Free Publication
Educational resources about informed, balanced, sustainable living
PUBLISHED QUARTERLY
SPRING 2013
VOLUME 1 | NO. 1
Highlights Defend our constitution:
Support your local sheriff in defending our rights and freedoms. P12
Cordon off chaos by stepping outside fear:
Embrace the unfolding unprecedented opportunities for growth as old beliefs are released. P4
Local fella fights off home foreclosure – and wins! Case has become famous across country. P5
What are bees telling us?
In many ways they’re more highly evolved than humans. P11
Find the stillness within: Discover the Midline and merge back into your birthright of Oneness. P18
Gardens are an ecosystem: Provide limitless opportunities to help rebalance and reconstitute Nature on a planetary level. P14
Holding the Light by Margaret Britton, Master Stained Glass Artist (see Page 17)
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What Would You Do and Be If You Had Your Abundance? By Steu Mann, Editor Your abundance is naturally yours and always has been. The challenges and issues to living within that recognition have arisen out of a culture where you and I are enslaved politically, economically and spiritually. And for the purpose of this article “spiritually” means your attitude toward yourself and others. The characteristics of this culture are fear and lack driven by the mind. Too much thinking and not enough heart. Not to worry, the world has moved on and the proof is everywhere. Let’s start with the basics. To learn about the true nature of the factors that control society requires you step outside the arena of the evening news. Those telecasts and news sources are made and created by the families and corporations that cause the control. This is well documented in the THRIVE movie. If you do nothing else, watch that movie on YouTube – it won’t cost you a dime. Here is the address: http://www.youtube.com/user/ThriveMovement. Now is the time to put the heart quality of your life first. I could spend pages here talking about the control, how those ruling families have taken over your daily affairs. Your whole life people have been telling you what to do and those days are over. You, I, each of us needs to start thinking and being for ourself, which is much more than analyzing data. Being awake means doing some critical thinking and learning the art of contemplation. Love is the answer, always has been and always will be. Living in a world of love is people living in unity. That means coming into harmony with yourself first. When you stop trying to fix and heal everyone else and instead focus on yourself the world shifts. Imagine a world where people have the inner strength and courage to listen to their heart first instead of being swayed by outside influences and other peoples opinions. The time has arrived to stop numbing our feelings, and reduce the stimulation to our brains so that we can hear the pulse of our heart. Have I been in chains all my life and not just realized it until now?
The golden rule is this, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
There are many significant changes that have taken place to remove the controlling families and corporations that have enslaved the world. More announcements and changes will be taking place. The gracious part is that each of us has the golden opportunity to rekindle our heart with faith, wisdom, and fun – right now. This is the perfect now moment to start your golden experience of life.
What Does It Mean to Take Ownership of Your Life? 1. You make a concentrated effort to go within and listen to your Heart. 2. You depend less and less on the opinions and comments of others to steer your experiences and rely more on your inner guidance and feelings. 3. Your experiences are filled more with trust and faith and less with analyzing facts and figures. 4. Your habits, thinking, and speaking are more focused on experiencing harmony, understanding that thoughts create emotions that then program your DNA. 5. Your experiences in dally life are more and more often filled with peace, feelings of abundance, and a natural knowing which arises from within. The ability to make inner discernment comes from listening to your heart; your inner guidance. It’s not the kinda thing you’re taught in school. Discernment arrives when you have done your own bidding within to the degree you are making conscious choices – heart based wisdom. You are the change that is unfolding. Don’t wait for someone else to do something or say something. Each of us, needs to step forward and live the live we want to own. This is my motivation for putting together this paper. Send me your story of owning your life; I will print them here – space permitting. I look forward to hearing from you. B Sending You Love and Compassion, Steu steu@discernmenttimes.com
Who do I really report to? God? My government? My bank?
FEATURES
Who owns me?
What Would You Do and Be if You Had Your Abundance?. . . . . 3
Decades ago people thought the world was flat. It was the “official” line. If you said otherwise you were publicly humiliated and even thrown in jail. The Source of Life, the Prime, the One doesn’t run on fear. There is enough of everything to go around. But as long as the masses, including you and I, allow ourselves to be herded in fear, the external world will remain as it has been. The shift in the world is living life – now – with the presence of your heart. Let your intentions lead the way. Just like a child that learns to walk – one step at a time. To unwire yourself from fear is stepping out of the chains locking away your inner faith and trust. “Do not judge society and humanity by their reaction to the slavery that they have been forced to live in today. Humans are awesome beings. Humans that accept their FREEDOM are amazing Beings.” Again, the Source of Life, the Prime, the One doesn’t run on fear. That means any “religion” or group that creates separation or disharmony is not aligned with the Creator. This is not complicated. It’s a simple Truth that has existed for all of time. Love is joy and passion, expressing yourself without creating disharmony to another.
Mapping a New Reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Putting Your Butt and Home on the Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Jump Start Your New Image With Natural Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Home Health Care With Natural Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Health Living and First Priorities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Living With Bees Naturally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 County Sheriff Project Update. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Interview With Ana Holub. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Garden of Eden Was Not Raked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Permaculture, Working Within the Web of Nature . . . . . . . . . . 15 Margaret Britton’s “Holding the Light” on Display . . . . . . . . . . 17 The Midline, Forces That Create the Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Rare Namibian Crystals Speak of Our History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Healing Soul Wounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Discernment Times 1257 Siskiyou Boulevard, #46 Ashland, Oregon 97520 DiscernmentTimes.com (541) 210-4375 Healing Yourself Heals The Planet
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Mapping a New Reality Outside the Zone of Familiarity By Rebecca Smith Orleane, Ph.D. The world is changing. That is a simple fact. Whether we choose to fight those changes or help to create them, change is the nature of our evolutionary path. We are moving away from everything that is familiar to us into an unknown territory that we may call “the New Reality.” What does this mean? It means that our familiar behaviors and interactions with each other will not bring the same results. It means that familiar ways of survival in the world will no longer work. It means that our familiar methods of exchange (work for money, money for food, etc.) may no longer be effective. Many of us have lost jobs or changed jobs as we struggle to find our place in the changing world. It means that even our weather can no longer be trusted to follow familiar patterns. It also means that what can be proved by science is changing moment by moment, too fast for us to know what are solid “facts” and what are only beliefs upon which we have built our understanding. It means that what can be discovered through trust is unfolding with unprecedented opportunities for our own growth. What we once believed is no longer true, and we have to trust that truth will be revealed as we step away from we “believed in our minds” and into what we “know through our hearts.” We must be courageous enough to let go of every old belief, allowing ourselves to form different, more holistic thoughts, and take actions from a different place, actions that are based on the highest good for all. For some of us, this may mean simply surrendering the idea that we know best, and learning how to listen to what others may know. For some of us this may mean that we learn to listen to our own inner wisdom and stop asking teachers, healers, and leaders to “fix us.” We are accustomed to a certain hierarchical order, wherein we have given the power for change to others, rather than recognizing our own power to make changes. In our current reality, many of the changes we are experiencing are coming from outside of us: earth changes, political changes, financial changes. But the real power of change comes from within us, and when we take back that power by working on ourselves rather than simply accepting changes as they come to us, we gain the opportunity to co-create a new reality, one of our own choosing or design, rather than the familiar one in which we are now struggling. To do this we must step outside our comfort zone of familiarity. We must expand our hearts and minds to find other possible ways of being in the world, ways of being and doing that cause us to cooperate with one another rather than to compete with one another; ways of being and doing that are based on love, rather than fear. Before we can make those changes, however, we need to understand the basis of the familiar reality in which we are living. The first thing to understand is that everything that we think (and much of what we feel) is based on duality, on polar extremes of different opinions, different experiences, and different beliefs. Thought, by nature, is dualistic, and we typically adhere to polar positions of what we believe to be true. That is the familiarity that causes us to fight for a cause or that keeps us trapped in positions where we continually give our power to others to make decisions for us. Duality gives us the position of “us” and “them,” and it is from this familiar position that most of us struggle through life. To create the new reality, we must move away from our dualistic perspectives towards a focus of more unity with each other. There is a way, if we help to create it, that we can experience our lives from a more multidimensional perspective, one that allows both positions of any situation to be true. That multidimensional perspective incorporates duality within unity, and it is from a place of multidimensionality that we can find the blessings of everyone’s position, bringing us closer to the real truth. In the new reality, duality and unity do not represent opposites concepts. When we let go of our familiar attachments to any polar position and expand our awareness, we can stretch ourselves to bring all positions into harmony. Think of a couple or a family or a country. Each can be seen as an individual energy that may offer different ways of interacting in the world. Yet each couple, each family, and each country can also be viewed as a unified energy,
representing a greater whole. In mapping a new reality, we are being called to step beyond the individual pieces of who we are into a greater unified whole. If we choose, we can evolve from citizens of a country to citizens of the world to citizens of the universe. Familiarity keeps us loyal to old belief systems, trapping us in structures that prevent our growth. To live as citizens of the universe, we must step out of our limited zone of familiarity into the larger reality of unity consciousness. Let’s explore how we can do that. From the beginning of human awareness, the accepted perception of reality has been based on concepts of duality. Everything we experience has a polar opposite: dark and light, hot and cold, male and female, us and them, right and wrong. We have become conditioned to expecting that there is an opposing force to everything we think, believe, or do. That sense of opposition has caused us to compete with one another, believing that there is always only one “right” way to do something. That sense of duality and opposition has also caused us to fear that there is never enough for everyone, and from that position, we have learned to compete with one another rather than to cooperate. It is easy to see how we came to cling to those beliefs when we look at the path we have taken for our survival as a species. Each belief has been based either upon our direct participation with life or upon things that we have been taught are true. In order to have some stability in our lives, we have chosen to hold on to certain beliefs as truth and allow our past participation (history) to direct our future experience. Yet if we look at what we have created through our beliefs and our actions, we see that much of what humanity has done has caused us to suffer the pain of separation and war. Each place we have defended as the only truth divides us from others who may hold another aspect of the truth. We often stop listening when we hear ideas that are unfamiliar, strange, or that do not align with our own beliefs. In order to grow, each of us must be willing to move beyond the zone of familiarity, letting go of our need to be right. Our planet is based on dualistic perspectives, but that does not mean that the forces of duality are the only way that we can exist. However, as long as we are living on a planet full of duality, we might as well use it, instead of suffering under the pull of its polarities. Being a woman who has experienced monthly cycles gave me the idea that we are more than the simple opposites represented in duality. Writing my first book helped me to understand the gifts inherent in duality – the opposites contained within me as a human being: conflicting thoughts, ideas, emotions, and beliefs. Co-authoring my second book taught me how to better move towards unity. What I wish to share with you now are ways that we can use duality to further our growth and to expand ourselves as human beings. Duality can actually be utilized to help us attain unity, oneness, or love, however you envision those ideas. To me, they are all the same thing. There are some concepts we must examine in order to move from the zone of familiarity into the new reality. For purposes of this article, we can call these concepts map points, places of potential change in the direction of our journey. The concepts duality and polarity have already been addressed and will continue to weave their way throughout our journey. A deeper understanding of these terms show us that they are necessary experiences for our own growth. The experience of polar opposites pushes us to grow. When we work with the polarities of duality, it allows us to experience everything in a more balanced way. Other concepts we need to examine are time, the Mayan Calendar, change, and fundamentalism. What exactly is time? I have been fascinated with the concept for as long as I can remember. I have always felt some kind of mystery about time. Only recently, through “We must be courageous enough to let go of every old belief,....” “...the real power of change comes from within us....” Continued on page 6
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Putting Your Butt and Home on the Line: A True Story of Taking on a Corporate Giant By Don McCoy While it isn’t usually a person’s plan to experience a financial downturn and find one’s way into financial struggle, the way the real estate loan modification or refinancing programs have been set up in the U.S. has potential to drive one into financial and mental mayhem. A “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” philosophy seemed to be an advantage in my experience. In May of 2007 I applied for a loan modification with the bank and was informed I would have to be delinquent over 45 days in my payments in order to even begin the process. So I stopped making payments. As a realtor I learned first-hand what many of my clients experience when dealing with this process. It is not a pretty picture. Once I entered the refi program in July, several months passed as I endured the frustration of lost paper work, misunderstandings and misinformation, resending the same information multiple times, new unexpected “but we told you” documents to be added to the procedure and rarely the same person to communicate with through all of this. Finally in December 2007, at the eleventh hour, with foreclosure eminent, I was informed that my effort to refinance the loan had been denied, which gave me only four short weeks to face foreclosure and vacate the property. Shocked and dismayed are minor descriptions of my reaction. Dusting myself off, I rallied to create not one but two short sale offers to provide a way to satisfy the outstanding loan. One offer to purchase was never acknowledged by the bank; a second was finally recognized, although not accepted. It was conclusive at this point and it became clear that the bank wanted to obtain my property and appeared ready and willing to play the dirtiest of games to get it. Dressing in war paint and with armor and shield, I wielded a sword through RESPA (Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act) and launched an offense with what was then a little known attention getter called a QWR or a Qualified Written Request. In my research I learned there were multiple banks involved. I queried the multiple banks (four in an all) asking for clarification using the QWR guidelines listed in RESPA, i.e., on who should be paid? Who had authority to foreclose? Who held the original note? Who signed documents relating to the warnings and detailed threats of loss of my property? These questions and a myriad of others were included in my QWR. This action provided a window of six months until the new, (purposely chosen) date of foreclosure…Friday the 13th, 2008! During the time leading up to this new D-Day the banks’ attorneys crawled and slithered out from parts unknown to pretend to answer my multitude of questions; somehow they supposedly lost several pages but never acknowledging that they had. Confusion became the normal operation exercised by these questionable individuals, and I found myself faced with this new date of extinction. In the interim, my other efforts to send Qualified Written Requests went unanswered and completely ignored by them, to a decided default of performance. Undaunted, I pulled the bankruptcy card at the latest hour possible. In a pro se posture (representing myself without council) a Chapter 13 was filed to put the wolves at the door on notice. I included the property loan the bankers and attorneys were grappling after thus dashing their hopes of freely absconding with it and devouring it amongst themselves in the woods of financial deceit. This action on my part provided an additional window of six months’ time with no foreclosure date for the foreseeable future. One magical day during this waiting period, I was contacted by some former business associates and friends in the real estate world who had heard of my battle with the banks through a local attorney, I was trying to get interested on this subject. My associates were faced with similar experiences and circumstances and were going to do something about it.
