tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62022591955613746202024-03-04T20:09:52.212-08:00Julia Star's blog siteYou can contact me for an appointment at info@visionaryjourneys.net
Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-63576896280759209252023-12-21T13:27:00.000-08:002023-12-21T15:15:08.167-08:00<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Brush Script MT"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Winter Solstice-Rituals for the darkest day of the
year<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1wgDuApYRZjAOzy3alHl_nT1Q4NIudDc2oTnl5ydruAv_YJRUXqSjyWJ93grk7DDPjVCcYtznw8RCLJ_4vIQMRerrT42ZSAy7a2UPaUNrwp1hMSXgaUjHDywxfBfOOY1XjHPmnqvvLytWICTivwoXtg3FtiTqfjsdikV1IRVTbi6fqd7Rbd5fASrti_M/s2717/solstice%20clouds%20group%20of%207.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2391" data-original-width="2717" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1wgDuApYRZjAOzy3alHl_nT1Q4NIudDc2oTnl5ydruAv_YJRUXqSjyWJ93grk7DDPjVCcYtznw8RCLJ_4vIQMRerrT42ZSAy7a2UPaUNrwp1hMSXgaUjHDywxfBfOOY1XjHPmnqvvLytWICTivwoXtg3FtiTqfjsdikV1IRVTbi6fqd7Rbd5fASrti_M/w420-h370/solstice%20clouds%20group%20of%207.jpg" width="420" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Here in
this human world, sometimes we must experience darkness before we
can choose the light. Winter solstice is when the earth is at Her darkest nadir and She pauses, preparing for the
next cycle of the seasons. This is why, despite the marginalization of
spirituality in our world, this one time of year, with its multiple
celebrations from various traditions, is still honoured in most of the world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is the
time of year to venerate darkness, the Shadow, all the negative experiences in
our lives, in the lives of others, and in the world, as one interconnected net
of being. From the darkness comes the polarities necessary to choose the light,
for the next cycle of growth- restoration, rest, sinking in the cave of the
collective subconscious, going within and finding new directions for the new
year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: medium;">With that
in mind, let’s turn our attention for a moment towards our own defensiveness,
anger and irritation with others. Let’s reflect on how we often jump into the
limbic high jack and collapse into defensiveness to protect our
vulnerabilities. Those soft spots in ourselves that hold sadness, unworthiness,
grief and hopelessness. Let’s turn towards our own capacity to truly listen to
others, to be willing to compromise for long term gains, to respect others’
rights to self-determination.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span>Internationally,
I will re-iterate what others have stated as the basis for peaceful
co-existence among nations: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial
integrity, mutual non-aggression, non- interference in each other's internal
affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span>To
strengthen our ability to create peace- I have created this ritual for
solstice. Gathering with others is the most powerful way to perform this
ritual, but if you don’t have a spiritual tribe, you can come together with,
then doing this alone is also very effective.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span>Ahead of
time, ask your tribe to bring an inspirational reading, or dance or poetry or
song to share. With your tribe, from a circle. Set a large candle in the centre
of the circle. Give each person a small candle, perhaps a small tealight.
Wherever you are, make the space as dark as possible, turn off all the lights,
blow out the candles. Sit for a few moments in the darkness. You can play
soft music if it helps people to focus.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span>Here at the
darkest day of the year, we can honour three worlds of Gaia- the mineral world, the plant
world and the animal world.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b>The mineral
world</b> During the winter months this world gives us rain, snow, winds, sky, clouds to help
us by cleansing events- snow, rainstorms, torrential atmospheric rivers- we
honour their activities as helping us clear away the past, purging old beliefs
and behaviours which we no longer need or want. Next time there is a climatic
storm of any kind, step out into it and give blessing to the mineral world for
helping us blow away the past, to grow and develop.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b>The plant
world</b> Trees enter into a state of suspended animation.
Perennials have a temperature memory that tracks both time and temperature,
ultimately allowing them to figure out how cold it has been and for how long.
By keeping tabs on interactions among proteins, plants identify when to
activate the core gene that breaks dormancy. Trees and shrubs drop their
leaves, go into their roots. Photosynthesis and respiration decelerate, and
growth halts.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> <b>T</b></o:p></span><b>he animal world </b> Many beings in this world sleep, or hibernate in one form or another. Bears in their
caves, giving birth to their young and suckling their young on the fat they
accumulated from autumn harvests. Fish and other amphibians go into the mud or
other dark caves and sleep. Humans also feel the pull towards isolation,
astrologers study the stars and sky events, gardeners read seed catalogues and
draw out next year’s gardens, writers write, dreamers dream, healers take rest.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span>Light one
candle in the centre of the circle.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span>Let’s begin
the new year as the earth pauses in her cycle to create aspirations in three
realms of human consciousness. Individual, collective and global.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span>This candle
is a metaphor for the one source which we all come from. It is the sun of our
Soul.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span>Let’s put
our hands on our hearts and imagine a radiant light developing there, like the
candle in the centre of the circle. Let the heart light fill your whole body,
sinking first downwards through your body to your toes, and then rising up into
your throat, head and crown.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span>Now your
whole body is radiant light, wellbeing, peacefulness, joy and the power of
source energy. Let this radiance fill your whole body and especially focus on
any areas that may be constricted or in pain or illness.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b>Individual
intentions</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Set an
intention for yourself individually. These can be aspirations about your
personal health, career, work, abundance, what you want to create in the next
year.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b>Relational
intentions</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span>Now imagine
that you have strands of light energy that can be sent out to everyone you have
known in your life. These can be beings or pets who have passed. Take and
moment and visual all these beings filled with light, love and joy. You can
also send out strands of light to the three worlds of Gaia- the mineral world,
the plant world and the animal world. See these group of beings gathered around
you in loving kindness with an interchange of light, love and joy. Imagine that
we are all embracing inter-being- helping each other with growth, expansion and
the care of Soul.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b>Gaia
intentions</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span>Imagine now
and put your focus towards Gaia as a whole interconnected being. With millions
of cells participating in the creation of one complex, beautiful, blue pearl
being in space.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span>Take a
moment and send peace to all those who are in war zones, those who live in
areas where there is violence, hatred, fear, destruction and defensiveness.
Let’s send prayers to these people and imagine, and they can all come to
peaceful terms with those that are in conflict.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span>Specially
let’s send peaceful intentions to the people and all beings who live in Gaza.
And to all those who are fighting and struggling with invasion and violence in
the Ukraine. Let’s imagine at this moment, not in the future, in this very
moment, that they experience a moment of inner peace, that they can find a way
towards resolution, mutual respect and prosperity.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b>Inspirational
Readings</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span>Now I light
my candle from the One light and read my inspirational reading, and if I want,
I’ll comment on the meditation and some intentions for the new year. Let’s go
around the circle clockwise for opening. Let's allow each person to speak in
turn without comment, just presence.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Let's end
with a chant for peace- <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Blessings for the new year.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Photo credit </span></o:p></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Lawren Harris-</span><span style="font-size: large;"> Group of seven</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-77455096952139291652023-01-17T11:21:00.000-08:002023-12-21T15:21:27.579-08:00<p></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"> <b>DEATH MEDITATION</b></div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfjzxnj2BEO5G59YiJUdhc87sv5xQlelh2rSe5Lrp_meaoVEQ-N9yAVdPNRw8rPwtO-CchOUEBAIC5iW3xLi_wcfbs2kK3S2qT9u6aqao8T7aNDIkY9h1b7vVVLQDChJjDDKvS5csKdQ9QArnxKGw4RUwSoGGSIzfcpsmLEglns4b72VaZBYYvaKi6/s1826/Janus.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1826" data-original-width="1296" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfjzxnj2BEO5G59YiJUdhc87sv5xQlelh2rSe5Lrp_meaoVEQ-N9yAVdPNRw8rPwtO-CchOUEBAIC5iW3xLi_wcfbs2kK3S2qT9u6aqao8T7aNDIkY9h1b7vVVLQDChJjDDKvS5csKdQ9QArnxKGw4RUwSoGGSIzfcpsmLEglns4b72VaZBYYvaKi6/s320/Janus.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><br /></b></h1><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></b><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">This
practice was taught to me by a channeled fellowship called The River. I
included the mediation in my blog-Julia Star’s Blogsite and my book about the
River teachings-Soul Catching-Discovering sacred connections in our environments.
This book is available on my website-Visionaryjourneys.net. This death meditation is similar to
Buddhist practices with same intentions but created for contemporary people in
these times.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">Winter is
the best time of year to practice the Death </span><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">Meditation</span><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">. If possible, choose quiet times at night, especially between one
and four o’clock. This is a practice best reserved for individuals aged 28
years or older. It is sound practice to allow the first 28 years of maturation
for the ego to develop in a healthy way. This is a practice that is beneficial
for those who are at the end of their lives, or those who want to let go of the
fear of death, or those who want to live more fully without the shadow of death
in their psyches. There are some old souls in young bodies who may also benefit
from this practice but be observant if you are the care giver that the young one
does not fall in nihilism with this practice. It is meant to enlighten, enliven
and create joy, not ego ruminations about loss of control.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">As is so
beautifully stated in Psalm 23- “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy
staff they comfort me.” Notice the poet did not say “death’ but ‘the shadow of
death’. The rod and staff refer to the crook and walking stick that shepherds
would typically carry to release caught sheep out of thorny bushes and drive
away predators. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">We do
not fear death as much as we fear dying, the process of letting go. However, releasing
old habits, old selves, even old friends and family is often necessary for deep
change. We die to our old selves and then can welcome new future selves.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">To
practice dying is an ancient training which many wisdom traditions incorporate
in one way or another. The Buddhist tradition recommended that monks and nuns
find a corpse that had been freshly laid on the ground and sit by it every day
to observe how the flesh gradually corrupts and is transformed until only white
bones remain. This is obviously not an option for us in these times. But we can
prepare for dying and embrace our inevitable passing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">This is
an extremely powerful practice to face fear in any situation, but especially
during journeys, which often bring an ego death. This practice is also helpful
for any practitioner who wants to work with dying clients, especially using plant
medicines to ease the transition out of this life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">Generally,
the progression of release goes in much the same manner as a real death; first
the body is dissolved, then the senses (hearing is the last to go) and then the
identity and concepts are released.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever
comes up, dissolve it in death. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example,
if fear of meeting demons arises, tell yourself that in death, there will be no
one left to be afraid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like the
proverbial tree in the forest, there will be no sound because no one is there
to hear it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">Begin by
a small ritual of opening into sacred and multidimensional space-walking the
four directions, lighting fragrant plants, lighting a candle. Keep the room
dark and cool. State your intention for doing the Death Meditation and then, if
that falls in line with your beliefs, ask your spirits, guides and essences who
travel with you to aid you in completing the meditation deeply.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">Find a comfortable
position lying down on the back, flat on the floor without a pillow, arms
comfortably by the sides and palms facing upwards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You may want to cover yourself with a warm
blanket because the body temperature drops while in deep meditation (unless it
is a meditation to rise the body's temperature). It is best to do this meditation
alone, unless it’s a guided group experience. Playing music through most of the
meditation can be inspiring, however put your music to end after about 15
minutes, as you prepare yourself for the final stages of dying. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">Start by
stating to yourself ‘I will die tonight. I will not see the dawn’s light” or words
with similar meaning. Let that thought sink in. What do you notice? Breathe deeply
if your first response is fear. This is natural, let it pass. Remember this is
a practice so when your moment to pass truly comes, you will be able to let go
easily and joyfully.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">Imagine
you have the gift being able to say goodbye to all your acquaintances that you
met in this life. Take your time and say your farewells to them, say everything
you want, knowing this will be the last chance the two of you will meet. You
can also say fare thee well to ones who have passed on, animals and environments
such as a favorite beach, forest, or plain. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">Address
the body one part at a time and visualize that part is dying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Start with the feet and work up to the
head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Say to yourself “My feet are now
dying. I want to thank you, feet, for carrying me through this life, for all
the pleasure and sensory orientation you gave me. For carrying out the Soul’s
desires by keeping me safely upright.”-or words to that effect. Bring to mind
all the experiences that were enriched by your feet-walking in the snow with
the feet bound up in hiking boots, walking on cold sand in winter, receiving a
foot massage with scented oils from your beloved. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">As
impressions arise, address them by telling yourself that these things will no
longer manifest because you are dying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
let go slowly, let each impression arise and address it as if this is your last
hour of life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let yourself cry if sorrow
arises and move on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you have
cleared all attachments to one part then release it and move up the body. Spend
time especially with joints, hands and the charkas as you move through the
torso. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">As you
work up the body, a multitude of impressions may arise, anger in your gut,
sorrow in your solar plexus, your Mother in your knee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now comes the difficult part, you must clear
each of these parts before you can release them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can you release your stomach to death if
all the anger from your previous marriage is pent up there?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">How can
you release your need to be recognized by talking, if all your grief from
childhood is still in your throat? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">And on
it goes, be gentle with yourself, be thorough and don't expect to fully achieve
release with one meditation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember in
the old days, forty days and forty nights were given to this method.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">When you
have let go of the body, go up the centre channel of your spine and release any
sensations that might still be there. Then rest your awareness in your crown
chakra. Now you will release all of your five senses, except for hearing which
will stay until the last and even remain after death. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">With the
same process of bidding farewell, let go of each sense with gratitude, appreciation,
love and of course, sorrow and grief. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">Finally,
you will release all concepts about who you are. You will release all personal
identity, leaving not a trace behind. This may be the most difficult part. Each
time a concept of who you are arises, dismiss it. Saying something like “Once I
was a (mother, young man, husband, sister, helper, healer, troublemaker, addict…)
but now I am dying. I am no longer any of those concepts.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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Description automatically generated" height="161" hspace="12" src="file:///C:/Users/Admin/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.jpg" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_2" width="214" />You
will know when the meditation has been successful. You will travel past fear,
past regret, past sorrow and past any glib concepts you may have about what
happens to you after death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don't let
the ego fool you by letting the astral body slip away into a fantasy land.
Remember, with the true death of identity, there is no one to experience heaven
or hell. When this meditation is done deeply and sincerely, we can let go of
death in life and fully and joyfully appreciate each precious moment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 108pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span face=""MS PGothic",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS PGothic";">VisionaryJourneys.net<o:p></o:p></span></p><b></b><p></p>Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-16266010281354802472022-09-18T17:35:00.000-07:002022-09-18T17:35:12.636-07:00<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>Elysian mysteries
revealed after two thousand years of secrecy</b></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Mystai are approaching.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRBa3XdXGvG_LaM2lrfg-MZt5gX0A8YjQv8yAZRdnQhaYwOe1doJ0EXRJxxXAwixgGs2GKTTFiKHYPqJ35VUfT164ivlyq3BtzkMZTI7niriMaOhHXPbFOMe-UW1og8bIOfNE7Ng8lLGtOEZ4FC_zbCGidFxHWF0108qJahisbUi5BGBrLHO1Phwye/s599/Demeter%20finds%20Persephone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="435" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRBa3XdXGvG_LaM2lrfg-MZt5gX0A8YjQv8yAZRdnQhaYwOe1doJ0EXRJxxXAwixgGs2GKTTFiKHYPqJ35VUfT164ivlyq3BtzkMZTI7niriMaOhHXPbFOMe-UW1og8bIOfNE7Ng8lLGtOEZ4FC_zbCGidFxHWF0108qJahisbUi5BGBrLHO1Phwye/s320/Demeter%20finds%20Persephone.jpg" width="232" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> <o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">We can hear them approaching. Singing, playing drums, flutes
and cymbals which resonate thru the valley, made hot by the setting sun. This
is the month of fall harvest…and death. And rebirth. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">They have been walking since dawn. The water carriers are
tired, they run ahead the dusty brick road with the amphorae of sweet cool well
water and wait for the slowly walking gathering to reach them. Men, women, and
children dressed in white linen robes holding palms leaves to shield themselves
from the hot sun of late afternoon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Today is the first day of the Greater Eleusinian Mysteries. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dromena, deiknumena, legomena. Things done, things shown,
things said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">These are the esoteric teachings that could not be revealed,
on pain of death. The mysteries were kept secret for between two to four
thousand years. They were held about seventeen kilometres from Athens in an
agricultural valley. These were the mysteries which could never, ever be
revealed, in speech, writing or intimation. Otherwise, the initiate could
suffer from the ire of the gods…something no Greek or denizen of the ancient
world would risk. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Mystai have <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>been
preparing for these ceremonies for a year and one half. They have been on
strict diets, given long passages to read and memorise, and encouraged to
follow an honourable life without lying, cheating, sex or violence<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">But now the veil can be lifted, and the mysteries can be, at
long last, be revealed. We are at a great crossroads in our evolution, and we
need all the help we can get to make the next jump up in consciousness. The
benefits of the wisdom of the mythology, rituals and plants used in the Kykeon,
there at Eleusis and else where in Europe and the near East, can now be
divulged - as people like me gradually remember and choose to share their past
lives memoires.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Tonight, the Mystai will meet the gods, in person. But first
their pride and arrogance must be shed with humour and licentious teasing. We
put on our rags to imitate Hecate -who told Demetra who had kidnapped her daughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once we have blackened our teeth and put on
tattered rags, we join the other priestesses along the Sacred Road from Athens
to Eleusis. Along the way, some priestesses leash up the black dogs of Hecate
and lead them, snarling and barking down to the Kifissos bridge, the bridge of
truth. When we arrive, the first Mystai are in sight. When they get close
enough, we start hurling insults and shameless sexual innuendos at them. They
must let go of the arrogance and hubris which initiates typically have. We must
help them shed their self importance and indemnity so when the gods come into
their bodies and minds tonight, they can welcome them with surrender and
sweetness. We tease and make them laugh, the same way that Baubo made Demeter
laugh when she was on her way to liberate her daughter. Baubo is the cunt goddess,
she is depicted as a face on top of a huge cunt. She represents raw female
sexuality and by extension, the fecundity of the earth herself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is the part of the lesser mysteries that we enjoy the
most. We can say anything that comes into our heads to the tired pilgrims. For
the wealthy initiates, easily identified by their expensive white silk robes, and
followed by fawning slaves, we are particularly acerbic. The younger initiates tend
to laugh along with us, but there are those, men in important positions in
Athens, and other capitals around the Greek speaking world, who glare at us threatening.
But we are assured in our position. We pick up our skirts and prance in front
of them, revealing our own dark mystery between our legs. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Would you like to drive your chariot into this Hades?’ I
taunt a young man who looks positively resentful about the teasing. He shakes
his head and keeps trudging over the bridge.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Son of the underworld, would you like to abduct me?” I lift
up my cotton tunic to show him my breasts. He is momentarily distracted, then
smiles.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Ah fair priestess, you know that I am a Mystai and can’t
engage in dalliance with you fair maidens.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Then we both laugh, he continues his journey with a lighter
heart, and I spy another Mystai who needs some taking down.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">No one can charge the priestesses of Eleusis. No one would
dare to insult those who speak directly to the gods. Especially because we can
have communication with Demeter the patron goddess of the mysteries.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">For the poorer hierophants or those who are crippled or
infirmed, we are a little kinder, we tease them gently about their handicaps.
If they are struggling to get over the bridge, we discretely help them. Life
has humbled them enough with their physical suffering. And we want all of them
to reach their destination-that huge, cavernous temple called the Telesterion,
or End place. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">As the last Mystai shamble into the courtyard outside the
Telesterion, the Greater Propylaea, and our work is done until the evening. The
Mystai are given a Kykeon, but not the sacred Kykeon they will receive tonight.
They must have empty stomachs for the dramatics that will begin at night fall. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">We have learned from painful experiences over the centuries,
how to mange the ever-greater numbers of initiates who come for the Great
Mysteries. They cope better with the emergence of the gods within if they are
tired, humbled and have an empty stomach. We ask them to maintain silence, only
absolutely necessary communications are allowed. We must orient them towards
the sacred visions which will accompany tonight’s dramas. They are taken to segregated
bathhouses, for men and women. Here slaves mix unashamed with their masters and
mistresses. In the eyes of the gods, humans are equal in their weaknesses and
perfidious fickleness. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The dramatic myth that we shared at the Eleusinian mysteries
was the story of Demeter and Persephone-the mother goddess of the earth and her
daughter. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And her husband of the
underworld-Hades. We must remember that the culture and belief structures we
live in today are vastly different from those ancient peoples of over two
thousand years ago. They had not been educated in science and the dualistic beliefs
of Christianity and later, the Western reductionist world view. They viewed the
world more accurately and lovingly as a world where everything is animated with
divine sentience-from ancient olive trees to storm clouds, to the whispering of
wind in leaves or crawing of ravens. They believed the gods were present in all
circumstances and events. Perhaps we could understand their deep faith as an
emersion in the archetypal landscape of the inner psyche. Their inner worlds
were not so separate from the outer world as we see this separation now.
Dreams, omens, unusual events in every day were interpreted as powerful harbingers
from the transpersonal realms of Soul.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">When the Mystai were ready and brought into the telesterion,
the drama of Greater mysteries begins gently with slow deep drumming while the
priestesses gave out the Kykeon, literally a sacred mix of plants and herbs
which only the privileged few know. The amphora were very heavy and young
stronger priestesses and priests are chosen to carry the amphorae around the
sleeping platforms of the Telestrion. We worked in twos or fours, depending on
how many cups the amphora could hold on to its hooks. The amphora carrier
poured the Kykeon into the cups, balancing the heavy pottery amphora on his or
her knees. The cups were held by a priestess. Each priestess was in charge of
one pottery cup. Her life depended on getting that same cup back from the
initiate. Each cup had to be drunk to empty and then handed back to the
supervising priestess. In this way, no Kykeon was split or stolen by crafty initiates.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The recipe for the Kykeon was a highly guarded secret. It
was assumed by outsiders that the Kykeon was made by the priestesses but in
fact, the recipe was held by only a handful of priests, castrated men who dedicated
their entire lives to the temples of Eleusis. There were many secrets in these
temples, and many camouflaged obscurities. The hierophants of the temples believed
that giving the recipe to the women was dangerous- they were the ones who went
out of the temple gates to gather the ingredients for the Kykeon., they could
be captured, tortured and made to divulge the recipe. However, the castrated
priests did not leave the compound, and only with guards at their sides. They
brewed the sacred Kykeon in secret vaults underground, carefully guarded by the
temple warriors-both male and female. However, the populace assumed because the
Kykeon was given out by priestesses, they knew the recipe, but they did not. If
any guard dared to try to peep during the brewing of the sacred Kykeon, they
were blinded or executed depending on the extent of their crimes. There was
utterly no mercy for any who tried to discover the mystery of the Kykeon. To
this day, this protection spell is still active, a long term, multi dimensional
curse not limited by time or distance. No on has yet to absolutely know what the
ingredients of the sacred Kykeon were. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">But as priestesses, we certainly knew its effects, which
were relatively similar from one year to the next. We could gauge how long it
would take for the gods to come into the bodies of the Mystai, when they would
lie down and become quiet, when to begin the drama of Persephone returning to
the world in a metaphoric play of re birth. What sweet tears of joy they shed.
How thankful and amazed they were the next morning, when at last they could
break their fast and return to everyday life. But with the visions which the
gods gave them during the night.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The drama started with light flutes and string instruments,
to bring to mind how the story begins with Persephone picking flowers in a
meadow. During this time, the Kykeon was served. Verses are read out as we work
thru the sleeping platforms carved into the rock, to imitate the chambers of
Hades. There is little light, the Telesterion has no windows, we work by torch
light. Then when every Mystai have drunk of the sacred Kykeon, we signal the actors,
and the story can begin into its more dramatic narrative-the rape and abduction
of Persephone by Hades.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Priestesses in the temples were divided into several
categories, depending on their ability to predict the future and diagnose
illnesses. The temples were funded by wealthy patrons who came to the temple at
other times outside the Great Mysteries for guidance and prescience readings.
The highest oracles were the women who were most easily possessed by the gods.
They uttered prophecies, sometimes utterly incomprehensible, other times full
of insights and wisdom. The prettiest and most gifted oracle was chosen every
fall to play the part of Persephone during the dramatic presentations of the
Great Mysteries This was a coveted position and honour, and there was much
jealously and competition among the priestesses for this honour. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were also many
slaves who were tasked with keeping the temple keepers feed, watered, dressed
and overall happy. There were body workers, cooks, gardeners, midwives, wine
makers, stone masons, carpenters, architects, herbalists, crones in charge of
daily maintenance of the living spaces. The temples were busy all year around
and filled with all sorts of people, animals and many kinds of plants grew in
the gardens and around the fountains. If there was a paradise on earth at any
time, it would be Eleusis. But its downfall was inevitable once the patriarchal
bellicose religions got hold of the human imagination. This was the warning of
the mysteries, then and now. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The oracles were encouraged to remain virgins, and never
marry. They were allowed oral sex, usually with the castrated male slaves or
other women. In this way they avoided pregnancy and could remain priestesses
dedicated to their spiritual work. They were not celibate, but they avoided
pregnancy and marriage at all costs. They had various birth control methods
which they used themselves as well as selling birth control and abortive
methods and herbs to the general public.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Priestesses were chosen from the near by villages, although
the women could also come from as far away as Egypt, and many gifted girls were
found among the Egyptians because of their past association with the gods. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The myth of Demeter and Persephone briefly, is about the
earth goddess, Demeter who was the archetype associated with the gifts of
grains, agriculture and climate. She has a beautiful daughter, Persephone who
is abducted by the god of the underworld (the unconscious). Demeter is
distraught when she can’t find Persephone anywhere, and no one has witnessed
the abduction except the sun and a crone goddess, Hecate hear Persephone’s
cries but didn’t see who had taken her. Although she has a good idea who.
