26th February

Relationships Ceremony

How can the path of intimacy lead us to more awakening, beauty and power?

The focus of this ceremony is growing our consciousness through our relationships.  The first relationship to tend is our relationship with our Self, the Universe within.  Intimacy with the Infinite Self is a foundation for harmony with others, and when we bring our Self into balance we bring balanced energy to our relationships with partner, family, community and the world.  So in this ceremony we’ll look at how our inner relationships affects our outer relationships, and how they in turn reflect the inner.

We will learn Earth Wisdom tools for compassion, awareness, dreaming and transformation.  We will use the medicine wheels of Balance and Self-Relationship and of Intimate Relationship and advanced practices for Stopping the Internal Dialogue, Transforming Personal History, Conscious Prayer-thought and the Full Spectrum of Love.

These will help us learn from those parts of us that may get us into trouble in relationship with others and heal them so that we bring more harmony to those relationships.   By bringing ourselves more fully into wholeness we bring more wholeness into the world.  We are more able to keep our hearts open while listening or speaking which is a primary way of growing on the path of relationship.

This will be helpful whether or not you have a partner at the moment.

Details:  7.00pm Friday to Sunday afternoon; non-residential; simple food provided; cost £130; group size up to ten people.

Enquiries and further information – info@earthwisdomteachings.co.uk

2012: a year of great potential for change – at the personal and collective level. Ininto the new year this ceremony we will review the past year to fully reap its harvest of learning – and dream ahead into the new year.

In the “kiva time” of midwinter darkness our power to dream is especially strong. This is an opportunity to look deeply at what we want to co-create with the Universe in the next cycle and to send the power of our dreaming thoughts forward into the year.

One of the teachings we’ll use to open this dreaming time is a Medicine Wheel called “The Wheel of Balance and Self-Relationship”. This old map enables us to look deeply into eight aspects of our Self and to choose how to nurture all of them. What gifts will we give to our Self to create more harmony, health and fulfilment?

We will also create seed bundles to represent these dreams. This will empower the dreaming we’ll carry through the winter and the shoots of new growth in the spring

In Earth Wisdom tradition the four moons from November 21st to spring equinox is called “kiva time”. A kiva is a ceremonial chamber that is half underground, and it has the sense of a more inward, introspective energy. The old people of the tradition thought of this as more a time for being than doing.

They honoured the Earth’s cycles and rhythms in order to be in harmony with her. They saw that the Earth is covered with a blanket of leaves or snow at this time and that animals retreat to their dens and burrows to sleep and dream; that the energy of trees goes down into their roots, and seeds of new growth lie dormant in the dark earth. So like the animals the old ones gave themselves time to go into silence. They allowed the energy of the void, of pure potential to inform them and bring renewal. Thus the ground of all potential, the feminine void of Great-Grandmother Wakan would bring them dreams of who they would be and how they would manifest in the spring.

So this ceremony is an opportunity to connect with our own void of pure potential and renew ourselves on the inward aspect of our journey.

This ceremony is to open to the Universe and invite it to dream through us. This will enable vital energy to come into human consciousness, energy that will help humanity to move forward. While this may help our personal processes the primary focus is empowering the collective consciousness.

There have always been groups of people accessing the power of the Dream field to benefit humanity’s journey on this planet.

By imaging how things will be when we humans are back in balance and alignment with our Selves, Life and each other, we influence and shape how the future will be. What we see is true, on one level. So we are dreaming for us, for the children and for seven generations to come.

We are in a time when Life is calling us to expand our consciousness, and this ceremony is part of this great transformation.

On Friday we will clarify our intentions and create a beautiful dreaming lodge with greenery and prayer. We will have lunch and dinner together. Dreamers are welcome to stay at the venue or in local accommodation on the Friday night.

Early on Saturday we will enter the dreaming lodge. During this phase of the ceremony we will sleep, dream, wake and dream. We will be in the dreaming state of consciousness and will eat only berries and drink only water or herb tea. We will also be in silence apart from specific times when we will speak of the dreams that have come through us. We will also keep a vigil fire burning.

This will continue until Sunday morning when we will hear from each other in a “stringing of the beads” and break the fast. We will then gently and gradually move towards closing the ceremony after lunch.

We will be a group of about ten dreamers. It is important for each of us to be physically grounded and centred.

The cost of this event will be £150. However no one is turned away for lack of funds: if you are called to this ceremony and fees are an issue, please contact me.

Introducing Earth Wisdom Teachings and how they can help with practical issues such as relationships, community, self-care, work strategies and so on.   And how can they prepare our consciousness for 2012?

