10th Anniversary Celebration in Delta
Whole Life Network Release
The Center of Religious
Science, a group of individuals who gather to learn and share the teachings of
Ernest Holmes, is celebrating their 10 year birthday. The idea and study group started long before, but the affiliation
into United Church of Religious Science in California started in 1996 after the
arrival of minister Rev. Kay Spinden.
Since then The Center has seen many changes. The growing interest in a
life of spiritual practice among individuals has perpetuated growth of a space
for people of like-mind to gather and share.
As The Center strived to serve these people, a vision of a new building
was born and The Center was moved from Montrose to Delta. In speaking of the growth The Center has
experienced, Webster defines growth as this;
Growth: 1. To
increase in size. 2. To develop and
reach maturity. 3. To become.
In the last ten years
there is no doubt that The Center has increased in size. The space in which the services are provided
has increased to a beautiful sanctuary which holds almost 200 people, located
in a building permeated with love and acceptance, providing ample room for
growth. The UpWords Bookstore has blossomed into a full service retail store
with an array of New Thought books, inspirational cards and music and unique
gift items. The music department has increased from the solo music of David
Hauze, to a weekly music ensemble including Tamara Hauze, Brenda Suiter and
various guest musicians. The size of the congregation has increased as the
Delta location has allowed people from the outlining areas to attend more
easily. However, the size of this church is of far less importance to its
members than the third definition of growth, and that is; to become.
The Center of Religious
Science is fast becoming a powerful presence in the midst of Western Colorado,
providing a hub of positive energy radiating out to all, attracting those who
are ready for it, and supporting diversity in the unity of The One.
The Center is a direct
demonstration in what it teaches. The
philosophy of Ernest Holmes, written so long ago, and compiled from ancient
wisdom and truths throughout the ages is so relevant in today’s world. People all over the world are improving
their lives and the lives of those around them by learning to change the way
they think.
A 10 year celebration
has been planned at The Center on Saturday July 1 from 5:00pm – 9:00pm. This celebration will include a BBQ dinner
and special entertainment from Evan Suiter’s Swing Band. This band is made up
of 12 musicians from the Durango area, many of them college students. Evan is the former bass guitar player for
The Center, starting his career at the ripe age of 10. He is back 10 years later to celebrate by
playing with his own band. The event
will take place outdoors as we enjoy great food, great conversation, laughter,
memories, new friends, and Dancing in the Street! Yes, there really will
be dancing in the street as we block the street off for the evening. What a great opportunity to experience the
aliveness and presence of The Center of Religious Science. All are welcome. There is a $5.00 ticket
sold in advance to help determine the food count.
For more details,
contact: The Center of Religious
Science
658 Howard St.
Delta, Colorado 81416
970-874-3425
deltacrs@juno.com
Office hours Wed. –
Fri. 10:00am – 3:00pm & Sunday
mornings
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Education Series in July
Whole Life Network Release
Waldorf Education: do
you know what it is and how it differs from public education?
Catherine Isabel will
give a free lecture and video on July 19 at 6:00 pm at the Montrose Library
Conference Room on the subject of Waldorf Education.She has been both a student
and a teacher in Waldorf schools in Germany and in the United States.Catherine
is eager to share information on this exciting alternative to education methods
in Montrose. Waldorf teachers are dedicated to creating a genuine love of
learning within each child. By freely using arts and activities in the service
of teaching academics, an internal motivation to learn is developed in the
students, doing away with the need for competitive testing and grading.
In Waldorf Education the
arts receive a great deal of emphasis, especially visual and performing arts,
but music as well.The children are engaged in hands-on experiences such as
baking bread and gardening beginning in Kindergarten.As they progress, the
education process engages heart, hands, and head.
According to records,
Waldorf students are easily recognized in college, being advanced in overall
knowledge over their peers.They are often allowed to skip introductory college
courses because they already know the information.They have exceptional skills
in problem solving, social skills, and environmental awareness.This superior
education makes them intelligent and capable adults.
The best overall statement
on what is unique about Waldorf education is to be found in the stated goals of
the schooling: "to produce individuals who are able, in and of themselves,
to impart meaning to their lives".
Come and hear for yourself how your family can benefit from this proven
discipline.