Meanwhile Demeter, in her sorrow and anger wrecks havoc upon the earth, there
are droughts, fires, the seas rise, and the fields crops are damaged. Animals
and plants die off, humanity entreats the gods to return the environment to
normal.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Demeter has many adventures before she finds Hecate, who
tells her what she heard. Then Demeter rushes down to the underworld and finds
her daughter, but her daughter has married the king of the underworld, and
because she ate seeds from the pomegranate while in the underworld, she must
return to the underworld for as many months as the seeds she ate. Thus, when Persephone
is in the underworld, we have fall and winter, when she emerges, we have spring
and summer. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">A simple myth explaining the seasons?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">What really happened at Eleusis? These ceremonies formed the
basis of our present civilization, the Western world took instructions from
these mysteries, many if not all of the greatest thinkers, mathematicians,
artists, poets and bards attended the mysteries. They have reported, by all
their accounts, that the mysteries were the most profound experiences of their
lives. These great souls include Socrates, Plato, Cicero, Plotinus, Sophocles,
Aristotle, Epictetus, the military leader Alcibiades, the playwrights Euripides
and Sophocles, and the poet Pindaros, emperor Marcus Aurelius. Pindar,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Or a narrative, not about the past, but about the future.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Next posting will continue with the revelation of what the mysteries
really meant. Not only for the denizens of ancient Greece, but for us now. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Picture downloaded </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="background-color: #f6f0e7; color: #878787; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">The Return of Persephone - Frederic Leighton (1830-1896) - PD-art-100</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #f6f0e7; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #878787; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">https://www.greeklegendsandmyths.com/eleusis.html</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #f6f0e7; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #878787; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #f6f0e7; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #878787; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #f6f0e7; color: #878787; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><br /></span></p>Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-14943920960305021062022-07-28T16:36:00.002-07:002022-07-28T16:36:20.488-07:00Connection-Soul Catching in the Environment<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAzCtLfitrwQa2bIVLqrYepL0omS6PYxJ9dgoyhOHUyr00UF8rKw7qX2X3EmrCy6W9g9aCMaQ2tLKoZ2LE_icSqJZxb5bydwaDr00k0Pej6ajDnElOG_Xj6OpLCdSnN239Lwa3v7sgwZ3PTicA0dkwBnOeT_wmnfwBiVhPAqFGtkPnxTK3Q68bzGYm/s238/lighttree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="212" data-original-width="238" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAzCtLfitrwQa2bIVLqrYepL0omS6PYxJ9dgoyhOHUyr00UF8rKw7qX2X3EmrCy6W9g9aCMaQ2tLKoZ2LE_icSqJZxb5bydwaDr00k0Pej6ajDnElOG_Xj6OpLCdSnN239Lwa3v7sgwZ3PTicA0dkwBnOeT_wmnfwBiVhPAqFGtkPnxTK3Q68bzGYm/w426-h284/lighttree.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Soul Catching is a way of life and therapy which I have
developed over many years of studying with a</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">spiritual fellowship called The
River. Soul catching was developed from observing and practising different
spiritual traditions, and studying quantum physics and psychology and over
forty years of front-line counselling. This philosophy forms the basis of both
a life path and a counselling model.</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
practice is based on the premise that we do not live inside ourselves. Our
consciousness is not a little nut of awareness, hidden somewhere behind our
eyes or in our hearts. Our souls, that part of us that is deepest and most
essential, lives outside of our skins, in the world. So the world is not only a
metaphor for our consciousness, but it <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i></b> our consciousness- our soul. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Soul lives outside of the self.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I
first started to grasp the significance of this truth, I realised that I could
use the world and environment as a kind of mirror in which I could glimpse the
deepest thoughts of myself and my clients. I found that strange things started
to happen when I proceeded to ask people what they noticed in the environment
around my office. Animals turned up who had never turned up before. They cawed,
sang and hummed around the windows and glass door. Sometimes they came in
through the sliding glass doors if they were open, or asked to be admitted. Machines
also turned up and roared up and down the street or in the air, unusual events
transpired which I had no explanation for except-<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">notice this!</i> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Over
time, as I developed this awareness, I wondered how every time I asked
questions into the world, my questions were answered in immediate and profound
ways. A bird with an incomplete song turned up when I was working with a young
woman with depression, a murder of ravens turned up and flew in big circles
when I was working with a man who was deceiving himself and others sexually,
planes suddenly started to roar overhead when I worked with a woman whose ambition
was driving herself into chronic pain. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Once I
was working with a woman with anxiety. Carol (pseudonym) and I were working for
about forty five minutes and I felt that we were at an impasse. We had explored
aspects of herself and externalised them as hungry ghosts. That had led to some
cathartic understandings about how her own unrealistic and cruel expectations
were causing the panic. Then we sat in silence, I felt both completed with that
line of therapy, and also expectant that there was more. How could we proceed?
Usually before the environment is about to give me a clue as to where to go
next, I feel a kind of emptiness and lightness come into the room. In other
words, I feel that my ego, that little layer of neo-cortex which is the fixing
monkey mind of my consciousness, becomes stilled and expectant. I sink into a
deeper place.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At that
moment,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a humming bird came up to a rose
bush outside my window and hummed very loudly into the silence of our thoughts.
Carol noticed the hum of the bird and instantly knew that she must hum, chant and
sing daily. Humming is therapeutic for trauma and anxiety, and used in somatic
experiencing as a treatment for PTSD. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For
many years, I kept thinking that we, my clients and I, were using and
interpreting the environment as a kind of ink blot, a way of gazing into a
mirror, of opening the door to the unconsciousness. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I persisted with the notion that <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it was all <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">me</i>,
inside my little brain or heart, sitting in my chair and my client sitting in
their chair, interpreting events which were unrelated to us but which we had
decided to pull into meaning. Then one day as I walked by the river, I asked
for further insight into how Soul Catching functioned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Half way along the return trip, I saw a river
otter down by the edge of the water. I walked over quietly because seeing an
otter is unusual along this pathway. The otter was chomping on a little fish,
and in a flash, I realised that it wasn’t just me interpreting the environment,
it was also the environment interpreting me. I had called the world for an answer,
and the river otter gave it to me. I wasn’t only eating the world, the world was
also eating me.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In a
flash I understood the world in a completely different way, a more connected,
gentle, loving and whole (holy ) way. My question had sent me an otter, eating
a fish from the river, representing taking wisdom from the world. But the otter
was also eating the significance of me, noticing her and perhaps in some way I
altered her life also in that moment.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Here is
the leap in understanding. The client interpreted the humming bird as a need to
chant more. This part is easy, it fits with what we know about accessing the
unconsciousness with techniques such as dream analyses, following random
associations and using abstract images as a mirror. But the leap, the truly wonderful
part of Soul Catching is that in that moment, the mirror is also active in the process.
Not only is the mirror alive; has sentience and is imbedded in the significance
of the moment, but that imbedded meaning changes, is flexible and somehow
arises in a way that defies time. The humming bird in that moment was also called,
for her purposes, to glimpse some part of her soul. Perhaps simply to find
nourishment or for other more mysterious purposes which we can only guess at. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soul was captured at that moment as a humming
bird. Now, the mirror is also alive, so the hummingbird in that moment also was
active in her exploration of her own being and wisdom. By invoking openness, to
notice the environment as a living participant in All That Is-we were both
sitting in the room in a kind of altered state, a state of consciousness that we
can call the World. And then we can engage soul for answers. This works inwards
and outwards because the reality of time is not linear, nor is space therefore
as limiting as we imagine. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I am
not a physicist but I have read books about quantum physics and am constantly
amazed how this new science sounds so much like ancient teachings. We are
entering an age when this quantum physics will echo and confirm the wisdom of
our ancestors. You don’t have to be a physicist to understand that all
consciousness is inter-related. And therefore, if you are approaching life from
a scientific perspective or a psychospiritual or intuitive perspective, you can
understand that the world outside of ourselves arose and lives in much the same
way that we do inside our bodies, day by day. Quantum physics explains that all
events take place in a way that all possibilities are first explored and, in
some way, tried out, before a ‘real’ or chosen path is taken. We are led to
stop thinking of time as linear event, but rather spherical. Then the
mysterious ways of how Soul Catching works, starts to make some sense. In the
same way that photons are able to know ahead of time in the double slit experiments,
if the slits that they are being forced to pass through will be open, single or
double and will instantly explore all possibilities and choose the one that is
most likely –so too, when we call on the sentience of all that surrounds<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>us to give us guidance, it All turns up with
answers. We have only to notice and then to act. <o:p></o:p></p>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><img align="left" height="193" hspace="12" src="file:///C:/Users/Owner/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.png" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_1" width="196" /><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Not
understanding our deep connection with the environment is the basis of the
hunger that I see in some many of my clients. This emptiness is created by
seeing ourselves as separate from the environment and drives people to seek
fulfillment with substance abuse, unhealthy relationships, drivenness towards
greater and greater production and acquisition - addictions of many kinds. From
these addictions comes dis-ease. We are so disconnected with the part of
ourselves which lives outside of our skins that we have lost our souls.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We can
now enter in the awareness which spiritual teachers have extoled from the beginning
of our creation-all things are connected, sacred and inter-dependent. The world
is our mirror and we are a mirror for the world.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Try this! Soul
Catching in the natural world<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Go outside to a favourite place in nature. You
can also use a counselling room, but the outside environment, especially a natural
place<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>has more interesting items to
catch. Face a direction that appeals to you.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Stand for a moment with your eyes closed. Become
aware of your body, how your feet rest on the earth, sounds, scents. Close your
eyes and come fully into the moment. Release any thoughts, obsessions, or
worries that you may have.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Now open your eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Notice the world around you- as it is. What
is the first thing you notice? Don’t edit your first choice no matter how
incongruent or insignificant it seems. At these times, everything is
significant and everything is meaningful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You may notice, events, sounds or objects in the environment. Do not
begin to go within seeking interpretations at this point. Just notice. Be as
clearly observational as possible.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Go back inside and write out what you noticed
with just a few words. E.g. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">east-a
chickadee sang</i>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Now for the soul catching. The world turned up
at that moment with a message for you-what is it? Ask yourself “Where in my
life is this sign significant?” E.g., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Where
in my life is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>there a singing bird? </i>Or
you may ask the opposite question such a<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">s
“Where in my life is there <b>not </b>a singing bird?”</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Follow back, follow back. Keep asking yourself
why this sign has meaning for you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>E.g.,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The bird was expressing herself. Perhaps
I need to be joyful in my communications?</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->You will know when you come to the soul message
by a feeling of resolution, relief or joy. The Aha! Moment. E.g. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">That’s it! I’ve been really afraid of saying
some things to some people that need to be said.</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Write down the message and remember to create an
action commitment for each insight E.g. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In
this next year(month, week day)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when I
feel I need to, I will speak up and say my truth, even when I’m afraid. Just
like a chickadee singing, without expectation, just as an expression of who I
am</i>.<o:p></o:p></p>Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-87255143670591244462021-04-20T12:19:00.001-07:002021-04-20T12:19:46.635-07:00Mindfulness for anxious times: The Clearing breath, Circular breath and Body Scan<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoiVfwDeO6M6qda-00hq4AqUuJtmK5fVeDSB0VcIE76Tl_9V11Y4tpoGT5KskIH7g3NJx-gj7M48E88MXxsGM3Xl0ySCqGdfH07iI6WkNqnyW-Ze303Umt4Kb3VTCDuKqzMAmflvHfHUQ/s2048/man+comtemplating+lake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1293" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoiVfwDeO6M6qda-00hq4AqUuJtmK5fVeDSB0VcIE76Tl_9V11Y4tpoGT5KskIH7g3NJx-gj7M48E88MXxsGM3Xl0ySCqGdfH07iI6WkNqnyW-Ze303Umt4Kb3VTCDuKqzMAmflvHfHUQ/s320/man+comtemplating+lake.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>This past year of quarantine has been incredibly difficult for
all of us. <p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I talk to lots of people across the country
about how to manage anxiety. One of the first things we all need to do is
acknowledge that these are time when there is much to be anxious about. Then we
can cope better by putting new strategies in place. One of best strategies to
cope with the current high stress level is to practice some kind of
mindfulness, intentionally for at least ten minutes a day. The benefits of mindfulness
are myriad. Check out the resources at the end of this posting.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I consider these three mindfulness practices: clearing
breath, circular breath and the body scan, to be essential and foundational for
any kind of inner reflection, intentional change and mind/body neuro
re-structuring. If calm abiding can be established, then any kind of personal
change is facilitated.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Calming the brain stem by engaging the somatic responses of
the para-sympathetic systems allows the whole body/mind to slow down and become
present rather than perseverating in worrying thoughts. When the mid-brain can
calm down, this allows the higher functions of the neo-cortex to engage. The
neo-cortex is the place where higher functions are located. These include
language, compassion, being able to take the perspective of the Other, math
skills, logical follow thru skills…all functions you need in these times to
live well.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There three practices bring the mind out of worrying about
the future (anxiety) or obsessing about the past (depression). These practices
silence the unrelenting self-stories that keep us trapped in a negative bias.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mindfulness is also an excellent preparation
for any kind of medical intervention or other stressful events. It is most
helpful to do this scan in a quiet safe environment, but if you can’t access a
quiet, private room, then these techniques can still be used almost anywhere.
Don’t try to drive or operate heavy equipment while doing these practices.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Step One</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bring your body into quietness by straightening the spine
and bringing your attention to your breath. You can take any posture as long as
you are comfortable and your spine is straight-sitting on a mat, in a straight
back chair or lying down. Ensure you will be undisturbed for at least 15
minutes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bring your awareness into your spine and make all the
adjustments you need to make it straight, light and comfortable. This allows
the body to breathe without physical posture blocks. Now-take a long breath
into your belly, blow out slowly. You should be able to hear your out
breath-like the sound of a wave or wind. Do this three times<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Step Two</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For the next few moments, imagine that your breath is coming
into the base of your spine on the in breath, travelling up your spine as you
lungs fill, and then pausing at the crown of the spine until you naturally feel
the need to release. On the out breath, imagine the breath going down the
spine, slowly starting at your crown (7th chakra) until it reaches the root of
your spine again. Pause. Repeat. As you imagine your breath going up and down
your spine, notice areas where you have less awareness. Spend extra time in
these unconscious places-these are typically areas that need more attention.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Step Three</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Start the scan by taking a comfortable position, either
sitting, or lying down. If you choose to sit up, ensure that the back is
straight. Say to yourself “For the next few moments, all I have to do is follow
breath and be in my body. If sounds or events arise, I will not attach any
significance to them. Now I will begin come fully into the present moment,
without trying to fix anything. I will just be present. If thoughts arise, I
will gently let them go”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bring your awareness back to your relaxed body with an even,
unhampered flow of breath through your nostrils. Enjoy the simple awareness of
breathing and relaxing the body. Do not try to control the breath in any way;
just let it sink into the abdomen.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Step Four</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Beginning with the feet, bring awareness into that part of
the body. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">My feet are relaxing, they are
warm and heavy. Focus on your feet until you feel all tension drain out of them</i>.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As you begin to release tension from the feet, visualize
them filling up with light (warmth, vitality, calm-your choice), each cell
being infused with vitality and well-being.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Move up the legs to the knees and then the rest of the body.
The sequence that works well is: feet, ankles, calves, thighs, pelvis, abdomen,
chest, shoulders, arms, wrists, fingers, neck, face, and scalp.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Step Five</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When you have finished relaxing the whole body, go back to
any part which may still be holding tension and stress. Breathe into the area.
Imagine it becoming light, warm, and relaxed. As you breathe out, say to
yourself “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Relax</i>,” and enjoy the
sensation of letting go.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Step Six</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If this is preparation for an intervention or stressful
event, now introduce the best case scenario for the outcome. Visualize yourself
coping well with your challenge. See in your mind’s eye the best possible
outcome. Then let it go. Set an intention for the rest of the day (hour, week,
challenge).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-no-proof: yes;">Resources:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-no-proof: yes;">You Tube Rick Hanson “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hardwiring
Happiness</i>” 13 minutes on the neuropsychology of mindfullness<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">https://www.elephantjournal.com/2018/09/8-ground-rules-for-better-emotional-self-care/<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">https://www.gaiam.com/blogs/discover/how-to-be-more-mindful-just-by-breathing-and-walking<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19.html<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">https://www.anxietycanada.com/<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">https://www.rickhanson.net/newsletter-signup/<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyu7v7nWzfo<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOAgplgTxfc<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9H9qTdserM-Also his book
‘Why Zebras don’t get ulcers’ by Robert Saponski<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">https://tricycle.org/magazine/tonglen-spot/<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How to cope with stress:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx7cpWcF5Nw<o:p></o:p></p>Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-56877127048297960102020-05-11T08:21:00.002-07:002020-05-11T08:22:07.098-07:00Mother's Day Special- the true meaning of the COVID 19 pandemic<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The true meaning of
the COVID 19 Pandemic and what we should be learning from it<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sometimes lessons are presented to us in ways that are so
obvious that we miss them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This pandemic has shut the world down now for two months, taken
thousands of lives and threatens to crash our economic structures globally. In
short, the human world has been brought to a standstill and nature is waiting
for us to learn our lessons or prepared for more pandemics which will be worse.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Honestly I feel I am repeating myself, again and again. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But when I listen to dominate media sources, I don’t hear
the wisdom of these times being clarified or elucidated in any but the most
superficial and panicked way. The narratives run towards survival, blame, and
victimization of humanity. I’m tired of hearing the whiney voices of people
bemoaning their losses. And I reply:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You think this is bad! Unless we mend our ways, there is
much worse coming!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCUu7utrmjmZFK0nycjx08rC3DY9dxZC74RrhIwcwhnvWbvZvkeHlbJed20qq1_MYj7SUXkr-10LF9P3fkdrTt7rHhrKmJXrf2JcW4AzYC-DXMMOcuPipEbN8IumxYW38sMYhEZ5SEj20/s1600/earth+and+moon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCUu7utrmjmZFK0nycjx08rC3DY9dxZC74RrhIwcwhnvWbvZvkeHlbJed20qq1_MYj7SUXkr-10LF9P3fkdrTt7rHhrKmJXrf2JcW4AzYC-DXMMOcuPipEbN8IumxYW38sMYhEZ5SEj20/s320/earth+and+moon.jpg" width="320" /></a>Nature or Gaia, represents a whole network of interconnected
beings, who like us, exist physically, emotionally and spiritually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The three worlds of Gaia are: animal, plant
and mineral or inanimate. These worlds are composed of many beings who all
share the same morphic structures. These morphic resonances create a shared
energetic field which all members have in common. Each species has a collective
consciousness called species mind. All beings of the earth are nested within a
greater hierarchy called Gaian mind. These energetic communities can be
compared to conferences or courts where beings congregate in dream states,
discuss and come to decisions about the future of the planet. These worlds were
seen clearly by our ancestors, of all races. But in this misguided Cartesian
flat world of modernity, we have forgotten and minimized our awareness of the
Gaian mind, and our responsibility to all our siblings of Gaia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This pandemic can be an opportunity to return to our older,
wiser understanding of nature as embodied, sentient and representative of our
own souls. The earthly networks of life are putting us on notice, and because
She has ultimate power, we must either surrender to the lessons of growth and evolution
or face extinction. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gaian mind speaks to us in very simple terms; Her language
can be understood by all. We don’t need to be an academic, priestess, or epidemiologist.
We just need to pay attention to the events of our lives and be open to the
environment around us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s follow some of the clues.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First, this especially virulent virus spread from wild
animals to humans. There is controversy about the exact location, but the
dominate narrative appears to be that this virus came from a dirty, disgusting
wild animal market where wild creatures are caged, tortured, made to live in
horrible unnatural circumstances. The animal kingdom is already angry at us
humans, we have destroyed about two thirds of animal life on the planet and
replaced it with our own domesticated animals which we need for meat, leather
and manure. Of course, the animal world is infuriated by our dishonourable use
of the earth’s resources, and the extinction we have caused to hundreds of
their members every year. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So the pandemic is a lesson to teach us how to treat the earth’s
creatures and resources more honourably with a spirit of compassion and love
which we would naturally extend to the loved humans in our lives. These are our
brothers and sisters, not just metaphorically, but actually. They share the
same DNA, live in the same environments and we share a common mother, the
earth. The animal world is developing viruses which are uniquely virulent to
humans. They are designed to stop us in our tracks and take a step back. Gaian
mind is giving us notice to review our behaviours, world views, and core
values.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Clearly the earth is moving towards ridding her environments
of the pesky parasites, humans, who have become arrogant, dissociated from the
values of life and liberty, and are heading towards mass destruction not only
of their own species, but taking a whole lot of other species and beings with
them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s the thing to consider in this great shift we have to
make towards realising our interconnection with nature. You can’t connect with
someone or something you don’t know. Most people I counsel know almost nothing
about their natural environment. When they go for walks outside, they have no
idea of what trees, shrubs, flowers or fungi they are seeing. They don’t know
the names of the birds they see and hear. Most people have zero nature
relatedness. For most humans right now, we are living in a phantasy world of
human-only inventions, technologies and consumables.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Terrance McKenna said- we are the only
species in the history of the earth to entertain ourselves into extinction.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We have also completely lost the ancient wisdom of recognizing
the environment as the greater soul of human consciousness, which we are
intimately connected with. The olden techniques of feeling intimately connected
with Gaian mind, omen reading, using the environment as a mirror of the soul. These
are all rituals and strategies to develop our awareness of interconnection.
These techniques were minimized and fulminated by the last four to five hundred
years of Cartesian thinking of separateness, control and commoditizing everything
we can get our hands on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We have also become incredibly disconnected from the first
and most essential tool for understanding interconnections-our individual
bodies. Many people don’t live in their bodies and treat these sacred vehicles
of consciousness, like unconscious tools to be used and ignored when not needed
like they use their cars, grass mowers or<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>computers. We have also learned how to abuse other people, turning them
into slaves to our desires; underpaid workers, stressed care givers and sexual
commodities. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Cartesian era was
needed to help lift us out of the control and manipulations of the spiritual hierarches
of the past two thousand years. It has given us many benefits and insights into
the complexity and awesomeness of the natural world. But we must proceed with
scientific investigation hand in hand with the core truth of inter-connection.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What I do to the Other,
I also do to myself.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Other, can be anything or anyone who is in your life in
an unconscious and un acknowledged way-your own body, those you have conflicts
with, the environment, the animal and plants worlds, and natural resources from
the earth of all kinds.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As long as we can collectively catch and torture wild
animals of any kind, if we can keep wild animals in horrible filthy conditions,
and sell endanger species for insane needs of corrupt medical models, as long
as we can treat the earth’s resources like commodities, not gifts-then get
ready for the next pandemic coming your way brought to you by the more-than-human
natural world.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Theory is wonderful and can direct our lives in effective,
compassionate and holistic ways. But theory must be put into action in small daily
ways. <o:p></o:p></div>
<h2>
<br />Try this!</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Develop earth honouring livelihood<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
The quarantine is giving all of us humans
some time to reflect and grow. Reflect on right actions can you begin in your
daily life-is my livelihood harming or caring for Mother Earth? What actions
that dishonour the Mother would you like to diminish or stop? Be realistic. Develop
right livelihood, right diet, right physical movement, use of materials from
the earth. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
E.g. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I
will volunteer for the board on a local non-profit recycling organization and
give four hours a month to them.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></i></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Develop
earth honouring relationships<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Reflect on your relationships-with other
humans, other animals, the plant and mineral world. Can you imagine that each
being is conscious and sentient and participates in its own unique way to the interconnectedness
of the world at large- eagles, beach stones, someone half around the world whom
you have never met. How could you bring this awareness more in line with earth
loving ways-celebrations, honouring rituals and gathering, simple gathering
together as a community?<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
E.g. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I’m
going the women’s circle next full moon and participate in the sharing circle.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></i></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Develop
earth honouring spirituality <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Develop an awareness of the outer world,
especially the natural world. Spend time every day in the more-than-human world
to appreciate nature. Take your meditations outside and let the beauty of nature
remind you how to be joyful, present and mindful. Learn <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Soul Catching</b> (Star, 2014) to develop ways to feel closer to nature.
Develop a spirituality that honours the earth. If it doesn’t than abandon it immediately.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Let your inner light shine! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Be radiant in all activities.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
Love the Mother.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<br />Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-20847084606384021672019-09-19T17:34:00.001-07:002019-09-19T17:34:13.379-07:00Our Broken Children<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s face the truth here.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our children are broken.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our children are dying young, by suicide or violence, living
on the streets, becoming depressed and anxious, not fitting in, not coping, not
having kids, not working, not creating any kind of life they want for
themselves. By recognizing what the <i>Dark
Machine</i> is doing to our children, we can stop supporting it and maybe,
maybe, slow down the environmental and social destructive forces that it
creates.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWjoOPNVQNK9BMcIzhPhNM7RbK5-nSZNBbKYdeCLALOM83WTGbFb3F7h3GdLtBqzj6N-PRqE-DTlhnP9TTFjU3OAqr5skfHq7J2rePc3d38lpNoT6QPMBWNzS_yOXjnxDYBMmGNBBpQf0/s1600/homeless+girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="259" data-original-width="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWjoOPNVQNK9BMcIzhPhNM7RbK5-nSZNBbKYdeCLALOM83WTGbFb3F7h3GdLtBqzj6N-PRqE-DTlhnP9TTFjU3OAqr5skfHq7J2rePc3d38lpNoT6QPMBWNzS_yOXjnxDYBMmGNBBpQf0/s1600/homeless+girl.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
First, let’s stop assuming that the problems with our young
are their own fault. We can see that despite therapy, billions of dollars of
mind numbing medications, millions of dollars of social programs and education
initiatives, life coaches, inspirational speakers-they are still slipping, and
slipping fast into illness, anhedonia, disconnection, and general despair. As a
counsellor I see it all the time, either the young people themselves, or their
parents and grandparents talking to me.
