Archive for the ‘Spirituality’ Category

Mercury Retrograde – Feeling it

Friday, May 28th, 2010

Retrograde motion of Mars. Image credit: NASA

Mercury normally turns retrograde three times a year, but this year he this planet shows up four times, which is unusual. The effects of each period differ slightly, according to the moon sign in which it happens.

In general, when a planet is retrograde, you may find a certain consistency as to particular kinds of events that are related to their specific sphere of influence.  Things like unresolved issues from the past can begin to appear.  See: http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/mercury/mercury-retrograde/

Ancient people have known about the planets since we were able to look up. Some stars were brighter than the rest, and seemed to move across the sky from night to night. These moving stars were known as planets, and there were 5: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. But the movements of the planets were puzzling to ancient astronomers. Some times the planets would slow down, go backwards, and then go forwards again. When a planet goes backwards, it’s called retrograde, and one of the best planets for this is Mercury.

Mercury has a very elliptical orbit as it moves around the sun much faster than the earth does.  When it is at the slowest point in its orbit, it is the furthest from the Sun.  See http://www.astrologycom.com/mercret.html

In general, Mercury rules thinking and perception, processing and disseminating information and all means of communication, commerce, education and transportation.

Mercury retrograde gives rise to personal misunderstandings; flawed, disrupted, or delayed communications, negotiations and trade; glitches and breakdowns with phones, computers, cars, buses, and trains. And all of these problems usually arise because some crucial piece of information, or component, has gone astray or awry.

It is not exactly wise to make important decisions while Mercury is retrograde, since it is likely that such decisions will be clouded by misinformation, poor communication and careless thinking. Mercury is all about mental clarity and the power of the mind, so when Mercury is retrograde these intellectual characteristics tend to be less acute than usual, as the critical faculties are dimmed. Make sure you pay attention to the small print!

The way to move with the flow of when we are in Mecury retrograde is to expect things to change on a dime, to experience blocks or impediments as a message to slow things down and wait a bit rather than get into your usual frustration that things are not moving as quickly and easily as you want it to.

Anticipate unresolved issues from the past to come up and allow yourself to finally deal with them to clear them out.  This is always a really good time to do your back log of filing and paperwork, to clean out your closets, to re-organize your internal & external planning structures.  Go with this flow and it will move faster in these kinds of things to clear & clean out any kinds of clutter you may have accumulated lately.

The God Mercury

Mercury Retrograde Dates 2010

  • April 17-May 11
  • August 20 – September 12
  • December 10-December 29

Mercury Retrograde Dates 2011

  • March 30-April 23
  • August 2 – August 26
  • November 23 – December 13

Mercury Retrograde Dates 2012

  • March 11-April 4
  • July 14 – August 7
  • November 6 – November 26

Ancient symbol of mercury

Sustainable Organic Farm & Educational Centre

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

Front Entry View

Front Entry View

Sustainable Organic Farm

Design description

2009

Purpose

The Farm Buildings have been designed to accommodate a family and staff, as well as occasional guests. It has been designed to provide a working example of a high performance, low embodied energy building which could easily be replicated on a larger or smaller scale.

Cross-section at Round Centre

Cross-section at Round Centre

Side Elevation

Side Elevation

Design

Main House

Access to the houses is from the Northern corner of the land. A road lined with native new-plant woodland & fruit trees leads south from the bottom of Albert Street and then curves east, along the top most west/east ridge to a crossroads centered within a large residential garden & pond. An west/east foot path track provides access to the house buildings as well as the east plots.

The house has been designed on an east-west axis to maximize passive solar gain. The house is a timber-framed or recycled steel building with a sedum/ herb roof.

Barn

The Barn is located near the house on the top ridge, central to the land, and is constructed mainly of timber and strawbale infill.

Educational Learning Centre/Storage Garage

The Centre/Garage is located in the northwest quadrant and is constructed mainly of timber and hemp/strawbale infill.

Services

There are water, sewage & electrical services accessible at the entry to the site, at the bottom of Albert Street. These services will be utilized as needed on the site.

Electricity

Electricity will mainly be supplied to the buildings from onsite solar panels, wind turbines & possibly micro-hydro from the nearby Beaver River.

Residential town hydro access to the site may be initially utilized to supplement this supply as well as selling back power to the town through this source.

Ground Floor Plan

Ground Floor Plan

Materials

The structure is either a roundwood timber-frame or recycled steel structure using local timber from the Site and/or nearby properties. The external walls of the dwellings are hemp/strawbale on a stabilized earthbag stem wall or concrete mix foundation. The floor is of FSC wood or rammed earth that will provide a large thermal mass which will serve to regulate the internal temperature conditions. The loading on the roof will be carried by trussed rafters or recycled steel. The roof will be insulated using a combination of solid and loose hemp fibre or blown cellulose insulation.

Materials are dependant on approval by Ontario Building Code regulations.

Farm Buildings Construction

Design

The House has been designed using a modular scheme which allows for a high degree of flexibility in the design of the individual dome units whilst specifying a common approach to the construction. The intention is to create a design that can be replicated easily and that is simple to construct.

Element

Material

Reason

Role

Source

Foundations

Concrete (Mix with pumice, flyash, lime…..)

Hempcrete

EarthBag

Recycled Masonry

Environment

Environment

Natural

Recycled

Structural

Structural

Structural

Structural

Local/Ontario

Local/Ontario

From site/local

Recycled/Ontario

Floors

Compressed/Rammed Earth

Wood

Adobe Brick

Concrete (Mix…hemp)

Natural

Natural

Natural

Finish

Finish

Finish

Insulative

From site/local

From site/local

Local

Local/Ontario

Walls

Timber, wood frame

Recycled Steel

Earth Bag

Strawbale

Plaster – Earth, lime

Rammed Earth

Earth bag

Recycled Denim

Hemp

Sheep wool

Cob

Eco-drywall

Natural

Natural

Recycled

Natural

Natural

Natural

Natural

Natural

Recycled

Natural

Natural

Natural

Structural

Structural

Structural

Skin

Skin

Skin

Skin

Insulation

Insulation

Insulation

Interior

Eco-drywall

Local

Recycled/Ontario

From site/local

Local

Ontario

From site/local

From site/local

USA

UK

Local

From site/local

USA

Windows Skylights

Double Glazing

Solartube

EFT

Recycled

Manufactured

Manufactured

Natural Lighting

Natural Lighting

Natural Lighting

Recycled/Ontario

USA

UK

Roof

Metal geodesic frame

Trussed joists

Plasterboard

Vapour barrier

Hemp Insulation

Green plywood

Wood boarding

Butyl Membrane

Soil [Green Roof]

Sedum/ Herb [Plants]

Recycled

Manufactured

Natural

Manufactured

Natural

Natural

Recycled/Nat.