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Treat the patient, not the disease.
by Charley Cropley
One of the five core
principles of Naturopathic Medicine is “Treat the patient, not the disease.” What does this mean? To me it means that my primary focus is not
my client’s bodily organs, e.g. her uterus or adrenals, nor is it her
physiological functions such as her levels of blood sugar, hormones or
serotonin; nor is my focus a supposed disease such as arthritis, cancer or
chronic fatigue. I give all of these
their due consideration and care.
However the principle advises me to treat my patient, not her organs,
not her hormone levels, not her lab tests.
What does this principle mean?
To me it means looking
for the causes of her illness in the ways she uses and cares for her
bodymind. Specifically I am referring
to the ways she eats, exercises, thinks and communicates. These activities are the dominant influences
on her anatomy and physiology. Every
structure and function of her body is affected by these actions: the
composition of her blood and lymph, hormonal balance, brain chemistry,
immunity, bones… you name it. If her
actions are abnormal they cause her physiology to become abnormal.
Interestingly this core
self-healing work remains substantially the same for all client regardless of
their diagnosis/disease. I.e. Whether one’s illness was migraines, arthritis or
infertility she would still need to overcome her addictions, master her hunger,
learn to prepare and enjoy wholesome foods, etc. She would require adequate exercise and rest, need to tame her
emotions and learn to treat people more kindly. Yet how a physician teaches each client to heal herself is highly
individualized and is to my mind the supreme healing art.
Conversely five hundred
different clients with the same diagnosed disease, say chronic fatigue
syndrome, would each find that their path to self-healing would unfold in 500
completely individualized ways. Each
person’s bodymind is both markedly different and at the same time strikingly
similar to others’.
If you do not treat
yourself and others kindly and wisely your physiology and psychology become
unkind and unmanageable. This is a
fact.
Observe how you
presently wield your healing power. Are
you incapable of resisting a cup of coffee or a dessert; are you unable to
control your anger or anxiety? Is your
treatment of others determined by how they treat you? It is you who your bodymind depends
on. You feed, rest and exercise
her. It is you who stimulates your mind
with irresistible desires and uncontrollable fears. You are what needs healing, not your bodymind.
However, if you allow
your body to behave like an uncontrolled animal and eat whatever and whenever
it wants, it will becomes weak, lazy and incapable of defending your precious
home.
Think of how much power
it would take for you to stop drinking coffee or sweets, let alone to fast for
a day. It is precisely this power that
you harness to purify and strengthen your body. The power you now squander in short term pleasures of eating you
can infuse into right action that will heal all your bodily structures and
functions.
When daily you honestly
engage the limits of your strength, flexibility and endurance through exercise
you are infusing strength, flexibility and endurance into your anatomy and
psyche. Without them your digestion and
immunity grow weak, your emotions tense and exhausted and your heart stiff and
cold. Your precious bodymind, your
greatest friend is gradually transformed into your worst enemy.
Illness is your
bodymind’s natural expression of her urgent needs, like a baby cries for milk
or a flower wilts without water. Rarely
is your bodymind asking for medicine anymore than are the baby or the flower.
Always she is asking for your care. You
are her owner, her only source of Healing.
Nobody else can eat, exercise, think or relate for you. By failing to perform these sacred duties
wisely and kindly, we condemn ourselves to the misery of medicine.
Most of us are innocently ignorant of what
our bodymind is asking of us. When we
do understand what is being asked, e.g. stop drinking coffee we are often
indifferent or unwilling to doing it.
Even when we strongly desire to do what our body asks we often lack the
self-control to do it.
Ignorance, indifference
and lack of self-control are the most fundamental causes of illness and they
cannot be healed with medicines. Only
wisdom dispels ignorance. Love dispels
indifference. And love expressed wisely
in action is self-control.
Healing is teaching
people to love themselves wisely. You
can only teach your client, not her disease.
Therefore “Treat the patient, not her disease.”
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
RAINBOW GATHERING …
It’s hard to explain an event of this size held in the woods where people can
be as close or as far away from others as they please. It’s about freedom. But
it’s also about peace, light and responsibility. And at heart it’s a giveaway.
Free food at dozens of kitchens. A central dinner circle where everyone who
comes gets fed. No alcohol. No combustion engines (we walk, carry or roll
everything into the site).Sometimes no personal fires. Leave no trace. Everyone
takes responsibility. Total silence on the morning of the 4th. These
are some of the rules of the Rainbow … But more than rules, it’s really about a
ring of power held by thousands of people -- where love and trust and sharing
are expected, and anything other outré … The gathering’s north of Steamboat
this year. Starting July 1 and running until the 7th. Check online
for directions, www.welcomehome.org and read up on Rainbow 101, if you are
planning on coming. I’ll be up by Yoga Camp. With Mary and Sara and Gorio and
our friend Seven. Come by and visit.
