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Send your event listings to calendar@mountainx.com.
by Jen Nathan Orris
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by Jordan Foltz. Send your spirituality news to jfoltz@mountainx.com.
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sAhc hike • SA (11/2), 10am-4pm - Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy will host a hike to Lost Cove. Dogs allowed. $10/free for members. Info and meeting location: Anna@appalachian.org.
puBlic lecTures puBlic lecTures & eVenTs AT uncA Events are free unless otherwise noted. Info: unca.edu. • TH (10/31), 12:30pm - Brown Bag Talk with faculty authors: “Increasing Multicultural Understanding in a Post-Racial World.” Ramsey Library, Whitman Room. • MO (11/4), 7:30pm - World Affairs Council: “Revolution Interrupted." Reuter Center. $8.
Rituals to honor death and usher rebirth Halloween, Samhain and Dia De Los Muertos Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 are days marking a plethora of cross-cultural ceremonies that honor the dead. Each has its own rituals, but they all share the common element of remembering those who have crossed over and offering reverence to death itself. Samhain, the Celtic new year, is more precisely recognized when the sun enters 15 degrees in Scorpio. Pronounced “Sow-en,” Samhain is a Gaelic word meaning “Summer’s End.” High Priestess Lianna Costantino of Sylvan Hearth Pagan Temple offers some insights about the holiday: “One of the four Greater Sabbats, Samhain marks the first day of winter ... and is typically the last harvest of the year. In the past, this was an important time of storing supplies and culling the herds that could not be fed throughout
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octoBER 30 - noVEmBER 5, 2013
puBlic lecTures AT Wcu Lectures, readings and events at Western Carolina University are free unless otherwise noted. Info: wcu.edu. • TH (11/7), 6pm - "How Does a Person Become a Piece of Meat?" A.K. Hinds University Center. • TH (11/7), 4pm - Business development and growth adviser David Lilly will lead a presentation in the A.K. Hinds University Center.
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the winter. A communion feast was shared with special reverence to the idea of neighbors helping each other through the winter. “At this time, we give thanks for the successes we have been able to ‘harvest’ from our efforts during the year — this is our ‘Thanksgiving.’ “Samhain is also seen as a time when the ‘veil’ between this world and the next becomes thinner ... allowing us to honor our ancestors by asking them to join us. It is a time for honoring them, [honoring] our heritage and thanking them for their influence in our lives. In our ritual circle, we have a place of honor for their photos and memorabilia, [and] we have an empty place setting at our table to show that they are always with us. “When we come together at Samhain, we see it as a celebration of death and rebirth. Death is, after all, a birth, and birth is leaving behind what is known up to that point.” To attend the Samhain ritiual at Sylvan Hearth, call 331-8668.
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Wnc AlliAnce For reTireD AmericAns • 3rd TUESDAYS, 10am - The WNC Alliance for Retired Americans meets at Kenilworth Presbyterian Fellowship Hall, 123 Kenilworth Road. Free. Info: dick@dickandnorma.com.
spiriTuAliTy open heArT meDiTATion (pd.) Experience easy, wonderful practices that open your life to the beauty within and connects you to your heart. • Love offering. 7pm, Tuesdays, 5 Covington St. 296-0017 or 367-6954 http://www.heartsanctuary.org AsTro-counseling (pd.) Licensed counselor and accredited professional astrologer uses your chart when counseling for additional insight into yourself, your relationships and life directions. Readings also available. Christy Gunther, MA, LPC. (828) 258-3229.
AsheVille compAssionATe communicATion cenTer (pd.) Free practice group. Learn ways to create understanding and clarity in your relationships, work, and community by practicing compassionate communication (nonviolent communication). 252-0538 or www. ashevilleccc.com. • 1st and 3rd Thursdays, 5:00-6:15. AquAriAn consciousness FelloWship (pd.) Metaphysical program inspired by spiritual growth topics of your choice. Meditation, potluck, St. Germain live channeled piano music. • Second and Fourth Wednesday. 6:30pm. • Donation. (828) 6583362. minDFulness meDiTATion clAss (pd.) Explore the miracle of healing into life through deepened stillness and presence. With consciousness teacher and columnist Bill Walz. Mondays, 6:30-7:30pm: Meditation class with lesson and discussions in contemporary Zen living. Asheville Friends Meeting House, 227 Edgewood Ave. (off Merrimon). Donation. Info: 2583241. www.billwalz.com Weekly circle W/ eArTh green meDicine loDge (pd.) 6 PM THURSDAYSWorking with divination and purification rituals, we gather wisdom of the ancestors to be in right relations and advance the collective dream. (828)2840975 or mayanrecordkeeper@ live.com elDer circle oF liFe W/ eArTh green meDicine loDge (pd.) 6 PM WEDNESDAY, 9/25, Crystal Visions Bookstore, 5426 AVL Hwy., Hendersonville- This elder circle is open to all traditions and anyone w/special knowledge or training to share: songs, life stories, traditions, tools. (828)284-0974 or mayanrecordkeeper@live.com AsheVille insighT meDiTATion (pd.) Free introduction to insight or mindfulness meditation. 2nd and 4th Thursday. 7pm. Asheville Insight Meditation, Suite 200, 29 Ravenscroft Dr, (828) 808-4444, www.ashevillemeditation.com AsheVille insighT meDiTATion (pd.)"AsheVille insighT meDiTATion Practice Mindfulness Meditation (aka Vipassana or Insight Meditation) with a supportive group. Group sessions: Wednesdays,
7pm-8:30pm. Sundays, 10am11:30pm. 29 Ravenscroft Dr., Suite 200, Asheville. (828) 8084444,www.ashevillemeditation. com" AsheVille insighT meDiTATion (pd.)"ramp up your meditation practice with AIM’s Meditation’s Classes: mindfulness 101 - Basics of Mindfulness Meditation, mindfulness 102 - More advanced, intermediate class. Class dates and times: www. ashevillemeditation.com/events, (828) 808-4444" AncienT egypTiAn spiriTuAl & ViBrATionAl science (pd.) With BioGeometry® Founder Dr. Ibrahim Karim from Cairo, Egypt. Friday, November 1, 7pm. $15, Limited Seating. Will sell out. Hilton at Biltmore Park, Asheville. More information or purchase advance tickets at (828) 298-7007 or www. Vesica.org geTTing To The heArT oF grATiTuDe (pd.) A half-day course on Loving Kindness with American Buddhist nun Gen Kelsang Nyema, resident teacher of Ganden Buddhist Center. • Saturday, November 9, 10am1pm at Girl Scouts Program Center, 64 W.T. Weaver Blvd. $20 or $15 students/ seniors. Everyone welcome! For Info: 828-668-2241 or meditationinAsheville.org eckAnkAr Worship service • “discoverinG The DiVine principle” (pd.) “The Light and Sound of God are the two aspects through which the ECK, or Holy Spirit, makes Itself known. It comes in many forms to bring upliftment, comfort when we are troubled, or protection when we are in danger.” Experience stories from the heart, creative arts and more, followed by fellowship and a pot-luck lunch. (Donations accepted). Date: Sunday, November 3, 2013, 11am to 12 noon, Eckankar Center of Asheville, 797 Haywood Rd. (lower level), Asheville NC 28806, 828-254-6775. www. eckankar-nc.org church oF The gArDen • SUNDAYS, 10:45am – The Church of the Garden is a spiritual community that draws meaning from ancient wisdom, new thought and the natural history of the Blue Ridge. Meets at Rainbow Community School, 574 Haywood Road. Donations appreciated.