Evera Dewdrop Newsletter Evera, 14 Forest Street, Trentham VIC 3458 [email protected]+61-(0)3-5424 1702 www.evera-ecosophy.com.au Autumn 2015 Volume 8, Issue 2 In This Issue Editorial 1 Editorial 2 Four Seasons in One Journey 4 Thoughts on Helma’s Passing 5 Helma, My Friend and Mentor Paradox Or Not 6 Thoughts of Helma 8 Birds of Shivaland 10 Journey to India 11 Our Mother Prayer Meeting A Tree 12 Fire, Feathers and Fur 14 A Jubilant Yes Kundalini Lecture Cont’d 16 A Breakfast Meditation 17 Calendar of Events Tineke Bak (Melbourne) Welcome to our late autumn edition of the Dewdrop. It has been long in coming, with much patient waiting for people to travel and come home, for people to find calm moments to write in their busy lives, and for health issues to settle enough to give room for other activities… And through all this our small community is mourning the loss of Helma and adjusting to her absence in our physical realm and our physical activities. This issue is appropriately autumnal in mood. We share our farewells, shed- ding the outer leaves of our relationship with Helma, as a central tree in whose care we have all grown and under whose canopy we have been protected. This mighty tree has gone, her physical form surrendered to her beloved earth and her soul gathered up by her beloved ancestors, and now we stand in the dazzling light and are challenged to grow upwards to create a new canopy nourished by all the rich lived wisdom she shared with us. And just as in every autumn, the new buds are laid on ready to expand with spring’s tides of sun warmth, so in this issue we affirm the future as well as looking back to our past. In previous years we had a colour assigned to the seasonal issue of the Dewdrop. As we seem to be floating more freely towards a more relaxed and organic biannual edition, the colour coding no longer makes sense so it seems a good time to re-explore the layout and the design of our newsletter, just a little bit. Lastly, since Henk’s return from his overseas travels, several of us have felt the calling of the Devas on the Evera Land. This has stimulated discussions about how we want to shape our future, and also begin to find our own unique ways of connecting with the Beings whose main conduit for commu- nication was Helma. A leisurely walk around the property looking at what needs doing and listening to what wants to be heard was shared at the end of the Samhain group weekend. For me as Deva Listener it was a slow process of coming out of the daily habits of thinking and opening out to the wind, the trees, the ground, the sky, and then the energies and hidden presences. They had been calling quite strongly - but the process was quiet, meditative, leisurely, taken on other rhythms and tides of communication. In non-verbal ways it was simple: here am I, here are we, there was Helma with her connection to Shin, and now there is an emptiness. What came across in simple yet majestic and timeless communion was that they too miss Helma. They honoured her work and her presence and her love and devotion, her openness to them, and her connection to Shin’s own energy vortex or centre. Like us, they miss her earthly pres- ence and guidance. Like us they are taking slow steps towards a new way of relating and working on the Evera Land. It is clear that logistically and practically we cannot simply pass Helma’s job onto someone else - it is also clear that this in turn challenges the group and so the Foundation to take concrete steps towards acti- vating ‘WE are I’ in the next stages of our work. With gratitude to everyone who con- tributed, seen and unseen, to this issue. SHIN - from the Journey through the Celtic Year “God is the Tree of Life in the Universe. He is rooted in Himself and stems from Himself. And His crown is the branching-energy-streaming for all the universes. In this form He is the ‘blood and nerve system’ that nourishes all worlds. And as long as He wishes He grows further and Everthing grows with Him. The Goddess is His Energy. She brings Him to sprout, to bloom, and to fruit. They are inseperable illumi- nating energies and strengthening flames. All gods have their realms in the limbs and branches of the Father-Mother-Primal Tree. And every human being who realises his original divine being, will one day create his own world in the crown of the Highest.”
Tineke Bak (Melbourne)Welcome to our late autumn edition of the Dewdrop. It has been long in coming, with much patient waiting for people to travel and come home, for people to find calm moments to write in their busy lives, and for health issues to settle enough to give room for other activities…
And through all this our small community is mourning the loss of Helma and adjusting to her absence in our physical realm and our physical activities.
This issue is appropriately autumnal in mood. We share our farewells, shed-ding the outer leaves of our relationship with Helma, as a central tree in whose care we have all grown and under whose canopy we have been protected. This mighty tree has gone, her physical form surrendered to her beloved earth and her soul gathered up by her beloved ancestors, and now we stand in the dazzling light and are challenged to grow upwards to create a new canopy nourished by all the rich lived wisdom she shared with us.