ALTA CASSIETTO … Patient,
with a twinkle in her eye … That’s how I remember one of Telluride’s Greatest
Ladies. Editor of Dad Painter’s Daily Journal. U.S. Postmaster. Local
historian-par-excellance. I’d call and then arrange to visit her duplex
apartment in Montrose. Always neat. With old pictures, scrapbooks, a lifetime
of collected objects set on lace. What the Japanese call netsuke … And
she’d receive me politely, sometimes with a little laugh. Make tea. We’d talk
history. Telluride’s past. Where this building had been before it burnt, and
some anecdote of personality Alta would invoke by way of illustration of this
or that event … She is being honored on the 4th of July in
Telluride, having passed away earlier this year. And well she should be
honored. One of the most interesting women I’ve ever met. May she rest in
peace.
NAVAJO SAM … Visiting New Mexico earlier this spring, I made a quick stop at the southern hideout of
one of San Miguel County’s most famous outlaws, the Woods Lake bandit who spent
a summer alternately delighting and terrorizing backpackers on the trail up to
Navajo Lake, haranguing them about a government gone corporate and awry and
soliciting food from their backpacks, his rifle or pearl-handled revolver in
plain sight … Sam had befriended me when I first moved to the county back in
1980, helping my wife and I find wood for our ramshackle Placerville rental in
the middle of winter. When he decided to live out in the woods, I was a bit of
an accomplice, bringing him groceries at an assigned spot every couple weeks.
When he was finally apprehended, I visited him in the old courthouse jail cell
they now use to store records in Telluride … These days, all charges against
him having been dropped, he slips back up to San Miguel County on occasion –
visiting friends, and regaling us all with grand stories. Age has caught up
with him, his left knee is a wreck, cancer mars his face, but his spirit is
indomitable. And he continues to harangue us about corporate shenanigans and a
nation gone awry. A Colorado original. Navajo Sam.
NET METERING … San
Miguel Power Association has moved to make net metering (or reverse metering,
as some prefer to call it) a reality in its service area, in large part thanks
to an advisory committee headed up by Kelvin Verity of Veritas Solar in
Norwood. Net metering allows folks who generate solar or wind or micro-hydro
power for their own homes to feed that power back into the grid when they’re
not using it for themselves. It is a form of distributed generation, saves the
homeowner on her electric bill, and helps increase the stability of the local
grid … SMPA’s program isn’t as extensive or visionary as the program set up by
the Office for Resource Efficiency (ORE) in Crested Butte
[resourceefficiency.org], but it’s a step forward. Maybe our regional
Intergovernmental Sustainability effort can broker a partnership similar to the
one ORE has created in Gunnison … For more info (although I couldn’t find any
mention of the new net metering policy on their website), call SMPA at
800-864-7256 and ask for Hart Gleason.
KRIS DEAN … If
you attended the Telluride Mushroom Festival, you knew Kris. He was the wild
man from Tonopah, Nevada, with a big Buddha belly and multiple piercings. The
one who, year after year, opened the fungal festivities with a strike at his
brass bowl gong … He passed on last month. And many fungophiles are in
mourning.
NO CANCER FOR
POT-SMOKERS … A study presented at a meeting of the
American Thoracic Society last month found that smoking Cannabis
species, even heavily, does not increase the risk of cancer. The study was
headed by Dr. Donald Tashkin of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Tashkin, who has studied the effects of Cannabis on the lungs for years,
had expected the study to reveal that heavy marijuana use results in elevated
cancer risk. Past studies have yielded varied results on this question, but
most were conducted on a small scale and possibly affected by bias. The
large-scale UCLA study focused on 2,200 people, about 1,200 of whom had lung,
oral, laryngeal or esophageal cancer. The study used personal interviews to
collect information about lifetime Cannabis, tobacco and other drug use,
as well as information about family history of cancer, diet and other possible
factors. The result was that people who smoked Cannabis, even those who
smoked heavily for years, were at no greater risk of developing cancer than
those who did not smoke. In contrast, people who smoked more than two packs of
cigarettes per day were 20 times more likely to develop cancer than those who
smoked nothing … Tashkin said that past studies have shown Cannabis
smoke to contain many of the same carcinogenic chemicals found in cigarette
smoke (minus the lethal additives used in commercial cigarettes). The findings
of the study now have researchers considering the possibility that Cannabis
may have a protective effect against cancer, perhaps deterring tumor growth.
