Time and the Mayans

I have written a series of articles to publicize "consciousness raising speakers" for an online publication based in Bali, Indonesia. Pasted below is one of the most recent ones. Vasumi's Tjikaa Telos conceives of time as a deeply personal and subjective experience, while still following a structure that falls in line with the motions of celestial bodies. This provides some legitimacy to the varying experiences of time and explains why people respond to shifts in energy that might be seasonal, monthly, weekly etc. One of Vasumi's assistants explained that the Mayan system serves more as an individual's "synchronometer" rather than a calendar.

Vasumi went on to tell me that the Mayan calendar has a great deal in common with astrology as well as a way to measure time-- although it can appear more meticulous than mainstream astrology.

The "experience" of time going hand in hand with the more superficial "telling" of time brings to mind: (1) the degree to which an altered state can help better attune or synchronize with the energetic shifts of the earth and the universe; and (2) that all the astrological traditions I have come across (Western, Mayan, Chinese etc.) are likely to derive from the same root, or at least have common links about the impact of time and energy patterns on a person's emotions, health, relationships, challenges etc.

Time is an essential dimension of this existence, which the Shaman can navigate. There are gods of time and there is a necessary relationship to time as a principal energy force that drives the process of life on earth, and also its experience. When we honor the ancients, the elders, the ancestors, or the nature forces that outlast us; when we undergo rituals to unite our paths with those who have preceded us, then I believe we are deepening our relationship with time and calling for the wisdom of Time's masters to guide us through its cyclical processes and experiences.

What would be your greatest request of time? How would you have your wish granted?

MAYAN CALENDAR SPECIALIST RECASTS CONCEPT OF TIME

At a Villa Gaia workshop on October 9th, Vasumi Tjikaa Telos introduced guests to their Mayan astrology symbols and shared details about a system of timekeeping that is synchronized with harmonious natural rhythms and based on the Mayan calendar. Sharing her reflections on what is known as the Mayan Dreamspell, Vasumi encouraged attendees to be more receptive to a dynamic form of living that is aligned with biological, spiritual, emotional, and mental patterns, rather than linear time.


A Mayan calendar adept of 14 years, Vasumi feels compelled to conduct workshops partly to share her revelations about the limitations of traditional concepts of linear time that have come to dominate the lives of people from the Western world.

Her research and training suggest that time is best experienced as a subjective relationship between the seasons and the mind and body. By following a modern-day fixed calendar of what she calls ‘disharmonic time’, Vasumi believes people are stifling themselves and becoming removed from the living composite of multiple energies that govern the Mayan calendar.

“In the current age, it stands to reason that when we program to ‘disharmonic’ time, we are programming our minds to look for disharmony, according to Vasumi. Instead, she reasons that “the mind’s major job is to define pattern, and when the pattern is flawed, as it is in the Gregorian calendar; with arbitrary months, this affects the mind’s capacity to program to harmony and live a harmonious life.”

Using the Mayan calendar system’s tools to provide “source wisdom teachings,” Vasumi determined each attendee’s Mayan symbols based on their birth details. Commenting on personality traits, personal challenges and opportunities for growth, Vasumi often made startlingly accurate predictions that resonated strongly with many workshop participants, some of whom had never before experienced a reading based on the Mayan system.

During her workshops, Vasumi also took the time to explain the perceptions initially shared by one of her inspirations, Mayan cultural authority Jose Arguelles– the expert who she says is primarily responsible for the world’s interest in the 2012 end date prophesized by the Mayan calendar.

Sharing revelations that point towards a new time of hope and change, beyond 2012, Vasumi stipulated that the end date could signify a new beginning and an essential global consciousness shift rather than a cataclysmic end to life on earth.

Vasumi provided a detailed description of the methods and mechanics behind the process of reading the Mayan system and outlined the benefits of following its ancient harmonic time schedule, mainly based on the so-called “13:20 grid” of the Mayan ‘Tzolkin’ or 260-day year.

According to the 260-day Mayan calendar, the elements of time are based on a sophisticated system that corresponds to the human anatomy. For example one Mayan year can be calculated as a cycle of 20 Glyphs (each glyph being related to the 20 fingers and toes of the body) and 13 Tones (each related to the 13 major joints in the body (2 ankles, 2 knees, 2 hips, 2 wrists, 2 elbows, 2 shoulder joints and the joint connecting the spine to the head). Each day falls on one point along the 13:20 cycle, influenced to different degrees by the traits of the 20 glyphs or universal truths that “inhabit every day,” and the 13 ways in which those truths act or manifest.

Vasumi suggests that each day’s position reveals a different intersection point between the 20 Glyphs and the 13 Tones, implying an attunement to the different waves and phases that cycle along the Glyph-Tone axes.

The 260-day Mayan cycle matrix also falls in line with the number of days from human conception to birth. Vasumi further illustrated how other examples of the system can be found in our biology—referring to the formula as “a natural system reflected in a human form.”

The Mayan Dreamspell experience was presented as part of Bali Angels’ ongoing “Consciousness Raisers” speaker series. For more information about Bali Angels, visit us at http://www.baliangels.org/  . For more information on Vasumi, who is currently staying in Ubud, Bali, or details about the Mayan calendar, visit, http://www.vasumi.com/ and http://www.lawoftime.org/

Shaman Kiesha Crowther, "Little Grandmother"

I have received news and notes from three different sources over a matter of days concerning Kiesha Crowther, otherwise known as Little Grandmother, so that's got to be a clear signal from Spirit to share.

Kiesha, is part North American Indian and she is the continent's official "Wisdom Keeper," according to the Continental Council of Indigenous Elders. I have had trouble downloading her talks on Youtube, but from her bio it is clear that she has a remarkable story and an essential mission before her.

In her travels across America and the world, Little Grandmother, who is barely in her thirties, is encouraging us to "live in the heart in right relationship with Mother Earth."