Manufactured

From Site

From Seed

Structural

Structural

Skin

Membrane

Insulation

Finish

Structural

Membrane

Environmental

Environmental

USA

Ontario

UK

USA

Recycled/Ontario

Local

Local

Element

Material

Reason

Role

Source

Mechanical

Composting Toilets

Radiant Floor Heating

Solar Hot water heating

Wetland grey & blackwater waste management

Rainwater collection

Biomass heating stoves (per room)

Masonry Fireplace

Electrical

Building Biology principles of installation

Biogeometry EMF protection

Low energy/high efficiency bulbs

Candles

Alternative Energy Systems

Geothermal

Solar

Wind

[Micro-hydro]

Construction

The foundations will be made from a concrete mix of possibly hemp/limecrete with high flyash and/or pumice stone as well as possibly using recycled masonry (subject to building regulations approval).

The main structure will either be recycled steel or timber posts which will sit on pad foundations. They will support recycled steel or timber beams which will in turn support the roof. The floor will be insulated with hempcrete and above that will either be rammed earth or FSC wood. The external walls will be straw bale with earth plaster on the inside and lime plaster on the outside. The internal walls & finishes will be earth plaster, cob, eco-drywall with recycled denim, hemp or sheeps wool.

The roof will be supported either with recycled steel or trussed joists. These may be lightweight timber I-section beams made from recycled woodchips or local lumber. A possibility is to construct them on site using local wood from on near the site. This may eliminate the need for a large section timber roof structure. The roof will be insulated with hemp fibre or blown cellulose insulation and boarded with local or FSC wood planks or lined with [plasterboard to provide a fire retardant layer]. An EPDM membrane will provide a waterproof layer for the 70mm deep sedum/ herb roof.

Glazing will be double or triple depending on aspect. Windows and doors will be

either of softwood (FSC), recyled or local hardwood depending on their aspect.

Reversibility

The building is reversible insofar as the site could be restored to its former condition

with relative ease. After dismantling the structure the small masonry elements could

be dug up and removed. The concrete slab would need breaking up and removing

from the site. There would need to be some minor earthworks to return the site to its

previous incline.

Passive Solar Design

The Farm Buildings have been designed to maximize passive solar gain. The southern glazing

will capture the sun’s heat and this will then be stored in the massive floor.

Active Solar Design

The roof of the buildings will also incorporate solar water panels. This will be used to heat water for domestic use during the summer. Solar Water heating is technologically simple and works excellently to heat water in the summer. Water Accumulators will store this solar heat. We plan to be able to harvest all of the building’s hot water needs from the sun for 6 months of the year from the sun.

Ventilation and Infiltration

The buildings will be designed to minimize infiltration. The main entrances will be designed as airlocks.

Ventilation is provided in all of the ‘living’ rooms. In most cases this will take the form of

openable windows and trickle ventilation.

Natural lighting

All of the rooms have been designed to be lit under ordinary daylight conditions. Solartube ceiling lights will be added to supplement lighting into the rear hill side of the rooms as needed. Geodesic skylights will also be utilized in various feature areas.

Space/ Water Heating

The buildings will be designed to be super-insulated and thus require minimum heating. Heating will be provided by means of under-floor, radiant heating. This will be sourced from a large super-insulated water tank.

Heating Fuel

Fuel for heating will be sourced from a variety of different methods. Biomass stoves will be located in rooms with highest uses. A large central masonry fireplace with a significant thermal mass container will be utilized for the main rooms.

HEALING THROUGH VIBRATIONAL DOWSING & RESONANCE: New Methods for Human Beings, Buildings, & the Earth

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
Dr. Robert Gilbert

Dr. Robert Gilbert

I recently took a course with the above title, with Dr. Robert Gilbert.  Here is Robert’s Bio. from his website;

Dr. Robert J. Gilbert has a multi-faceted background in both spiritual and scientific studies. He is a former U.S. Marine Corps Instructor in Nuclear-Biological-Chemical Warfare Survival; since leaving the service in 1985 he has conducted independent research into the Geometric basis of modern science and new technologies. Dr. Gilbert is also a Rosicrucian with more than 20 years of experience in Sacred Geometry and its hidden uses by the world’s great spiritual traditions. His non-sectarian approach is inclusive of individuals from all spiritual traditions. Dr. Gilbert holds a Ph.D. in International Studies and is a published academic author in that field, contributing to the first academic textbook in the new field of Transformational Politics.

In 1997 Dr. Gilbert began for the first time to teach publicly the results of his two decades of intensive research. Today he teaches both publicly and privately in Asheville, NC. Dr. Gilbert also offers a small number of his VESICA series of special seminars throughout the United States every year. He is currently completing his first book 7 Keys to Creation: Sacred Geometry and the Patterns of Life.

The course was FANTASTIC!  Robert is truly a pioneer in researching energy balancing, healing & protection methods for human beings as well as for buildings.  He has recently been involved in helping to develop several new products for this using vibrational dowsing principles.  Based on the preliminary foundational science of Biogeometry, Robert’s work develops this with another level working with the 12 bands of the colour spectrum.  Here is a small sampling of what I learned in the course from the syllabus;

  • The “Life Energy Spectrum”: A Master Key to Holistic Healing
  • The Cutting edge of Detox Protocols for restoring health even in “terminal” cases (including both Medical and Holistic protocols)
  • Critical Differences between Electro-Magnetic and Life energies (including how some Electro-magnetic healing devices harm the human energy field)
  • Keys to Energy Balancing entire cities (with examples from completed projects in 6 U.S. cities plus European projects)
  • Dowsing methods to apply Light and Color within energy meridians & centers
  • New Modular system to Test and Apply needed Energy Qualities (including many currently unknown even to advanced Dowsers and nergy Healers)
  • Essential Principles and Methods for Healing the Earth
  • Earth Energy Discoveries from Europe (including the critical Resonances needed in addition to the Atmospheric ‘Schumann Resonance’)
  • Using precise Minerals as “anchors” for vibrational information on the physical plane
  • The Critical Difference between Vibrational and Mental Dowsing (and how to combine them into a more powerful system)
  • Transmitting Holographic Vibrational Patterns with Light

All I can say after spending a couple of days with Robert -

WOW!!!

Egyptian Architect, Dr. Ibrahim Karim dowsing with a vibrational pendulum

Egyptian Architect, Dr. Ibrahim Karim dowsing with a vibrational pendulum

So……what is VIBRATIONAL DOWSING you ask?

