Silver Maple

Wherein UU Energy 101 is delivered

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 02:10:43 GMT

I woke up early and put the final touches on the presentation and then nearly twice forgot to bring the script. I wasn't on first, so I did a sitting meditation session ahead of my slot that was exactly the right thing to do - settle in, do alignments and pray (a lot). I have never taught this type of course before so I wasn't sure how it would go.

The flow was pretty much as I previously described. The energy ball went well and folks got into the fun of it. My wife reminded me again that I should let someone else do anything related to rhythm (referring to the counts for the breathing meditation) I won't go into how the class worked since there are privacy issues. I will say that when we did the personal bubble check, my wife noticed that mine had about doubled in size which was confirmed by someone experienced in energy work. So, I suspect that I was getting a little help here and there as we got smoothly to the finish we almost no rough spots.

It was a good experience and I definitely want to try it out again. Everyone can relate to trees so there are no barriers (like having to believe in 9 auric shells ruled by archangels or something).

Energy 101

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:13:32 GMT

Our church is having a "Quiet Day." It was instituted under the leadership of our former MRE Ellen Jennings who moved on to become a parish minister at a UCC church in DC. The idea is to have a number of chill activities for folks to participate in and leave more centered and relaxed.

In a fit of madness, I offered to do a beginning energy work workshop culminating with a tree meditation. I am scheduled to do this 3 times of 50 minutes each. What this means is that I'll likely have small groups for each time, so we can work more informally.

So, here is my idea for an outline:

Do an intro about what we're going to be doing and then explain why I'm not going to define energy.
Do a warm up exercise with the invisible ball. Find the ball's size throw it up and catch it not letting it hit the ground. Concept is to show that something really intangible can be treated tangibly.
Breathe - Brief intro along the lines of breath is the blood of spirit. Simple breathing - in 4, hold 4, out four, rest four repeat.
Warm-up - finding energy field near the skin. Run hand over arms about an inch away from the skin.
Warm-up - Finding personal bubble. Not going into explanation auric shells, but just providing an understanding of our personal energy field. Work in pairs. Do a check in first for anyone who might feel uncomfortable with this.
If not raining walk outside and do a circumambulation around a tree, using the skills from steps 4 and 5. Maybe pick up some mugwort.
Breathe - Learn how to breathe into a spot. Breath into center on the 4 count.
Breathe - Move towards the tree meditation with some bits stolen and modified. Imagine the tree. Breathe into the physical body. Breathe into the roots. Breathe into the trunk. Breathe into the leaves.
Finish Part 1 - Breathe into roots. It is Spring and the sap rises with your breath, through the trunk into the leaves reaching toward the Sun of Summer. It is Fall, Leaves fall, blessing the Earth. Sap flows down through the trunk and into the roots. Repeat a few times.
Finish Part 2 with arm movements - Same breath and visualizations but this time arms trace hour energy space reaching up to the sun and falling with the Fall.
Wrap up.

Obviously I'll need to work on the wordings (and I dearly wish I had Ellen as a sounding board), but this is where I am now.

Kiva free trials

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:57:51 GMT

Kiva seems to be offering $25 to be applied to loans for new supporters. Kiva provides funding to a large array of microlenders who then lend to an array of clients throughout the world. Kiva does not make any profit on loans, but asks for a donation on each loan. There is also the opportunity to join the lending group Wiccans, (neo) pagans, witches and others to show pagans making an impact in the world. So, be careful of what user name you choose:-) This seems to be a win-win on the surface, so take a look and follow if you are interested.

Teachers

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 02:44:32 GMT

Driving in Sunday morning with my wife, I was remembering an incident that Thorn Coyle recounted and then said "As written in the Parables of Thorn" and we both laughed. She does have that effect on me, but it got me thinking about all the other teachers I've had, some whose names are lost who have made a tremendous impact on my life. So apropos of nothing, I'm going to list them:

-Mrs. Hart, 2nd grade who figured out that I did not belong with the turtles but moved me up to the bluebirds.
-Mrs. Craig, 3rd grade who was genuinely kind and caring.
<long gap>
-Candidai Tirumalai - English lit - who gave me a template for brilliance - always lecturing without notes, his ideas - perfectly formed, fresh and golden.
-Ralph Slotten - a religion professor who cared about religions and wanted to experience them all with his students:-)
-Charley Donaghy - co-worker who showed me that reality was plastic but also that the important thing was to play your own game.
-<Lost Name> NLP teacher - my first instructor in magic even though everyone pretended it was science
-Paul Carter, student of Milton Erickson - a single crystalline moment of such force that it took me 6 month to recover from hearing "Depression is not feeling up or down, depression is not feeling"
-Ali S. - Who taught me the power of the story and the power of the teller
-Emma Restall Orr - her words filled me with hot desire to learn and experience - I think of myself as a druid because of her druidry. Alas I never met her.
-R. J. Stewart - cranky, unreadable, brilliant - I read one of his books, say to myself WTF, and then months later what it means dawns on me.
-Thorn Coyle - the real deal and I rarely say that about anyone. Her teaching is stretching me in every direction.

