It’s been more than a little rocky these past many months, but now we begin to see the changes that were percolating on the back burners of our lives.  The planetary aspects described by Patricia Liles in The Power Path’s Full Moon update are revealing what has been hidden on all fronts– physical, emotional, spiritual, political.  As above, so below!

Jose Stevens shares his interpretation of recent unnerving events in his article on the upside of cataclysm. 

While such unrelenting revelation is unsettling at best, we can know that these same planetary aspects are supporting us in achieving all that we planned for this life walk, becoming all we were meant to be.  In a very real sense, we are giving birth to our true selves.  And as in any birthing, there’s no going back.  We can only go forward.

Resistance is futile.  So we might as well just relax, take a deep breath, and go with the flow!

As some of you may know, I am also the Founder and Executive Director of a New Mexico-based nonprofit,  Orenda Healing International.  OHI produces an online publication, Four Winds Journal, twice a year, in Spring and in Fall.

This issue of Four Winds Journal and the Webinar which follows on November 11 address the phenomenon of art as activism:  its motivation, development over time, the kinds of people who become participants, and how it heals individuals and communities. The contributing artists and writers represent a broad swath of American culture, and their expression ranges from the personal and political to the cosmic.  We believe you will enjoy the expressions of visual and performing artists and writers who respond to challenge with insight, compassion, and humor, and we are honored to include their work here.

Please click on this link for your copy of the Journal:

Art as Activism:  How It Heals

Sign up here if you’d like to attend the free Webinar.

Have a beautiful and inspiring Autumn!

 

 

From endless twitter storms (such as the viral response to Trump’s tweeted golf ball knocking Hillary Clinton to her knees last week), to wry comedic turnarounds like Sean Spicer’s Emmy debut, to international pissing contests (Trump informing the UN that “we will totally destroy North Korea” in response to “Rocket Man’s” repeated missile tests), the world appears to have gone mad.

Add to that the increase in opioid addiction, no resolution of the health care crisis in sight, random acts of terrorism and hatred, and the recent violent hurricanes, earthquakes, and other symptoms of planetary distress, and the expression “going to Hell in a handbasket” seems most apt.  (As a matter of fact, I did see a bumper sticker the other day that would have been amusing were it not pretty much true:  “Where are we going, and why am I in this handbasket?”)

But when we can understand that there are celestial influences underpinning much of what we observe on our little blue planet, and that sometimes a fierce storm prefaces the calm we all hope for, it helps.

The Power Path’s astrological report for September’s full moon (September 5) offers a succinct explanation for the current turmoil.

In the field of healing, it’s understood that until you are willing see the extent of an injury or disease, trying to heal it is futile.  And that’s what’s going on now.  The dark underbelly of corporate government (a system far older than the short time you and I have been alive, since in its current form it dates back to the time of the Enclosure Acts that displaced most of the English peasantry,  spread to encompass the rest of Europe, and eventually resurfaced here in the Americas with the attempted decimation of Native people and the establishment of slavery) is finally coming to light.  The dirty secrets are revealed, the monsters crawl out from under the rocks, the elephant in the room is undeniably visible to all of us.  And though this process is painful and often terrifying, viewing it as a healing crisis and not the end of the world will restore calm and help us regain peace of mind.

Photo of Hurricane Harvey courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse  Allen/LANCE/Terra/MODI

 

 

Forget to floss?   Can’t find a tasty, safe toothpaste?  Tired of all the hype about teeth? “Your teeth should be stronger, whiter, cleaner, sexier, longer lasting, etc. etc. etc.”

Yep– me too!

So I was interested to discover Dr. Josh Axe’s newsletter in my inbox this morning, full of fascinating advice about an Ayurvedic dental practice called “oil pulling.”

Not only does this practice improve dental health, it support all the body’s systems, including:

• Prevent heart disease
• Reduce inflammation
• Soothe throat dryness
• Heal cracked lips
• Boost the immune system
• Improve acne
• Strengthen gums and jaws

While in India, studies have shown that using sesame oil is equally effective, Dr. Axe recommends coconut oil, for its additional benefits to the whole body.  These benefits include the following:

• Balance hormones
• Kill candida
• Improve digestion
• Moisturize skin
• Reduce cellulite
• Decrease wrinkles and age spots
• Balance blood sugar and improve energy
• Improve Alzheimer’s
• Increase HDL cholesterol and lower LDL cholesterol
• Burn fat

Because it’s highly absorbable, you can experience many of these benefits simply by oil pulling. Make sure to use unrefined coconut oil to ensure there are no additives to it.