There are 3 types of dowsing.  Mental, Sensitization and Physical or VIBRATIONAL.

Mental dowsing is the more commonly understood form of dowsing where people hold a pendulum in their hands and asking a simple yes or no question, the pendulum with move in one direction or another.    It is a form of reverse self-hypnosis that breaks through the conscious mind to get answers out of the subconscious mind or even sometimes the universal or collective stream of thought.  Mental dowsing is the hardest to teach as it is difficult to quiet the mind and let go of any attachment to the outcome, which can influence the end result.  You can learn it quickly, but it takes years to really do it well and with any consistent accuracy.

Sensitization dowsing is a method that sort of falls in-between mental and vibrational dowsing.  Some people have a gift in that their entire body is high attuned or ’sensitive’ and they can feel a variety of subtle energies with their physical body or their hands.  This is not the best way to approach energy quality management as often people have no idea how to distinguish if what they are ‘picking up’ is a toxic form of energy or not.

Vibrational dowsing is a method that developed from the work of the French Radiesthesiasts. Radiesthesia is a term coined by Balzac and Chaumer, two scientists who developed a high sophisticated pendulum and science to be able to measure subtle energetic qualities.  Of the three forms of dowsing, Radiesthesia is the easiest to learn.  It is like a simple biofeedback tool, using your own body as an energetic vibrational link to test varieous energies.  The more you learn how to work with it, the better you become attuned to these subtler energies and you become more able to distinguish the beneficial energies from any toxic energies – in the human body or on the land or in buildings.

Tuning Forks - When you tap one, the other one begins to ring as it is in RESONANCE with the other

Tuning Forks - When you tap one, the other one begins to ring as it is in RESONANCE with the other

And finally, what is RESONANCE - you ask again?

Resonance is the aspect of when one sound or vibrational frequency is in harmony with another.  Here are a few ‘technical’ definitions;

  • a vibration of large amplitude produced by a relatively small vibration near the same frequency of vibration as the natural frequency of the resonating system
  • Acoustic resonance is the tendency of an acoustic system to absorb more energy when the frequency of its oscillations matches the system’s natural frequency of vibration (its resonance frequency) than it does at other frequencies.
  • rapport: a relationship of mutual understanding or trust and agreement between people

Here is a description of RESONANCE from Dr. Ibrahim Karim’s website; www.biogeometry.org;

Where vibrations are, resonance can happen. The encyclopaedia gives: “relatively large selective response of an object or a system that vibrates in step or phase, with an externally applied oscillatory force.” Resonance was first investigated in acoustical systems such as musical instruments and the human voice. Mechanical resonance, such as that produced in bridges by wind or by marching soldiers. Somewhat analogous resonance exists on the nuclear scale. This occurs when atoms or their nuclei respond to the application of various magnetic fields by emitting or absorbing electromagnetic radiation of radio and microwave frequencies. Resonance in electrical systems makes it possible for certaincommunication devices to accept signals of certain frequencies while rejecting others.

On a separate page, you find a summary of what Ibrahim Karim told during a seminar about resonance. The story about “The Caveman” given by him is a nice illustration of resonance.

An interesting book (in Dutch) about resonance in nature is that of Hans Andeweg. It covers resonance in a broad sense and related subjects.

Resonance can occur between different types of vibrations such as between colour and sound. Colour is an electromagnetic vibration that can transfer energy in a vacuum, without a medium. Sound waves (compressional waves) are much slower than light waves.

Building a HOGAN

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

I refer to a Hogan in my new book [soma earth HOME ENERGETIC BALANCING]. The below link is a fabulous slide show, showing how to construct one yourself! The pictures of the round wood frame structure are beautiful!

Building a Hogan - SLIDE SHOW LINK

Building a Hogan - SLIDE SHOW LINK

For the Navajo, the spirit of the home is called a Hogan, and is treated like a living object by its inhabitants. It needs to be taken care of and loved to sustain the harmony of the Navajo home life. Historically they were originally a separate hut in the community and were used for ceremonies and to keep themselves in balance. Often built in a teepee shape or in a rounded mud shape, they were constructed out of wood poles and straw, clay and/or stones, either a 5 or 8 sided, usually facing the east.
“Hogan’s are personified in ordinary conservation – they are alive; they need to be fed, cared for, spoken to, and shielded from loneliness”

Frisbee, Charlotte J., The Navajo House Blessing Ceremonial 1980, p.166

Hogan round wood structure

Hogan round wood structure

The house blessing ritual aims to “feed the house, show proper treatment and respect to it, prevent timber breakage, and remove the Hogan’s loneliness” (Frisbie, C., The Navajo House Blessing Ceremonial, 1980, p. 176). A sacred song called the Blessingway is chanted during the ceremony. The Hogan’s loneliness, before the ceremony is performed, is a dangerous thing as it can attract evil spirits; “every new house is taboo until, by appropriate rites, it is made noa (secular or profane)” (Van Gennep, A., The Rites of Passage, 1960, p. 24).

The house blessing ceremony of the Navajo is performed so that the Hogan may be lived in by its designated inhabitants. When the built Hogan is finished, the medicine man blesses the home in beauty, invites happiness from the 4 directions as well as from the earth & sky, and asks for protection from illnesses and evil. The home is marked inside on the 4 walls with a sacred symbol to remind its inhabitants that it is graced with the blessings of the Great Spirit.

A finished HOGAN

A finished HOGAN

Green Living Show Booth 2009

Saturday, May 2nd, 2009
Green Living Show Booth 2009

Green Living Show Booth 2009

We just came back from a fantastic experience at the Green Living Show at the Direct Energy Centre, CNE, Toronto, April 24 – 26, 2009, where I launched our new book, soma earth HOME ENERGETIC BALANCING. As part of this launch, we opened our booth with a special blessing ceremony at 10 am. We created a temporary alter on the reclaimed wood bench in the centre of the booth. We laid sacred cloths with intricate gold patterns from the finest weavers in Bali, laid out in a specific pattern to attract ALL POSSIBILITIES. We began by smudging ourselves with sage and then smudging, clearing the booth of any left over detrimental energies. I then used my sacred shamanic rattle to clear another finer level of energy in the space in a counter-clockwise direction. We stated our specific and personal intentions of what we wanted to attract during the 3 days of the show. Then I rang a sacred bell (also from Bali) to ring with clarity and clear all that is not beneficial from the space along the perimeter. Afterward, we added joyful and playful energies to invite the positive beneficial energies through a special metal chime ball around the perimeter of the booth, now in a clockwise direction.
It was so much fun creating the booth with the Fourth Pig Workers Co-op. Glen and Mick did a great job building the booth with us for 2 full days before the show started. If the Green Living Show were to give out an award for the best, lowest embodied, most sustainable booth – I’m sure we would have won. I made a conscious choice to ‘hand build’ our booth, to emphasize the art and craft of natural building and to showcase how the SOUL of building can come through the design of spaces like this. As we were hand crafting our booth, we were astounded at how many booths were being built in non-sustainable methods. I guess it continues to be a slow growth process to get everything you do on-line with green building, no matter how ‘green’ your product might be.