7.30 pm Birdwood House, Market Place, Totnes.  by donation

22nd December   Sweatlodge Ceremony.   10.30am to approx. 6.00pm

Connecting with the raw energy of fire, water, earth and air in the deep midwinter; sending our prayer thoughts; and cleansing and readying for 2012

1st January  New Year Ceremony  1.00pm – 9.00pm

Planting the seeds of renewal; using the Medicine Wheel to see deeply into eight aspects of our Self (such as Creator, Explorer, Healer and Strategist) to see what each of them need for our fulfilment, wholeness and balance in the coming year.

20th – 22nd January   Dreaming Ceremony

“Dreaming” is an aspect of our creative power.   We’ll create a beautiful space in which to access powerful dreaming consciousness to shape the future – for us, for the children and for seven generations to come.

Fear is a primordial energy that has a vital function in arousing us to danger.  But when it becomes a habit it can be bad for health as well as our life experience.

It may be there’s no more of it about now than there was before, but in this “recession” many people feel uncertain about the future – of the economy, climate, politics and so on.  In this atmosphere of worry it’s difficult to see how to  respond to the situation, to image the future we actually want rather than the one we don’t.  So it’s important to lift our consciousness out of the clouds of stress to the clear sky above.

Deep regular breathing clears stress from the body; meditation reassures the fearful ones in our thoughts.   Activating the heart-mind brings us courage and more expanded awareness to meet the challenges.  With the heart open we can respond to the fear rather than be run by it.

Many cultures recognise the vital part the heart plays in consciousness.  Japanese, for example, has two words for heart:  shinzu means the physical organ, while kokoro is the heart-mind.

An easy method of activating the heart-mind is to breathe into it.  I place my hand and attention on that area in my chest and breathe steadily, aware that oxygen feeds me from the blue veil that surrounds our planet.  After a few minutes I feel more alignment in my whole system: there’s synergy between my heart, brain, guts, will and spirit.

I spoke of this tool at a conference in Vermont.  The next day a woman approached me at the break:

“I did what you said, and it worked,” she exclaimed.

“Oh, great, what did I say?”

“You told us about breathing through the heart, and feeling love for everything around.

“I was running late this morning and I got pulled over for speeding.  Usually that would throw me right off centre, and I’d feel really mad at the cops.  But I just sat there and tried to emanate love towards them, and it was amazing.”

“Oh, so they didn’t book you?”

“No, they still gave me a fine, but it wasn’t as much as it should have been.   And the energy was so different: I didn’t lose it, I felt fine about the experience.”

So your heart-mind can save you money!   And it can do so much to help us “walk in beauty” and enable us to pull through our predicament – individually and collectively.

When we gather in Earth Wisdom ceremonies we explore tools of consciousness like this.  It’s a way of training ourselves so we can use them in daily life, while feeling our spirit connection with the Mystery that moves in all things.

Forthcoming Ceremonies:

Samhain – Sunday 30^th October 10.00 am – 4.30pm

Connecting with ancestor-spirits, preparing for winter and using the heart-mind for healing and consciousness growth.

Cost £35      Enquiries: smmilner@onetel.com

Years ago I met Wallace Black Elk, a Lakota visionary. Not the BlackElk of “Black Elk Speaks”, but a relative. Tall with long braids of hair, his eyes dark as obsidian pools, Wallace stood out. As he visited London, the crowds turned round even in Oxford Street.

His stories were more of the spirit realm than of this world. He spoke slowly, searching for the English to translate from a dreaming state of mind, and his words wove a web that entranced my spirit.

He talked about the many changes that would take place in our world: “When the time comes”, he said, “The only thing we’ll have to hold onto is “Tunkashila”, the Great Spirit”.

As we now begin to hurtle through change, how can we hold on? How can we, as the other Black Elk (Nicolas) said, realize our oneness with the Universe and all its powers? The good news is that Great Spirit / the Universe is not far away, it’s inside us, closer than our breath. And all we need do is get out of the way to ALLOW it. There are many ways to let go of our sense of separation. Here is one simple tool that I have found useful:

Change the way you are looking to include your peripheral vision. See the whole field of vision by directing your attention on more than where your eyes are pointing. An easy place to start is while walking but ultimately you can do this any place you have your eyes open. Simply broadening the field of vision alters your consciousness.

How does it work? On one level it works because rods in the retina key to peripheral vision and have links to deeper parts of the brain. Focussing only on the cones at the centre tends to keep us in the restless rationality of our frontal lobes.

Another explanation is that directing attention to the senses deepens our presence, and presence is a doorway to the Mystery. Through this simple practice I feel more connected –It dissolves the boundaries that separate “me” from the whole.