And just as in every autumn, the new buds are laid on ready to expand with spring’s tides of sun warmth, so in this issue we affirm the future as well as looking back to our past. In previous years we had a colour assigned to the seasonal issue of the Dewdrop. As we seem to be floating more freely towards a more relaxed and organic biannual edition, the colour coding no longer makes sense so it seems a good time to re-explore the layout and the design of our newsletter, just a little bit.
Lastly, since Henk’s return from his overseas travels, several of us have felt the calling of the Devas on the Evera Land. This has stimulated discussions about how we want to shape our future, and also begin to find our own unique ways of connecting with the Beings whose main conduit for commu-nication was Helma. A leisurely walk around the property looking at what needs doing and listening to what wants to be heard was shared at the end of the Samhain group weekend. For me as Deva Listener it was a slow process of coming out of the daily habits of thinking and opening out to the wind, the trees, the ground, the sky, and then the energies and hidden presences. They had been calling quite strongly - but the process was quiet, meditative, leisurely, taken on other rhythms and tides of communication. In non-verbal ways it was simple: here am I, here are we, there was Helma with her connection to Shin, and now there is an emptiness. What came across in simple yet majestic and timeless communion was that they too miss Helma. They honoured her work and her presence and her love and devotion, her openness to them, and her connection to Shin’s own energy vortex or centre. Like us, they miss her earthly pres-ence and guidance. Like us they are taking slow steps towards a new way of relating and working on the Evera Land. It is clear that logistically and practically we cannot simply pass Helma’s job onto someone else - it is also clear that this in turn challenges the group and so the Foundation to take concrete steps towards acti-vating ‘WE are I’ in the next stages of our work.
With gratitude to everyone who con-tributed, seen and unseen, to this issue.
SHIN - from the Journey through the Celtic Year
“God is the Tree of Life in the Universe. He is rooted in Himself and stems from Himself. And His crown is the branching-energy-streaming for all the universes. In this form He is the ‘blood and nerve system’ that nourishes all worlds. And as long as He wishes He grows further and Everthing grows with Him. The Goddess is His Energy. She brings Him to sprout, to bloom, and to fruit. They are inseperable illumi-nating energies and strengthening flames. All gods have their realms in the limbs and branches of the Father-Mother-Primal Tree. And every human being who realises his original divine being, will one day create his own world in the crown of the Highest.”
Articles can now be sent in Open Office format as well as MS Word or Works. Alternatively copy your text
into your email to us. Please do not send pdfs.
If you send illustrations, photographs or scanned images please make sure the image format is jpg, gif, or png,
and the resolution is suitable for printing (240dpi).
Subscriptions by email are free but anyone is welcome to make a
donation towards our running costs. For those without access to email,
printed copies can be sent out to you.
Donations can be made out to:
Evera Foundation Inc., Bendigo Bank BSB: 633-000
Account: 143 012 458 Reference: “Dewdrop”
Back issues of the Dewdrop are available for download in pdf format
on the Evera Website
www.evera-ecosophy.com.au
Four Seasons In One Journey
Henk Bak (Evera, Trentham)As I left Evera in Summer and arrived 6 weeks later back in Autumn, this report may cover also something about the end of Winter and the begin-ning of Spring in India, Europe and Canada, as well as Autumn again in New Zealand.
At Evera not much work had been done in garden and land last Spring, but Summer brought out a wealth of flowers and fruits and flocks of screeching sulphur-crested cockatoos, ravenous and raucous as ever, keen to snap off the twigs of blooming wattle and getting stuck into the plums, apples and quinces appearing in abundance in our little orchards. With the help of our neighbours, Sharlene and Jade, and a friend Alison, we managed to put nets over a number of trees. They also thoroughly mulched the garden to stop the weeds and prepare the garden for next Spring.
From 1 to 8 February I had planned and advertised meditative walks under the motto: World-views in Dialogue, to mark the ‘World Interfaith Harmony Week’. Jade helped prepare the different clusters of trees and placed benches in some of them, turning those sites into real groves, inviting to linger in, shaded when the sun out there was bright and hot. Luckily not as hot as last year, when I had to cancel the event because of it. This time I had also prepared a booklet, with some meditations and texts for each of the religions, philosophies or spiritual streams, so that visitors could make the walk on their own without me guiding them. And two of the few participants came back another day to do exactly that, which made me quite happy.
