - depending on the human's receptivity to the Word - a work of the Masters.
A six-week pilgrimage into the New Mexico high desert with a teacher gave her a glimpse of Union, and confirmation of her mission: To be the vessel that steps down esoteric spiritual principles so more of humanity may grasp and integrate the concepts. There, she received her spiritual name: Mensarah Shel El, Prism of the Merciful God.
On a month-long pilgrimage to Glastonbury, Chartres, and Southern France in 2000, Mensarah received another initiation opening past life memories. In Carcassonne, after a deep meditation in the Church of the Black Madonna at Rennes le Chateau, she received a vision of her Twin Ray. In 2002, she and Wallace Patrick Snell recognized each other in this incarnation. They formally married in 2004 and presently reside at Beth Shemesh (House of Light), a cottage near Waller, Texas. They retreat to a cabin near Smithville and Naveh haMarah Sanctuary, where they practice Ceremonial Ritual, study, meditate, contemplate, and maintain periods of Qabalistic silence as they continue The Great Work.

Reverend Catherine Lewis

Catherine Lewis is an ordained minister, and Priestess of the Naveh haMarah Temple in Smithville Texas, where she participates with her Sister Priestesses in Ceremonial Ritual, teaching, learning, growing, and creating sacred community with all who come to the Temple Door with a true desire for Spiritual growth.
Catherine was born in 1953 and came in to this life through a long succession of maternal visionaries, clairvoyants, and psychics. Early memories include listening to her maternal grandmother tell stories that had been passed down for generations, of occurrences of the dream visions, and "special" abilities of her feminine ancestors. Her first spiritual teacher was her grandmother, who began opening her consciousness at a very early age by showing her that her experience was not limited to her 5 senses, and the world around her was more than what she could simply feel, hear, see, taste, and smell. As a young child with dyslexia, the ability to "see" with more than the eyes, and perceive with more than the mind, became very useful, and quite natural to Catherine.
Spending her childhood in rural, coastal New England gave Catherine opportunity to explore nature, walking in the woods, playing in the ocean, sleeping under the stars. It was in these natural settings that Catherine always felt most at home, expansive, attuned, and alive. Nature was a powerful teacher, and one who provided excitement and wonder and a sense early on that everything is connected, and we as human beings are not separate from any of it. Growing up in a Catholic family, and attending Church services, completing the sacraments of Catholicism gave Catherine a sense, like so many others, that there lies a mystery yet untapped within the limits of organized religion.
The 60's and 70's provided a rich time of breaking free of old outworn belief systems and ways of thinking for everyone, and the beautiful spiritual teachings of the East and the West became more available, as the human race took an evolutionary step into a more expanded consciousness about war, religion, politics, sexuality, and Self Realization. Graduating high school in 1971, Catherine's path took her first on the road, where the gypsy in her broke loose, and travel became her passion. This was the vehicle for the journey that would lead her deeper and more deeply inward to places that can't be visited in the outer world. The student was ready, the teachers appeared.
A series of awakenings led her through many years of studies in Eastern mysticism, Tantric Buddhism, Christianity, and finally to her true path of origin, the Western Mysteries, and Qabalah.
It is here that Reverend Marah (Great Sea) has done the most inner work, and the place where the most healing and clearing of past woundedness has taken place. With a deep understanding that we are all One, that we are all evolving, and that bringing the principals which restore the balance of the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine energies to humanity is our divine purpose here, her own work in the world is centered in helping others to come to an inner Oneness, allowing the way for the Higher Self to shine through the vehicle of personality, through the healing that can take place on that level. This is her gift and her passion. Committed to living the Truth of non-duality, empathetic and intuitive, she channels her gifts through the work she does, her own precious children whom she is raising, and the relationships in her life, which, with likeness to mirrors, help keep her ever mindful of who she really is.

Reverend Carole Rishel

Reverend Carole Rishel began seeking higher Knowledge when she came to the profound realization in seventh grade that "maybe we're all just a hair on some guy's arm." Maybe this solar system is just an atom in a much larger whole.
Raised in the Episcopal church, Carole was always drawn to the occult and spiritualism. She always knew that there was something more than just what the five senses presented to her consciousness. It always seemed to her that what the orthodox Christian churches were teaching was missing a major part of the story. Her parents of course just shook their heads in worry and wonder.
Through a near death experienece in early adulthood, she was given a taste of the absolute peace and detachment from the world's trials.
In her late twenties she brought her young children into the Lutheran faith. Here they could go to school and day care all in the same place. This provided peace of mind to this single mother while she pursued a career in the corporate world. She focused on that career and supporting her family for the next fifteen years during which there were many tests and trials that she understood were serving to temper her vehicle for her true purpose in this lifetime. Carole continued to read and take workshops which served to further melt the boundaries of this physical world.
At 35 years of age, she was reunited with her true love with whom she had shared many lifetimes. In their backyard, nearly two years later, the two once again committed their lives to each other.
Carole continued to study different world religions and quickly realized that they all carried the same message at their core - once the egos were stripped away. They were all founded on the connectedness of all things, people, plants, animals, as well as the heavenly bodies and their movements across the skies. Here was a missing piece of the puzzle.
On her fortieth birthday her son's best friend accidently shot himself in the head and left this world. The circumstances surrounding her reaction to that event brought her fully awake and aware of the need to transform her personality.
At age 43 she and her husband were blessed with their first grandchild. From the first moment she saw her, Carole knew that this baby was her 'angel'! That year she, her husband , daughter, and granddaughter moved to Texas. Her 22 year old son chose to remain in California to begin his own life.
At 45, due to a bout with high blood pressure, she wound up in the hospital. While sitting in the x-ray room, she had a knowing that she was going to die. She pleaded with The One to allow her remain in this world a little longer. At this point she was guided to begin walking her path with conscious awareness.
A few months later she was introduced to Qabalah. Qabalah spoke of the Divine Feminine as well as the Divine Masculine, and that all things flow from the equilibration of these Divine Energies. 'The Christ' is the child of this Divine union. This made so much sense! This Divine union was what was missing from mainstream religion!! Eight months later she was initiated into the Qabalistic mystery school.
Reverend Kallah (bride of the Divine Son) and her husband now live on the property which houses Naveh haMarah Sanctuary where she imparts the teachings of the Western Mysteries through the vehicle of Sacred Tarot and the Tree of Life to anyone who has a true desire to grow.