(Image : "Gaia´s Children", Collage, Shakti G., 2003)

H-O-P-E

means...

Help Our Planet Evolve.

(Anon)

*grin*

The Wizard of Lothlorien : Electricity

My boiler broke down. Technician? Not available. Money ? Nope, not at the moment.

So...No more lovely lengthy showers, no warm water (have to warm up the water with pots). AND ...it started to snow! Just my grubby luck.

So, no central heating system and no warm water. And it´s below zero outside.

How bloody NICE.

And it´s been like that for a MONTH!

But, hey!

What a lovely lovely experience. I mean it.

It got me thinking about the basic luxuries, electricity and gas to start with. At least I can warm up pans of water, and do the dishes with that! Mmmmmmm....warm water.....

Fluffy Nordic bedstuff, delicious.

Warm water for the dishes, delicious.

Light on my night table to read by, delicious.

A fire in the fireplace - and an unending supply of wood (what with 108 acres of woodland!...)

De-li-cious.

A live connection to the Net, delicious.

A good car, delicious (I can go to the supermarket for coffee with Mika, and have a warm moment! Delicious, scrumptious, splendid, DELECTABLE.)

I can make a PIZZA in the oven, and eat it all warm and cheesy and crunchy : incredible.

Synthetic blankets to watch a bit of telly : Thank You.

Thank you, Universe, thank you, THANK you!!!

And it got me thinking... but how on Earth could Humanity survive in the wilds for millenia without these luxuries??? Old people, sick people, children, women giving birth...

I tell you, my friends, I´m awe-fully GRATEFUL!...

And don´t worry about me, I´ll survive.

Treegod:

The Soul of This Land is My Soul

The soul of this land is my soul.

Created and taken from its core,

A great cauldron of love and hate forged my being,

Its strengths and weaknesses bred my complexities.

My fruits are the fruits of this land.

My body yearns tastes and textures for its life,

Taking what it can when it can.

But the great consumer must be consumed

and return to the land.

My face is one of the land’s many.

To look at it is to celebrate nature’s diversity.

To love or hate it is to be deceived.

For the face blocks out what is truly beautiful.

My life is the land’s life.

It gives all I need and will take it back,

We should nurture it as it nurtures us.

What I do is for the land.
My heart is driven by the land’s heart.

The blood flows round and round.

The twisting, turning and circling never ending.

My true heart will never fail.

My mind is the land’s mind.

Thoughts expressed by the land for the land.

A tapestry of consciousness expressed in me.

All knowledge coming from the no-knowledge within

“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.” Carl Gustav Jung

“Common people retreat from the world to country houses, the seashore or the mountains, but it is always in your power to retreat into yourself. Give yourself this retreat; renew and cleanse your soul completely.” Marcus Aurelius

“Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again.” Joseph Cambell

There I was, watching a beautiful scene unfolding before me. The large sky a clear blue and the sun shining upon lush green grass while birds dance and fly around trees and under bushes. Then I think of something... I remember something....something inside... something... something... “ADAM! Wake up daydreamer, get out of ‘your own little world’ and join us in the real world will you.”
The outside invades, pulling me out of my inner space, a subjective psychic space that noone can touch, even me apparently.

This is a problem, society’s unwritten dogma is that the objective material world has more worth than a individual’s subjective world but if it has any worth then it is for objective and materialist reasons. But the one thing I think makes humans human, is this ability for inner space, the abstract world as opposed to the concrete. It’s where our culture comes from, our arts, sciences, religions and ethics. Without it we’d be like any other animal, following the drive of instinct within the restrictions of environment. Inner space allows us a partial transcendence of environment and instinct to create new ways of living, problem solving, invention, an alchemy of mundane objects and situations transformed by the psychic powers of the mind, namely imagination, intellect, vision and intuition.

For years I haven’t properly been able to live in my inner space, I’ve been pulled out of it for some reason or another. For the last couple of years it’s been a bit of a battle to maintain it, what with 40hrs work a week, then domestic duties like dog walking, mowing the lawn, DIY, etc etc etc. Some of them necessary but also some not so. After this you might be able to find inner sanctum, that is if you’re not socialising or too tired to do anything but sleep. Was it worth me sacrificing that much of my time just to lose out on a vital part of myself? I don’t think so but all this comes from a society that unconsciously (or even consciously) makes its people a mere product of and resource for its materialism.

Through my life I’d occasionally go into natural places just to be away from these things. I’d sit under stars and just look up at them on cool nights, I’d find a secluded place somewhere in some woods and called it my “sacred grove.” Sometimes what I thought I was doing was connecting to nature in some deep mystical way. Perhaps I was, but mainly as I look back, it was really out of necessity to find my inner space again, to preserve that essential part of me. This is a practice I do now, I sit in a tree, by a stream or by my cairn to let my inner space play, or even work, just by itself with nothing outside imposing itself upon it.

What about now? Well now, I work on that inner space, I have the freedom to do that without it being denied me. Am I getting lost in “my own little world”? No, because my inner world is filled with energy, it is not some distant disconnected experience but something that is growing with vital energy which I learn to focus and flow with. In fact, my inner world hasn’t just been idly sitting within me, because it does find its manifestation. My dream was to live and work closer to Nature and also live in a spiritual context. Now, I live in the countryside, working on gardens, conservation and also on my own spiritual developement. So when people tell me I’m just daydreaming I can look around me and see what my dreams have become because I took an opportunity that so many others miss.

I know that I definitely do live in the objective world that I share with others and I do not want to run away from it. At the same time I have an inner world, just as real as the outer world for me, just as important to me as the outer world because it is from here that my life and destiny unfold, manifesting themselves around me and fulfilling the potential of my human spirit.

Just for fun! The Luna looking Italian!

;-)

Treegod:

“Gaia can regulate without the need for foresight or planning by the biota. The regulation is entirely automatic.” James Lovelock

“Pooh hasn’t much Brain, but he never comes to any harm. He does silly things and they turn out right.” Piglet in Winnie-the-Pooh

"Only the development of his inner powers can offset the dangers inherent in man's losing control of the tremendous natural forces at his disposal and becoming the victim of his own achievements." Roberto Assagioli

Once upon a time our animal ancestors had an automatic and unconscious balancing system between internal instinct and external environment, there was no need to think about it. This also meant that we had our place in the universe, a context and meaning, which was an innate part of us which didn’t need thinking about.

The meaning of life is automatic for most plants and animals, no thought required, they have an organic initiation into the mysteries of the universe. But humans are no longer so automatic, we have minds that need to find a meaningful place in the universe because it is not automatically given to us through our genes or environments. Instead we require a cultural initiation, one that involves the abstract creativity of the human mind, making definitions and values that weren’t there before.

This has been a creative leap forward for us, with so many great arts and sciences that have moved us into new ways of living that our instincts alone cannot create. Unfortunately this also means we can no longer have a care-free existence, we are no longer automatically regulated by nature’s processes, instead we have to regulate ourselves. This lack of self-regulation is shown in our abuse of our environment, polluting and destroying it, which in turn changes the environment’s balancing system to our disadvantage.