There are others who provided small magics, but these are the ones who supported the life changes that I was ready for.

self possession - thorn coyle workshop

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 02:55:08 GMT

Introductions around the room this Saturday and we actually had 3 druids - ADF, OBOD and Keltrian/BDO. 6% is probably a new indoor record for any gathering I've been to yet that wasn't specifically OBOD. This time my wife came along, a bit apprehensive about high woo, but having had previous experience with Thorn and wanting to share this with me instead of hearing second hand. What happened in the next day and a half, except for some moments, is a blur, but a good blur.

Thorn's teaching style is very spartan. There is enough background to get concepts across but no bogging down in correspondences or planes or auric shells. The work is soul alignment and with diligence and grace, soul alignment leads to self-possession.

One person asked the question of why self-possession mattered. It was a good question, since there are years of work ahead and no guarantees of success. The answer is going to be different for everyone because each of us is coming from a different space. Perhaps we desire to be invulnerable or paradoxically more vulnerable. Perhaps we have a warrior's heart or want to live work and act from the heart of compassion. Each true individual mission has its own importance, but the method is the same - to align our animal, human and divine souls together with the blessing of the divine to implement our true will.

What this workshop did in a day and a half was to provide a taste of that space for a moment or longer to act as a template - so that when we experienced this space, we would know what it was. Lots of preparation, chanting, drawing, using pendulums, talking - rinse and repeat. Last night we did ritual to pull it together.

What can I say about last night's ritual? How we got from zero to lightspeed is part of the mystery. I can say that Thorn is a master teacher, centered in her pathmaking - working is too weak a term. I can say that there was a level of willingness and honesty in the room that fueled the engine of the ritual. But for each of us there was this final struggle of essentially drawing down ourselves and we could only finally do that by ourselves.

Early on, I realized that I was not aligned. My diagnostic- do I feel judgmental? (yes) can I see that everyone is doing the best they can? (no) was coming up with all the wrong answers. I asked one god what I needed and it was to plant a seed (echoed by drawing Ur the next day). I asked another and it was to have my flesh ripped apart. I took something that Thorn said as I faced the Peacock Angel and held in my left hand my absolute failure (that I was near realizing) and in my right hand I held divinity that I could barely believe in and stayed in that space. As I did, the space of judgment faded and everyone, including me, was doing the best that they could. From that point, I could reach up and draw down myself.

Sunday reinforced Saturday. We danced, we sang, we pendulumed, we talked. I was clearly in altered space and recommitted to practice and sleep (which will happen shortly). Thorn mentioned erynn999's excellent translation of the Cauldron of Poesy. Hugs and goodbyes. The goodbye with Thorn had few words but the energy exchange was intense, a seal and blessing.

Mugwort note;

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 12:08:54 GMT

Last weekend went wandering around the countryside with a friend of similar inclinations. She had much the same conclusions, that mugwort seems to create its own field. I can characterize it better now. Instead of looking at things, I see everything in sort of a Pan-panorama.
More on Thorn class later - it's still in process.

thorn coyle this weekend.

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 03:29:25 GMT

My wife and I are both going to the Thorn Coyle workshop this week in DC. Looks like there will be a good sized group with some folks that I know and some that I don't. Same deal with 12 hours (with lunch and dinner breaks) on Saturday and a half day Sunday. Really looking forward to this as working with her is always intensive.

Mr. Mugwort short take

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 02:07:31 GMT

Stopped in the park on my way home for a sprig of Mr. Mugwort for ritual tonight. Did I get up too fast out of the car or were there visual shifts as I approached the site beside the daffodils? This time I placed the sprig on the car seat next to me instead of inserting it into a buttonhole. Better safe than sorry, wort.