They sit across from me full of helplessness. They tell me how despite
everything they do for themselves or their children and grandchildren, these
young people, are still failing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As Leonard Cohen wrote in his song “<i>Everybody knows</i>”:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<br />
<i>Everybody knows the war is over<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i>Everybody knows the good guys lost<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i>Everybody knows the fight was fixed<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i>The poor stay poor, the rich get rich<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i>That's how it goes<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i>Everybody knows<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is a general sense of foreboding with most sensitive
people I know. They recognize at some level that we are on a precipice of
disaster, and no one seems to be able to stop it. There is no honourable war to
fight now; the wars for goodness and justice are over because we <i>all</i> lost. You only fight if you know who
to hold accountable. In the past, sociopathic leaders and socio political
groups with ill intent towards humanity and Gaia were visible. They dressed up
so we could see them, proclaimed themselves openly as leaders. Now the true
leaders of the <i>Dark Machine</i> hide. We
know they are the top 1-10% of income earners, sometimes we can find their
faces on the internet, but we can’t meet with them, vote for them or have any influence
on their policies. Through their manipulations using technology, political
structures and cultural control, we are forced to be obedient to their hungry
ghosts of power and control. Or, if we willing to make the sacrifices, we can
be quietly or openly defiant. Or, we can choose to try to ignore the crisis and
hide in triviality and homocentric activities and world spaces. Which one do
you choose?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Usually we start by blaming the victims. We ask them to
change themselves as individuals-change their brain chemistry, or their beliefs
and cognitive errors, or their goals or work habits. Usually we start with the
individual and work out to bigger circles of influence-individual, family,
social, community and then global. But I propose a different approach. Let’s
start with the big picture first, with the global perspective-with Gaia Grief. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Expecting young people to make all the changes doesn’t work.
I know many who although are good people with earth honouring values, are
completely spent with surviving. With the erosion of labour laws, worker
collective rights and protection from political corruption, they struggle with
long hours of low paid work and relatively high cost of living. Our economic inequalities are returning to pre
WWI standards. The typical young person, especially if they have a family, haven’t
the energy or time left over for self-reflection, or motivation to change. They
are immobilized by the enormity of the situation, overcome by their own
emotional responses of anxiety, depression and disconnection. Often their
despair makes them unable to think clearly, act or change. Some young people I
counsel, cannot rise out their beds in the morning, especially on the week end
when they don’t have to go to work. They slide into hopelessness, dark and
despairing thoughts. They hope only to survive another day, that day, if they
can get by without killing themselves. And many do suicide, every single day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s take the simplest, most elegant analysis here. If our
young people appear to be broken, then they are and they probably have good
reason to be. We have handed over a broken world to them, and at some level
they know there is no going back with the environmental destruction we have
wrought upon Gaia. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is much to be depressed about, as the media is
constantly reminding us. The National Geographic estimates that one in four mammals
is at risk for extension in the next few decades. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i>Mass die-offs are individual events that kill at least a billion
animals, wipe out over 90 percent of a population, or destroy 700 million
tons—the equivalent weight of roughly 1,900 Empire State Buildings—worth of
animals.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<i>And according to new research, such die-offs are on the rise.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<i>Downloaded from </i><a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/1/150113-mass-die-off-disease-animals-environment-science/"><i>https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/1/150113-mass-die-off-disease-animals-environment-science/</i></a><i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i>In recent decades numerous studies have predicted that habitat
destruction will doom some 20 to 50 percent of Earth's species within 50 years.
Downloaded from </i><a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/5/110518-species-extinctions-habitats-science-animals/"><i>https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/5/110518-species-extinctions-habitats-science-animals/</i></a><i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i>Downloaded from https://www.wanttoknow.info/massanimaldeathsnewsarticles<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just as an example of our studied ignorance- when I was
researching the rate of die off and extinction rates, I noticed that the direr
of predictions had been expunged from the National Geographic website. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I remember as a young woman in my twenties and thirties
watching clouds of shore birds rise up from the Gulf Island waters, huge flocks
of swallows returning from their southern retreats, butterflies and moths so
abundant that as I walked through my grandparents fields that I could catch
them with my hands if I wanted to. Those large collections of animals are all
gone now. If I see 2-3 shore birds along the beach, I think that’s a good
sighting. If I see two butterflies in my garden I stand transfixed by their
presence. I never see swallows any more where I live, the owls have gone, so
have the bats and night hawks and the gorgeous lute like call of the Swainson’s
thrust. Is no one noticing this tragic and brutal die off? Am I the only one
with memory cells left? I met dog walkers along the river where I hike and they
comment on several birds they have seen. I look at them sadly and tell them, <i>there was a time this delta had huge flocks of
birds, they gathered and flew around in huge cloud like formations which darken
the sky.</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As Terrance McKenna once said <i>Western civilization is a loaded gun pointed at the head of this planet</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(Downlo9aded from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/9243.Terence_McKenna">https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/9243.Terence_McKenna</a>)
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Is that what is happening? Are we all just so deep in denial
that we have forgotten to look at the truth?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s be frank here, the problem of our broken children
isn’t only a problem of brain chemistry, early childhood trauma or ancestral
trauma, wrong thinking, poor parenting or lack of discipline. This is much
deeper and more profound than these simplistic answers. The proof of my theory
is this-just ask any young depressed, anxious or addicted young person how they
feel, really feel deep down. Then ask if they have any good reason for these
negative feelings- and often they will tell you they had good childhoods, happy
family and parents, their basic needs were taken care of, but somehow they are
uneasy in a way that we as humans have not seen before in our young.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do we have collective amnesia about the mental health of
past generations? Here is what I remember, only fifty years ago. As a child and
teen, I didn’t know anyone with (the list): anxiety, depression, allergies,
autism, addictions or anyone who was on any kind of psychotropic medications.
NO ONE! My grandmother in her 80’s took an aspirin every day for her arthritis,
that was the only person I knew who was taking meds or who had any kind of
chronic illness. We assumed in those days that most people were healthy and
they were. Now it is assumed that most people have something wrong with them,
some illness either mental or physical. We assume they should be taking
expensive meds for these disorders. Does this not seem strange to you?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I believe that those who support the <i>Dark Machine</i>, those with outdated beliefs, are afraid to face the
reality of how they are destroying families, children, teens and young people
all over the globe. Their propaganda is built around ‘family values’, by which
they usually mean patriarchy, Gaia dishonouring life style and uncontrolled
consumerism. So it’s in their own best interests to keep this inconsistency a
secret and they do this by turning on their own victims. They accuse the 99% of
being lazy, overly worried and negative, misinformed and lacking resiliency.
Their solutions are more hard work, medications, and expensive therapies. Their
solutions are that young people continue to keep them in their glass palaces of
privilege, concern themselves with non-issues and project their anger onto the ‘evil’ Others- Arabs, Muslims, Blacks, Right
Wing, Left wing, the Russians…your choice. They seek to keep us distracted with
superficial homocentric entertainments such as social media, fashion and
comparative self-worth images which show the 99% what they are missing. It
would be funny if it weren’t so tragic.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I honestly think that
if all anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications were banned tomorrow and
everyone stopped taking them, climate change would stop. Right then, right
there. There would massive revolutions, demonstrations in the street; those who
are orchestrating environmental destruction would be forcibly taken from their
positions of power. I’m not advocating violence; I’m just predicting that
within the next couple of decades, if we have that long, we will see
revolutions such have not been witnessed before in human history. Because we
are a species of slow learners, it seems we have to really feel the pain deeply
before we decide we must change. We have chosen frivolity over survival.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had the good fortune of feeling what those with severe
depression and anxiety must feel a few days ago. I woke up black as soot in my
Soul. I hated myself, others, the world. I couldn’t hug my husband nor be
courteous to the other people I met. I felt like I weighted a ton of massive,
immobile black substance that couldn’t be transformed or lightened in any way.
When I tried to say some positive things to myself, I didn’t believe it, even
for a second.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i> I’m going to be OK. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Ha! How do you know?
Don’t feel OK right now and we’re supposed to live in the moment-right? <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>So what if I feel
better for a while-soon this darkness will return, because it’s real and that
other positive thinking is just horse manure. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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Even the thought of taking some plant medicines to lift me
up a little from this funk, seemed superficial and pointless. By chance or
karma, I didn’t stay in this place for long. Somehow something healthier and
more enlightened in me took over and by noon I was my usually positive self.
But I felt gratitude for the experience because now I know how my son who has
severe depression feels every single day. Non-stop, no let-up except with
alcohol and other numbing drugs.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So what can each one of us do with simple everyday actions
that can at least slow these coming end times? Something simple and plain? <o:p></o:p></div>
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I think each person who is concerned about their children
and coming generations, must develop their own plan and actions to address the
global crises we see coming towards us. For me, its commitments to my
counselling, my writing, my giving of time and experience to disadvantaged
individuals and community groups, to my own personal and spiritual growth. I purposely
look for joy and appreciation every day, especially towards the non-human
worlds of Gaia-the mineral, plant and non-human animal worlds. Creating and doing
ritual with metaphors of interconnection, growing my own organic garden where I
can appreciate Gia’s beauty, growing my own personal mycelium of like-minded
people, supporting each other, discussing our thoughts and observations, being
kind, practicing compassion. But always, with a view of the global picture-all
life, all beings, all perspectives. And always with the intent not to be
overwhelmed by Gia Grief.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I create in my imagination a future for humanity which will
be unbelievably free, beyond anything we can picture right now. As soon as we
can learn the simple but profound lessons of interconnectiveness, then wars,
hunger, social manipulation and Gaia plundering will collapse. Because everyone
will understand-<b><i>that is done to the Other, is done to oneself first.<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
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Realistically I don’t want to ignore the signs of disaster,
the five horsemen of the apocalypse. But I won’t be overcome by them either. I
somehow still have the ability to arise every day with some light and radiance
in my heart, and go forward with some hope of the future. Right action, with
compassion and a view of the whole. (Star, 2007)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Now for the practical part. Here are some suggestions to put
theory into practice.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Try This!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->When a young person, or not so young person
expresses a mental state of anxiety, depression or substance dependence, try
starting the conversation with the global perspective first. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i>Are you worried about the state of
the world? Do you think you have a good future ahead of you? What do you see in
the next fifty years in terms of environmental inter dependence? Do you
seriously consider that humanity has a future?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->If they have any amount of self-reflection they
will probably answer that they have grave concerns about their future and the
future of their children and grandchildren. Recognize those concerns, don’t
minimize them. Their emotional states are probably based on real influences, in
the real world. Acknowledge their pain. Acknowledge their struggles and predicament.
Witness the truth of their experiences.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Then, when and only if they are ready to move
through the despair, talk to them what could possibility be positive in the
present state of the world. I see massive personal growth, and recognition of
inter connectedness and inter dependence. This will be the basis of the next
leap up of growth and consciousness. We will recognize our Good Mother and stop
abusing Her. We will see the Other is actually just a reflection of ourselves.
We will understand the environment is a mirror of our Soul.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Plan out a few things they can do today, this
week, this month, this year to help this great leap up in consciousness be less
brutal and destructive. Simple everyday solutions. <i>I want to dance more. I want to develop a daily ritual that reminds me
of interconnection. I want to create art that reflects the goodness of the
earth.</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Let it be simple, doable and something they can
start today.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Turn up with your intentions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Start today.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Work with what you have in front of you.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Resources:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
Star, J. (2007) <i>The three great ways-balancing work, love and spirituality</i>.
Cowichan Bay: Long Boat Press.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Star,J. (2018) <i>Soul Catching: Finding sacred connections in our environments</i>.
Cowichan Bay: Long Boat Press.</span>Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-14181596809482845742019-08-21T12:04:00.000-07:002019-08-21T12:04:30.512-07:00Advice from a three thousand year old priestess<br />
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"<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nothing is
higher than these mysteries...they have not only shown us how to live joyfully
but they have taught us how to die with a better hope</i>" Cerico<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL4xP2eBvH29nvIItZUKrfscMtghG9SDKozrVhrhyphenhyphenACpTEwsFKKNX1ApeoPEn82mE30Nz3LeYkZsQB_cgvuwFuf0xmTuryX-UoutjQYtf-2UPey7VzW4FPTpXCq5kOpz-D8Hs2ePC4QfU/s1600/eleysian+mysteries.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="805" data-original-width="1600" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL4xP2eBvH29nvIItZUKrfscMtghG9SDKozrVhrhyphenhyphenACpTEwsFKKNX1ApeoPEn82mE30Nz3LeYkZsQB_cgvuwFuf0xmTuryX-UoutjQYtf-2UPey7VzW4FPTpXCq5kOpz-D8Hs2ePC4QfU/s320/eleysian+mysteries.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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(Downloaded from https://www.ancient.eu/article/32/the-eleusinian-mysteries-the-rites-of-demeter/)<o:p></o:p></div>
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I have been disturbed lately by stories of the journeyers
who have used plant medicines disrespectfully and suffered harmful effects of entheogens,
plant medicines, holotropic breath and other therapeutic altered states. These
are powerful therapies which when used with discernment, reverence and care can
provide incredibly transformative and healing experiences. But these therapies come
with risks and serious dangers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
tragedies of those who have been harmed by mis use of therapeutic altered
states can teach us how to proceed more safely and effectively in the future.<o:p></o:p></div>
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To help us understand these new (to us), largely uncharted waters
of plant medicines and therapeutic altered states, let’s begin by studying the
history of these practices. Perhaps we need to look to how previous cultures
used plant medicines. Go back as far as possible to the first report of how these
substances were first used. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Thomas Hatsis (2011, 2018) has written two very well
researched books about Western traditions of using plant medicines. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These traditions were employed for thousands
of years, not only in South America and Africa, but also in northern Europe.
Christianity by the thirteenth century determined that entheogens were a threat
to their male dominated hierarchy of power and control. Almost every vestige of
these plant medicine traditions was destroyed. The wise men and women who were
earth honouring and had knowledge of how to use plant medicines were tortured
and executed by burning, hanging and drowning. However, some fragments survive
that tell us about their practices and so their wisdom can inform our future.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Elysian mysteries are one of the oldest and longest
lasting entheogenic traditions of the Western world. We have much evidence that
entheogen pharmakon were used in the ceremonies. The Elysian mysteries were a
series of ceremonies that took place in the autumn of each year, and ran consecutively
for over three thousand years. All participants were sworn under pain of death to
keep secret what transpired in the ‘greater mysteries’ which were the
ceremonies that followed ‘the lesser mysteries”. Almost unbelievably, what
truly took place in those ceremonies is still secret today. However, from
fragments which indirectly refer to the mysteries, we can gather some ideas of
how the entheogen, most probably psilocybin mushroom or ergot extracts were
used with incredible personal, social and global transformative power for good.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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We have lots of material about the Elysian mysteries, if not
the content nor ingredients of the pharmakon. But we do know peripherally, that
there were two stages to the ceremonies. The first stage required the initiate
to study the ‘lesser mysteries’ in Athens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Lesser Mysteries were held at Agrai in the month of Anthesterion,
our February... The initiates were not even admitted to the epopteia [Greater
Mysteries] in the same year, but only in September of the following year."</i>[
Kerenyi, Carl. Eleusis – Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter. Bollingen
Foundation 1967, p. 48.] <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The only pre-requisites for attending the lesser mysteries
were to be ‘free from blood guilt”, and speaking and understanding Greek. The
initiates had a vigorous regimen of healthy life style, they wore white clothes
to distinguish them, had limited diet with no meat or fish, no intoxicants, and
obeyed commandants for living which were the prototype for the Christian Ten
commandants. They performed rituals and mediations every day and were
supervised by a priestess. I wonder if there were some who were unable to stand
the vigors of the lesser ceremonies and so were eliminated from participating
in the Greater Mysteries.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Greater Mysteries started with a long procession from
Athens to Eleusis, a walk of about 19 km. This was followed by ten days of
ceremonies, only after which, on the last night the entheogen Kykeon (drink)
was given for the final revelations. Most probably, the theme of the ceremonies
was death and rebirth, told in metaphor by the story of Persephone and her
Mother, Demeter. This was a drama about the first Mother, the earth and all her
beings and life systems. I believe that much wisdom was given to the initiates
through plant medicines about how to be earth honouring and life loving.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Numerous scholars have proposed that the power of the Eleusinian mysteries
came from the kykeon's functioning as an entheogen, or psychedelic agent. The
use of potions or philtres for magical or religious purposes was relatively
common in Greece and the ancient world. The initiates, sensitized by their fast
and prepared by preceding ceremonies (see set and setting), may have been
propelled by the effects of a powerful psychoactive potion into revelatory mind
states with profound spiritual and intellectual ramifications. In opposition to
this idea, other pointedly skeptical scholars note the lack of any solid
evidence and stress the collective rather than individual character of
initiation into the Mysteries. Indirect evidence in support of the entheogen
theory is that in 415 BC Athenian aristocrat Alcibiades was condemned partly
because he took part in an "Eleusinian mystery" in a private
house.[70](Downloaded from </i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleusinian_Mysteries"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleusinian_Mysteries</i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, Aug 7, 2019)<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The rituals were based on a symbolic reading of the story of Demeter
and Persephone and provided initiates with a vision of the afterlife so
powerful that it changed the way they saw the world and their place in it.
Participants were freed from a fear of death through the recognition that they
were immortal souls temporarily in mortal bodies. In the same way that
Persephone went down to the land of the dead and returned to that of the living
each year, so would every human being die only to live again on another plane
of existence or in another body.(downloaded from https://www.ancient.eu/article/32/the-eleusinian-mysteries-the-rites-of-demeter/)<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Strong memories have re surfaced for me during holotropic breath
work of being a priestess at an oracle site where psilocybin was ingested by
priestess and at special events, by initiates. Once during holotropic breath
work, a vision was given to me of a huge dark cave or temple. People were
sitting in a forum style, in the dark, each person held a torch. I was above
the seats on a platform, looking down on a sea of lights, a very stirring image.
As I was having this vision, one of the breath work helpers walked by and
gasped. Later, without my telling about my experience, she related a vision she
had seen when she walked by me. It was exactly the same on I had. Ego
dissolution! <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>…the 20th century
historian Will Durant states of the mysteries, "In this ecstasy of
revelation...they felt the unity of God, and the oneness of God and the soul;
they were lifted up out of the delusion of individuality and knew the peace of absorption
into deity".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Historian Waverly
Fitzgerald sums the experience up clearly writing, "It was said of those
who were initiated at Eleusis that they no longer feared death and it seems that
this myth confirms the cyclical view of life central to pagan spirituality:
that death is part of the cycle of life and is always followed by rebirth"
. Every ancient testimonial reflects this same understanding and each has the
same tone of enlightened liberation from the fear of death.</i> (Downloaded
from https://www.ancient.eu/article/32/the-eleusinian-mysteries-the-rites-of-demeter/)<o:p></o:p></div>
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I had more visions of this past live memory as the journey
continued and with other plant medicines. I was a dancer at these ceremonies; archetypal
myths were danced, sang and drummed in this temple. I was also an oracle at
this place, I would ingest the substances, and then journey into the time/space
net and ask questions to gods and guardians. I also helped with giving out the
sacred drink that each participant was given. I think the ingestion of the ‘Kykeon’
was timed perfectly with mythological dramas that were danced and enacted on a
stage below the forum seats. I have seen such forums at Ephesus and Rome; they
are all similar in construction, designed to given maximum viewing for
everyone. </div>
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I was a priestess who carried a heavy stone amphora <o:p></o:p></div>
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around to the
seats in the forum while another priestess ladled out the Kykeon into a cup
which hung from a handle on the amphora. There was always only one cup per amphora,
so no one could try to slip some drink into their own vesicle and steal it into
the secular world. Each pair of priestesses was charged with the secrets of the
ceremonies. However, I was not privy to the preparation of the Kykeon, that was
reserved for a select few whom did not ever, in nearly five thousand years of
the Elysian Mysteries, reveal the secrets of the sacred dramas, nor the
ingredients and preparation of the sacred Kykeon.<br />
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I was also aware of the competitiveness among the priestess.
How accurate the predictions, how elegantly they were delivered, the beauty and
sweetness of the personality-these were factors jealously strived for. This
competiveness created strife among the clergy of this temple, but it was a good
competition, in the end, everyone had to accept the limits of their gifts and
abilities. In this life, I met one of the main priestess at a conference. As
destiny would have it, she came and stood in front of me, much as she had done
three thousand years ago in the dark temple. An intense hatred, jealously and
outrage rose up in me. I had to move away from her, the intensity of my
emotions almost overwhelmed me. So perhaps the competitiveness of this ancient
temple wasn’t so healthy after all.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Certainly we can look for guidance to the ancient past as
well as contemporary cultures which escaped the destruction of plant medicine
cultures, mostly by the colonization of Christianity and the forerunner of The
Dark Machine. The difference between the ancients and indigenous cultures and
the Western use of plant medicines, is that in the past, only highly trained,
prepared, and chosen individuals take the entheogens. Lay people in the
community could ask the priest or shaman for advice, healing and prognostications.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Going into this very
deep and sacred work demands respect, faith and a well-grounded ego which will come
back together after the journey and keep you safe in this world which we are embodied.
My tenant is “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We want to renovate the ego,
not demolish it</i>”<o:p></o:p></div>
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I am disturbed with accounts of high doses of plant
medicines, the so called ‘hero’s dose” which could be misconstrued as a
courageous and beneficial practice, and perhaps in the case of young men and
women who see themselves as warriors of spirits, to be a good way to use these
substances. I believe that if your journey brings you to places that you can’t
remember, at all, or to places where your fear is overwhelming and
traumatizing, then you are simply taking too much. Everything in life is dose
dependent-water, food, exercise, meditation…so are plant medicines and psyche
changing practices such as pranayama. There is no ‘hero’s work ‘here, just be
cautious and sensible. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Advice from a three
thousand year old priestess:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->We, humanity, need to go back to where we got
lost, about 3-5,000 years ago, back to a time when our understanding of the
world was magical, shamanic, earth honouring, interconnected and sacred. We
need to let go of the highly rational mind to understand where we are at this
point of time, and return to a time of transpersonal understanding of life, the
first mother, earth, and the eternity of Soul.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Don’t concern yourself with fears of aliens, non-earth
beings or space travel. We will not be able to leave the playground until we
learn to play well with Others, in all their expressions. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Take time and care to prepare for any therapeutic
altered state. This preparation must be holistic-body, mind and environment. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Enter into the halls of entheogens with <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>well-educated guides, counsellors and sitters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Prepare a solid foundation of wellbeing before
venturing into entheogens. Be familiar and establish a daily sacred practice:
breathing, mindfulness, conscious movement, self-reflection, rituals of
integration, good life style choices<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Take recommended doses, go slow. Better to be
underwhelmed than overwhelmed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Set and setting-scared interconnectiveness and
unfailing respect for the life systems of earth, without these foundations you
are a tourist, not an initiate<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Develop your own rituals and expressions of
sacred interconnections. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Metaphor is one
of the greatest creative inventions of humanity-use it by creating rituals and
ceremonies that are significant for you.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Therapeutic altered states should be spaced, no
closer than one month apart. If you want to do these substances more than once
a month, I suggest that other issues within your psyche should be examined and
resolved before going further<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Take time to integrate after the session, make
commitments that arise from your insights. Without actions following insights,
you are betraying yourself and all your teachers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Fear not! The soul is eternal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Resources:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Image of amphora By Ricardo André Frantz (User:Tetraktys) -
taken by Ricardo André Frantz, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2276568<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
R. Gordon Wasson (Author), Albert Hofmann (Author), Carl A.
P. Ruck (Author), Peter Webster (Afterword), Huston Smith (Preface) (2008) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of
the Mysteries</i>. North Atlantic Books, Berkeley CA.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hatsis, T. (2018) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Psychedelic
mystery traditions-Spirit plants, magical practices and ecstatic states.</i>
Inner Traditions International. Rochester,Vermont.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wasson, R, Kramrisch,S. Ott,J, and Ruck,C. (1986) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Persephone’s quest-entheogens and the
origins of religion</i>. Yale University Press, London, UK.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-34702823071696048222019-07-31T11:55:00.001-07:002019-07-31T11:55:50.076-07:00<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My therapist isn’t
perfect</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mark, (pseudonym) sits across from me in sharply pressed
blue shirt, black striped pants, and a beautifully knotted tie, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">well turned out</i> are the words that go thru
my mind.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqyk5Vv-jxe-u1sqLsxv2ze-8wcD40PcwQb5LDmvXFCBiPSSsXhh97OjMZpDVCWSibNMh4eW2f7d6IrJhOOJ8RGafwdAx0WOKJpKZkg3ZXrKfXgzTGf9Bua3GAkE8fc-UZHk2DlhLrFeU/s1600/man+in+therapy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="641" data-original-width="960" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqyk5Vv-jxe-u1sqLsxv2ze-8wcD40PcwQb5LDmvXFCBiPSSsXhh97OjMZpDVCWSibNMh4eW2f7d6IrJhOOJ8RGafwdAx0WOKJpKZkg3ZXrKfXgzTGf9Bua3GAkE8fc-UZHk2DlhLrFeU/s320/man+in+therapy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">All my previous
therapists had their own personal issues and I couldn’t work with them. Men,
women, young, old…I’ve tried so many different kinds of counselling. And I read
a lot of psychology</i>.” He smiles and settles back into his chair as if to
invite me to show him wrong.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I shuddered inwardly; this was going to be difficult.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I listened for a few moments to his litany of unsuccessful
therapist encounters, a subtle showing off of all the terms he had learned from
the internet. Then I ask him to pause, something I frequently have to do to silence
the ‘explanation compulsion’, that stuckeness in the cognitive mind while the
ego tries to fix things.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Do you want to try something
different</i>?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He hesitates, obviously put off that I have interpreted him,
then nods although he clearly wasn’t sure this was what he was expecting.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I stand up and take a mirror off the wall. When I glance
back at Mark, he looks like he had seen a ghost, perhaps he has, a hungry
ghost.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I don’t know if I’m
ready for this</i>.” Loosens his ties, sits up straighter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I put the mirror, a big one with a metal sculpture around it
on a chair in front of him and sit back in silence.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Who is sitting in the
chair now</i>?” I ask him when he has collected himself again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I don’t know</i>”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">OK, let’s put ‘I don’t
know’ in the chair</i>.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is an interesting strategy, one that you can try at
home, see “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thy this</span></i></b>!”
below. A good therapist, including the plant medicines, will be a clear mirror
for you. There is a false perception that a good therapist knows better than you
do, is further along the path than you. Sometimes this is true, but the best
use of therapy is as a mirror in which you can recognize your own Soul.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Recently I witnessed a young therapist in session with a
difficult client. She was working hard. Beware of that-if you are a therapist,
or if you are the helper, notice if you are working harder than the client. If
you are, then it’s time to step back and reassess the situation. Probably the
client she was working with had narcissistic tendencies, and the two of them
were in a tangle. The more she tried to solve the problem for him, the more he
gave her the ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yes, buts</i>…”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The conversation went like this-<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Therapist. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You could</i>…”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Client. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yes, but</i>
I’ve tried that and…” Or-<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Therapist. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">OK. How
about this</i>…”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Client “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yes, but</i>
I’m afraid of…” Or-<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Therapist. “I understand, I’m wondering if you could…”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Client “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yes, but</i> I
can’t do that because…” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Or variations on that theme. A beautiful dance for two,
which entrenches the client even further, and temporarily lets them believe
that their assumptions about their own helplessness are correct and there is no
way out of the emotional and spiritual trap they have created. The therapist is
left with a sour feeling that despite all their hard work and effort, they were
unsuccessful.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That is when bringing out the mirror is useful. And that is
the beauty of plant medicines, there is no chance for resistance or denial. You
can’t argue with a mushroom or vine or yellowish powder. What you experience is
what you experience. The journeyer will have the opportunity to deny or resist
what they learned while under the influence later, that is always possible and
that is why integration is so important. Integration is catching what the
journeyer saw in the mirror of Soul and translating it into terms that the
cognitive mind can understand and work with. If the journeyer sees a mighty
spider that tells her to dance more, then the integration is –<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how do you dance more in your life</i>?