We have to create our own balance, we cannot use our societies or governments to do that because who guides them? Each individual should learn its own balance and creativity. And if we rely on Earth to balance us, well, at the moment she’s reacting very badly to our imbalance and trying to dislodge us. If we want to survive we have to take our own balance into each and every individuals hands.

Once upon a time I was into the Taoist philosophy which to me was about “going with the flow.” The idea I read about was a bit anti-intellectual. It saw the human condition as marred because instead of letting things be organic and “flowing” the intellect would set up false definitions and “deform” the Uncarved Block, a concept used to describe things in their original nature before they were tampered with.

In some ways we do need to learn to “go with the flow” at least as far as nature is concerned. It is something that needs no guidance. As James Lovelocks quote above says, Gaia is an entirely self-regulating sysem, it’s too big for us to take the responsibility of running it. In Nature, there is a natural flow and rhythm to things which industrial humanity has tried to struggle against and take short cuts through, much to the detriment of the earth’s life, which includes humans.

What I don’t want to “go with the flow” with is the aspect of humanity that disturbs humanities place on earth and sends it into ecological disaster. Flowing with any society with a mindless herd mentality means being flooded in the “inner space” in “service” of its external pressures. My self-meaning, self-motivation and inner context can be hijacked by the flow of society, which itself is unconscious and with a materialistic view that humans live to work, to earn money, to buy stuff and the earth is premanufactured consumer stuff. This time I’ve got to be focussed and use my intellect to discriminate what flow I should “flow with” before I’m in carried away unconsciously by forces that I want nothing to do with. This is something I talk about in another blog soon.

Earth does not need regulating, but its humans need regulating. By what? The earth’s changes would kill us off, and the “higher powers” of human society aren’t always the most ethical choice for guidance. So then, we have to regulate ourselves, which brings the quote from Robert Assagioli into focus, that we can only look inside ourselves, at our own powers and learn to develop them in harmony with Gaia before we destroy ourselves with them. The tragic thing is that the Earth may change so much that humans may no longer be able to participate in the Earth’s evolution, we may become extinct, though life here will still carry on in some form without us.

Now one challenge remains for us, which is, are we as a species so stupid that we ruin the chance for future generations to continue participating in the evolution of Gaia, expressing humanities unique place in it? For me I have hope that humanity can be intelligient enough to continue existing. I am optimistic enough that humanity can change its ways, because to be proved wrong doesn’t bear thinking about.

Here’s an article from http://www.global-mindshift.org that has provided me with much inspiration for this blog; http://www.global-mindshift.org/discover/viewFile.asp?resourceID=224&formatID=252

THE OGAM STICKS
(Shakti)

For some time in my druidic studies I rejected the Ogam.
Don´t know, wazzat, couldn´t understand it. Just looking at it was too much!
And suddenly a few days ago, I started to write it on a piece of paper, and it...flew!
It suddenly made sense! I got it!
Wow, seize the moment!...
And now I´m making sticks and sticks... One, two, three, four, five...
Next ones will be burned on real wood, these ones are "just" cardboard ones, but hey! they do look good, don´t they ???

;-)

Shakti :

COLOUR OF THE HEART

We have just received the best of all possible compliments!

A friend from OBOD has been visiting us for a week, and as he was travelling through the country in a day trip, he said...Look at the landscape! (Meaning end of August, dry, harsh, grey and ochre) And then he said...I know another Spain!

Meaning... a green Spain.

Visitors often comment that they don´t feel like being in Spain at the Sanctuary.

As a matter of fact in spring this place looks like a piece of Ireland!

It´s not something that comes naturally, you know.

There´s a spirit here, we actually promote the green phase of this land, we cherish it, we embrace it. Which is not the case of the people around here. You can see the difference when you come up from the village. Spain is truly the Wasteland.

And as you come up the road towards our valley here, you start to breathe a different air.

It´s something subtle that hasn´t entirely got to do with the fact that you go up a mountain and that there is more oxygen to breathe!

What you feel... is the colour of the heart.

Our green heart.

:-)

(Image : "Secret Garden", collage on cardboard, Shakti G.)


Shakti : (I´m writing - the pioneers (Mika & Adam) are preparing the garden for winter, lol)



THE BODY ARCHAIC
In one of the psychosynthesis marathon workshops I have been leading here in Spain, a lady once told me, in a down-her-nose sort of classy way : "What an archaic body you have!" Besides being slightly miffed by her remark, - Gee lady, what´s on your mind ? Are you saying that I look old ? Or - Goddess forbid! - fat? - I was quite intrigued by it, and later Googled the definition of "archaic", just to be sure I had understood.
Lots of fascinating stuff came up.


Like ... "Archaic" (definition --->): Archaic Of, relating to, or characteristic of a much earlier, often more primitive period, especially one that develops into a classical stage of civilization: an archaic bronze statuette; Archaic Greece. No longer current or applicable; antiquated: archaic laws. See Synonyms at "old". Of, relating to, or characteristic of words and language that were once in regular use but are now relatively rare and suggestive of an earlier style or period. [Greek arkhaikos, old-fashioned, from arkhaios, ancient, from arkhein, to begin.]


Ah so. Indeed ?
I deciphered then that a) she meant that I wasn´t a modern scarecrow Picasso type - and b) that being...err...round-shaped (with femenine curves, that is!) is considered by certain people (classy?) as "no longer current or applicable, antiquated", which miffed me even more! Mmm... So the next time I saw her (she was a regular of my workshops) I asked her what would be the CONTRARY for her of the word she had used describing me, in the context that she had used it. She looked at me again (down her nose!), and said"Why, CONTEMPORARY, of course!" Which sent me right back to Google! (Bear with me, this is fun!)


Contemporary (definition ---->): adjective 1 living, occurring, or originating at the same time. 2 belonging to or occurring in the present, EXISTING NOW (emphasis mine). 3 modern in style or design (contemporary art, contemporary litterature) • noun (pl. contemporaries) 1 a person or thing existing at the same time as another. 2 a person of roughly the same age as another. Mmmm...(again)


So I went right back to the group that day, asked for the Talking Stick, and said... Lady, first of all, I don´t "have" a body, I AM my body, which cannot be "archaic", it is CONTEMPORARY, because it exists with me HERE AND NOW, it is the temple of my soul right here under your classy nose, second - we are the same age, so we are CONTEMPORARIES. YOUR body, dear lady, is as "archaic" as mine, or, alternatively, as "contemporary" as mine! Which is it ?...
Then we all had a good laugh...and Pass the cookies if you please.


It took all my group leader´s discipline not to say what really came to my mind. You see, the funniest thing of all is that the lady in question had... a wooden leg.
And what I really wanted to ask her was...Oh ? Really ? Archaic ? Who? Me? And what is YOUR style? Pirate-of-the-Carribean?


... A bit late...but...DONE! ;-)

Hello, this is Shakti. I am making a Goddess Prayer Book for one of my friends, altering an old We'Moon Agenda, and I found several wonderful poems...

