Making The Past Come Alive
Whole Life Network Release
Long ago the ancient ancestors of the people, now
known as the Navajo, were created.
According to Navajo tradition, the Universe is very delicately balanced,
full of enormously powerful forces with potential for good or evil. If this balance is upset, even
unintentionally, some disaster – usually an illness – may result. It is believed that only humans can upset
this balance. To restore the balance or bring the world back into harmony, a
SING or WAY must be performed. These
ceremonies are often long and complex and may involve the use of medicinal
herbs, prayer songs or chants, sweats, and sandpaintings. The ceremonies or Ways recount portions of
Navajo legendary history that relate to the particular illness and its cause.
Mitchell Silas, like other sandpainters, studied for
many years learning a single ceremony before ever performing it himself. He was born and raised on the Navajo
reservation and has been sandpainting in healing ceremonies for over
thirty-five years. He began his studies
of the sacred ceremonies in his early teens, but was told by his uncle, also a
Singer, that his life would follow a new and more important path. Now as an artist, Mitchell seeks to spread
the healing message of human unity through the use of his talent as a sandpainter. He still assists in healing ceremonies.
Mitchell Silas will be in Montrose August 11-12th
as part of the Cultural Awareness Series co-sponsored by the Community for
Spiritual Awareness and the Whole Life Network. On August 11th he will present a special program on
sandpainting at the Meadowlark Senior Apartments Community Room, 2378 Robins
Way (off Pavilion Drive) beginning at 7:00 p.m. There will be a $5.00 donation at the door.
On Saturday, August 12th, Mitchell will
create a special Sandpainting for Unity at Lions Park Community Building, 602
N. Nevada, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
The community is invited to come by and watch this special, rarely seen,
demonstration of the art of sandpainting.
This is a great opportunity for families to experience another
tradition. “We need to share our
cultures and traditions or they will die with us,” states Mitchell about his
work.
Silas has traveled for many years around the US and
Europe demonstrating the, rarely seen in public, ceremonial sandpaintings and
showing his permanent works. He has
works in collections in Europe, Africa, Russian, Israel and throughout the
North American continent. He has been
the subject of special television, video and radio features. He has taught artistic sandpainting and the
significance of ceremonial sandpainting in schools from preschool to
universities and in museums in many countries.
One of his large sandpaintings is on permanent display at the Denver Art
Museum. He now lives in Glenwood
Springs, Colorado.
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The Clean Air and Water Revolution
Whole Life Network Release
You are invited to attend a lecture by Darrell
Weingard in the Education Series of the Whole Life Network to be presented on
Wednesday August 16th. The program will
be held at the Montrose Public Library in the Conference Room and will begin at
6:00 pm. Topics will include:
- Proven Solutions for doing your part for a clean environment indoors and out for you and your grandchildren.
- Clean your air without filters.
- Clean your clothes without laundry detergent, fabric softener, or hot water.
- Lower your vehicle emissions and your maintenance costs.
- Increase your fuel mileage.
Scientific data and the real solutions will be on hand
to look at and evaluate.
Darrell Weingard has been a long time student and
researcher of healthy living technologies because of different health
challenges of family members and associates.
He has his own distribution business of these
solutions.
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The Root Causes of Illness
by Charley Cropley
Modern
medicine teaches you that the majority of your Health problems are due to
unknown causes, to microbes, or genetics.
Their most prevalent explanation is that disease is its own cause. E.g. “Your joints are swollen and painful
because you have arthritis; and we know you have arthritis because your joints
are swollen and painful.” None of these
explanations empower you to believe any action other than seeing a doctor will
make any real difference in your own healing.
In contrast, Naturopathic philosophy explains the causes of sickness in
ways so self-empowering that many people cannot accept they actually have such
degree of power to self-heal.
Naturopathic philosophy teaches that the three
fundamental causes of disease are ignorance, indifference and lack of
Self-control. It is fairly simple to
trace almost any health problem back to these three roots. Take adult onset diabetes as an example. There are libraries of studies documenting
the benefits of nutrition, exercise and stress reduction on type II
diabetes. Taking nutrition as our
example, a man ignorant of the harm done by excess simple and complex
carbohydrates is unlikely to limit his consumption of them and this will
strongly contribute to his developing diabetes. Next, if he understands the need to limit the amount of carbs
that he eats but he is indifferent, not motivated to do it, he will continue to
eat poorly and his diabetes will continue.