Bringing what is glimpsed in the mirror and putting it into every day terms is
the goal of good integration of any counselling insights. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not all learnings during therapy or journeys have to have
actionable. The integration may be a new way of washing dishes or walking to
the store, or realising that we are an inextricable part of the Great Net and
everything we do or say or think is significant. That may be enough. A body
sense of rightness of being, clarity and inner peace.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Soul catching is another technique for seeing a reflection
of Soul. By looking out into the great context of the environment, the
environment becomes a clear mirror, better most times than another person or a
theory or the internet. Soul Catching is the technique I teach through my book “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Soul Catching, Finding sacred connections in
every day environments</i>” (Star, 2015) <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The internet is the worst mirror of all for Soul. It is
constructed for the purpose of illusion and keeps people addicted to the
human-only world, with its attendant hungry ghosts, immature frivolities, or my
beloved describes, a narrative written by a nineteen year old for a fourteen year
old. Ha!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Keep in mind, the purpose of any therapy is not be lectured
at by a superior person who has their sh*t together more than you. The purpose
of good therapy is to be a clear mirror in which you can recognize your own
Soul. That is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i> there is, there is nowhere,
where you are not.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Try this</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">!<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Pick an issue that you are currently struggling
with- it can be something personal, relational, or spiritual. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I feel like I’ve lost my life’s direction</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Find a mirror and sit in front of it. Look long,
hard and deep. Don’t flinch or look away for too long. You can take short breaks
to rest your eyes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Ask the reflection about the chosen topic. Wait.
Notice the environment. Notice if there are messages from the environment. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">While I was taking a break from looking in
the mirror, I gazed outside and noticed some honey bees flying between the
flowers on my balcony. Message: Keep working hard on your projects. Be a bee.
Don’t worry about the future too much; just do the work before you today.</i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW5anv45GdaZM_fh05NpLhiFbikBrwp7XgZex_XOT9wUcYCuHmZN8dQlXYnG3G5Oh2_GrtWaEA8BHMKrpfxKFemj9aWALWr5ieiI4AAdnDH8yOZIjErBps6W9mCcZjKVHvQJsz5K8ia4I/s1600/bee+in+flower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW5anv45GdaZM_fh05NpLhiFbikBrwp7XgZex_XOT9wUcYCuHmZN8dQlXYnG3G5Oh2_GrtWaEA8BHMKrpfxKFemj9aWALWr5ieiI4AAdnDH8yOZIjErBps6W9mCcZjKVHvQJsz5K8ia4I/s320/bee+in+flower.jpg" width="320" /></a></i></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Keep talking to your reflection. Use a following
back technique (See previous postings) “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I
hate looking at myself in a mirror. I wonder why? Well, when I look into this
mirror right now I notice how wrinkled my face is. So I’m wondering why that
feels uncomfortable. Why is that uncomfortable? Well, because women are
supposed to be beautiful, perfect, sexy, young and unwrinkled. Who says that?</i>”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Keep going with the questions until the bread
crumb trail leads to the home place of your concern. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I don’t have to look like what the Dark Machine says I have to look
like to be accepted. I can like myself, even with my wrinkles and older skin,
its ok, it’s me.</i>”<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-6012226754178511852019-07-03T08:39:00.000-07:002019-07-03T08:45:12.283-07:00Plan a techno free week end - Turn off the f**cking machines!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
This morning I woke up extra early-4:50 a.m. We are
approaching the summer solstice, these lovely long days in the northern
hemisphere when we bask in seeming endless hours of light and warmth.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I treated myself with a walk to the beach. The water floated
below banks of soft mists, washing the horizon an indistinguishable border with
the sea. Islands and boats appeared to hover in the air. A doe with two fawns
stepped gingerly over the beach stones; a heron squawked and rose slowly up
into the rose coloured sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwhAZ_r1lmGV0PxMCjYdAdkPIQWIr5goEVTQ0Msaq5yjYZDyRbiINNdG8lfsPHtx7IA9bioQgUhiQh3M-dwVNLdgKMIyb7AbYP5b0ODPUHR5CkGPAguZoe30fzGK26yXzBptGKkocFCQo/s1600/distracted+on+beach.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwhAZ_r1lmGV0PxMCjYdAdkPIQWIr5goEVTQ0Msaq5yjYZDyRbiINNdG8lfsPHtx7IA9bioQgUhiQh3M-dwVNLdgKMIyb7AbYP5b0ODPUHR5CkGPAguZoe30fzGK26yXzBptGKkocFCQo/s320/distracted+on+beach.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then, I started to count the ghosts. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One ghost walked along with a baby carriage, a dog on a
leash, and …you guessed it, a cell phone in her hand as she scrolled through whatever
trivial distractions the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Machine (See
previous postings for a definition, but you will probably intuitively know what
I mean) </i>had on offer. Another ghost absently threw a stick for his excited
black lab, while he…you guessed it, watched with the absorption of an addict,
frivolous entertainment on his device. Even better, a group of young ghosts sat
on the logs and …you guessed it, gazed with catatonically into the blue screen,
ignoring each other and the natural beauty around them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s the truth. When people are absorbed into the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Machine</i> through the portal of their
devices, they think they are connected, but in fact they are absenting
themselves from their bodies, their relationships, and most important, from
their environments. The environment is the greater Soul which surrounds,
protects and guides us with every breath of our lives. The environment is the
most immediate way we experience ourselves, others and Gaia (Star, 2007).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Answer me this-at the moment of your death will you say to
yourself-<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I’m so glad I spent so much time
playing mind numbing games, reading frivolous gossip about other ghost people
and sending meaningless messages to other ghosts who are equally distracted and
narcissistic</i>. I don’t think so!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Increasing numbers of people are coming to me complaining of
the new aliment which is pandemic in our modern world-anxiety. I tell them
this-if you are absent for much of your day, then you are absent from your
being! No wonder you are anxious! You are wasting your precious life!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Machine’s</i>
technology doesn’t connect you-it absents you! Its seduces you into a human-only
phantasy world of distraction, narcissism and unreality. Over time, the brain
can’t distinguish between what is happening on the blue screen and what is
real. The brain starts to send threat responses from the mid brain to the rest
of the body, because the input it’s receiving through the senses, limited
mostly to sight and sound, is frightening, disconnected and unfamiliar. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let me assure you-the blue screen is not real! You think you
are connecting with your friends, but I have noticed that people are more
isolated from others than ever before. If you want to connect with others,
especially with the environment, then go out and participate in reality. Not
phantasy!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My father was a high school principal; my mother was a full
time teacher and part time artist. When I was a child, we spent the week ends
together and on Sunday night, we had supper with my grandparents. We had an old
black and white TV in the basement; I was allowed to watch Mickey Mouse
cartoons only during specific times on week end mornings. We had enough time
for each other and for enjoying the experiences of being human. We had the
summers off-we spent them either on my grandparent’s farm or my father hooked
up the home made trailer to our car and we drove to the coast for a few weeks
of beach combing, camp fires, hikes and crab hunting. My childhood memories are
filled with scenes of riding horses with my Dad through the bush lands of
southern Alberta, going on long rides in one his antique cars to the lake,
picnics in the meadows, crabbing along the white sands of the west coast. My
parents were both full time workers with very stressful jobs. But they made
time for the good things in life-family, couple time, enjoying nature, art.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The families I see now have zero time for such things. The
adults pride themselves on being workaholics, admitting proudly to this perfidious
and destructive mental health disease. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They gobble down anti-depressants and anti-anxiety
drugs without a thought of why they need them. They buy large expensive items they
don’t need to fill the inner gap of meaningless and disconnection. Their kids
start to rebel and disconnect with their elders, they hide in a peer driven
world of immature phantasy driven by greed monsters who want their money and
attention. Gradually their lives slip into greater and greater unhappiness and misalignment.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another aspect of this disturbing trend of how the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Machine</i> is invading our lives is
that machines, like all constructed beings, have a kind of sentience. This
machine sentience is not sympathetic towards living creatures. It is not
attached to the living structures which all beings with DNA share. They are not
linked with Gaia, except in a very marginal way because the materials they are
made from are, of course, from the earth. But because they do not have DNA,
nervous systems, emotions, energetic bodies of light, they exist in a two
dimensional world of deathless, lifeless existence. They are created with unwholesome
intent, artificially and dishonourably intended to consume, not to participate
in the living systems of Gaia. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We should
not be spending even more time with these lifeless forms, trying to develop
better machines. We should be learning how to be stewards of the greatest
‘machine’ ever created - the inter connected living systems of Gaia (Lovelock,
1981).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Numerous researcher are discovering what counsellors,
therapists and educators have suspected for at least a decade-too much techno
time is damaging for the brain especially for developing brains of our
children. A new study by the National Institutes of Health in the U.S.(Johnson
et al, 2016) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>reports that children who
are on screens much of their waking hours have a thinning of the cortex, the
area of the brain that is associated with higher function thinking and
reasoning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is also the part of the
brain with capacities for compassion and taking the perspective of the Other. The
report goes on the state that “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">most kids
say they spend too much time on smartphones</i>”. The American Academy of
Pediatrics suggests that parents should not give any screen media to children
young than 18 months. My response is ‘Are you f**king kidding???” Who would
give their toddler a cell phone!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tristan Harris (2017), a former Goggle manager, reports on
how the Dark Machine spends millions of dollars in manipulative strategies to
make their technology as addictive as possible. Dr. Gordon Neufeld (<a href="https://neufeldinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Digital-World.jpg">https://neufeldinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Digital-World.jpg</a>)
also raises the alarm of how the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark
Machine</i> is manipulating our children’s minds and bodies. This set of
criminally minded nerds and business gangsters relentlessly manipulate media
thru the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Machine</i> to feed their
own hungry ghosts of fear, and the need for control and power.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finkelstein and Zuckerman (2010) in their book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The fattening of America: How the economy
makes us fat, if it matter</i>s, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and what
to do about it</i>, quotes research that found adolescents who spend too much
time on screen develop poor life style habits such as low activity levels which
profoundly affect their psychological well-being. There are many other research
studies that confirm-too much screen time has detrimental effects on growing
minds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(<a href="https://www.childrenandnature.org/research-library/results/?h=xx2339wJ">https://www.childrenandnature.org/research-library/results/?h=xx2339wJ</a>)
Twenge<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>et. al. (2018) links increased
screen time with higher suicide rates and over all poor mental health. My
question is this-if a teen is spending seven plus hours on their technos, then
when do they have time to be human and connected into the real environment?
This may seem old fashioned, but when I was a kid, there was no, NONE, techno
crap to distract me from my embodied, real experience of the world. How I pity
the child whose brain is so consumed by the fantasy world of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Machine</i> that they utterly lose
touch with the real world. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Scary…No wonder we are seeing an pandemic of anxiety,
depression, suicide , ADAA, addictions, addiction related deaths and a plethora
of other mental health illnesses. All the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark
Machine</i> cares about is its own consumptive feeding frenzy for money, power
and control over others, especially young minds. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Machine</i> has no concern for the environment, relationships with
others, including healthy relationships with plants, animals and other humans.
It is a hellish construction without regard for life or continuance of life on planet
Earth. Why would we feed such a monster? Unrestrained, it will bring a die off
of life which will make the last ice age look like a picnic in the park.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark
Machine’s</i> tactics is to spread a sense of inevitably of its power to dominate.
James Brindle (2018) states in his book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New
Dark Age Technology and the End of the Future</i>, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In reality, we are lost in a sea of information, increasingly divided
by fundamentalism, simplistic narratives, conspiracy theories, and post-factual
politics. Meanwhile, those in power use our lack of understanding to further
their own interests. Despite the apparent accessibility of information, we’re
living in a new Dark Age.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Most people feel so helpless in the face of this threat that
they simply give in and go along because it’s easier than fighting with their
teens or even toddlers (shudder) about techno time. They believe the lies of
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Machine</i>. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Machine</i> creates a new familial
construct-women and men, mothers and fathers, are now expected to work so much
that they have no energy or time for their offspring or elders. This breaks up
the family, weakens relationships between spouses, children, other adults and
elders. Children are stabled in child care facilities, schools, institutions; elders
are drugged and isolated in sterile facilities where they slowly fade away.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The political far right gives lip service to family values-but
it is just that-lip service to cover up a march towards a slave society. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And believe me; slaves don’t have much time for
their families. Why would big business give <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i>
time to be a good parent, spouse, environmentalist or person? Why would big
business set up just and equitable societies so citizens can be housed in comfortable
safe homes? All it wants is you working, day and night preferred, so you can
feed its hungry ghost of consumption, distraction, and control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps, as Terrance McKenna quoth, “Humanity
will entertain itself into extinction”. (downloaded from </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/9243.Terence_McKenna">https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/9243.Terence_McKenna</a>)
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Television (technology) is by nature the dominator drug par excellence.
Control of content, uniformity of content, repeatability of content make it
inevitably a tool of coercion, brainwashing, and manipulation</i>. (McKenna,
1993)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s time to take back your sovereign power and birth right
as an embodied human. You have the right to resist all that threatens your
survival and the survival of your family and future.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Be careful though, any strategies to protect our human
family have also been anticipated by the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark
Machine.</i> It creates storms of mis-information which appear to save us from
ourselves, but in fact work to undermine the very institutions which provide
the last ditch stand against total annihilation. Through ignorant populist
leaders, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Machine</i> insidiously
and methodically dismantles all that threatens its survival. Government infra
structure is the only power on earth that is greater than the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Machine</i>. So it methodically and
carefully undermines social and governmental structures that hold our human societies
in safety and wellness. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Machine</i>
spreads urban myths and fake news about the evils of government and social
programs. Without any sense of conscience, ethics or holistic thinking, it attacks
all that has a long term view of the continuance of life on this planet. And
its most powerful tool is technology and the spread of machine mind. (Jack, C,
2018)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m not suggesting that we give up all technology. At this
moment, I’m working on a computer writing this. Soon I will publish on my blog
and other people will access it thru the internet. But when this powerful tool
becomes the master of our destiny instead of something which we utilize for
greater well-being-then it becomes problematic. It’s as though the knife we use
to cut our vegetables suddenly develops the ability to jump up and threaten to
slash our wrists unless we do its bidding.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, the enemy is us. It’s the indigence and preponderance
of egoic power that allows and maintains the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Machine</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This imbalance
creates problems with the other aspects of our being which need expression-compassion,
right action and a vision of the whole, Gaia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the spirit of personal empowerment- I always add a
practice part to my theory. Exercises, practices, and meditations that you can bring
into your daily lives. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remember:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Start today<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Use the resources you have<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Work with the people in front of you<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Turn off the f**king machine!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Plan one week end a month to disconnect from all
of your social media, and all technology. If your friends and family want to
connect, they can call you on the land line.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->During this week end, no one and I mean NO ONE
can access any technology, no screen time, no cell phones, and no social media.
You can use the land line phone for phone calls-that is all. If you don’t have
a land line then you are outta luck. Lock up your devices; disconnect all the
computers and rotors in your home. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Just
unplug</b>. Talk with your family members or other people in your lives about
the Techno Free Week End. Tell them in advance that you will be off line for
the week end. This includes work. No cheating, the machines must be out of
sight as well as dysfunctional. Put a cloth over any screens in your home. You
can treat this like a holiday. Bring out the board games, cards and other human
to human activities. Remember everything on line or on the internet is
fantasy-ALL OF IT!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Get your life, your brain and your mind back.
You’ll like being more present in the embodied experience of being a human in a
real living environment. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Notice how you are different without the fantasy
world of the Dark Machine. Re-connect with real time friends, family, and
environment. Go for walks, smell the air, listen to bird song and waves. This
is how humans lived for most of our developmental ages. This is normal. Screen
time is not! Notice how a quiet calm begins to suffuse thru your body and mind.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->This practice alone will reduce anxiety and its
attendant sister- depression in a few months. Let you mid brain return to
normal functioning. Align your attention into the real world-even if it is ‘boring’,
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if the experience of being without
techno distraction is ‘boring’ then allow yourself to hold and experience boredom
fully. As you start to tune into it you will find it is much more than a
slightly irritating feeling. It is probably the basis of how your monkey mind,
undisciplined and without awareness, controls your habits, consumptions and
beliefs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
References:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Brindle,J.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(2018) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New Dark Age Technology and the end of the
future</i>. London,UK:Verso Books.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finkelstein, E.A., <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Zuckerman, L. (2010) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The fattening of America: How the economy makes us fat, if it matters,
and what to do about it. </i>Hoboken, NJ:Wiley.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jack, C. (2017) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lexicon
of Lies: Terms for Problematic Information</i>. Downloaded from https://www.cbc.ca/radio/spark/
the-misinformation-about-disinformation-1.4309442<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Johnston,L.D., Bach, J.G, O’Malley, P.A., Schulenberg, J.L.
&Miech,R.A. (2016) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Monitoring the future:
A continuing study of American youth</i>. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social
Research, The University of Michigan.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Harris,T. (2017) Downloaded from <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/tristan_harris_the_manipulative_tricks_tech_companies_use_to_capture_your_attention?language=en">https://www.ted.com/talks/tristan_harris_the_manipulative_tricks_tech_companies_use_to_capture_your_attention?language=en</a><o:p></o:p><br />
Star, J. (2007) <i>The River Books-The three great ways, love, work and wisdom</i>. Cowichan Bay,BC;River Institute.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lovelock,J. (1981) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Healing
Gaia</i>. New York; Oxford University Press.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
McKenna,T. (1993) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Food
of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge A Radical History of
Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution</i> . New York.NY:Bantam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Neufeld, G. (2019) . Downloaded from<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://neufeldinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Digital-World.jpg">https://neufeldinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Digital-World.jpg</a>)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Twenge,J.M., Joiner,T.E., Rogers,M.L. & Martin, G.N.
(2018) Increases in Depressive Symptoms,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Suicide-Related outcomes, and suicide Rates among U.S.
adolescents after 2010<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
and Links to Increased New Media Screen Time. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Clinical Psychological Science<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2018, Vol. 6(1)
3–17.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<br />Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-73562478227437101732019-05-22T07:28:00.005-07:002019-05-22T07:28:49.457-07:00The Good Man and Good Woman- Changing gender roles and archetypes with therapeutic altered states<br />
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<b>The Good Man and Good
Woman-</b></h3>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Changing gender roles
and archetypes with therapeutic altered states</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNq4_wlE3SqWLhY8tN-NFPBOmxugKXiC2in9EU4iNKBFsonPSjfIr10KTrCf4v3BH4EpkaQctlhOi8Lto08HLACHWk2ePxcEhg165xLGXOPKWmkBEngRqgxzOEODm0lk3UC8pJTKWUKrI/s1600/healthy-relationships.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNq4_wlE3SqWLhY8tN-NFPBOmxugKXiC2in9EU4iNKBFsonPSjfIr10KTrCf4v3BH4EpkaQctlhOi8Lto08HLACHWk2ePxcEhg165xLGXOPKWmkBEngRqgxzOEODm0lk3UC8pJTKWUKrI/s320/healthy-relationships.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have revitalized an ancient tradition of holding transformative
practices (holotropic breath work) at the winter solstice. According to my
ancestral past, the Celtic tradition was to review the bygone year at the winter
solstice when the earth is in a state of calm repose (Anderson, 1987). The
earth pauses in her rotation then, and so we can also pause in self-reflection
before beginning another cycle of life. In this way, we develop a greater
vision to guide us in the next cycle of seasons and life.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The journey to the ceremonial space is always challenging. Last
year, a blistering snow fall blocked the road to the yurt we had chosen for our
all night ceremonies. The treacherous pot holed, gravel road was covered with
overhanging branches heavy with snow. Participant’s vehicles slipped off the
road and slid into snow banks. All the participants worked together to get others
unstuck. A metaphoric lesson-personal transformative work is never done alone.
By the time we were ready to begin the evening, we had bonded as a fellowship-
red cheeked, laughing and triumphant.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Last solstice we rented a beautiful large house on the edge
of a rushing creek. The ceremonial space was warm, dry and well protected. We
were isolated enough that we didn’t have to worry about loudly processing
inside or outside. That night as we journeyed, a wind storm gathered, whipping
trees against the windows and filling the creek below us with white water.
Towards morning, the wind picked up even more, falling trees and bringing down
the power lines. By morning we had lost hydro power.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we began ceremonies in the early evening, men immediately
shifted to one side and women choose the other. Not by my instructions, but by some
unspoken agreement, perhaps a reflection of what Bache (2017) calls the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">field dynamics of mind</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He states after noticing how field dynamics
acts in his classroom, that human group experiences can be compared to systems
dynamics of advanced physics.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
“In the subatomic world of
quantum mechanics and the macro-world modeled by non-linear mathematics, all individual,
particulate existence shows itself to be inseparable from its corresponding
fields. Individual pieces of life cannot be realistically isolated from their
surrounding matrix.” (Bache, 200, p.156)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As the evening progressed, the men on the left quickly embarked
on difficult journeys, cycling thru series of crying, moaning, curling up into
fetal positions followed by short periods of exhaustion and rest. My assistant and
I comforted the men as best as we could, but much of their internal suffering
could not be assuaged. At one point, one of the men dragged his quilt over his
head and crawled over to his friend’s bed to hold him silently. His friend was
too deep in his journey to respond. But later the held man said he was aware of
his friend’s concern and felt loved and cared for. Normally I wouldn’t allow participants
to interact during ceremony, but these two men were good friends and the one in
distress was clearly comforted by his friend’s presence. Another interesting
group dynamics was that all the men in the group were slim, smallish men who
had suffered at the hands of bigger, dominate males in their lives.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the more
intense parts of the journey, I offered a technique I call, ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">holding with heart</i>”. This is a non-invasive
somatic integration of being held in a secure and loving way in areas of the
body that can dispel fear- feet, neck, heart, kidney, lower belly. This holding
is done only with permission from the client, and is discussed before the
session. This gentle somatic support in informed by Integrated body energetics
(Erken & Schlage, 2012) as a technique to allow the nervous system to
adjust to the neurological changes that are taking place, which elicit fear and
anxiety from the Default Mode System (Buckner, Andrrews-Hanna,Schacter , 2008)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">E</i> (synonym) was
able to sit up for a while and told me he was processing male roles taught and
expected of him since he was a child. He felt that as his journey progressed,
the dominate male aspect within his psyche was transforming into a more
compassionate aspect that could understand the effects of the cruel dominate
male hierarchy on others. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">E</i> re-experienced
trauma that had been imposed on him by school grade boys who isolated him the
playground, took him down to the ground and punched him. He told me that all
his life he held a deep sense of shame because at that moment, instead of
fighting back, or calling for help, he’d ‘played dead’, didn’t resist, just lay
there and took the beating. Finally, the boys tired of their abuse and left him
alone. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although this reaction was probably wise at the time, it imbedded
itself deeply in his being as the response of a helpless victim. Throughout his
adult life, he had struggled with being assertive and dealing effectively with
male domination. During this journey, he clearly saw what he called the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">alpha male syndrome</i>, or in the River’s
terminology, the imbalanced Earth Way-the path of production, work, control,
social status seeking, usually associated but not restricted to males of the humanoid
species(Star, 2007)). This is the imbalanced soul path that is causing so much
suffering at this time in our history. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">J</i> shared in the
morning that when he was younger, he had been a smallish boy who had been
bullied. Then he started to get involved in sports and developed a liking for
running (not surprising), and had become very fit and physically strong. He disclosed
with sadness that he moved from victim to being a bully himself. This is the
classic way trauma is imposed and spread, like a virus from one generation to
another. Boys are commonly hurt, challenged and bullied so they either become
submissive males or they become bullies themselves to friends, colleagues,
intimates and family. I can clearly hear in my mind the voice of my father who
often lectured me:” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">There are two kinds
of people in the world-those who push and the pushees. You have to decide which
one you want to be</i>”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps these men, being small and on the ‘weak’ end of the physical
male continuum, had unique opportunities to see the way the effects this
domination is created, maintained and perpetuated through the generations.
