Bear Medicine

I tend to think of bears can be solitary animals, foraging the forrest looking for nourishment. However, in times of abundance they can join together in community and enjoy the wisdom of a salmon run. I am much like a bear, foraging for that what feeds me in the realms of the great spirit and my relations on our Mother Earth and last week I feasted on the collective wisdom of a salmon run of knowledge.

As summer turned into fall, I answered the call to join my community to vision and co-create the world we are evolving. From the vast reaches of the stars and galaxies to the place of oneness that we come from and return to I was reminded of the importance of keeping my house in order, finding the spaciousness within, healing my relationships in life, in order to source the wisdom to vision the beauty of our collective dream.

I see more and more of us are emerging. We are stepping forward and claiming the dream that resides in our hearts, rejecting the cynicism and isolation of modern world and opening to the magic of the possibilities of right now coming together and feeding the dreams that we can no longer ignore. Much like how this community fed our global fires this weekend and help awaken the wild heart within.

There is a special magic that I find by tending the fire at dream time and this year was no exception.

On the last night, I found myself around the fire in a community of salmon fed bears. We were all telling our stories and the lessons learnt from the powerful, yet gentle creature.

We sang a song to call bear, who “comes when called”. I was connected to powerful bear brothers and powerful bear sisters at the magic of these fires. Then I became a caretaker of some bear medicine with a bear brother from our generous bear sister.

Bear medicine, I have witnessed before. On a wilderness quest I was reminded before dusk on the first day of the power and strength of bear without the need to prove or engage. At first I thought, wow the deer are big here, but soon the bear appeared and as we looked at each other I sensed although I was on his path that he was happy to deviate rather than engage in an encounter would not nourish him. So he simply turned and went in a different direction. Brother bear has big strength without big ego.

On the first night, of the fire, at dreamtime we journeyed to another dimension, and I was connected into the rainbow river of light as if shifted and twisted without the constraints of time and space free to create whatever beauty that needed to manifest in the now. This world is now open for further exploration, to taste beyond infinity, one might say.

As a co creators, I am realize that it is my perceptions and and beliefs create my creations. Claiming this, that my world is a reflection of my own creations.

I was working to rediscover the person that I was born as. The one who entered this world with a purpose and gifts to share on his path. Now I realize, that I am this person, shedding the last layers of clothing that kept me from seeing the perfection among the mistakes that provided the lessons for this discovery. So I now claim this person as me. No more searching for that, that has always been.

My heart is now radiant. Time is speeding up. cooperation is taking hold, we are starting to listen to our evolutionary programs in our DNA and rejecting other programs that may prevent us from beauty we so long for. Our hearts are beginning to shine bright. We are accepting the connection and the oneness that we share and beginning to realize the possibilities in this.

It is a beautiful time to be here, to see the dream changing, to see the awaking. The power of our love is attracting many.

And like bear, I will, by the way I walk through my life, feeding off only that that provides nourishment and sharing the wisdom from brother salmon to bring forth my medicine with big strength without big ego.

Shift Happens*

And then there was a shift!  It happen all of a sudden and I knew that my plan had to shift as well...

Now that I had realized my dream vacation, it is to put my life’s purpose into action, to fulfill my end of the deal and share these visions, so others could see the happy places I visit frequently.  My job is to play and play in a way that enriches the Earth while I live my life well.  The time has come to write this book that is with me.   I will realize this in the next six months.  Then it will time to set up the playground I have been dreaming and become the CEO of play.

The last part of my journey was great, as I wandered around Florence, Rome, Athens and the Greek Isles of Mykonos and Santorini.  

The food was great, and the wine, everyone should take pride in their house wine that way that Italians and Greeks do.  Good food is a blessing, a connection to the land and one of life’s pleasures.   We are what we eat and and once again, traveling, I ate like a king.    

In Italy, I saw some amazing art, really spoke to me.  At the Uffizi gallery in Florence there was a statue of Pan who offered his words of encouragement, “revel in the beauty of the Earth.”  As if I need that reminder.  

