American spiritual writers

Dan Wakefield (born May 21, 1932) is an American novelist, journalist and screenwriter.His best-selling novels, Going All the Way (1970) and Starting Over (1973), were made into feature films.
He wrote the screenplay for Going All the Way, which starred Ben Affleck, Rachel Weisz and Rose McGowan.He created the NBC prime time television series James at 15 (1977–78) and was story editor of the series (1977).
His other notable works include Island in the City: The World of Spanish Harlem (1959), a pioneering journalistic account of a Puerto Rican neighborhood in New York, and the memoir New York in the Fifties (2001), produced as a documentary film by Betsy Blankenbaker. His memoir, Returning: A Spiritual Journey (1988), was called by Bill Moyers "one of the most important memoirs of the spirit I have ever read". He edited and wrote the Introduction to Kurt Vonnegut Letters (2012). Wakefield received The Bernard DeVoto Fellowship at The Bread Loaf Writer Conference in 1958, a Nieman Fellowship in Journalism (1963–64) and a Rockefeller Grant in Writing, 1968.
Wakefield retired as writer in residence at Florida International University (1995–2009), where he received The Faculty Award for Mentorship. He moved back to his home town of Indianapolis in 2011.

Gina Cerminara (April 11, 1914 – April 1984) was an American author in the fields of parapsychology, spirituality and reincarnation. She was born in Milwaukee and received BA, MA, and Ph.D. degrees in psychology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her years of research regarding Edgar Cayce led her to publish a book about reincarnation in 1950 titled Many Mansions. Her other books on reincarnation include The World Within, Many Lives, Many Loves and Insights for the Age of Aquarius.

Anodea Judith (born Judith Ann Mull, December 1, 1952, Elyria, Ohio) is an American author, therapist, and public speaker on the chakra system, bodymind (body/mind integration), somatic therapy, and yoga. Judith is the author of Wheels of Life: A User's Guide to the Chakra System. She has maintained a private practice for over twenty years and presents workshops nationally and internationally at holistic retreat centers, yoga studios, Neo-Pagan and New Age events and training institutes. She is a past president of the Church of All Worlds (1986–1993), a founder of Lifeways, a school for the study of the healing and magical arts (1983), and a founding member of Forever Forests. She is on the faculty of Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, and she is the founder and director of Sacred Centers, a teaching organization focusing on Chakra studies. She has a son named Alex, and one of her brothers is actor and singer-songwriter Martin Mull.

Mark Matousek (born February 5, 1957) is an American memoirist, teacher, and journalist.

Wayne Robert Teasdale (16 January 1945 – 20 October 2004) was a Catholic monk, author and teacher from Connecticut, best known as an energetic proponent of mutual understanding between the world's religions, for an interfaith dialogue which he termed "interspirituality". He was also an active campaigner on issues of social justice.
Teasdale was inspired by Bede Griffiths and was particularly focussed on looking at Christianity and Hinduism in the way of Christian sannyasa.

Neale Donald Walsch (born September 10, 1943) is an American author of the series Conversations with God. He is also an actor, screenwriter, and speaker.

John Elliot Bradshaw (June 29, 1933 – May 8, 2016) was an American educator, counselor, motivational speaker, and author who hosted a number of PBS television programs on topics such as addiction, recovery, codependency, and spirituality. Bradshaw was active in the self-help movement, and was credited with popularizing such ideas as the "wounded inner child" and the dysfunctional family. In promotional materials, interviews, and reviews of his work, he was often referred to as a theologian.Bradshaw was the author of six books, several of which held top slots as New York Times bestsellers; his book Homecoming reached No. 1. During the 1980s and 1990s he hosted a number of PBS television broadcasts based on his books. He served on the board of directors of the Palmer Drug Abuse Program and as the national director of the John Bradshaw Center at Ingleside Hospital in Los Angeles, California.

Elizabeth Clare Prophet (née: Wulf, a.k.a. Guru Ma) (April 8, 1939 – October 15, 2009) was an American spiritual leader, author, orator, and writer. In 1963 she married Mark L. Prophet (after ending her first marriage), who had founded The Summit Lighthouse in 1958. Mark and Elizabeth had four children. Elizabeth, after her second husband's death on February 26, 1973, assumed control of The Summit Lighthouse.In 1975, Prophet founded Church Universal and Triumphant, which became the umbrella organization for the movement, and which she expanded worldwide. She also founded Summit University and Summit University Press. In the late 1980s Prophet controversially called on her members to prepare for the possibility of nuclear war at the turn of the decade, encouraging them to construct fallout shelters. In 1996, Prophet handed day-to-day operational control of her organization to a president and board of directors. She maintained her role as spiritual leader until her retirement due to health reasons in 1999.During the 1980s and 1990s, Prophet appeared on Larry King Live, Donahue and Nightline, among other television programs. Earlier media appearances included a feature in 1977 in "The Man Who Would Not Die," an episode of In Search of... She was also featured in 1994 on NBC's Ancient Prophecies.

Brad Steiger (February 19, 1936 – May 6, 2018) was an American writer of fiction and non-fiction works on the paranormal, spirituality, UFOs, true crime and biographies. His books sold well to the public but were widely criticized by academics and skeptics for making far-fetched claims without scientific evidence.

Carlos Castañeda (December 25, 1925 – April 27, 1998) was an American writer. Starting in 1968, Castaneda published a series of books that describe a training in shamanism that he received under the tutelage of a Yaqui "Man of Knowledge" named don Juan Matus. While Castaneda's work was accepted as factual by many when the books were first published, the training he described is now generally considered to be fictional.The first three books—The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, A Separate Reality, and Journey to Ixtlan—were written while he was an anthropology student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Castaneda was awarded his bachelor's and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles based on the work he described in these books.At the time of his death in 1998, Castaneda's books had sold more than eight million copies and had been published in 17 languages.