This image is of one of the spreads in the Prayer Book, and I want to share a poem that goes like this :

SEARCHING FOR THE DIVINE

She was searching searching for the Divine, not Buddha

with that fig tree up his back or Christ with his bleeding hands

or Mohammed on the mountaintop;

something honest, whole as an apple.

Not distant wind in white pine nor sparkling boundary water,

not spire of Notre Dame piercing cloud nor frozen glacial peak;

something close necessary as breath.

Not April trillium or hovering angel-bird,

not beaded, bearded guru or stone goddess with swollen breast;

something sweet tender as newborn.

She was searching searching for the Divine.

Not goat-footed Pan or dizzy Sufi dancer

Not a medicine man with a sacred pipe

Not a saffron-robed Tibetan monk

Not a t.v. preacher with a big mouth

Not a banker with a closed book.

She was searching searching for the Divine.

She burned Pakistani incense, peered into crystals,

lit white candles, but god could not be kept on her little altar

could not be kept in a good book, in a Holy City,

in a cave on a cross in Sunday School; god could not be kept

in a museum wrapped in a mummy skin; god could not be kept

silent in a little three letters word.

She grew wild as lightning in a snow storm.

Thus, the Divine found her,

exhausted as a bear hibernating in sleep

dreaming by a yellow spring listening to her heartbeat

a steady source of heat -

and when she awoke alone in her bed,

she found the Divine inside herself by Rising and Shining

like a sun.

( Ann Megisikwe Filemyr - 2001)

Wish you all a nice Summertime !

And thanks for Reading.

:-)

("Water", Mika, Photoshop)

Learn the patterns of creation.
Learn the patterns of destruction.
Weave your knowledge into tapestries of wonder.
Be in awe of your own magic.
And be humble before the magic all around you.
Marvel at your place in the Dance of Love and Life.
May your spiritual gestation be complete,
and may you,
like the great mother herself,
birth your own sun
to illuminate your journey.

(We'Moon Agenda, 1995)

(Image : "Shekinah", watercolours on paper, Shakti, 2003)

PRAYER OF THANSKGIVING

Oh, Great Goddess, Creatress of all things,

hear your children´s prayer of thanks

for this our Mother Earth,

Who with seed of star power

Has given us volcano, wind and cloud,

spider, tiger, human child,

golden grasses - grain to feed our bodies.

Oh, Great and Loving Earth-Mother,

your gifts nourish us,

and give us strength.

We find you more beautiful

in every sunrise.

You, whose rich, dark soil

has given us birth,

Whose ample arms hold us in a warm embrace

wide as the summer sky,

deep as thunder´s song.

May we be worthy.

May all your children, in all forms

and in all places, be richly blessed.

And may we know our place in the Great Harmony.

(We'Moon Agenda, 1995)

Summer Mandalas (Shakti)

These are Mandalas I have been painting yesterday for the cover of a group Report that we are writing for the Earth Sanctuary.
The red one is the Core Group Mandala (Mika, Adam and me, three energies working as one in the context of bulding the Sanctuary); the pale blue one is the Earth Sanctuary banner; and the last one is "The Star of Eärendil". Ah well, I´ll put part of Tolkien´s poem here :

When the sea of night fades into light
A ship goes sailing through the dawn
A star upon its mast so bright
To wake the sleepers from the night

Giving hope to those who weep
Giving hope to those who dream

Aiya Eärendil, Elenion Ancalima!

See?
:-)

From the book "Thinking like a mountain, Towards a Council of All Beings" :

INVOCATION (John Seed)

"We ask for the presence of the spirit of Gaia and pray that the breath of life continues to caress this planet home.

May we grow into true understanding - a deep understanding that inspires us to protect the tree on which we bloom, and the water, soil and atmosphere without which we have no existence.

May we turn inwards and stumble upon our true roots in the intertwining biology of this exquisite planet. May nourishment and power pulse through these roots, and fierce determination to continue the billion-year dance.

May love well up and burst forth from our hearts.

May there be a new dispensation of pure and powerful consciousnee and the charter to witness and facilitate the healing of the tattered biosphere.

We ask for the presence of the spirit of Gaia to be with us here. To reveal to us all that we need to see, for our highest good and for the highest good of all.

We call upon the spirit of evolution, the miraculous force that inspires rocks and dust to weave themselves into biology. You have stood by us for millions and billions of years - do not forsake us now. Empower us and awaken in us pure and dazzling creativity. You that can turn scales into feathers, seawater to blood, caterpillars to butterflies, metamorphose our species, awaken in us the powers that we need to survive the present crisis and evolve into more aeons of our solar journey.

Awaken in us a sense of who we truly are : tiny ephemeral blossoms on the Tree of Life. Make the purposes and destiny of that tree our own purpose and destiny.

Fill each of us with love for our true Self, which includes all of the creatures and plants and landscapes of the world. Fill us with a powerful urge for the wellbeing and continual unfolding of this Self.

May we speak in all human councils on behalf of the animals and plants and landscapes of the Earth.

May we shine with a pure inner passion that will spread rapidly through these leaden times.

May we all awaken to our true and only nature - none other than the nature of Gaia, this living planet Earth.

We call upon the power which sustains the planets in their orbits, that wheels our Milky Way in its 200-million-year spiral, to imbue our personalities and our relationships with harmony, endurance and joy. Fill us with a sense of immense time so that our brief, flickering lives may truly reflect the work of vast ages past and also the millions of years of evolution whose potential lies in our trembling hands.

O stars, lend us your burning passion.

O silence, give weight to our voice.

We ask for the presence of the spirit of Gaia."

The Lothlórien-Nemeton Seed-Group.

(Image : "Watering the Grand'Mother...", Mika)

Hello, dear Readers :

Just a note from us to say that we will probably not write every day now: we will come back full force in September.

Spain is very hot, and the gardens need us now.

Hugs and best thoughts to every reader,

The Lothlorien-Nemeton seed-group.

Mika, Adam and Shakti.

(Images of the Sanctuary)

INside OUT/OUTside IN!...

We are talking a lot about what the Sanctuary really is.

What it is for.

Why we are here, standing up to the storms and the heat, and the difficulties of maintaining this piece of land, this mini-Gaia of a place!...

What we come up with, and what we agree on, is the fact that we protect this place to become a sanctuary, a place of reverence and awe. Not exactly because we revere Mother Nature (we do!), but because this place can become a reflection of the soul, of the parts of our wild soul that have become so blunted by life in "society".

Sitting under the Grand-Mother (the giant figtree in the patio), and feeling the emerald coolness beneath her branches, it´s easy to let the soul spill out. Just to be there, safe and secure and cool and joyous, just completely at ease with the world.

To be or not to be here, on this planet, and how, that is the question...

We are made to live under the trees, we Europeans are, anyway. The Celts said so, and though trees are disappearing fast and everywhere, and we have forgotten about the ancient forests and the Celts, the deep emerald coolness of the Grandmother reminds us of the Forest of our heart, the fertility, the goodness of being part of this planet, the rightness of living in this watery green world.

There is a whole spiritual dimension in our work with this place, you know.