Certainly after approximately three thousand years of patriarchy as the predominate
human cultural model, we can pause and assess if this is the way we want to
continue. I believe we have the choice of transforming this toxic male role into
the male role as steward of Gaia and life everywhere on the planet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The women on the other hand were having entirely different
experiences. They were either concerned and distracted by the sounds of the men
processing their traumas, or drifted off into memories of beautiful places in
nature where they felt safe and wise.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I went to bed later that night, most of the participants had
finished their journeys and were on the descent, quietly lying and processing,
listening to music. I left the male assistant in charge and crawled into my own
bed. I was exhausted after hours of holding people, checking on them and
generally monitoring everyone’s journey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A few hours later, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">J</i>, went
looking for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He didn’t ask for help
from the male assistant. Instead he went upstairs, couldn’t find my bedroom, nor
determine how to make some tea and a snack. He collapsed on the kitchen floor, feeling
helpless, crying and sobbing. He suddenly remembered the loss of his own mother
who left him when he as an infant. Gradually, he realised that he was an adult
man now, and he had to heal his mother wounds by finding nurturing and strength
within, developing and nurturing the mother architype within himself. He
realised that he was looking for ‘mother’ in his spouse and he had to progress from
this dependant state and allow himself to be an adult man. He also understood that
he had to allow his wife to be more independent and pursue her own life goals
even if they were sometimes separate from him. He later said this realization
was ‘like tearing off the bandage”. It had to done but it hurt. For <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">J</i>, the transformation of his own male role
and archetype within allowed greater freedom and dynamics within himself and
without, in his relationships with his wife and family.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Often immediately after a session, inner dream archetypes
which appear during the journey, will appear in the outer world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few weeks later, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He</i> was verbally attacked by a male leader of a group where he was
learning, ironically, counselling skills. We talked about this challenge and
how this was an opportunity for him to meet the bully in his outside life as
well as the oppressor within<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Dr. Fredirika
Fischer stated in her seminal (excuse the term especially in the context of
male domination) work, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Therapy with
substance</i>:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Truly effective and sustained changes in feeling, mood and behaviour
can only really be achieved if the unconscious, pre conscious (psychic material
that can be remembered again through questions and association) and conscious
psyche can be drawn carefully into consciousness and processed in such a way
that change become externalised in the everyday world.”</i> (Fischer, 2015,
pg.36)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Men and women are both traumatized by the toxic world view of
the Patriarchy. This manifests inwardly as the sick man archetype, and
continues to be perpetuated mostly by the males of our species. However, it is
a cultural construct which is embraced and integrated by both males and females.
Females engage in this kind of socialized gender roles also, although they
generally are not as physical with their control tactics. However, with the increase
of the sick man archetype, in our culture, girls are adapting these patterns
and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sick woman archetype</i> is now also
on the rise. She is the disconnected, distracted, self-centred often mentally
ill woman who perceives herself as either a victim or becomes a bully herself.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The old world view of patriarchy which has controlled
humanity for the last three thousand years, has now developed into the domination
of what I call, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Machine</i>-the
culture of domination, manipulation and unwholesome focus on power and control
over others and the environment. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark
Machine</i> cossets unfathomable economic inequality and dominates and gains
control of our time, economics, futures and children. Much of this domination
is through the misuse of technology, resources and Gaia’s creatures and
inherent beauty. Instead of being stewards of Gaia, we have become plunders of
Her resources. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, we can have hope. With men like the ones who
traveled with me at solstice, we can all see that there is a third choice to
either adopting or supplicating the role of the oppressor. We can now stop the proliferation
of these toxic roles into future generations and choose to transform them. By
realizing and changing archetypes within transpersonal experiences, such as
what we experience when we journey in altered states, we can also profoundly
change our personal daily behaviours. We can realize in an instant that we no
longer want to continue with the toxic roles of the past which have been handed
down through socialization in childhood. These ways of being are deep; they
reside within our very DNA structures, so deep that only therapeutic altered
states can shift them. Only profoundly deep work such as is initiated by
therapeutic altered states can allow us to become aware, and then intentionally
transform these layers of roles, beliefs and identity. Once these roles and
archetypes are changed, then our daily behaviours and attitudes towards others are
profoundly and permanently changed. Ashes cannot return to being wood, so too,
once these toxic roles are realised and transformed in the fires of awareness,
they will never return to have control over us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We must be able to
imagine the alternative to the dominate male-the Good Man and Good Woman gender
roles, within our own lives as <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>harmonious relationships between male and
female. The roles of Mom and Dad, husband and wife, parent and child, anima and
animus can be transformed in an instant. Then healthier archetypes can guide our
daily lives and foster less oppressive relationships. We can re-create them to
be in harmony with a greater vision of the whole, to be healthy and allowing of
each being in the network of Gaia to prosper, grow and attain their life’s
purpose. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This new world view is part of the great leap up of
consciousness that therapeutic altered states are fostering. It may be a last
ditch stand given to us by the plant world to prevent our species from annihilating
and destroying our home, the good mother Gaia. We can return to love of Her, of
Her many animals, plants and eco systems worldwide. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Can we respond adequately to these crises? Only time will
tell, but certainly reflecting and changing the Old World male and female archetypes,
especially the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sick man and sick woman
archetype</i> , will foster this quintessential leap up in growth and evolution-individually,
familial, communally and globally.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
References:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anderson,R. (1989). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Celtic
Oracles-A new system for spiritual growth and divination</i>. New York,
NY:Crown Publishers<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bache, C. (2000). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dark
Night, early Dawn</i>. State Albany, NY.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>University of New York Press.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Buckner, R.L., Andrews-Hanna. J.R., & Schacter, D.L.(
2008) .The brain’s default network. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Annals
of the New York Academy of Science</i>, 1124,1.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Erken,R.& Schlange,B. (Eds).(2012) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Transformation of the self with bodymind integration: postural integration-energetic
integration-psychotherapeutic postural integration.</i> Berlin, Germany:Holzinger<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fischer, F.M. (2015) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Therapy
with substance-Psycholytic psychotherapy in the twenty first century</i>.
London,UK: Muswell Hill Press.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
McNaughton, I (2004) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Body,
breath, &consciousness-A collection of articles on family systems, self-psychology,
the biodynamic model of somatic developmental psychology, shock trauma and breath
work</i>. North Atlantic Books: Berkely .CA.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Star, J. (2007) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
River Books: Book one-The Three Great Ways: Love Work and Wisdom</i>. Cowichan
Bay, Canada: River Institute.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-60221306564011774672018-12-24T12:29:00.003-08:002018-12-24T12:29:27.812-08:00Soul and all that She is<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Soul and all that She is</div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We, collective humanity WE, and most especially, therapists,
healers and luminaries are taking enormous steps of courage towards a better understanding
of living, relating and counselling. We are growing out of the reductionist
model of separateness which developed from egoistic structures created in our early
days of evolution. Humanity was “the species less likely to survive” in our developmental
age of evolving from hairless ape to humans. We had little hair, smallish teeth
and claws, and were ridiculously slow runners. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To ensure our survival through the ice ages
and other catastrophic global events that followed in our early days of
evolution, we developed a brain that was bigger than other mammals, had great
problem solving capabilities, embraced a negative bias and stubbornly avoids recognizing
trauma with the sometimes dubious gift of being able to survive despite
injuries, physical, mental and emotional. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A sense of separateness developed from these traumatic beginnings.
You could say that all of humanity is suffering from three thousand years of
PTSD, starting with the conquering of the Amazons in ancient Anatolia, and
ending with our headlong rush towards species suicide. The old world view gave
rise to patriarchy, dishonourable use of Gaia’s resources and a litany of
suffering. But now we are starting to share a sense of intense dissatisfaction with
this world view. We are experiencing unprecedented levels of dis ease-
physical, mental and emotional-depression, anxiety, addictions and lack of joy
overall. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now is the time to share those experiences, beliefs and
values which we know to be true and which challenge the reductionist model. We
are so much more than our biographical present day incarnations in this body,
in this time and place. We are expressions of a greater consciousness, which I
call Soul. This aspect of ourselves has been called many things throughout our
human history-God, Atman, Christ consciousness, higher self; Source…the list is
almost endless depending on the spiritual tradition. Let’s not get caught up in
the tribal frame for this universal idea. I call that which is infinite, not
limited by time or space and which chooses many lives and will continue to have
many lives in the future-Soul. I invite you to call this aspect what you want. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We must bring Soul into our new world view because it is the
only model that makes any sense in the paradigm shift which we are all
preparing for. Many of us in ‘the Work’ know this either instinctively or as a
side long knowing without specific words. We are reluctant to speak or write
about it, especially those of us in the academic world. The modern heresy is to
speak about Soul, interconnection and sacredness! What a contradiction!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The prohibition against speaking about Soul arose because humanity
was duped for centuries by priests, charlatans, warrior kings, criminals and
economists who manipulated humanity for control and power using spiritual
concepts. Now we have grown out of the cleansing phase when all spirituality
was thrown out with superstition, political and economic manipulations. Now we
can invite again into our collective world view the concept and truth of what
the Greeks three centuries ago called Soul. Incidentally, those wise Greeks had
plant medicine teachers, which is why their wisdom is still relevant and
inspirational today.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If we step out of the constraints of the reductionist model
of the universe, then we can better understand many present day mental health
illnesses. We are creating a new epistemological basis for testing what is ‘true”.
Trauma or unintegrated experiences are partly biographical, from this life
time. There are also, as epigenetics is showing us, ancestral trauma from past
generations. I have felt and know ancestral trauma myself. I still feel an
almost overwhelming pull towards owning land, forming a strong sense of home
and feeling utterly displaced and destroyed if I lose my home, however temporary
that loss may be. My ancestors were torn from the land which they loved deeply
and were forced by colonizers to leave Ireland and Scotland and re settle in
Canada. I still feel the starvation of my ancestors of the 1850’s who were dislodged
from their lands during the potato famine, put in ‘fever boats’ and taken to
Canada. Many of those people were weakened and killed by hunger, disease and
sorrow. A few survived, and those who did, were my ancestors. They had to make severe
adjustments to their physical, emotional and spiritual selves to survive. Extreme
hardships were imposed on those people by others who were also suffering from multi-generational
and multi-life traumas which had wizened them into monsters instead of compassionate
human beings. This collective illness and abuse necessitated the displaced immigrants
to limit their world view to very basic requirements of life and death. They
became harden and the more joyful parts of life were diminished. A survival of
the fittest construct allowed them to keep living, but the price was compassion,
connection and earth based spirituality.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEj2fMlggjauSZAIdfZhZqmILPxL0EwZ8EC8KMtIqUYzfLpb2tFW74YEYAHsA1_sHiUCKSxOtbPAMzz7lyJ7ojDWVf7fhRrr0Tb4w6YkvxdHPD-cD_k-HmGgHTZ1rH-Urs3kinUTqx4Cc/s1600/the+fool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="287" data-original-width="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEj2fMlggjauSZAIdfZhZqmILPxL0EwZ8EC8KMtIqUYzfLpb2tFW74YEYAHsA1_sHiUCKSxOtbPAMzz7lyJ7ojDWVf7fhRrr0Tb4w6YkvxdHPD-cD_k-HmGgHTZ1rH-Urs3kinUTqx4Cc/s1600/the+fool.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are the product of
about three thousand years of patriarchy and the era of the dishonourable
warrior. We stand at the brink of our own and many other beings also,
destruction. We pause at this cliff of self-destruction much like the Fool of
the tarot. It appears we have been granted a moment’s reprieve. We can pause
here at this abyss of environmental, species and social destruction and look
back, reflect and perhaps decide to step away from this path. We are a species treating
each other and other beings (mineral, plant and animal beings are included as the
earth’s resources) in ways that can only be explained as this-we are utterly broken
by trauma: individual, collective, ancestral, and originating from past lives.
We are absolutely disconnected, alienated and dislodged from our natural heritage
of belonging to the web of life on Gaia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We have an entire species of beings who are so traumatised by each
other’s abuses that our survival strategies have become highly conditioned,
concretized and unalterably self-destructive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now we have the chance to change, to grow into the truth of
interconnectiveness, and go forward into a new paradigm which may save us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In addiction counselling, there is a term- ‘the pickle
line’, a pickle cannot return to being a cucumber no matter what. It is the
point past which the addict cannot return to good health due to damage to body,
mind and most importantly Soul. Perhaps most of humanity is past the pickle
line. If that is the case, and I suspect it might be, then we must, all of us
who see the truth of the species suicide pact, must opt out…somehow. In whatever
way is still available to us. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What are those ways we can opt out the suicide pact of the dominate
forces of humanity, and by association all life on Gaia? I believe that is the
central question for every living being on Gaia at this moment. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s a bigger context. The development of Soul and
consciousness, which many of us in ‘the work’ have achieved, will never be
lost. The development of Soul is like consciousness itself, once realised it is
irreversible. Ashes cannot return to wood again, not ever. So too, once the
interconnectiveness of all being is understood, or even glimpsed, this expansion
of consciousness cannot be lost. We will grow, we will be realised, and we will
re unite with Soul. But how that path will proceed will be decided by us in the
next decades. If we resist this next step in our evolution, we will suffer vast
species death, starvation, and social break down, environmental disaster. Perhaps
a few of us will survive. Or perhaps a few of us can mitigate these disasters in
these present times with deep ecology and the path forward will be less
difficult. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The answer to all the ‘anxiety’ and ‘depression’ which is
endemic in our communities at present is the answer to this question: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How do I cope with the possible future of
mass destruction , environmental degradation, species die off… and not allow
myself to be overwhelmed with sorrow, hopelessness and despair? <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Each person will have to answer that according to their own
Soul path wisdom.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here are a few suggestions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Begin, if you haven’t already, with a daily
practice which recognizes honours and invites Gaia into your life. This can be
a simple practice such as lighting a candle and placing it in a shrine which
has representatives from the three worlds of Gaia; plant, animal and mineral. For
example, a flower, a bone and a crystal. Then state a prayer or intention for
the day ahead with an appreciation of Gaia’s three worlds. This practice can
change your immediate world energetically and in ‘reality’ by shifting future
events for Gaia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Practice Soul Catching every day. If you are unsure
of what Soul Catching is, check out my other blog postings or my book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Soul
Catching-finding sacred connections in our environments</i></b> (Star,2007).
This book explains how to bring appreciation of the environment into our everyday
lives. Soul catching is based on the understanding that the environment is the
greater Soul in which we live and die. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Step out of the human only world every day for
at least 20 minutes a day. Go for a walk in nature and simply enjoy and send
blessings to all beings who cross your path- cats, trees, clouds, rain, flowers
birds. Bless all and see them for what they are-a mirror of your Soul.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Take time for self-reflection and to develop
your Soul. Every Day! Even if it’s only for a few moments- a line of poetry, a
quick drawing, a few moments of sacred dance or chanting. Be creative, notice
the blessings of your life, notice this world of wonders, even if it’s just a nano
second of appreciation for some small every day beauty-falling leaves, ravens
croaking, waves along a beach, a small kindness of a dog. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Notice! Appreciate. Joy is the best revenge against
those who hold to darkness, resistance to growth and who seek to destroy Gaia
and our collective futures.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; text-indent: 18.0pt;">
Joy in the
journey.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-87896323316464607232018-09-17T19:05:00.000-07:002018-09-17T19:05:05.502-07:00Presence is greater than words<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Presence is greater
than words</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnjWZ89PcgSGKbx3O2MWX7iovKsu7vj2_qIWewilahbpsEzzSZiVGkDl4m72YI2QIZUaj5CmqFvcyDCKWTbLkwCk0fhRPsFoGh_OPW5VAI0wkuFrqlUsEzZiKnjxhZIIYntMviOnh7vUk/s1600/stone+man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="359" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnjWZ89PcgSGKbx3O2MWX7iovKsu7vj2_qIWewilahbpsEzzSZiVGkDl4m72YI2QIZUaj5CmqFvcyDCKWTbLkwCk0fhRPsFoGh_OPW5VAI0wkuFrqlUsEzZiKnjxhZIIYntMviOnh7vUk/s320/stone+man.jpg" width="223" /></a></b></div>
<b><o:p></o:p></b><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like most people in today’s human focused world, my thoughts
are often running around like a little rodent in an exercise wheel. I think I’m
going somewhere fast but in fact, I’m just going around in circles. It’s the
same old ego doing the same old ego tasks, keeping the status quo safe and
making sure that changes are kept to a minimum. That’s the ego’s job; it’s what
it was created for. It is the guard at the door that checks every new thought
that tries to come in. Most new thoughts are turned away, only a few are let
in, after much scrutiny. That is why humans are in so much turmoil in these
times. We know we are committing species suicide that we just can’t stop
ourselves. Our survival strategies that served us well for thousands of years
are now obsolete and life is demanding that we change. But it’s hard. Not
impossible but almost.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<w:wrap anchorx="margin" anchory="margin" type="square">
</w:wrap></v:imagedata></v:shape>During one journey with Ayahuasca in Peru, I saw a great black form
which I couldn’t make out at first. I could see carvings in the form, strange Aztec
like designs glittering in the back light that is common with Aya’s visions.
Then I noticed that it was carved from black obsidian, shiny and was embedded
in the jungle. Vines and plants grew all around it. At first I thought it was
just a statue, but it transformed as I looked at it. It had face, a man’s face and
his eyes were shiny and sentient. I realised with a shock that this wasn’t a
statue but a living organism. I stepped back from the vision and asked Aya who
this was and she replied that he was a great healer. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“How can he heal when he can’t speak or move? He is made
from stone.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She replied “Presence is greater than words.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With those words, the vision disappeared. I wrote the vision
down and drew the black stone man I had seen. After the journey, I asked the
Shaman if she knew who this could be. She replied that her own teacher spoke of
a stone man whom he worked with. I wondered about this for a time, then like so
many of Aya’s visions, I had to put the wisdom aside until I could make sense
of it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Going forward several years, the vision stayed with me,
informed my practice at some level, guided my thoughts, walking thru nature,
gazing up into the branches of the vine maples and Garry oak trees back home,
teachers of another kind. How did they participate in the world when they were
rooted into the earth? They could only move by extremely slowly by my
standards. Yet they are powerful participants in the greater soul of the world.
They are silent healers, cleaners of air, producers of food, perhaps they are
also sending out signals of distress which so many sensitive people feel today.
They are the plant sentinels at the threshold of life and death; they protect
all beings who carry DNA within their consciousness.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I began to realize that the most healing aspect of my work
is to simply sit with people, ask them to close their eyes to begin to make
friends with themselves, with the way their consciousness is embedded in their
bodies. To mirror their struggles and to notice and then reflect back questions
or observations. To speak the un speakable. Sometimes with words, other times
with simply…presence. And to hold for them the vision of interconnectiveness.
Everything is significant in this understanding, and by nourishing the higher
aspects of ourselves, we lose ourselves and find ourselves again in a larger,
more mysterious and wonderful gnosis.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then a family member came back into my life, someone I’d had
a lot of conflict with in the past, but someone I loved very much and wanted to
continue being close to. I realized that when we engaged in talk, especially
about the past, we tried to re-interpret the past for each other. We became trapped
in in sticky arguments from which there was no escape. A downward spiral into frustration,
anger and lack of understanding. But when I just sat with him, we often smoked
some tobacco together and drank coffee, these were times I would simply
cultivate a loving presence. Not try to convince him about anything. Just be
there in an interested and compassionate presence, then gradually our relationship
started to untangle, to become simpler. His defenses came down to reveal a vulnerable
young man whom I had never really seen before.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I sometimes joke that the best thing I do with people is to
sit and breathe with them. Of course I’m doing much more, I’m turning up to
hear their fables of tragedy, of pathos and heroism and of triumph. I’m
modeling how they can turn up for themselves, open, curious, alert and accepting.
I’m sometimes checking out their bodies to see if I can ‘see’ some energetic dysfunctions
or illnesses. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Or I stare out the window and notice what the environment is
telling me in that moment, that moment when they are struggling for words, or lost
in confusion. Once a feather suddenly flew by as a young woman spoke about an
abusive relationship she was trying to free herself of. This sent me the
message that she was like a feather in the wind, and needed to ground herself more
firmly into the earth, to develop a sense of life purpose, of significance in
the world. I asked the question which anxiety and depression ask of us, “Am I worthy of life?” The answer to that question can’t be spoken in words,
I can only hold a surety in myself and hope that the other person finds
something similar in themselves, mirror back a sense of their own inner worth.
I can offer presence, it doesn’t interfere, it doesn’t intrude, it respects the
path of the Other, and at the same time, I hold firm in my calm abiding in the preciousness
of their life.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Try this!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Next time you are faced with a difficult
situation, a potential or actualized conflict with another, return for a few
moments to return to a state of calm presence. Simply be present in that
moment. Then set a positive presence, stay in that place until you feel a more expansive
way to be there. <i>I’m not looking forward to
see Shea today; I will have to let her go from my team. I hate these kinds of confrontations,
what will I say to her?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Understand in this state of loving presence, you
don’t have to think about what to say, or how to try to problem solve the
situation. <i>I don’t have to say anything
profound of even anything that she will be able to hear. I’ll turn up, I won’t
be angry but I’ll be firm. I’ll tell her thanks for her work so far, and I need
to let her go. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Remember that the Other is your teacher. Accept
the lesson. Be grateful for the gift, even if it seems very small and ordinary.<i> I have learned from this situation not to
engage workers before I have a chance to really get to know them. Don’t give
them access to my work space until I’ve tested them to see if they are a good
fit. I’ve also learned not allow pity or lack of self-confidence to cloud my
decisions. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Trust the Other will be alright, even if you
have to let them go from your life. Trust that you will be OK and you can move
through the conflict successfully and find better people or ways of living. <i>She’ll be OK; there are other people who
seem to be happy with her work. I can wish her well, where ever her destiny
takes her.</i></span>Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-8266619774494286002018-07-02T15:38:00.004-07:002018-07-02T15:38:27.791-07:00Nine solutions for anxiety and depression<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpKWM6oFYbz-qvamGclX4o4gkWsUnISFe4fEnbC1xsCDcMfyiHFSBldS6nsfjVtZgLgCZ0SZcMraw0DdZOLd0ygB4cRJjx9C2RBmMDHC6AY9fMAtKKPNxxABcsLWQSrOQ9wbABR2m_XkI/s1600/flower+people+8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="813" data-original-width="650" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpKWM6oFYbz-qvamGclX4o4gkWsUnISFe4fEnbC1xsCDcMfyiHFSBldS6nsfjVtZgLgCZ0SZcMraw0DdZOLd0ygB4cRJjx9C2RBmMDHC6AY9fMAtKKPNxxABcsLWQSrOQ9wbABR2m_XkI/s320/flower+people+8.jpg" width="255" /></a>This morning I woke up early, around two a.m., too early to
get up. I tossed in bed and tried to<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
practice vipassana meditation, going thru
my body and relaxing each part starting with my head and working down. It
didn’t work very well. I realised I would just have to lay there until
something else settled in me and let me fall asleep. I am also thankful for
this intrusion into my meditative calm, because it reminds me that anxiety which
over time can develop into depression is the most common mental health ailment
that affects people today. <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The mind state of unresolved fear can pervade all aspects of
life: relationships; work; foundational well-being; spiritual, emotional and
physical health. It also contributes to chronic diseases; and persistent
autoimmune diseases. It is the underlying drone of doom that sounds beneath our
daily lives. These troublesome states of mind begin with fear, and if not
attended to in a functional way, will migrate into depression, psychotropics
addictions, disassociation from our bodies or other destructive behaviours such
as addictions to materials, food, drugs, unhealthy relationships, technology or
sex. This anxiety also drifts into an inward turning into oneself into a self-absorbed
habitual trauma state that attempts to deny the acuity of the situation. More
common now in our present world, anxiety can be fed by or perpetuated by technology
addictions, which is essentially the turning towards machines which smart
monkey minds have developed to keep us all asleep. Of course we can also be
lulled into believing that the present state of personal and world crisis is
over exaggerated, overwhelming and must be denied or complied to.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here is the startling fact that can start you on the road to
lasting recovery:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">There are good reasons for your anxiety and …you can take action
towards resolving your discomfort if you are courageous and committed to your
own spiritual growth.<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s begin with the biggest container possible for life,
the earth, Gaia and all the life systems that support beings. Gaia herself is
the global consciousness that has developed life in its myriad forms as we know
it today. Gaia is the planetary consciousness that has developed this long
narrative of millions of years, a unifying force that brings life and death
into reality with mind bending complexity, beauty and ultimate love and sacred
intention.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gaia is everything,
don’t be misled</b>. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Without a healthy
Gaia, we die</b>. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When we are dead we
are no longer able to participate or experience anything.</b> Read that again, it’s
true.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gaia is anxious about human caused environmental
destruction, climate change; species die off, and unconstrained dimensions of
human cruelty and suffering. She, since this consciousness can be most
accurately described as feminine, is disturbed by our blind and rampant
suicidal rush to self-destruction. We are her favorite child and She is
disquieted by our perfidious reluctance to embrace the next stage of our
evolution. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anxiety is transmitted to us in mysterious and hidden ways. Perhaps
one way it is communicated to us is thru all the three worlds of Gaia-mineral,
plant and animal. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In The Hidden Life of
Trees</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What They Feel, How They
Communicate—Discoveries from A Secret World</i> by Peter Wohlleben (2016), the
author describes how trees communicate to each other about insect and viral
threats. I wonder if plants are also trying to communicating with us, perhaps
thru stress hormones or other transmittable molecules that are released thru
the air, water or mycelium growing for hundreds of miles underground. It is one
of those unprovable theories, but it seems to make sense to me because I work
with so many people who almost inexplicably have anxiety at levels that are
crippling and destructive. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first step towards resolving your anxiety is to commit
to daily actions, thoughts and beliefs that protect Gaia and future generations
of life on our planet. This may be as simple as taking care when driving cars,
not to waste Gaia’s precious resources, to consume consciously and to limit the
number of children each woman has to one child for each woman. We need to stop
thinking about large families as being inherently good and instead to foster
the model of one woman, one child for our human family to survive. Of course,
if you already have more than one child in your family, then you must commit to
raising your children in the most responsible ways possible.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many anxious people today often do not have trauma in their
history, have good healthy attachments to their care givers, nourishing social
lives, and hold gratifying employments. But anxiety and depression take hold of
them. Most often these are young people, middle class, educated, don’t have
severe mental health problems and appear to be sane on all other fronts.