I envisioned these great pieces of sculpture interacting with nature, in a birch forrest, an oak grove or within a glen of wild flowers with the mountains for a back drop.  The interaction of these human gifts of the heart with nature showing us that we do belong for this Earth, our talents enrich the world around us.  The Vatican has the best collection of pre christian art in galleries that look like warehouses.

I felt an unwinding of empire happening as I walked the streets of Rome.  Its goal served, the dark ages being necessary to usher in the millennium of gold that is approaching.  

There is so much to see and feel, walking around in places, like Athens, where Socrates and Plato walked and debated.  Both looking to define a noble philosophy of the world they occupied.  How wonderful to go back to beginning of the roots of our civilization and feel what it’s willing to offer us as we sit at the steps of one age and a new age dawns.

The sunny beaches of the Greek Isle was a fitting end to this adventure.  I am happy with nothing more than a towel, coconut oil and waking up and stumbling on to a beach and sunning by deep blue water, taking a swim and repeating all morning.   Then enjoying a good lunch, taking a nap and going to some place surrounded by cool music and beautiful people to talk with.  Revel in nature, fuck yeah!

My days on Santorini were spent on the ocean.  One day on a Greek Galleon, sailing,  drinking wine and watching the sun set and the other day in a Zodiac SCUBA diving in the crater that once was a giant volcano.  This has to be one of my favorite place.   It may be the biggest under water crater in the world, but it is a stunning with its red, white and black beaches cause by a volcano eruption that wiped out the Minoan civilization of crete and created this paradise.  

And then it was time to return, different from how I started, change and recharged.

As I made my way back I was greeted by rain, a drizzle in Dublin and a good old New England downpour arriving in Boston.  The rain cleanses, washes away what needs to be let go of.  With this reminder I was brought back to the center and to manifest the life I have been envisioning and enjoying my beach bum ways while they lasted.

I now sit in San Francisco.   Another dream manifested.  Once, I decided to move to SF, I drove to where I wanted be, found a hotel on a Friday night, a cancellation and a vacancy sign at had just been lit for my arrival.  The first place I looked at, the next morning, was right around the corner.  I put a deposit down and was done.  It was fast, quick, easy and met to be.

With some well defined goals to manifest, it is time to be that person that I have always been.  Over the next six month, I will realize my spiritual, professional, physical, and social self.   And find the place that I seek that has always been shining in my heart.

*as seen on a tee shirt at a Yoga Studio in San Francisco

The Voice Inside

in the Labyrinth at Damanhur we are invited to meditate in front of windows that represent one of the 37 gods on display.  The windows are stain-glass, coded with colors and symbols that activate something inside of me.  We are chanting, and the chamber resonates with the sound of angles as we move from window to window.  

I am struck by awe as some windows that seem to call me, Pan, Wakan Tanka, and others. While standing in front of some of them there is a whirlpool of of colors pulling me deeper and deeper into the window.   The vortex of colors activated something in my DNA to assist with my spiritual evolution.  At last I sit and meditate at the beginning of the hall where we entered and realize that Gaia is looking down the hall to me.  

I am here for the Earth.  Where some come from different places in the universe, I source from the Earth.  She is my inspiration and the reason for my quest.  How appropriate that she watches over me as I digest the messages that 37 gods have just downloaded in me.

Damanur is built on art, ceremony and a quest for knowledge.  They have crated their myths that guide them through forty years of community.  Open discussions that sometimes put people into different schools of thoughts, each searching for the truth, knowing the the truth changes with time and discovery.  It is really beautiful, even if I can not fully get behind everything they have discovered in 30 years as presented in a 3 hour lecture.  

The Damanurians have built a series of fantastic temples in that mountains.  These are called the “Temples of Humankind”.  The temples were built with with hand tools and volunteers wortking to carve out the temples, reenforce the space and decorating them with amazing art that touches my soul at the mythic.  You can see then here:  http://www.thetemples.org/.

The next day we go to the Sacred Forrest to meet the elementals and hear a concert performed by plants.  Here I start to sense the elementals in the forest.  There is one checking me out, reminding me to listen to the forrest and source from nature.  

