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Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
peaceambassadortraining.com
“I had put my legal practice in the back burner for years but the Peace Ambassador Program showed me a way to do my legal work in an evolutionary way, a legal practice that heals and makes whole. The Program gives more than just food for the mind and soul; it provides you with real and practical too...
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Autumn Equinox, Libra New Moon & Aries Full Moon 2011
By Cathy Lynn Pagano (about the author)
Become a Fan (77 fans) -- Page 1 of 3 page(s)
Become a Fan (77 fans) -- Page 1 of 3 page(s)Libra New Moon & Aries Full Moon
Autumn Equinox 2011
(I will be out of the country for most of October so I am combining the New and Full Moon Cosmic Story. I'll be back for the Scorpio New Moon!)
"Diane di Prima wrote a line that comes back to me now: "The only war that counts is the war against the imagination.' . . . All war is first waged in the imagination, first conducted to limit our dreams and visions, to make us accept within ourselves its terms, to believe that our only choices are those that it lays before us. If we let the terms of force describe the terrain of our battle, we will lose. But if we hold to the power of our visions, our heartbeats, our imagination, we can fight on our own turf, which is the landscape of consciousness."
Starhawk, The Fifth Sacred Thing, p. 238.
Autumn Equinox - Friday, September 23, 2011
Pumpkin Field Autumn. New England. by Bruce Barone
Sabian Symbol for the Autumn Equinox Sun at 1*Libra: A butterfly, pierced by a dart of Light, is made perfect. Transfiguration, sudden Spiritual illumination, awakening to a higher reality.
This Friday is the Autumn Equinox, the day when the Sun stands over the equator and day and night, light and dark are equal. Now the Sun will begin to move south of the equator, bringing Springtime to our neighbors in the southern hemisphere. Here in the North, the hours of darkness grow even longer until the Winter Solstice brings us the rebirth of the Light.
There is a soft and quiet quality that the longer nights gift us with, that we often ignore by staying indoors during these winter nights. But what a treasure awaits us as we travel again through the dark time of the year. The nighttime sky attracts our attention, giving us a glimpse of the wonders of Heaven. Add to that our Lady Moon shining such a benevolent light upon us that we can't help but be enchanted with the night. Perhaps we need to reclaim the night in this next season and bear witness to the beauties that surround us in the dark. I'll be telling a story about the Light and the Darkness this Friday night at the Bard's Grove .
There is a new rhythm about to be struck in the Earth cycle. The Wheel of the Year is turning once again, and it will bring us to the time to go within, let go, let things lie fallow so a new creative vision can be born within the depths of both the inner and outer darkness. This is how the ancients experienced the Universe and heard the new stories being birthed. If we want to give birth to new stories and new possibilities next year, we might listen to what the Cosmos is telling us for the next three months now that the dark is rising. I'm positive it will be a story of HOPE. Otherwise, we are left with the darkness of our culture, which tries to overwhelm us with fear.
Autumn Equinox 2011 by Cathy Pagano/Kepler
The Equinox chart, which describes the issues that will arise for the next three months, describes the point where the Sun goes into Libra. It tells a story about the equality between Self and Other that arises from mutual respect and the willingness to compromise. This is due in part to Uranus in Aries demanding that we take up a new identity that isn't wounded or unconscious, but purposeful and creative. Feeling different about ourselves can help us appreciate others and see them as equals. Both Moon and Mars in Leo want to take creative action, despite the inconjunct from Pluto in Capricorn. We still have to refine our creative ideas about what new forms and structures need to be built, but we're getting there. With the Sun, Venus and Saturn in Libra holding down the third leg of the Pluto/Uranus T-square, this revolutionary energy will kick in consciously this fall for a lot of people. You can help spread the work by being respectful and conscious, just and open in all your relationships. We teach by example.