‘Better than Platinum LEED’s’

Eco-Architect, Ingrid Cryns at Green Living Show Booth 2009

Eco-Architect, Ingrid Cryns at Green Living Show Booth 2009

Our booth at the Green Living Show was made entirely from materials directly from Nature, recycled or re-used. It had the lowest possible embodied energy and is all 100% locally sourced. The logs were hauled by myself and staff from a client’s forest who was felling trees to be made for the Oval Strawbale House.

Hauling logs out of the woods

Hauling logs out of the woods

Natural round wood column detail, lashed with jute rope and supported with hand hewn wood pegs

Natural round wood column detail, lashed with jute rope and supported with hand hewn wood pegs

Round post BASE detail, with natural jute rope

Round post BASE detail, with natural jute rope

The pergola structure was assembled without any nails, lashed with jute rope and supported by pegs. The one large vertical round log post was stripped of bark and painted with ‘O’ VOC paint by soma earth ARCHITECT staff. The infinity loop, figure 8 design, was painted 5 times, going under and over, like a Celtic pattern. The number 5 can mean harmony, balance and divine grace. There are 5 fingers, 5 toes and 5 senses of our bodies to emphasize the ’sensuality’ of handcrafting and adding artistic hand touches to the booth design. And, the number 5 holds the other numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4 within it’s form, containing them and expressing them in it’s ability to remind us to know ourselves as an integration & interaction of all of our essential parts. A reminder that our spaces can be a living container synthesizing an expression of all that we are.

Hand stripping the bark off the logs

Hand stripping the bark off the logs

Painting the natural wood post with 'O' VOC paints

Painting the natural wood post with '0' VOC paints

We had three sample ‘wattle and daub’ walls that were constructed from ½” – 1” diameter saplings or branches from the same clients’ property. The 2 x 4 wood frames where made from wood found in a neighbour’s dumpster. They were doweled together with the occasional re-used nail (bent back into shape with a hammer) to ensure stability. Throughout the show, we had demonstrations by Glen of the Fourth Pig, of ‘daubing’ the wall. Daubing is a term to describe applying natural earth plasters to the stick frame structure of interior partition walls.

Wattle Walls

Wattle Walls

Detail of wattle wall

Detail of wattle wall

Strawbale table support

Strawbale table support

The table top is solid teak and ‘borrowed’ for the show from my dinning room. The original strawbales underneath & supporting the table, were from the Fourth Pig Workers Co-op. All cloth material is 100% cotton, was re-used from previous shows, and painted with ‘O’ VOC paints by myself and staff. The walls were hung with unbleached 100% cotton material, the ceiling had a natural orange die, re-used from a previous trade show, and the floor cloth was painted with a mixture of 3 left over ‘0′ VOC paints in a unique SACRED GEOMETRY pattern of a combination of VESICA PISCES overlapping circles and occasional random spirals throughout and at the beginning of the patterns. The geometry circles were purposely painted as going under and over, like a Celtic pattern to encourage the ‘chi’ or energetic flow into and throughout the space.

Sacred Geometry Floor pattern

Sacred Geometry Floor pattern

...and more Sacred Geometry floor pattern

...more Sacred Geometry floor pattern.....

....more Sacred Geometry Floor pattern

....and more Sacred Geometry patterns

LED light wrapped in seagrass rope

LED light wrapped in seagrass rope

All lighting was LED lighting from IKEA with seagrass rope wrapped tightly around it to add to the Natural effect. The majority of the construction of the booth was by the Fourth Pig Workers Co-op.

The booth was surrounded by six 2′ x 3′ posters displaying our natural building work – all graphic design & layout by Ingrid Cryns. Staff member, Joanne, built a small Strawbale wall model with real straw and earth clay plaster at a 1:20 scale to display at the show.

Strawbale wall model, before plaster applied

Strawbale wall model, before plaster applied

Strawbale wall on booth table with books for sale

Strawbale wall model on top of booth table with various books for sale - Including LAUNCH of soma earth Home Energetic Balancing Book (left) by Ingrid Cryns.

Green Living Show 2009 Booth Construction TEAM:
soma earth ARCHITECT

  • Ingrid Cryns
  • Daniella Lucas
  • Joanne Swisterski
  • Rebecca Logan

Fourth Pig Workers Co-op

  • Glen Byrom
  • Melinda Zytaruk
  • Matthew Adams
  • Mick Paterson
  • James Davis
  • Shannon Muegge (+ 2 Friends assisted in constructing the wattle wall)

The Fourth Wave – Higher Vibrational Frequency creates buildings with greater harmony.

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

There are 4 waves or aspects that I feel encompasses the exciting & pioneering field of green sustainable building. The first wave is where most people are aware of sustainable design as an aspect of saving energy. The second wave is where more people are understanding that there is also an aspect of how design can include healthy, non-toxic use of materials and air systems. The third wave includes an awareness of invisible EMF and electrical toxicity and how to design for this. The fourth wave and in some ways a much less known aspect, is how to design buildings to work with invisible environmental energies and how to enhance the vibrational frequencies in a pro-active & protective manner.

Click here to read about The First Wave – Green, Sustainable Building as Saving Energy.

Click here to read about The Second Wave – Creating a Healthy Buildingt

Click here to read about The Third Wave – Designing with EMF (Electro-Magnetic Frequency) & ELF (Electrical) awareness.

The Fourth Wave – Higher Vibrational Frequency creates buildings with greater harmony.

Everything that is matter is also energetically connected, is always in a state of change and whether you are aware of it or not, your environment also carries a variety of frequencies which can also be understood as levels of consciousness. Understanding how to work with different energetic & invisible vibrational frequencies allows one to restore balance and harmony for all parties concerned, whether it is for restoring balance to the environment, both externally on the land or internally in a building, or energetically for a person or a large group of people. It is the process of creating a beneficial energy environment in a home, office, or on the land, designed to support you, your family, and/or your employees, etc. Detrimental subtle energies can be assessed such as the energies associated with some underground water streams, geopathic stress lines, electromagnetic fields (EMFs), and other possible energies such as cosmic rays, psychological, or a variety of unusual, spiritual types, of energies. Once these energies are discovered, with various tools and techniques they can be transmuted into beneficial energies and the environment is reorganized into a healthier, more harmonious balance.