In the Sacred Forrest there is a tree house village.  There is a small child that has live her whole life in a tree house.  “How cool is that”! the tree climber in me saids.  The beauty of the place in the summer with filter sun through the trees is stunning.  The Damanhurians say people dream purer dreams in the trees.

They have developed machines that allow plants to play music.  The plants are hooked up with a clip to a leaf and a stake by the roots and generate wave forms that are converted to music.  We have a concert with a improvisation jazz singer and the plants.  Mostly she follows the music of the plants, but sometimes a plant will follow her as it adjust to the vibrations we call sound.  Now, I wonder what is the soundtrack that the insects and animals of the forrest play to.

While at Damanhur, I had the opportunity to meditate each morning in front of a statue of Pan.  Pan for me is the wild masculine in nature the raw sexuality.  We connect and he plays his flute over me.  Who needs Viagra with Pan in his corner?

When I left Scotland, my trip was open to what ever that needed to happen.  I took a train to Paris and met up with a friend, Aleksandra and spent a day visiting the sights.  She introduced me to her favorite park and the tree of lovers.   Two trees grown together and a bench with a young couple making out.  It was a beautiful day, Paris in the spring time.

The next day I took a train to Spain. It took a couple of days to get from Paris to Santiago, Spain.  Santiago that is the end of the road for people who go on pilgrimage.   The cathedral I found dark and intimidating as I do most.  While here I was thinking that this place was built to steal your light from the cosmos.  When I visit with god it is in the forrest where our lights joins to shine over the world.   But that is me.

I enjoyed Spain.  From Santiago, Madrid, Ibiza and Barcelona all where great.  In Madrid I attended a breath session with my friend Aixa.  Here we breath for three hours.  Like most breathing sessions I go to a happy place.  

There a river with people floating down it and arriving at the river bank in front of me.  They leave their canoes and a celebration forms on the bank.  Its a party with food, music and dancing.  From this party, I am transformed into light and shoot up into the world of light.  Here I see the controls to switch on and off traits in my DNA.  I choose health and optimism.  Then, I notice that there is a collective DNA, a global DNA or the collective consciences, that can be changed as well. 

After Spain I take the train to France and rent a car to visit the Cathar Castles.

Walking through the ruins of some of Cathar Castles, in France, I am struck as though I have been here before.   The stones speak to me, “everyone has a value is worth a life’.  

I sit by a familiar stone and listen. 

“Our collective mind is what changes the world”.   It reminds me.

All around people are beginning to change.  More and more, realize that what is “real” does not seem to serve their higher purpose inside.  This awakening is happening across the globe.  We are being called to change our reality.

Back at Damanhur, I witness their full moon ceremony.  The stage of fire for such an event.  The Damanurians show up in their colored ropes, red, white and yellow.  There are 12 oracles wearing blue.  The ceremony builds with drumming and dancing.  The fires burn, incense is added, the stage prepared.  It is quite a ceremony to behold.  

The community summits questions at least a month in advance to be answered at the full moon.  The oracles channel the answer and read to the questioner behind a veil.  This keeps it impersonal as the answers come from another source.   But then, those are the answers, the ones inside, that I seek.

I leave refreshed to continue this journey.

Play and Magic

I am sitting at  restaurant in Edinburgh looking out the window and watching a young man run up and down a hill with a eighty pound punching bag across his shoulders, thinking of that wonderful feeling when the muscles are taunt and the heart in pounding in the chest from the strain of physical exercise and am glad that I no longer need to train for that kind of fight.  

On the Isle of Skye, I am lying in bed as the walls start to fall away from the room and I a exposed to the night sky that is shining brightly with the stars.  I am naked to the night sky when three portals of light appear.  

To me these portals represent the three ways to go in life, there is the path of least resistance where your are like a leaf on a stream bobbing along to the strongest current until you’re sucked under or the path of most resistance where you stand strong in your ego like a boulder in the wind letting everything that does not stick to you, pass you by, or some in-between way as a boat on the river that makes the proper adjustments for a meaningful ride where you arrive at the place life has destined you to.    

The path between ease and ego.