“It” was not identifiable by anyone of us at this early date of experience. We all just knew something serious was amiss in our view of how the world should be spinning. This “it” we were all coming to realize and absorb was a diabolical blindfolding of the American public and the antithesis of our protection of rights for due process in the foreclosure process. But this was just the beginning! Our awareness of this problem and “its’” magnified identification clearly began to emerge as fraud. Fraud! Bank fraud was prevalent and soon it became apparent that it really shouldn’t take a rocket scientist with a financial background to see it. My friends created a non-profit organization to help people to find understanding, perspective and ultimately a defense against the damage these banksters have designed. With my Alliance, a forensic audit (a careful examination of my loan) was performed and numerous infractions were uncovered in the original paperwork. New words like “Credit Default Swaps,” “Robo Signing,” “Allonge,” “MERS,” “Securitization” and many others became part of our vocabulary. Throughout 2009 and into 2010 I was able to hold the default and foreclosure process off. In the summer of 2010 I had interviewed an attorney who held passion for the dislocation of trust we once held in our financial institutions. He seemed genuinely and sincerely angered at the plethora of faults found in my loan. We determined to create a case that had potential to help many others if the judge ruled in my favor. So, instead of an Oregon State Court action, I had my attorney file in Federal Court in August of 2010, through the Chapter 13 action I had created earlier. This would expedite the decision one way or another by at least a year. If the case was found in my favor it would set a precedent and be used to help others in similar quandaries. Herein, McCoy vs BNC Bank was born. On February 7, 2011, Judge Alley, a Federal Court Judge in Eugene Oregon, identified a key component in our list of arguments. He pulled out our charge that MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration Service) was not a valid beneficiary in the foreclosure process and the resulting conclusion was MERS could not have more rights than the Principal note holder and there was no proof of ownership as there was no recording in County records required under ORS law (Oregon Revised Statute law). This proved to be the Achilles Heel for the banks. They could no longer use MERS in their 15-year run of galloping rough shod over people’s rights to due process in the default and foreclosure process. MERS short sale defaults and foreclosures of record were pulled from the market in Oregon for this non-Judicial process thus forcing the bank attorneys willing to represent the fraud through judicial foreclosure or before a Judge to prove ownership. McCoy vs BNC Bank has become a famous case across the country in helping others keep their homes and expose fraudulent action through the banking machine. B Don has been an Oregon realtor for the past 13 years. Some of his projects include producing the New Products Show and the Senior Show for six years, and putting on the Oregon Green Expo since 2009. Don was the founder of SOTA, the Southern Oregon Trade Association, a flourishing trade association which hosted over 3,000 members becoming one of the top 20 largest trade associations in the U.S. He organized the Jacksonville Gold Mine Tour, which featured the Oregon Belle Mine. Also, Don was a radio talk show host (“The Real McCoy”) for five years on KCMX Super News Talk Radio and is presently a host for The Green Economy TV show featuring green businesses and education. Don can be reached through his email Don@Medfordexit.com.
Healing Yourself Heals The Planet
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MAPPING A NEW REALITY (continued from page 4) my experience of feeling that time seems to be speeding up, have I understood that time is a concept that we as collective consciousness have created. The universe does not operate under laws of time. The universe operates through laws of energy. We use time here on Earth to measure that energetic movement. On earth, we humans have agreed collectively to define our reality by a measurement called time. But even if I accept the collective agreement that time is a defining structure of our existence, I think we have collectively made a huge mistake in understanding how it works. All modern cultures who use clock and calendar to structure their reality view time as linear, stretching from past into future, one sequential event following another. This linear view of time has had a tremendous effect on modern thought, including our view of reality. Because we see time as linear, we are preoccupied with progress. Through the modern focus on linear progress, we have forgotten the greater principles of Nature: that energy (and life) move in spirals and cycles, not linearly! And with that misunderstanding, we have warped the true reality, creating the artificial one which we believe to be true: a reality where we attempt to control Nature’s cycles (and each other) rather than participating with the energetic cycles of life. In order to reach the new reality, we must release the familiar construct of linear time and change our understanding of how we are participating with the universe. We can map this journey by trying to see the whole picture, rather than just particular parts (our polar beliefs). By allowing that each part of duality is part of the greater whole of unity, we can begin to move away from a familiar reality based on linear time into the territory of the new reality – which is based on energy. My study of the Mayan Calendar enhanced my knowledge that our current reality has an incorrect understanding of time. I have already said that time is not linear; it cycles. Actually, it spirals, up and up and up (or down and down and down) towards a central point where it does not exist at all, a point where everything converges (unity). There are cycles within cycles within cycles in the cosmos. The Maya represented these cycles in a calendar of energetic understanding. Their calendar is not a measure of time at all: it is a tool for guiding our own energetic cycles through the duality of earthly existence. When we look at our view of time from this vantage point, it is easy to see that, as quantum science points out, everything is energy – even time! On our journey, we need to release our need to control time or to operate under it’s limited but imaginary power; we must learn to navigate cycles of energy within our own lives. Learning how to do this leads us towards the new reality, where we can truly understand that all polarities (duality) are contained within each moment (unity.) It is this multidimensional perspective that will show us how to incorporate duality into unity. The Mayan Calendar is a map towards oneness, and we can use this map to guide us to the new reality. This map shows us the merging of duality, and when we reach the central point, duality will cease to exist. That is the meaning of the end of time. To step out of our comfort zone of familiarity into the new reality, we need to examine and to absorb the principles and dynamics of the reality we are hurtling towards. The principles of unity include everything – every dualistic opposite, every polar viewpoint. Unity is large enough to contain it all in harmony! In fact, unity is infinite. Quantum physics says that everything exists at once. We must allow that truth to grow within us, and change accordingly, releasing our need to hold fast to polarized concepts we have previously regarded as the truth. Life by definition is change. Everything on Earth is interwoven into a living system of cycles. Cycles of Life are systemic, and balance is maintained through the energetic exchange brought to us by each of these cycles. There is a rhythm to life that makes it work. Humans, as part of life, are also governed by rhythms. Every part of being human includes a cycle of some sort. More than one hundred functions and structural elements in humans oscillate between maximal and minimal values once a day, including our breathe, our blood, and our hormones. It is difficult to find any aspect of being human that does not include a cycle of some sort. However, humans have done their best to ignore natural cycles, abandoning natural human rhythms for
the more controlled industrial, technological rhythms of life. Moreover, we have allowed our belief systems to fool us into thinking that we can control these energetic cycles. Right now, these rhythms are changing, and we must change with them. The simple truth is that in order to survive, we must change. This article is intended to give some guidance into how we can proceed with the necessary changes. In order to make conscious change, we must first grasp the idea that we need to change. When we have a clear idea that what once worked is no longer working, then we can proceed. The second step to mapping the new reality is to let go of what we think we know and have the courage to imagine something different. When we keep trying the same old things and thinking the same old thoughts, we prevent the flow of better opportunities and we prevent ourselves from growing into better people. In other words, we are blocked from our own growth. Have you ever watched a moving river? There are no problems as it flows along, until something blocks its flow. The river then either overflows to go around the blockage or it becomes a stagnant pool standing still. We need now to see ourselves as rivers (we are, after all, primarily made of water!) We cannot afford to allow blockages to cause us to stagnate; we must instead meet every challenge with trust in the overflowing of possible solutions. We must learn to view problems as opportunities for growth, or we may become stagnant too. But we are not accustomed to viewing problems as opportunities for growth; we are accustomed to seeing them as challenges we must overcome. Typically we resist them, hoping to remove them in order to settle back into our comfort zone of familiarity. To change this pattern of behavior, we must redefine “problem.” The dictionary defines “problem” as a difficult situation, matter, or person. Now what makes it difficult? Could it be the very idea that the situation, matter, or person is not conforming to what we want or what we believe to be right? Could it be that the problem is only apparent when we see it in opposition to our familiar beliefs of how things should be? Is there a problem when another person is simply going about her own business without our interference or judgment? As long as the other is considering how her actions affect others, there is no problem. We move into “problem” status, when the energy of one person or situation conflicts with the energy of another. So the first step is to become aware that every thought and every action we have affects all others and take responsibility for everything we think or do. That moves us from the familiar dualistic position of “individual rights” to the more unified position of “highest good for all.” If we can re-train ourselves to consider our every thought, emotion, and action before we release them into the world, then the energy we present will hold less conflict, and less problems will occur. There will be more flow, because we are aware of and responsible for everything we do. I have noticed that most “problems” stem from fundamental differences in our opinions or beliefs. We want whatever “the difference” that is creating the “problem” to move over to our end of the polar spectrum, to join us where we are. And if that doesn’t work, we seek a “compromise,” not a “blending” of both polarities. The fundamental difference still exists, because we live in a world of duality, and so we seek over and over again to “correct the problem” by moving it to our polar position. The second thing we must do to re-define problem is to accept that the dualistic concept of “right” and “wrong” is no longer serving us. We must stop our attempts to convince others that we are right or to prove that they are wrong. The only ones we can ever change are ourselves, and the first step towards change is taking responsibility for our own thoughts and actions. We cannot shape a person to match our design of what we think is right or what we need. Nor can we always manipulate every situation or every circumstance around our desires. The next time we feel a situation is not to our liking or that someone is not behaving as we wish they would, we can notice how quickly a “problem” arises. In our current reality, the minute something blocks us from getting what we want, it becomes a problem. Continued on page 16
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Jump Start Your New image With Natural Care That Treats Your Whole Being: A Sustainable Image and Health Improvement Without Drugs and Prescriptions By Kristin Piacitelli M.S., L.A.c. Looking for a safe and effective way to lose weight and keep it off? You’re not alone. One of the No. 1 questions I get asked as an acupuncturist is “Can you help me lose weight?” “I’ve tried everything and nothing works!” The answer is “Yes!” But, first let’s discuss what this word diet really means. When people talk about following a “diet” it usually means they are eating a certain way, that is different than how they normally eat, and after a certain goal weight is achieved they will then go off their “diet” and eat the way they did before. The problem with this is people often deprive themselves in a way that their body is not used to or in a way that makes them feel very imbalanced, and what happens is just that – the body becomes very imbalanced and the weight that was lost is not only regained, but then some. The other problem with this is that people who go on “diets” never really learn how to eat wholesome foods and take care of their body the way they need to all the time.
How is the Acupuncture Diet different? The Acupuncture “Diet” is different because it’s not really a diet at all. The goal is to get you to stop dieting forever and to commit to taking care of yourself every single day in a way that is right for you.
What can the Acupuncture Diet do? Acupuncture is very good for people with a sweet tooth! Acupuncture can not only help to eliminate food cravings, but it can also greatly improve your digestion and metabolism and reduce your appetite. It also does an excellent job at reducing stress and strengthening your will power and stick-to-itiveness. The emotions associated with stress that may trigger eating such as anxiety, depression, lone-liness, frustration, boredom and fear can be treated with both acupuncture and herbal medicines. Other positive benefits include a definite increase in your energy and reduction of bodily pain, both of which will help get you moving more. When our body carries extra weight, it puts us at risk for additional health problems such as diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and the possibility of stroke. Chinese medicine treats these problems as well and when a person’s weight decreases, so does the risk and severity of these other health problems.
Acupuncture is a Process. It is a slow and steady change that occurs within your body that can leave a lasting impact on you if you follow the treatment plan suggested by your acupuncturist and go for follow-up preventative care. Acupuncture is part of a healthy lifestyle and can be used for anyone for anything at any time in their life. When used for weight loss, acupuncture can have many different effects on the body that can assist a person through this process. Your acupuncturist’s job is to find out what the underlying causes of your weight gain are and to treat those imbalances. Acupuncture is a very specific medical protocol designed JUST FOR YOU. When trying to lose weight, it is essential to address both the physiological and psychological aspects of weight loss and acupuncture does both of these things beautifully and effectively.
How does acupuncture do all of these things? Acupuncture is known to assist with weight loss for a variety of reasons and there are numerous scientific studies that have taken a look at this. First, it helps the body to release endorphins. Endorphins have effects similar to morphine, acting as the body’s own painkiller and sedative. Lower levels of endorphins can be caused by stress and
when the body has less endorphins it often leads to cravings, overeating, and binge eating. With the release of endorphins, the body runs smoother, is calmer, and freer to be relaxed and satisfied. In addition, endorphins can also help to rebalance the hormonal system and help with weight gain that is associated with menopause and PMS. Weight loss treatments with an acupuncturist commonly include points along the external ear, referred to as “Ear Acupuncture” or “Auricular Acupuncture” points. Stimulation of the vagus nerve, via the ear, causes an increase in the tone of the smooth muscle tissue of the stomach which slows the contractions and promotes the sensation of fullness and satiety. The body’s digestive system becomes more efficient with acupuncture too. According to Chinese medicine, the digestive system must be strong and efficient first, in order for people to have success in their commitment to losing weight. A weak digestive system may not necessarily present as obvious bodily symptoms. Your acupuncturist can assess the strength of your digestive system through tongue and pulse diagnosis, as well as through the bodily symptoms you report. For those with obvious signs of digestive weakness, acupuncture can help with the bloatedness, gas, constipation, diarrhea, water retention, and feelings of heaviness or sleepiness after meals that many people have. When the digestive system is strengthened, the physiological and psychological cravings for excessive or unhealthy foods are reduced. And when better food choices are made the digestive system does not have to work as hard to process those foods that would then bog down the entire body and ultimately slow the metabolism.
What will the treatment be like? Your acupuncturist recognizes that each aspect or “part” of your body’s health, no matter how irrelevant to you, is related to and affects the health of the other parts. Your acupuncturist will start your first treatment by going over with you in detail your medical history and health complaints, combined with tongue and pulse diagnosis. This will help them to develop a treatment plan just for you. The acupuncturist may or may not use electrical stimulation to increase the endorphin release. The patient is given between 20 and 45 minutes to rest and relax while the needles do their work on the body. After the needles are removed, tiny ear pellets are often placed on very specific points on the ear, acting in place of needles, for sustained treatment effects. This acupressure stimulation is extremely helpful for overcoming cravings, reducing appetite, increasing energy and overall willpower so that one will eat less.