Perhaps the single most outstanding feature of this new anxious demographic is
that they are emotionally sensitive and informed about world events. I also
think that perhaps a certain percentage of the population are Water Way souls,
as described in my first book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The River Books-Love, Work and Spiritually</i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>(Star, 2007). Water way souls are
people who see the wholeness of life and dwell in spiritual dimensions more
that the majority of people who are Earth Way. Earth Way souls are concerned
with the needs and wants of the individual, production, work and maintaining a
hierarchy that protects their practical, self-centred and short term world
view.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Nine solutions for anxiety and depression:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">First, acknowledge
your anxiety. You are not crazy</b>. There is nothing “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wrong</i>” with you. Don’t believe the lies that the dominate culture
is presently trying to lull us back to sleep. Your present state of high
anxiety is not an illusion created by your dysfunctional mind or brain chemical
imbalances. You are simply responding realistically and healthily to a global
crisis. There is good reason for all of us to be anxious, and very apprehensive
about our present state of affairs. In all three realms of being of Gaia,
mineral, plant and animal, there are massive destructions taking place. In the personal,
relational and spiritual realms of experience, many beings are alarmed about
the survival of life on this planet. We all need to develop bigger vessels of
understanding. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Do not
become overwhelmed by the enormity of the present world state.</b> Be aware of
it, don’t try to deny it, minimise or ridicule it. These crises can be creative,
healing and ultimately will lead to the greatest self-growth and progression in
the known history of humanity. Believing that you can respond effectively is
part of the recovery from crippling anxiety and its attendant response,
depression. Watch when you see yourself slipping into denial states, such as
accepting lies about of the inevitability of things never getting better, that
we are all doomed, that nothing will ever change, that you’re not good enough….
These denial states will creep in as the underlying foundations of depression,
anger, resentment, self- criticism, anhedonia and hopelessness. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
We will all experience negative emotions
from time to time, but catch them and recognize them for what they are-resistance
to growth. The greater truth is that consciousness cannot be destroyed. We can
suffer greatly, but our consciousness is beyond time and space that our lives
are a great drama to make us grow, be creative and show love and caring for
Gaia in the same way She loves us. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Remember these three guidelines:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Start
today <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Act with
the resources on hand <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Work
with the people in front of you<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Even if you take the verbs out of these
guidelines-start, act, work- you will still progress. You will still be using
this precious human life to contribute to the great goodness that is Gaia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Take
action today</b>. Anxiety is a call to action. Always.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Don’t just believe, contemplate, talk,
think, or run and try to hide. Act positively, each 24 hours. Keep records of
your positive actions if you need as a reminder of your progress. Journal your
development, even if it appears to be progressing at a snail’s pace. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Take action in all three realms of your
being, each and every day. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Earth</b>;
production, work, livelihood, contribution to the world thru discipline and
effort<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Air</b>:
relationships, family and communities, the practicing of compassion and love<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Water</b>:
spirituality, a vision of the whole, living with consciousness of
interconnectiveness, honouring our first mother, Gaia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Set a small goal that you are certain is
attainable, but set it with enough challenge that you can strengthen yourself.
If you’re serious about resolving your anxiety, or if you want to grow and develop
a better foundation for joy in your being-work each day this is the best way to
proceed. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
For example:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Earth</b>:
Today I will draw for one hour, doesn’t matter what I draw or how terrible an
artist I am, I’m just going to draw something that attracts my attention for an
hour in the afternoon while I’m having my tea break.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Air</b>:
I’m going to phone a friend I’ve been thinking about for a while and chat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Water</b>:
I’m going to go for a long walk along the beach by myself in the morning and do
walking meditation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
You notice that there aren’t rigid times to
each of these areas of activity, but they are specific enough that you will
know when you’ve achieved them. This way you can build success you’re your life
in small incremental steps.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Spend at
least 20 minutes a day in the not-human world. G</b>o for a walk outside, sit
with your spine resting directly on the earth or against a big tree, don’t let
any intrusive thoughts interrupt your rest from the busyness and distractions
of the human and machine world. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you
have a dog who needs to be walked, then let your canine friend take you into
the natural world. We need time every day, and ideally, several weeks a year,
as far away as possible from the human world to replenish those deeper parts of
ourselves which are beyond the fixing, talking and producing parts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is where we all started from and need to
return to every day in the same way that we need to sleep and return to the sub
consciousness to maintain our sanity, stability and healthy perspective on
life.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
I show you how to connect with the
environment in my latest book: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Soul
Catching, Finding sacred connections in our environments</i> (Star, 2017). This
book will show you how to draw nourishment from your environments, and
especially the natural environments. With time, you will come to understand the
environment as your greater self, and learn how it can be used for guidance and
catching lost parts of yourself. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Live each
day with balance</b>, even if those around you demanding that you live without
balance. Let each aspect of your being be nourished by your day-personal, relational
and spiritual. If you are imbalanced in one of these areas, then notice how
that is affecting the rest of your being. Is your anxiety preventing you from
connecting with others, and by others I mean not just other people, in fact
that is the least of what I mean. I am referring to the non-human world,
nature, environment, other animals and plants. So if the human world is overwhelming
for you, which is common with anxious people, then connect with nature by going
for a walk every day for at least 20 minutes, take some time to appreciate
beauty around you, to simply be in your body by breathing, movement and appreciation.
Take long breaks away from machines and technology. Don’t be duped into
thinking that using any kind of technology it a substitute for embodied
connection. If you go for a walk, don’t listen to music, listen to the environment.
If you are visiting with friends, leave your technology at home. If you have
spiritual practices, do them with a scared and present mind state. Leave
machines out of it, their intentions do not hold our best interests in their
purposes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Define
your gifts are and commit to developing them every day</b>, no matter how trivial
your contributions seem. Remember the story about the widow and the mite that
she gave to the temple in the Book of Mark (12) and Luke (21). Christ notes
that her tiny contribution which appears to be much less than the offerings of
the rich men and women, in the eyes of Soul, are greater and more significant. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
So define what Soul has given you as a gift
for the world. For a sparrow it may be a sweet song of five notes sung in the
hot summer afternoon by a forest path. For a stone, it may be to receive rain
drops along a garden wall. For you it may be some work that you can do well and
which you dedicate to Gaia. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
As I wrote this, I had to run down to the
laundry room to get my laundry. It reminded me that for years I helped out my
parents with a small resort by doing all the laundry during the summer months.
I spent hours in a small outdoor laundry room, with the radio playing. The
windows were high up, but I could catch glimpses of the arbutus tress that grew
close by. I had lots of time to think as I folded, sorted and took clean laundry
up to the cabins. It was a time of inner peace and clarity for me, a meditative
practice that I gradually came to love. Now that they are both passed on, I am
so thankful that I was able to contribute to their lives in a positive way. I’m
glad that I was able to re pay them in a tiny way for the years of caring that
they gave me when they were younger. Consider all your work, whatever it is as
a repayment to the good mother, Gaia for the gift of life she has given you. Of
course, you can extend gratitude to anyone or anything by dedicating your
actions to them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Do one small creative task every day. This
can be making muffins, drawing, dancing, and writing in a journal. It is NOT
going on line, and connecting with other people on “social media”. I often
suggest that anxious clients be less tuned into the world’s woes. As Lao Tzu
said in the Tao Te Ching, to let your heart wander will only make it sore. So
take care of your heart.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Review
the three foundational practices of physical well-being-good sleep, nutrition
and fitness</b>. And I have lately added a new practice, reduce your screen
time, avoid needlessly upsetting media sources and begin reading from paper
sources for at least 20 minutes a day. You can be the most spiritual,
productive or compassionate person on the planet, but if these foundations of well-being
are ignored, you will be greatly hindered by your poor life style choices. Even
saints and spiritual teachers must pay attention to these basics. So must you. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Remind
yourself every day that you are interconnected with all beings</b> in an
interdependent net of consciousness. This isn’t a phantasy, it is real. You
have the power to influence everyone and everything just by being authentically
yourself, by living with integrity in line with your deepest core values. I
notice than many anxious people are afraid of living with the strength of their
convictions. They are cowards. Live with courage. The universe rewards those
who take risks for Her. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Remind yourself every day of these truths:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
I AM WORTHY<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
I AM SIGNIFICANT<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
I AM INFLUECNING THE WORLD AND ALL BEINGS
RIGHT NOW JUST AS I AM IN THIS MOMENT<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
I HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE ANYTHING I WANT<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
I AM INCREDIBLITY POWERFUL<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Only by embracing of truth of
interconnectiveness of all life on this planet can we survive. A tall order
indeed! This need to leap up in consciousness calls for nothing less than a
massive awakening into spirituality. By whatever name or description you want
to call this aspect of your being, we must recognize our inter dependence and
interconnectiveness with the greater aspects of who we are.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Clear the
central channel</b>. Physically, depression and anxiety is held in the body as
blocks in the central channel, or spinal nervous system. Un-integrated
experience becomes embodied within you as blockages in your central channel.
The central channel is that energetic flow of consciousness that comes in from
the earth into the root of your spine. This is the first place that life energy
enters your body at birth, and continues until your last breath, when the life
energy will enter into the root of your spine and travel up your spine and out
of the crown centre at your death. The life energy that keeps your body alive
and well enters thru the spine at that area between the sit bone and travels up
the spine with each breath. The life energy or consciousness travels up thru energy
centres or chakras, from the root to the lower belly, to the solar plexus, heart
centre, thru the throat, then mid brain and finally up into the crown of your
head. There it pauses and gathers guidance and nourishment from spiritual
aspects, and then begins the journey down the spine again, grounding back into the
earth. The process begins anew with each breath. In this way we are connected
with the earthy aspect of our beings which are embedded in our bodies in this
moment. In the journey up the spine, we become aware of more spiritual aspects
and finally we ascend into the transpersonal aspects of our beings which are
beyond time and space.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
If this journey of consciousness is blocked
in the central channel, dis-ease begins to develop. Dis-ease develops in a
myriad number of ways, physically, emotionally and spiritually. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Begin with a daily practice of taking a few
moments every day to develop awareness of how the breath moves up and down the
spine, and then notice where in your spine you lose awareness in your spine.
Practice circular breath. For instructions in this, see my previous blog about
this excellent meditative practice. You will realise that the areas in your
spine where you don’t have awareness are areas that hold un-integrated
experience, discomfort, trauma or injury. Then you begin to focus on these
areas and consciously bring awareness into them. You will notice that when you
become more conscious of these blocks, you can gradually clear them, and they
will come into alignment with the central channel. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Over time joy and foundational well-being
can be re-established, with the four traits of enlightened existence: sympatric
joy, intuitive discernment; equanimity and compassion. These are the true antidotes
to anxiety and depression.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Of course, this is a long and arduous task
and these four qualities will not be handed over to you easily. This can take
years, or even life times. Then gradually, you can develop the ability to hold
spiritual awareness. And with this development comes a gradually return of
foundational well-being.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
My newest book “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Soul Catching-Finding sacred connections in our environments </i>(Star,
2017) is for sale thru my website visionaryjourneys.ca.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
Joy in the journey!<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-55422184006300249312018-05-10T09:19:00.002-07:002018-05-10T09:20:13.198-07:00Breathe in beauty, breathe out gratitude.<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Breathe in beauty, breathe out gratitude.</span></b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b><br /></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUcGRcAkAmn29gyRnESpLMDs6KAZ2OMPdBhXJRxOdXtLiYJW4qf29SEV-mnNni8cBGyeSngtHPnNg50xC5WBLFjSwaNpoXpnvDZoMRTQuOrUHmfaZy87985IeWCFAubCLgw-ML0mHXJU8/s1600/river+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="743" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUcGRcAkAmn29gyRnESpLMDs6KAZ2OMPdBhXJRxOdXtLiYJW4qf29SEV-mnNni8cBGyeSngtHPnNg50xC5WBLFjSwaNpoXpnvDZoMRTQuOrUHmfaZy87985IeWCFAubCLgw-ML0mHXJU8/s400/river+pic.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></div>
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</div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When a beautiful
soul harmonizes with a beautiful form and the two are cast in one mould, that
will be the fairest of sights to him who has the eye to contemplate the vision.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Plato<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I feel as though I’ve got my life back.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t know exactly where it went for the past 50 or so
years. Somewhere along the way, a veil was cast over my perceptions which
clouded my ability to hold and experience life in a direct and joyous way. As a
holistic counsellor who uses therapeutic altered states such as holotrophic
breath work, I have been developed ways to clear perception. I’ve peeled back
the veil and at long last the term, I feel that I am awake. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is one way to describe the sudden, after
over 30 years of hard sloughing personal work; I’ve got my life back. The veil
has fallen away and now I perceive the love, beauty and interconnectiveness of life,
my life, the life of Others (mineral, plant and animal) in this magnificent
creation of Gaia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here is what rent the veil for me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was walking along the river, one of my favorite walks on a
fresh fragrant spring morning. This walk reminds me of my spiritual teachers,
the River. They once told me that achieving happiness was hard work. At the
time, I thought they meant that I had a lot of trauma and unintegrated personal
insight work that I needed to do before I could win the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">right</i> to be happy. But then I remembered that they also said that
happiness is not given as a reward, at a future date, for tasks well done, a
better pay cheque, more recognition, and more people liking me... and so on.
The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">work</i> was in actuality, realizing
that I have happiness already within my body and mind as a foundational,
natural state of being. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">work</i> was
returning to the moment and holding this natural state of being.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On this one morning, I gazed up into the clear morning sky
and wondered how to communicate in a more lasting and meaningful way with the
greater soul of the environment. I was able to hold this inner joy for moments,
especially when I meditate or walk thru nature alone. But I wanted to hold this
inner peace for longer periods of time, to be connected to this space more
often. Then these words came to me, from where I can’t exactly say. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Breathe in beauty, <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Breathe out gratitude.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Connect inner
meditation with breath and the outer environment. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Connect the holy
trinity of mind, body and environment.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I tried it. First I gazed about for something that caught my
attention as being beautiful. Something which stepped out from the environment
and said “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Look at me</i>”. My attention
was drawn to a willow tree by the path, dripping with long fuzzy pussy willows.
I walked closer and for a moment just focused on these beautiful willow
flowers. I was filled with a sense of the hopeful, idealistic and innocent
anticipation of spring and plant joy at renewed life and rebirth after a long
dark winter. I breathed in all of those sensations into my body; let those
feelings of goodness and connectedness radiate into my entire body and being. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ahhh… Then I focused on the outbreath. I raised my eyes up to the clear blue sky
and breathed out, gratitude for the environment which supports all life, all
spring flowering, all rebirth and renewal. I felt my heart opening and calm
entered my being.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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I am so grateful for this practice which I’ve been using
every day since it was given to me by Soul. I pause for a moment, and notice
something beautiful, then expand the experience into my body by imagining that
I am breathing the beauty of what I’m seeing into my body. I focus especially
my heart. Then I breathe out into the environment my gratitude for that
specific phenomena as well as all the supporting world that holds that event
(seasons caused by the earth’s tilt, perfumed air of blooming plant world,
forests, mountains).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This connects me to the world in a way that is deeply
satisfying. This is the moment by moment connection with sacredness that I’ve
been missing in my life. Until now. Even when I’m feeling a little off, sad or
anxious I’m able to pause, find something beautiful in my environment and breathe
it in with a moment of expand awareness. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I practice this more, I notice that I can also breathe in
things that are not beautiful and still integrate them with my out breath of
gratitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Strange, in some ways the way
that this practice of connecting to unpleasant or challenging things is more
important than the original technique of starting with beautiful things.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was waiting in line in a cafeteria yesterday and feeling
that old sense of irritation that somehow life was fitting me quite right. Then
I remembered my new practice, I paused and gazed out the window to some small
islands that were glittering in the sun. I realized how beautiful the
environment is where I live, how I can look out the window at almost any time
and see beauty. So I breathed in the way the tiny islands were bathed in
sunlight and on the outbreath I was surprised that I wanted to breathe out a
sense of appreciation for all the people who were working in the cafeteria. So
I did, and then I was filled with a sense of all-rightness. As I gazed around,
I noticed that everyone was working towards some common goals, perhaps at some
level, all of us were working towards spiritual goals which we were only tangentially
aware of. I could see that even irritating moments like waiting in line for
breakfast can be filled with a sense of sacredness.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I do this practice now many times a day, whoever I can,
driving, talking with others, cooking, cleaning. I can do it on a walk, or when
I’m with clients. I’m aiming for prolonging this practice so maybe I can stay
with it for longer periods, hours perhaps or at least moments. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The in breath is precise, focused on one thing-flower,
clouds, music, birds. The out breath is expansive and goes out with my
gratitude into the greater soul of the environment. My appreciation stretches
my being towards larger containers of personal joy and inner peace, for the
life systems that hold for sky, water, air, earth. Deep in my pelvic chalice, I
feel goodness like a seed of life. It is not simply of place of human
fertility, the place of where my younger body stored human life eggs, but
energetically now my second chakra holds the womb of the Mother, of mater, of
Gaia, of life itself. I hold it, nourish it deeply and from here from my belly
out to the horizon, it goes and blesses all that I see.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So the work is to retrieve and restore my natural state of
human being which is calm abiding, sympathetic joy and compassion.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<b>Try this!</b></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In this moment look around for something beautiful.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I look around my
office and see a potted lantana tree. I brought it in for the winter, now it is
sending shoots out through the dead branches which died off during the long
cold spells we had. I am amused and uplifted by how it is still alive and
although I am trying to prune it into a tree, it wants to return to its wild
shape as a bush. I breathe in its resiliency, strength and the way it let of
many branches over the winter, but now it’s being re born in spring.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Now on the outbreath, breathe out
appreciate and gratitude for the greater container which holds all that you are
looking at.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I breathe out an
appreciation for the air which is everywhere and which fills my lungs and then
goes out into the world. Even here, in my writing room, with the fire burning,
which is also taking in oxygen to be, there is a great abundance of oxygen for
me, gazing at this plant, and for the plant also. I breathe out gratitude for the
entire plant world, who engage with us in this transference and inter
dependence of life.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now try this practice with something more difficult and challenging.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I see a dead bird. I
don’t know if this is beautiful but it is where my focus landed on. The little
female yellow finch is heart wrenchingly painful for me to gaze at. I love her
and I want her to come back to life.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now on the outbreath, breathe out appreciate and gratitude
for the greater container which holds all that you are looking at.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I breathe out gratitude
for life and death systems. And the appreciation of all who are alive in my
life right now. I especially see an analogy of my son in this omen. He is
struggling so hard and I’m afraid, like this little bird who mistakenly flew
into the glass window, he won’t survive. This of course fills me with
unbearable sorrow.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Although these thoughts
take me to difficult places, such as the great song bird die off everywhere in
the world, I wonder, how can I be grateful for that? Perhaps after this age of
species die off, when humans return to a more balanced role as stewards of the
world instead of destroyers of the world, we will appreciate that in death
there is also re birth. I’m also wondering if a carrion bird will come and eat
the finch’s body. In nature, in the greater soul, little is wasted.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
image downloaded from http://www.brighterfuturestogether.co.uk/brighter-futures-together-toolkit/improve-local-rivers-and-streams/Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-22143517992809623622018-04-12T09:00:00.001-07:002018-04-12T09:00:21.902-07:00The cruel ideal-Six ways to develop self acceptance<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The cruel ideal-Six ways to develop self-acceptance
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEvXkloxBg4DD7e4SYUhMNbzLLa9yyFz4lQhxe4nYUwCTo4Fw42PNaG_VngZPpbSIIJUivlpozBL2DkmOu-J3tmYMS1SUi2wU159fkFzo16F0VTGJHrtuuzhY07AQV7M_oo3abU2qyXyw/s1600/dancing+on+the+beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEvXkloxBg4DD7e4SYUhMNbzLLa9yyFz4lQhxe4nYUwCTo4Fw42PNaG_VngZPpbSIIJUivlpozBL2DkmOu-J3tmYMS1SUi2wU159fkFzo16F0VTGJHrtuuzhY07AQV7M_oo3abU2qyXyw/s320/dancing+on+the+beach.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<div class="MsoNormal">
What if, everything you’ve ever done and everything you will
ever do is …OK?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our culture has developed unrealistic high expectations to
maintain high production standards. Our media if full of ways to improve, be
better, more beautiful, more free, more everything! It’s ironic that most of
these standards drive us to adopt cruel ideals that are unattainable and drive
us further into misery. We have cruel ideals of what it is to be a good person,
mother, father, wife, daughter, worker, student… the list is infinite and each
person can tailor them for themselves. For some, they feel they are too fat,
too skinny, too this or too that. The details are not important, what is
important is that sense of not fitting into our lives. We believe that the
shape of who we are does not fit comfortably into the places, times and demands
of our lives. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This was the first lesson of the Buddha after he reached a
state of great understanding which he called enlightenment. He said that life
is essentially -<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dukkha</i>. This is a Pali
term which has commonly been translated as suffering. However, the original
meaning came from a wheel which doesn’t fit into the axel. Dukkha will always
stick, not move harmoniously, and make sounds that are unpleasant, put extra
strain on the horse or ox who pulls the cart. In Buddha’s world of pre
industrial transportation, the sticking wheel would have been a common problem
which his listeners could relate to. Dukkha is a colourful analogy for the
cruel ideal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some uncomfortableness is necessary for personal growth and
evolution, when there is the right amount of challenge. Attainable challenges
are beneficial and lead to greater well-being. But some challenges invoke
pointless suffering. These kinds of suffering are associated with past events which
leave a shadow of trauma, and understandings and beliefs which are no longer
healthy. The child who blames herself for her parents separation and copes by imagining
that is she were cleaner, more organized, thinner…then she could control her
life better. That is the cruel ideal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The cruel ideal is usually an attempt to get more control of
future events, which may or may not transpire. Obsessing about these events
create needless sufferings and will persist unless there is deep personal work.
By releasing the cruel ideal, we can come to appreciate the richness and beauty
of our lives- as we are. Not as we think we should be. The release of the cruel
ideal will help us develop more purposeful action, combined with compassion for
others within the context of soul. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Six practices for self-acceptance<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Look in the mirror every day and practice complete
acceptance of what you see. Best to do this completely naked. Notice something
beautiful about your body, and then breathe in that beauty. On the out breath,
breathe out a sense of gratitude. Really feel both the in breath of beauty
appreciation and the out breath of gratitude. Let that sense of deep
self-acceptance sink into your whole being. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 72.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(In breath) I find the colour of my eyes to be beautiful. (Outbreath) I’m
so grateful for my vision; it brings me so much joy and connection in my life. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 72.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></i><!--[endif]-->Notice
when you connect into the harsh demands of the cruel ideal. Then immediately
catch those thoughts and change them. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I’m getting old
and losing my looks. Change that to-I like the way my face is becoming more
mature, and I especially enjoy how age is giving me so many insights and
compassion towards others.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></i><!--[endif]-->Look
out into the world and notice beauty. This is the greatest antidote to the
cruel ideal. Does the chickadee worry if it’s too small or its voice isn’t loud
enough? No! Nature is our greater soul, when we look out into it, we can see
wisdom and resolution if we can interpret its messages. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I see the spring
pussy willows right now from my window. They remind me that plants go through
many changes through their life cycles. Each cycle leads to another and
contributes to the whole environment. The difficult changes in my life can also
lead to contributions in ways that I can’t grasp right now.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></i><!--[endif]-->Differentiate
between what is achievable and helpful to change, and what is a cruel ideal<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I will never be
young again, but I can continue to go to yoga twice a week and keep up my flexibility
so I can age well.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Journal every day a small section about ways you
can become more self-accepting. Notice where those cruel ideals came from
originally. Most likely they did not start with you; they were probably passed
onto you from others’ needs and demands.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am disappointed I didn’t become a university
professor. Wait, where did that cruel ideal come from? Ah, yes. My mother
always wanted me to be a univ</i>ersity professor. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But by avoiding the restrictions of academic life, I was free to
develop my spirituality.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Finally, look for the gift in the cruel ideal,
once you have resolved it and accepted yourself and your unique soul path.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The gift in that
cruel ideal was that I spent many years at university which has given me the
gift of understanding of how to communicate with people who are trapped in the
reductionist world view.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<br />Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-17341641993024936342018-03-21T12:26:00.002-07:002018-03-21T12:26:50.136-07:00Our first attachment is consciouness to life<div class="MsoNormal">
Our first attachment is consciousness to life:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Three questions that determine if you are securely attached</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Attachment theory was first postulated by John Bowlby and
Mary Ainsworth in the early sixties. (Bowlby, 1969; Bowlby, 1988; Krumwiede,
2001).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Their model developed from observations of how the infants
reacted when their primary care giver exited from the clinical room. The
infants they defined as securely attached cried for a moment when their mothers
left the room, but then quickly adjusted and often were able to be comforted by
a stranger. The securely attached babes were able to trust that their mothers
would soon return, and they were quickly comforted when the mother returned. The
infants they defined as insecurely attached cried for longer periods, sometimes
hysterically when their mothers left the room. They took a longer time to calm
down after their mothers returned. Also most interesting, the insecurely
attached babes would often punish the mother when she returned by crying,
turning away and resisting the hugs that their mothers tried to give them. They
appeared to be angry that their mothers had returned although moments before,
they were deeply distressed when she was gone. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Attachment theory states that a strong emotional and
physical attachment to at least one primary caregiver is critical to personal
development. This theory postulates that our first attachment as new born babes
is to our birth mothers, and later to our fathers or other primary care givers.