I am finding this path more and more in my life with gentle lessons and meaningful adjustments.

My experience week at Findhorn was full of play!  That was our group angel, “PLAY”.  A continuation of the Irish adventure, where the Earth called out to honor her with play.

And I have been playing sense leaving the fire vigil.

My last day in Ireland, John and Karen took me to the faery tree where the rights of faeries where first transmitted.  We honored the tree with oats and blessings.  John then introduced me to “Irish Manhood” with a introduction to the game of hurling.  

Hurling is a team game played with hurly, sticks of the root of the ash tree and a silotar, a leather ball.  It is the fastest team sport played.  Once John Wayne, at a hurling match, was asked if you would like to be down there with a hurly, to which he replied “I wouldn’t want to be down there without one”.  Or so legend has it.  Much more practice is required before I hit the pitch.

After, we went to the “grave digger” for a Guiness.  This pub is the wall of a graveyard and would serve a beer to the grave diggers out the back door.  The pipes have never been cleaned with soap, only hot water.  The Guiness is as pure as you find anywhere in the world and the wall are steeped in sweat, smoke and stories of the people that frequented this pub for centuries.

Here, I was discovered the art of Brewination, where you blowing a question into your brew and reading the foam to predict the future.  This only works with a proper Guiness.  

So what does the future have in store for my current journey?  My journey will many layers and a rich and creamy ending.  

Sweet!

In Glastonbury, somewhere between the Chalice Well and the Tor the sacred masculine and feminine are dancing with me as I meditate.  This is the male/female union that the Earth loves.   A place for mediation at this place of balance.

Standing by a fountain that flow in the garden of the Chalice Well I am taken by a feeling of love and bliss.  The feeling comes in from behind and wraps around my hearth in a way that is both healing and affirming.  Nearby grows a Hawthorn Tree said to be taken from the thorn crown that Jesus wore, but I know it as the tree that holds the Faeries that just paid me a visit.  

I also, manage to find the Gog and Magog trees.  These trees are last two of a road of trees that the druids gathered before their processions.  One tree is hanging on to a small branch of life and the other is still flourishing.

Glastonbury is a spot where poetry flows through me.  I am taken over often with prose that spring forth into my head.  I am reminded:

When the heavens

open

and you are standing there

naked and free

your love shining

in the dew

left by a soft rain

and 

spirit is flowing 

all around

miss not the moment 

looking for 

the message

Later, I meet with Sara and we talk about the Fire Vigil in Ireland.  We agree that something big happen there as if, the entire group, has shifted up to another level.  Sara invites me to a ceremony on Sunday, but it not meant to be as the buses do not cooperate.

Off to London and there I meet up some old mates.  One is Paul, who I haven’t seen since Peru.  We have have a nice stroll through High Park in the afternoon and night of Doom at his local pub.  This night, the company, the ale and the food are too good not to indulge.  So we do.  It is an incredible good time.

Next up is my Experience Week at Findhorn.  Findhorn is a place built on magic.  Can you imagine growing 42 pound cabbages in the sand?  Now imagine eating 42 pounds of cabbage with five other people while living in a small caravan, camper.  It is magical that the caravan staid on the ground and did not fly away to the stars.

Today there are no longer 42 pound cabbages and the eco-village built next to the park has homes that rivals California in cost and square footage,  There is, however, still the possibility for magic and that is why people come to Findhorn to live, work and play.

Somehow they have design a week that is an introduction to Findhorn and seems to be just right for anyone where ever they are on their path.  We attune, play games, work and interact with nature in a way that we all discover something about Findhorn and ourselves.  In a week, I feel to have eleven more bothers and sisters, which my personal angel of Brotherhood/Sisterhood seems to confirm.  

I am re-introduce to the Pan spirit, the wild masculine, that was also part of Findhorn.  Most know that Eileen listened to the inner voice and Dorothy listen to the Garden Divas and some know that Peter was the believer and organizer acted on the magic and built Findhorn, but I did not know about ROC and his introduction to Pan until touring Findhorn when I am overtaken again with bliss on the spot of ROC’s trailer.  