Venus in Libra and Jupiter in Taurus both want the same thing -- Peace. It's just how are we going to get it? Make peace with yourself before you make peace with others. Then begin in small ways, with people in your lives who you need to make peace with. It starts with us and within us. Then the Sun in Libra and Neptune in Aquarius ask us to figure out how to take those qualities that make for deep personal relationships and bring them to the group imagination. Perhaps our artists can lead the way here. After I get back in late October, I'll be writing about how artists can band together this winter to create an artistic platform for educating our people about what's really happening in our world with stories of truth, hope and possibilities.
This Autumn Equinox and the next Moon cycle are the time to release your creativity into the world -- the final harvest of 2011. What did you create this past year? Send it out and let it go! And begin to slow down and let your energy balance out so it can begin to regenerate. The Darkness can be very healing.
Libra New Moon, Tuesday September 27, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
A Soulful Cure
Working with a Shaman
Working with a shaman can be a great puzzle piece in the process of becoming whole again.
Since time immemorial, certain men and women have felt called to heal the sick, to safeguard knowledge, to guide the lost, and to commune with the spirit world. These unique individuals, known as shamans, were mystics and seers, repositories of wisdom, and keepers of herbal lore. During those periods when ignorance loomed large in the world, shamans across the globe bided their time, peacefully practicing their practical yet refined arts in the jungle, mountains, deserts, and tundra that protected them from those who misunderstood shamanism. Today, however, shamanism has reemerged, as modern men and women feel the same call to service that their ancestors felt long ago. Also, as more individuals explore the notion that healing necessarily involves the soul as well as the physical self, people are consulting shamans in their search for wellness, wisdom, and guidance.
The word shaman literally means "he or she who knows." Shamanism is an art that has not changed in any quantifiable way for millennia and is not bound to any particular form of spirituality. It is grounded on the principle that the visible world is saturated with unseen forces that influence the lives of human beings. Shamans, in addition to acting as fonts of wisdom, are dedicated to diagnosing and curing human suffering—whether emotional, physical, or spiritual. To treat an illness, a shaman may communicate with the spirit world in order to connect more directly with the soul of their patient or with the force causing ill health. They often work closely with animal guides, plant and earth spirits, or your spirit guides, and may make use of use of herbal remedies to supplement other forms of treatment. Shamans, as intermediaries between the physical and spiritual realms, recognize that all objects are in manner alive and retain information that can be utilized to heal.
Shamanism is powerful in part because its practitioners tailor healing to the individual needs of those who seek them out. A shaman manipulates energy, giving you power where you have lost it and removing misplaced energy lurking within you. When you seek out a shaman, they will endeavor to know and understand you before treating you. In this way, they can provide you with therapies that act on your whole being, positively influencing your body as well as your soul.
Working with a Shaman
Since time immemorial, certain men and women have felt called to heal the sick, to safeguard knowledge, to guide the lost, and to commune with the spirit world. These unique individuals, known as shamans, were mystics and seers, repositories of wisdom, and keepers of herbal lore. During those periods when ignorance loomed large in the world, shamans across the globe bided their time, peacefully practicing their practical yet refined arts in the jungle, mountains, deserts, and tundra that protected them from those who misunderstood shamanism. Today, however, shamanism has reemerged, as modern men and women feel the same call to service that their ancestors felt long ago. Also, as more individuals explore the notion that healing necessarily involves the soul as well as the physical self, people are consulting shamans in their search for wellness, wisdom, and guidance.
The word shaman literally means "he or she who knows." Shamanism is an art that has not changed in any quantifiable way for millennia and is not bound to any particular form of spirituality. It is grounded on the principle that the visible world is saturated with unseen forces that influence the lives of human beings. Shamans, in addition to acting as fonts of wisdom, are dedicated to diagnosing and curing human suffering—whether emotional, physical, or spiritual. To treat an illness, a shaman may communicate with the spirit world in order to connect more directly with the soul of their patient or with the force causing ill health. They often work closely with animal guides, plant and earth spirits, or your spirit guides, and may make use of use of herbal remedies to supplement other forms of treatment. Shamans, as intermediaries between the physical and spiritual realms, recognize that all objects are in manner alive and retain information that can be utilized to heal.