On a sunny 20th of February Tineke brought me to the airport on my way to Shivaland, India: from late Summer to early Spring, with the gar-dens and borders of the paths already in full bloom with field-flowers of all kinds and col-ours. The path leading to the temple was overgrown by trees bent to-wards each other to form arches, so that the temple stayed invisible till the very last moment and then suddenly stood before one: tall and ma-jestic. Different from what I had imagined when Jade and I were drawing an ‘artist’s impression’ of the building in anticipation. (See Dewdrop Vol 7 Issue 1, Winter/Spring 2013) From the three other directions (E, S, W), the temple is visible from afar, more or less as we had imagined it and – now, in reality - already making its mark on the surroundings. It is visible from the other side of the Ganges as well. I expect it to fit in quite beautifully, naturally into its environment of gardens, fields, village and mountains.
The day a group of us left, 2nd of March, rain was pouring down with only one moment of sun when we were crossing the Ganges. I hoped that those rains would not cause more landslides as the rains had done last year!
My stay in Switzerland and Germany began in Runenberg, near Basel, where I enjoyed the hospitality of Karl and Marlies Grieder and their son Stefan, who collected me from the airport in Zurich. Karl helped me organize my first visits in Germany, after which our friends in Germany, Jutta, Sylke and Gemmani
The heart of the person
before you is a mirror, see there your own form.
Shinto
Quince trees near the cabin, netted, and bear-ing lots of golden quinces ready for jam.
took over. My first morning in Runenberg I made a walk in crisp frosty sunny winter weather, through some fields and patches of forest, where at one place a bunch of Spring flowers made a sur-prise appearance.
Karl also organized my train travel for the next day to Rigi, where I was met in the train by Thomas Studer and Aldo Rizzi, who brought me to the top of the mountain. I had asked for it, but it was cold! A fresh pack of snow, a freez-ing wind, no sun except for one moment. They had prepared a pooja, which we did, and the ‘tree of life’ meditation, but I had to insist on keeping it short, as I didn’t fancy getting a cold or worse. The view was absolutely beau-tiful: the clouds not blocking the light but diffusing it in exquisite shades of white, grey, hazy yellows, blues and oranges, constantly changing, every now and then allowing a glimpse into the world below, especially the lake of Zug.
The fine, nearly imperceptible differentia-tion in grey reminded me of Hegel charac-terising philosophy for outsiders: it looks like grey (written) on grey! One has to be on the inside, to appreciate philosophy’s fine nuances in meaning and distinctions in concepts…
As this article is meant to focus on nature observations, I might save a report on meetings, conversations, experienc-es, especially the hospitality expe-rienced everywhere in Switzerland and Germany etc. for another time. Suffice to say here, that everyone was glad and touched to hear about Helma and the last weeks of her earthly journey and farewell…
Next flight, 12 March, was to The Netherlands to visit my family and to spend time with Helma’s sister Anne Marie and brother Willem on a beautiful gar-den-nursery. In contrast with other places I visit-ed, which were still in Winter mode and cold, here and on that day the sun was warm and the Spring flowers, bush daffodils and bush crocuses, were opening and spreading their blooms visibly by the hour…With my younger brother Gijs I crossed the country from North to South and then stayed with him in the West, near Amsterdam. Amazing how this small country, with about the same population as Australia as a whole, has to the North and East wide open spaces, farmland with impressive farmhouses, lakes
and nature reserves. And in the West the big cities with a mix of low, medium and high-
rise houses and buildings, everywhere interspersed with water features, trees and shrubs, including willows, pruned back to the thick, bare branches spread out in the most capricious gestures, grotesque black silhouettes against the bleak sky: all waiting to burst out into Spring.