There is a spiritual rebirth in the green connection. It´s not about protecting Nature;Mother Earth will burn us out, the little rats that act like a nuisance to Her. Are we more than fleas on her hide ? Nah, don´t think so. We, the human species, are in danger, not Her! She will be here long long long after we have all gone to dust!

All the rest of the place will perhaps turn into ruins, but here the trees, they are a-growing.

And I sit in the shade, and I know what the word "God" means for this body...

I have to laugh about people doing reiki to trees.

Hey, friends, it´s the other way round : sit still, let the trees share their ki with you,

and the trees will heal you...

Mama Dragon, sitting under the big tree, shaking in silent mirth.

:-)

(Image : The Earth Sanctuary, 2002)

The Lady Dragon (Shakti) :

...So, what is ecopyschology ?

Definition, courtesy of Wikipedia - Ecopsychology is a project which intends to interconnect psychology and ecology to a new scientific paradigm. The political and practical implications are to show us ways of healing our alienation and to build a sane society and a sustainable culture. The founder and most important exponent of ecopsychology is Theodore Roszak.

Another definition, the whole works : http://www.goshen.edu/bio/Biol410/BSSPapers98/nussbaum.html#anchor66197

(Wow, does the link actually work ?)

Now, my ramblings about ecopsychology ...

I have always told people, "It´s not the knowledge, it´s the FEELING!"

If you have the knowledge, that is perfectly fine, but if you have it only in the head, and there is no heart stuff about trees and rocks and moss and wind and sun and stars, then the knowledge just sits there in your head, dry-eyed and square; it doesn´t even help you to understand your environment better.

Someone made a comment in a previous blog : "I sat under the figtree, and I cried."

That is exactly what I mean.

Not because I am being sentimental about Mother Nature, but because if you don´t get involved, the whole of you, body included, in the feelings of awe and reverence that are evoked for example by monumental trees, then you don´t get the point.

For me, ecopsychology, deep ecology, ecofeminism, are all about the WOW!

Sensation, the bubbles in the stomach, the butterflies, the need to shed a tear or two. The blood that rushes. We have been so cut off from our own nature that it will be necessary to cry a lot before the body can relax in its own light, in its own right, and then, maybe it will be time to think about strategies and solar panels.

I like to repeat this. It´s not "Mother Nature" that we have rejected as an evolving species, it´s ourselves! The very web we are made of!...

And if you want to heal, don´t think for a moment that you will escape the pain of re-membering all the ways we have been litterally maimed, mutilated, cut off from our original belonging to the Web of Life.

Studying Ecopsychology is a good start, but also do try to get your feet out of your shoes, and start walking on the good earth.

Theodore Roszak, courtesy of Brother Google :

http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC34/Roszak.htm

"Grok" this last article, and you will grok what the Earth Sanctuary is all about!

A poem and another definition (taken from the first link provided herewith):

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes no.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
"Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver.

"Mary Oliver's poem has a lot to say about the relatively new approach to conservation called ecopsychology. Ecopsychology combines the human element from psychology, with the study of how biological systems work together from ecology. A more in depth explanation of ecopsychology is that it seeks to help humans experience themselves as an integral part of nature. When this is accomplished, humans can proceed to commit to "helping heal the earth, as well as healing ourselves". In the past, environmental action has consisted of scaring and shaming those who over consume or do not recycle, which proved to be quite ineffective. Ecopsychology, in contrast, attempts to create positive and affirming motivations, derived from a bond of love and loyalty to nature. "

Helping people to re-discover this bond is what our work is about, in an environment that is especially dedicated to this process.

Hug you, people!

:-)

The Wizard :

(Pic : "The Little oaks of Brocéliande (2005) are growing in Spain")

*Note* : At Samhain 2005 Mika and I went to a workshop/retreat, led by Philip Carr-Gomm, in Brocéliande. There we met the Old Forest for the first time...Oh blessed time!

Then we took a lot of acorns and planted them here in Spain. The pic shows the little oaks growing...As I used to say : "The Old Forest travelled in our pockets!"

Tuesday, June 1oth :

Sometimes people come to the Earth Sanctuary, and the first question they ask is...What can I DO (to help)?

That is so... not-it... at all!...

The real question is ...What can I BE?

THAT is the why and wherefore of the creation of this space.

What can we BE ? What can we be that we are not yet? What can we re-member of the pieces of ourselves that we lost? What could we be if we were free to do that ? What could we become if the space behind our eyes was freed from the suffocating struggle of "me" against "not-me"; the horrendous process of carving one´s niche in a world gone crazy, ga-ga, bonkers.

So maybe the first thing would be to sit down, right there under a tree, and consider, contemplate, just LISTEN to all the answers that will surely come up if you ask the right question.

What could I BE ?

And then - and only then - once you start to see the answers inside your own mind, once the answers to that question become clearer - please take the time to cry for a while. And you will want to cry - seeing all that you are NOT, and all the ways society has cut you to pieces. Maybe you will have the puzzle right there before your inner eyes from the very first; perhaps you will only get an inkling. Perhaps you will do that process in stages. Perhaps you are one of those thunderbeings that go boom-boom throwing lighning sparks into the velvety night. Any way you may choose - this is the right question and the right answer. Do look at the pieces, and let yourself become sensitive to how you could put them back together again. Then you will be on the right track, right there beside us who are already walking this Path.

And then...only then, maybe we will let you rake the patio, or cut the dry grass, or rebuild a wall. Or talk about permaculture and solar panels. Only then. Perhaps. The Earth Sanctuary is not about solar panels and ecology (though we might get interested in that too, of course, given the right circumstances). We do not "save the whales", you know, we save people, one by one, one precious soul cargo after another. People. We do not only plant leek and carrots, as essential as this task may be. We plant people. Lol. Because it´s the people who need to be "saved" nowadays, so crazy have we become as a race!

So, do sit down with a cuppa - and just look right ahead of you, relax, and ask yourself : What can I BE ?

See? You "grok", my friend? :-)

Treegod

There’s a cairn growing in Spain’s Prades mountains, each stone imbued with intent and meaning, giving focus to a place that in the human heart, my human heart, has a feeling of sacredness, of significance. Now, I do not know what the traditional significance of ancient cairns were but one thing I do know is what it means to me, my own personal significance.

My cairn is a place of focus, an anchor point for the human mind, to stop and think, and express a sacred feeling. Here, Nature isn’t just one anonymous environment amongst other anonymous environments. Here, the human mind sees or creates something special to focus the mind in Nature, where it recognises that it comes from Nature, that it is a part of Nature and that Nature is sacred.

(Images "Tsaktso II, Africa my heart cries for you", soul card Nr. 87, collage on cardboard,

and "Summer Solstice", soul card Nr. 88, collage on cardboard, Shakti G., June '07)

The Bliss-O-Meter :

Seen from a conventional angle, I have always been a little crazy, but as I grow into maturity, my craziness sits there and looks at me with baleful eyes...Do something 'bout me, or else!
Anyway, the other day Mika called me The Bliss-O-Meter, so it can´t be that serious, tee hee.

The Lady Dragon :

Zis is a vely vely fonny zing I kaught in zee Internet...