The fourth wave is how to design in an energetic and/or scientific & ‘Feng Shui’, type of ‘healthy’ approach. Working with an awareness of how math, vibrational frequencies, geopathic lines & water patterns, sound, colour, harmonic proportions, sacred geometry and shapes can affect space and how you feel in that space. You can actually feel calmer, and think with greater clarity & concentration in these spaces. There are less arguments, disagreements and thus a greater harmony can be created that affects the people who co-habitate in relationship in this space. This also, as a byproduct, can increase immune systems, productivity, sales, etc. A number of different modalities that utilize an approach that addresses these issues are slowly filtering through our western society from the East.

Egyptian Temple

Egyptian Temple

There are century old traditions that have evolved, been lost as well as are currently being reclaimed with greater degrees of sophistication by various different branches or sects from India, China, Tibet and Egypt. These ancient arts are slowly coming back and being incorporated more & more initially in the remediation of current spaces as well as being included in building design from scratch.

In the Hindu, Eastern tradition from India, Ancient Vaastu Architecture as a very sophisticated & more exact science, is currently being re-claimed through the brilliant work of Dr. V. Ganapati Sthapati, the world’s most eminent Vaastu architect. Another term for Vaastu is Ayurvedic Architecture. The Buildings are designed with an awareness of how they can influence our emotional & physical health and spiritual & material prosperity. Mayonic Science is based on the universal laws of authentic Vaastu Shastra. This science is now finally being taught in North America (www.aumscience.com) to enable designers to create built space through the use of precise scientific principles and mathematical formulas which are inherent in all creative activities that take place in nature. Although it is best for new building and not very easy to apply to remediate existing structures.

Vaastu understands and has developed a science to work with the ‘morphogenetic field’, or the ‘energy which was before matter and out of which all matter consists’. Using highly developed mathematical principles they know how to manipulate matter through pre-physical energy, or the zero point energy. It can be a profound and sacred experience to walk through a Vaastu designed building. You can completely feel the difference as soon as you cross the threshold. It has been reported that fires, earthquakes or intense hurricanes or Tsunamis completely go around these buildings, leaving them standing as if nothing happened.

“If a part of free space is isolated and confined into a four walled structure called a building, it becomes a living organism and the space enclosed will start vibrating in a particular order. If such a building is designed to vibrate in the same numerical order as that of the indweller, the resultant phenomenon is that he will experience harmony or perfect union with the Universal Self (Quantum Field)”

-Dr. V. Ganapati Sthapati

Traditional Chinese or Tibetan Feng Shui, roughly translated as “Wind – Water”, has been around for over 5,000 years. Wind is associated with intention and water is action. Intention is also thought of as goals and water is acting on those goals. So the basis of Feng Shui is intentionally arranging our environment to help our goals manifest. There are about 600 various sects or schools, however the six major schools of Feng Shui are; the Form School, Yin Yang Theory, Five Element Theory, The Flying Star School, The East-West School, and the Black Hat Tantric Buddhism Sect. The different schools have varying degrees of sophistication and training methods from 2 day weekends to years long trainings to specialized, intuitive or shamanic or ‘magical’ types of teachings.

“Feng Shui is based on the awareness that an electromagnetic energy flows around and through your body, linking your energy to others, objects and forces in the universe”.

- Sharon Stasney, The Feng Shui Training School in Salt Lake City, Utah

In a number of these schools, there are four major principles to begin using Feng Shui: Chi; Yin and Yang; The Five Elements; and the Bagua Map. Defined as the ancient art of Chinese placement, Feng shui provides blueprints and advice for creating the proper the flow of energy in your space. The positioning of many objects are based on the patterns established by yin and yang and the flow of chi, which together create positive and negative effects. An equal representation of male and female energies (Yin and Yang) is sought to create a balanced environment. Everything in the environment falls into either the Yin or Yang category, Yin being female and Yang equaling male. An example of Yin energy is things that are small, dark or heavy; Yang energy is big, bright and light.

Bagua-Feng-Shui-Colours

Bagua-Feng-Shui-Colours

Feng shui uses colors, symbols, flowers and furniture placement to create a smooth pathway for chi in a home, office or retail space. Negative energy is removed or counteracted in order to encourage auspicious energy and welcome progress. Colors and shapes related to the five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water) are used to enhance movement, balance and protection. Home accents such statues, photographs and paintings are carefully chosen and placed to promote positive energy.

The feng shui map is known as the ba gua (ba: eight; gua: area). It indicates which areas of your life are governed by particular areas of your living or work space. The ba gua is usually depicted as an octagon with eight sections surrounding a central area. Together with Center, the nine areas include: Career or Life journey; Wisdom; Health and Family; Wealth and Prosperity; Fame; Relationships; Children and Creativity; and Helpful People and Travel. Every space has its own ba gua; there is a ba gua for land, house, and even one for each room within your home or apartment.

Some Feng Shui schools also work with ritual and ceremony, empowering their students through the spiritual transmission from their lineage Masters. This ‘transmission’, similar to how Reiki energy healing is taught, gifts the students with the ability to intuitively know how to work with healing bodies as well as spaces. Rigdzen Chodon Rinpoche (Madi Nolan), a Tibetan Lama and Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine (DCM) is one such teacher (www.whitelotushealing.ca). She has started a school called the White Lotus Healing based in Seattle, Washington. She travels around the world teaching this craft and is authorized to pass on these teachings, empowerments and initiations from the White Cloud Monastery in China. Individuals are called initiates in the “Stream of Wisdom” of the Blue Buddha’s which includes the transmission of memory of all of the masters who studied these traditions for the past 800 years. The lives of Initiates go through a “Quickening”, where positive outcomes are a daily experience and miracles come to pass.

Dr. Ibrahim Karim

Dr. Ibrahim Karim

In Egypt, Architect & Scientist Dr. Ibrahim F. Karim has been developing the science of Biogeometry over the past 30 years (www.Biogeometry.com). Biogeometry, is a kind of Egyptian Feng Shui, but much more sophisticated. Biogeometry works with the energy principles of how resonance and harmonic relationships affects energy through geometric shapes, colour, sound, motion and vibrational frequency to be able to balance biological (human, animals, plants, land) energy systems. Based on the Physics of Quality, Biogeometry integrates the energy manifestations understood in the universal laws of esoteric spiritual knowledge with science. Dr. Karim has developed tools based on sacred geometry principles that can transmute detrimental energies and/or amplify highly beneficial and natural energy qualities. BioGeometrical shapes have three primary vibrational qualities:

1. A Negative green colour & sound frequency.

2. A higher harmonic of ultra-violet colour & sound frequency, and

3. A higher harmonic of gold colour & sound frequency.

IKUP Pendulum designed by Ibrahim Karim

Incorporating the French science of Radiesthesia (which was discovered originally in Egypt), Dr. Karim has developed several sophisticated dowsing tools to be able to detect or calibrate with greater precision the various frequencies of different vibrational energies. It is an incredibly fascinating science that is being reclaimed from the knowledge that the ancient Egyptians already knew thousands of years ago. Radiesthesia uses the vibrational fields of the human body as a link to be able to access information on levels that we cannot visibly see or hear.