Like the other bridgebuilding figures from classic books like Secrets of the Talking Jaguar, Mutant Message Down Under, and Entering the Circle, Kiesha has undergone an unexpected shamanic initiation--(I've been told that she was reluctantly thrust into a leadership responsibility she never asked for) and become a conduit for the transfer of sacred knowledge from the Elders to the dwellers of this modern age. The message seems to be a consistent one: to remind people of the overarching need for a shift in human consciousness.

This little gem is from her official website:

The best way to support my work and the message is to truly start living from your heart and understanding that you are the Great I AM--that everything you need to create, the change you want to see in the world and in your life is within you. This involves:1) Developing a living relationship with Mother Earth 2) Develop a relationship with your own highest self, and 3) Asking yourself, "Why am I here? The answer to this question will be different for each of us, yet within this lay the answer to what each of us need to "do". Rather than thinking in terms of "doing," we need to think now in terms of "being". The answer is truly "being" the vibration of Love, rather than in doing. When you are vibrating in Love, and acting out of Love, everything you do will be what you are meant to do, and will have a positive effect. Living from the heart is not just a nice concept--it is a practice of listening and opening on a moment by moment level, and of "feeling" oneself to be interconnected to all life and to the planet intimately. Spending time deeply listening and feeling your connection to Mother Earth's energy and her great love for us is the surest way to reconnect to your heart, and to your highest self.



May it be so, sister.

Glossary of Holistic Practices

This year's May/June issue of Asia Spa magazine contained a pretty comprehensive and concise A-Z of different holistic healing disciplines available to those interested. To view a pdf of the article, written by Nicole Chabot, go here.

While the chabot article provides a pretty good overview, and different elements of shamanism are reviewed, shamanism itself is ommitted from the article. I think this is a glaring problem and a shame. Even though shamanism may not always qualify as a spa-centered practice, it is an essential part of the mix of holistic options.   

Oliver Sacks and Music Therapy

I saw Oliver Sacks deliver a lecture in Southern California a while back and I wanted to share some of my notes about the points he shared. He is a groundbreaking medical researcher and he recently wrote a book about music therapy. He was famously portrayed by Robin Williams in the movie, Awakenings, and is known for his groundbreaking work with disabled patients.

In my view, his research is providing space for scientists to explore the healing properties of sound energy in a tangible way.
According to Sacks, "music therapy" is an exclusively human phenomenon. Sacks considers music to be a "crucial" treatment for people with Parkinson and Alzheimer’s disease, and those recovering from strokes. It can also help patients resist amnesia. To support this theory, he discovered that music uses parts of the brain that govern language, memory, and emotions—language is normally a left brain function but parts of the right brain are also used when music is involved--something that is not normally possible. For Sacks' Alzheimers patients—their music memory kept them grounded even when they lost all other memory capacity. Those worse Amnesia cases can still sing and conduct an orchestra. According to Sacks, the only fundamental requirements are that the music used has to have rhythm and a beat.


Sacks's research also suggests that Music triggers memories not normally accessible to schizophrenics and Parkinson’s patients. He remarked that different parts of the brain are used for listening and different parts for playing music back. Some of his patients responded to the music in such a way that the “music was playing" them, leading Sacks to believe, “Music is a direct, unmediated connection to feeling and real feeling.”

Sacks posits that music can appear in dreams and is contextual although it is not always beneficial. He used the example of how we have "all been infected by a jingle, a hook or an earworm." In this way, themes and phrases have the propensity to go around and around in the head in a way that is not always constructive, Sacks believes.

While all of this information created a lot to ponder, the most interesting and perhaps shamanically oriented part of Sacks' lecture was when he went into the topic of what he called, "Musical Hallucinations." Sacks said that music can follow you around while you are conscious to the fact that there may be no external source. He says that this is a common outcome for the hearing impaired and children. He doesn't know what creates them and dismissed them as something that "some people just have." He also noted that those who experience seizures hear music.

It strikes me that this is evidence of a residual sound energy that could be caught in a person's field. Thinking of the times I have felt music hallucinations, I wonder if these signatures provide clues about past experiences or if they might be an audio manifestation of journeying. The experience of a hallucination, by definition, is in some way related to an altered state. Perhaps sound and vibration is not only a way to induce an altered state, but it could be another dimension drawing in information from the spirit world.  

While he is deeply involved in the practice, Sacks thinks that the way music works is still a deep mystery and he suspects it will remain one. Sacks asserts that almost everyone is musical  and that the therapeutic powers of music are just being investigated now. He strongly believes that music healing will be recognized more in the future. 

Interview with Sound Therapy Master Fabien Maman, September 8, 2010

I am training with Fabien Maman, who will be interviewed by Jonathan Goldman, on his Healing Sounds Radio show this Wednesday.  Fabien is a pioneer in vibrational sound therapy--he created the 12 meridian acupuncture point tuning fork system.

Although it is not mentioned in the text below, Fabien also incorporates shamanic soundscapes into his healing practices--using different frequencies, the voice, and acoustic instruments to clear subtle body fields and help realign and balance energy channels.  For more information on Maman, visit the Tama-Do Academy website at:  http://www.tama-do.com/roothtmls/aboutfabien.html

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Healing Sounds Newsletter

HEALING SOUNDS RADIO with Jonathan Goldman & Fabien Maman

http://www.healthylife.net/ --September 2010

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Please tune in September 8th, Wednesday, at 12 noon US Eastern Time, to http://www.healthylife.net/  when I present "The Healing Sounds Show". My guest for this show will be Fabien Maman .