Lastly he may know what foods to eat and avoid, sincerely desire to eat
this way and yet lack the self-control to be able to do it. He must overcome all three of these in order
to improve his eating and thereby his diabetes.
Just as
ignorance, indifference and lack of self control give rise to “sick” actions in
the ways one eats, these root causes of illness also cause self destructive
patterns of movement, thinking and relating to others. And ignorant, uncaring behavior ALWAYS
produce sickness and suffering. Such
common sense thinking is both discouraged and undervalued in medical
orthodoxy. It leads to heresy,
insurgency and freedom.
Ignorance, indifference and lack of Self-control
cannot be healed by medicines.
Medicines can treat the symptoms that manifest in the bodymind, but
unless we uproot their invisible, spiritual roots, they will grow back and
reproduce sickness in another form.
Only wisdom dispels ignorance.
Passion (love) dispels indifference.
And wise, loving behavior is self-control. Wisdom, love and self control are the universal weapons of
healing. They are the essential qualities of our nature, of who we are. We ARE wisdom and love yearning to be born
in action.
Naturopathic philosophy brings our health problems
into our immediate sphere of influence.
It guides us to understand our illnesses by understanding our own selves
and to heal our illnesses by becoming the people we long to be. It gives deep meaning and purpose to our
suffering which has heretofore been confusing, mysterious, and largely
unintelligible to us. Sickness is no
longer viewed as something evil and the result of malevolent forces which can
only be defeated by employing self-destructive practices. Naturopathic philosophy clearly explains
illness as being caused by deficiencies of wisdom and compassion our most noble
and human qualities. Sickness is a call
to understand ourselves and become kinder to ourselves and others in the most
practical of ways.
In the last 25 years nutrition has become widely
recognized as one of the most powerful influences on Health and disease. Yet nutrition is no more powerful than any
other of our behaviors. Movement,
thought, and communication are equally powerful, essential and
irreplaceable. Bringing control to one
behavior strengthens control of our other behaviors just the same as healing
one sick organ improves the health of all other organs. It is like doing yoga; if you become overly
tense in any one body part the tension spreads throughout your body and the
whole pose loses its grace. Conversely
by focusing on bringing poise and balance to any one area these qualities
spread effortlessly into other areas.
A practical application of this is if you are
struggling with your eating back off a little and invest some of your good
effort into exercise or your relationship.
More immediately, if you are struggling with your finances, Health or
relationship you can strengthen these areas in this very moment by focusing on
improving your posture and breath as you read this. Do not dismiss the power of this. In every moment there is an opportunity to do whatever you are
doing with care and intelligence. As
you actually do this you will find that the power to strengthen, nourish, and
beautify (i.e. to heal) is always available to you, precisely because it IS
you.
We can become so narrowly focused on our “disease”
that we actually believe that our healing depends entirely on being able to
alter something as miniscule and far removed from our experience as electron
transport chains in our mitochondria.
This can make us feel pretty powerless and confused. However the truth is that all things are
connected. No behavior is
unimportant. Healing your behavior
heals your physiology and psyche. And
kindness and intelligence heal your behavior.
Therefore use every opportunity act wisely and kindly. Sit up, breathe, smile inwardly and feel
thankful for the privilege of learning the eternal laws of healing.
The whole universe acts to correct every action that
isn’t kind and intelligent. Self
harming action evokes our natural response to understand and correct its’
causes. Unfortunately our inate healing
responses have been suppressed by our culture.
We have been trained to discount our own intelligence and our
willingness to work for what we want.
We have been hypnotized to see ourselves as powerless and dependent upon
others. We readily pay others to study
and do our healing work for us. Indoctrinated with false beliefs about
ourselves and the process of healing makes sickness unavoidable and incurable.
By restoring control to our conscious actions we simultaneously
restore control to our unconscious bodily functions such as our blood
chemistry, ph, inflammation, digestion, immunity, neurotransmitters, and
hormone levels. We strengthen every
method of medicine by simultaneously beginning a program to regain control of
our most ordinary actions.