How many treatments will I need? This number will depend on the patient’s weight loss goals, type of health challenges and commitment to keeping the weight off. In general, one to three treatments per week, for the first five to twelve weeks is necessary in order for the body to gain some cumulative effects. After that, a reevaluation of the patient’s goals, challenges and priorities will help the acupuncturist determine what will be best for them. Kristin Piacitelli M.S., L.A.c. I have great confidence in Oriental medicine as it is an excellent preventative medicine as well as treatment for almost any imbalance or health condition in the body. Oriental Medicine empowers you to have control of and improve your health through diet, lifestyle and simple acupressure self-treatments. I will provide you with high quality, compassionate, nurturing healthcare. B www.MedfordAshlandAcupuncture.com 541.973.8633
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Home Health Care With Natural Medicine By Arlan Cage, ND, LAc With the recent emphasis on health care at the National level over the past few years, several facts have become painfully obvious. First, if you wait for the government or private insurance companies to take care of you properly before you decide to be healthy, you will be waiting a really long time. Second, it has become obvious that the conventional medical system is in the process of failing. They no longer are interested in the role of primary care doctors (a 2008 study by the Physicians Foundation found that half the primary care medical doctors currently in practice plan to cut back or quit entirely, and 60 percent would not recommend medicine as a career. A separate study in 2008 found that only 2 percent of fourth-year medical students planned to enter Primary Care as their specialty). As a result, the conventional system really doesn’t effectively treat minor illnesses. Furthermore, they are failing at long-term health care and prevention, as evidenced by the still increasing epidemic levels of the chronic disease as a group, and heart disease, diabetes, cancer and obesity in particular. Table 1 shows data from the CDC listing the top ten causes of death in the U.S. Except for accidents, they are all caused primarily by nutritional problems, and all are taking place at rates roughly ten time higher than 100 years ago. Third, alternative and natural medicine methods, largely ignored by the conventional medical system, have been proven to be effective, especially against those same chronic diseases. Since the vast majority of insurance companies don’t cover most alternative methods, patients are forced to pay for these out of pocket, which severely limits access to care for many. While the political debates continue to rage and probably will for quite some time, many families are looking for options. Just as home schooling has become the option of choice for many people tired of the erosion of the public school system, home health care is the new trend among proactive families tired of the constant erosion of our health care system and frustrated with waiting for their doctors or insurance companies to realize that nutrition and other matural methods are effective treatments for many conditions. Actually, taking care of yourself and family at home is a return to an old trend, when our self-sufficient ancestors struck out across a wild continent with no one to rely on for help except themselves. It is only in relatively recent times that relying on doctors and a health care system, especially for simple ailments, has become the norm.
What Exactly is Home Health Care? There is no one answer to this question, and the details will vary from family to family. Basically, any time you treat yourself or a family member for an illness for which the average American would normally seek a health care provider, you are practicing home health care. More significantly, home health care is the natural result of a larger and larger percentage of the population simply taking responsibility for their own health. The “pop a pill and forget it” model of treating illnesses clearly doesn’t work. As more people discover that simple changes such as making healthier choices with their foods can prevent and treat illness, this attitude of self-responsibility is clearly the key to long-term health. As a licensed Naturopathic Doctor and Acupuncturist, I have treated a wide range of illnesses, from common colds, to injuries to advanced chronic illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes. I can honestly say, there are some conditions for which you should not need to see a doctor. While I can help you heal from the common cold faster and easier than you otherwise would, you should not be paying to see a doctor for colds and I would rather spend my time helping people with other, more serious illnesses, who really do need the help of a doctor.
The focus on home health care needs to start with prevention. While in the world of conventional medicine, “prevention” seems to consist of nothing more than early diagnosis and starting the same, standard treatment sooner. In the world of natural, holistic medicine, prevention means, you don’t get the illness at all. The main purpose of this article is to give you a roadmap to the types of illnesses that can be treated at home, an overall prevention plan that will be appropriate for many of the major illnesses facing our country, and to help educate you on when it would be best to seek a holistic health care provider for more advanced illnesses.
Prevention of the Chronic Diseases When we analyze the top 10 causes of deaths in the previously referenced table from the standpoint of holistic and natural medicine, it becomes clear that nutrition and food quality are the major contributing causes to these diseases. A secondary influence is exposure to environmental toxins, which would include cigarette smoke, either first hand or second hand. One could make an argument that other factors may be present in some cases – genetics or the side effects of vaccinations for example – but overall, nutrition and toxic exposure seem the be the biggest culprits. It is important to address the subject of genetics with respect to the chronic diseases. While some evidence suggests associations of particular genes with certain of these chronic illnesses, there has not yet been a successful case made that genetics are their cause. The available date show that on average, heart disease, diabetes, strokes and cancer, for example were all present at a rate of about 3 to 5 percent or less about 100 years ago. Today, they are approaching and in some cases exceeding 50 percent. This time frame corresponds to about four generations. Human genetics simply cannot change enough in only four generations to account for a ten-fold increase in disease rates. If we truly had genes in the human race that gave us fatal diseases at a rate of 50 percent of the population, the human race could not have survived. The fact that we are here, and this change in disease rates has occurred in barely four generations is proof that genetics is not the cause of chronic illnesses. This is a crucial fact that is either being overlooked or ignored by those who are pushing the “only genetics” model of human illnesses. This, unfortunately, propagates the notion that your health and your illnesses are out of your control. Often overlooked in the genetic studies is the affect of inherited eating and lifestyle patterns. Families don’t just share their DNA; they also share the same dinner table. Parental beliefs about food and exercise will rub off on children. The role of genetics seems to be more accurately described by the idea of susceptibility. Some individuals are more susceptible to particular disease than others when all other factors are taken into account. Poor nutrition and toxins will cause a breakdown in whatever organ has the weakest link. For some, this might be the heart, for others, the liver, still others the pancreas, and so on. Nutrition, then, is the area of most importance, and is one area where you and your family have nearly complete control. We really don’t need yet more laws to eliminate offending foods from the marketplace. What we need are more educated shoppers who know the difference between processed white flour and whole grains for example. Market pressure alone can bring about significant changes in what foods are available in the supermarket and your local restaurants. In the past ten years, for example, organically grown produce has gone from being an exotic specialty available only in highly specialized markets and health food stores, to now being found on the shelves of almost every supermarket, side-by-side next to conventionally prepared produce. There were no government regulations that forced the regular supermarkets to start carrying organic produce and other foods. Instead Continued on page 10
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Healthy Living and First Priorities By Frank J Hurd, D.C., M.D. Healthful living in the 21st century has many challenges and rewards. First of all living healthfully was part of the master plan for humans when time began and the creation of man was accomplished. The dietary of man preceded the actual creation of man. According to the Genesis record man’s diet was the Creator’s choice, the food best suited for his physical, and mental and spiritual needs. Man’s descent from the perfect plan for healthful living involved – being tempted through forbidden fruit. This opened up a continued compromise of the natural laws of the universe. Following down the stream of time, some 2,000 plus years to Noah’s recorded flood experience, we find the human family eating and drinking and being unaware of the impending doom that followed Noah’s warnings. It really isn’t much different today, the human race the world over makes eating or dining everything but a sensible and informed practice as to the real bodily needs for optimal health. A few practices that have survived time that were forbidden by our Creator include not eating pork or mice. The Mohammedan people do not eat pork. This affects over one billion people, who respect the forbidden dietary of consuming pork. Pork, is one huge consumer product in our present day eating habits for the world population in general, for a couple of reasons: First, because of the high fat, it tastes good to those who eat it. Second, there is gross ignorance of the negative effects to our health such as contributing to high cholesterol, high blood pressure and obesity, just to name a few. Refined food products, especially refined sugar is also a serious challenge to good health today. It not only contributes to diabetes, but lessens the body’s immune response, and white blood cell activity to overcome various bacteria and viruses that are prevalent today. If one would trace the history of the consumption of processed sugar a few centuries ago until now, we would see how many of the major diseases we suffer with today (heart disease, diabetes, stroke, obesity, cancers, rampant infections, depression, arthritis, etc.) have increased due to the increased consumption of refined sugar mostly hidden in the food chain. There are thousands of packaged and preserved foods that contain various amounts and kinds of sugars. For example, grains in the form of packaged ‘cold cereals’ often list sugar as a main ingredient. Sugar, as refined as it is today, is no longer a food, but a drug, and is a serious addictive entity. On the contrary it would be difficult to name any natural food as being addictive. It is much easier to shift the responsibility for our poor health habits on the various avenues having to do with our food chain, especially fast-food establishments. In reality it is our responsibility to be educated as to how our body functions, and that we take responsibility for supplying our health needs. The habit of taking various drugs to suppress the symptoms of our bad habits doesn’t seem to make much sense. I was part of a family where someone in the home was eating all day long. At the age of seven I decided that eating three meals a day made more common sense. Admittedly, I didn’t have that much knowledge concerning the benefits of this decision, but by the time I was eight years old, I had read various texts on anatomy, physiology, dietetics, and public health issues, and became knowledgeable, only to discover that I was a lone wolf on healthful eating issues. To further my choices, in following a healthy lifestyle, I decided to become a vegetarian at the age of nine years old. I was able to arrive at this decision by reading a series of books involving the rise and fall of the British empire. Back at the turn of the 20th century, the sun never set on the British empire and what she governed or controlled. Here I learned that the Hunza people, in the Kashmir area between Pakistan and India, lived to be 140-150 years old, and they were vegetarians, with the exception of a few holidays, when they ate goat meat. To think of being 140-150 years old would be a better choice than our present life span.
Reforms have come along from many strong-minded people like Sylvester Graham, father of the graham cracker. He gave us the whole grain wheat flour for wholesome bread. Dr. Fletcher introduced the value of chewing foods at least 30 times before swallowing to increase digestion and absorption of foods. He was responsible for helping many T.B. victims overcome the effects of tuberculosis at the beginning of the 20th century. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, from the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan started a hospital in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s that improved the health of patients by changing their dietary habits and including exercises and various water treatments along with promoting a practical and spiritual lifestyle with other wellness activities for the patients. Although life spans have increased in our country over the past 200 years from 50 years old to approximately 78 years, progress is slow. We must remember that doctors back a couple of centuries ago were anything but complimentary to improving health. The drugs being used were dangerous and often wrongly prescribed. “Blood letting” was a common practice for most every and any condition. Our first president, George Washington, died from this process. Following our independence from England in 1776, homeopathic medicine from Europe, became quite a common practice of medicine in our country. After World War 1, the “sulfur drugs” became popular in that it was noticed that sulfur slowed down wound infections on the battlefield. Various drug companies began to appear and of course, started making sulfur drugs and other synthetic chemicals to be used as medicines in treating various diseases. All of this seemed to replace the use of herbs, water treatments, and dietary and lifestyle practices used by the homeopathic physicians. The AMA was formed and became not only a doctor/member organization, but a strong union that promoted and worked with the drug companies to legally control what was practiced and taught in the medical schools and private practice of the doctors. Most of the homeopathic hospitals, sanitariums, and schools were forced to close or taken over by the AMA, thus limiting the availability of the use of natural methods, the use of herbs, and dietary reforms to help the people. Dependency on drugs was encouraged along with a continued lack of education in the school system, to inform the student of how we function and we can maintain good health. I personally see this as a great lack even today in our educational institutions. We are not learning how to be informed about how to be healthy in our lifestyle choices. It has come to the place now that our adult population expects the government and the insurance companies to take care of their health problems with little or no restriction on their choice of lifestyle habits. In June of 2010, the government by executive order created our National Prevention Council, charged with providing coordination and leadership at the federal level and among all executive departments and agencies with respect to prevention, wellness, and health promotion practices, has released the National Prevention strategy, America’s plan for better health and wellness. Integrated health care describes a coordinated system in which health care professionals are educated about each other’s work, and collaborates with one another and with their patients to achieve optimal patient well-being. Implementing effective care coordination models (for example medical homes, community health teams, integrated work place, health protection and health promotion programs) can result in delivery of better quality care and lower costs. Evidence-based complimentary and alternative medicine focuses on individualizing treatments, treating the whole person, promoting self-care and self-healing, and recognizing the spiritual nature of each individual, according to individual preferences. Continued on page 17
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HOME HEALTH CARE
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it was a market opportunity that convinced them to start carrying organics. Extending this to our food supply, the holistic, natural approach to foods can be summarized briefly as follows: • Whole food in its natural state, that hasn’t been processed by removing parts (white flour vs. whole grains), or to alter its basic chemical structure (using heat and pressure to alter healthy oils into margarine or shortening) • Food from animals that were fed their own, natural diets rather than artificial foods or food they would not eat in nature, and hence is not compatible for them (grass fed beef vs. grain fed beef; wildcaught fish vs. farm raised fish) • Produce grown in mineral-rich soil, which will result in naturally high levels of the essential nutrients such as vitamins and minerals • Organically-grown foods whenever possible, which eliminates poisonous fertilizers, weed killers and insecticides from the food • Supplementation of the essential nutrients, to levels adequate to deal with the increased levels of environmental toxins we are all exposed to daily. Each one of these items can be, and has been, the subject of entire books. This article can serve only as a brief introduction to these ideas. If this is all new to you, then welcome to the world of real nutrition and health, and I encourage you to study more.
Prevention and Treatment of Colds and Flus Colds and flus are the most frequently encountered infectious illnesses in the United States. They are caused by different strains of viruses, among the smallest of the infectious micro-organisms. The flu, also known by its longer name of Influenza, is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. Treatment for colds and flu are among the most frequent cause of doctors visits for acute illnesses. It is possible, however, to significantly reduce your chances of catching a cold or the flu through some basic preventive measures. If you still manage to get sick after following the basics of prevention, your case is almost always much milder than it would have been otherwise, and you will tend to recover much quicker. We experience a sharp rise in the rates of cold and flu cases between November and March of every year. It has become so commonplace, we now call this Cold and Flu Season. This also takes place in areas of the country such as southern California where temperatures never drop below freezing. In an era of central heating, there is no good explanation for this from a purely environmental standpoint. What does take place from the end of October through spring, however, is what many of us in natural medicine call Immune Suppression Season. It starts with the dramatic increase of sugar intake around Halloween, continues through Thanksgiving, Christmas parties and dinners, New Years, football bowl game parties, and so on. Sugar consumption is one of the main factors that can suppress your immune system. For each 100 grams of sugar you ingest, about 1/3 cup, your levels of white blood cells for up to five hours. The first part of preventing colds and flu, therefore, is DON’T EAT SUGAR! This includes white sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and any other form of refined simple carbohydrates. The studies that looked at the suppression of white blood cells when eating sugar found that processed orange juice and processed honey also caused the same effects. Other studies, however, have found that raw, unpasteurized honey does not. Sugar also makes your body more acidic, rather than alkaline. Bacteria and viruses thrive when your body becomes acidic, so in addition to reducing the activity of your immune system, sugar makes it easier for infectious micro-organisms to survive. Artificial sweeteners, touted as a healthier and lower calorie alternative to sugar, are in fact worse for your health. Aspartame, the main chemical ingredient in many artificial sweeteners, has been proven to cause a variety of health problems including cancer.
