Madonna Woke Up from a Coma After a Spiritual Encounter with Her Late Mother
In a Nutshell
Madonna credits 29 years of Kabbalah study and daily spiritual practice with keeping her sane, grounded, and successful while peers self-destructed. She describes how her near-death sepsis coma triggered a visitation from her deceased mother that forced her to forgive long-held grudges—including toward her dying brother—and accept personal responsibility for repeating patterns of abandonment and betrayal. The central lesson is that radical acceptance, self-reflection, and forgiveness transform suffering from punishment into karmic lessons that elevate consciousness rather than destroy it.
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Madonna explains that unlike past interviews focused on promoting music, tours, or films, this appearance is to discuss her spiritual life and the path she has followed for over 28 years. This wisdom has helped her navigate life's ups and downs. She notes that people often ask what keeps her sane and grounded when many of her peers have fallen by the wayside, and she attributes it to her spiritual life.
She states that she would not be where she is or who she is without this foundation, which has saved her life. The goal is to share something meaningful rather than promote any product.
Without a spiritual foundation, Madonna believes she would see the physical world as all there is, accept all illusions, and ultimately face downfall. She views this as most people's downfall.
Madonna has been studying Cabala since 1996, totaling 29 years at the time of the interview. She emphasizes that a spiritual path is whatever works for the individual, and she stayed with Cabala because she found nothing false, corrupt, or inauthentic about it. She has had the same teacher throughout.
For her, a spiritual life means having an internal life and not basing self-worth on external factors like others' approval, money, possessions, or social media followers. These things do not bring happiness or peace.
She advocates for daily internal reflection through prayer or meditation, taking time to stop, take stock, and contemplate. In a busy, chaotic world filled with noise and distraction, people struggle to be comfortable with silence and self-reflection. Without a spiritual practice, individuals plow through life without asking questions about their purpose or intentions.
She believes nothing happens randomly; every event serves as a lesson. The key is being aware and awake enough to recognize what that lesson is. She also emphasizes avoiding the victim mentality, noting that comparison is the killer of joy.
Madonna describes how removing spiritual practice leads people from the workplace to the home, and then from the home to their phones, ultimately leaving them nowhere. She notes that people are living in a virtual world rather than even the material world, and without consciousness, there is no point to living.
She emphasizes making time weekly to study spiritual texts, whether the Bible, the poetry of Kahlil Gibran, or the Vedas. Before discovering Cabala, she was actively seeking answers because despite having a successful career, fame, and fortune, she was not happy.
Madonna began practicing Ashtanga yoga with teacher Eddie Stern. Initially, she became competitive about progressing through the series, but she noticed that many students would skip poses entirely to sit before a statue of Ganesha, light candles, or pray. Eddie pointed out that breathing itself constitutes yoga practice, even when poses cannot be performed due to injury or travel. The poses serve to calm the nervous system and return one to center.
A painting in the studio reading "desire and detachment" led to a conversation about wanting life's pleasures without becoming attached to them.
While pregnant with her daughter Lola, Madonna realized she would be responsible for another human being and questioned what she would teach her. She recognized that despite her survival instincts, work ethic, and ambition, she had been living unconsciously, knocking down obstacles without reflection.
She acknowledges that despite appearing confident, brave, and audacious, she was deeply a slave to others' opinions and lacked genuine inner confidence.
At a dinner party while pregnant, a costume designer suggested she attend a Cabala class next to a synagogue. Madonna was told it was a philosophy about life rather than a religion tied to Judaism. She attended and met her teacher, sitting in the back of mostly male classes for years. The teachings gave her courage to be who she was meant to be and introduced concepts of intention and purpose.
She realized her purpose could not be limited to wealth, fame, or popularity, as none of those last. Motherhood prompted her to ask questions she should have asked sooner, as she had been caught up in herself.
Madonna rejects the notion that spirituality and success are incompatible. She states that success requires a spiritual life, and she would not be as successful in work, marriage, friendships, or relationships without one. She clarifies that Cabala has nothing to do with her Catholic upbringing, emphasizing that everyone must find their own resonant path.
Approximately one year after beginning Cabala study, she created the Ray of Light album, which was 100% influenced by her spiritual practice. She describes a door opening where she began having visions and channeling ideas. She became conscious that she was channeling light rather than owning it, viewing herself as a vessel.
Her teacher taught her that she is not the owner of her talent but the manager. This consciousness prevents the trap of claiming ownership over channeled work. She observes that many artists with meteoric rises burn out because they cannot handle the light without understanding restriction and filament.
Madonna states she never pursued the path of drugs to access light, crediting the universe and God for protecting her. Despite experiencing being held up at gunpoint, robbed, and raped upon arriving in New York broke and alone, she felt the presence of a guardian angel.