Zero Point

Zero Point

Similar to Vaastu, Biogeometry works with an understanding of Quantum Physics and how the ‘zero point energy’ and matter is formed first in the ‘pre-energy’ spiritual field. With Biogeometry an existing space can be remedied to balance & transmute all detrimental energies and enhance beneficial energies. But to be able to design using the principles from the beginning creates an even stronger and higher vibrational frequency. The science of harmonizing the energy of the environment with Biogeometry principles appears to create a greater balance in the energy field of the body which also allows the body a greater ability to be able to heal itself or simply live in a greater harmony.

“Similarly as with air so it is with vitality, emotional, mental and subtle spiritual energies, all these energy types exist in the space around us and give the space qualities that are constantly affecting and being affected by our energy system. The Architect as the sculptor of space should have the knowledge and the tools to work on all those levels. It is therefore essential that we expand our design language to include the necessary criteria to interact with all these energies.”

- Dr. Ibrahim F. Karim

Biogeometrical shapes designed to enhance & balance the energy of the room.

Biogeometrical shapes designed to enhance & balance the energy of the room.

Different cultures have developed the science of working with these invisible energies that can profoundly affect and change your experience of your space as well as how you operate in the world. They are all simply different facets of the truth that makes up a greater truth with even more possibilities of increasing variety and combinations.

Buildings can become more sensual, relaxed – to the eye, to the body, to the environment and there can also be a whole consciousness that can be ‘sung’ into the building as workers work with joy & love as they build! Consciousness through sound/toning/chanting/song can affect & change the vibrational frequencies of all matter, material, building components, completely. Any material type can also follow the mathematical principles of Vaastu. So why not experiment a little, integrating other modalities with, for instance, the new, highly sophisticated, Biogeometry dowsing tools, that can now allow us to test for different frequencies so we can know what creates a higher or lower vibration and see what new architecture can be created?

Buildings can actually enhance the consciousness of the individuals living in them and we can heal people not only with hands on methods to the body, but also through building actual buildings that can enhance healing profoundly and truly affect your ability to receive or work with new information and thus be able to be more expansive, creative, balanced and harmonious.

A building that incorporates all 4 of the Waves of a Sustainable, Healthy and Harmonious Building Design are generally of a higher quality, more comfortable, safer, quieter and can require less maintenance. They are also more durable, and can incur lower monthly operating costs!

Designing in a 4 Wave Healthy approach will ensure that you have the best building possible to optimize & enhance your health & well being on ALL levels!

Listening to Trees

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

View of pond from proposed house location

I had a rather remarkable spiritual experience the other day. My client, Martin, is building a strawbale house on his land in Erin, Ontario (near Orangeville) and wants to use some of the wood that he has on the land for his new house. He had someone come to locate and identify how much and what types of trees he could use. Several were found; Ash, cedar, maple and even black cherry (a lovely, reddish toned, wood). Maple, a hard wood, can be used for stairs and a countertop. The ash or black cherry can be used for trim, kitchen cupboards, etc. and the cedar can be used for outdoor columns as it weathers the best. There are a lot of trees on his lot and there was plenty of the gorgeous black cherry that he could use as much as he needed for anything in the house.

Knowing that all trees, plants, stones and the earth has a form of consciousness through my own shamanic journeying experiences, I mentioned to him that it would be good to talk with the trees, ask permission for felling and give the spirit of the tree’s time to withdraw their energy from the tree’s that had been marked and chosen. Being trained as a Reiki healer and permaculturist, he was sensitive to energies himself and agreed with this idea.

View of driveway

So we went on a visit to his land to find a way to do this together. As it was the middle of February, it was a rather snowy, cold & blustery day. Martin has a quite beautiful piece of property. There is a very long, wooded, drive that follows a larger creek that is about a 75’ steep drop, below the level of the driveway. This drive is about over 1000’ long and takes several minutes to walk to the main, central area of the land. It is truly magical, full of very tall, mature and mostly deciduous trees and being located in contrast to lots of open farmer’s fields all around it.

In the winter, without the mask of the wind blowing the leaves, what you hear mostly is the crackling and friction-sliding of some of the trees rubbing against each other. It’s like they are talking in their own language as you walk along beside them. You immediately feel like you are in a Lord of the Rings movie, the effect is so striking.

Pond view

When you get to the end of the driveway, there is instantaneously a very large open pond that greets you with an incredibly positive ‘AH HA’ and ‘TA DA’ feeling. It makes you pause and take in a truly spacious feeling, especially in contrast to the length of the wooded canopy of the long driveway. This man-made, body of water has been here for many decades and seems to generate a very positive chi or vital force energy. It is linked up with a series of creeks, so there is a constant flow and movement of energy through one side of the water that keeps it fairly fresh. Where the water flows out at the south-east corner/end of the pond, towards the creek that is flowing along the driveway, there is a small curved bit of land, hidden from the main path along the pond, after a little concrete bridge, waterfall area. This little area is extremely fecund in energy due to the swirling and strong curved shape of the creek here. I discovered this spot, in my initial visit to the land in the Fall, to be a very strong nature spirit area, where one can contact the fairies or other elementals quite easily. I plan to spend some time mediating there in the spring and summer when I visit the building during construction to see and hear what can happen.

Different types of Dowing Rods

The house is to be situated on the south-west side of the pond, a little in the edge of the woods, looking over the water. It is truly a wonderful siting. We went to the general house site area, to confirm the location of the house in regards to several conditions. One of them being some positive energy spots that we had found and marked in the fall by dowsing, that we where trying to find a good location for them in the initial house design and were fairly close to finalizing. There was one very large & strong spot, 3’ in diameter, that we were trying to locate in the living room, with the meditation room above, but there was also a very large, 4 trunk birch tree that would block the view of the lake in front of the 2 very large picture windows of those rooms. So it was a bit of a juggling act to find the precise location with these parameters.