This attachment is the most critical relationship of our lives, and underpins
of all our future relationships (Tatin, 2011). The nature of this first attachment influences
such factors as our ability to trust, form healthy relationships to others, take
the perspective of others, and forms the basis in our adult lives of morality, efficacy
and forming healthy boundaries. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Much is laid at the feet of the birth mother, so much that
many individuals in counselling or after reading one of a myriad of self-help
books that ascribe to this model, develop contempt and anger for their mothers,
and all care givers in their early years. They blame their suffering upon their
mothers and other caring adults in their infanthood for their inability to care
for them with faultless presence, affection and responsiveness. But in fact, no
mother or care giver can be perfect; can always be attendant of their children
with selfless devotion. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The proponents of attachment theory therefore put another
crown of thorns on the heads of women and child caretakers, along with all the
other beatings at the hands of Caesars who demand submission of care givers to
uphold the capitalistic market system. The dominate culture proposes that if you
are unhappy (depressed, anxious, unable to maintain long term relationships,
joyless) it is because your mother (Primary care giver) wasn’t attentive enough.
This lets the global human community off the hook for environmental and
sociopolitical factors which are equally or more relevant.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are many individuals who defy this model of
development. For example, people who had almost nonexistence attachments to mother,
or whose care givers were burdened with addictions, ancestral trauma and other
mental health issues. But somehow these individuals mature into secure,
compassionate people. Conversely, there are people who have had wonderfully
secure attachments to care givers and who never the less develop severe mental
health concerns, especially in recent times, who suffer from intense anxiety
and depression. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Often in my private practice, clients return to memories of
infanthood in states of regression. They will ask me to hold them like a baby
or infant to help them to re attach more securely to their inner Mother. Once
the biographical attachments are repaired, a deeper and more essential
attachment yearning arises. Over time, I’ve noticed that this yearning is to re
attach in deeper and more spiritual ways. This yearning is a transpersonal
attachment to the meaning and significance of their own individual lives. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We yearn to re attach to the original soul purpose of why our
consciousness attached into this life. We yearn to fulfill the purpose of why
our consciousness attached into matter which we call ourselves and our bodies. Matter
derives from the Latin for mother-<i>mater</i>.
So when consciousness first enters the cells of the newly formed fetus or babe,
this is the moment of first attachment. We yearn, not only for the comfort that
a mother or primary care giver can give us, but more deeply and more
significantly, we year to re attach to the original purpose of why our
consciousness attached into this life in its first nexus.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If there is not a transpersonal container which can hold
this sense of soul purpose, then the first most essential disruption develops. This
disruption is not fetus or babe to mother, but consciousness to life, which is
the entering of individual consciousness into the body, into human flesh and <i>mater</i>. Later, when the baby is born, with
its attendant need for food, comfort and protection, inter personal attachments
develop. But those needs are secondary to the first needs of consciousness into
matter, the need for us to fully attach to our original soul purpose of this
life. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The quality of this first attachment is also in a wider sense,
attachment to Gaia, who is our fundamental mother, environment, and the living
systems that Gaia provides for us-breath, body, bone, flesh, blood. It is also
attachment to the wider spheres which we live in of human social environments-political,
community and global safety, justice and well-being. If these environmental influences,
including the more-than-human environments of air, water, earth, other life
forms of the plant and animal worlds, are not secure, then we naturally develop
an attachment disorder. The babe senses at a deep level that she is not
securely living in a system that is safe and nurturing. . If this first
attachment is secure, then, as we mature into adults with adult responsible, we
can be a steward of the world, of Gaia and of others, including the more than
human worlds.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is why currently we are seeing so much anxiety and depression.
Our first attachment to <i>mater</i> is
disrupted. As a counsellor, I am meeting an increasing number of young people
and children who are securely attached to their primary care givers, but still
sense a deep unease about their lives. This is because; their attachment disorder
is much deeper and nascent than the inter-personal attachment to mother, father
and /or other care givers. It is an unease, dis-ease of sensing dis-attachment
of consciousness to life. This is where we need to focus our attention when we
are trying to heal ourselves, our clients and loved ones. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The goal of effective psychotherapy therefore, is fundamentally
the healing of our first attachment of consciousness into life. Our path
towards this first and embryonic attachment ought to be towards discovering and
supporting a sense of soul purpose, rather than diverting our attention with
whether our primary care givers were loving and preternaturally present for all
our needs. Then we can form more fully secure, joyful attachments to the interconnectiveness
of life. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Three questions to ask yourself to determine if you are
securely attached<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Can you take purposeful, meaningful action in
your life?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Do you have compassion towards others, including
the more than human world?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Can you live with a big picture, spiritual, or
transpersonal perspective?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
References:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Attachment Theory ( 2018) Downloaded from
https://www.psychologistworld.com/developmental/attachment-theory#references<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bowlby, John. 1969.<i>
Attachment and Loss</i>. Pimlico;London, UK.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bowley, John (1988) <i>A
secure base: Clinical applications of attachment theory</i>. Routledge, New
York, NY.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hazan, C. & Shaver, P. (1994) Attachment as an
organizational framework for research on close relationship<i>. Psychological Inquiry</i>. 5 1-22.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Krumwiede, Andreas. (2001<i>)
Attachment Theory According to John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth</i>. German
National Library. <o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Takin, Stan (2011) <i>Wired for Love: How Understanding Your Partner's Brain and Attachment
Style Can Help You Defuse Conflict and Build a secure relationship.</i> New Harbinger
Publisher; Oakland CA.</span>Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-71891900608367981952017-11-13T18:17:00.005-08:002017-11-13T18:25:11.059-08:00There is no 'letting go", there is just letting in<div class="MsoNormal">
Our mysterious beings are held in our bodies by structures
which capture<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Fma5t02WlxwN72N_vOtS0UOm9QsVtSLdglhokrrHRTk37GQiO0-j1HNwrGo7iexfxmNtyLHpi5wgR5EcTtgpzJ5k14LRXGXEwz5ICXRxsT4e1jIr1CVuReWHnueu-IZ8jm-mVTO50rM/s1600/what+you+resist%252C+persists.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="236" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Fma5t02WlxwN72N_vOtS0UOm9QsVtSLdglhokrrHRTk37GQiO0-j1HNwrGo7iexfxmNtyLHpi5wgR5EcTtgpzJ5k14LRXGXEwz5ICXRxsT4e1jIr1CVuReWHnueu-IZ8jm-mVTO50rM/s320/what+you+resist%252C+persists.jpg" width="220" /></a></div>
energy into life systems that are held in turn by structures of ancestral
and personal experience, culture, societal beliefs, values and aspirations.
Just as our physical bodies are held into this time and place by complex
structures of DNA, and a multitude of other physical biochemical, physiological
and cellular pathways, so too, first at an emotional and spiritual level, our beings
are held in place by structures of ego, familial memory, pre conscious and
supra conscious layers of being.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Integrative therapy has the purpose of clearing away all structures
which no longer are useful. Presently, these structures can be called trauma,
but I prefer the term, unintegrated experiences. In the same way that we go
into the garden in fall and gather together all the deadwood and dying plants,
so too, in therapy we have the opportunity to go into the garden of our souls
and clean out all un wanted structures. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This process is not always one of simply ‘throwing away’ or
‘letting go’ of unwanted structures and understandings. Rather, these old
structures are recycled or composted into new clearing, maturity and wisdom. These
unintegrated experiences were often formed before we had words or discernment
to understand them, so they get laid down in pre-cognitive areas of mind and
brain. There they dictate the responses of the limbic systems and at higher
levels; they also dictate thoughts, actions, identity and interpretations.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This means that distressing memories, although they are not
happening now, are kept alive by the limbic system in corresponding parts of
the body with messages of distress, hyper vigilance and discomfort. In cases of
PTSD or complex PTSD (c-ptsd), these unintegrated experiences stimulate the
limbic system to cause insomnia, physical symptoms of threat response and other
signs of high stress and the fight, flight or cluster responses. These signals
travel from the memory centre in the neo cortex to the rest of the body,
telling us that the experience is not finished. So the brain interprets them as
still proceeding in real time. But of course, they are not. The unintegrated
experience can be from the previous moment or forty years ago. In the kind of
timeless state of the interconnected mind body, the essence of the distressing
memory remains alive as if it is still happening in the present time.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First, the old dysfunctional structures must be recognised
and acknowledged. They existed because, much like the garden in fall, they bore
fruit which at one time was useful. So often the first step is not to grab the
weed and swear at it as we pull it out with vengeance. But with some careful
consideration, first understand how the weed got there in the first place. And
then with the same gentleness and sense of the wholeness of our life, to
consider what its function was in the past. Otherwise without an understanding of
the whole, we are simply pulling out one weed and making room for another to
grow.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The resistance to recognize dysfunctional beliefs, thoughts
and actions is one of our more egregious qualities. In our drive to ‘get rid’
of those aspects that are causing problems, we want to turn away, ignore, deny
or attack these weeds. But the best way to proceed is to first recognize them with
gentle compassion. They served a purpose in the past and that purpose often has
deep soul connections which we must acknowledge before we can effectively grow
beyond them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To integrate these experiences we must first have the
courage to face and recognize them directly, bring them out of the shadows into
the cognitive mind. These troublesome aspects are experiences which were too
powerful for us to understand at the time. The tragic loss of a loved one,
sudden injury, emotional trauma, sexual trauma, ancestral memories of famines,
wars and other violence-these are few examples of experiences that were
overwhelming at the time they occurred. So we put these memories aside because we
don’t have the means to cope with them. This doesn’t mean they ‘go away’. They
just get filed for later consideration. They are filed, wisely, by our minds
into places within our bodies where we can find them easily. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We know from epigenetics that experiences change not only
the body but also change our DNA. Therefore the body can be understood as a kind
of physical filing cabinet for all of our memories. Much like any competent secretary,
the filing cabinet is well organized into logical sections for ease of access. Sexual
trauma is filed in the pelvis; feminine trauma is filed in the breasts etc.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, unintegrated experience can be found in corresponding physical
places usually assigned up and down the spine. Each energy holding centre or chakra
is organized according to general areas of human experience. Root chakra: survival
and death; sexual charka: creativity and boundaries; solar plexus: will, grief
and loss; Heart chakra: love, compassion and connection; Throat Charka:
communication and discernment; Third eye or hypothalamus: connections into past
and future and throughout the body: Crown chakra: connection to higher aspects
of soul and openness to growth and evolution. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One very effective way to find where the trauma is filed is
to notice where there is discomfort or dis-ease in the body. And then to relate
the area to the closest chakra and then connect that to the experiences that
placed it there.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We can layer all kinds of coping mechanisms on top of trauma
and the on-going sense of unease. Denial, intense and persistent physical pain,
diseases such as cancer; addictions, anger, numbing out or other means of turning
away. If the memory is held with dis-ease, then the harm of the unintegrated
experience can slip over into interpersonal relationships, violence, prejudice,
transference, and armouring of the heart centre. Over time, these denial mechanisms become so habituated
that we no longer see why these mechanisms were created in the first place. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We learn to forget that we are forgetting.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If psychotropics are used by the client to dull the unease
of the distressing experience, then denial becomes even more habituated and
concretized. Locked into this unresolved state, the client can be held in a
chemical straight jacket which prevents any real therapy from occurring because
the mid brain does not have access to the memory centres and therefore cannot fully
integrate messages of distress and unease.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Psychotropics are like a crutch used by a patient who has
broken their leg, after a while, using the crutch seems natural and the thought
of trying to put weight on the injured limb seems an indomitable task. And it
may be, after years of relying on the chemical solution, the psychotropic has
become a highly habituated within the mind body composition. However, these
psychotropics tie up the neuropathways and stop any possibility of real change
from occurring.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here is where therapeutic altered states are so incredibly
useful. From what we can see from brain scans and MRI’s recording brain
activity, altered states first flood the brain with serotonin. This is the
‘feel good’ neurotransmitter that is released in situations when we feel
connected with others and the environment, when we feel successful and satisfied.
So immediately the threat response which may be habituated for decades is diminished.
Then the mind can explore the scary parts of the unintegrated experiences which
are troublesome without feeling the need to protect the person through evasive denials.
The distressing event does not have to be re-lived fully. Only the way the
event was embodied by the individual needs to be remembered, brought into consciousness,
experienced and then integrated. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The important aspect of using therapeutic altered states is
that the patient has the opportunity to fully experience the essence of the unintegrated
experience and then to come to terms with it, during and after the session.
Also, as the process of integration begins, the patient begins to enter into
the most important phase of the therapy, which normally most therapies do not
allow due to reductionist beliefs of a mechanical universe which hold that if
there is a problem, like a mechanic, you can take out the offending part and throw
it away. But in integrative therapy, after we have examined how the distressing
event was laid down in the mind and body, then we can gently bring that memory
to the surface and finally to allow that experience to inform us in good and
practical ways. In integrative therapy, there is no ‘throwing away’. All
experience can be integrated towards a more whole person who is compassionate,
effective and works with a big picture or soul perspective. So the distressing
event isn’t thrown away, its let in, so the individual can learn and grow from
it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is no letting go in this universe. It is self-enclosed
and self-resembling. There is no ‘out there’ to let go of distressing
experiences into. There is no garbage dump where we can throw away parts of
ourselves. We are intimately interconnected and inter dependent, all of us without
in the world, and all of our experiences within also. The therapeutic way to proceed
is to recognize, honour and integrate. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then in a paradoxical way, with this total acceptance, the unintegrated
experience or trauma disappears. This is the true ‘letting go’. <o:p></o:p><br />
Image downloaded from https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/204984220519779600/</div>
Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-8723277696276981552016-07-02T10:06:00.004-07:002016-07-02T10:06:56.269-07:00From here to the horizon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYnoJaYOistcF60E22j9zKRXe6Z6-iS-RW-MhEAg8oEMP4I52hQJyYFEwmsUrsRtdIpvhdsgBO8SsYOp93uzMLge6juf_GGVZ0q7jNnWEWbJwhP0O1LcBlC-UVDtzpoRv8Mx7aWp0vc7I/s1600/lavender+and+daises.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYnoJaYOistcF60E22j9zKRXe6Z6-iS-RW-MhEAg8oEMP4I52hQJyYFEwmsUrsRtdIpvhdsgBO8SsYOp93uzMLge6juf_GGVZ0q7jNnWEWbJwhP0O1LcBlC-UVDtzpoRv8Mx7aWp0vc7I/s320/lavender+and+daises.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yesterday I walked along one of my favorite hikes, beside a
tributary of a <o:p></o:p></div>
larger river. This river has been home to people for thousands
of years. First Nations people lived at different parts of this river as it
flowed from the mountains, down through vast silent forests and finally out to
the bay. Those who lived along this river harvested reeds, trees, salmon,
shellfish and a multitude of different kinds of berries for at least four thousand
years. They also hunted animals who came to the river for fresh water: mink,
otters, deer, wolves, and birds. Bears also lived in this area, but the people
who lived here then, did not hunt them because they believed these creatures
were too alike to humans to be killed and eaten. <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
After
first contact with Europeans, this river was dredged to make it easier for
ships to come into the bay to take away logs from the surrounding forests. This
disturbed the river bed and its flow. Many fish stocks were lost, animals and
birds lost their food and water sources. The men who planned and executed this
destruction had no idea of the long term effects of their actions, rather like
many people today. Or perhaps even if they had known the far reaching
consequences of their actions, they would not have changed them. They were
possessed by hungry ghosts and addictions which blinded them to the world.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I
walk along this river, I wonder how it manages to keep flowing, to keep alive
and offering nourishment to creatures who still live along its banks. Most
people here don’t remember, but this estuary and its flood plain was once
filled with so many birds that they would darken the sky. Even I, in my life
time, can remember this. Now, if I spot flocks of perhaps ten or twelve birds,
I am thrilled. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There
was a time in my life when human destruction of the earth and her creatures
dismayed me so much I sunk into a deep depression. I contemplated suicide. I couldn’t
bear to watch the progression we have chosen towards world death. But my love
for my son, my family and the commitment I felt towards my spiritual teachers
and ancestors kept me alive. Still keeps me alive. I will see this learning
through to the end. I will be witness and as much as possible, I will bless and
direct the coming times towards the best possible outcomes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My new
teacher has shown me that energy is indestructible and in exhaustible in nature.
But from my small place of a woman living in a human body with loving
commitments towards others, these turbulent times are difficult. I fight the temptation
to sink into hopelessness. To re-bind myself to my commitment to be a spiritual
teacher and counsellor, I remind myself every day of my soul’s purpose. I
remind myself of why I choose to be born and live in these times, with all the
beings and beauty of this wondrous world. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of
my practices to keep my intentions alive and strong is to bless the world when
I walk. As I walk, I bless everything I see, hear, small and touch , from me to
the horizon. And beyond to clouds, stars, sun and moon. All of it. Just as I must
accept the terror of the coming times, so too I accept and bless all that I see
in the world, in the moment, from the tiny pebbles that my shoes walk on to the
majestic clouds that hover along the horizon. I can’t fully understand all that
goes on in my life, but I can hold the intention of witnessing, accepting and blessing
the three worlds of our good mother: inanimate, plant and animal. This will not
prevent me from acting with discernment once my walking mediation is over, it
will not sugar coat the darkness in my life. On the contrary, blessing the
world as I walk helps me come back to the battle renewed with vigor and most important,
with compassion and a greater vision of the whole.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Try This!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Take a walk through your world, out in nature is
best but if you live in an urban area or even within your home, take a walk
through that world. Clear your mind. Just notice with all of your senses.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Now notice something close to you. <i>I notice
my computer in my office</i>. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Bless that-whether it is inanimate, plant or
animal, it still has sentience and is participating in your life in an active
and conscious way. <i>Blessings to my computer</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Now bring to mind, all those things, actions,
people, meanings that are connected with what you noticed. Bless all that also.
<i>Blessings
to all those who made my computer and the technology that supports it.
Blessings to all the animals and plants who feed the people who worked on the
computer. Blessings to all the inanimate sentience of the materials that are in
my computer, the oil, copper, the refineries where the materials were made</i>…Keep
going, there’s lots of interconnections you can bless.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Now raise your eyes and see as far as you can,
to the horizon. Imagine a line from where you are standing to the horizon. Try
to notice as much as you can about what is happening between you and the
horizon. Bless everything in that eye line. E.g. <i>From where I stand in my office, I can see to the mountains across the
bay. Between me and them, there are houses, people living their lives, animals
in the forest below and on the other side of the bay, all the creatures who
live in the sea, along the shore line, the plants in the sea and along the
shore, birds who fly through the air, a multitude
of insects visible and within the soil. I bless all I can see from here to the
horizon.</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->This practice will aide in the development of
understanding the interconnection of all being. This awareness alone and by
itself would save humanity from the impending crises which are approaching.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-52648101729163277372016-03-31T17:53:00.002-07:002016-03-31T17:53:42.505-07:00Power PlacesHi Everyone!<br />
I haven't posted for ages because I'm busy getting my next book ready. Its called "Soul Catching- find your deepest self-outside."<br />
Here is one posting from my book for spring.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you check out the ads for spiritual magazines and
websites, they tell of wondrous places all over the world where power lives.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here is
the spoiler. Power places live close to you! Right in your own neighbourhood.
No need to travel far and wide looking for places where the earth’s energy is concentrated.
We live in the midst of the Great Net, a matrix of being which holds
everything. Why travel? This week, let this season of new adventures, new
beginnings, take you out into your world to find those magical places where
power lives.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Certainly,
for those who are sensitive to energies, there are places that have a
concentration of earth wisdom and beauty. Even chimpanzees can find power
places and perform rituals of awe and gratitude (Goodall, CBC podcast, 2015).
What are the characteristics of these places? In ancient times people traveled
every year to honour places of power-indigenous cultures all over the world
still do. Mountain tops, waterfalls, shore lines with water spirals, vistas of
great distances-any place with a configuration of natural elements that is unusual
and you can feel a surge of power when you are there. When you are need of
special guidance, these places are excellent guides. Visit them, honour the
outside Soul with ritual, quietness, gifts and in silence, listen to the world.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Typically
all three elements are present in power places, although if two are present,
then you can add the third to make the presence of all three complete. Earth
will certainly be present, water also is most powerful, especially moving water
, or if stagnant-calmness and beauty. And air is always present, at least where
there is earthly life. This is its ubiquitous quality that makes it sacred. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have
found several power places close to where I live, each place holds a different kind
of presence and I pick the one that I need at the time. My favorite is to walk
along a river estuary. Rivers were sacred places in many cultures, people have lived
close to rivers since the beginning of the human journey. Another power place
is along a mountain ridge that reminds me of a sleeping dragon. It was
also a sacred place for the First
Nations people who lived in this area before European contact. Another power
spot for me is to walk along a steep creek up a hillside. This walk has seven
small bridges which I cross with reverence. Bridges are holy symbols of
transformation, overcoming difficulties, crossing over to the other side. A
deserted beach at the bottom of my hill- and finally another mountain with wide
views over the valley where I live. At the turning points of the yearly wheel-solstices,
and equinoxes-I go to one of these places and honour my first matrix or
Mother-Gaia.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Try
This!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->This week go in search of a power spot close to
where you live. This may take you on a hero(ine)’s journey to find those places
in your immediate world where Gaia lives most vividly. You will know where
these places are, because when you review the places you have visited in the
past, you will remember that these places left you with an uplifting feeling of
presence and peace.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Now devise a simple ritual to honour your local
power spot. Rituals are metaphoric activities which focus the supra-conscious
mind towards your intentional higher soul path. Perhaps honour this season with
a ritual of new beginnings. Bring some seeds to scatter, some water to nourish,
some sacred words or meaningful movements. These are times for creating our own
rituals of significance. It need only have a beginning, middle and end. The
rest is up to you. Will you go alone or will you go with friends or pets? What will
you leave? What will you take away? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Start your ritual with some form of clockwise
opening movement-this can be walking in a circle, waving incense or a candle clockwise,
spinning clockwise. This is the movement of the earth, and opens new events.
Middle, state your purpose , intentions, needs, gratitude’s. Then time for
silence, stepping into the moment as it is. This is most profound part of any
ritual. Listgen, integrate, notice. Ending-finish with some form of
anti-clockwise movement which seals in the experience and protects you as you
go forward. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Conflicts, dis-ease, desires-all human struggles can be brought to
power places and ritual can focus the outer Soul towards resolution. You have
only to turn up, set your intention and then listen. Notice what the world
gives you in the moment.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRTGNx73HzLKbTcCeI5P8vznSolWPBcWyC6E6c8H8bz-p58LSpRToUz8zW9gORXdcg9nhYcsxYdnGuQlOG6SOyD7ua_KWLHjP64JGpDp-l29Q1pecq1z15XvFqNtvbx3KpYkT_EmxF94U/s1600/lavender+and+daises.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRTGNx73HzLKbTcCeI5P8vznSolWPBcWyC6E6c8H8bz-p58LSpRToUz8zW9gORXdcg9nhYcsxYdnGuQlOG6SOyD7ua_KWLHjP64JGpDp-l29Q1pecq1z15XvFqNtvbx3KpYkT_EmxF94U/s320/lavender+and+daises.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-align: center;">
Joy in
the journey!<o:p></o:p></div>
Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-15349124979008208292015-12-22T12:04:00.003-08:002015-12-22T12:04:48.840-08:00<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Build Temples of
Love</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnEiRGwkuZbTUFLQx3Tw0S2SfrtZiq5eBsr5ZcAFYjlpWvbPl6kyhoMtmxemkUfTo22M-1OZqejshvUlli9qJhaijSQSbPfyXLy1OGeRdZrajhbZv7xfUD_Cj94pgJMxwyFdLCHPg-V6s/s1600/aya+temples.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnEiRGwkuZbTUFLQx3Tw0S2SfrtZiq5eBsr5ZcAFYjlpWvbPl6kyhoMtmxemkUfTo22M-1OZqejshvUlli9qJhaijSQSbPfyXLy1OGeRdZrajhbZv7xfUD_Cj94pgJMxwyFdLCHPg-V6s/s320/aya+temples.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of
the things that I wonder about is just how much people really understand the extremity
of our situation at this point of time. I see many (most) clients suffering
from high levels of anxiety. children are anxious,
can’t fall asleep… people attribute this anxiety and fear to a plethora of
causes-media, liberal propaganda, right wing propaganda, their spouses, the
economy… everything but the real cause. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are
anxious because we stand at the precipice of crisis. The harbingers of
disasters have arrived-climate change, unseasonably high temperatures, species
dying off, floods, storms, and accompanying social break downs of families,
social supports,.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the
same time, I am seeing a great increase in depression. Almost everyone who
walks into my office claims to be suffering from depression. Why? Is it
possible that when we get burned out from being anxious, we go to the next
stage of coping-the freeze response, which over time becomes depression?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are becoming
depressed because there is much to be sad about.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the
words of Miss Marple, sometimes the most obvious suspect is the culprit.