The great
Naturopathic Physician, Buddha Shakyamuni taught that to master the
tyrannically selfish aspects of our nature is supremely difficult. He said that nothing is harder than taking
back the power we have given to our habit-demons; no adversary is more
frightening than we ourselves when we are ruled by our own short sighted
desires. Buddha, like all enlightened
beings emphasized Self-control as our supreme human challenge. Who but we, ourselves can possibly free us
from the suffering caused by our own self-destructive actions? We have no hope of Health or happiness
without Self-control.
Dr. Charley Cropley, N.D.
is a practicing Naturopathic Physician, teacher and author now living in
Paonia. He has trained hundreds of
doctors, taught at medical colleges and universities, produced DVDs, books and
many courses in nutrition and self-healing. He uses no medicines. He teaches
people to Heal all types of Health problems through the power of wholesome
nutrition, strengthening exercise, positive thinking and honest, caring
relationships. For Personal Appts,
DVDs, books or courses call 970-527-7008 or
charleycropley@tds.net.
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Remembering Aztlán
A Column of Poetry, Culture & Spirit by Art
Goodtimes
TELLURIDE MUSHROOM
FESTIVAL … Yes, it is happening
again – it’s 26th year. August 18-19. It’s a scaled-down version,
since the original producers have finally retired and locals have picked up the
slack. But there’s a parade, some great speakers (including the mycologist Gary
Lincoff and Terence McKenna’s ex, Kat Harrison), forays and of course the
mushrooms themselves, which if the rains continue, ought to be plentiful …
Check out the new website, http://mushroomfestival.com and come join the fun in
Telluride.
DREAM THE FUTURE … That’s the name of the collective that put on Paonia’s
premiere music festival last month, Dreamtime. In its 5th year, the
event is a combination of Burning Man, the Rainbow Gathering, and a psychedelic
world beat Bluegrass Festival … It’s a dazzling time, mixing main stage
entertainment, spiritual grounding and workshops of all kinds in dozens of
theme camps dotted around the barren landscape of a fire-scarred P-J ex-forest
on a mesa above the north fork of the Gunnison river … Tara Miller and Sam
Brown organized the Talking Gourds theme camp this year, hosting gourd circle
readings and demonstrating solar cooking on Radiance Way next to the Goddess
Camp … Shambhala’s tent nearby lit up the night with an array of colorful light
sculptures. There was Cuddle Cavern, Shut Up and Eat It, Mayan Dreams and
dozens of other camps to explore … And the main stage bowl featured a plethora
of great bands, Tribal Electra of Boulder, Bamboche’s Afro-Cuban beat, Paonia’s
own Dusty Onyx … Listening to the legendary Kan’Nal on main stage Saturday
night, the just-past-full moon rising over the Ragged Range, hundreds of people
dancing wildly, the stars for a roof, a cool breeze lifting the flags and
streamers around a stage with light show projections, a sacred fire burning at
the edge of the dance bowl – it was pure magic … This is a regional event not
to miss. Set aside the date in July for next year, and come be part of the fun.
This was my third year, and it just seems to get better every time (thanks in
no small part to the vision of Steve Wolcott and the many organizers and
volunteers responsible for Dreamtime) … dreamthefuture.org.
SUSTAINABILITY … At the first Global Footprint Forum, held in Siena, Italy,
recently, the Global Footprint Network introduced a new scientific standard for
calculating the Global Footprint. The standard will be used by the partner
organizations of the Global Footprint Network, that apply the method to
calculate footprints for specific use, like carbon dioxide, food or products,
communities or production facilities. … The Global Footprint calculates a
numeric value that represents an average productive space needed to support
consumption, expressed in global hectares. According to the calculation, if the
entire global community would adopt the lifestyle of the average inhabitant of
the USA, it would take more than three planets to support it … Finland is the
first nation to announce that it is adopting the Global Footprint as an
official standard for measuring sustainability. Switzerland and Britain are on
track for using the Global Footprint as well, as a part of the 10-in-10 program
of the Global Footprint Network. The program aims at ten countries within ten
years using the footprint as an official standard for measuring sustainability.
WORLD SPENDING PRIORITIES: According to the Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute, in 2004 global military spending reached one trillion
dollars, or $162 for every man, woman, and child on the planet. According to
the Institute, 19 conflicts causing more than 1,000 deaths were fought in 2004;
of these, 16 had already been raging for ten or more years … Everyone who
thinks that a trillion dollars would be better spent on ecological restoration,
installing organic agriculture and renewable energy systems throughout the
world, please raise their hand -- and then go badger politicians about actually
doing it.