FRANCISCO JAVIER CORTES
SANTIAGO … Another working class hero. And just a
youth at that. 14 years old. Shot down and killed by Mexican state and federal
police as, some 500 strong, they stormed a house in Texcoco this past May to
arrest dozens of street vendors, including women and children, who’d holed up
after a police sweep of Belisario Dominguez market the day before, all members
of the Front of the People united in Defense of the Land (FPDT). FPDT grew out
of the neighboring village of San Salvador Atenco’s successful militant
struggle against plans to build a new international airport for Mexico City on
local farmland in 2002. Outraged at the Texcoco street vendor crackdown, Atenco
campesinos blockaded nearby highways …
www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=2182
… In what was clearly a
government provocation in retaliation for their earlier successful struggle,
the same combination of state and federal troops arrested and savagely beat
FPDT leader Ignacio del Valle and made a wholesale attack and brutal
house-to-house sweep of San Salvador Atenco – with more killings, public
beatings and even rapes, as hundreds of FPDT campesinos (men and women) were
arrested and driven away in police vans …
www.greenleft.org.au/back/2006/670/670p15d.htm
... Will Vicente Fox’s gringo buddy start employing similar tactics when the
mid-term elections go the wrong way (in spite of continuing scandals over
rigged electronic voting machines)?
SCIENCE IDOL… The
Union of Concerned Scientists is hosting a scientific integrity editorial
cartoon contest. They’re looking for a creative take on the issue of political
interference in science. Submit one-panel, or multi-panel, print cartoons that
address the misuse of science on a specific issue or in general. Entries are
due by July 31, 2006. See www.uscusa.org/scientific_integrity/science_idol for
more info ... I think a cartoon involving the recent sage grouse non-listing
decision might be the perfect topic for this contest.
HUMBOLDT COUNTY … Measure
T, a county ordinance that prohibits non-local
corporations from donating to county election campaigns, passed muster
with the Humboldt County electors two weeks ago in Northern California. A 55
percent majority made the initiative law … "I'd liken it to what the early
abolitionists did, to the early steps in the struggle for women's suffrage, to
the early stages of trade unionism," said Arcata (Humboldt county seat)
resident David Cobb, the 2004 Green Party presidential candidate. "It
would be the beginning of a populist progressive revolution at the ballot
box." … Let’s hope so. Colorado doesn’t allow statutory counties the
latitude to consider initiatives, nor the authority to limit contributions at
elections. So, those will have to be state issues we lobby for. But with a Dem
governor and a Dem legislature, who knows what’s possible?
THE TALKING GOURD
From
Wen-tzu
Old
ones are wise without trying.
Trusted
even when they don’t speak.
They
gain without seeking.
Succeed with no thought to outcome.
They
take naturalness to heart,
Preserve ultimate reality,
So,
I invite you to embrace their way.
Trust
the heart of those you fear.
The
whole world follows us as
echoes.
Responds to sounds,
as
shadows imitate deer.
What
we work on is the root.
©
2006 Art Goodtimes
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Rock Soup - Organic vs. Sustainable (Part 1)
by Dea Jacobson
Building a house made of used tires pounded
full of mud, powered by the sun and totally off the grid has been just the
beginning for Roy and me in reconstructing a lifestyle that takes up a smaller
“footprint” on the earth. I have always
wanted to live like this, close to the earth, subject to her rhythms and the
season’s changes. It is not only a
peaceful to live this way, but, well, our fuel bill this winter was under
$20 a month for gas to cook and heat
our water, when the sun was not sufficient.
That feels good, too.
We recycle everything we
can - some things rather creatively. I am taking better care of my car to increase mileage. I consolidate trips, carpool when feasible, glean, forage, buy in
bulk, and keep looking for more ways to walk lightly on the planet. My small
savings is in a green, peace promoting mutual fund, Paxworld (paxworld.com). I
buy clothes in thrift shops. And I shop locally.
But, of course, just
when I thought I had my end of our housekeeping act together, an article in the
New Yorker, of all places, throws me for a loop. I am pleased that important questions are being asked about how
to change our excessive consumer lifestyle.
