In the realm of literature and spiritual exploration, Dayna Dunbar stands as a luminary figure. Renowned for her gripping narratives and insightful guidance, Dayna is not only an award-winning novelist published by Ballantine Books but also a beacon of light as a spiritual counselor and facilitator. Her journey, marked by literary accolades and profound spiritual revelations, has culminated in her latest work, “Awake” — a transcendent blend of spirituality and science fiction that promises to ignite the imagination while stirring the soul. In this exclusive Mystic Mag‘s interview, Dayna Dunbar graciously shares her insights into her literary endeavors, her profound spiritual journey, and the transformative power of awakening to one’s true self. Join us as we delve into the mind and soul of a multifaceted artist and guide, whose words resonate far beyond the pages of her novels.
Your novels blend elements of spirituality, psychology, and science fiction. How do you navigate the intersection of these themes in your storytelling?
Well, it’s not easy! When we were writing the novel, we gave ourselves the imperative to never sound preachy but still to impart important spiritual principles for how we, as a human family, can participate in the evolution of consciousness. We wanted to share the psychospiritual actions and healing that need to happen in order for us to move out of the Ravaging era and into the Rebirthing era, both terms we use in the novel. Since we both have master’s degrees in spiritual psychology and are spiritual and therapeutic counselors, the teachings are how we live and what our lives are about. However, to get them across in a way that is fun, adventurous and fast-paced was a monumental task and it’s why it took eight years for us to complete. Creating a world on another planet that is home to an awakened civilization was also an enormous job but one we were truly guided to do.
Julia and I know that visionary storytelling is vital to awakening, and right now the story has been hijacked by ego. Rather than showing us what we can become, and filling our aspirational and mythic needs as story has done in the past, most stories these days are deeply negative about human beings and tend to show the darkest sides of our nature. We have a blog on our website that goes into this in depth. We believe that stories that show us overcoming and awakening are exciting and important.
Can you share a bit about your creative partnership with Julia and how it has influenced your writing process and the themes explored in your novels?
I wrote the first draft of Awake and then Julia came on board and we rewrote and edited it together. Basically we were editing for about seven years, something I would not have been able to do without her passion, skill and belief in the project. I have two other novels published by Ballantine Books on my own, but this one took both of us to make it work. As for the themes, many of them were included in the original draft. I had downloaded much of the quantum and energetic science and ways an awakened civilization would look during a series of deep meditations. Then Julia came in and refined and added to them. She also brought in the idea of a tipping point in conscious evolution—the theory that when enough people wake up to their true nature, it will create a tipping point that will affect the collective. This is a central storyline in the book and the way we say that the Akarans (beings from the other planet) shifted out of near extinction to a thriving society. So it was definitely a joint effort, one that was not always easy (we sometimes debated a single word for ridiculous amounts of time). But it is one that we feel did justice to the guidance we both received to create it.
As a spiritual counselor and facilitator, how do you draw upon your own experiences and insights to enrich the characters and themes in your novels?
I help my clients clear the blocks in consciousness that keep them from knowing the truth of who they are. This includes everything from trauma, childhood conditioning, ancestral inheritance, and karma. It is a profound experience that influences all of my writing. I get to see how people’s minds work and how evolutionary psychology unfolds because I witness it in my clients (and myself) on a daily basis. This helps to create authentic, layered and complex characters. It also informs the ways we share in the novel about how we can move out of this time of egos on parade (as I like to call it) and into a time when we all not only know we are One being but actually live in real life the profound results of that knowing.
What type of services do you offer?
I offer spiritual and therapeutic counseling that gets to the heart of why my clients are suffering. I see myself as a sort of psycho-spiritual detective, using my intuition, inner guidance and experience to help people get clear on what these blocks are and then I utilize different modalities to help them clear and heal them. I also work with certain sacraments while counseling my clients and this combination has the most incredible and rapid effect on the psyche and the spirit.
In “Awake,” you delve into the concept of awakening to one’s true self. How do you weave spiritual concepts into a science fiction thriller in a way that resonates with readers?
What better story is there in the Universe than the story of coming out of the darkness we have chosen to experience and back into the light of our true Self? This is the story we tried to impart in our novel, on two planets through a few characters, and I think we captured it in a cool way. But the real story of evolution—where we have been and where we are going—is the most profound story ever told. I’ve said for a long time that Spirit is a big time storyteller, the best of all time.
When spiritual people read it, they absolutely love it. (We have had a bit of a challenge getting spiritual folks to think fiction is worth their while.) We have been amazed at how much people who aren’t spiritual enjoy it as well. This warms our hearts because we are trying to reach a mainstream audience with the idea that we can awaken together. Rather than seeing more “murder, betrayal, revenge,” which is the basic tagline for most content these days, people get to be really entertained AND uplifted at the same time. We think this is a beautiful thing and have many discussions about how it is what we are looking for every time we open a book or watch something.
We discuss the current state of storytelling and the tipping point idea in two of our blogs on our website.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers who are interested in exploring spiritual or philosophical themes in their work while maintaining an engaging narrative?
First, PLEASE write spiritual stories! As I said, every single time I look for a story to read or watch, I am looking for a story with spiritual or philosophical themes. The only spiritual films or shows out there are documentaries. And when you do write a spiritual story, make sure to show what you are trying to teach as well as you can rather than lecture in blocks of exposition. Spread that teaching content out through the story as the action calls for it, which it will if your premise is sound.
I must say, unfortunately in the current marketplace, spiritual fiction is a tough sell. We had to self publish this book because, even though I am a traditionally published author in the past in another genre, spiritual fiction is not seen as a legitimate genre in today’s industry. I ask everyone, please read Awake and any other spiritual stories you find. Tell people about them, leave reviews, support the artists. Because as we know it is dollars, likes, and reviews that run the engine. If we want things to get better, to see an image of ourselves as people evolving into badass awake spiritual beings, we have to support storytelling that shows this. As legendary media theorist George Gerbner said, “Whoever tells the stories of a culture really governs human behavior.”