SOUR GRAPES …My good friend Lance Christie of Moab has learned that
Wal-Mart is about to begin offering its own wine labels, as it continues to try
to consolidate all shopping needs under one mass-produced corporate roof. So,
he’s come up with some name suggestions … Here’s his top ten starting from the
bottom … 10. Chateau Traileur Parc, 9. White Trashfindel, 8. Big Red Gulp, 7.
World Championship Riesling, 6. NASCARbernet, 5. Chef Boyardeaux, 4. Peanut
Noir, 3. I Can't Believe It's Not Vinegar!, 2. Grape Expectations … And the
number one name for Wal-Mart Wine:1. Nasti Spumante … And adds Lance, “The
beauty of Wal-Mart wine is that it can be served with white meat (possum) or
red meat (squirrel).”
THE TALKING GOURD
Traffic
So many things
go
over my head
that I
need an air
traffic
controller
Richard Ganci
San Francisco
© 2006 Art Goodtimes
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Rock Soup - Our Changing
Landscape
by Dea Jacobson
Last month’s
column was titled Organic vs. Sustainable, Part 1. As for part 2, it may never materialize. I have decided that pitting organic against
the concept of sustainability was an awkward task. I’ll leave that subject for Michael Pollan, whose new book, The
Omnivore’s Dilemma, addresses this subject eloquently. It’s now waiting in the stack on my end
table vying for attention. Once I
digest that tome, I’ll have grist for my columns that will last through the
winter! For now, I’d rather dance
around the subject, perhaps providing food for thought in our changing west
central Colorado landscape.
For instance, in recent weeks, there have been
articles and opinion letters in the local Delta paper regarding the subdivision
of an area of local farmland near Delta.
In the particular area in question, 44 houses are planned in the middle
of an existing rural community, far from the urban corridors that expand in all
directions from city limits. For a
little background, the county’s subdivision regulations encourage the
preservation of agricultural land.
However, the Master Plan that includes this intent is not regulatory,
but advisory only, meaning that it has no enforcement “teeth”. So, with good legal representation, a
developer could successfully challenge a decision by the county commissioners
to deny such a subdivision.
Now, many people move to this region seeking peace and
a pastoral environment. I know I did.
Some will buy farmland and lease it to a farmer, thus enjoying the rural open
space and keeping the agricultural flavor of the neighborhood. And, while most of the farming done in Delta
County is not organic, keeping land in agricultural use keeps that option open,
and open space is preferable to misplaced urban sprawl.
But, we’ve been discovered. A few months ago, our local chamber of commerce passed around an
article from Forbes Magazine
likening Delta County to Marin County (a posh suburb of San Francisco) only in
the mountains. Great climate, orchards
and vineyards, proximity to major recreation, and a rural lifestyle were
reasons to get over here and buy some of that dream landscape. Developers are pushing to meet the demand.
In the meantime, our ceremonial land use master plan ill prepares the county to
direct this growth appropriately.
If we consider the concept of sustainability in
planning, we could open up a conversation among currently conflicting elements
in the county that must come together in order to meet the challenges we
face. The North Fork Valley communities
of Paonia, Hotchkiss and Crawford, has a group compiling information on their
sustainable resource base, which they define as the “Green Triangle”. When completed, it will be a model that
could help guide our public officials in the process of addressing this
growth. It is not a matter of ‘locking
the gate once you get in’, as some refer to the efforts of so-called newcomers
who want to keep things the way they are.
It is responsible stewardship of the resources we are fortunate to have
here. While this is not a call for
excessive government regulation, it is a challenge to engage the community in a
meaningful conversation.
On a lighter note, The Telluride Mushroom Festival is
just around the corner, August 18 and 19th.
Take time to experience the company of educated foragers of one of
nature’s most mysterious and delicious offerings. While I haven’t found anything as stunning as the monster giant
puffball of 2005, I did find my first scrumptious morel a few weeks ago, down
in the creek bottom. It’s time to get
up in the woods, now that the monsoon is here, and see what’s up on the
mesa. “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” has a chapter devoted entirely to wild
mushrooms. In it, Pollan describes
hunting in a burned out forest area in California with very experienced
fungophiles, the only way to go. They
harvest in 60 pounds of morels on their expedition, a mind blowing haul! I am hoping to just keep learning the wiles
of this delicacy of the woods. Last
year shaggy manes made a good showing and I made “shaggy mane soup”, from a
recipe adapted from Euell Gibbons’ classic foraging primer, “Stalking the Wild Asparagus”.