It goes a long way to cultivating our connectedness with the Universe – “Tunkashila”.

Wishing you good connection with your inner strengths in this time of change.

Carlos

In future we may look back at this as the year in which the Shift took off.  Many people are saying this is a time of great transformation.  A recent message from the Hopi Elders said, “This is not the eleventh hour: this is the hour.”  And according to students of the Mayan calendars, this year is at least as important a turning-point as 2012 in the awakening of consciousness.

What is needed for us to help make this transformation as smooth as possible?

A door to expanded consciousness is presence.   As the Discipline of Peace says, “True Presence is the Doorway to the Great Mystery.”  And a key to this door is to put your attention on your senses.

One practice is to simply listen: spend a minute or two just listening to the sounds around you.  No need to think about them.  If you find yourself thinking, OK, but redirect your attention back to the sensation of sound.   Listen intently.

One guy recommended listening so intently you hear the stars.  I’m not sure that I’ve heard them yet, but this practice connects me to the Universe of Sound.  It certainly shifts consciousness – by interrupting the stream of thinking, we connect with the depths of our being.   And through regular use of this and other presence practices we find ourselves living with that door to the Mystery wide open.

What may stop us from doing practises like this is thinking we’re too busy, not enough time.  But here’s the secret: time expands or contracts according to your consciousness.  Thinking you haven’t got time shrinks time, but you can expand time by being more present.   So be present and learn to be a Time Lord.

Presence is one of the themes for our Midsummer Celebration.   On Sunday 19^th June the Solstice Ceremony has the south-east focus of Presence, Stillness and Awareness.  We’ll open other practices to train this aspect of our human intelligence.

The following weekend there’ll be a one-day Vision Quest.   We’ll be in an idyllic place in North Devon and will spend a day in preparation, a day and night on quest and the third day integrating.   (24^th- 26^th June)

In July is the opportunity for a three-day quest, also in an area of relatively pristine Nature.  Again with support throughout – more information from Carlos and on the earthwisdomteachings.co.uk website.  (25^th – 30^th July)

In Japan, Dr Emoto Matsui has researched the effect of thoughts on water crystals.   When we project loving thoughts towards water it produces crystals of great beauty.   And since the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear problems, Dr Matsui has sent a message inviting our prayers for the water contaminated by radioactivity:

“The Waters of Fukushima, we are sorry to make you suffer.  Please forgive us.  We thank you and we love you.”

I’ve just returned home from a deep ceremony of dreaming the future.  In this ceremony we entered a state of conscious dreaming, connected with the Unseen Realm and added our thought-prayers for harmony in the future.   Once a dream is imagined, it already exists.  Together with other dreams, it has a co-creative effect on the Dream-field from which the manifest world emerges.

Different people dream of different issues that they stand for.   Some offer thought-prayers for the waters of the Earth, others for her fires, others for air and others for the minerals, sands and mountains.

One of the things I particularly stand for is forests such as those in Siberia and Amazonia.  I hold an image of people putting aside the chainsaws and feeling a deep reverence for trees.  And of a time when we help restore these primordial places to their fullest expression.

I care for the life-giving waters too.   Something I particularly like about  Dr Matsui’s prayer is the word “we”, not “I” or “they”.  It evokes a feeling of our collective humanity, our “us-ness”.   We’re all connected to the waters of Fukushima, and all responsible for them.

I also like that it’s an invitation to anyone, anywhere on the planet.  Thought is in the Unseen, so distance doesn’t matter.  Time doesn’t matter either because thought has an effect straight away.

It’s funny how we use the word “matter”.   We say, “this matters, but this doesn’t matter”.  We used to think that only matter mattered, but now we’re realizing that thought matters too.   And since the word comes from the Latin for ‘Mother’, perhaps we’re also realizing that both thought and matter are parts of Mother Life.

“King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table”:  as a child I was inspired by the knight’s quests for valour and chivalry.  As an adult what excites me about it is their circular seating arrangements.  Because when people sit together in a circle, especially one called for a high purpose, magic happens.

Next month there’s a circular meeting in a round hall in the forests of Vermont.   It too is dedicated to a noble cause, one that’s not that different to King Arthur’s fellowship: the flowering of  human consciousness and the restoration of harmony in our realm.   It’s the Earth Spirit Conference and it’s all about how we can be the change we’re calling for in our world, the change that the Earth’s been calling us to.   In essence this means the next step in the evolution of human consciousness.

I’m so excited to be coming to this.  It’ll be a powerful time to share our understandings and to see deeper into what part each of us is here to play in this great awakening of consciousness.   I feel honored to present some information which has great potential to support and inspire the needed change.