Fabien Maman is a musician, composer, acupuncturist, author, researcher, healer, teacher, "bioenergetician" and martial artist. As a musician/composer, he performed his original compositions in the great concert halls of the world, including Carnegie Hall, the Tokyo Opera, the Paris Olympia and the Berlin Philharmonic. He was the recipient of the Grande Prix de Composition Francaise (Grand prize of French composition). In 1977, Fabien became an acupuncturist, linking music with acupuncture. He created the now famous system which uses tuning forks instead of needles on acupuncture command points. In the early 80's, Fabien conducted his revolutionary biology experiments at the University of Jussieu in Paris, showing the impacts of acoustic sound on human cells and their energy fields. Fabien found that through a series of acoustic sounds, he could explode cancer cells, as well as energize and empower healthy ones. This would become the driving theory behind Fabien's life's work: 'that blockages in our subtle energy fields can result in physical illness if they are allowed to crystallize. Sound, Color and Movement are the most effective tools we can use to dissolve these negative energetic patterns.'

In 1988 Fabien founded Tama-Do ("Way of the Soul"), the Academy of Sound, Color and Movement®, offering a three-year training program for the evolution of consciousness using non-invasive vibrational techniques composed of Sound, Color and Movement® and Seasonal Healing Concerts. For nearly 30 years, Fabien has created research and practical applications to balance the body, mind and spirit through the subtle energy fields. He is the author of numerous books including: The Role of Music in the 21st Century and Raising Human Frequencies. He has also created several music healing CDs. He may be contacted at: http://www.tama-do.com/

Fabien is an extraordinary healer and pioneer in this field. This will be a remarkable radio show. Please join us on September 8th.

If you have a question and would like to be "live" on the air with us on the Healing Sounds show, here's the audience call in telephone number: 800 - 555 - 5453

Please tune in to this Internet Radio Show Wednesday, September 8th, at 12 noon Eastern Time to healthylife.net

Harmonically Yours,

Jonathan Goldman

Why Shamanic Tools?

In a prior entry, I discussed the simplistic lifestyle of the Ancients and how it was suggested that they had an easier time of accessing Spirit in the past. I noted that our ancestors may have channeled wisdom from outside realms using shamanic tools during an era when it was acceptable to tune in to explore the mind’s gifts.

Today, we talk about shamanic technology or tools as those natural instruments or substances that are used by a shaman to heighten their senses or travel to other realms/altered states and gain insights not normally accessible —others call this psychonavigation.

With shamanic technology, I come at life with the view that I can overcome my challenges because I believe we each carry the necessary wisdom within us to do so.

There is also an intention to heal and an implicit trust in a shaman’s goal of reminding the individual about their innate power to make the best choices. Under this model, technology is used as a support for raising the consciousness and elevating the mind. In other words, the nature of shamanic tools is to quiet or focus the mind’s busy operations and machinelike functions, so Spirit can be set in motion. Much like a hidden force activating the lotus flower to open in bloom from the murk of mud and water, these tools remind us to use our inner resources to honor our natural path and have faith in the process of development.

It seems to me that while we consider modern technology to be neutral, most new tools are “designed” to inhibit our psychonavigation powers and elevate the hyper-processing behavior of the “monkey mind.”

From the ages of industry to information, we have been more focused as a society on producing toys, machines, and other tools that provide luxury, maximize efficiency, and increase access to entertainment. Many argue that the costs outweigh the benefits of these new models and the multimillion dollar marketing campaigns that go with them because they create a culture of dependency and wastefulness. These designs are in stark contrast to the direct experience of clarity brought about from the shamanic tool. And its ability to help us explore fresh ways of thinking independently.

There are three key considerations that come to mind here: while new technologies are great for improving certain functions, any tool or technology in a profit-driven society is frequently subject to abuse and misuse. Multiple threats to health, for example, are associated with side effects and unintended consequences of modern technology. We’re aware of the damage done to eyes by peering at monitors for too long, or the health risks of using microwaves, synthetic pharmaceuticals and cellphones, to name a few. Other technological terrors like modern weaponry and factory farms are self-explanatory.

Secondly, efficiency and mass consumption of replaceable parts and products as a goal makes it easier to routinely deplete and pollute natural resources; destroying the environment and distancing us further from nature’s lessons, chi energy, and holistic healing. An assault on nature is an attack on the self.

Finally, while all these matters exist, we cannot roll back time and we cannot be deterred. We cannot deny that we are in an high-tech age, and we can’t reject what is already here. As modern shamans, this truth makes it incumbent upon us to be facilitators of a modern consciousness, to help form communities that integrate technology creatively and constructively. The few shamans of old who are left are deliberately keeping the knowledge and wisdom of the ancients alive for people like us to receive it and bridge the gap, finding ways to unite the two worlds.

In coming full circle, hope can be found in our capacity to awaken to our potential; as original thinkers; and as those who can combine the best elements of the past’s high awareness and the future’s opportunities for advancement. I’d like to think more about ways our work can merge the two and realign appropriate modern technologies into shamanic tools-- or at least to prevent them from actively dumbing us down. One possibility is a shamanic intermediary network or guild, to more formally explore some of these concepts and present positions that represent us as a collective.

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“One of the science fiction fantasies that haunts the collective unconscious is expressed in the phrase "a world run by machines," in the 1950s this was first articulated in the notion, "perhaps the future will be a terrible place where the world is run by machines". Well now, let's think about machines for a moment. They are extremely impartial, very predictable, not subject to moral suasion, value neutral and very long lived in their functioning.

Now let's think about what machines are made of, in the light of Sheldrake's morphogenetic field theory. Machines are made of metal, glass. gold, silicon, and plastic ; they are made of what the earth is made of. Now wouldn't it be strange if biology were a way for earth to alchemically transform itself into a self-reflecting thing. In which case then, what we're headed for; inevitably what we are in fact creating, is a world run by machines. And once these machines are in place, they can be expected to manage our economies, languages, social aspirations, and so forth, in such a way that we stop killing each other, stop starving each other, stop destroying land, and so forth. Actually the fear of being ruled by machines is the male ego's fear of relinquishing control of the planet to the maternal matrix of Gaia.”