Mushroom Soup
Use 2 tablespoons of butter to sauté ½ pound of clean
sliced mushrooms.
Remove from the pan and add about 2 tablespoons of flour
to the pan liquid, stirring until a smooth paste is formed. Add a teaspoon of
salt and a pinch of ginger. Turn up the
heat and slowly add a quart of vegetable stock or chicken broth, stirring until
it is smooth and slightly thick. Add
sautéed mushrooms and, if you are using chicken broth, perhaps some of the
chicken it was prepared from. Add 4
tablespoons of sherry (or to taste) and ½ cup light cream. Don’t let it boil after you add the
cream. Serve hot, with freshly ground
black pepper. Enjoy!
Dea Jacobson, RYT, RScP, is
a yoga therapist, instructor, owner of Blue Heron Yoga and a licensed Religious
Science Practitioner. She teaches throughout the Mesa and Delta County area can
be reached at blueheronyoga.com, or at 970.856.4905.
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The Ancient Lore on
Stones
by Susan Palmer
Sapphires
Associated with Saturn, the sapphire is one of the
hardest stones we know. Most
prized,naturalsapphire appears green from the side and can change color under
artificial light to a more red, purple, or violet hue. White and yellow sapphires are less prized,
and so often heated to become blue in color. Black sapphire is seldom used as a
gem. The star sapphire (usually a paler
blue) is called a destiny stone, bringing luck and warding off evil in ancient times, freeing one from enchantment
and drawing the grace of God. Some
cultures used deep blue sapphires as an antidote for poisons and to heal skin
ulcers, rubbing the stone on the sore, then binding it over the pustule for ten
minutes or more. If you do this, clean
the stone afterwards in alcohol.
In Buddhism, the sapphire is assigned to Jupiter,
enabling one to hear and understand oracles, opening closed doors of the mind
to the spiritual realms. In India,
sapphire belongs to Saturn, enhancing truth and faithfulness, protecting
against envy and harm. Hebrew legend
assigns sapphire to be the stone of wisdom and chastity. Indeed, several cultures know it to reduce
sexual interest and increase spiritual openness.
Aruvedic medicine uses sapphire to relieve vata conditions;
rheumatism, sciatica, neurological pain, and hysteria. Here it is recommended to be worn in a gold
ring. But sapphire does very well set
in silver if one is using it to cool or lessen a problem. Gold settings are more active in energy, and
silver more calming.
Sapphires can be cleaned with most methods, as their
hardness protects them well. Water,
alcohol, sea water, sand, loam, sunlight, and intent all can be used. Since this stone is more a giver than an
absorber, you won’t need to clean it often.
Susan Palmer is a new
resident of Montrose, most recently from Oregon. Previously she has lived in
Colorado Springs and on Maui. She is the author of several volumes of poetry
and a research text The Gemstone Healing Amulet, Making One That Works For You.
She offers private and public sessions for groking stones. 240-3605.
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Peaceful Contributions for the Soul
by Kathy Gates
Words of
poetry of wisdom began to fill my brain.
Maybe it was the wisdom of the tree, sharing its knowledge with my
soul. Here are the loving words the
aspen spoke to me, so I wrote it down; I felt it in my poetry.
Carvings in the Trees Greetings everyone, August! what
a great time for taking a moment in time to contemplate, to take a deeper look
at what is all around you. Where are you? What are you doing? Do you like what
you see? Strong growth is taking place everywhere, within and without.
Reading poetry and writing poetry is a wonderful way
to meditate and contemplate your unique, individual ideas about your inner and
outer life. Through poetry we can
express our truth about how we see life, ourselves, our relationships, our joy,
our abundance and the beauty that is always present as we look for life's good.