For over twenty years I’ve been learning and growing with an ancient body of Earth Teachings which help us expand our consciousness in relationship with the Spirit of Earth and the Universe.    It’s been a fantastic journey with a lot of fun as well as challenge, and it’s always a pleasure to share with people who are open to teachings about consciousness.  I feel moved by the words my elders were told by their teachers, “Breathe these teachings into the world.  It is time, and maybe some good will come of it.”

This body of knowledge has a long lineage and blossomed among the Mayan and pre-Mayan cultures.  Indeed, the  myth behind the tradition  says it was brought to our planet long ago from beyond the Pleiades.  Whether that’s true, and however different those earlier cultures were from the  modern world, the teachings have a special relevance or resonance to today.

It’s the core of those teachings I’ll be presenting at the conference.  They are distilled into a form for our time, a form designed to catalyse our consciousness into awakening.  It’s called the “Discipline of Peace”.  It is a design of eight doorways which hold the essence of the truths our many wisdom traditions have always spoken of about the Mystery.   And when you open them in sequence you come into deep relationship with that Mystery and it allows you to be truly who you are and truly at home on this marvellous planet.

Together we’ll use practices that open these eight doorways in our consciousness.  There are many practices that come down to us from humanity’s  spiritual traditions.  They are a technology of consciousness,  and we can use them to open these portals to our expanded understanding.  What I find wonderful about the Discipline of Peace is that it’s a simple design that allows us to hold our relationship to Self and Life in a profound way, uncluttered by too many words.

Each of us is a unique and special creation of the Universe.   Nobody has the same fingerprints as you; nobody ever has and nobody ever will have.  You are a unique individual, making your own unique journey and bringing your own unique gift to Life.  Because of that, each of us will find our own way of practicing and learning the consciousness of peace.  “Discipline” literally means learning, and we all come with our unique way of learning to it.   So it’s a people’s movement that grows as each of us practices it.

Is this transformation of consciousness really possible?  Yes, I have no doubt about it.  There have always been a small minority who’ve lived in expanded and intimacy with the Mystery, but now the number of people doing so is growing exponentially.  Long ago there were wise ones who foresaw this time in which we approach  a critical threshold in consciousness.  They saw that when enough of us  reach a level of awakening, the whole field will begin to shift.    And when the field of our collective consciousness shifts,  everything about how we are on this planet  will change too.

So that’s why I’m looking forward to joining you at the round table in Vermont, to sharing the wisdom from our life quests and to making magic with you.

Carlos   /   DiamondLight

Video:   http://disciplineofpeace.org/disciplineofpeace/disciplineofpeace.htm

See also www. earthwisdomteachings.co.uk

Imbolc is the old name for celebration at the start of February. It’s an eighth of the way round the wheel of the year after Midwinter Solstice and before Spring Equinox. What does this mean for us in how we relate to the cycle of the year?

At this time many animals have lowered metabolism and are still dozing and dreaming away, and trees stand gaunt and leafless. But there’s a quickening of life in the dark womb of Mother Earth: under the surface green shoots are seeking the light, the first flowers are out and frogs croak, play and spawn in ponds. According to lore, this is when groundhogs emerge to smell the air and look for their shadow in the sun.

In Earth Medicine this quickening is still the winter dreamtime, a time to introspect and open to what Life dreams for us. And yet time to begin readying ourselves for the first steps of action to dance the seeds of our dreams awake. The aspect of our consciousness that gives us clarity about what to do next and how to do it is our heart-mind. Of course we need this throughout the year, but it will guide us as we begin to move from the winter polarity of inner stillness and being towards that of outer activity and becoming in summertime. We get the word “February” from the ancient Sabine language of Italy, and it had the sense of “purification”. We can see purification as cleansing all aspects of our consciousness so that we can listen for the clarity of our heart-mind. It will tell us how to move forward in the new cycle.

The Ceremony

How do you bring a clear heart into daily life?
How do you really KNOW?

As we awaken from the deep dreaming of the winter darkness, how do we activate our heart-mind to know our first steps forward?

In this ceremony we will experience each of the energies of the eight directions – energies that are in us, in spirit, emotion, body and mind. We will learn how each of these feeds into the clarity and courage of our heart and learn practices to bring it into our daily lives.

Ceremony Details

Date: 5th February 2011
Time: 10.00am – 4.00pm
Place: Near Rattery, South Devon
Cost: £45 (some concessions available)
Details and bookings: Carlos – 01364 643108 / carlos @earthwisdomteachings.co.uk