Surprize!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have
the sometimes dubious gift of being highly intuitive and catching glimpses of
possible futures. I say dubious because, as an oracle, I ‘see’ the future- if we
don’t change. It is a dance of death. It is so horrific that I begged to be
released from the vision. Eventually I was, but not until I reached out for
help from a spiritual teacher. I ‘saw’ what the world will become if we don’t
choose change. It isn’t just what could
happen, but also how we will feel- angry, vindictive, violent, cruel and aggressive.
In the face of worldwide disasters, in an instant, we will become uncaring. Compassion
and empathy will be seen as weak and dangerous and abandoned the way rats abandon
a sinking ship. We will bow down to selfishness, entitlement and hatred of the Other.
These qualities are already on the increase and I see them developing in the
young like a virus which no one can name but which we are all, at some level,
aware of. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Matter
is gifted with the unfailing directive of achieving greater and greater consciousness
and evolution. This is the first law of matter-all matter. And this law, as binding
and unforgiving as the laws of gravity-will prevail. It isn’t as if , when you
drop a precious tea cup, suddenly gravity will relent and not draw it down. No,
it will fall as easily as an old pen or clothing stripped off at the end of the
day. No matter if a relatively new species called homo sapiens, decide they don’t
want to get on board. We will simply be wiped out. It has happened before, it
could happen again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That is
the dark heart of these times. In this season of fall, when we consider the
horrors and revelations of death, we must also consider its opposite-re-birth. As
we dig up our gardens, throw unwanted material on the compost heap, we also
plant the winter bulbs for spring-narcissi, garlic and the tough winter greens
to bring us through the dark months.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By this
I mean that we spend some time in this season of opposites and paradoxes-in the
contemplation and action of building up all those relationships which carry the
seeds of the future. The future you want to see, experience, the future you
want those who will follow us to have. Traditionally, people stood and faced
the west at this time of year, and had conversations in ritual form with their
ancestors. All those who have gone before, all that we have been before we
arrived here in the present moment- our long climb up from inanimate form, to
plants, to animals and finally into humans. Our pinnacle, from which we prepare
either to evolve into the greatness of who we can be, or develop into the fear
which captures us with anger, greed and sloth. Old fashioned terms, but still
alive and well in our beings.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Try This!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->For the next week, look for ways to build temples
of love. Let’s start with ourselves. How do we love ourselves more? Forgive,
understand, become more intimate with? Go out a soul catch love. E.g. <i>Just now, I heard the neighbour chopping
wood. This reminds me that sometimes I have to make a great effort to keep the
fires of love alive within myself. I have to work at my fitness, my mediation,
writing, being creative, taking time for family and friends. Those activities
all take effort, time and resources. I have to be willing to give those resources
to my own self development.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->For the next week, look for ways to build temples
of love with others. Do soul catching to help you. Not shopping at stores who
make up what I call, the evil empire-the box stores who build temples of
needless consumption, treat their employees oppressively and plunder the earth
for materials to support their harmful systems. You know who I mean, now
withdraw your support. E.g. <i>Just now I
heard my husband talking to a woman who is giving him supervision with a new
counselling theory. As I was writing this-he said “How much do I owe you for
the hour?” This reminds me that building temples of love with others, costs
money. And I have to be willing to spend that money on others, rather than just
on my own selfish comforts. Sometimes I have to spend money on research and
development, gifts to family and friends, supporting those businesses who
conduct production in an honourable way, even if it costs more.</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Build temples of love for the world –the earth,
the global view. This can be a ritual of intent for Gaia, taking time to join with people who have similar
spiritual views, funding environmental projects, taking time to live within
your own life in an environmentally responsible
way. Soul catching can help guide you along the way. E.G. <i>Just now, I noticed how quiet my house is. I think one way that I can
live, using material responsibility is not to consume so much, just simplify,
notice the free gifts of the world-sunshine, walking through my neighbourhood,
b being quietly friendly and helpful, spending time in my garden with awareness.
Stepping back, saying, I don’t need this-I can make do with what I have. Appreciating
the quiet abundance of my life.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-75596149595634812722015-10-04T16:54:00.003-07:002015-10-04T16:56:09.220-07:00Emotions are not the truth<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">It may seem that when you are experiencing
strong emotions </span>that this is reality-for sure! You get angry, your body
responds, your heart beats faster, your thinking stops…we all know the
experience of overwhelming negative emotions. However, these feelings are not
the truth of the situation, they are your interpretation of the experience.
That experience is interpreted by past conditioning and other influences such
as ancestral shadows, environment, culture… the list is almost endless. The
same experience can illicit very different emotions, with many different
meanings, from different people.</div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">For example, when my husband comes home, the
first thing he does is turn on the radio. He isn’t always listening to it, he just
likes the noise of someone talking in the back ground. He was the eldest of
three boys, in a house hold that was loud and raucous. He likes the sound of
people talking, it makes him feel comfortable, at home, even relaxed. The
moment I walk in the door, the first thing I do is rush to the radio and turn
it off. The sound is irritating for me- I want the noise off before I can start
to think about having a conversation with him, or anyone. I was raised
virtually as an only child because my older sister left the family when I was
six. I was raised in a house that almost silent, my father was sensitive to noise,
like me. My mother was always tired from her long days of work. So I learned to
entertain myself, quietly. I can’t listen to more than one voice or sound at a
time, but I listen with all my attention to that sound. So either I put on the
radio and lie down and listen to classical music or I turn it off because then it’s
just a horrible distraction and irritant. Who is right? Whose emotions are
‘right”? Whose experiences are ‘true’?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">Perhaps we link our emotions to values, and
then we feel even stronger about them E.g. <i>He
was rude to me because I’m a woman, that makes me really angry because I
believe strongly in gender equality</i>. In fact, that may the habitual tone
that person when he talks with everyone. It may have nothing to do with my
being a woman. And of course, there is ample room for vast plays of
transference. E.g. <i>My ex used that tone
with me when he was about to hit me, so now I’m really pissed about this
conversation.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">It takes some self-reflection and awareness to
notice that the emotional reaction we have to events, is not the ‘truth’. It is
perhaps a ‘truth’ that our emotions reflect or interpret a truth. There is some
kernel of truth in the emotion that arises with an event. But to get to the
reality of the experience, we have to proceed with caution and kindness, both
to ourselves and others. World Metaphoric Transformation can be helpful. The
first and second tenant of WMT relates to emotions: <i>remember the story is never about the story and the story is always about
me</i>. Or, for emotions we could say, <i>emotions
are never about the emotion, they are about me</i>. So following the bread
crumb trail back from where the emotion arise, to where it originated within
soul is how we can liberate ourselves from false premises, sticky negative
thinking and manifest our souls more holistically.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US">Try This!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span lang="EN-US">1.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">The next time a strong negative (or positive ) emotion comes up,</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7L87kXnBf8QkStIcoP16qR4ExXvjwhegO6VBZUL56Do8xoAZTOdT2meXAei5dcskOlxVo8aHak9xaU6616RVctrbyrkZXjnYG6O_ENppgmho0F36-2ATFgZMTm_vjq7NpIqO-LALS8rw/s1600/hollyhocks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7L87kXnBf8QkStIcoP16qR4ExXvjwhegO6VBZUL56Do8xoAZTOdT2meXAei5dcskOlxVo8aHak9xaU6616RVctrbyrkZXjnYG6O_ENppgmho0F36-2ATFgZMTm_vjq7NpIqO-LALS8rw/s320/hollyhocks.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
be
curious about where it came from. Be aware, it may not the truth, it is
probably an interpretation of the truth. E.g. <i>This morning when I was picking hollyhock seeds in the garden I felt a wonderful
sense of lightness and fun.</i><b><o:p></o:p></b><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span lang="EN-US">2.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Now really notice, step back from the interpretation of the event and
instead focus on the environment of the experience. E.g. <i>This was in my garden, the sun was shining, I was harvesting seeds from
an unusual hollyhock flower, The seeds were incredible, when I looked at them,
they were incredibly intricate, which ridges and the even the seed pods were
fascinating to me because of their design and, shape and textures.</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US"><b>3.</b><span style="font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">When you have captured the essence
of the event, not the emotion of the event, then bring it home. E.g. <i>I was looking forward to putting the seeds
into my own hand made seed packages and giving them to my friends and family.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span lang="EN-US">4.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Now find soul in the event which your emotions have responded to. E.g. <i>The seeds represent wisdom and knowledge for
me. I love to give wisdom and insight to others, which is like giving them
seeds. They can do with the wisdom what they want, plant or not plant, where
they want. It is up to them whether to care for them, fertilize and water the
flowers, enjoy and then gather their own seeds to give away. That is my aspiration
with this activity. It is a metaphor for my soul’s work as a spiritual
counsellor. This explain why almost inexplicably I felt a great surge of joy
arise in me. I lifted up with a World Metaphoric Transformation.</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-27332826635337096222015-09-28T10:48:00.000-07:002015-09-28T10:48:43.934-07:00Autumn Garden<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74P4JbYxkywNh9tYMFyVIM_saZrG2xDOhatAhCYSkFzVnEUkXApp238AZ3EwzE9ZBpcGerS2t2rTSLT_H087ns5_PfH9Tebd5C1mOcAAK0VXii2-I7Y9dJGf_PIutzi62ji-aqeWjLds/s1600/woman+and+pumkins.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74P4JbYxkywNh9tYMFyVIM_saZrG2xDOhatAhCYSkFzVnEUkXApp238AZ3EwzE9ZBpcGerS2t2rTSLT_H087ns5_PfH9Tebd5C1mOcAAK0VXii2-I7Y9dJGf_PIutzi62ji-aqeWjLds/s320/woman+and+pumkins.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This
morning, while the air was still cool, the scent of snow drifting down from the
mountains, I wander into my autumn garden. There are still flowers blooming, an
indigenous sunflower fiercely yellow and vigorous in the cool weather, some
lanky hollyhocks, the lavender stocks shed petals, bees fly protectively around
their clustered flowers drinking the last of the season’s nectar. I search in the vegetable patch for the last of the beans. There are a few
bunches hiding in the yellowing heart shaped leaves. And of course the ubiquitous
nasturtiums, opening up lip stick blossoms every morning. High in the apple tree
which has now dropped this year’s abundant crop of Gravenstein’s, I spot some
bean vines that have escaped the confines of the bamboo stalks I gave them in
the summer to climb up. The vines taunt me with large clusters of green and
purple pods. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> I hunt around on the ground for
apples that haven’t corrupted yet-most when I turn them over have tiny slugs
the size of a baby finger nail eating the mealy flesh. I don’t bother throwing
the slugs out of the garden, there are too many and besides they are probably
doing some good in this contained chaos that I call my garden. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> This Sunday I will dig out the last
of the zucchini vines and pick the biggest, sharpest tasting garlic bulbs to
propagate for next year’s crop. As I walk back into the house with my garden
basket full of unripe and cracked tomatoes, I detour by the Samhain (</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">pagan</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;"> celebration of autumn, later called Halloween by Christians) </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">bon fire
site. The metal is starting to rust out at the bottom of the iron cauldron we
use for the fire. I’ll put some bricks underneath and repair it. This year I want
to be dress up as someone sexy, maybe a red devil temptress. I will be a
risible Jessabelle at my age- the image amuses me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> I believe that everyone benefits from a garden of some kind. When I lived in the city I always chose apartments
with big balconies where I kept a potted garden of flowers, herbs, vines and
succulents. In one balcony which overlooked the ocean, I planted a red maple
tree for shade. I still love container gardening, even now that I have almost
1/3 of an acre. The controlled environment of keeping plants in pots is
satisfying and requires less weeding. On
my eastern balcony, I planted fragrant flowers which bloom, and scent at
different times of the day and night-</span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">carnations and sweet alyssum
for early morning , heliotropes for noon ; 4’o;clocks for late afternoon, night
secreted stock and nicotinia for evening. One night last summer, I came out to
my balcony to find a monster moth feeding on a large container of flowering
basil. It was as big as a humming bird and seemed utterly unconcerned about my
following it around and staring into its sightless eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> We are composed mostly of material
from the plant world, even if we eat meat, the molecules we consume were first
eaten by plants, then processed and passed on to us. According to World
Metaphoric Transformation, we are mineral beings first, then plant beings, then
animal beings-even if we are vegetarians, tiny animals digest our food in our
guts. We have climbed up into this throne of survival and now, we are unsure
what to do with our exalted status. Perhaps look back at this time of year with
gratitude and love. And compost the old materials we no longer find useful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> At the nexus point of the changing seasons, opposites can be brought together into a greater whole. At the
autumn equinox, the opposites of bringing in (harvest) and letting go (Samhein</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">)come together. This is a good time of year to clarify what you want to harvest
and what you want to let of. Then create a bigger story to live in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Try This!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">1)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the next week, walk through the
natural world (unnatural if that is all you have access to ) and look for
messages of gratitude and hope. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then also look for messages of those
things you want to throw away, be gone from your life, obstacles, E.g. <i>My omen of gratitude is the native sunflower
which is still growing and flowering when all the other flowers have faded. The
things I want to let of are the rotten apples in my garden</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">3)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Gratitude engages the possibility of attracting
more of that into your life. Letting go releases those things you don’t want
any more. Create a ritual for each one. This time of year, both will appear,
the opposites united in the autumn festivals of harvest and death. E.g. <i>I will pick some sunflowers and put them in
my shrine as a message from the plant world- like these sunflowers I will bloom
long and hardy. I will pick up the rotten apples and put them in the compost
for next year’s garden. All experience can be forged into growth and
enlightenment, even when its rotten.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">4)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If you have a Samhain bon fire, throw
in objects that </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">symbolize</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> what you want to let go. If you can't have a bon fire outside, then burn your unwanted symbolic object inside. Then give away something
sweet to young’uns. Be mindful of the metaphoric meaning of the Samhain
celebrations-taking in, letting go. Who takes in? How do you know what to keep?
Who lets go? How do you know what to let go? Journal, dance, sing, jump over
the bon fire as an expression of triumph and resolution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-3286219169680891192015-08-16T17:43:00.001-07:002021-04-19T16:55:09.036-07:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Following Back<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the main techniques for achieving freedom from past conditions is based on a simple method which can be used by most
people without extensive training or even support from a therapist. This technique is based on the way we lay down experience into
our beings. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How we
interpret experience forms our identity and develops how we function in our
lives. Even if two people live through very similar experiences outwardly, they
can benefit or be harmed by the same events, depending on how they interpret
their experiences.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi28Lfo2WrWRVWtMxw6hvKqfjTgzHuuZa6oTok59vL3DtMrpffjL2EonBv_XfkitpjkCZ4n1FHozAkV0zarOCA8MbPcSMsBB-d68sWgsCEGOXdr0db7nUcRKykv56-Rfcer503XwNophHo/s1600/happy+girl.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi28Lfo2WrWRVWtMxw6hvKqfjTgzHuuZa6oTok59vL3DtMrpffjL2EonBv_XfkitpjkCZ4n1FHozAkV0zarOCA8MbPcSMsBB-d68sWgsCEGOXdr0db7nUcRKykv56-Rfcer503XwNophHo/s320/happy+girl.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you
have a sibling- you may notice that although the two of you are very similar in
terms of genetics and up-brining, you can be very different in many ways. Your
sibling may remember events during your shared childhoods which you have
forgotten, or your sibling may remember the same events as you, but with a completely
different perspective. Also, as the two of you move through your lives, these
memories and interpretations may vary over time. What was once a fairly innocuous
memory may become a trigger for unresolved trauma. Or it can work in the
opposite way also-suddenly your sibling may remember horrific events with a
completely different perspective and sugar coat the events to make them easier
to integrate.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What
determines the way events are interpreted is the soul. It is not the events,
the people or how you attach to others as you live your life. It is how the inner
guidance of your soul, takes each experience and shapes and places it into
structures which make sense to the whole of who you are. This is obviously a
very complex process because there are many variables in the process of laying
down experience into the body and mind. Some elements that shape how the soul structures
your experience are: past life experiences, debts and unresolved issues from
this and pervious lives; ancestral health; events from this life time; family
and genetic influences; soul paths and the guidance of spirits and essences
which travel with you through this life and others.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Often
we experience events which are overwhelming and which we cannot in the moment
make sense of. These become traumas. These events can be a seemingly small such
as when a parent disallows an unhealthy dessert. Or these events can be
horrific such as violence and aggression. The event it not what imprints onto
the soul-it is the <i>interpretation</i> of
the events. If the event is not integrated in a healthy way, then the soul
marks this memory with a kind of flag that it is not in conversation with the
rest of your being. Unintegrated experiences are shut off from your awareness because
at some point, they were too overwhelming for you. But they do not go away. They
are filed for later-usually in your body and certainly in your supra-conscious
mind. This is because there is something unfinished in the trauma, something
more to learn, something to unfreeze and release.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you
have been practicing the body scan for the last several weeks, then you will
find this technique easier than starting it without preparation. Once you have
found where you have stored the un-integrated experience in your body, then
follow back and then back some more until you come the home place of where it
originated. This can be difficult and may take several attempts because you
have probably built defenses around your inner wound. Your ego has learned how
to guard this vulnerability. But the rewards of finally releasing the
negativity which the trauma is holding is definitely worth the work-especially
if it is causing you physical pain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Try This-Following
Back<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1. Take the
most important concern in your life right now-physical, mental, emotional or
spiritual. Touch into the discomfort it is causing you. Do you have a body
sense of this issue in your life? An image, words or a simple sentence. Don’t
get lost in the ‘story’ of your problem, just describe it as objectively as
possible, as if you were a very wise, holistic physician who is diagnosing a
patient. <i>For example, lately I’ve been
feeling really down, blue, not quite depressed but certainly I don’t have the
same mojo for life that I used to.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2. Now
follow back with the question, where else in my life is there these feelings of
depression? Take the first answer that comes to mind. E.g. <i>I’m feeling useless and blocked with my work. I feel out of place and
unhappy at work and that spills over into all the other parts of my life also.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3. Follow
back and back. You might see images in
different parts of your body. E.g. <i>When I
locate my low feelings, I sense them in my lower abdomen. I feel a heaviness
there, an extra weight. When I touch into that heaviness, I see myself as a
little girl, sitting at a dinner table and feeling really sad. I don’t know
what has happened but I think it’s something to do with my mother and father.
They were going through a tough time then. I realise now that I took on the
heaviness of those times, they weren’t anything to do with me, but I felt them
and couldn’t understand them. My father had been unfairly sacked from his job
and I absorbed his sense of frustration and futility around work.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4. Work with
these images which are arising from a deep body sense of who you are, by
imagining the opposite of the feelings, images or words that are coming from
the blocked parts. E.g<i>. If I could lightened
up that area, I remember how I used to run like crazy when I was a girl. I felt
like I could run like the wind.At those times, I didn’t worry about my parents.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5. Work with
these images in a way that reminds you of your therapy towards healing. Embody
your insights (sight into your inner being) into a daily action. E.g. <i>I am going to put a picture of myself when I
was about eight-the age I used to run and run. I will stand in front of my
shrine every morning before I go to work and really feel that little girl with
her lightness and energy</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6. Stay with
the work until you start to see changes in your life. E.g<i>. Today a manager offered me a training package and at first I
thought-what’s the point? But then I remembered the lightness which I have
committed to, and after a moment I went back to her and told her I wanted to
take it. I don’t know where it will go, but it can only help to lead me away
from this work which is no longer useful for me.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
7. Record
your changes. Give thanks to your own wise self and to all other beings who
supported you along the way. E.g. <i>I
invited my manager to go with me for coffee this morning. She seemed a little
surprised because I’ve been uncommunicative lately. I bought her a Chai Latte
which I know is her favorite and thanked her for the offer. For the rest of the
day, I noticed that she was different towards me, more smiles and relaxed. My
own feeling of being down has lessen. I’ve almost forgotten how I used to feel
sad all the time.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6202259195561374620.post-82111322419983148842015-08-10T19:49:00.002-07:002015-08-10T19:51:13.465-07:00Turn to the natural world for healing<div class="MsoNormal">
I am recovering from a motor vehicle accident. For anyone
who has been in one, you know that the healing takes a long time. Being traumatized
by two big machines colliding in motion just isn’t part of what the body is
used to in terms of injury and healing. After more than three months, I still am missing time at work, and my neck and
shoulders are still painful during the day, especially if I have been lifting
objects or engaging in simple every day activities such as washing dishes or
putting away groceries.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was invited
to a wedding during my time of convalescence and although all I really wanted
to do was stay home and rest, I attended. The wedding was scheduled to take
outside and the guests stayed beside a beautify glacial river. As soon as we
set up in our tent site, I walked over to the river and sat beside it. The
murky green water rushed over rocks, splashing against the boulders, white
foamed, excited, flowing and joyful in its journey down from the frozen ice
fields above.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYvordpK5zy0BHr5YNB1fbFisi0R__-lDO_nKC4e7bpsBLLU8UNopnHiQ7dm_O7aBAVUazGopa1vgG9YzuC_ro4-5atNKzRGaRF-X2L-4OP_1wKdyp9ctP1wg00zApItBJt5rGcC20Nk8/s1600/waterfall+glacial.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYvordpK5zy0BHr5YNB1fbFisi0R__-lDO_nKC4e7bpsBLLU8UNopnHiQ7dm_O7aBAVUazGopa1vgG9YzuC_ro4-5atNKzRGaRF-X2L-4OP_1wKdyp9ctP1wg00zApItBJt5rGcC20Nk8/s400/waterfall+glacial.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Later
that night, I lay in my tent, my shoulder and neck aching from the exertions of
the day-putting up the tent and hauling luggage from the trunk. Then I
remembered the glacial river, I could hear its waters dashing downstream beside
our tent. I remember its joyful movement spraying downstream. I closed my eyes
and visualized that the river was rushing through me, through my aching
shoulders and neck, washing out the soreness, opening the tense muscles which
were guarding against the torn fibers. I felt in my mind, the coldness of the
icy waters, shrinking the swelling, cooling the pain, bringing in new fresh
blood and heling. After about ten minutes, the soreness suddenly released. I
WAS the river, I WAS the splashing cool glacial waters, racing over rocks and
against tree roots and earth in my hurry to move to the next experience. Life,
movement, joy. All manifest in the tumbling waters. I fell asleep with the pain
in my shoulders gone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next
morning, I woke strangely refreshed and invigilated. For the next several days,
my shoulders were pain free, which for someone recovering from whip lash is an
enormous relief. For each night during my stay beside the river, I invited in
my imagination, its cool, mineral rich waters to flow through my shoulders and
neck. I think of all the therapies I have received during my healing time, from
massage, acupuncture, physiotherapy and taking analgesics, this has been the
best therapy-sleeping beside a glacial river and imaging its movement flowing through
my healing body.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We live
in a magical, mystical world whose wisdom will always be on the edge of our
understanding. The metaphor of the rushing waters, of attending a happy event
like a wedding, the coolness of the icy river-all brought healing to me by a
serendipitous series of events and invitations. I called in the river’s water
to heal me, and in some way unbeknownst to me, perhaps I also healed the river
with my attention and appreciation. We cannot afford to live like despots in
this beautiful world, consuming its beauty without awareness. We can enter into
the feasting hall of our daily lives with gratitude and awe, opening our hearts
into healing, compassion and love.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are embedded in a world which appears to be outside of
ourselves. But in fact this world is not outside of us. This reality which we engage
with all our senses does not arise independently of us, it is our deepest, most
inner being, our soul.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
World Metaphoric Transformation (WMT) uses the environment
as a mirror for hidden concerns. Direct talking therapy does not go beyond the
egoic structures of maintaining current understandings. However, these
superficial structures of self can be
transformed and resolved with WMT. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst">
<b>Try
This<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i>1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal;"> </span></i><!--[endif]-->Choose
something during the day in the natural world which attracted your attention. Remember,
you notice those events and things because some wisdom within you, sees your
own wisdom reflected in the outside world. E.g. <i>Today I noticed how the white cumulus clouds drifted in after the rain.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Now take some time to reflect on what qualities
you felt when you experienced this message. E.g. <i>I think it was the clouds lightness and sense of ease and grace, the
way they drifted into the sky after the grey rain clouds finished watering the
land.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Now choose a difficult area of your life which
you want to heal. This can be a part of your body, your relationships , or your
understanding of yourself and the world. E.g. Right now I’m really worried
about a new job that I will be starting in the fall.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->See if you can locate the discomfort within your
body, if it is painful, don’t try to resist it or change it. Just reside within
the discomfort sensations for a few moments. This will feel opposite to what
you think you want to do, the ego naturally avoids and denies pain of all
kinds. But to transform it ,you must simply hold in in your experience for a
few moments. E.g. <i>When I think about this
new job, I feel a tenseness in my belly, I get a bitter taste in my mouth, I
feel my neck stiffening.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Now bring the quality which you observed and
choose from the world, into that area of your body which is holding the pain.
Really take time and invite this quality in the painful areas to heal you. E.g.
<i>The clouds were without stress or worry.
They seemed to simply BE, not trying to be anything but just joyfully drifting through
the air guided by the wind and currents. When I bring this lightness into my belly
and think about this new job, I see that my worrying does not help me to do
what I will need to do when that moment arrives-if it does. I am worrying about
a phantasy. I will trust my deeper intuition and be guided by my natural inner
wisdom-like the clouds allowing
themselves to be moved across the sky by gentile breezes.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<i>Image downloaded from http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/</i><i style="text-indent: -18pt;"> by Photokanok</i></div>
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Julia Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007586404026752415noreply@blogger.com0