I investigate more and it seems that another character in this saga is ROC who one day he saw a little satyr in a park in Edinburgh.  The creature was surprised that he saw him since most humans choose not see these creatures.  This meeting led to a meeting with Pan, who at one point walked into him and let him experience nature though his eyes.  

With this knowledge, I decide to focus on meeting the spirits.  We go to the Findhorn River one day and I sit by a tree in the rain.  After a while, I feel the presence of another spirit, but can not see it.  We have a telepathic conversations where I am told that I will see when I am ready.   Am I delusional?  Who knows, but I am tardy and nearly miss the bus going back to the college.

The next day at the morning mediation, I try to go to my quiet place but there are faeries on both sides of a wooded path leading me to a different place.  A clearing in the forrest.  There is a rock and I sit down.  There is magic all around as I watch the woodland spirits play.  I am encouraged by the spirits to believe the magic and follow through on my visions.  I shape-shift into a sea bird and fly over the shore.  It glistens in the sun as the waves gently roll upon the shore.  As I return, I see Pan.  He has a message for me.  Then I notice my breathing as I return to the reality that is Findhorn the gong is sounded and it is time to go to work.

I leave Findhorn with Gabrielle and Celia.  We give Celia a ride to Erraid,  a little island off the west coast of Scotland.  We drive through the rain to reach the sunshine of the island.  After four days of rain on the island the sun greets us.  Erraid is small community of nine adults, two children, three cats and seven cows and a bunch of sheep.  It is peaceful and nice to unwind here and I wake up to the sounds of getting the cows to the dairy for the morning milking.  “Come on Jennie, that a girl”.

A couple of days on Erraid and then Gabrielle and I go on a seven day adventure to the Isle of Skye and the North Coast of Scotland.  Where we drive, there is pretty much a postcard at each turn.  

We explore this part of Scotland, hiking each day and finding interesting place to spend the night.  We go without plan open to the journey and what it has to offer.  Most times we arrive a place for the sun to greet us as we begin a hike.  The magic follow us as we play, finding great restaurants and places to stay, like at Ocean’s where the walls fall away as I sleep.  Our last night, together is spent in Jail.   Well, an old police station converted into B&B.  We sleep where the two jail cells use to be.  

The next day I was freed from the jail and another layer of myself, that I brought to Findhorn, 

The Gog and the Magog Trees

Under a tree

older than belief

Clinging to life

by a branch

a chance

to grow

to learn

to be

born again

a new

in the dirt

from which

we crawled

to see

the light

that lifted

us here

to hear

the song

of the spheres

as they sing

to lead us

back to

the dirt

from which

we crawled

Sacred Ireland

Shooting up in a beam of light, I see three circles of light go out into the the world as I ascend.  I go through to sky to the tree of life, where I land on the top of the tree and realize that all the leaves are different and separated for from one another, as we modern humans seem to be.  I descend the tree and where the branches meet we are all one again, deep inside the tree of life.  There is great wisdom by going in and accessing this unity, we all hold within.

A beam of light engulfs me and I am off again flying to the middle world where I come to pristine field.  Here I see the sacred masculine and the divine feminine join in a long kiss.  As they kiss and kiss and kiss, an infinity sign of energy forms, crossing at their hearts and ending at their crown and root chakras.  

In this land watching this union is the lion and lamb lying side by side as male and female, strength and tenderness join as one.  

This was a global vision received next to an altar that I had early visioned as the sacred meeting place where the union of the male and female energies came together to honor the earth.  The next day I was in the pristine field of Uisneach, a sacred site in the exact center of Ireland, where the divine energies meet we held a Beltraine ceremony with a masculine and feminine fire that we walk through to celebrate this union that is brought forth by the spring.

It is amazing to me how this journey has evolved from a personal healing journey into a global one, where I now journey for the collective. The pieces have fell into place and the work that I am doing continues to put me in the places that I need to be in at the time I need to be there.  

This is the first international fire vigil and when I heard that it was in Ireland I knew that I would be there for I have a special love with the land, and the people who I have the pleasure to meet and hold ceremony with.  As usual I was not disappointed.