Geopathic Earth Energy Lines

Geopathic Earth Energy Lines laid out on a landscape

Now I will be going back to the drawing board and will locate the geopathic earth energy lines, first by long distance, then on site, to finalize the exact placing of the building on the land. This way the building can be placed on the site with consciousness and awareness, much like placing a new heart into the body, with awareness of where those blood vessels are that you are connecting to. Our aim is to locate the house so that the energy flow and chi of the land can receive it and be integrated together with it.

Once this initial siting investigation was finished we then proceeded to find the trees that have been marked to be felled. I hugged the first tree that we found, a black cherry tree right where the house would be. I felt its energy as strong, vital and a little rough on the edges. Kind of like how venison meat would be stronger in a kind of pungent taste than regular beef. It was a distinct feeling.

I meditated with the tree and introduced Martin (who was also hugging the tree) as the new steward of the land. I said that he wanted to use some of the trees to build his house with and wanted their permission to use some of them. I waited, without bias, for an answer (this part is important to do) and felt an openness inside of me which was a ‘yes – you have permission’ (which doesn’t always happen and you have to be prepared for this), it came with a promise required from my client to honour, respect with great reverence and listen to the needs of the land when he lives here. Being a permaculturist, this was clearly what Martin always intended from the bottom of his heart. I explained this to him and he said so out loud as a verbal promise to the land. I feel that this is an important conscious statement to make to the land for any steward. I told the tree that in at least 3 days or more, the trees would be felled and they would need to vacate it energetically. This was enough time to do so and they agreed to this.

It was also important to do a kind of ritual marking this event and honouring the gift of these trees agreeing to be felled and be transformed into parts of the house. Normally, I would do this with a client right then and there on the land, but it was so, so cold and we were tired, being the end of the day – and I had forgotten my sacred cornmeal that I use for these kinds of ceremonies. So I checked with the tree and it was found to be acceptable to do this long distance, at home, as long as there was a piece of the tree to hold the resonance of this. And that as Martin was sensitive to energy himself, it was also fine and appropriate that he could do this by himself, in his own way. When this is possible, I like to encourage that, as the land truly wants a direct relationship with its benefactor and these events are one of the ways to begin this connection.

I also discovered that I only needed to say this to one tree only of each species, as they were all energetically tied to together as a collective mind and what was told to one was understood immediately by all. This was really helpful, as we were truly freezing our butts off.

We then proceed with the same method to the other trees. The cedar tree energy was kind of a longer, skinny/thinner quality and had something like more of a feminine, delicate kind of energy. Being an evergreen perhaps, there really was a different quality to it that surprised me. I had never hugged several trees in a row, feeling the differences between them. Tree hugging had always been a single, solitary and intermittent experience in my past that was more about me and my own healing journey, than in this kind of experience.

The maple tree was again very different. It felt more like smooth peanut butter energy that was also much a kind of larger, broader stronger energy quality and older or something (it was larger than the first two trees). It felt more like the King of the different tree species than the other two, or at least like an older brother somewhat. We collected small branch fragments or a very small piece of bark from the trees for my client to bring home and use for his ritual.

All in all, it was a very satisfying experience, it felt absolutely right and it is now part of my continuously developing repertoire of working with the land when building a new house on it. Both Martin and myself held a distinct feeling of awe and wonder as to what had transpired for both of us that we will always carry as something special in our hearts and also with each other. I truly feel very blessed and have much gratitude to have clients with his sensitivities who can respond to this level of listening with me.

Thank you Martin!

May the world continue to grow and expand to this level of healing the earth with all buildings one day….

Hibernating

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009
Feeling the world upside-down......or sideways?
Feeling the world upside-down……or sideways?

Well, after a couple of months hiatus, I’m again feeling the natural impulse to write and express myself through my blog.  The world is changing always and the rate seems to be continuously increasing.  The ways that I find myself accommodating that is by pulling in more and simplifying my life to come into my centre more.  That is always where I can find a greater calmness and peacefulness.  Then something pulls me out again and I find myself on the edge of my ‘wheel’ and then things start to feel like it’s spinning again, so I feel the impulse like a wave, to return back to what makes me feel more balanced.

I have various subjects that I would like to touch on over the next few days and I’ll write about it in separate blog titles. About about energy auditing my home and energy efficient things you can do for your home, about some of my new writings that I am working on and about a wonderful world healing sound healing event coming up on Feb. 14.

Life as a Journey....following a path....to where....?

Life as a Journey....following a path....to where....?

In the beginning of December, the world began to wake up to the great reality of the economy.  Things began to falter, the governments began to wobble & change and indirectly, some of the work that I have in the office went on a slower track.  At first I thought this was not great, but the workload has been so heavy for so long, that my body actually felt relieved.  Now, things feel actually much more balanced and spacious and I’m really enjoying having more time to socialize, do more physical exercise & stretching and even start to do some more focused writing.  I’ve joined a fantastic afro-brazillian dance class in my neighbourhood that really get’s me moving and wakes up my soul to such an exciting depth of aliveness and vitality that is sometimes hidden from me.  I’m really enjoying myself and that in the end is the most important thing.

Hibernating in the winter is such a delicious thing.  The cold weather or excessive snow is a wonderful excuse to stay indoors and become more reflective, or more creative.  One is not so easily distracted by external things. Every week, I become more inspired by one thing or another.  I have discovered the world of self-publishing and have been deeply motivated to finish some of my old writings and pull much of it together in a series of different kinds of books.  I will be creating a small book of my collected works of poetry, and another one expanding on home energy balancing that is half finished.  It’s all very much fun!

Making a winter emergency shelter

Making a winter emergency shelter

I’ve also discovered a wonderful group called the Toronto Survivalism Meetup Group that I find fascinating.  They had a great morning in High Park over a week ago, with an expert on Outdoor Survival giving a wonderful demonstration on how to build an emergency shelter in the winter with a tarp and some rope.  It was great!  The ‘hosts’, Laurie & Michelle have a delightful energy and a good sense about what they are trying to create. Their focus is to;

“Meet with people in the GTA who are interested in discussing basic and advanced preparedness issues, long and short term survival, and mitigation. Learn how to care for yourself and your family and to navigate the urban landscape in the coming decades as civilization begins to change. This is a fun, peaceful group of people interested in learning, helping others and building community.

Topics include: Local edible plants, urban gardening, emergency preparedness, survival skills, first aid, community support, self-defense and traditional living skills.”

They just started it in August and the discussion board threads are pretty interesting to just pay attention to, let alone the various meeting themes that they are suggesting.  I highly recommend this.