While taking a short trip to the Grand Mesa for a
glorious day of rest, surrounding myself, immersing myself in nature, taking in
the beauty everywhere present. I became aware of some tall aspen trees, with
shimmering leaves, large bases with words carved into their bark. Contemplating this for a while. Why do people carve their names in innocent
trees that were just minding their own business, providing shade and something
most beautiful to focus upon? The old wise aspen tree just is and accepts all
who come to see their beauty.
Great wise aspen trunks
carved with words of love
Initials, words,
relationships
carved deep into my skin
branded on my side to
dance in the wind
by lovers, who love,
by close friends
To have the presence of
love carved into me
for the little plants,
birds who fly, and for animals
as well as for Great
Spirit to see
I open my branches, they
do not judge the wind
my leaves shimmer with
joy
Sun warms my skin
And I know there at my
base carved carefully
are words of love, this
is the wisdom of my time
love never ends
Enjoy a small space in time to connect yourself to
everything that is in your experience. You might be surprised what comes
through. Poetry is music for the soul, and a lovely meditation by allowing
contemplation of life.
Peace and Blessings and Love to all. Kathy Gates (Women's Spirit Retreat)
970-856-7665
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For The Love Of The Bees
© Anne Calzada Herbalist
There are
literally thousands of species of bees on this planet Bees feed themselves on
nectar, which give them energy, and pollen that give them protein. Bees produce
honey as a food source for the hive during wintertime when flowers are not
available to them. It is said that honeybees must visit two million flowers to
make one pound of honey and generally each one visits between 50 to100 flowers
on it's collecting trip and may travel up to 50,000 miles to do so!
Bees are social insects living together in a colony
that includes the queen, drones and workers. The queen is the only sexually
developed female in the hive. The drones are males, whose sole purpose is to
mate with the queen and the workers are sexually under developed females who do
all the work in the hive. Some species of bees are solitary and have no worker
bees, they are female and do not produce pollen or honey. They are important
pollinators as in a few cases it is reported that only one species of bee can
pollinate a specific plant species and therefore some plants may be endangered
because their pollinator is dying off.
It is estimated that 1/3 of our food on this planet
comes from pollinators such as bees andthat these foodcrops include apples,
pears, tomatoes, peppers and squash. The decline of native bees and honeybees
is critical not only to American agriculture, but to crops world wide. The
assumed cause of death for bees is mites, which has always been the case,
however it is becoming increasingly evident that it is pesticide usage and the
lack of regulation to protect bees from poisoning and urban development Native
bees run the risk of declining natural eco-systems in which certain plants are
cut down, burned off or sprayed with chemicals. Planting a garden with flowers
that bees like to visit is not only beautifying to the surroundings but also
helpful ecologically. Bees enjoy visiting roses, lavender, sage, rosemary,
mints, bee balm, borage, columbines, sunflowers, hollyhocks, violets, hyssop,
daisies, basil, chamomile and trees such as willows, fruit trees and lilac
bushes.
Honey is a viscous sweet fluid that the bees produce
from nectar and store it in the hive for winter's use. Honey is naturally
antiseptic and is loaded with amino acids, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and
of course natural sugars. It has been usedto dress wounds, soothe burns and
heal skin ailments due to its antiseptic action. It is used in skin care
products to soften, purify and moisturize the skin. Honey is used to increase
health and longevity. Diabetics or those suffering from candida should abstain
from the use of honey.
Bee pollen is a collection of pollen collected from
different plant sources. Like honey, it is rich in amino acids, vitamins and
minerals. A complete food, it is a nutrient rich source of energy and an ally
for those with seasonal allergies. It has shown to have anti-inflammatory and
histamine inhibiting properties attributed to it's quercetin content.
Allergy sufferers may find releif using local bee
pollen starting with one granule a day to prevent seasonal allergies. Do not
continue to use if allergies are made worse or itching, hives, red eyes, sinus
congestion or allergic reaction occurs. If bee pollen agrees with you, use 1
tsp a day in your smoothie or juice.
Royal jelly is a nutritious fluid secretion created by
the worker bees and is fed to her and the baby bees. It is again a rich
powerhouse of nutrition containing amino acids, vitamins and minerals. It is
anti-inflammatory and immune stimulating and contains collagen and silica which
feed the skin, hair and the nails. As an adaptagen, it is used to combat stress
and fatigue. Look for it in a raw liquid form and as little as one drop is
sufficient.