Shamanism is powerful in part because its practitioners tailor healing to the individual needs of those who seek them out. A shaman manipulates energy, giving you power where you have lost it and removing misplaced energy lurking within you. When you seek out a shaman, they will endeavor to know and understand you before treating you. In this way, they can provide you with therapies that act on your whole being, positively influencing your body as well as your soul.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Jane Handly Childhood Story Movie
Jane Handly Childhood Story Movie: The following video grabbed my heart and didn't let go. The way the story is told and the message hit me like a ton of bricks. It was just the shot of inspiration I needed today, so I wanted to pass it along to you.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
The hour is striking so close above me,
so clear and sharp,
that all my senses ring with it.
I feel now there is a power in me
to grasp and give shape to my world.
I know that nothing has ever been real
without my beholding it.
All becoming has needed me.
My looking ripens things
and they come toward me, to meet and be met.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke
translated by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
You Are A Giraffe!
From Dr. Karyl McBride (www.willieverbegoodenough.
Many adult children of narcissistic [or dysfunctional] families see themselves as the proverbial "black sheep" of the family. They feel different and left out.
Changing this image to a giraffe is a new picture of health. In the meadow of many, many sheep all doing the same thing and following the sheep ahead, stand a few giraffes. These giraffes with long necks and tall bodies can see horizons, rainbows, and sunsets at the treetops. They see things the sheep don't see. They see personal growth, opportunity, and visions, all unseen by others in their families.
Change the picture for yourself. Be a giraffe. Stand tall. Stand in your truth. Have the courage to move forward in your growth and know that sometimes being different can be the best thing you can do for yourself. "Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace." Amelia Earhart
You Are A Giraffe!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Pisces Full Moon, September 12, 2011
By Cathy Lynn Pagano (about the author)
Become a Fan (76 fans) -- Page 1 of 2 page(s)
Become a Fan (76 fans) -- Page 1 of 2 page(s)
Pisces: Sign of the Fishes by zodiac-horoscope-pisces-Chartres-Cathedral-Vassil
What do Pisces and Virgo have in common? Both are mutable signs, meaning they are flexible. They are both considered "feminine' signs by their element -- one is a Water sign and the other is an Earth sign -- so they are receptive to their environment and open to using their gifts where needed. And their purpose is similar - they are both signs that deal with integration.
Virgo sets us the task of integrating our personal body, soul and spirit. Pisces asks us to open our hearts and merge with everyone and everything -- we are called to integrate other realms of existence into our human life.
Virgo brings its practical mind and organizational skills to the task of uniting body, soul and spirit. Pisces brings its connection to the Creative Imagination and the power of empathy to open us to feeling our unity not only with each other and our world, but with the god-force. That's when magic happens. Virgo is the individual manifestation of a spiritual entity in a human form; Pisces is the spiritual essence of the Collective Unconscious or World Soul, that unites all human beings and creates and destroys life.
This Pisces Full Moon is an opportunity for all of us to heal the split between Spirit and Matter. This doesn't mean that we lose our unique individuality; rather it helps us see that our unique gifts and talents are a gift from the great Source of Life that we all share. We have to ask ourselves how people in power can use the pain and destruction caused by hurricane Irene to promote their own agenda? How can individuals not know that we are all undergoing this great transformation of our culture together? When we ignore the lessons life gives us, it only gets worse. When we ignore the pain and suffering in our world, it will get worse.
A full moon asks us to unite two opposing points of view: the Sun represents our conscious awareness while the Moon provides a doorway and a light into the unconscious -- with a Pisces Moon, into the Collective Unconscious. In this case, the Sun shines its light on Virgo issues -- work, health, food, the environment, a sense of service. It calls us to question our sense of ourselves and asks if we can "get it together' so we can function as a separate entity. Virgo is the sign of the harvest, the manifestation of our unique personality and purpose. We stand up for what we've made of ourselves. Pisces, on the other hand, calls us to our shared sense of humanity, our common longing for peace and beauty and spirit. It offers a glimpse of how our unique gifts can help and heal a collective wound. It calls for compassion, wisdom and ultimate truth.