--Terence McKenna

Astrology and Shamanism

It seems to me that while important distinctions remain, there are overlaps linking Astrology and Shamanism; and I believe we can make the connection thanks to this beautifully written article by an international Astrology expert, Paul Six. It could be that ancient astrologers accessed information about the cosmos with the help of shamanic tools in the first place. Moreover, the planets and astrological signs themselves are described as permutations of different “energies” that become more and less available to humans based on different time windows. This is not such a far cry when we think of the changing feel of the seasons, so why should the same thing not apply to days or hours of the day?


If each planet governs unique qualities that can be made available to us, then it is no wonder that we developed mythologies assigning human featured gods to represent each of the planets. A shamanic empowerment exercise would involve making offerings to those gods as a way of invoking or inviting their energies. Finally, Six’s suggestion that a return to our intuitive natures can allow us to access the map of the planets inside us also corresponds with the notion that we are each carrying every point of the human holographic existence within us. This is a classic paraphrase of our inherent power to “shapeshift.”

I have included excerpts from the article below. For more information on Paul Six, visit his website at http://www.paulsix.com/ .

Astrology is as Real as Anything Else by Paul Six
Every concept we have of time is based on celestial operations. Hours, days, months and years are all solely based on the relationship between the Sun, the Moon and the Earth.

Astrology is a body of knowledge that is anchored in time.

It is true that astrology is the study of patterns in the sky. It is not a study, however, that can be understood at face value. It is a symbol system.

Celestial bodies are not causing things to happen here on Earth… The basic premise of astrology is that different energies prevail at different times.

The greatest fallacy about astrology is that it is about the stars…The truth is the only star that plays a role in the astrological story is the Sun that shines upon us.

“…The astrologers of that time,” --Six is referring to the ancients-- “experienced a more constant connection with nature and a more intimate one, as they lived at a much simpler time. They came to understand that their planetary home was connected to an entire cosmic family and that the sky patterns they observed corresponded with the way their lives were patterned—both seemed to vibrate to the same fundamental rhythms. This supported the notion of the universe as an interconnected network of energies that undergoes constant change in an orderly manner.”

Astrology states that any life that emerges in a moment of time is endowed with the qualities of that moment… When a newborn child takes the first breath, the patterns we see in the sky indicate possibilities the growing child can convert into realities in due time.

The birth chart maps out the potential growth of each individual’s consciousness, just as the genetic code communicates the potential growth of the physical body. The chart captures in freeze frame a picture of the sky… An understanding of any chart gives us an indication of what the individual could do; however, as free will is in operation, it cannot predict what any individual will do.

Astrology is not a science nor is it a religion. It is a language. It is not something to believe in; it is a body of knowledge that can be studied, learned and put into practice. The premise of the astrological language is that the universe has a means of communicating with us.

In many cases the scientifically-oriented individual, having abandoned the value of using the right brain in processing information, will do all it can to invalidate the ancient wisdom.

The answer as to how the astrologers came to understand what they did is that it is because of their innocence that the cosmic principles of astrology were revealed to them.

…In this state of innocence, the universe revealed some of its secrets through revelations to these humble folk living in a humble world for they were not driven by the ego-mind; they were not suspicious and skeptical... They were pure of heart and open to the miraculous and they were entrusted with the most precious knowledge about our lives and our destiny that has ever been brought into the light of human understanding.

What Can Astrology Do For You?
Increasing numbers of people are starting to see how much the world is of our own making and that we attract to us what we think, feel, say and do… Once we accept the truth that we co-facilitate our experience of reality with the creative living process, the information we gain from learning about the potentials of our birth chart becomes as useful and productive as anything that exists in the material world.

NEW VISION IIa

 Image from www.alexgrey.com

Lifting into higher realms
In color coats I shift the walls
They do and don't exist
In radiant hues they bend and penetrate

A threshold to the spirit world
Somewhere in between
Death and invitation to invent
I and future self embrace in soft diffuse

Impatiently debating pulse
I slow mine completely still
Beyond duality’s confines my second core
Awakens many-into-one spins subtlety

It begins an artist’s instrument of thought, an inner sphere’s incision
Unmasked, made weak from all the astral plasma spills
Something sharp has pierced and in the skewering
Instilled a seed of inspiration—cut away my inhibition’s weighty husk

“I want you to create”
A voice astride each minute particle a story weaves
“Take time to be my maker,”
Whispers each tinted splash of brush-blot sheen

Just then an inner light
Shoots in and out of body
To the terrifying wilds
I’m unafraid to go

A barrage of concepts beyond words
A language from the disarray of paint punched through
Imagination’s rainbow merging birth with arcing mind
Blown free of shape, a smeary tale casts back a look in canvas form

I feel the race of heart tear fascination into fashioning
Seed of thought to cellular existence cycles into matter flowering
Left behind through points of skin abrazed empowering
My substance induced altered state is lost, the unseen part of me is gained

Together we progress to any point
To turn illusion on its pregnant skull
My pool of life reflects the me
Concealed in dreams

Alive or dead or
Somewhere in between
I see: a dawn of worlds sees back
—Infinity

Pilgrimages, Mandalas, and Meditations

BoroBudur
As part of this Summer’s creative/spiritual retreat, I made a pilgrimage to the largest Buddhist temple in the world. BoroBudur is an epically-proportioned, three-dimensional tantric mandala, which was constructed sometime between 700 and 800 A.D., with about 55,000 cubic meters of stone. To make the full trip around and up each of the temple’s 9 platforms to the giant stupa in the center is about a 3 km hike, and for much of it, the visitor can experience thousands of detailed ancient carved reliefs, stupas, and statues that line the walls.