Raw honey is the best sweetener to be used in most instances. Stevia is the next best. Switching your family over to raw honey and stevia instead of sugar is a crucial part of prevention and home health care. The first part of cold and flu prevention is to not eat refined sugar. Limit what your children eat around Halloween. Learn to prepare deserts using honey or other sweeteners. Several key nutrients also boost your immune system. Vitamin C is perhaps the most versatile and important of the vitamins. Among its many functions, it specifically boosts your immune system and raises your white cell count. For the “average” adult, if there really is such a thing as average, between 500 mg and 1,000 mg of Vitamin C per day is a good maintenance dosage. The only major side effect of taking too much Vitamin C is that you can develop diarrhea. This is known as “bowel tolerance.” It is rare to find anyone whose bowel tolerance level is under 5,000 mg per day. If you find that you develop diarrhea with too much Vitamin C, simply reducing your dosage solves the problem within a day or two. Vitamin A also has some very specific anti-viral properties. 5,000 to 10,000 International Units, or IUs, is a good maintenance dosage for most. There is some anecdotal evidence that women who take more than this and then become pregnant have a higher rate of birth defects among their babies. These studies are not entirely conclusive, as this phenomena might be influenced by deficiencies of other nutrients. To be safe, however, if you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant, limit your Vitamin A intake to no more than 5,000 to 10,000 IU. Selenium is a mineral that naturally occurs in soils, provided the soil hasn’t been depleted by over farming. It too, is very specific to help prevent viral infections, and interestingly, it helps prevent cancer. Studies have been done that show an inverse relationship between soil levels of Selenium, and rates of cancer. Where soil levels are high, cancer rates are low; where soil levels of Selenium are low, cancer rates are high. For preventing viral infections, a dose of 200 to 400 micrograms is generally appropriate. The best way to treat a cold or flu is when the very first symptoms start to appear. By the time you start sneezing, your nose is running, you are coughing, have a sore throat, muscle aches, you have a fully blown case. By the time you get to this point, most people remember that a day or two earlier you were tired, slightly achy, and maybe felt a scratching in your throat or some other symptom that you know from experience means you’re about to catch a cold. That is the time to start treatment! Hitting a viral infection hard when you experience those first signs of the early onset can, in most cases, “nip it in the bud.” After food and basic vitamin and mineral supplements, some of the most frequently used natural home health care products are herbs and homeopathic medicines. Herbs come in a variety of forms, most often teas, or liquid herbal extracts called tinctures, made either with alcohol or glycerine. Homeopathics are highly diluted medicines that stimulate your own immune system. The following list is a summary of what I have seen work, both in myself and my family, as well as with many patients over the time I’ve been in practice. Always temper these dosage recommendations with what you know works for you and your family. Pay attention to what you know is your own bowel tolerance for Vitamin C. If you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant, don’t take the high doses of Vitamin A I recommend here, but stick to the safer ranges I mention above.
Early Onset Cold or Flu Program • Immediately eliminate ALL forms of sugar, white flour and dairy products from your diet • Drink plenty of fluids such as water and dilute juices • Eat vegetable or chicken soups • Start taking Vitamin C, about 1,000 mg every one to two hours, all day while you are awake Continued on page 22
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Living With Bees, Naturally By Jessie Ayani PhD I came to be a beekeeper through my garden. A garden bustling with honeybees is charged with life force such that it uplifts the gardener and all visitors – in addition to pollinating 30 percent of our food. For years, my contribution to this natural magic had been the continual addition of bee-loved flowers within and around the veggie garden to attract more bees. And then, several years ago, the bee population dropped off, prompting me to get serious about where bees were living nearby. To make a long story short, hives were collapsing around me, either from starvation during our erratic late winter weather, destruction by bears, disease, or the inexplicable Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), wherein whole colonies of adult bees abandon their hives and disappear. I began an intense year of study about the bees and, in the process of coming to understand the nature and needs of the honeybee, not only arrived at my own theory of CCD but discovered natural beekeeping. My theory of CCD is likely shared by most natural beekeepers. Guessing it will become apparent to the reader as this article continues, we can start by getting to know the bees. We cannot hope to understand why the honeybees are vanishing, without understanding how they are meant to exist in their natural state. I suggest we begin in the late spring or early summer and follow a colony through the year.
Bees in the Natural World Assuming the hive survives the winter, foraging begins with the first blossoms of spring (weather permitting), usually the dandelions and early fruit. Worker bees create new honey from foraged nectar to replace the stores consumed over winter. Pollen is also gathered to provide protein for the developing brood. Because our queen will have started laying eggs at the end of winter, new stores of honey and pollen will fill frames flanking the frame holding the queen and the brood chamber where the eggs she lays develop through their egg, larvae and pupa stages to maturity. She is the mother of the entire colony. As summer begins and the foraging season intensifies the hive becomes filled with new bees at various stages of maturity – mostly infertile female workers and a contingency of male drones. Honey stores bulge from all the frames in the hive as the worker bees finish filling comb on the frames furthest from the brood. After these frames begin reaching capacity, they will begin storing honey in the brood chamber itself. This causes the queen to feel “honey bound,” a condition that triggers the instinct to swarm. Her hive is too full – of honey and bees. She will be the one to go and her urge to do so signals the need for a new queen. Back when the foragers and house bees started filling the brood chamber with honey, the workers who are at the stage of nurse bees in the brood chamber will have begun feeding a number of female larvae royal jelly (the food reserved for the queen) to rear a new queen to replace their departing mother. The first of these queens to be born will kill the other developing queens assuring her sovereignty. Those workers and drones choosing to swarm with their mother (roughly half the hive) begin stuffing themselves with honey for the adventure ahead. Soon they are swarming to a nearby tree, engulfing the queen, and attaching themselves as a single being to a branch, where they will wait for the future to unfold. The swarm has approximately three days to find a new home before their honey stores run out. Scouts are sent out immediately and report back potential living quarters to the swarm. The pros and cons of each space are presented and the choice is made by consensus. Once that decision is made they swarm off to their new home and begin life over, from scratch.
If we stand back and look at this swarming process, we cannot help but be in awe of the honeybee. This mother of the hive has led half her children out into the world at huge risk to allow for the continued evolution of the honeybee. She is in self-less service to the bien, the German word for the Spirit of the Hive. In the natural world of bees, swarming is akin to a birth. It brings forth the most sacred and cosmic truth of the hive – that it is both a colony of tens of thousands of bees and an entity in and of itself – the bien. The bien is the equivalent of a collective ego. Honeybees are, in many ways, more highly evolved than humans. Meanwhile, back in the original hive….. When fully mature, the new queen takes her nuptial flight. Other than swarming, this is the only time a queen leaves the hive. She flies straight towards the sun, rising as far as she can above the earth while being pursued by drones from all nearby colonies. The strongest and most ardent of these drones sacrifice their lives to inseminate the queen. She will mate on this flight with a number of drones who (shall we presume?) immediately fall to earth in gratifying, bliss-filled death. The new, fertile queen returns to her hive to begin her life of service to the bien. She can lay thousands of eggs a day in good forage periods, and can live for up to five years. As the foraging period of summer wanes, not so subtle shifts begin to occur within the hive. The queen lays fewer eggs and all of them will be female workers. These will be fed especially well as they mature for they will be the workers seeing the bien through the winter. The drones have outlived their usefulness and after a season of being doted on by the workers, their food supply is cut off. They are tolerated “gigolo” dependents during forage season, but are excess baggage for winter survival. The queen will take care to lay drone eggs early in the spring season in anticipation of the nuptial flights of her emerging peers. That is where the drones prove their worth. As winter nears and temperatures drop, the bees form a warm body around the queen beating their wings to create warmth. In constant rotation, they each take their turn on the outside then work their way to the center to warm up again. Upwards of forty pounds of honey will be used to fuel winter survival. To be fair, in our climate, with erratic late winter storms and cold, wet extended springs that bear the stamp of climate change, we need to reserve filled frames of honey for emergency feeding. Therefore, most natural beekeepers harvest honey in the fall, leaving a good 40 pounds in the hive for winter food while setting aside a frame of honey-filled comb for emergency rations in the event of late-spring foul weather. They will harvest again after the generous nectar runs of late spring and early summer have filled the honey supers. Here we have a sketch of the yearly cycle of the hive, which the natural beekeeper upholds and respects. There are spiritual and shamanic sides of beekeeping that deepen our appreciation of the bien, but that is another story. Most natural beekeepers will have, at one time or another, run across the work of Rudolf Steiner (1861 -1925). Steiner was a scientist, mystic, and philosopher whose lifework gave us many new forms, most notably Waldorf Education and Biodynamic Farming. In 1920 he gave a series of lectures on bees that is just now being appreciated by many beekeepers. He was living during the buildup of heavy industrialization in Europe and America. One man, a beekeeper named Mr. Müller, continually praised the many advancements made by science to beekeeping. In reference to one such interjection about artificial insemination of the queen, Steiner gave Mr. Müller a stern warning, predicting that within 80 to 100 years such industrialization of beekeeping would cause whole stock of bees to die out. In late 2006, 86 years later, the first devastating reports of CCD rocked the world of commercial beekeeping. Continued on page 20
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County Sheriff Project, Enforcing the Bill of Rights and Protecting People’s Liberties From his patrol car, Richard Mack watched the old Datsun station wagon drive right through the stop sign in Provo, Utah. The car was filled with rambunctious youngsters and one harried mother who, when she saw what she had done, and the police car parked nearby, threw her arms in the air in frustration and pulled over before Mack could even hit his lights and siren. “It was a crappy old car, not worth $400, the kids were all fighting and crying, the woman didn’t say a word, just handed me her license and registration and stared straight ahead.” Mack said he had always been a by-the-book cop. “When I was back in patrol it was all about bringing in the money, bringing in the numbers,” he said. “If you wrote 35 tickets a day you were a good cop.” As he filled out his latest ticket, Mack said he looked at this woman and imagined she had probably been thinking her day couldn’t get any worse – until he’d been parked where he was, and it did. “Then I looked at myself,” Mack said. “I asked myself, ‘Am I doing anything to help this family? Am I making this town a better place to live? Am I making it safer? Am I bringing honor to my badge?’ ” What a true peace officer would do, Mack decided, was to suggest the woman swing by a nearby school playground and let the kids burn some energy while she regained her focus. He tore up the ticket. The next day he went to the city clerk and asked to see the oath of office he had taken. He’d sworn, he discovered, to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. And he’d sworn that he’d do so against enemies both foreign and domestic.. The domestic enemy he fights today is a federal government he says is bent on taking away people’s rights and freedoms. And who can fight the massive federal government? “Your local sheriff,” says Mack. In the minds of many Americans the sheriff is an antiquated figure who lives in the movies. In the older movies he is the hero; he is Gary Cooper in “High Noon,” awaiting the train that will bring killer Frank Miller back to town. In the new ones, he is the southern sheriff, even bigger than fat Albert, sneering, sadistic, racist, violent, etc. He has no modern relevance. But now here comes Sheriff Richard Mack, elected and re-elected in Graham County, Arizona, where he served for eight years. During his tenure, three federal agents came to a meeting of Arizona sheriffs and let them know how they would be responsible, as unpaid federal bureaucrats, to administer the new federal Brady gun registration law. Richard Mack and the other Arizona sheriffs at the meeting rebelled. He sued the United States, and Sheriff Jay Printz of Montana joined him as plaintiff. On June 27th, 1997, the sheriffs won; in Printz v. U.S. (521 U.S. 898) the U.S. Supreme Court struck Brady down. Associate Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the ruling for the Court, in which he explained our system of government at length. The justly enginered system of checks and balances is the key: “. . . The great innovation of this design was that ‘our citizens would have two political capacities, one state and one federal, each protected from incursion by the other’” – “a legal system unprecedented in form and design, establishing two orders of government, each with its own direct relationship, its own privity, its own set of mutual rights and obligations to the people who sustain it and are governed by it.” (P. 920)
Scalia quotes President James Madison, “father” of the Constitution: “[T]he local or municipal authorities form distinct and independent portions of the supremacy, no more subject, within their respective spheres, to the general authority than the general authority is subject to them, within its own sphere.” The Federalist, No. 39 at 245. Again and again, Justice Scalia pounds the point home (page 921): “This separation of the two spheres is one of the Constitution’s structural protections of liberty: ‘Just as the separation and independence of the coordinate branches of the Federal Government serve to prevent the accumulation of excessive power in any one branch, a healthy balance of power between the States and the Federal Government will reduce the risk of tyranny and abuse from either front.’. . .” Gregory, 501 U.S. at 458. Sheriffs across the country are standing up to the federal government and they need your help too. In Nye County, Nevada, federal agents arrived to seize cattle that belonged to rancher Wayne Hage. The sheriff gave them a choice: skedaddle or be arrested. They skedaddled. The cows stayed where they were. Wyoming sheriffs have told federal agencies they must check with the respective sheriff before they serve any papers, make any arrests or confiscate any property. In Idaho, a 74-year-old rancher shot an endangered gray wolf that had killed one of his calves. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent three armed agents to serve a warrant. Lemhi County Sheriff Brett Barslou said that was “inappropriate, heavy-handed and dangerously close to excessive force.” More than 500 people turned out for a rally in the small towns of Challis and Salmon to support the sheriff and the rancher and to tell the federal government to back off. While Richard Mack was sheriff of Graham County, Arizona, a bridge washed out. Parents had to drive twenty six miles to get their kids to school half a mile across the river. But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wouldn’t fix it. First they had to do an “environmental impact study,” to replace a bridge already there. They were in no hurry. The study would take a mere ten years. The people’s suffering reached the board of supervisors. The board voted to dredge the river and fix the bridge. The feds warned that they would be fined $50,000 per day if they tried. The supervisors hesitated. Sheriff Mack promised them and the workers protection and pledged to call out a posse for the purpose if necessary. They built the bridge and the Corps of Engineers faded. The board never paid a dime. Each of us is piece of the transition team to make peaceful change. It’s time to talk with your local sheriff. Let them know you support their work. If they don’t know about Sheriff Mack and the other constitutional sheriffs across the county share the web sites below with them. For more information and a schedule of events visit the http:// www.countysheriffproject.org web site. At that site you can see videos of Sheriff Gilbertson of Josephine County in Oregon, Sheriff Jon Lopey of Siskiyou County, and Sheriff Glenn Palmer of Grant County, Oregon. A new DVD, The Last Line of Defense; Understanding the importance of State sovereignty and the need for Constitutional Sheriffs. All proceeds support the Constitutional Sheriffs & Peace Officer Association (CSPPA). Get your copy and learn more at http://cspoa.org. See list of sheriffs across the USA who have stepped forward to defend the constitution at http://shastaconnect.blogspot.com/2013/02/ is-your-sheriff-stepping-forward-to.html B Reporter Vince Devlin can be reached at 406-319-2117.