Short adventure with Mr. Mugwort

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 22:58:54 GMT

Linda Rago's deep herbalism class had this nice little interlude with mugwort. Mugwort can help journeying in dreams or otherwise. So for the pathworking to fae plant land, we each took a sprig of mugwort and held it in our hands. Out for my walk yesterday, I stopped and took a sprig and tucked it into a buttonhole for later experimentation. Mr. Mugwort had a different idea. As I walked back, things began to get very, very slow which I first ascribed to being out of shape. But then everything started getting brighter. The sky was bluer. The sunshine was more golden. Dead beech leaves looked really, really attractive against that blue sky. I started to get what was going on and just went with it. Lasted about a half a mile. I felt sleepy and sort of hung over the rest of the day.
Linda says that the hillbilly tradition, of which she is a part (along with Reclaiming) holds that you should know a plant a year and a day before you attempt to use it. She also says that any plant can heal any condition. Since I've been paying attention to Mr. Mugwort for two years now I think we will try some meditations and see where they go.

And in further news from the Sacred Space Conference

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 23:01:38 GMT

I seemed to have specialized in Ivo Dominguez, Jr. this year attending 3 of his classes. Overall, over half of the classes I took were from the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel (ASW) , a ceremonial magic twinged wicca. They were universally good. Having access to deep resources would be a real plus, but I have no commitment at all to wicca, so it could be tough to join up. I'm putting that on the backburner for awhile and see where it goes.

Ivo's classes are strong on both theory and practice. He is very cognizant of the fact that many of the students are leaders in their respective organizations, so there are quite a number of leader pragmatics thrown in too. What I find with his courses is that they percolate along in my subconscious and then I find a connection that is useful.

I've gone in depth on the bindstar and Morrigan ritual. The other highlight was Linda Rago's spiritual plant workshop. Of all the folks who presented, I was most in tune with her approach. For Linda, plant spirits are fae that want to help. Her visualizations were precise, gentle and effective. I only wished that I could have stayed longer in one of them as I was having quite a good time.

There were two real issues with this years conference that have been getting worse with each successive year. As much as I truly like the ASW folks, we have lost significant diversity since 2008. There was almost no classes that were not part of the Western Magical Tradition. No vodun, no Santeria, no Norse, no celtic reconstructionist (I am specifically not counting the ogham class), no strange Christian classes. Even worse was the move toward sit and soak. For me the ritual work is the most important part of the experience. If you were not into vodun trance possession the number of ritual experiences was tiny.

But, it is the only large game in town and it is great to reconnect with people I rarely see otherwise. It is not without dividends, but it could be so much more.

Bindstar of Protection

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 22:02:24 GMT

I have had no interest in ceremonial magic. Druidry is a minimalist spirituality, the minimum being you and maybe a candle (indoors) or something green (outdoors). Yes there is quarter casting and yes there are some neat walking patterns, but no dramatic choreographed arm waving. And so it was with some shock, that I encountered the Bindstar of Protection.

In sparse description, it is a newly developed form that uses both a pentagram and directions that are cast NS, EW. It is drawn in the air in a doorway (liminal space) which for the purposes of demonstration was defined by two chairs. The order that the pentagram is drawn determines which element it is aligned with.

Our instructor was Leane. I first met Leane in a Thorn Coyle mini-workshop in 2009 when we were paired up for an exercise that involved diverting violent intent (!). I was impressed then with how she did not hold back either on the giving or receiving side. We reconnected at another Thorn event this October which she had organized. So, I was positively inclined to check out her class even though it was 9AM on daylight saving time Sunday.

The history of this casting started with a simple protect-the-house intent and then mutated into something else. Leane worked on it with elders from the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel - fine tuning it over some years. It became, as she said, more of a filtration than a ward, but I'm not sure how to interpret that. Whatever it is, the result is remarkable.

Well at first I wasn't sure that it was remarkable as the earth bindstar felt like a weak membrane. All around me the visual types were remarking on color and lens qualities and me, the Otherworldly blind one, was getting not much. But the fire bindstar was another story. I asked whether it was allowed to reach with hands since I'm a toucher and not a seer generally. Leane was fine with it so I slowly felt my way into the space. This was very, very different than the first bindstar. The word plasma comes to mind or the corona of the sun during a total eclipse. I was really getting into the space, but began to get the idea that staying in the middle of the casting for too long might not be good for my health. (Leane's husband had said something about "prana drain"). As I started moving out of the casting it literally pushed me clear. Or as Leane put it, the casting is highly directional:-)

Similar things but lighter with the water and air bindstars. The water bindstar was salt - not salt to taste, but the salt that an experienced chef smells and totally immersive - except that I could breathe it sort of. The air bindstar seemed like being in pure aether, heady cool and detached.