---------------------------------------

Euro- English :
Received the following important news article via email.

The EU Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy.

The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v". During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl.

;-)

Treegod

A "creation story" based on the Druidic realms of Annwn, Abred and Gwynvid.

From the beginning there has existed a great black cosmos, womb to a vast number of vast stars, swirling like a cauldron, that is called Annwn. At first life had not yet stirred, nor had consciousness and even order was in an infantile state, being born quite by accident.

Out of this though, another accident was born, one called Abred. In Annwn there was a cosmic decay, emanating energy which the young Abred learnt to feed off of and began to grow and adapt in Annwn. It found itself on lifeless planets where it adapted to land, sky and sea and then grew and diversified to form a living web of many beings that surrounded the planets. One of these, of importance to us, has been know by some of its inhabitants as Earth or Gaia.

Now some of the beings of Abred began dieing because they could not avoid the cosmic decay of Annwn. But although there bodies returned to Gaia, they were not lost for their energy would be taken up again by Abred to continue its existence. The dead of Abred left layer upon layer and Abred stood on top of this, growing, multiplying and diversifying, and also changing the very substance of sky, land and sea as it evolved. But here there was no conscious purpose directing its evolution, everything happened automatically, balanced between the inner impulses of Abred’s beings and the conditions of Annwn.

The beings of Abred developed many different attributes to survive both the decay of Annwn and their own part in the living web of Abred. Organs and senses were created and adapted in the aid of survival. Many parts for each creature, but one for some which could coordinate the organs and senses within the environment. This is the mind, within which lies the flame of Gwynvid, though it started as only a spark, if that.

One species though began to create a real fire within them. They weren’t remarkable, they weren’t very strong, nor fast, their senses were not acute and they lived as scavengers. But what they did have would change the world and make it what we know it as today. Within them Gwynvid grew and grew, it lit up their minds and with its fire they transformed their world through a brief transcendance of the limits of instinct and environment to plan and design with purpose, creativity and vision and so the pursuits of science and art were born.

But here the story does not end. These species, the ancestors of humans, had started the flame of Gwinvid growing in their minds, and it still flames now in our own minds. But we are far from finished, Gwynivd has still yet to fully manifest. Our lack of limits from instinct and environment has been a separation from the balance of Abred and at times we live in unbalanced excess when we do not nurture the flame of Gwynvid within us. Abred recoils at our stupid actions and has retaliated, at first to teach us, but one day to destroy us if we do not learn. Gwynvid at once, is our best quality if given good focus, but our worst if we let it burn unchecked. Now, in this time, it is crucial to create our own balance between Gwynvid and Abred, before Abred turns its wrath against us.

(Image : "Shamballa", Shakti G, collage on paper, 2005)

The Lady Wizard :

I listen to the Song of the Earth,

The little river babbles, the birds are happily chirping,

The wind-gong softly plays with the wind: klung - klang - kling...

Froggie down at the pool goes "kroiiiink",

The new doggie on the premise barks her heart away,

Mika is listening to Celtic music and the sound drifts up to my terrace.

Far far away I can hear the drone of the highway.

Elsewhere, bombs are falling.

Elsewhere there is a desert of sand and blood.

Elsewhere mothers are crying for their young sons, killed in senseless battles.

The guy comes up to me this morning and tells me, in awe : "I have been walking around, there is so much peace here, and it is...solid."

And I pray. Continually, I pray for the world.

Treegod

“Human beings were created to contemplate and reflect the universe. They are not themselves this great perfection, but are particles of perfection.” Cicero

“God is your mirror in which you contemplate yourself and you are His mirror in which He contemplates His divine attributes.” Ibn Arabi

“Through us, Gaia has seen herself from space, and begins to know her place in the universe.” James Lovelock

I thought I’d be explaining this concept but this time it’s come to me through a poem;

The Mind of Gaia

Gaia could see,
She could hear,
And smell, taste and touch
The creation of Herself.

Gaia created and created,
But none of Her creation She knew,
For She had no mind
With which to know Herself
Or the creation of Herself.

But then Gaia awoke,
As from sleep.
Her mind was born,
One like a shining mirror
For Her to reflect on Herself
And know Herself.

This mind wondered at the mystery it saw.
It created arts to express it wonder,
Sciences to explain its wonder
And religions to experience its wonder.

This mind called itself humanity,
For we humans are the infant mind of Gaia,
Still developing and evolving,
Still learning what it is
To be the mind of Gaia,
Still struggling to find a balance
With the power of this gift.

Great Gaia,
Through my mind know yourself,
Your wonder and mystery,
As it unfolds.
And also teach me to live with you
Not merely in you,
To know and respect
That I am a part of you
So that we may evolve together,
In harmony.

("Dragon Riders", Mika, watercolours)

Treegod (Adam):

Let me tell a story of one contemporary Druid's encounter with the past. It's Druidry dudes, but not as we know it. :)

Our "hero" is Fluffyfire Bambi (or Bob). He's been initiated into the Ancient Order of Tantric Wicca Neo-Druids and has risen through two grades (with a mysterious amount more to go).

Well, one day he's walking through an ancient woodland, which legend has it was the haunt of many Druids in ancient times. As he's feeling the strange, otherworldly energies he comes across a HUGE oak tree he's never seen before,
"That's strange, I'm sure it wasn't there yesterday."
So he approaches it and finds that there is a clearing surrounded by many Oak trees of the same size.
And standing at the centre, a man in a white robe holding a staff.

"Wow, a Druid, probably an ancient one, I'll go and talk to him. Excuse me."
But the Druid doesn't hear as he's concentrating on something...
Fluffyfire Bambi... stuff it, Bob then shouts for attention.
"EXCUSE ME!"
But the Druid jumps and swings his staff at Bobs head, "Go away! Don't do that to me, I'm deaf in one ear, fool!"

Bob feeling bad apologises but then says, "You didn't invoke peace did you? Otherwise you'd feel better."

"Peace?" says the Druid, "What use for peace have I when I planning to kill lots of romans?"

Bob's thought's are confirmed, he's meeting a real live ancient Druid. But talk of killing makes him queasy so he says "It's bad karma to kill, isn't it?"

"Karma? What on earth is that?" The confused Druid asks.

"It's like energetic justice, get what you give sorta thing. My Arch-Druid says that you can clear bad karma by chanting the Awen. Aaaaaaaoooooooweeeeennnnnn"

"A-what? Most peculiar thing I've ever heard." And the Druid scratches his head in confoundment.

"Maybe you use Imbas?"

"What's cutlery got to do with chanting?"

"Oh. Oh well." Then looking around and admiring the trees Bob says "Isn't Nature lovely?"

Thick with sarcasm the Druid answer "Oh yes, just peachy. Only last week it offered me the gift of a flooded home and last winter all my food got eaten by a greedy fat bear!"

"Oh dear. Still isn't Druidry wonderful?" And Bob confidently smiles .

"Wonderful? WONDERFUL!? I've spent 20 years training and all it's worth is "wonderful"! It's bloody hard work! It's bad enough that I failed my last exams and have to start over but then I get offered a measly "wonderful"."