If we could balance this Full Moon energy, we would create a heaven on earth. Isn't that what we all want? We all want to live our lives in freedom, in creativity, in love, in pursuit of happiness. But it takes each one of us standing up for our beliefs to "make it so'! So call on your spiritual essence and let it infuse you with trust and belief in yourself and those wonderful, wild and creative thoughts and feelings that run through you. Become what Jean Houston calls The Possible Human -- the new human being who consciously choses to evolve, the individuated human being the Carl Jung believed was our destiny. It all begins with Virgo!
But Remember! Living as a "possible human being' -- a self-aware human being who practices free will - does not mean being perfect.
The Virgo story of "Rumpelstiltskin' cautions us that working at being perfect could result in losing the things that are really important in life -- like the Queen's child -- unless we can discern and name that part of our personality which can create wonders. But "wonders' are also subject to Nature's Laws, and so there must be fallow times when we replenish ourselves with our loved ones, Nature and just living! The naming of the power gives us control so we can consciously use our talents without them carrying us away. Because of course, work and creativity are only part of the human story. Our connection with others and Spirit are equally important.
There is a Pisces story that balances our Virgo story and which speaks to the magic of wishing and trusting called "The Wishing-Table, the Gold-Ass, and the Cudgel in the Sack'. In this Grimm's fairy tale, three poor brothers go off when their father doubts their abilities to provide support for him. The first brother apprentices himself to a joiner, and is industrious and indefatigable in learning his craft. When he sets out as a journeyman, his master gives him a table that produces any food he desires. He decides to go back to see his father and sets off for home. He stops in an inn, and when he shares his bounty with people there, the innkeeper covets the table and exchanges it with another while the young man sleeps. When the young man tries to show his father what he has, it isn't the magical table and they are both disappointed with this "failure'. The second brother apprentices himself to a miller and he conducts himself so well that the miller gives him an ass that spews forth gold pieces when he calls his name, Bricklebrit. But on his way home, the second brother stops at the same inn, and when the innkeeper spies on him and sees how the ass spits out golden coins, he steals the ass and replaces it. The second brother arrives home to show his father his magical ass but nothing happens when he said "Bricklebrit' and so he too cannot help his father's poverty. Meanwhile, the third brother apprentices himself to a turner, and since it is a skilled labor, it takes longer to learn. While he is there, his two brothers write to him and tell him about the innkeeper who stole their wishing-gifts. When the young man finishes his apprenticeship, his master gives him a sack which contains a cudgel which jumps out and hits anyone who threatens him. And so the third brother arrives at the inn where his brothers had been robbed, and when the innkeeper tries to find out what his sack contains, the brother yells, "out of the sack, Cudgel!' and it beats the innkeeper until his gives back the wishing-table and gold-ass. And so the youngest brother goes home and returns the wishing-gifts to his brothers. And their father is finally satisfied.
This fairy tale is pertinent for this Pisces Full Moon, because if we want to create the magic (Pisces) we imagine, we have to disciple (Virgo) ourselves and learn how to create the magic first. Once again, "The Secret' was a secret for so long because it takes mental, emotional, imaginal and spiritual disciple to produce magic. We need the Virgo part of ourselves to create out of the Pisces part.
If we want to bring spiritual realities into our wounded world, we have to do the work within. Otherwise, the "innkeepers' of the world can steal it away. This is a great moment in time to ground in your spiritual essence -- become the real you! Winter is always a magical time of rest, imagination and renewal. Go within and see what's there. Throw off the veils that hide you from the world and shine out.
Pisces/Virgo Full Moon
The Pisces Full Moon occurs on Monday, September 12, 2011 at 2:27 am PDT/ 5:27am EDT/ 9:27am GMT.