Was it real? There is always the possibility of group think, but the group thinkers were talking visually and I was experiencing each of the elements, strongly or weakly as a physical sensation. Is it meaningful? Not sure what it's good for yet, but here is a repeatable phenomenon of real power that may be useful in the world of healing. It may be time to learn more about the technology of magic?

Morrigan ritual - wherein I get my ass kicked

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 12:17:59 GMT

The Sacred Space Conference is underway. I reconnected with folks I had not seen for two years and with some folks who I met last October. So far I seem to be specializing in Ivo Dominguez, Jr. But Ivo is more of a sit and soak presenter so yesterday afternoon I participated in a Morrigan ritual.

The celebrant, Maggi Setti, is a young priestess from northern New Jersey with a strong reputation in the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel. She certainly had the right level of intensity, warning all gathered outside that the Morrigan does not put up with bs, takes things to the bone and does not offer solace. The black garbed priests with serious weaponry enforced this idea as their blades poked towards unprotected necks.

My memories of what followed are somewhat time distorted from here to the end. Did the daubs of mixed ochre and something red and sticky precede the calling of directions? I am pretty sure that the daubs were before our ritual death but what we did in between is hazy.

On arrival at Her space, we named our fears and wallowed in them. An uath fest, the wolf that is inside. Screams and yowls erupted from and around me as our separateness dissolved into a pool of dread. And then the three bowls of blood (?) or something else red and sticky to stare into. And I saw the white tomato worm that eats my time and life growing constantly bigger and I knew for sure one of my shadows.

Maggi brought us back assuring us that where there is will rebirth can follow death. From the ogam, it is ur, the death, burial and at the same time planting of a seed. Planting a seed is always an act of hope.

UU Pagan Survey

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 04:53:10 GMT

Just filled out the UU Pagan Survey. If you are UU and a pagan or somesuch it is important as it will go into a pamphlet about UU paganism that the UUA might publish. Fill it out if you even thought you were a UU sort of:-) as it may help those of us fighting against the judeochristianlite tide.

Early spring

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 03:41:56 GMT

Yes, the picture is accurate. Tree pollen season has arrived in February, the earliest in memory for the DC area. Flotilla's of robins are out getting their worms. Crocuses are blooming and even a wayward daffodil close to a south facing wall. Our heating bill is amazingly low and we will shortly be getting money back. Dare I dream that spring is really here and there will be no more snow?

Return to prayer

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:01:31 GMT

I am prone to a particular type of spiritual failing. In trying to synthesize the Universal Field Theory of All Spirituality (UFTAS) I end up really mucking things up. So it might be possible to imagine Reiki, the downward flow from RJ Stewart's Rising Light Below exercise, and Thorn Coyle's triple soul alignment Sacred Dove as the same thing . But in combining them, I lost any spiritual content completely.

It took a short encounter with a new working group to help me realize this. When asked whether my practice was serving my purpose, I did not have a clear answer. So I went back to basics - prayer, being grateful for what Brigid had done for me and asking for the heart of compassion. And my prayer was answered in Brigid's usual direct and highly efficient way. I was simply to imagine every human being I encountered as a 6 year old - whether the real child of the past, the current child inside the man or woman or the child who yet could be. When I did this, my entire perception changed and it became impossible to be judgmental - one of the signs of the heart of compassion at least for me. And when it was working strongest, I sensed Her presence behind my right shoulder as I did 3 years ago.

I'm not sure where this is going yet, but waking up praying is a much better space than pondering UFTAS and for the moment that will be enough.

Preaching after multiple delays

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:40:57 GMT

Two years ago, it was deep snow that caused a cancellation of my sermon. Last year it was an administrative meltdown. In spite of being thoroughly unhappy about both events, I am now grateful. I completely rewrote the sermon (now retitled as Reenchanting the Land) and refocused on the need to provide the congregation with some Ways to approach the power within the Land. The Way of the Healer, The Way of Observation, the Way of Self-Knowledge, the Way of Prayer, and the Way of Service. Really just a few paragraphs on each, but enough to make the point.

I was equally blessed to have a music director, Michael, who completely got where I wanted to go. Beautiful and complicated music including lots of Jim Scott (a UU who cowrote the Missa Gaia) and Unbroken Chain which I had requested. It was Michael's birthday and he decided he wanted to solo Unbroken Chain - just stunning.

So, while it all would have been fine two years ago and maybe better last year, this year was perfect - proving once again that things that seem like obstacles may actually be blessings in disguise.