"You failed?" Says our fluffy hero, "That shouldn't happen, I think your Arch-Druid is doing it wrong."

The Druids eyes bulge out and heat proclaims to high heavens "I am the Arch-Druid! I'd swing for yer if I weren't so old!"

"Calm down, we're all friends, just have faith in the Lord and Lady, pray to the gods and say hello to the fairies. That's what my friend says to chear me up."

Well poor mister Druid, he's almost blind with so much eye bulging.
"GODS! FAIRIES!! I'm an evangelical hard-core Atheist! Bloody gods...I've been trying to teach those bloody superstitious barbarian tribes they're deluding themselves and now you're telling me Druids have succumbed to this IDIOCY!"

The Druid starts a torrent of spitting, stuttering and growling until no more can he take and he launches himself at Bob.

"Love and Ligh...oof" Squeals Bob and the Druid keeps thrashing him.

"Make love not...YAAAARRRR! "Flip" it, I can only take so much." And so Bob responds in kind.

So we shall leave these two fellow Druids to their exchange of culture, I'm putting bets on the old Druid to win ;)

(Image : "The Guardian of Destiny", Shakti G., acrylics and watercolours, May '07)

Shakti :

Wind whooshing through the branches

Grandmother figtree leaning into the sun

Birds singing their aleluiahs

Green-hearted woman sitting here

Resting her weary bones

Awash with bliss

(May 29th, a green day, a good day)

(Image : Ways of the Wyrd, The Road to Xanadu, collage on paper, Shakti G., 2002. )

Shakti :

While Mika and Adam are taking Adam´s Mum, Fran, to one of those funny bars on the beach where you can get Spanish tapas (all kinds of little plates with strange-looking E.T (=tiny extraterrestrials with a lot of tentacles in hot sauces), I´m baby-sitting the doggies (and the chicken, and the bunnies) and exploring the Web on a chase about the concept of the Wyrd.
A simple definition :
"Wyrd literally means 'that which has turned' or 'that which has become'. It carries the idea of "turned into" in both the sense of becoming something new and the sense of turning back to an original starting point. In metaphysical terms, wyrd embodies the concept that everything is turning into something else while both being drawn in toward and moving out from its own origins. Thus, we can think of wyrd as a process that continually works the patterns of the past into the patterns of the present. "
Think of it as karma, but with the sense that one can actually change one´s wyrd by taking some kind of voluntary action. Fate is not something blind that happens to you, it is a weaving of factors, some of them being obligatory (if you are unconscious of them), and some of them you can transform by an act of awareness. (Why oh why didn´t you write that letter, that e-mail, that comment in our blog ???...Why didn´t you follow that hunch, see the sign, grok the synchronicity ?... See?)
Oh, that´s weird. Yes, it has become "weird", but a long time back it was your wyrd, meaning : your destiny.
I like that much much better than the concept of a wrathful God distributing gifts or chastising the believers.
Here you have an interesting article about the subject :
http://www.wyrdwords.vispa.com/heathenry/whatwyrd.html

Mmm... this is a wyrd-weaving post, if you catch my meaning.
;-)

http://www.wayofwyrd.com

Shakti the Wizard :
Sometimes I write around the corners, and sometimes I fly right off the page!
Sometimes I´m laughing while the words dance around my head like crazed bees...
Makes sense ? Of course. Well, this was one of those moments...
Get a-going, and keep straight on, the road has a lot of racy curves!...
Say it aloud, you´ll get a spin and end up giggling. It´s a metaphor, of course.
(Image : "Lothlorien-the-Beautiful", Mika G., 2007)
Metaphor : –noun
1. a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our God.” (def. 1).
2. something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else; emblem; symbol.
Wyrd: The word "Wyrd" is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and roughly corresponds to the concept of "karma" in Hinduism. Although wyrd can be personal it is often linked to whole families, tribes, and even races. Unlike Karma, it is not totally fixed. One can move within one's individual web of Wyrd in accord with the amount of consciousness one commands. The less conscious one is, the more one is subject to the seemingly random workings of Wyrd, in contrast to "orlog" which is impersonal and cannot be manipulated.
Alkymia of the Wyrd :…The Baba Yaga is chanting in the fragrant vapours while stirring the soup with a wooden spoon, her white hair all crazy about her face : The Old Iron Pot is floating on a tormented sea, Yeah yeah yeah. And then she goes on, smiling all the while, like the wild woman we know she really is…
"An alchemical vessel it is indeed, says Master Yoda who lives right next door. The fires of awareness are stoked every day in this very cauldron, carefully, tenderly tended to, the fires which gobble up inconsistencies and mash things with dark wings that go bump into the raging, raging night, - the lowlow fires that transform possibilities into good nourishment for the whole village, into soul-food for the hungry." Oof, say that again, Sam!
I´ll say so myself if you allow me to: the brew is savoury, to say the least. The kitchen team is rosy red most of the time (could it be for the tiny crystal cups of bubbly wine?). Anyway, they dance around the fires, breathing on the curly violet-orange-blue flames. More leek! More potatoes! More curry powder! …they call, taking turns with the spoon, sampling the creation with delight. But tchee, there always comes the moment when a tiny voice suddenly pipes up, chirping the dreaded : "Oh! I´m BOOOOOOOORED!..." , and then… … all the ravens fly off with a great whoosh, and we all start to shake in our boots, let´s try this, let´s do that, now a new adventure happens on the horizon, and the old Iron Pot goes a-floating into new waters, with a sky behind it like Turner´s paintings, all about the glory of the light.

The Old Pot´s Al-kymia is working again *sigh*, and the dark angels sort of pile on one another in a corner, all agog, and screaming away the daylights, - all the dark angels go RAOTKF (Rolling Around On The Kitchen Floor)!... Imagine, imagine, imagine! "Imaaaaaaaaaaaaa-gine all the peeeeeeeeeeee-ople…"…Oh oh oh!... Ah methinks it´s not the shiny new tools that will save our day, but the patched, recycled, mended, bumpy Old Faithful – tried this way and that by time and eeeeeeeeeek-spee-rience. Brewing the right mix, the mix "just right" as Goldilocks says, salt, curry, savoury celery, and the exact hidden ***Magik*** ingredient that gives the brew its smooth, smoother, smooziest consistence in town! Brace yourselves, Thrones and Glories. Here come the gnomes, and the trolls, and the fairies – all the little precious ones! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah - breathe in, the spicy savoury (((("vibration"))))… Mwahahahahahahaha Come on, come ON, do inhale, DO, lol!
Post Scriptum – The so-called Dark Angels are "dark" only because they don´t have any sense of RHY-ZZZ-M – babbedee babbeda – babbedoo... doo! ;-)
It rains on the plains in SpainZ…And the Spanish Armada goes a-floating near the Old Iron Pot, just to have a see; a see, you see, a siege, a seat to see the company of dragon riders that swallow innocent people whole, and spit out the bones, good people that they are! Whoa.
...And the Baba Yaga, half screeching crone and half Jedi-knight, she still has some life in her tired bones, after all!