We opened our ceremony with a journey in the cairne at Dunderry Park.  It was a home coming for I had received the ninth right of the Munay Ki, for the first time in this very caire.  I can still remember the feeling of rebirth as I emerged and saw the stars for the first time as a child of light.  

In this cairne and journeyed and I was very clearly aware of the head of an eagle and a enchanted village, my journey, envisioning the how we my thrive in connection with the earth.  We emerged this night and I felt home, again.

The next day we headed to Tara to visit the sacred well, the faery tree, Lia Fa’il, Stone of Destiny, and the si’le na gig, the stone of the divine feminine. After a quick tour we gathered at the Faery Tree and ran around the tree dancing and laughing as we fed and connected with the faeries of the land.

Under the Faery tree, we journeyed in threes.  My journey took me up the tree of life and journeyed over an altar that was in the earth in a series three of squares that was meant to be covered.  This altar was for the sacred union of the divine feminine and masculine in honor and celebration of the Earth.  

After the journey, I worked back and had ceremony with the Stone of Destiny to work for my destiny in this life.  This was done by connecting with the stone at the heart and walking around it with eyes shut three times.  This was the stone that where the Kings of Ireland where crowned.  

After, I mediated on top of a cairne that held the ashes of the some of the ancient inhabits of this land.  Next up, was the stone of the divine feminine to connect with her energy as this union is vital for the healing of the Earth.

Cleansed and refreshed we returned for a keening ceremony that night.

I first heard of keening at a family funeral, my father joked that he wanted to have an “Irish Wailer” at his funeral.  Traditionally, there we three woman in long black veils, who would mourn for the deceased so the family could celebrate their life.  The keeners would gather in a corner to cry and wail as the family celebrated by having the decease  favorite foods and drinks and I am guessing, if it was a good looking corpse, that this include lots of fried foods and whiskey.  

As we enter the cairne I was without anything to mourn about.  My tears have all been shed.  Once in the carine it occurred to me that I could mourn for the state of the Earth.  This came as an energetic release that felt like a weight off my shoulders.  I have read that despair work is important to be able to open up to the healing of the Earth.  Without the despair work it is too overwhelming and many can not accept the consequence of their actions and their effect on the Earth.  

After keening the mood was way too somber for me and we ending up forming a drum circle and finding bliss and joy in the process beating the shit out of the available drums.  The grieving was completed.  

The next day we went to Loughcrew, Sliabh na Cailli, to connect with the wild feminine.  Yeah!  She was happy to see us, the weather was wonderful and the site was inviting.  We had been warned that it could be extremely wicked on the hill, but we where held sweetly.  My feeling is was one of play in engaging her.  The old girl still like as good night out with dancing and a good “rumpy bumpy” at the end of the night.  

We returned to find two big piles of wood on the place of where the sacred fire was to be that next day.  As we talked about the day it was announced that we would be able for fire walk that evening.  Well, the shit eating grin spread across my face at this surprise.  I had said once that if I ever got the chance to walk fire I would have to go first to have the full effect.   Once I saw someone else do it then it would not be the same to me.  I was both excited and nervous as we prepared.

We prepared ourselves with breath work, ecstatic dance and drumming, working ourselves into a state of ecstasy.  When the time came I was first in line and set my intent to walk to live to my higher purpose in spite of myself and I was off.  What a feeling of rebirth after walking fire.  

Then came the fire vigil.  

We switched altar, made the map and prepared the fire.  The spark was lit by our Irish hosts, Karen and John and carried out by representatives of the four directions, Canada, Iceland, Africa and Ireland.  We marched to the fire and it was off.   

That night we received the faery rites.  This was “so fucking awesome”.  These rites we devised by the si’ folk of Ireland and presented to us by the side of the faery lake.  We painted our faces and once the rites where received, we played and danced and danced and played.  Play is such a powerful way to heal the Earth.  Our laughter and smiles energize the Earth.   And playing connects us to the Earth.  We ended the night with stories, songs and jokes around the fire.