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Interview With Ana Holub How did you get started in your peace work?
What are the differences between a traditional and expanded model?
I’ve always been interested in how to create peace. It wasn’t so peaceful in my household when I was growing up, and from an early age I wanted to know how to be more peaceful myself. Gradually, I became involved in meditation and my spiritual path morphed into a quest, asking “What’s it gonna take to be peaceful within myself and within my world?”
The traditional model sets up a dichotomy between the person who is forgiving and the person who did something wrong. So even though a form of forgiveness might happen, the essential paradigm of duality is still in place: one person has done something terribly wrong and the other person can, eventually, find a way to let it go. There’s no clear map to get to resolution and it keeps the separation intact between the two people. In the expanded model we take the traditional model further, asking these kinds of questions.....
What are you up to today?
• What is this issue doing in your life?
I am a teacher, author, and counselor. Sometimes I work with businesses in a consultant role, but most of my work is with individuals and groups. We explore how to be more peaceful using a variety of modalities. One of the most effective is the path of forgiveness.
• How did this situation help you awaken to your suffering?
Is the Forgiveness Path a paradigm you have uncovered? Over the years, I developed a variety of tools for peace education. I have a BA in Peace Education and a Masters in Dispute Resolution, and I have experience mediating between angry people and facilitating groups, especially in tense situations. I teach communication skills and emotional empowerment classes, working with women, men, teens, couples, prison inmates, kids at juvenile hall and at-risk families. Some years ago, I realized that forgiveness can be a healing path. That insight really resonated with me. I explored it deeply in my personal life. In retrospect, everything I had done up to that point informed my forgiveness work. Teaching forgiveness was an expansion upon all the work I had already done, both personally and professionally. The inspiration to use forgiveness as a focus of my life’s work really brought a new depth to my work and also allowed it to be more spiritual, which is important to me. I studied with Colin Tipping, who is one of my mentors, and grew a lot from his Radical Forgiveness teachings. He helped me understand that I could specialize in an area of “forgiveness,” and I’m certified in his methodology. I also study and teach about A Course In Miracles (ACIM), which explains the Forgiveness Path in great detail. In the Forgiveness Path. the teachings are powerful and the processes are simple. To me, that’s the best combination for an effective healing modality. What I teach is accessible to anyone on the planet, with no prerequisites required except a lot of sincere desire!
Do you teach people how to heal themselves or how to heal others? I teach how to release pain and suffering, and how to receive the healing grace of divine love. Forgiveness always brings a person into direct contact with his or her spiritual essence. The Forgiveness Path is all about taking off layers of fear. There is no need to add anything to you or me – we are eternally free and perfect as we are, right now. However, we don’t always act or feel that way. In my work, we explore forgiveness deeply, but it’s not the traditional model. I use an expanded model. Colin Tipping would call it a radical model.
• Are you ready to release it? • Do you want true freedom? Are you ready to live with compassion for yourself, learn your soul lessons, and respect the dignity of everyone involved? Do you trust that healing comes not from an apology (although that’s nice), but from the light and love of the One Source? Ultimately, the work becomes less about what happened, although that’s often the jumping off point, and more about, “How I can let go of all inner constriction, so there’s nothing in the way between me and the holiness of the Divine?”
You are teaching people how to reconnect with their hearts? Yes, connecting to their hearts and their entire being. When I’m working with a client, we uncover his or her soul themes. These are karmic themes that the soul wants to learn about and uplift, stored in different places in the body. Essentially, the body is a reservoir for all of our unfinished business, in addition to holding all of our talents and gifts.
Can you talk more about soul themes in your work? Soul themes are very interconnected. For example, one person might have integrity as a theme, and lots of traumatic events happened in his or her life that are about integrity in some way. Another person may really struggle with power, domination over others or being dominated. A third person might have “trust issues” with intimacy, sex and/or friendships. When we examine integrity, power, and trusting ourselves on a deep level, we find they are related and connected. For example, it’s impossible to have real power unless you have integrity, and if you don’t experience your power spiritually, then you’re not going to be able to deeply trust yourself. All the soul themes work together; they’re always complementary, because they are all life enhancing.
It sounds like you have a system that practitioners can use with their clients. Yes, I’m close to finishing my book on forgiveness, which will be published by Llewellyn Worldwide next year. People can use the book to do the simple process on their own, with a friend, or with a trusted counselor. Therapists can use it as well. This is not a complicated process, but it does take deep sincerity to be successful. When it’s published, my book will be a significant self-help tool for people around the planet to come into peace. During private sessions, I guide people through the process, but I don’t tell them what to think or how to feel. Continued on page 22
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The Garden of Eden Was Not Raked: Creating Sustainable Low Maintenance Food Producing Ecosystems With Forest Gardening By Deborha d’Arms There is so much to say about forest gardening, about creating a sumptuous retreat outside the back porch, a meditative aesthetic sanctuary that would lure one’s attention as often as possible, a natural forest glen of birds, color, scents, roses, that required little attention. But perhaps the best, or nowadays most immediate attraction would be that this dripping alchemical paradise can deal with our most basic of needs; feed us. And not only that, but provide us with our medicines, fibers, fuel, and building materials all within our own backyards. And not only for one season – but for years to come, for generations even. And not only this, but by participating in creating this type of garden the potential for aiding in the rebalancing and reconstituting of Nature on a planetary level and so positively effecting global health, is limitless. For forest gardening is about ecosystems. Creating and steering micro ecosystems to better serve humans. Instead of the back breaking labor intense tradition conventional gardening has required from us, the year after year retilling, replanting, weeding, spraying, fertilizing, pruning, daily fawning over precious seedlings, and the great tug of war between wildlife and preserving bounty for human consumption, forest gardening lets go of all the work and lets nature do it for us – as our natural ecosystems effortlessly and gladly do all around us. Not that there is no work left in this model, there is some, but it is cut down considerably when we relinquish our tasks back to their rightful owner. Walking in the forest, the meadows, along streams, we cannot but notice harmony, balance. But who waters? Who weeds? Who sprays? Who plants, defends, protects, feeds, nurtures? Of course the complex unique systems nature has developed in every area and locale are endless, but if we take the time to observe some of what is working here that enables such auto pilot success – we can take this information and bring it into our own gardens recreating some of this success. It is the patterns we are after. The intricate patterns of behavior, relationship wise that we look to understand and replicate in forest gardening. In copying these we can build micro ecosystems which have the possibility of developing into interconnected networks on the microcosmic level that can handle the garden jobs we have taken upon ourselves as part of unnecessary workload. For example, we are used to planting rows and rows of one kind of vegetable surrounded by bare earth. Now any particular bug predisposed to that particular squash say, is having no trouble locating his next meal, and in inviting all his cousins and girlfriends over for the party which, will last until the buffet is vanquished. Back out in the woods what happens? Earl Predatorbug scouts out no vast orgy in the waiting but only a berry or greens here and there if he looks hard enough – and he better look out because due to the complex nature of the place with so many differing plants and hence differing bugs – he has to work awfully hard to score that meal and not get eaten himself.
What’s the problem here we can use? Diversity. The more differing species we plant the tighter – more complex ecosystem we create, able to fend for herself, attracting differing bugs to protect herself, fending off any infestations. (There are a host of other benefits here, but for now we’ll stick to just these). This is one of the ways we can allow the bugs to do own jobs for us. The second issue of the squash scenario is the lonely bare earth issue. Wherever do we see plants growing in this way in nature – alone, in rows, with nothing but scrapped earth covering their roots?
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Nowhere. Unless in some arid human ruined wasteland where a straggly weed has had the courage and fortitude to bare his head (and is this a prime example we want to emulate in our gardens?). In contrast we see in nature bundles of plants all over each other hugging and climbing, happy and intertwined with every species, on top of each other, next to, using every available space, and all dug into a natural sheaf of humusy organic leaf litter.
What does this accomplish? How often do you have to water your garden in a week? I water my own forest garden during a temperate week once every ten days, during a hot one, once a week at an altitude of 3,900 ft. in high desert. How do I do this? Because I mulch. Heavily. By copying these patterns and using straw mulch this acts as a humus blanket insulating the soil and root systems from summer heat, from winter cold, and as fertilizer as it breaks down feeding the soil, just as her woodland cousins. How the pattern of the manicured garden, eternally antiseptically raked and wrenched over, a water guzzling playground for weeds, disease and endless work got cemented into our culture as a thing to be desired, is unfathomable to me. Leaves and all that organic matter are what feed, nourish, protect, insulate, build, keep and maintain a vibrant healthy soil structure. Strip it away and disease, struggle, endless weeds, and an extreme climate have their way abusing the system costing you all your weekends. A truly similar analogy would be the silliness of walking about unprotected in a winter’s snowy 15 degree day in a scanty bathing suit. How would you thrive? Our gardens should look like our forests. Littered. With a nice insulating jacket of leaves. This, is healthy. This will allow your plants to flourish effortlessly, and you free time which might be nice. Moving along, the most obvious woodland pattern we can observe of course is the layers. Every forest has layers of trees, plants, in tiers all growing together, in and through each other. There is no such thing as a natural bare orchard. Every tree has his network of family and friends. Trees of every size, shrubs, smaller shrubs, vines, groundcovers sprawling all over in all the leftover spaces. So much in one space.
What if all these guys were edible? And so we have the basic forest garden idea – a seven-layered pattern borrowed from nature. But we have interjected a canopy of standard fruit and nut trees, a second story of dwarfing versions, a third of edible berries and shrubs, a fourth of perennial vegetables (yes, there are lots of perennial vegetables – get my newsletter for more on this), a fifth groundcover of herbs, mints, a sixth of edible vines growing up those trees – and a seventh of root crops growing at the sunny edges.
Voila. You have a forest of food. With regard to wildlife, if we are now intent on repeating natural patterns within our gardens, how appropriate is it to be playing tug of war with them who are so hungry and displaced and from human civilized habitations? As a part of the circle of life so energizing natural ecosystems, the very issues that threaten our planet, isn’t it imperative to support them too? And energetically, this is a whole conversation of precisely what we give out recycling right back into own lives in spades – the energy of restriction and lack – or the energy of abundance and prosperity. When we give back to nature, she gives back to us three fold. This expansive energy empowers the garden, the eco system, her denizens, plant and otherwise, and brings prosperity into our lives. The question is how, along with accomplishing our own goals of production. This is actually a relatively easy issue when we turn around our perspective. Forest gardening invites wildlife and appreciates the partnership they offer in pollination, bug and rodent regulation, fertilization and Continued on page 22
Permaculture — Working Within the Web of Nature By Wendy Crist “The Web of Life” is a common metaphor used to describe the workings of the natural world, where every player or part, and their actions are interconnected and directly effect the entire web. So, we can think about a spider’s web and how every movement – a breeze or the spider’s dance – affects every part of the web and the web as a whole. This consideration puts us in our place as but one of a multitude of elements within the whole living system of Nature, not the sovereign creators of the system. In the words of Chief Seattle: “Man did not weave the web of life. He is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself.” Permaculture’s focus is to remind us humans of our place within the whole and proposes we begin mimicking Nature by observing Her seamless and simple, yet elegant, examples.
What is Permaculture? The word permaculture is said to be a morpheme of permanent agriculture or permanent culture. From my Permaculture training at Occidental Arts and Ecology Center (OAEC) comes this definition: “Permaculture is a whole design science that is reflective of natural patterns and promotes mutually beneficial relationships. Rooted in ethics, the concepts and themes in Permaculture help us rediscover how to be a positive contribution to the Earth, ourselves and humanity.” Penny Livingston-Stark of the Regenerative Design Institute in Bolinas, concisely defines it as “…a design science based in the observation of Nature.”
How did I come to Premaculture? In the dead of winter, on a snowy weekend in February 2008, I had a Permaculture peak experience, long before I knew what Permaculture was. I was reading an article by Harvey Ussery in Mother Earth News: Plant an Edible Forest Garden, August/September 2007 issue. In this article Harvey never uttered the term Permaculture, but amongst other topics, he talked about a technique for converting a lawn or overgrown area into an arable garden plot. A “killing mulch” (sheet mulch in permaculture lingo) uses cardboard with layered mulch, leaves, compost and/or manure over it to a depth of at least six inches. This technique does away with back breaking digging while keeping the soil community intact. As the layers compost, usually over a winter, rain and air continue to reach the soil, weeds are mitigated and the soil improved. When spring comes crops can be planted right through the sheet mulch. This discussion of a “killing mulch” elicited a profound “aha moment” for me. My husband, and I, with our dog Cleo, live on a 1.5 acre piece of land that used to be part of, and is surrounded by, a 25-acre parcel of land. At the turn of the 20th century this land became the home of the Dunsmuir Hospital, run for Southern Pacific Railroad by Dr. Cornish. The land was terraced, rock walls and stairways built, wagon roads cut into the hillside, and a lumber mill and cow barn constructed on the hill above where the hospital would be. The hospital grew all the food for patients and staff on the land, including honey, milk, eggs and meat. Timber from the property was milled and used to construct the hospital and outbuildings. The hospital was torn down in 1954, leaving only the living quarters of Dr. Cornish and his family. In 1963, in a very unconventional move, Dr. Cornish swapped his Dunsmuir home for Bob and Ginny Von Hein’s Redwood City suburban home. Bob and Ginny moved to the Dunsmuir land in 1963 with their two youngest daughters and began to sculpt a lifestyle similar to that of Scott and Helen Nearing, authors of The Good Life, (published in the 50’s); they grew most of their own food and made do with what was already on the land – an 80-tree apple orchard consisting of 28 different varieties, along with chestnuts, figs,
persimmons, plums and prunes, cherries and grapes. The land is on a west-southwest facing hillside with an approximate 6 percent slope, a year-round spring, 3000-gallon holding tank and piping that delivers, to this day, irrigation water to the lower five acres where most of the veggies have been grown over the years. When Michael and I bought our place, Bob and Ginny were in their late 70’s and beginning to fall behind in upkeep of the land. A large terraced field, on their property, just adjacent to our house, beckoned me from day one. It had been overgrown with wild sweet peas, blackberries and grasses for decades, but all I could see through dreamy eyes was the possibility of a burgeoning veggie farm. After getting Bob’s permission to use the land, I spent the next several years trying to think of a way to convert the field into arable cropland without breaking my back. When I read about the “killing mulch” the solution was presented like a gift from on High. It wasn’t until I shared this with my friend Beki Filipello, better versed in Permaculture, that the panorama opened before me. Beki and I went to Permaculture camp at Occidental Arts and Ecology Center (OAEC) later that year to get our Permaculture Design Certificates, a life altering experience for me!