But the question the New Yorker asks, in a Steven Shapin article titled
Paradise Sold, “What are you buying when you buy organic?” gave me grist
for the mill on what happens to organic food on the way to the
supermarket. This corner has always
argued for organic wherever possible.
In the old days, it meant growing your own, or finding a farm stand,
health food store or co-op to patronize.
Now you can just go to Wal-Mart.
Like most of us, I never
equated organic with anything but sustainable living. But I am rethinking my rationale. Recently, Wal-mart decided to
double the amount of organic foods it sells, since February’s Consumer Reports
informed us that sales of organic products has gone up twenty percent a year
during the past decade, reaching $15 billion in 2004! The big news is that nearly two-thirds of American consumers
bought organic food last year, paying, on average, fifty percent over
conventional products. As Wal-Mart cuts
prices and squeezes the competition, its management is betting organic eating
will become more even widespread. So
what’s wrong with this picture?
From its small town,
small farm, anti-industrial roots, backyard organic is now “Big Organic”. Michael Pollan, author of “Botany of
Desire”, in his new book titled “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of
Four Meals” sets standards for ethical eating that reflect the ideals of early
organic pioneers. Consider that
Earthbound Farm greens, once grown on two and a half acres in Carmel, are now
produced on giant farms in six different California counties, as well as farms
in Arizona, Colorado and Mexico. They grow over seventy percent of organic
lettuce sold in the US, with revenues for this year projected at $450
million! While success is a good thing,
Pollan presents a Cornell scientist’s findings that estimate the growing,
processing and shipping of one calorie of Earthbound’s arugula uses fifty-seven
(eek!) calories of fossil fuel, which turns out to be only four percent less
than that of conventionally grown iceberg lettuce. Sigh. So, the conclusion
the article draws is that “’organic’ is not necessarily ‘local’ and neither
‘organic’ nor ‘local’ is necessarily sustainable”. Phew!
For his part, Pollan
describes the production networks of four meals, beginning,” super-size” style
with a fast food meal. He traces the
burger back to the corn the heifer ate, how that corn was grown and all the
impacts that go with that process. He
is thorough and convincing in his research.
(As an aside, ever since I read the chapter on potato farming in the
“Botany of Desire,” I have been unable to eat anything but organic
potatoes. He got to me!) Next, he researches and shops “Big Organic”,
where some of the data in the New Yorker article comes from. The third meal he grows himself as a part of
a small farm operation, and the fourth, as he forages and hunts for and
prepares it, becomes a religious experience.
“We eat by the grace of nature, not industry, and what we are eating is
never anything more or less than the body of the world”, Pollan states. Amen to
that!
As I write this, my
solar battery charged laptop is ready for a rest and the evening shadows have
descended on the last Spring day of 2006. May you have a happy Summer! This discussion will be continued next
month. Now, let’s all pray for rain!
Dea Jacobson, RYT, is
the owner of Blue Heron Yoga and can be reached at www.blueheronyoga.com or by
calling her at home in Cedaredge at 970 856 4905. She is a yoga therapist and a licensed Religious Science
practitioner
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The Ancient Lore on Stones
by Susan Palmer
OBSIDIAN
Obsidian is a volcanic
glass, born of the melted rocks in the
magma levels of mother Earth. It is
composed of 60% to 70% silica. Sometimes
impurities will cause a rare sheen of red, silver-white, greenish-yellow or
golden-green within the normal black glass.
These are often referred to as “rainbow obsidian” and much of what is
commercially available comes from Mexico, a land rich in volcanoes.
Banded Obsidian is
called onyx obsidian. The flowers in
snowflake obsidian are patches of crystallized silica. Nodules of black obsidian are found in
abundance at the bases of mesas in lands where Apache Indians lived, and are
commonly known as Apache Teardrops. If
held to the light, they are usually transparent, depending on thickness. Obsidian has been used for millennium by
tribal peoples as cutting and scrapping tools and arrowheads. It is easy to knap and remains very sharp.
Obsidian is assigned to
Saturn. It absorbs vibrations and
emotions easily and needs frequent cleaning.
It can be used in the hand to gain insight into spiritual blockages,
followed immediately by the use of rose quartz or green tourmaline for a return
to a balanced state.
Some people are attuned
to obsidian and find it a source of clear deep quiet. It should not be worn on the body, though, for it easily absorbs
anxiety and reflects that state back into the wearer.