I experienced moments of walking meditation stillness, while on this journey. The feeling sporadically resembled the experience of the labyrinth walk. But the intense heat, busy atmosphere from the thousands of other visitors and the visual beauty of my novel surroundings prevented me from drifting into much of a meditative state.

It was also somewhat of a challenge to get to the temple, with hoards of street vendors descending on any tourist in sight. And who can blame them?

BoroBudur is a UNESCO world heritage site and Wonder of the World, and we traveled there on the Buddhist religion’s holiest of days, Waisak—the full moon in May or June. This is an annual Holiday to celebrate the birthday of Gautama Buddha, so there were many saffron robed Buddhist monks on site, as well as other visitors from around the world.

Mandala-the Genesis of Realization
“Mandalas are commonly used by tantric Buddhists as an aid to meditation. More specifically, a Buddhist mandala is envisaged as a "sacred space," a "Pure Buddha Realm,” and also as an abode of fully realised beings or deities.” --Wikipedia

The main reflection that comes to me as I write this entry is how much the Borobudur pilgrimage experience felt like it was there to support a form of creation or genesis. The Mandala is associated with a flower, the womb, realization, and consciousness itself. I believed I was there circling around this mammoth oval symbol of reproductive power to plant a seed of some kind—perhaps to conceive (in the context of giving life to) of something consciously-- and that each step forward on this sacred spiraling walk toward the heart of the central dome would in some way help the process of giving form or shape to whatever inchoate concept I wished to introduce and sustain in my thoughts.

Because of Borobudur, when I now think of a pilgrimage, I consider it as a parallel to the experience of how an idea goes through the different stages of development until it transforms and becomes a creation. As a person makes progress in a grand and spiritually charged environment through forward motion, somehow it makes it possible to bring total attention to the necessary aspects of our lives which need forward motion; to make steps toward fertilizing a dream.

We had been instructed to set an intention when we got to a certain sculpture in the center (the Black Buddha), but now I understand the importance of keeping that intention in mind and alive while journeying through the Mandala’s layers and platforms. I believe this mindful approach can provide an added dimension to the process of engaging in any kind of pilgrimage anywhere, holy or otherwise.

Mendut Meditation
While, I enjoyed the visual beauty of BoroBudur, I would have to wait until dusk, to experience the most memorable and piercing aspect of the trip. This came in the form of a powerful sitting meditation at the nearby Mendut temple. The shrine inside the temple contained a magnificent three meter tall stone Buddha, flanked by Boddhisatvas on either side of him. Flowers, incense sticks, and other offerings adorned the alter in front of the statues.

At every hour on Vaisak, a different contingency of monks would arrive at the temple and pay homage by leading a chant or prayer in honor of their spiritual teacher and prophet.

While it had a tall spiral ceiling, the shrine was a tiny space relative to other places of worship I had visited, and its compactness created a much more intimate setting for myself and the four others in my group who had received special passes to attend the meditations. It was a stark contrast to the heat and vast open spaces at Borobudur and it did not take long to slip into what Arnold Mindell would call the "Second Attention," or the altered state.

The chants were delivered and amplified with such intensity and devotion that it was hard not to be entranced by the worshippers’ voices. But the chants in combination with the ancient temple’s bright colors and visual majesty, the intoxicating aroma of flowers and incense, and the mental image created by the Buddha, made it difficult not to be completely enthralled by the experience.

It was one of those rare and rich spiritually synesthetic moments, when multiple senses feel stimulated at the same time. Except, as a meditator I felt like I had to try and disengage from them all. Of course, I failed miserably and gave up on that task. Instead, I intended to open my heart to the feeling, my Third Eye to the unseen imagery, and my body to the presence of Spirit.

Special thanks to Carrie-Ann and my Alex Grey Retreat friends for capturing such beautiful images of BoroBodur and Mendut.

drum meditation workshop

This is a description of a Rhythm Gym called "A Rhythm Runs Through
It," offered by percussionist Steve Bloom this Friday, July 16, from
7-9 pm at Circle Yoga 3838 Northampton Street Northwest DC 20015
(202) 686-1104

Residing within us all, Grace wishes to inform each expression. This
workshop is designed to enable the body's flowing "connectedness" by
tapping our own natural musicality. We will progress from a warm-up
with synchronous mild breathing, stretching and stepping patterns
driven by selected polyrhythmic music. To further internalize key
rhythms, we'll mimic the recorded voices and instruments vocally and
gesturally, and, "physicalize," do subtle, specific movements and
shifts of body weight that best express the anchor rhythms in the
music. The music calls, and the Spirit responds— through the body.

Together we'll harness the genius of "child's play" for mimicry,
parroting things in the recorded hand-drummers' styles, like timbre,
time, meter, tempo, pitch, and attack. We'll "look over the masters'
shoulders" at their skillcraft: choices like a stroke's dynamic force,
and how they express humor, elegance, technique, and themes and their
variations.

Sufi hand drums may be used for demonstration. Dress light, eat light,
and avoid caffeine prior to the session. Bring a blanket or yoga mat.

http://circleyoga.com/workshops/workshops-and-events
Date and Time: Fri Jul 16 2010, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Cost: $40.00

About Steve Bloom
Steve Bloom has played percussion in thousands of performances and
recordings in over a dozen countries from the Middle East to Nigeria
to Canada with a wide variety of artists including Tito Puente, King
Sunny Ade', Andy Gonzales, and Babatunde Olatunji.