Why Permaculture? For me the systemic problems of persistent pollution (air, water and soil), climate change, insupportable infrastructure (political and economic), the failure of agribusiness in particular and the corporate world in general, along with our eroding culture were weighty and overwhelming. At OAEC I encountered folks who were not only aware of and talking about these issues, but also working for real change. They had built an intentional community centered around living sustainably on the land and they were involved in changing policy at the state and national levels on such issues as GMO’s (genetically modified organisms), water conservation, democracy, etc. WOW! Permaculture is one voice amongst a growing multitude of voices making up what is fast becoming an ever-expanding groundswell of changing consciousness. This movement is organic in its very essence, springing from a growing desire to act on the longings of our hearts to find balance, harmony and wholeness. It’s been called “an ethical design system for ecological living; a global grass-roots movement to build a sustainable world culture; an ecological science: the study of Nature and natural systems; a lifestyle integrating ecologically sustainable qualities into our lives and communities; and a solution-oriented environmental movement.” The three main ethics of Permaculture (PC) are Earth Care, People Care and Fair Share. I would add to these, respecting the intrinsic value of all living Beings. Care of the Earth and care of humans are pretty clear. Fair Share speaks to returning or giving away surplus energy: food, fuel, fiber, fodder, fellowship, information and fun. Within these ethics, some of the specific aims of Permaculture practitioner’s are to reforest the earth, conserve fresh water/ restore groundwater, reclaim soil, grow food where the people are, create regenerative culture: healing, justice and education for self-reliance and create long-term sustainability. From the perspective of a small market farmer, I feel Permaculture’s aim is to give the designer tools for orchestrating all the parts (elements) of the land into a mutually supportive, energy efficient, resource regenerative, and labor saving symphony in which, over time, “the designer [can] become(s) the recliner” more of the time. This principle, “the designer becomes the recliner,” is one coined by my teacher, Brock Dolman. This is the essence of what PC offered that was so appealing to me; I just didn’t believe it all had to be such hard work.
Where do we start? This brings us to a discussion of the strands of the web or, in Permaculture jargon, the elements (players and parts) within the web, Continued on page 19
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MAPPING A NEW REALITY (continued from page 6) In the new reality, the minute we feel something different, we will explore what opportunities for growth it may be offering. I would now like to look at the remaining concept serving as a map point towards the new reality: fundamentalism. The dictionary gives several definitions for the word fundamental: (1) relating to or affecting the underlying principle or structure of something; (2) the lowest frequency in a vibration or periodic wave. Both of these definitions strike at the heart of the points I am about to make, for I am about to discuss fundamental beliefs and fundamental attitudes. The dictionary definition of fundamentalism is: “the belief that a doctrine should be implemented literally, not interpreted or adapted.” I have a “problem” with both meanings of fundamental and fundamentalism, but beyond that I have a problem with the concept. If I follow my premise that problems are opportunities for growth, I would abandon the concept of fundamentalism altogether, as it seems only to serve allegiance to duality. The ideas represented by fundamentalism seem to create stagnation, not growth. A literal (fundamental) interpretation of any belief or principal does not allow for interpretation or adaptation. Doesn’t holding on to something literally by the letter of the law block the flow of creativity and adaptation to specific circumstances? Now let’s look at definition No. 2: fundamentalism as the lowest frequency in a vibration or periodic wave. The lowest frequency indicates the one with the least amount of movement. Again we are bumping up against stagnation, something that does not allow for creativity. People who hold on to fundamental beliefs and ideas about the world are, according to the dictionary, structuring their world on the lowest frequency vibration available to humans. Not only are they holding that out as the essential truth for all humanity, they want to convert anyone who does not see the “truth” of their beliefs. I find that quite constricting. In fact, the river called Rebecca (for I too am water) does not feel good when it is blocked by such structures of belief. I do not want to be damned up, confined, into such a limited position as a human. I want to be interpreted according to the context in which I live. Don’t you? I do not want to be boxed in to something that I was yesterday when I am still evolving into what I will be tomorrow. Fundamentalism is not only about the lowest frequency of being. It is also about polarity. The practice of fundamentalism in religion is a prime example of fundamentalism’s great cost to humanity. Fundamental Christians and Fundamental Muslims have latched on to opposite polarities, and are willing to kill others who cannot live by their rules. In my humble opinion, that is the lowest vibratory frequency possible: to be willing to take a life because a person does not hold your beliefs. Most fundamental religions, if not actively engaged in killing as their religions have done in the past, they are busy trying to convert others to their polar belief system. This is a battle of ideas, if not physical battle. Unable to see that anything else could exist as “truth”, they turn blind eyes and ears to ideas that could promote world harmony, sticking to the fundamental polarity that they are “right.” Some even believe that they are the chosen of God and that everyone else is doomed for a Hell (however they define that term). In any fundamental belief system, people see their own truth as the only truth. As already discussed, in unity, truth can hold many dualistic perspectives. In fact, the flow of the universe produces only truth and beauty when allowed to flow unimpeded. I have noticed that whenever I am locked into a polarity of belief, I constrict the opportunities that might be possible. When I detach from what I think must be right, I also detach from the thought that anything different from that will cause a problem. Conversely, when I am feeling joyful and spacious inside myself, when I am accepting of who I am as well as my outer circumstance, I have a more expanded view. I flow more, allowing everything that is possible to arrive when and as it should. At those moments, I trust the universe and I have
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no fear. I am not afraid of being judged or rejected. I am not trying to control things out of fear that I won’t get what I want or what I need. I am not afraid that I will lose myself by honoring someone else. There is no polar attachment to anything, but I exist somewhere in the middle, just being. In short, there is nothing to be afraid of because I am experiencing so much joy that I trust everything is as it should be. And things usually work out quite well when I can manage to live this way. This is living from the place of love, the position of unity where duality is incorporated as part of the whole. We have all experienced spaces in our lives where we are living from the place of love. When we are in those moments, food tastes better, sunsets are more glorious, our mates look more handsome (or beautiful) and more attractive to us, and whatever is happening seems just right. When we are not operating from the place of love, we must struggle to remember that whoever or whatever has created the perceived “problem,” disharmony, or difference is acceptable, too. It is nobody’s fault. Others are just being who they are, living their lives, and hopefully, doing it with responsibility for how they affect others. (That is the place most of us need to work: in realizing that everything we think and do individually affects everyone else as part of the unified whole.) If I fall out of resonance with someone, I don’t have to blame them or change them, or even tell them what I am feeling about the “problem” (although open communication without judgment or blame is always a plus). I don’t have to focus on fundamental differences or latch on to my desire to correct the situation. I can simply move out of the energy that is not supportive of me at that particular moment, remembering that there is room for us all, the only thing I can change is myself, that I must take responsibility for my thoughts and actions, and that as I learn to do it differently, my individual efforts for greater harmony within myself will affect the harmony of the greater whole. Or perhaps, if the lack of resonance is increasing, I glean an understanding that I must leave the person or situation permanently to support myself. Each of us has a choice, and we make it by asking this question: “Do I want to participate in a battle of polarities that is causing difficulty, or do I want to let it go, moving back towards my own sense of flow?” There is no point in repeating disharmonious situations over and over again, hoping that they will have a different outcome next time. (In fact, that is a very good definition of mental illness!) The thing that needs to change is within me. It is here, on the inside, where I can examine my insecurities and my fears, that I can take responsibility for my emotions and learn to understand what is called for. It is here inside of me that I also learn to take responsibility for how my thoughts and actions affect others. It is only a belief that what we are wanting or needing or experiencing is more important than what the other person is wanting or needing or experiencing that causes conflict. In the moment, there is a clash of expectations, and like a cold front hitting a warm front in the weather, lightening can occur. How we choose to deal with the clash of polarities is what gives us the potential to grow. We must want to get back to the state of love and unity. And to do so, we must follow the new map, making choices that are not based on any fundamental belief. We are not fundamentally right while others are fundamentally wrong. Likewise, situations are neither right nor wrong; they simply move into and out of energetic harmony. To restore energetic harmony to the whole, our best choice is to either correct our own abilities to accept others’ experience, or vacate the space for a while, allowing them the right and the space to be exactly where they are. When we can learn as humans to do this, “problems” will be over. There will be no fundamental differences. Leaving the zone of familiarity and following the map to the new reality is about thinking differently and acting differently, unwinding those patterns that have kept our familiar comforts and discomforts in their polar places. The old familiar ways are not working, and I, for one, do not want to continue living life from the viewpoint that suggests that life is hard, life is a struggle, or that I have to fight to get my share. There is enough for all of us. Everyone owns a piece of the truth, and each polar perspective offers us another vantage point of the whole. There is no right way (although some ways certainly flow Continued on page 17
MAPPING A NEW REALITY (continued from page 16)
HEALTHY LIVING (continued from page 9)
more easily because they are more connected to the benefit of the whole).
This 122 page report offers comprehensive evidence based recommendations for improving health and wellness, focusing on seven priority areas. These areas include:
Our world is changing. We must now evolve or die. We need to learn to • detach from belief systems, • surrender fundamental polar positions of extremes in favor of unified concepts, • accept the gifts inherent in the viewpoints of others, • have gratitude for every opportunity to grow and change, • cooperate rather than compete (including mind games and competitive sports), • live from love rather than from fear, and • accept energy rather than time as the basis of our existence. In the new reality, these ways of interacting with life may become more necessary than air. Without air, we die. Possibly as new humans, without a new attitude and a new perspective that is loving and nonjudgmental, we will also die. It is possible that an atmosphere created by beliefs that contain judgment and fear can be just as toxic as an atmosphere that contains only carbon dioxide. We cannot live without oxygen. Can we live without love? The concepts I have offered on my map to the new reality are limited by the use of human language, another aspect of duality and our current reality. I share as best I can, my hopes, my dreams, my questions, and my understanding. But all of these words come from the shared familiarity of the English language. To step out of familiarity into the new reality, I must share from the core of my being, from the place within me that is love. Communication occurs on more levels than mindful speech. Communication comes through the expressions on our faces and the energy we hold in our hearts. If I were able to truly communicate and connect with each of you reading this article, in the new reality I would step out of the zone of the familiar use of language, and I would simply give you a hug. B With love and light, Rebecca Smith Orleane Rebecca Smith Orleane, Ph.D. is the author of the International Award Winner for Visionary Fiction, Southern Piercings, The Return of the Feminine: Honoring the Cycles of Nature, and co-author of Ashland’s best seller, Conversations With Laarkmaa: A Pleiadian View of the New Reality. As Mayan Calendar scholar, she provides personal energetic charts for clients. She and her heartmate have a healing practice in Ashland, and they host weekly gatherings promoting peace, harmony, love, and human evolution. For more information about her work, see www.laarkmaa.com. © Copyright Rebecca Smith Orleane
Tobacco-free living, preventing drug abuse and alcohol use, healthy eating, active living, injury and violence-free living, reproductive and sexual health, mental and emotional well-being. You can get the entire report at: www.healthcare.gov/center/councils/nphpphc. “The national prevention strategy encourages partnerships among the federal, state, tribal, local, and territorial governments; business, industry and other private sector partners, philanthropic organizations, community and faith-based organizations and everyday Americans to improve health through prevention” said U.S. surgeon general Regina Benjamin, M.D. council chair. “For the first time in the history of our nation, we have developed a cross-section, integrated national strategy, that identifies priorities for improving the health of Americans.” The above information was borrowed from the August 2011 Chiropractic News Source, however the same information is being promoted by most media sources today. In a simple “nutshell” gaining back our health has to start with improving our choices of nutritious food, proper rest, pure water, proper exercises, sunshine, fresh air, and abstaining from all that is harmful to our mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. Remember there are no quick fixes when it comes to regaining your health. All changes should result from being focused on longterm benefits. Carefully guard your health…it is a priceless possession. Meditate upon the great Creator of the universe, and His gift of life to us. Be thankful and helpful to one and all…and you will be a winner! B Frank J Hurd, D.C., M.D. 541-472-1113 Dr. Hurd is a physician who specializes in preventive medicine. He and Rosalie, his wife, have authored the classic Ten Talents Cookbook. For more information visit: www.tentalents.net
H I
Holding The Light is now on display at Ashland Art Center, Ashland OR In this era when technology and urbanization are the norm for most of us, we have through ignorance and self-absorption come to a tipping point where we stand on the threshold of enormous responsibility and change. For eons it has been the indigenous peoples of our planet who are and have been the holders of the light for all of humanity. They live knowing that there is no separation between what we do and how that affects all creation. My heart’s desire is that we open to the wisdom that is in their teachings and contact our own inner wisdom and embrace what we have been given. It is a great honor and joy to create consciously, knowing our connection with this earth and all of its life. Whenever I start a project I feel inspired as I realize I’m part of the much larger act of creation. Then I feel humbled and at the same time exalted as I participate in that creation. This awareness first came to me when I was designing stained glass windows for a church. I was overwhelmed by the feeling of responsibility for how the stained glass would affect those who were within their environment. I became highly motivated to study the effects of color and shapes on us both physically and emotionally. I could truly see how what I create affects the current moment as well as all those moments that were to come. It was my intention to honor those dedicated to conscious creation that inspired the piece Holding The Light on the cover. This Continued on page 18 Healing Yourself Heals The Planet
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The Midline: The Forces That Create the Body Heal the Body…and Awaken Consciousness By Sandra Norris Wheeler LMT CST “In this place within, there is peace and stillness, and with that, a fulfillment which has always been there.” – C.G. Deuter We are in an unprecedented time of change and transformation. Many of us believe or sense that we are “spiritual beings having a human experience,” yet it is often rare to have a direct, in-body experience of our own divinity and Oneness with all that is. One of the primary reasons this feeling of unity, ease and Oneness is so difficult to feel is the constant bombardment of inner and outer stress, and the unceasing swirling of thoughts, static and tension of an overwhelmed nervous system. Even for those who are on a path of personal growth and transformation, the depth and rate of inner and outer change can significantly contribute to the hyperactivity of the central nervous system (CNS). The time has come to recognize, feel and consciously choose to bring our attention to the Midline: a location IN THE BODY of rest, renewal, connectedness to Source and the wellspring of health and inner wisdom. The practice of resting in the Midline liberates our attention from the unceasing changes inside and outside of us as we create this New World with forms and relationships rooted in Oneness. As a personal energy practice, resting our awareness at the Midline – the location of stillness within us – we allow ourselves to directly feel and merge back into our birthright of Oneness.