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
Fireworks within you! Meditation, what is it? Why do it? How can
it make a difference? All good questions, that have been asked at one time or
another. I decided to dedicate this peaceful contribution for you with my own
answers to these questions. It is my truth and mine alone, because I have had
the experience. It took me 10 years of daily meditation practice to know these
things to be true for me. Each of us has our own idea and our own truth.
What I think meditation
is: It is the small quiet place within each of us, the pure place within our
being, a spirit place, a void, a nothingness that is connected to everything
that is, and ever has been. It is our
Source our Life our Soul. A place to
contemplate who we are, why we are here, a place to overcome doubt, fear, a
place to remove negativity and tension. It is also in this inner place where
you can meet with the truth, the light that you are, that we all are and find
peace. Love and joy for life, for all life.
It is in this place where we find our God. We find unity and harmony.
It is the place of Absolute Power within everyone. It attracts our minds
to our Source and fills our bodies with new life and understanding. It is the rightness of our being; it is who
we are, and who we are becoming. That little quiet place within is all this and
more.
Why should we spend time
in this place? To move forward toward
the One, the Perfection of Love, Harmony and Beauty, to the greatest path of
self love. To become united with all,
to feel your soul light up like fireworks, to be alive, to be happy, to be
guided perfectly on your journey through life. To fulfill your life with your
unique service to it, to be clear, to greater understanding, personal growth,
to feel a deep satisfaction and knowingness that your very existence is a
miracle, we are all God/Man/Women and this world is a better place for you
having been in it. To be filled with
joy, to find a song in your heart, to be conscious, to know that we are all one
with the Divine. To know this is to be
enlightened to be who you are is wondrous and beautiful. It is you.
How can meditation make
a difference? When you come to realize
you are so beautiful and so loved and that you are a miracle here, a true
spiritual being, you begin to see it everywhere, in everyone and in everything. By being this truth you heighten the earth
and its vibratory system. We become our
own passion, we create compassion, we are love we create more love, we are
peace, we create more peace, we forgive, we open ourselves to be forgiven. We can make a difference by being our Christ
like selves. To shine is to glow. To dance, to sing, to pray brings all people
together as one, the dream of having Heaven on Earth is a reality. Lets all create it together, lets dream it
into being. Walk it as one with our
God, our Source, our Creator. Lets hold
the vision as one for true World Peace.
Bring healing to our Earth, and all who share it. It is our Life.
Meditation is about you,
and you are a part of the Wholeness of Life.
Without you this world would never be the same. How great is our God? How great is our Life?
Peace
and blessings
Weeklong retreat July
8-15th.- Journey to the Sacred
Unknown. Let Great Spirit move through
you, expand your awareness to more truth, more love, more light, to become
more, more joy, more Life. To register
for this retreat call Kathy 856-7665 or you can email
wsretreat@aol.com.
Peace and blessings to
all Love KathyWomen's Spirit
Retreat is sending out
our summer program-if you would like us to mail you a copy email wsretreat@aol.com
or you can call 970-856-7665 leave your name and address, state and zip and
we'll send you a copy. Happy Summer!
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Tea Tree Oil
© Anne Calzada Herbalist
The tea tree hails from Australia, it is a
member of the Myrtaceae family that has several species to its name, and it is
related to the Eucalyptus and Myrtle. Its botanical name is Melaleuca
alternifolia. It received its common name of tea tree in 1770 when British
explorer Captain James Cook observed the native people drinking tea from the
leaves, hence tea tree. Australian Aboriginals have and continue to use tea
tree in healing. Traditionally the leaves were used as tea, poultice or for
bathing in. The leaves contain volatile oils that are known for being
antibacterial, anti-fungal, antiseptic and anti-viral. There is a story that
speaks of healing soaking waters that cured skin ailments and wounds. In fact
there were several tea trees living along the banks and the trees would drop
their leaves into the water, releasing their healing oils and imparting healing
benefits in the water. In 1929 an Australian named Dr. Arthur Penfold
researched the medicinal properties of tea tree to discover that it contained
higher antiseptic qualities than the antiseptic currently used at the time. He
wrote "Australian Tea Trees of Economic Value".
It became of interest to
the Australian government and tea tree oil was employed for sterilization and
included into first aid kits in World War II. Tea tree oil is said to contain
over 40 chemical constituents. It has been proven effective against athlete's
foot, nail fungus, dandruff, thrush, vaginal yeast infections, acne, cold
sores, boils, cystitis, sinusitis, gum infections, halitosis, sore throats and
ringworm. It is used to disinfect rashes, scrapes, wounds, cuts and acne. Many
products contain tea tree oil. Look for dandruff shampoo, tea tree oil
toothpicks, dental floss, toothpaste, mouthwash, facial cleanser, foot powder,
foot soaks, skin salves, wound spray and even household cleansers containing
tea tree.