Bee propolis is a resinous subsatnce that is made
primarily from tree sap and tree resins. Bees collect the antiseptic sap and
resin to mix with wax inside the hive to seal and protect the hive from
infection.It is therefore antiseptic and has been found to be effective against
bacteria, viruses, fungus and other microbes. It has been used for infections
of the mouth, the gums, sore throats, UTI, wounds and lung infections. You will
find it in an alcohol extract, lozenge form, throat spray or even a skin salve.
Never kill a bee if at all possible and do not provoke
them if possible. They only will try to sting you if they feel
threatened.Support your local apiaries and buy from a local supplier when
available. Consider raising bees if it holds an interest for you! Please visit
these sites for more information! nrdc.org, endangeredspecieshandbook.org.
Bee Well Bee Wise by Bernard Jensen
Anne Calzada is a Certified
Herbalist and founder of Healing Heart Herbs. For consultations please call
626 5663 or email her at annecalzada@aol.com.
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Divine Guidance
by Dr. Jerry Overton
Four years
ago I published a book entitled Divine
Guidance: The Secret Way to an Abundant Life. My main point in the book
was the assertion that God is constantly seeking to give us the guidance we
need to live life in joy, peace, freedom, and happiness (my notion of the abundant
life)—through what I called , nudges, and messages. And all we have to do to
have such a life is to learn how to detect the divine guidance as it comes to
us, and then be willing to follow that guidance in order to get its benefits.
My further point was that as we follow the divine
guidance, then we can avoid the inevitable consequences that always seem to
happen to us as we try to go it on our own, which I identified as all the
recurring lessons, problems, and crises that pervade our lives. All pretty
straight-forward and simple—and even easy
if we would just do it!
And yet, most of us (myself included) just don’t do
it—at least not nearly enough.So, the question becomes why.
In my book, I dealt with various reasons why we don’t
follow the divine guidance, especially given the promised results. Among the
reasons that I listed were: lack of knowledge about the nature of divine
guidance (most of us haven’t known about it), virtually no skills in making use
of the guidance (we’ve received little or no training), and there has been
little emphasis on it in our culture (we’re far most interested in how to take
charge, control, and manage our own lives).
While all of those are true, I suspect that the number
one reason (which is also rather straight-forward and simple) is that in order
to follow God’s guidance, we
have to be willing to quit following our own
guidance.
Ah, and therein lies the rub! For to be willing to
follow God’s guidance we have to be willing to trust God more than we trust
ourselves. We have to see God as our only Source. We have to trust that God
knows better than we do what is good for us, and where it can be found. We have
to be willing to relinquish control of plotting our own course—which means, in
essence, that we have to give up control over our own lives. And, we have to be
willing to turn loose of everything we think we know—about ourselves, our needs
and desires, and what will finally give us the joy, peace, freedom, and
happiness that we seek.
Obviously, for most of us that’s a pretty tall order,
because we’ve been taught from birth that in order to be a responsible adult,
we must take charge of our lives, make our own decisions, and map our own way.
And yet, if we stop and consider the job most of us have done in trying to do
it on our own, as well as what we’ve had to endure in the process (those
nagging lessons, problems, and crises), then we can begin to see that most of
us could, to say the least, use a little help! And, when you think about it,
who better to help us than the One who created us and called us into being!
Now, believe me, I know from experience, that turning
loose of control is among the hardest things any of us will ever do. And
trusting God—One whom we can’t see, touch, or know for sure is even present to
us—is a close second. And yet, I also know from experience that when I do trust
God to guide me, life is so much better—and far easier!
So, it all comes down to deciding just how much you
truly want a life of joy, peace, freedom, and happiness—and then assessing and
acknowledging, as honestly as possible, how well you’ve done so far on your
own. Perhaps, then as you look at the results, you might begin to consider an
alternative—trusting God as your Source and following the divine guidance
provided.
I can assure you, it’s worth the effort. And if you
need more info on how to follow God’s divine guidance, you might check out my
book, or give me a call.
Godspeed!
Copyright 2006 Dr. Jerry D. Overton
Jerry is a practitioner of the Emotional Freedom
Technique, a means of healing all sorts of pain and suffering. He can be
reached at 970-252-9311 His book can be seen on www.Amazon.com,
www.Barnesandnoble.com, locally at Sagebrush Books, and also on his website,
www.jerryoverton.com.
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