Stillness Forms the Body Through the Midline Around day 14 after conception, in the opaque liquid crystal matrix cells of potential life, a line appears and begins to vibrate. This line – known as the primitive streak – is the Midline, at the core of which is a dynamic stillness, our personal connection to Source. Through this midline flow the forces that create the body, which arry the original blueprint of health and destiny. Once the body is formed, this flow – known as the Breath of Life – continuously flows the forces that repair the body, sustain its optimal functioning (e.g., balancing hormones, strengthening the immune system) AND evolve our consciousness. Our original midline – a continuous shaft of stillness from the head to the tailbone – recedes into the core of the spine after formation of the embryo. Yet the Breath of Life continues to “breathe” in subtle, palpable rhythms known as the “cranial tides” throughout our lives, and for up to three days after the physical body has died.
Feel and Locate This for Yourself Find a place to sit or lie comfortably with no distractions. Close your eyes and breathe slowly and deeply. Bring your awareness to the top of your head – the crown. Rest your attention there for a moment From this place feel, sense or imagine a warm radiant column of stillness flowing from the crown to the tip of the tailbone. Bring all of your awareness into this “river of stillness” flowing through the core of your being. Breathe slowly and deeply and allow your awareness to settle into the pool of stillness in your tailbone. Rest in this core of stillness for some time as you allow anything that arises inside or outside of you to “be as it is,” gently returning any wandering thoughts back “down and in” to your midline. All biological beings have a midline, upon which that distinctive lifeform was created, and within which is a shaft of stillness. As a way to experience this: stand in the midst of a forest, close your eyes and bring your awareness “down and in” to your own Midline. Feel the presence of the midline Stillness in the trees surrounding you. Notice
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the calming of your nervous system…this is the power of resting in neutral. In this neutral state, we more easily feel our innate connectedness to Life.
Neutral = “Listening” With the Body as a Receiver With midline practice, we are cultivating a bodyfelt sense of allowing, listening and receiving the Wisdom of the Body and our own inner guidance. The Midline is THE location of Neutral in the body. As we rest our attention on this shaft of neutral Stillness in the core of the body, we also let everything inside and outside of us BE AS IT IS without bringing our attention “up and out” to fix or judge. We stay deep inside the core, ALLOW and feel the unimpeded flow of the Breath of Life as it reignites our innate healing forces. Often this feels like an inner body warmth and relaxation as seemingly “separate” parts feel more integrated and whole. Other benefits include: reducing stress, trauma and fight/flight/ freeze responses; strengthening immune function; reducing anxiety; balancing cardiovascular, neurological and hormonal systems; promoting mental clarity; restoring healthy circulation to all cells; promoting deep relaxation; allowing the heart to come fully “online” as our energetic center.
Midline as a Personal and Group Practice Midline Meditation is an essential personal energy awareness practice. Easy to learn, the initial guided instructions are a necessary assistance in redirecting our busy and fragmented attention back in to this potent location in the core of the body. Eventually, the guidance will not be needed when we feel the deep sense of “Home” and restfulness in the Midline. This practice is an excellent adjunct to any healing modality or personal growth process, as any person can cultivate it on their own to support their regaining of health, ease and groundedness in the midst of physical, emotional and other challenges. Stillness Circles are people coming together from diverse life paths and spiritual practices to cultivate and enhance the extensive benefits of Midline practice. These circles are a deep, nourishing, sacred container of embodied Oneness in the midst of dynamic personal and planetary transformation. B Midline Meditation MP3: http://sandranwheeler.com/_pages/ meditation_mp3s.html or MidlineMeditation.wordpress.com Sandra Norris Wheeler LMT CST is in private practice in Ashland OR, specializing in Advanced Myofascial Release, shamanic ceremony and is a certified Biodynamic Cranial Touch practitioner and teacher. She has developed and teaches Midline Meditation. Contact: www.sandranwheeler.com, 541.912.9556, sandra@sandranwheeler.com
MARGARET BRITTON (continued from page 17) glass piece started as a painting and then was transferred into a leaded and painted piece of art. The glass is mouth blown and the detail hand painted and fired in the kiln for permanency. I use the same techniques used by generations of glass artists, and as it has been with them, I will dissolve into the unknown while my work lives on. B Margaret’s work can be seen at Britton Stained Glass, Mount Shasta CA. (530) 926-1106; www BrittonStainedGlassStudio.com Ashland Art Center, Ashland OR; Bella Art , Yreka CA; and The Gallery, Mount Shasta CA.
PERMACULTURE (continued from page 15) and the interrelated and mutually supportive functions (actions) of these elements. There are some 26 PC principles that have been put forward by a multitude of PC pundits. Being a gardener and farmer I resonate with a few core principles finding many of the others redundant or too cerebral. The principles that resonate with me are the ones that speak to the [orchestration of the parts into a mutually supportive, energyefficient, resource-regenerative and labor saving symphony]: Observation and Mimicking of Natural Patterns; Using Onsite Resources; The Thoughtful, Economic and Conservative Use of Energy; Every Element Supports Many Functions/Every Function is Supported by Many Elements; Start Small; Celebrate and Encourage Diversity; Local Focus; and Relinquishing Power. First and foremost is the principle of OBSERVATION. By using all of our senses, feelings and intuition we open ourselves to what is in front of us, ordering the process of choosing a site for our homestead or farm and then learning to work with what is at hand. In PC the focus is: protracted and thoughtful observation (PATO) rather than protracted and thoughtless labor. When Michael, my husband, and I first looked at the land we now call home, I was using this principle without even knowing it. I could hear water as we walked up the drive and on asking where the water came from, first learned of the spring, storage tank and gravity-feed irrigation. I noticed the land was sloped and faced westsouthwest, a wonderful solar aspect for growing. I saw stone walls delineating terraces; stairways linking areas and felt this land had been thoughtfully developed for easy access to all the elements of a farm. I noticed there was a wonderful view of the town and Castle Crags. I saw animal trails and heard birdsong. There were many fruit trees and old ornamental specimen trees and shrubs. Being a gardener and looking with growing in mind, I intuited the soil was prime and had been cared for but the spring water was the dealmaker – a priceless resource in my mind; I was sold. Using Onsite Resources is a principle that follows observation quite naturally. In our case onsite resources would include the spring, storage tank, plumbed water lines, rock terraces, stairways, trees, etc. We found there were other onsite resources like old pipes, fence wire, tree stakes and other items that might be called garbage but have come in handy for building trellises, fences and vineyards. They have saved us money while adding nothing to the landfill. Biological resources should be considered here as well. It’s important to preserve biological intelligence, for example, Integrated Pest Management (IPM); by encouraging wildlife, bees, birds, worms, bacteria ducks, chickens, pigs, cows, spiders, frogs …we support a system that allows each component to do what it does naturally, aiding in the fertility and maintenance of plants and soil while decreasing the human and technological workload. The final onsite resource was Bob and Ginny. Old timers with lots of experience are an invaluable resource. Energy Recycling, One Calorie In/One Calorie Out and the Law of Return are three rather redundant principles that speak to the same ethic; the thoughtful use of energy in all its forms. For example: biomass: leaves, grass clippings, prunings, weeds and animal waste, are returned to the system – recycled. Conversely, exporting these items – taking them to the dump – we are essentially mining the soil of nutrients over time. Along these same lines, by providing for adequate biomass in our garden plans we will eventually do away with the need to import nutrients: mulch, manure and other fertilizers. In the discussion of elements and their functions, many of the principles overlap. They talk about ordering the placement and relationships of elements and functions in such a way as to conserve energy and resources. One very simple example of this is zoning or the placement of elements according to frequency of use, for example: the herb garden (zone 1) can be placed closer to the house (zone 0) for easy access while cooking; the apple orchard (zone 4 or 5) can be placed farther away as it needs input and attention less frequently.
One of my favorite principles is “Every Element Supports Many Functions.” I inadvertently experienced this principle in action this spring. In February I planted eight pounds of field peas in one of my sheet mulched beds as a green manure. I wanted to introduce more nitrogen into this bed to mitigate an excess of carbon (woodchips) I inoculated the seed to encourage the formation of nitrogen nodules on the pea roots (legumes are nitrogen fixing, converting atmospheric nitrogen into a soil nutrient). As the peas came up I suddenly realized they could serve a secondary function by providing a marketable crop of pea shoots. As the vines came into flower and peas began to form a tertiary function came to mind, when I found the peas to be sweet and delicious. I now have two quarts of shelled peas in the freezer, as well as having sold several pounds of peas. I will have a few pounds of dry peas to put away for soups this winter. The fifth function will be the provision of seed for another crop next year and the final function will be biomass for composting. The initial green manure function will continue as nitrogen is released from the root nodules into the soil after the vines are cut. I didn’t plan this “stacking of functions,” (another principle) but by staying open to observing what was going on around me, was enlightened by the natural process. Another wonderful example of the stacking of functions comes in the consideration of a pond as an element. The pond provides cooling, in the summer as well as reflected light and some frost protection in the winter. It supports ducks, fish and aquatic plants, thus creating a richer habitat. It also catches rainwater, which can be used for irrigation, fire control, household water and recreation. The clay dug from the pond can be used for building cob structures such as buildings, walls, benches, ovens; it can be used in wattle and daub construction (another building technique) and plaster finishes. So, perhaps you’re beginning to see that designing for mutually beneficial relationships leads to “cooperative symbiosis,” with Nature as the ultimate mentor. The remaining principles of Diversity, Local Focus and Start Small speak to the natural transition from the unsustainable centralized model of the present system to the Village model. Even though the mainstream culture seems to dictate homogenous yet competitive “first-world” style, folks who are well versed in the workings of natural systems know that diversity of beings and their expressions is necessary for a healthy living system. Monocultures, as we’ve seen in agribusiness, require massive imports of chemical fertilizers, insecticides and herbicides to arrive at a harvestable crop, which then has to be transported over large distances thus requiring more petrochemical input as well as its fallout. Small, diverse and organic fields become self-sustaining over time. It seems the more diverse a garden is with plants, bugs, birds, reptiles, microorganisms, fungi, etc.; the fewer imbalances: infertility, disease and infestations. The current centralized mess we Americans find ourselves in is, in my opinion, necessarily leading us toward downsizing on many levels. Over time I think we will find that small, localized producers of goods and providers of services, including governments and economies, can demonstrate they are more effective and less costly to the communities they serve and by starting small, mistakes can remain instructive rather than catastrophic. I believe we are well on our way to this new paradigm; the chaotic unraveling of the status quo is a sure sign of change a coming! As I posited earlier, our collective longing from deep within, is in line with and, I feel, sourced by the very Web of Life; the intelligent field in which we live and have our being and out of which all life expresses! Relinquishing Power is a crucial component for change. Again, we are only strands in The Web. The changes that seem to be here and growing stronger every day feel like a wave we’re all riding. Some of us are fighting against the tide, but many of us are ready for the sublime tumult of this amazing transition. We can return to The Garden of Earthly Delights, where every household, business and civic leader is motivated by their hearts desire and geared toward what their part will be in the community symphony: farmer, seamstress, carpenter, leader, teacher, artist, Continued on page 20
Healing Yourself Heals The Planet
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LIVING WITH BEES (continued from page 11) The Industralization of Apiculture Mt. Müller was promoting artificial queen breeding, which is common practice in commercial beekeeping today. In fact queen breeding is a lucrative business. Looking back, we can see it as one of the first dark clouds to gather around the beekeeper and his apiary. To understand how the clouds grew into the maelstrom of CCD, let’s fast-forward to our present time and sketch the life of a commercial bee colony throughout the year. I would like to report that the average bee lives in a nice apiary on a family farm in a rural setting. Some still do, but most don’t “live” in any one place. They are migrants, traveling the highways of America on flatbed semis. They may spend their summer in a northern state but the year begins early in the South. The grapefruit blossom in January in Florida and the crops are dependant on bee pollination. Commercial beekeepers load upwards of 14 million bees in their hives on flatbed trucks and head south to start the year. These are real hard-working bees. The grapefruit farmer has contracted with the beekeeper at maybe $50–$100 a hive for guaranteed pollination (now standard in contracts since the advent of CCD as many of those colonies collapse in the midst of this sort of work). To get the bees into high gear, they are primed at a location near the grapefruit orchard, with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) feed. Most of these hives have minimal winter honey stores because their winter is artificially shortened by migration but also due to the harvesting of most commercial honey in the autumn. They will be supplemented with HFCS and/or sugar syrup. HFCS is not nectar but the same manufactured sweetener in our soft drinks and most commercial sweets. Picture our beekeeper with 14 million hyped-up ADHD bees ready to start his/their year with grapefruit nectar. When the run of nectar peters out in the grapefruit orchard, our bees are packed up on the flatbed semi once more. Then they barrel across the entire USA to be in California for the almond bloom. While waiting to be moved to the almond groves to fulfill another contract, they are pumped up on HFCS again at a way station. After the almonds, it could be mono-crops in the Midwest, blueberries in New England, and on and on. It must be stated that no pollinating insect would naturally seek out a mono-crop (or GMO plants for that matter) because insects need habitat and diversity, the destruction of which, by Big Agriculture, has added another dark cloud to the CCD spectrum. Throughout this extended and grueling year, our beekeeper is harvesting honey – a lot of honey. The price of this honey is continually rising as massive numbers of colonies are lost and bee shortages prevail. Keep in mind that this honey, made from nectar and HFCS, fills grocery store shelves across the country under brand names. In addition to overheating the honey, manufacturers often dilute this honey with so-called honey from China – often flavored and colored sugar syrup. For your own health and peace of mind, you may want to consider local raw honey from the farmer’s market instead, and meet the beekeeper while you are there. Commercial beekeeping grew into an extremely lucrative business, walking hand in hand with Big Agriculture’s signature of mono-crops, pesticides, herbicides, GMO’s, and the most potent of chemical concoctions, systemic pesticides. Consistent toxic buildup in the bee hives turns out to be one notable factor in the CCD spectrum, while in the case of some heavy colony loss, systemic pesticides (pesticides that become part of the plant) directly affected the vitality of the bees. Systemic pesticides were banned in France as soon as beekeepers there recognized the connection to colony loss. Looking inside the hives, we find that migratory bees are plagued with heavy infestations of parasitic varroa mites, bacteria and viruses. They are treated with miticides, antibiotics and other chemotherapies. It is hard to control the spread of disease when bees from all over the country converge in the Big Ag mono-crops. Additionally the bees are more susceptible because they have been stressed with travel/dislocation and high-powered junk food. Thus, another dark cloud of the CCD spectrum is the weakened state of the bees’ immune systems.