With the luck of good fortune and good friends, I ended up getting my preferred spot at the fire, 2 to 4 AM.   For me this is dream time, it time of the faery folk and the best time to be holding a vigil.  My fire mate, Lisa, David, who we were to hand the fire to and I, armed with a bottle of whiskey headed to the fire.  We offered our prayer, whiskey, tobacco and incense to the fire and got it burn with the intensity in which we held our love for the earth.  Our fire burned bright.  It was here I saw my first faery.  The ball of light appeared and hovered around to to check us out and was gone.  But, not without a little mischief that involved a gazebo and an electric fence.   That, however, is another story.

Saturday we mostly gather by the fire.  It burned differently with each pair of fire tenders, some sweet, others intense and all with honor.  At night we went on a journey on boat ride to the three worlds.  In each realm, I received gifts for the collective.  Mine were a golden book to answer any question, a lamp to light any darkness and a golden guitar and book of poems. 

More fun around the fire and then some sleep.  Around 10 in the morning we stopped feeding the fire and let it expire a natural death.  Our work completed.  

The next morning we got up and when on our road trip to Ireland sacred sites.  We visited Carrowkeel where three cairnes remained and open to the public.  Here the theme of play was strong.  For this was a trip to play and recapture my youthful sense of life as I embrace my sage self.

The next day we went to Carrowmore and here I shot up into a beam of light.

Beyond Infinity Bob Blog - March 2009

The best summer I had was a winter in Baja California Sur, Mexico. If Mark Twain did not say this he had not been to Baja in the winter.

It was nice to spend almost three months in Baja, doing a lot of mediation and centering exercises, living sustainable and connecting with nature in a way that left me operating in the presence from my place of balance and stillness. It is a place of power, vision and deeper wisdom.

The confirmation of this was that I was invited to spend a week retreat learning about Sacred and Sustainable Wisdom, from one of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, Flordemayo.

One night, I am cooking dinner by an open fire when, Kitzia, a seed saver, poet and teacher of Earth wisdom, comes walking into our camp. This night, we where to have a sacred fire and she decides to stay and participate. And by the end of our ceremony, I am invited to meet with one of the Grandmothers.

An opportunity too reaffirming to pass up.

It turns out that Buena Fortuna, a diversity and seed bank, which grows dry tropical and wet tropical specimens of rare edible and medical plants needs some support. It is currently a place in transition from the work of one family to a seed genealogy and training center and could use some help with this transition and with a community pump that has died.

If anyone is interested in helping Buena Fortuna let me know and I pass it on.

It is necessary to grow and propagate seeds so the can evolve with the Earth. Seed banks that stick them away, in the ice, for hundreds of years run the risk of having seeds that will not be able to thrive in the conditions, that exist, when they are brought forth.

This work is important for diversity in the biosphere and more so now because, there is a law. going through the US congress (to protect us from receiving products, in the supermarket, with infectious diseases) that will outlaw family gardens and organic farming if passed in it’s current form.

It is time to protect the diversity left in our environment.

This is one of the reasons why Flordemayo came to participate a week long Sacred and Sustainable Wisdom Retreat in Baja.

Flordemayo is a seer and the Mayan Grandmother. She believes in prayer and action, keeping things simple in life and having a plan B to keep moving forward in life. The first thing that struck me about her was her grace. The next thing was the Bronx accent.

Flordemayo is like any grandmother, very practical and nurturing. The first night of ceremony she cleansed us with a bath of sacred herbs and taught us to nurture ourselves with a lullaby that her mother hummed to her. It was very relaxing and after the fire sleep was deep that night.

The Retreat was such where we shared ceremony, pray, lived and worked in community together. We stared each day in a circle giving gratitude for the day. We would eat a local and organic breakfast then have a group class at 10 am followed by lunch and a afternoon class at 3 PM, dinner and a nightly fire.

It was an honor to be able to participate and guide some ceremonies. In one we created a medicine wheel by going on a guided journey in groups of three and finding the medicine of our direction for a spirit guide before we knew the direction. We then pulled the direction and created our quadrant based on our vision as opposed to our knowledge of the direction.