Pisces Full Moon 2011 by Cathy Pagano/Kepler
The Pisces/Virgo Full Moon forms a Grand Square with the Lunar Nodes in Sagittarius/Gemini. This is a turning point in our quest for Sagittarian TRUTH. This is especially magical so near the 10th anniversary of 911. The Gemini facts are available. You need only watch the videos of the President when he heard the news -- look in his eyes. What kind of message are they broadcasting? Eyes are the windows of the soul. What is happening in that president's soul? Not only are the facts out there, your own inner guidance will tell you what you need to hear. It is up to each of us to integrate our human understanding of our world, our spiritual vision of what's possible and the deep hope of finding our purpose in life. It's not about condemning as much as it's about purpose. We each need a "fire without a spark' -- we need something to inspire us to greatness.
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Friday, September 9, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Why self-love is loving the world
Dear friends,
I wanted to let you know about a powerful free teleseminar happening this Thursday, September 8th, 5:00pm Pacific, with transformational teacher Dr. Sue Morter -- she is known for bridging science and spirituality, spoke at TEDxNASA recently and often fills in for Michael Bernard Beckwith at Agape International Spiritual Center to deliver a powerful inspirational message.
She'll be talking about The Self-Love Solution: How to Replenish Your Life Force While Transforming the World. Dr. Sue will share why replenishing yourself is vital to being of service in the world and how you can integrate, embody and emanate radiant love wherever you go.
Visit this link to sign up and get all the details: https://shiftnetwork.
With her background as a scientist -- with a deep understanding of our human physiology, energy systems, and how we heal -- she'll also offer simple, but profound techniques to bring you back into balance and into self-love whenever you get off track.
Should be a wonderful call! Hope you can join in this Thursday -- or you can sign up and download the recording to listen at a more convenient time for you.
Again, the link to register for free is: https://shiftnetwork.
Warm regards,
Jo
What we learned from Sundance 2011
By Lewis Mehl-Madrona (about the author)
Become a Fan -- Page 1 of 1 page(s)
Become a Fan -- Page 1 of 1 page(s)This is the third summer in which my partner (a therapist) and I have danced in two separate sundances. We are part of a small number of people who are called to dance twice, because one dance leaves us feeling unfinished. Somehow, dancing twice feels like enough. It offers opportunities for accelerated growth and learning -- a chance to put into practice quickly what we have learned in our first dance. Our second dance is shorter, a three-day dance, and it is smaller. It is a family dance, handed down from an inspired leader. It has one-third the number of dancers as in our other dance, but we are an intense group, ferocious in the dance, and it is no less difficult than the first.
At this dance we meditated on the idea of the dance as an embodied metaphorical struggle in which the suffering and deprivation are physical metaphors for the suffering of life. Hunger and thirst offer themselves as symbols for our struggles with money, time, pressures and responsibilities. The challenge to keep dancing in spite of this suffering reminds us of the difficulties we face in situations where we cannot stop or walk away. When we face a serious illness, when we face tension in life, trials, caregiving for someone suffering, the legal system or adversarial family members, we need models for how to carry through. Sometimes, the idea that we must keep going and triumph over adversity feels unbearable. We want to quit, we want someone or something to make it stop. We plead and make bargains with the spirits; we cover our heads, cry, and rail against circumstances. But then we realize that it's not up to us. The duration, the extent, the severity, and the outcome are not ours to decide. So then, the question becomes how to keep dancing in spite of this knowledge, without being discouraged. Indeed, we must discover how to rise to the best of ourselves, to exemplify courage in adversity. The dance is life. Can we face the circumstances with grace? Rising to the occasion, somehow being present and mindful in the face of the suffering is part of the task. So we dig deep and find in ourselves that place where we understand that we are truly not in control. Indeed, any effort to try to bend circumstances in our favor only leads to more suffering. The more we long for the dance "round' to stop, to get off our feet, the longer it seems before the chief signals the drummers to stop. The more we think about the food and water we will receive on the third day, the hungrier and thirstier we become. This year, we learned that giving ourselves over to the flow of the dance, expressing radical faith that we can survive the suffering, helped to spare us the pricks of pain that come with expectation. The metaphor suggests to us that life comes with suffering, whether through our own actions or those of others around us. We can choose to face the suffering with as much courage as we can muster, or with as little. In the end, it is our choice to see it as an event for spiritual learning or as an unfair insult from the gods. We can open ourselves to learn about it, or we can try to run and hide. Once we embraced this, we felt much better.