She explains that her unhappy childhood, including losing her mother, actually protected her because she refused to return to that life. The worst experiences became the best because they kept her moving forward rather than seeking comfort at home.
She notes that studying makes everything harder, and the more one tries to become enlightened and conscious, the more tests arise. Life itself is a test, and greater awareness brings greater challenges.
Madonna maintained her spiritual practice even while touring and building albums, praying before every show. Her manager questioned scheduling around her practice. She acknowledges the difficulty of balancing parenting, work, and spiritual life, noting there is little time to rest.
Madonna's mother died after giving birth to her youngest sibling, leading her to equate motherhood with death, lack of freedom, and living solely for others. Initially, she rejected the idea of becoming a mother. When she became pregnant with Lola, she viewed it as meant to happen and felt terrified about what she would teach her daughter.
She recognizes that her unconventional path and outsider status have given her strength to survive and fight. She felt like an outsider growing up in Michigan, arriving in New York, and living in Los Angeles, and believes not fitting in is what saves people.
Her children grew up exposed to her studies, sometimes viewing them as silly or strange, but she observes that those who maintain a spiritual life are happier. She emphasizes there is no coercion in spirituality; either it speaks to a person or it does not.
Madonna resented her father growing up because she felt he was not emotionally present. She viewed his Catholicism as something followed because it was how he was raised rather than a conscious choice. The transcript cuts off mid-sentence while discussing questions about Catholic practices like genuflecting and receiving the body and blood.
When growing up, questions about religious practices like genuflecting and receiving the body and blood of Christ went unanswered with the response that it was simply written. The appeal of Kabbalah was that questions were invited and answers were provided, which was the opposite of the religious upbringing. The father was viewed as a religious robot, and the desire was not to be a robot. Having a spiritual life allowed seeing the father as a human being who made mistakes and did the best with what he was taught. When those cylinders start clicking, it creates compassion not just for parents but for all people who don't see life the same way, leading to more compassion for him.
Spiritual context creates compassion when able to zoom out and look at someone's life. The moment of real compassion came when visiting the home the father grew up in, which was incredibly small and shared a bathroom with 20-30 families. At nine years old in Pune, India, there were cockroaches around the home and bats inside, which was difficult to believe. This experience created understanding that wouldn't have occurred without seeing it, as it was easier to assume their life was different. The message to children is that they are judging by the chapter they arrived in, and it's hard for kids to see that a parent's life hasn't always been the same.
Without a spiritual life, suffering occurs constantly, feeling like whatever is happening will never end and the wrong card was drawn. Spiritual understanding transforms the view of events as challenges karmically meant to be experienced and learned from, evolving to a higher level of consciousness. This allows looking at experiences as lessons rather than punishment. The pain that pushed toward contemplating suicide was the custody battle with a son. Even though the marriage didn't work out, someone trying to take the child away felt like they might as well kill her. While on tour, she would lie on the dressing room floor sobbing, feeling it was the end of the world.
The enemy is within, and with the benefit of hindsight, the lesson becomes visible even if it couldn't be seen at the time. Being abandoned as a child by her mother made losing a child feel like life repeating itself. Not being able to accept things causes suffering. Radical acceptance means accepting that what is happening is meant to happen and that everything will be okay. It is not an instant thing, and there is no way to escape suffering, though challenges come differently depending on circumstances.
During tour rehearsals, a bacterial infection led to sepsis and four days unconscious in the ICU on a ventilator. After getting out of the hospital and breathing independently, there was no strength or energy and no way to know when recovery would end. The teacher advised that the sooner acceptance happens of what is occurring without knowing when it will end, the sooner it will end. This same concept applies: sitting around feeling sorry for oneself keeps one swimming in suffering.
The personal understanding is that souls choose the lives and circumstances they are born into. Souls are perfect, but born into lives of challenge after challenge. The journey is to navigate and see that each challenge is karmic destiny. It is energy, the law of quantum physics, cause and effect. Whatever uncomfortable thing happens is meant to teach a lesson, and if not learned, it will come up again and again until acceptance occurs that it is a lesson, not punishment. This is how one gets out of victim mentality.
The lesson that kept repeating and took longer to learn was betrayal or abandonment, which sometimes go hand in hand. This kept her feeling sorry for herself, stuck blaming others, and not taking responsibility by asking how she brought this upon herself or why it was happening repeatedly. The abandonment lesson taught that she could stop being destroyed or paralyzed by it by examining how she was not showing up for other people, how she was abandoning other people, and how she was abandoning herself by not listening to her inner truth and inner voice.
The spiritual practice changes how betrayal, rejection, and other challenges are processed. Less time is spent feeling sorry, being a victim, and blaming, and more time is spent asking why it happened and what the lesson is. The shift happens sooner than before. Self-reflection and acknowledging accountability for behavior is not the same as feeling guilty. Feeling guilty is ego shaming oneself, which stops growth from happening. It is amazing to reach the point of asking what can be learned from this, which is the ultimate question.