That. Was. A. Metaphor. If you´ll pardon me.
The Dragon Lady, Upstairs.
;-)

(Image : "Grand-Mother at Sunset", pic Shakti G.)

Shakti :


Last week I restored Faerie Corner.
You see, once upon a time there was a nice place between two small pine trees, with a clump of ivy and tiny white stones, that I simply "knew"...Mmmmm....this is a Faerie Corner, no doubt about it! I have a knack for discovering these places.


I don´t really know what it is. This one was very, very small - the tiniest crack between two stones, there was some grass and a bit of moss, but the air feels somewhat different, there is a shimmer, a vividness, a tinkle to it, concretely in this one, it had something very special... And then someone moved a fence, moved the stones to make a place for tools or something, and the tiny corner disappeared! Heeew, I was disappointed! This person has now moved on, and last week I went back to clean that garden, and found the corner there. A bit awry, you understand, all sad and abandoned, lots of dead leaves, but it called to me, hey you, big person, would you please clean up the place? So I did, very carefully, restoring the tiny corner of Faerieland. I cut the dead grass, took out the dead leaves, raked the space, watered it, gently touched the remaining ivy, transmitting my nwyfre, my energy, my connection with the sacred land, and generally prayed for it to come back, back, back...as it was before.


This morning as I passed by close, the grass was singing softly: there was a smile, a ripple about it as if the fairies waved their little hands, and you could hear the faintest giggle coming through the carpet of ivy.


Now before you say "are ya mad", I will own that I don´t see fairies, only through the eyes of my heart...is that not where they really exist ? *smile*

The world in the eyes of my dog...

Mika ? See yourself reflected in Kayla´s eye ?

You gotta love this pic!

(Image : "Tree Dragon, Adam Brough, watercolours)

(Article authorized by the author)

Mika :
"A thing is about to happen which has not happened since the Elder Days: the Ents are going to wake up and find that they are strong."
The world that J. R. R. Tolkien describes in 'The Lord of the Rings' is a world where Nature has a great power, great enough even to face and fight the Enemy. Environment in 'The Lord of the Rings' is a key to every different adventure and it is as present as any other main character. Landscapes, lakes, mountains and trees all have their own names in the different languages of Middle-earth, and some even revered by nearby peoples.
In the eternal struggle between good and evil, Nature is on the side of good. The different realms of Middle-earth fight against Mordor, a dark deserted place where no green thing grows. One of the strongest and most unexpected enemies Sauron finds is the Shire, a green land whose inhabitants dwell in peace and happiness. There is a great power in the Shire, as Gandalf says in 'The Fellowship of the Ring', though what exactly that power is we do not know. However, it is certain that the Shire's calmness, and the way its inhabitants respect and work with the environment, is a strength more powerful than bravery or pride. Nature is not just seen as important to hobbits, for if we look at the Elven Realms we find no less admiration and respect for it. The Elves, one of the highest beings in Middle-earth, have a deep link with their environment. Greenwood the Great, or Mirkwood as was known after Sauron came to Dol Guldur, largest of the woods of Middle-earth; Rivendell, the dwelling of Elrond where houses, bridges and roads were made to fit and blend in with Nature; and Lothlórien, the fairest place in Middle-earth. Indeed in the Golden Wood, the elves' close relationship with Nature reaches its peak, for the Galadhrim live actually in the trees, huge golden trees called 'mellyrn'. It is even said that Lothlórien is reminiscent of the garden of the Vala Lórien in Valinor. Valinor, of course, also has a deep connection with Nature, with its two most beloved and revered things having been two trees, Laurelin and Telperion, which shed both golden and silver light that bathed and lit the beauty of the land.
But what about Dwarves and Men? Dwarves are more drawn to stoneworking and smithcraft than the joy of Nature, and not all Men seem too concerned about it either. Stone cities such as Minas Tirith or Osgiliath show us the distance between humans and Nature, but yet it is true that the people of Rohan do show somewhat more of a connection, but still in no way as much Elves or Hobbits. But there are indeed fair places among the dwellings of men, such as Ithilien or the plains of Rohan. Indeed, if we look closer, while Minas Tirith is built of stone, the most sacred thing that lies within the city is a tree, the White Tree of Gondor, seed of Nimloth of Númenor, descended from Telperion of Valinor.
Another race of Middle-earth that is deeply related to Nature are the Eldest of beings of Middle-earth, the Ents, the shepherds of the Trees. These are wonderful living things, walking, talking trees who protect the forests of Middle-earth, peaceful and wise, not very drawn to adventures or wars, and as much alike to hobbits than to any other being in that aspect. But as kind and quiet as the Ents may be, if they are roused they can be terrible and they will fight fearlessly to protect the trees and forests. So it was in the War of the Ring, where the least expected stroke that fell on Saruman was given by the Ents who flooded Isengard and revenged their dead kin, trees that Saruman had fallen and thrown into the fires of Isengard.
But not everything could manage to endure the evilness of Mordor, even when its Lord was destroyed. The beauty and the peace of the Shire was damaged by Saruman, and trees fell and rivers polluted, but even here Nature wins again, for what was the gift of Galadriel to Sam? A tiny seed, not very useful it seemed to the hobbit for the long and perilous journey ahead, but it was that seed that gave life again to the Shire. And what was once was green and full of life started to become so once again. Tolkien disliked allegories and did not want his work compared to any real topic of his time. We won't now compare Sauron and Saruman with the rise of industry and modern technologies, but we can learn a lesson from Tolkien's work - respect for Nature and for living things, for they are all older than we are and they have endured more than we will all ever endure.
And to quote Professor Tolkien: "Every tree has its enemy, few have an advocate. In all my works I take the part of trees against all their enemies". Now, if only we would all play the part of an advocate for Nature, maybe we would regain a glimpse of the Shire or Lothlórien in our own woods.
(Researched and written by Annúnagar, CoE)

(Image : "Imbolc", Shakti G.)

Treegod (Adam) :
Hello All,

I created this blog for my Grove of Quotes blog. Here I start with some quotes then explain and express a view that's flying round my head. I might not put all of these blogs here, but if it's important it may make a show ;)

“This tendency to abstraction may be irreversible, because education today is only concerned with the conscious. The teacher delivers his knowledge the same way a waiter brings a drink to a customer. He has to feed pupils with the official programme. The thing that matters is the programme, not the teacher.” Itsuo Tsuda

“I thought the purpose of education was to learn to think for yourself.” John Keating (Robin Williams) in Dead Poets Society

“In the space age the most important space is between the ears.” Thomas J. Barlow

“Genius is the ability to put into effect what is in your mind.” P. Scott Fitzgerald

We humans have come a very long from the days we used to swing around trees, barking or howling against competitors and for mates. We’ve created ethics, we’ve invented arts and sciences to reflect our awe and curiosity at the world, we’ve overcome standing on the razors edge of survival and spread all over the world building great cities with great cultures. Yes, we’ve come a long way... or have we?

