Saturday, June 01, 2013

Interesting quote:
"Shamans are sometimes considered healers or doctors, but really they are people who deal with the tears and holes we create in the net of life, the damage that we all cause in our search for survival. In a sense, all of us — even the most untechnological, spiritual, and benign peoples — are constantly wrecking the world. The question is: how do we respond to that destruction? If we respond as we do in modern culture, by ignoring the spiritual debt that we create just by living, then that debt will come back to bite us, hard. But there are other ways to respond. One is to try to repay that debt by giving gifts of beauty and praise to the sacred, to the invisible world that gives us life. Shamans deal with the problems that arise when we forget the relationship that exists between us and the other world that feeds us, or when, for whatever reason, we don’t feed the other world in return." - Martín Prechtel

Artwork by Lunar New Year (www.flickr.com/photos/lnylnylny/)
"Shamans are sometimes considered healers or doctors, but really they are people who deal with the tears and holes we create in the net of life, the damage that we all cause in our search for survival. In a sense, all of us — even the most untechnological, spiritual, and benign peoples — are constantly wrecking the world. The question is: how do we respond to that destruction? If we respond as we do in modern culture, by ignoring the spiritual debt that we create just by living, then that debt will come back to bite us, hard. But there are other ways to respond. One is to try to repay that debt by giving gifts of beauty and praise to the sacred, to the invisible world that gives us life. Shamans deal with the problems that arise when we forget the relationship that exists between us and the other world that feeds us, or when, for whatever reason, we don’t feed the other world in return." - Martín Prechtel

Artwork by Lunar New Year (www.flickr.com/photos/lnylnylny/)

Thursday, May 30, 2013

It.has been awhile...

Well it's been a while since I've published anything on this blog but there is so much that has changed…We had a series of open houses for my "new" studio since my last post.  Unfortunately Angeni had the experience of losing the vision in her left eye due to a virus and I was diagnosed on the very same day with a small brain tumour (which is now calcified). Angeni has been seen at Sick Kids hospital a couple of times but they feel that she has permanently lost the vision in the left eye. We are still working with some cutting edge therapies that may in fact prove to be helpful. The doctors feel the virus may either have been from a tick bite or a cat scratch! All the more reason to make sure your family wears long pants and socks when walking through outdoor areas. Anyway that's an issue in process.

Brian and I have started doing some art shows and joined some local artists who are participating in a studio tour for Tiny Township. I am very excited to be opening up our studio to a broader community base.  My next show out is scheduled to be at Sainte Marie among the Hurons for National Aboriginal Day and the weekend which follows NAD. I've been a member of Huronia Foundation for the Arts now for all 5 years that we've lived here, but this is the 1st year I could be extensively involved in shows and gatherings.We hope to participate in the Festval du Loup in July, right here in Lafontaine.  Brian is enjoying his wood turning and after all these years with formal training as a carpenter he is now an emerging artist.

May was a particularly busy month for me as I traveled to Burlington to teach a class on "near-death experience". The next day I traveled to Guelph and again to Kitchener-Waterloo for an alumni gathering of Moonstar Lodge members. We had the opportunity to gather, do ceremony, eat wonderful food, and channel. A couple days later I traveled over to the Goderich area and made some stops to see people along the way...  Last weekend we had our gathering of shamans many of whom have been with us now for nearly 20 years! It was a really exciting weekend and I so enjoy getting together twice a year with this special group of people. This year were planning wedding for one of our members and that's always a precious, rare opportunity to practice traditional ceremonies in a public venue. 

I will get back to using this blog to discuss current issues within parapsychology. Life is settling down a wee bit so I can hopefully attend to this blog on a more regular basis.  Right now a prayer shawl is calling me! I am nearly finished this one and it reminds me of rainbow popcorn.

Have a blessed weekend!