If manifesting without consciousness that it is a gift from the universe, from the light, from the creator, then everything becomes finite. When not manifesting with the consciousness of channeling something, ownership is claimed. The key is recognizing that whatever happens successfully is not done alone but manifested with the help of God. If thinking manifestation happens alone, there will be an end to whatever is being manifested. Desire for selfish reasons means wanting something just for oneself, like having 10 Bugattis and mansions in every city, which brings short-lived happiness.
Writing the first song happened without thinking about being somebody or having goals. After writing it, the question came about where it came from, as there were no musicians or songwriters in the family. This opened eyes to where things come from, seeing the possibilities and the magic of the universe. These moments happen throughout life to everybody, whether saving someone's life or having an idea for a life-saving invention. The important thing is to acknowledge where gifts come from, which is really manifesting.
Saying out loud what is wanted out of life is important, but it is a partnership. Becoming the environment means surrounding oneself with like-minded individuals who are also attaining higher consciousness or wanting to know deeper meanings of life. Without that support system, there is risk of falling back into recreating formulas or trying to capture magical moments again. The ego takes over saying it was done alone and can be done again.
Continuing to have a spiritual life and spiritual practice requires study. Ritualistic moments are needed daily or a few times a week to think about what has been done, what would like to be done, whether opportunities have been capitalized on spiritually, what was done to help someone, and what was done for others. This is really the only way to be successful in life.
In the beginning, the desire was just to be somebody, to have a voice and make a difference, but without clarity about what that meant. Now there is clarity: everything said has weight and gravity, words are powerful, and actions are powerful. The difference is having intention and consciousness, always asking why something is being done, why a song or performance is important. Self-awareness implies selfishness like a day at the spa, which is not going to bring lasting happiness.
The greatest amount of light is where there is darkness. When in a dark room, turning on the light reveals it, but when in a room that is already light, no effort is made. When feeling dark, an absence of light, hope, inspiration, or vision, those challenging moments are opportunities to bring light to a dark place. Spiritual wisdom is helpful when challenged, and when happy it is helpful to remember that at any time it could be gone. Don't take it for granted, have humility, be grateful when things are going well, and be grateful when being tested.
Forgiveness is one of the hardest things, whether betrayed, lied to, exploited, or taken advantage of. Being a fighter meant if somebody messed with her, they would get it. When things happen without a tangible enemy to put a finger on, radical acceptance is needed. There were things thought would never be forgiven, but the feelings became a prison and poison. Not being able to forgive and living in a state of holding grudges or hating someone is like a cancer. It is important to find a way to forgive even perceived biggest enemies.
The brother who died recently was difficult to forgive because the hardest ones are people felt to be closest to, the greatest allies who turn on you. The people who hurt the most are the people loved the most. When life doesn't go as expected, the pain feels unbearable, and vengeful thoughts or never forgiving seem like they will give power, but it just weighs down and eats away like poison. After years of not speaking, the brother reached out while ill asking for help. The moment came of deciding whether to help the enemy, and the choice was made to help, bringing relief and removing a weight. Being in the room holding his hand while he was dying and saying love and forgiveness was important.
After waking up in the hospital from the coma, the word forgiveness came to mind. The realization was the need to forgive people still held grudges against. While unconscious, the mother appeared and asked if she wanted to come, and the response was no. The assistant heard her say no while unconscious. When eventually waking up, the realization was that the no was about needing to forgive and make good with people. A song called Fragile was written about the brother, and another song called Forgive Yourself with the repeating phrase if you can't forgive me, forgive yourself, emphasizing that everyone has to forgive others and also forgive themselves and stop beating up on themselves.
Stop beating up on ourselves about things and choices we've made in the past that haven't worked out for ourselves or other people. Taking responsibility is a very big lesson learned from studying Kabbalah. The speaker emphasizes being accountable and responsible, believing in personal accountability, personal karma, and global karma. A lot of the things happening in the world are a result of our selfishness as people, as humans, as a society. We are responsible and cannot just sit in our room or house or the safety of our home and say these people deserve it. We need to be aware and conscious that we contributed in some way, shape or form.
If we have collectively and consciously evolved to a higher state of consciousness, we can change the world. The wisdom documented through studies with the speaker's teacher can help other people in a very practical way, not in an esoteric way.
Harsh words and harsh behavior is energy and you can never take it back. But you can change your destiny, your karmic destiny. And one of those ways is to forgive others and forgive yourself.
The speaker has been gracious with time, energy, and vulnerability. The conversation concludes with an invitation to watch another video chosen based on viewing behaviors and a subscription prompt for the channel.
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