The second night Flordemayo gave us some oil on our third eye to help us dream. That night the spirit of the Earth Mother came to me and wrapped me in a red cloth as a spirit of the garden sang to me and all at once the day broke in birdsong. A little later there was a modern lady surveying land for development while telling me her plans. Without words I place my head to hers and transmitted the wisdom of the Earth Mother to her and watch as she connected to the land and change her vision.

The next evening a Lakota woman showed up to our place to sing songs of prayer. She does not call herself a medicine woman, however she is blessed with prayer songs that to share with the world. As she said it was no accident that we where there that night in ceremony.

That night, I dreamt of an embrace with the high priestess inside of me. This was a sacred honoring of the divine feminine. As I held this dream in the pure light of ceremony and spirit the high priest, the divine masculine, came forth in me. It was as if the union of the divine inside of me started a chain for events where I now realize that all I do is sacred and my gifts are necessary and vital to bring forth in to the world.

There is now a path and a vision of a network of sustainable communities that encourage connection, learning and enhancing our world around us. A vision that will grow, refine and be brought forth soon.

We had many adventure. We visited a place with a waterfall at a sustainable farm and enjoyed many a meal, song and story together. We worked together to help bring forth a plan to help Buena Fortuna evolve into what it is becoming.

We had a breathing meditation were I got a vision for the place and share it with the community. It was quite an incredible week.

For the closing ceremony, I had the honor to bring forth a despacio ceremony. We create a prayer bundle using items collected from the garden and blew our prayers for Buena Fortuna and the world into this bundle.

During the cleansing with the despacio, Christine had her baby, Maddy on her back. As I cleansed Christine, I also got Maddy and touch the despacio to her third eye. After the ceremony, Maddy was looking at me very intently. She had notice me during the week,but never looked at me like this before.

As I was talking to her mother, I asked if she had ever connected to Maddy telepathically before. Christine said she had not and I looked over at Maddy with her big eyes and immediate connected to her and heard her voice in my head as I repeated to words to her mother.

“We did It, Bob. We turned the world around in my generation”!

Beyond Infinity Bob Blog - Feb 2009

Things I like about living in Nature:

The vibration of food cooked on a wood fire.

The color of corn sprouts in the setting sun.

Sleeping close to Pachamama.

Camp fires every night.

Sacred fires once per week.

Passing on the Munay Ki.

Picking salad from the ground.

Eating fruit from trees.

Natural Spring Hot Tub baths.

Conversation with othe conscience beings in the hot springs under the Milkey Way.

The darkness of the New Moon.

The shadows of the Full Moon.

Hawks and Vultures flying together in the sky.

Ravens and Hawks playing together.

Physical work.

Walking bare foot.

Learning to be foot sensitive to the things on the ground.

Naked sun bathing.

Sun rise and sun sets.

Moon cycles.

Drinking water from the river.

Hiking up the canyon.

Becoming part of the landscape with the wild animals.

Sunning lizzards.

Flying Bats.

Cardinals.

Snakes.

Frogs.

Roadrunners.

Foxes.

Rabbits.

Hummingbirds.

Moles that stay out of the garden and the one that eats our onions.

Garden Spirits.

Birds with a message for me.

Sand Paintings.

Transformation.

Sleeping good at night.

This jouney has taken me to Baja Sur in Mexico and a small town call El Chorro, the squirt. Named for the either the local hot spring or the local taco stand. It is a chaming place with cows and gringos roaming free.

I am staying at Kina Freedom Retreats, kinafreedom.com, helping on a sustainable, offgrid, retreat center. We have planted a garden and are watching the seedling sprout through the soil to grow and feed us. I was visited by a garden Angel who came to me as dove to remind me to feed the garden with love. Everyday I am being educated on the workings of a sustanable life.

Our days begin with a mediation and end with hot spring. We cook on an open fire and I did my first batch of hand laundry in a five gallon bucket. It is great to spend most days commpletly immersed in nature, eating local produce and enjoying the local community.

The work continues with dreams and shifitng. The other day the dark masculine came to me to play in dreamtime. In the morning I knew it had to be honored which I did in a sand painting and felt something shift.

I like it here and am resonating with land.