We discovered that the mindset we used to embrace uncertainty and give up on the idea that we could know what was going to happen next could be applied to other things. We broke down the technique. One simple question we had asked was, what else do I have to do right now? Actually, nothing, we realized. We were scheduled to be there, and there was nowhere else to be and nothing else to do. Whatever happened or didn't happen, it wasn't going to change the amount of time that we were scheduled to be here. So, we might as well relax and just be here fully. That worked well. Also, finding was to stay in the present and not anticipate what would happen next or later in the day worked well. We focused on small moments, watched nature, clouds, the elders as they discussed the dance (and, to torment us, the bacon and eggs they had had for breakfast). We became aware of small sensations, the way our feet felt on the ground, the moment when we were given some herbs to chew -- a tablespoon of licorice root tasted like a three course dinner.
Afterwards, we realized that put together, these are basic principles of mindfulness. Basic principles are sometimes difficult to learn but Sundance provided us with a laboratory in which we could learn these principles and apply them to our immediate situation. Having done that, it became easier to generalize these lessons to other life situations. When I feel impatient for something to finish, I can remember my Sundance experience, take a deep breath, and relax into the moment. When my partners want things to hurry up, she can remember Sundance, and remind herself that the day passes in its own time and to enjoy the moment, because the moment will soon be gone. These can appear to be trivial insights, but when they are embodied, they are profound. Sundance gives us the opportunity to cultivate the embodied awareness of the present moment in a way that lasts into future moments and allows for positive and permanent change.
Of course we want to mitigate unbearable suffering. As health care workers we are bound to reduce or at least not cause more suffering than is necessary. But psychotropic medications, narcotics, street drugs of choice present an idea to us that life can be lived without suffering. Of course they have their place. But in some cases, they help to create an impression that "normal' life is lived in a state of emotional numbness, that emotions are simply too hard to feel, that life circumstances simply come with too much suffering. It seems to us that we do a disservice to people when we unwittingly endorse that perspective. Perhaps it is the job of life to learn how to suffer a little. The word to suffer means "to undergo'. We have created a mental health system where a "successful' outcome is when a person spends their days watching television, drinking coffee and smoking, rather than annoying us with their struggles to negotiate the world. At this year's second Sundance, we wondered if, perhaps as health care workers our jobs could include an aspect of education around the management of suffering.
THE WAY WINGS SHOULD
What will
our children do in the morning?
Will they wake with their hearts wanting to play,
the way wings
should?
our children do in the morning?
Will they wake with their hearts wanting to play,
the way wings
should?
Will they have dreamed the needed flights and gathered
the strength from the planets that all men and women need to balance
the wonderful charms of
the earth
the strength from the planets that all men and women need to balance
the wonderful charms of
the earth
so that her power and beauty does not make us forget our own?
I know all about the ways of the heart - how it wants to be alive.
Love so needs to love
that it will endure almost anything, even abuse,
just to flicker for a moment. But the sky's mouth is kind,
its song will never hurt you, for I
sing those words.
that it will endure almost anything, even abuse,
just to flicker for a moment. But the sky's mouth is kind,
its song will never hurt you, for I
sing those words.
What will our children do in the morning
if they do not see us
fly?
if they do not see us
fly?
~ Rumi ~
(Love Poems From God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West by Daniel Ladinsky)
Monday, September 5, 2011
https://shiftnetwork.infusionsoft.com/go/pwk2/J1951/
Dear friends,
I'm writing to let you know about PeaceWeek 2011!
It's the largest virtual peace telesummit featuring inspiring peacebuilders such as Alice Walker, Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, Arun Gandhi, Michael Bernard Beckwith, Daniel Goleman, Jane Velez-Mitchell and many more -- all for free.
You can gain access to these leaders, September 15-21, and be part of groundbreaking sessions that offer profound insights for creating peace in your life, your family, your community and our world.
Register for free here: https://shiftnetwork.
Join me and let's spread peace together!
Jo
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