It is the quintessential
first aid in a bottle remedy. In aromatherapy it is one of the few oils that
are accepted in using directly on the skin with out carrier oil. Here are some
healing uses and recipes. Use wisely!
Sore Throat Gargle
Drop 2 drops tea tree in a cup of water. Gargle and spit out. This gargle will
help with halitosis and gum infections.
Athlete's Foot Removal
Add 15 drops or tea tree in a footbath and soak for at least 20 minutes a day.
Repeat everyday for a week. Add a few drops to the infected skin and nails
directly after you've dried your feet thoroughly.
Yeast Infection
Add 7 drops of tea tree to a tampon and use this procedure for 7 days.
Dandruff Removal
Add 4 drops of tea tree to a handful of shampoo. Use daily as needed.
Purification Spray
½ cup water
20 drops tea tree
10 drops lemon
10 drops lavender
Use this spray in your home and car. It is anti-microbial and germicidal.
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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Free At Last!
by Dr. Jerry Overton
I’m sure that those who signed the
Declaration of Independence some 230 years ago thought they were finally free,
and that that document made it so for all people in this country. And I’m sure
that many still believe that to be true, which is why we’ll still gather on the
4th to roast hot dogs, toss some horse shoes, and stand proud as the
national anthem is sung and the fireworks burst into the sky with sounds of
fury-fought freedom.
And yet, did that
document make any of us truly free? If so, then why did it take another 144
years for women (more that half the population) to get the right to vote, or
even longer for people of color to freely sit in the front of the bus? And why
do we still have children who go to bed hungry at night while our politicians
insure that the wealthiest 1% get huge tax cuts? And if we are so free then why
do we let those same politicians lie to us about their motives for war as they
let secret contracts worth billions of our hard-earned tax dollars to certain
companies with whom they have vested interests?
My point here is that
that document did not make us free, nor can any document. For freedom, true
freedom, doesn’t come from documents, but from within ourselves. To be truly
free at last depends on our own willingness to see ourselves as free—free
in spirit—and thus free take a stand, decide our own fate, and create our
own reality regardless of the consequences.
Abigail Adams, inspired
by a sense of freedom within, took a stand for women’s freedom in 1776 when she
urged her husband, John, to “remember the women” at the Continental Congress.
He responded with humor. And yet, her self-perceived freedom-seed was planted,
and other free-spirited women followed, like Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Sojourner Truth, until finally the 19th
Amendment was ratified on August 26, 1920. And yet, that document did not make
any of those women free—they were already free—free within their spirits
to take their stands against all the powers that be and on behalf of
those countless other women who had not yet been able to be so free within themselves.
To be so free in spirit
means that no body, no powers, no rules, no thing can keep us from freely
expressing ourselves. And the more we finally claim our freedom in spirit, then
the more free we become—and the more we are able to help those others
who, for whatever reason, haven’t been able or willing to claim their own
spirit-freedom.
Rosa Parks was free in
spirit long before she sat herself down in the “whites only” section of that
bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She was free enough to set aside her fears of
unfair rules and laws, and the angry whites who made them, and take a stand for
herself and her people as she took her seat on that bus on December 1, 1955.
And her free-spirited action inspired others, both blacks and whites, to claim
their free spirits and demand their rights regardless of the consequences.
I’ve often remarked that
what I want on my tombstone is that famous quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, I’m free at last.” And I still
do. And yet, I’m not willing to wait until I die to be so free. I want it now!
And I know how to have it—by simply claiming the freedom of my free-spirit
within me—that same free-spirit that is within each of us from birth—the one
that was there long before we let fear, and those who propagate it, drive it
out of our minds.
May this 4th
of July celebration be one that marks the year of your own willingness to claim
the free-spiritedness within you that truly sets you free! You deserve nothing
less. And neither do those who will learn from you what it means to be truly
free at last!
Godspeed!
Copyright 2006 Dr. Jerry D. Overton
Jerry is a practitioner
of the Emotional Freedom Technique, a method of healing which can truly help to
set you free! He can be reached at 970-252-9311 or jerry@jerryoverton.com. He
would love to help you be free at last!
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