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Now that we are inside the hive, let’s take a really good look at the bees themselves. The first thing we notice is that there are no drones hanging around wasting time and eating up food stores. We can couple that with the observation that the honeycomb is actually plastic – very uniform, nice and neat – wax-coated plastic. The bees don’t like plastic foundation, or even wax foundation. They are meant to build wax from scratch or remodel what is there. It goes without saying that they have a natural inclination and a need to build wax and will forget how to do it as generations are raised on preformed comb. However, this way the beekeeper can regulate the size of comb produced. Typically, the size of the comb cell is that of the worker bee brood. The queen in such a hive cannot lay drone eggs, which require a larger cell. She has only girl children. This hive is beginning to resemble an all-girl honey sweatshop. In fact some of these girls are likely not this queen’s children. Commercial beekeepers can and do replace queens often to keep the hive at peak performance. Because they can order overnight delivery of a new clipped-wing queen and have eliminated the drones, there are no swarms (the best way to control varroa mite, by the way), no queen rearing, no nuptial flights, and, as you might have guessed, no bien. The spirit of the hive, the very soul of our most advanced companions on this planet, has been destroyed in this modern version of beekeeping. Animals do not have egos, though the bien has been likened to a collective ego. Animals do have souls and spend most of their time in soul world while journeying with us in this material life. For the bees, there is no material loss if they withdraw from this reality into soul world but there could well be obstacles to the evolution of the bien’s consciousness. The loss, and karma, is ours. We have much to learn from these advanced and cosmic beings. I have presented a very simplified overview of a complex wakeup call for humanity. The bees, with their willful rejection of slavery and withdrawal from our misguided civilization (CCD in a nutshell), are the passionate messengers of our own potential demise. We can mourn the loss and move on towards that inevitable decline and collapse, or we can light the fire of their return through our own conscious return to the natural world. B Jessie lives in Mount Shasta where she keeps bees in her biodynamic garden, organizes the Mount Shasta Natural Beekeeping Guild, and champions a Transition Town Action Group for Backyard Beekeeping. In her working life, she developed and teaches Awakening and Healing the Rainbow Body, lectures on behalf of Conscious Parenting, and occasionally leads Sacred Journeys to Peru and Europe. Her PhD was earned at the University of Minnesota Medical School. She has authored four books and recorded three CDs of Shamanic Journeys to assist greater spiritual awareness. Her website is www.heartofthesun. com.
© Copyright Protected Jessie Ayani
PERMACULTURE (continued from page 19) caregiver, cook, butcher, baker or candlestick maker. The “Web” can become the bejeweled Net of Indra where every part glistens and is reflected in the shine of its neighbor. B Resources: Gaia’s Garden, Toby Hemenway; YouTube, search “Permaculture” or visit these links: youtube.com/watch?v=npB8qltaB6g youtube.com/watch?v=xzTHjlueqFI Wendy Crist is a Permaculture Designer, gardener of 40 years and in her second year developing a market garden and learning center in Dunsmuir. Contact her at gilcrist7@att.net.
Rare Namibian Crystals Speak of Our History
Healing Soul Wounds
By Amorah Quin Yin
By Donna May
In June 2001 I received channelings St. Germaine and Mary Magdalene about some very special crystals from Namibia, in southern Africa. These crystals were first found in 1993 and hold information about ancient civilizations, including the race of giants, and the subterranean races in Africa before the last Ice Age over 300,000 years ago. They were programmed at that time to be found during this time period to help us remember and heal the past and fulfill the Divine Plan during this transitional time into 2013. Unique Namibian Crystals programmed millions of years ago to help fulfill the Divine Plan during this transitional time.These Crystals are also very rare in terms of their formations. It is the first time I have never seen amethyst and smoky phantoms inside clear quartz. Or amethyst phantoms in smoky and vice versa. In addition, many are enhydro, which means they have one or more bubbles of water that was trapped in the crystal during its formation and could be millions of years old. These Crystals are not mined as most crystal are, they are being dug-up by hand in the sand hills in central Namibia. The Attributes of Namibian Crystals are so so rare and there are so many new attributes which I have never found in crystals from any other location in the world. Even some of these attributes and minerals that are more commonly known often have added qualities not commonly known. I have assigned them names and after examining each crystal, created a card describing the attributes of that specific Crystal which goes with each Crystal. Visit the Dolphin Star Temple In Mount Shasta or online at www. AmorahQuanYin.com to learn more about Namibian Crystals and Amorah Quin Yin. B
My name is Donna May and I work as a therapist, educator and dreamtender, assisting people to heal from their soul wounds. What do I mean by soul wounds? I’m talking about that internal pain initiated by life experiences that leave one reeling, those experiences and memories that one doesn’t even know if they will ever recover from. These traumatic events often find their roots when growing up with alcoholic and abusive people who inflicted harm directly with tongue and/or fist – or, because of their own disease and demons, left us open and vulnerable to abuse by others. These early soul wounds are so painful that many times they leave us searching for anything around us that will stop the painful memories and feelings inside. This often begins a life-long pattern of using people, places and/or things to keep the focus directed outside, away from our deepest, scariest, most hidden parts of our Self. These wounds create other wounds, which compel us to make poor choices regarding our relationships. This is the perfect breeding ground for codependent thoughts and actions to emerge. The pain and its consequences get so intense that most people reach out for help, either through a traditional therapist and/or through 12 step programs; however, even with their recovery experiences, many say something is still “missing.” This is where depth psychology’s tools and methods can bring meaning and context to past memories, give a vehicle for self-exploration and ways to find the parts of one’s soul lost through trauma and abuse. The word psychology means “the study of the soul” – and yet, modern psychology often moves far adrift from the title of it’s profession, focused more on mechanistic ways of action and intervention. Depth psychology recognizes the importance of understanding the layers and depths of meaning of who you are, honors the individuality, the oddities, the particularities that go into you being you. From this vantage point, counseling becomes about you tapping into your own images, your own wisdom, and your own psyche’s call. The tools most used to access these realms of the soul are: dreams, writing, art & music, plus the use of various visualization and active imagination techniques. For many years, these methods were downplayed and marginalized; however, recent research is proving how valuable depth psychology tools are in overcoming the effects of trauma and abuse. If you are on a healing path, looking to go further and recover more fully, I can be assistance to you. I am a therapist and educator with over 30 years of experience with codependency, trauma and abuse issues. My advanced degree is in counseling psychology with a specialization in depth psychology, my thesis on the role of writing and story in treating trauma and abuse. I utilize the healing power of writing in my work with individuals and groups. I also have advanced training in dreamtending and I use writing, dreams and other tools to help individuals “get back,” to find and connect with their authentic Self that has been missing. You are welcome to sign up for my free newsletter thru visiting my web site: www.donnamaymft.com, where you can learn more about upcoming classes, groups and workshops as well. I can be reached at 530-467-3353. B
Healing Yourself Heals The Planet
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HOME HEALTH CARE (continued from page 10) • Start taking Vitamin A, about 50,000 IU to 100,000 IU, twice per day • Selenium, 200 to 400 micrograms twice per day • Start taking an herbal extract of Echinacea and Goldenseal, about one teaspoon, every two hours while you are awake. The liquid tincture form of the herbs is most effective in this case. • As an alternative to Echinacea/Goldenseal, an extract of Black Elderberry can also work • Homeopathic medicines specifically formulated for early onset of colds or flu are often as effective as the herbs for many people. You probably don’t need both herbs and the homeopathics, but it won’t hurt to take both and it might help • REST! Stay in bed, don’t try to push through it and keep working. In many cases, this program can stop a cold or flu in its tracks. I’ve seen cases where someone was coming down with the early onset symptoms in midmorning, started this program, and by the end of the day were completely back to normal, never developing a cold or flu.
Serious Acute Conditions At some point, you or a family member may have a more serious acute condition. Serious cuts and bleeding, any loss of consciousness, broken bones, any illness you don’t recognize, these all need a trip to the Emergency Room of Urgent Care. Use the conventional medical system for what it does best. Go through the diagnostic process, patch the holes, set the bones, stabilize your organ functions, then follow up with a visit to a holistic health provider who can probably help you heal faster than you otherwise would have.
Serious Chronic Conditions The various chronic illnesses such as those listed in the Top 10 list above, generally need to be treated by a knowledgeable holistic practitioner. At times, the conventional medical system can provide help for some aspects of some of these conditions. Keep in mind, however, that the more the conventional system has tried to wage “war” against heart disease, cancer or diabetes, for example, the more widespread these diseases have become. It has been my observation that the conventional medical system can help with stabilizing patients with these conditions who are having acute flare ups. They do this well. The conventional system, however, is very limited in its ability to prevent or reverse these conditions. In addition to the illnesses in the Top 10 list, which are killing a lot of people, there are a variety of other chronic illnesses that cause discomfort, reduced lifestyle and cost a lot of money. This would include diseases such as thyroid disorders, fibromyalgia, gallbladder disease, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and other inflammatory bowel conditions, and so on. The conventional approach is generally aimed at controlling symptoms. The natural approach is to find the root cause and restore you to health. Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of Homeopathy, once said “The physician’s highest calling, his only calling, is to restore the sick to health, to cure, as it is termed.” It is important to remember that the ability to heal, to cure an illness, is part of our inherent, natural healing ability that is encoded in our DNA. If it weren’t, we wouldn’t be here. Using a little common sense in your day-to-day lifestyle can prevent most of the serious chronic illnesses, and stop many acute illnesses before they really start. If you or a family member have a more serious chronic illness, you need to know that in most cases, it can be helped or completely reversed through proper natural treatment. I recommend you see a licensed natural health care provider to help get you started on the
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right track, and most of the follow up treatment will then be done at home. Home health care is part of our cultural history and is an inherent right for all of us. B Dr. Arlan Cage, ND, LAc, is a licensed Naturopathic doctor as well as a licensed Acupuncturist based in Mount Shasta, California, where he emphasizes primary care medicine from a Holistic point of view. He routinely combines Western and Eastern holistic approaches that are individually customized for each patient. His primary treatment methods are nutrition, herbal medicine and homeopathy. Dr. Cage sees patients both in Mount Shasta and Redding, CA. For more information, visit his website at www.mtshastahealing.com, or call 530-926-1600.
INTERVIEW WITH ANA HOLUB (continued from page 13) I help them connect to the Sacred within and around them, and the Sacred is what brings healing. My work helps people reach deep within themselves, getting beyond layers of denial, expanding trust so they can release their pain and suffering. Once we release (forgive) and learn our soul lessons, we stop recycling our fear, and we’re finally free from it. Forgiveness brings freedom! B About Ana Holub and Clear Path To Peace: Ana Holub, MA is a forgiveness counselor, mediator and peace educator based in Mount Shasta, CA. Over the past 20 years, she has worked with individuals and couples, prison inmates and at-risk families, nonprofits, businesses, and schools. Ana holds a BA in Peace Studies, and an MA in Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University School of Law. She is also a certified Domestic Violence counselor and Radical Forgiveness coach. Her books include The Edges Are Friendly (poetry), the upcoming Forgive and Be Free, and a chapter in Colin Tipping’s, Forgive Your Parents. She created The Healing Power of Forgiveness audio CD and three e-courses, available at www.anaholub.com. Ana teaches workshops internationally on forgiveness, self-empowerment, emotional healing and communication skills. She has presented her work in Singapore, Buenos Aires, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver and at many festivals on the West Coast. To arrange a FREE consultation, contact her at www.anaholub.com.
THE GARDEN OF EDEN (continued from page 14) weeding. By embracing their presence and viewing them as partners we strengthen our created ecosystems, aid in badly needed habitat and invite prosperous energy into our lives. This can be done by planting forage plants – human and animal edibles native or well adapted to your area. Some good examples are the autumn olive, crabapple, elderberry, bearberry, Juneberry. Blackberries or raspberries can be used for fencing or planted outside of fencing – protecting the garden at the same time feeding our wild neighbors. Additionally habitat can be created by allowing for a corner of your garden to be left wild, left alone with brush piled up, logs, which make great homes for these garden helpers. As you can see this seven-layered, nature patterned method is a complete 180 from what all of us have grown up with, but the benefits are so sweet, even the greatest diehard traditionalist has to sit up and take notice. A garden that when mature can be an ongoing food source season after season, alleviate a good portion of the workload, and aid our animal life and ecosystems and hence planetary health all at the same time? What’s not to love? B For more information, subscribe to my newsletter by emailing; novilisblue@gmail.com Check out my book, Jardin d’Or ; a Treatise on Forest Gardening at Barnes & Noble.
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