So what’s not to like about oil pulling?  Read Dr. Axe’s newsletter and learn more!

I’ll be sharing a number of posts on this issue.  Whether you are Democrat, Republican, or Independent, the current brouhaha in Congress over revamping or repealing Obamacare has everyone on edge.  The final decision (if ever there is one) will affect all of us, regardless of age, profession, or personal circumstances.

Senator Bernie Sanders proposes a solution which, if we could let go of partisanship and think instead of partnership, would be a win-win for all.

You can see and read about his proposal here.

 

How many  women– feminists or not–  can relate to this enlightening article on the burden of household management?  I certainly can!

Emma, the French comic artist, feminist, and computer science engineer, illustrates the concept of the ‘mental load’.  When a man expects his partner to ask him to do things, he is viewing her as the manager of their household chores

Enjoy this article, think about it, and share widely with your women friends, family, and clients!

 

(Excerpted from The Guardian, Friday 26 May, 2017.)

 

As Spring  rapidly morphs into Summer and the days grow longer, we’re pushed to do more and more every day.  Suddenly the kids are out of school and we’re busy putting away the winter clothes, cleaning out the garage or the attic, planting new seeds, watering our gardens, fixing what’s broken– there’s hardly any time to breathe!  And then there’s the ever-constant Twitterstorm– one crazy tweet after another–  and the torrent of emails from politicians demanding money, and marches for science, the arts, LGBTQ rights, immigrants, etc. etc.  How can we possibly keep our balance in the midst of all these challenges?

Jan Edl Stein, MFT, a San Francisco Bay Area ecopsychologist and therapist,  was one of Orenda Healing International’s guest speakers at our recent Spring Webinar, Facing North.  Jan has kindly offered to share the following suggestions for dealing with the current challenges we are all facing.

Thoughts About Self-Care and Action in Turbulent Times

When I think of these three aspects of action, certain stereotypes come to mind.

Aggression seems to have a masculine energy – war, corporate takeover, competitive sports (in a descending scale of violence).  Flexibility seems more feminine – the ability to reassess, regroup, and adjust our reactions to whatever comes along. Persistence includes both masculine and feminine qualities- what do we want to accomplish?  How best to get there?  How hard and for how long should we try to reach a goal?

January is a good time to consider what really matters to us, what we want to achieve, and how we can achieve it.  Perhaps what worked in May or October doesn’t seem to fit now. Perhaps our relationship to events and people has changed.  Perhaps the world itself demands something of us that was not evident a month or two months ago.  Whatever has happened, whatever is different, now is the time to take a good look and feel deeply into the most intuitive part of our beings to discern right action– for ourselves, for our families and communities, for the planet.

Persistence, aggression, and flexibility:  The Power Path’s founders Jose and Lena Stevens suggest that all three are necessary at this time.  Finding the balance is the trick, and their Predictions for 2017 outlines practical approaches to that challenge.

(Photo courtesy of Santa Fe Community Yoga Center)

I spent about an hour this afternoon with a good friend at our local coffee hangout, Downtown Subscription, here in Santa Fe.  The topic of our conversation was, as usual, the election.  What went wrong and how.  Who was to blame, if anyone.  How to “fix it.”  As we talked in low, even tones, I could hear the anger and frustration behind our words.  Even though we spoke of healing and reconciliation, we were still furious with the rigid stance of the patriarchy, the ongoing misogeny, racism, bigotry, gross dishonesty, and just plain greed— in this country and in the world.  We were painfully aware of the extent of the divide between different groups of America’s people– and even more painfully aware of how we ourselves have contributed to widening that gap.  “Given all this,” I asked, “how can we really come together?”  “I don’t know,” she replied.  And indeed, we don’t know.  “But we have to try,” I added.  She agreed, and we planned to meet again soon.

Later, though, I remembered that when everything falls apart, it’s usually because something else is coming into being.  What this will be is unknown.  Perhaps it’s something this society, this planet, has not yet experienced.  We hope it will be good, benevolent– that at minimum it will cause no more pain– that it will acknowledge the deep wounds of the millennia and somehow begin to heal them.  But if we are truly honest with ourselves, we are also exquisitely aware that it will be what we create, through our thoughts and the actions that follow them.

Charles Eisenstein speaks to this most poignant of moments in human history in his essay The Election:  Of Hate, Grief, and a New Story.

If we are to heal, this is what we must continue to remember:  we really are what we think.