With an academic foundation including Music Theory and Composition,
Piano and Percussion technique, Bloom has since achieved command via
the Oral Tradition of:

* Cuban and related African traditions of drumming and song by the
Oral Tradition, apprenticing with several fine Cuban masters and a
Senegalese Griot. He is initiated to play sacred drums in rituals of
Santeria.
* Middle Eastern, Arabic, and Persian drumming traditions, as a prime
apprentice of three Sufi master drummers: Adnan Sarhan, dervish of
Bagdad, with whom Bloom has trained for several decades; Dr. Ali
Analoui, and Naser Khorasani (both from Iran). With Analoui and
Khorasani, Bloom now co-directs the SAMA Ensemble, featuring ancient
Persian Sufi poetry and drumming. Recently they performed for the
entire United Nations General Assembly, introduced by Ban Ki-Moon.

For more information about Steve Bloom, visit http://www.musicbyhand.com

Alex Grey Retreat Reflections

I had the pleasure of staffing a creative retreat with internationally renowned artists, Alex and Allyson Grey, and wanted to provide a brief write up of my rich experience in their company.

Alex Grey's work has been described as psychedelic, shamanic, clarevoyant, spiritual, visionary, life altering and an exploration of polarities. He has developed art work and set designs for bands such as Tool and Nirvana and he teaches workshops for the Omega Institute in New York.

As a person, Alex is kind, extremely contemplative and sensitive. A soft spoken, philosophical and spiritual scholar as well as accomplished artist, he carries great hope for the future of human consciousness.

Both he and Allyson were a source of inspiration and wisdom throughout the 10 day experience; and although Alex welcomed interaction with others in the group, he seemed more at ease when sketching, reflecting or writing in his own quiet solitude.

My impression of Alex as an artist is that he has an advanced capacity to access his own unique and authentic power source. You might call it a symbiotic connection with the higher self that merges the inner and outer (nonphysical) realms-- or a fully developed "secret language" as his wife Allyson might put it. Grey's vision and perception allow him to channel information from those unseen worlds to the physical one, as a conduit or bridge-- finding a way to capture and bring back his encounters and share them on the canvas. One might call Alex Grey one of the few visual ambassadors to the spirit world doing integrative spirit work.

A fan of Ken Wilbur's philosophical writings, Grey told me that he was testing applications of Wilbur's theories on the world of art and artists. He commented that each person's version of how the world is perceived and experienced is simultaneously individual and collective. The conversation with art is a question of getting from one to the other and cycling back again, according to Grey. Much of the forward motion along this cyclical progression hinges on how far the artist is willing to take their visions from the conceptual inner world to physical manifestation, dissemination and openness to societal scrutiny.

In consideration of art as a healing expression, it strikes me that getting out of the "spirit" or "world inside the head" and into physical form is the most essential stage for anyone with a creative story trapped within them. Some are content and at peace even if their art fails to see the light of day, just to give form to their thoughts.

It may be more about honoring and expressing the energy that spawned the creative impulse in the first place than trying to carry it out into the outside world for me. That being said, it's only when I produce and receive feedback about how my art is received that I get a better idea of how to package and refine my secret language to better communicate my individual creative world's contents.

What I most admire about Alex is his awareness of the depths of his responsibility as an artist and healer. He understands that his gifts have launched him into a position of service that comes along with success.

It may be this call to service that explains why both Alex and Allyson are intent on helping to build a bridge between mindscape and physical reality for others through their workshops and other projects. Their workshops, for example, each start with a guided meditation or journey through the individual's inner world, placing focus on allowing the artist to feel stillness, safety, and peace; to better capture essential inner symbols and images. The Greys understand that laying emphasis on clearing and opening the mind to its natural creative power is the best and perhaps only way to unearth the artist and her abundant supplies of artistic treasure.

Anyone who has developed a craft, found their unique creative voice and who feels compelled to deliver their message has the rare ability to give form to the formless; therein, I believe, explains Alex Grey's popularity and the love he receives from his supporters.

The Greys are touring the world to lead workshops for other artists and to build a network of support for their vision in progress, which they call the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (COSM)-- a place for artists to come together to promote spiritual and creative integration and expression. This is a multimillion dollar project and it is still in its fledgling phases, but land just outside Manhattan has been purchased and the design for the chapel is already complete.

I am deeply grateful to the Greys for sharing their time and insights. I wish them the very best in fulfilling their important vision and invite you to be part of the COSM project. Visit their website for more information and upcoming events.
 

Thanks to Chris, Jessa and Joe for sharing their pictures with me.

ceremony in apology to spirits of the ocean

by New Orleans Healing Center

A public prayer ceremony for the Spirits of the Sea, to apologize for oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and encourage natural healing of the waters.
Sunday June 27th, on the uptown levee next to Oak st at the Mississippi River( the batcher), New Orleans, LA.
wear all white , or white with blue headscarves.
5pm reike circle
5:30 kirtan-yoga and sufi musical prayer
6:30 prayers of atonment by local religious leaders
7:00 ceremony to La Siren and Agwe
10:00 drumming and dancing for all

This is lead by Sallie Ann Glassman and La Source Anicenne Ounfo. Sallie Ann is a very strong mambo who I have been lucky enough to do ceremony with over 15 years. She will acompanied by the wonderful jazz bassist James Singleton and poet Moose Jackson, and many artisst from the area. If you are interested in the truth of New Orleans Vodoo as a healing path, this is a wonderful opprotunity to experience it.

John Chang Chi-Kung Master

This is a fascinating video that captures some incredible footage of an Indonesian Chi healer at work. The footage includes a somewhat successful attempt to scientifically test his healing capabilities. It also gives us an idea of the dangers of trivializing this power.

According to one expert, Agustin Madruga, the system John Chang uses, known as Chi Kung, concerns metabolizing Chi energy internally, while the more renowned Chi Gong involves drawing in the energy from the outside world.