Well yes, we have come a long way, it’s true but at the same time we’ve got a long way to go. Each human is made of the same stuff, mostly, we’ve all come from the same evolutionary tree so we have, or should have, the same potential for genius. I’m not just talking about intellectual, university type of genius but also emotional, spiritual, physical etc.

But when you walk down a town or cities street is it full on creative geniuses? No, it seems people have forgotten something vital to human life. People seem to have ditched in human quality for human quantity, people are more human doings rather than human beings. We´ve built something and then lots of humans started thinking “that’s it.” I beg to differ, we’re still in the developing process and always will be as evolution never stays still.

We have a great piece of biological technology encased in our skulls which the average person only uses 10% of and “geniuses” use up to around 20%, not because they’re born with a “special” gift but because they nurtured something that is in the human mind already. Look at it this way (analogy time), the brain is a type of dragon which can roar, breathe fire and fly but all it gets taught to do is maybe breathe a little smoke and then spends the rest of its life in some life-sucking beauracracy career where it acts as little more than a paper-weight or door-stop! Do you see my point?

The education system doesn’t let anyone nuture the “inner-dragon” of genius and if it does, it’s often by accident. Instead it feeds the brain with information that it only has to passively accept, without any great effort on its part. It’s a bit like todays dominant form of pleasure the tv, a lot of programmes you just have to sit and watch with no thought. All furniture in the house is no doubt facing the tv, where once upon a time social activity was based around the hearth.

When you’re sitting around a fire, you can’t just passively sit there hoping to get entertained, you have to entertain yourself and others. Around fires people get bored with nothing so they start talking, then singing and playing games and even inventing new things to play, sing and talk about. When I sit by a fire with others I can imagine why the fire of the gods is equated with intelligence because its here where we have room to sit and think and become “divinely inspired” by our thoughts.

Education in most schools consists of giving information to students as though students are just computers to be programmed. They’re given a lot of information but not the skills to be able to use that knowledge. Often people leave the education system not knowing what to do with life so instead go for the easy option to just earn money and not much else. But us humans can be quite spectacular if we can really experience our own potential.

One friend of mine who was trained in a Native American tradition told me that a rare but possible totem was the human totem. A person with a human totem is someone that embodies problem solving. The trait that all humans have to one degree or another is the ability to solve problems. Where most animals see things and reacte automatically, human can make a space inside their minds to imagine something in many different ways to see if there’s any new way of seeing it. But this isn’t something that can be taught passively, but one that each person has to develop for themselves or to “think for ourselves” as one of our quotes say.

One thing is that intellect is severely undermined. It’s usually seen as something that retains information and explains things in a dry, rational way. But to me it is more creative than that, it is not just about knowing and explaining, it also produces abstract thinking and problem solving. To me creative intellect is something that takes experience and knowledge into the imagination to use them in new and innovative ways.

One animal that also has such a trait, to what extent noone knows exactly, is the dolphin. There was a series of experiment where a dolphin had to come up with new and creative behaviour which of course they couldn’t know except by the clue of rewards. In the end their behaviours became so complex that the scientists couldn’t even keep track of it.

But this isn’t about the intelligence of other animals, this is about human intelligence. We’ve become a very innovative species, our whole world and its landscapes have been transformed because we have created so many different ways of living. Of course some of these are having adverse affects with things like global warming, deforestation and the destruction of habitats.

I don’t believe human intelligence did this, human intelligence is more intelligent than that. Our technologies and cultures were created by intelligent people; geniuses, revolutionaries and visionaries but they are maintained by people who haven’t developed the mental tools to cope with our modern abilities and opportunities, our ethics don’t always match our sciences.

The future of humanity lies in the new generations. The concept of a better humanity is not something far off but one that lies with the new generations, if we let it and our best means of doing that is through education. Instead of “restaurant schools”, as Tsuda might have said, we should find alternative ways of education, it doesn’t have to be a posh school, maybe home-schooling. We need new education that gives the students the initiative to become self-learned and self-directed individuals, where people can learn to direct their own lives and know where they’re going instead of relying on societies and governments that themselves don’t have a common purpose.

I want to see a better world, with better people, deeper people. I want people using the potential that lies within them. So first I’m going to work on myself, learning to be self-directed and interested in my life and its potential. Then I’ll find what opportunities I can to pass my experience onto other people. And then... well the skys the limits I guess ;)

("Forest in my Pocket", watercolours, Mika G.)

Treegod (Adam) :

One of my favourite films, funny, intelligent and inspirational has to be the Dead Poet’s Society with Robin Williams. I’d recommend anyone to see it. It’s all about a very strict American boarding school called Welton whose “pillars” are Tradition, Honour, Discipline and Excellence. Although the students call the school “Hellton” and describe the four pillars as Travesty, Horror, Decadence and Excrement. Basically an unorthodox teacher comes, played by Robin Williams and starts causing “trouble” by the standards of other teachers and parents, although as we shall see, he just wanted to inspire the students to live their own life!

Here’s a link describing it; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Poets_Society

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived … I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner…"

This is the original quotation they adapted for the film by Henry David Thoreau. The whole film was about carpe diem, latin for seize the day, which is also emphasised in the quote above. Suck the marrow isn’t at all morbid, it just means live life because it’ll soon be taken away. To not let life pass you by but to grasp it and take up every bit of it that you can. A wasted life is no life at all!

Also it’s about noncomformity. In the movie, most of the students are put into Welton because their parents make them go, it’s their parents that decide the life and career they will lead. One student finds he has a passion for acting but his father abhors the idea and wants him to become a doctor and so forces is son not to do any acting, although the son rebels!

No, I can’t live someone elses life, that’s their responsibility, if someone else hasn’t lived their life why should they stop me from living mine? I’ve got to live my own responsibility and make my life unique and extraordinary and “suck out all the marrow of life” and so once again we come full circle back to carpe diem!

Here’s some quotes by Robin Williams character John Keating I found here; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097165/quotes These really are inspirational, but don’t just read these, watch the movie! And don’t just watch the movie, live life!!!

“No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.”

“They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? - - Carpe - - hear it? - - Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.”

“Sucking all the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone.”

“I thought the purpose of education was to learn to think for yourself.”

“Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation." Don't be resigned to that. Break out!”

(Image : "Faeries & Goblins", Altered Book)
Hello! I´m the third part of the Lothlorien-Nemeton Seed-Group.
I´m the Wizard of Lothlorien (my blog is in the Links), and an Ovate with OBOD.
I´m also Mika´s Mum, for those who know her, so I live at the Earth Sanctuary, with Mika, my other daughter, Blondie (yes, a nickname!), Adam (Treegod), three dogs, cats, chicken, bunnies, and a community of a thousand trees!
I´m a trained therapist (psychosynthesis), an artist (Altered Books & Artist Trading Cards) and a aspiring Druid.


I´ll be writing here too, so...see you soon!

A couple of posts ago we showed you this fence but unfinished because the gate wasn't built yet.

Here is the gate now finished and so the fence is ready to keep boar out.

Mission accomplished!

That and also another fence on the other side of the garden to keep them from coming up.

Mission doubly accomplished!
*grin*

PS: We shall show you that second gate as well in a future post.