Should anyone be interested in the text - send me email and weather you can read MS Word 2007 format.

Reenchanting the Land, the sermon

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:11:55 GMT

Two years ago, my imbolg sermon for the our church was snowed out. Last year it was descheduled due to an administrative snafu. Looking at it this year, I'm glad I have another crack at it for it is not where I currently am in my spiritual life. I knew roughly want I wanted to do, but had no clear way of ending it for a mixed audience with diverse spiritual beliefs and non-beliefs. So last night I prayed to Brighid that the work should be a part of healing the world and 4:30 I woke up with most of the answer. By 5:15 I was out of bed and typing and the goal is now in sight.

The six year old in all of us

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:41:42 GMT

Holy Brighid!
May I see the child in every human being.
The child who was
The child who is
The child who still could be.

And when I do see that smiling six year old, She is over my right shoulder, a constant blessing.

Jewel and rose

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:00:04 GMT

And the gift was a vision of my heart containing a dark red jewel and that sure knowledge that it should bud and bloom - a rose.

State of the state

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 16:34:07 GMT

(now with selected icons after some workarounds)

The good news is that daily practice is happening and there is time each day to do healing work. Daily practice usually involves reading (Kissing the Limitless - T. Thorn Coyle at the moment) and then working through energy exercises. I generally feel energy moving around in a useful way and apply it to healing. The healing work is mainly for distant friends but sometimes others (human and not) show up and are supported. The energy is mixed - green and fey from the Earth and white-gold reiki from God Herself. After years of awkwardness both flows seem to be working together.

There is also resistance and sabotage. There is part of me that does not want to go down this path and part of me that does. I'm Jungian, NLPian (and now Thornian) enough to see this as an opportunity to know, understand and reframe the conflict into a useful collaboration. This sounds more comfortable than it is. More than once I've found myself up way too late caught in trivialities and then being too exhausted to work well in the morning. But after work, I pull things together, practice and heal.

Understanding the nature, the "who" of the saboteur is non-trivial. There is not an obvious alternative direction and he/she/it has been dead silent at times when spiritual progress was being made. I've made a few guesses, but nothing has come to the forefront yet. I am pretty sure that we are talking internal instead of external though.

On another note, I've connected with a small working group that seems aligned with my style and has an explicitly stated spiritual healing mission. I had met the leader a few years ago and ran into her again at the Thorn Coyle workshop and enjoyed hearing where she et al were heading. As a bit of synchronicity, we both independently put a tree with a heart into our mission-specific tarot cards at the workshop. I'm taking this as a positive sign.

LJ posting issue - any thoughts?

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 16:33:10 GMT

So I'm trying to work on a post and I get a totally new screen that does not let me select a picture icon for the post. I begin wondering if the Russians are hacking LJ again to protect the oligarchs. I then try a 3rd party editor which not only crashes, but then disappears from my computer. I am feeling snakebit at this point. Friends - if anything bizarre appears on your accounts or email from me (different from my normal bizarre) please assume that I have been hacked and tell me so that I can take corrective action with my account.

Never too late for a happy childhood . .

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 15:14:48 GMT

I have owned Thorn Coyle's Kissing the Limitless for some years but had not actually read it. Following instructions (mostly) and reading it all the way through before doing anything in a concerted way. Half way through and it speaks to me as being both evocative and useful. It is rare for me to read a book that I'm not fighting with in some way and with KTL I'm finding only sane and direct concepts and exercises. I'm in the middle section concerning understanding and fully integrating parts of the self. I can say that in a few dozen pages I've seen more clarity on the topic than 6 years of psychotherapy back in the 1980's. My imagination is heading toward energy healing of my 4 year old self since it's never too late for a happy childhood:-)

Maybe a wren

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 02:15:09 GMT

So it's 10:10PM Finished dance exercise program. Ekoustik Hookah ramping along on the computer. Wren or wren-like creature starts banging on the window. Opened up the window and it flew away. Am getting ready to suit up and go outside. If I don't come back you can guess what happened.

Survived that did I, just a bit more electric outside than usual.

Morning draw

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:08:35 GMT

Ailm, straif, ebad , coll. A clear way forward assuming some strong purgation.

Draoi

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:09:31 GMT

The annual pumpkin pie birthday pie was consumed with happiness and then a prezzy. A thin silver strip with DRAOI in ogam inscribed on it. The silver chain will probably be replaced by a longer silk cord, but otherwise I'm entirely happy.