WisdomKeepers Excerpts-- PART ONE

Here are some excerpts from the book "Wisdomkeepers, Meetings with Native American Spiritual Elders", which contains several interviews with important figures from a number of tribes. I have focused on text and wisdom that would best be suited for this blog:

"If you know my song, you know Charlie. Everyone has a song. God gives us each a song. That's how we know who we are. Our song tells us who we are. And there are other songs, different songs for different things, some for dancing, some for singing, some for healing. Every sickness takes a different song. You tune the water drum different for each song, Little person inside you tells you what song to sing. Little person comes from God, teaches Charlie the song he knows. You got to hear the little person to learn the songs."

When Charlie was 32 or 33, he got his healing song. Charlie lay down on his back on the ground, hands out. In the vision, the Creator came down, like a big light. There's a light coming out and he's got angels all around him, all made of light. The Creator came down and touched me here on my hands, then He taught Charlie his healing song, He taught me how to heal. he showed me how to use the eagle feather to find the sick place in a person. He told me: 'sing the healing song then build a fire. Take a burning coal in your hands. It won't burn if you pray right. Then take the heat out of the coal into your hands, and then rub the person's body in the sick place. Put your hands in water and do it again. Do it seven times. The sickness will go away if the Creator wants."

--Charlie Knight, Ute Medicine Man

"There is no word for 'nature' in my language. Nature, in English, seems to refer to that which is separate from human beings...It is foolish arrogance for humans to think themselves superior to all the life-support system. How can one be superior to that which one depends for life? Humans have invented marvelous technologies. The result has been that parts of the world live in unnecessary and debilitating surplus while people in other parts of the world are dying for lack of food, water, and shelter. Priorities need to be directed so that peple who have plenty need not feel shame while others hunger and die....

I would argue the whole concept of Nature be rethought. Nature, the land, must not mean money, it must designate life. Nature is the storehouse of potential life of future generations and is sacred...Spirituality is our foundation."

--Audrey Shenandoah, Onondaga Tribe

God gave us medicine to share with people, but if the White Man gets his hands on it he'll charge you a great price and will let you die if you don't have it. God's medicine is free. We don't give money to God. We give him our prayers, our thanks. And sometimes we give Him the only thing that's really ours: our flesh, our pain. That's what the Sun Dance is all about--giving God our flesh, our pain, and--never forget--a prayer of thanks.

--Matthew King, Lakota Tribe

The spiritual heritage of Native American people is here--it has not been extinguished. I believe the spiritual fire still burns and is beckoning for America, indeed, the world, to some closer, to listen, to learn, and to share in its warmth and comfort."

I, as a spiritual Indian man, am convinced that it is time to reach out to my white brothers and sisters and to share with whomever wishes to partake of what we, the indigenous people of this land, still have. It is time that the buckskin curtain be drawn back. It is time, I know it."

--Eddie Benton-Banai, Ojibway

Bali Retreat with Alex Grey: May 21-June1, 2010

There are still spaces available for this adventure of a lifetime with world famous shamanic artist, Alex Grey. I will be staffing this retreat and I invite you to join in if it calls to you. Contact me for an available half price option.

For more information on Alex Grey or the retreat, visit his website.

Spirals, Hearts, and Steel

I recently took some time to see the Tim Burton special exhibit at the NY City Museum of Modern Art. It was a worthwhile and wonderfully rich experience to follow Burton's evolution as a storyteller and be given a chance to examine his creative process from sketch to screen.

To me, his greatest creative contribution is his ability to recast the scary into the misunderstood. In other words, what normally would be prejudged as dark, malign, and dangerous is instead cast by him as lighthearted, warm, even tender. His greatest achievement is shifting the public's perception of "darkness" on a mainstream level: and telling me that I ignore the light within the darkness at my peril. He does this humourously and without being preachy about it.

Darkness to me is the quiet core of the subconscious. It is the very place where I need to listen most intently. It needs such delicate attention from me because it holds such special wisdom and because when ignored the many voices hidden away in the depths of that darkness have the potential to do a great deal of damage.

When I explore darkness, I walk a fine line between the moonlight's still illumination and the shadowy realm of extreme heaviness from out-of-control negative emotions. This often explains why lightchasers tend to give less consideration to the darkness--for fear of giving its negative side too much energy and thus allowing it to spread. But to me, light has just as much of a negative side too--artificial light can often be the most extreme and insidious form of darkness. As the Taoist symbol shows, true darkness is a companion to true light; it completes rather than competes with the light; it is its precursor and sequel--the dark tells me where my inner light is most needed--where the natural cycle of day and night needs to appear next.

Like with all energy, a relationship has to be established and built up with the dark over time for any breakthroughs to be made. Burton discovered a way to identify, honor, and give form to the voices of the night that occupy the low lit rooms of his psyche--many of which are illustrated and tracked by the exhibit from conception to completion. I wonder what more I could discover if I did the same thing?

It's not the greatest resource but here is the official exhibit interactive webpage.

Avatar's Real Life Impact--

A recent NY Times article discusses Jim Cameron's efforts to engage Brazilian indigenous leaders. It's hugely important to see this Hollywood director taking action and building on the messages and themes of his film. It takes courage to work and to apply the lessons of a story to a real life situation involving real people and a real threat to tribes in the Amazon. His analogy is accurate and the surprise appearance of the snake is all too telling.

I have experienced the magic of the Amazon and its transformational powers firsthand when I visited Peru a few years ago. Nowhere had I been more captivated by nature's power and awe than there. For those in tune, the jungle has spiritual as well as scientifically proven healing properties. It gives me hope that a film like Avatar (and support from its creators) can help prevent this global treasure from slipping away from us.

Tribes of Amazon Find an Ally Out of ‘Avatar’
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
VOLTA GRANDE DO XINGU, Brazil — They came from the far reaches of the Amazon, traveling in small boats and canoes for up to three days to discuss their fate. James Cameron, the Hollywood titan, stood before them with orange warrior streaks painted on his face, comparing the threats on their lands to a snake eating its prey.