A winter tree........alone and interconnected to ALL THAT IS

A winter tree........alone and interconnected to ALL THAT IS

The winter also is a good time to take the space for deeper reflecting.  With the shortest day of the year on Dec. 21, we slow down over the winter due to the longer nights.  It is hard to take the time to reflect if you feel overwhelmed or are too busy, running around ‘doing’ things.  I find it is so important to take the space to ‘be’ and in this space, you will find the time to reflect and know yourself deeper.  Holding balance between ‘being’ and ‘doing’ is akin to holding balance between your feminne nature and your masculine nature.  We need both and it’s always a dance between the two.

Hibernating and self-reflection can go hand in hand.  In the ‘being’ place you can write poetry, draw art, write in your journel, trance dance to music by yourself, chant holy sounds, or meditate on certain questions, and so on.  In the ‘doing’ place you can also explore yourself through self-growth workshops or various forms of therapy.

It’s never too late to begin to truly know your authentic self and the winter is a great time to start to listen deeper within.

Craving stillness in building my SOUL

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008
lotus

lotus

We now have to learn to invite the silence, and having invited it we now have to learn to enter it.”

- Robert Sarello

I have been noticing lately at how hard it is to hold a good, steady focus and how ‘busy’ things always seem to be.  I have understood this as a response to the creative impulse of my soul.  As I have truly followed my passion and trusted that what was calling me to create that which gives me the greatest joy, I have found many challenges as well as inspiring moments along this path of building my own SOUL.

It’s one thing to create your passion and unblock what may be holding you back from receiving ABUNDANCE on all levels.  I have spent years clearing my past emotional history, to change my patterns and re-organize and re-frame how I view reality and my expectations.  I have learned how to let go of the past and to manage and hold a clearer intention of what I want in the future. To imagine what before seemed the impossible and to dream bigger than I could even imagine.  I have learned how to listen to those minute wobbles of non-clarity within myself and to do what may need to be done to change myself, attune myself differently to get what I think I might want (sometimes you learn it’s not really want you want, so I’m much more careful when I do wish for something!) .  And then it’s quite another thing to be in the FLOW and to manage the SURGES of how my spiritual, sexual, creative impulse goes out into the world and then actually experience the world responding back to me with an even bigger YES!

Then there is so much to do that I often find myself running around, driving too fast on errands, letting papers pile up on my desk, trying to manage all the parts of what I’ve started, but feeling like I can never really catch up!  I’m learning how to delegate more now and to trust the flow and let things be a little messier or uneven.   I’m noticing how my breathing goes higher up in my chest and how my stomach goes tight in anxiety to keep it all together.  My work can be so, so, busy, full, demanding and overwhelming at times.  I feel this constant pressure and feel like I am always rushing from one thing to the next.  In the evenings I just can’t think and when I don’t take down time to do absolutely nothing on the weekends to balance it, I feel it during the week.

I find that when I can relax into this and let go a bit, trusting my intuition more, magic & synchronicity starts to happen.  A kind of effortless lightness begins to be cultivated and things begin to get accomplished quicker in unusual ways that my chronological, left brain never considered as a possibility before.

What I’ve learned is that whenever I feel this ‘rush’ kind of feeling, I have to slow down, get more grounded and centered and then should triple check the minute details of what I’m doing.  I find when I’m in the ‘rushing’ space, details get lost and I make mistakes.  I used to do that when I wrote tests as I child.  I could write them fast, but I often didn’t double check the test and made silly mistakes only because of my speed.  The thing is that when you are in it, it usually is hard to know that you are not grounded as you normally are.  It’s more in retrospect that you find this out, after you’ve made an error or crossed a line and felt afterwards that something doesn’t feel right.

I’ve also heard from a number of other sources that it is continuously harder for us to feel grounded or centred on a daily basis due to the fact that the earth’s electromagnetic fields are weakening because of EMF (Electromagnetic frequency) toxicity and I am aware too that the North/South pole is slowly also shifting on it’s axis, which affects our equilibrium.

And I’ve also heard that TIME is doing weird things and actually speeding up – we don’t see that on the clock or how time is recorded, but the feeling is there and has also been commented on by various friends to me. It feels like time is compressed and events appear to rush by, the day goes faster and faster.  To stop and just breathe, taking in someone’s kind comment, eye contact for a minute or noticing a beautiful thing outside in nature, all helps to slow it all down.

All of this means that we have to constantly ‘recalibrate’ ourselves daily and do things to slow us down more and more to be able to catch those details and also be gentle on ourselves when we make mistakes (my reminder as I am still hard on myself for doing that).

I find myself craving downtime to balance the business of the majority of my days.  I often will watch a movie, to help shut off the thinking of my huge to do list.  But what I’m actually really craving is to touch into the space of SILENCE.  Everything else is a temporary band aid solution that only comforts for a bit, manages me temporarily.  Finding the time and focus to drop into SILENCE is what will be able to hold me in such a way that nothing else will satisfy.

Just like we build spaces and buildings around us to shelter, protect our physical bodies, we can also cultivate inner spaces that can nourish us, inspire us, re-charge us.  It takes attention, self-reflection, spiritual warrier work to be able to sit still and hear your fears, face your aloneness (or all-one-ness), learn how to slow it all down and come back to the centre, the hub rather than running around like a goose with it’s head cut off, running around the periphery of the wheel, of yourself.  This hanging out on the periphery of who you truly are in your SOUL, keeps your energy on the edge, loosing bits, scattering yourself in a kind of constant, high anxiety,  panic.

Hub and spokes wheel

My gentle suggestion for all of you is to find out what you need to do to come back to your centre and to learn how to cultivate your inner silence and then practice, nourish, grow it as much as you can.  It is a practice and I’m still only a beginner…….I hear my SOUL calling me deeper into my interior……gtg…

“Drawing attention to the heart focuses the mystery we are entering. As both physical organ and spiritual-imaginative center, it is the only true organ for perceiving Silence. Once activated in the heart, Silence spreads throughout the body, and we feel as if our entire physiology alters. Instead of perceiving things held apart from other things in sharp and heavy outline, as is usual, we enter into a feeling-perception of the interior space around us that gives birth to all things. Artists have an intuition of this kind of interior in working with negative space. But the space of Silence is something more than that because it is not merely the void from which things spring up; it is a living presence. The deeper we enter into Silence the more we become aware that this living presence is primary and the contents of our perceiving are the secondary bursting forth of this original presence. For a moment we are dizzied beyond belief. If only we had the courage to ward off the dizziness and stay in its presence, who knows where we would be taken. Instead, we recover our usual sensing and, at most, feel the continued resonance of the Silence.”

Robert Sardello

Inner Silence

Inner Silence