“The snake kills by squeezing very slowly,” Mr. Cameron said to more than 70 indigenous people, some holding spears and bows and arrows, under a tree here along the Xingu River. “This is how the civilized world slowly, slowly pushes into the forest and takes away the world that used to be,” he added.

As if to underscore the point, seconds later a poisonous green snake fell out of a tree, just feet from where Mr. Cameron’s wife sat on a log. Screams rang out. Villagers scattered. The snake was killed. Then indigenous leaders set off on a dance of appreciation, ending at the boat that took Mr. Cameron away. All the while, Mr. Cameron danced haltingly, shaking a spear, a chief’s feathery yellow and white headdress atop his head.

In the 15 years since he wrote the script for “Avatar,” his epic tale of greed versus nature, Mr. Cameron said, he had become an avid environmentalist. But he said that until his trip to the Brazilian Amazon last month, his advocacy was mostly limited to the environmentally responsible way he tried to live his life: solar and wind energy power his Santa Barbara home, he said, and he and his wife drive hybrid vehicles and do their own organic gardening.

“Avatar” — and its nearly $2.7 billion in global tickets sales — has changed all that, flooding Mr. Cameron with kudos for helping to “emotionalize” environmental issues and pleas to get more involved.

Now, Mr. Cameron said, he has been spurred to action, to speak out against the looming environmental destruction endangering indigenous groups around the world — a cause that is fueling his inner rage and inspiring his work on an “Avatar” sequel.

“Any direct experience that I have with indigenous peoples and their plights may feed into the nature of the story I choose to tell,” he said. “In fact, it almost certainly will.” Referring to his Amazon trip, he added, “It just makes me madder.”

Mr. Cameron is so fired up, in fact, that he said he was planning to go back to the Amazon this week, this time with Sigourney Weaver and at least another member of the “Avatar” cast in tow.

The focus is the huge Belo Monte dam planned by the Brazilian government. It would be the third largest in the world, and environmentalists say it would flood hundreds of square miles of the Amazon and dry up a 60-mile stretch of the Xingu River, devastating the indigenous communities that live along it. For years the project was on the shelf, but the government now plans to hold an April 20 auction to award contracts for its construction.

Stopping the dam has become a fresh personal crusade for the director, who came here as indigenous leaders from 13 tribes held a special council to discuss their last-ditch options. It was Mr. Cameron’s first visit to the Amazon, he said, even though he based the fictional planet in “Avatar” on Amazon rain forests. Still, he found the real-life similarities to the themes in his movie undeniable.

The dam is a “quintessential example of the type of thing we are showing in ‘Avatar’ — the collision of a technological civilization’s vision for progress at the expense of the natural world and the cultures of the indigenous people that live there,” he said.

Mr. Cameron said that he was writing a letter to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva urging him to reconsider the dam and that he would press for a meeting with the president. “They need to listen to these people here,” he said.

Mr. Cameron, 55, first encountered the cause in February, after being presented with a letter from advocacy organizations and Native American groups saying they wanted Mr. Cameron to highlight “the real Pandoras in the world,” referring to the lush world under assault in his movie.

Atossa Soltani, executive director of Amazon Watch, who accompanied him on his trip last month, said Mr. Cameron lit up at the idea of learning more, saying he had grown up in the Canadian woods and had even logged thousands of hours underwater exploring the world’s oceans.

As for Mr. Cameron’s Amazon adventure, it got off to a rocky start. The boat he traveled to the village in flooded when a hose became disconnected. Mr. Cameron chipped in, grabbing a plastic bucket to help bail for a few hours in the searing midday heat, he and others on the boat said.

Many of the indigenous leaders he was planning to meet with had never heard of him before, much less seen his movie. All they knew was that “a powerful ally” would be attending their gathering, Ms. Soltani said.

So, the night before Mr. Cameron and his wife, Suzy Amis, arrived with three bodyguards, a dozen or so villagers gathered in the house of José Carlos Arara, the chief of the Arara tribe here, to watch a DVD of “Avatar.”

“What happens in the film is what is happening here,” said Chief Arara, 30.

The morning after Mr. Cameron’s party arrived in the village, Chief Arara led them on a walk through the rain forest. Mr. Cameron, almost mirroring the enraptured scientists in his movie, was calm but wide-eyed, peppering the chief with questions about the local fauna and flora and traditional indigenous ways. In seconds, the chief showed how he could fashion ankle braces from leaves to help him scale an açaí tree.

The leaders then invited Mr. Cameron to participate in their meeting. He sat at a small wooden school desk as they made speeches condemning the impending dam and the Brazilian government. Mr. Cameron seemed to tear up when some leaders said they would be willing to die to stop the dam.

Finally, Mr. Cameron was asked to speak. He stood and complimented the leaders on their unity, saying they needed to fight off efforts by the government to divide them and weaken their resistance.

“That is what can stop the snake; that is what can stop the dam,” he said.

A rush of applause swept through the crowd. When the real snake fell from the tree, the director seemed unfazed. After clearing it away, indigenous leaders thanked him with gifts. One gave him a spear, another a black and red necklace of seeds. A third, Chief Jaguar from the Kaiapo nation, one of Brazil’s most respected, gave him his headdress before the dances in Mr. Cameron’s honor began.

“It’s not like there is any pressure on me or anything,” he said, half-joking, moments before boarding the boat. “These people really are looking for me to do something about their situation. We have to try to stop this dam. Their whole way of life, their society as they know it, depends on it.”

aztec healing in anacostia

hello all

hope to see you there:

thursday Jan 28th 2010 7 pm
901 Ft Place se
wa dc 20020
Anacostia Community Museum
www.anacostia.si.edu
RSVP 202 633 4844

Eliseo Torres , of the University of New Mexico, speaks on tradional
Mexican healing influences by Aztecs, Moors, Christians. Discover the
merits of curanderos' rituals, plants and advice.