I am sure not all developments in the cities are as pretty as I saw them, though,
and I was disappointed that from the train I could not even see the big gothic church
that towers over Leyden: the view blocked by bland high-rise buildings, with only a tall wind-
mill as a match between them: No longer the Leyden that I knew from a year’s study there, 65 years ago…But in Scheveningen on the North Sea, the sea-side for The Hague, the high-rise flats and hotels were no match to the vast beach and the sea itself: a brisk walk, with my youngest sister, Bea, along the beach in a stiff breeze, refreshed my memories of hundreds such walks we made as children and when growing up, prefer-
ably outside the tourist season. The vast space of sea and beach bathed in sparkling
atmospheric silvery light, with the sun never far from breaking through…
Then Canada, where I arrived at Vancouver Airport on a late Sunday night 22 March, to
be met by my sister Anke, who brought me to the ferry to Salt Spring Island. In her garden a plum-tree had just started to blossom and on a visit to an old growth forest we saw a patch of ‘Swamp Lanterns’: yellow, bell-shaped flowers rising amidst broad leaves, looking radiant in dappled light, next to a sparkling
running stream: apparently a messen-ger of Spring with everything else still
dormant, wintery and waiting…
After five days I returned back to Vancouver Airport with two ferries, which meant a won-
derful journey over vast expanses of water, silvery glistering under a slightly over-cast sky, playing magic with the sunlight rather than hindering or blocking it…
After a 14 hours flight over the Pacific, crossing the date-line and skipping Saturday the 28th of March, I was back from Spring to Autumn in
the same country, the same area that Helma and I had left in Spring last year
Autumn atmosphere, everywhere surrounded by water- always slightly hazy. But while visiting Napier, Hawkes Bay, before travelling back to Australia, I experienced the same clear, translucent high sky that, 38 years ago, had given me my first impressions of living in the Southern Hemisphere. In Napier and Hastings I was able to meet old friends from the time we lived there (1976-78). I had first stayed a few days with Donna in Auckland, meet-ing some friends and Dr Ulrich Doering, who had looked after Helma (September last year), and catching up with Donna on many things, personally and regarding Shin’s work: again a topic for another time…
Arriving back in Australia a day before Easter, I found the garden still flowery, the fruit-trees partly picked already and the grapes netted. Everything had been well cared for by Sharlene, Jade and friend Alison and the core-group had celebrated the Autumn Equinox and Michaelmas time as usual, for which I was very grateful.
A few days ago I had to liberate two Choughs, fussy black birds with spots of white on the inside of their tails, who could not get out of the nets around the grapes. It was time to get the nets off anyway and now I am surrounded by a basket and some bowls overflowing with grapes. That evening I had to evacuate three bees that had been stuck amongst the clusters. Occasionally ravens and choughs come back, to pick the left-overs.
A few days later two ravens showed an apparent inter-est in the grapes. Finding they were gone, one of them spotted the two bowls full of grapes inside, behind the window. The bird came close, hopped away and close again and then attempted to pick through the window. No success. Another time, and then gave up.
Autumn colours everywhere, and on Easter Tineke stayed back to make some exquisite photos, especially of the Japanese maple: fine-fingered, deep glowing red!
Only the quinces, medlars and a few very big apples are waiting to be harvested…And the sign of Melchizedek, ‘engraved’ in the land, needs attention.
We will keep you posted.
Thoughts on Helma’s PassingAngelique Stefanatos (Lakes Entrance)31st of October, 2014
We wanted to share with you the news that on the 29th of October 2014, Helma Bak our beloved teacher, mentor and friend, passed into the next phase of her great life and spiritual journey.
A quote from Shin makes us think of Helma’s rich life: “LIVED TIME BRINGS LIGHT OF KNOWLEDGE, WARMTH OF LOVE AND POWER OF LIFE.” And we, Helma’s students (who make up the Evera core group who try to come to-gether every 6-8 weeks) owe Helma such a debt of grati-tude. She taught us all so much by generously sharing the lessons and knowledge she had accumulated through her almost 80 years of ‘lived time’.
Many of us first came to know Helma as our healer and doctor because most of us met her through her prac-tice as a homeopath and Anthroposophical doctor. But we were all drawn in by her charismatic and sometimes mysterious presence, which soon revealed her deep spiritual wisdom. Helma never closed down in her search for spiritual truth, always remaining open and amazingly flexible to new ideas, unlike others of her age. And lucky for us, she was always willing to share her spiritual jour-ney with other people, even though she was a naturally private and at times shy person.
Through her tenaciousness and incredible will power, Helma gave us the greatest gift of all; when she invited Shin to Australia for the ‘Secret of Renewal’ seminar at Evera, in 2006. As some of you know, it is an exhausting experience organizing a seminar, however Helma (with the never-ending support of her cherished husband Henk) managed to organize Shin’s first Australian seminar, and hold it on her land, at the ripe-young age of 71 years old.
Helma never ceased to amaze and inspire us. For example the fact that she would never let her physical limitations stop her from doing almost anything she deemed impor-tant: She had very painful feet since childhood and dete-riorating wrists and hands from a genetic condition, along with bad hips which meant that as she aged, she needed a walking frame to help her. But not even Helma’s severe asthma, deafness or failing eyesight could stop her from deciding at the last minute to get on a plane alone, and fly for 20- something hours, to attend a seminar overseas!
The qualities that enabled Helma to do such things, in-cluding her strong will and stubbornness, coupled with the fact that as an elder and matriarch she expected unconditional respect from people, meant that she was
not always the easiest of people to work with. As our teacher, Helma taught us the hard lessons along with the beautiful lessons, which meant we had to practice the virtues in order to stay on our course, and enter the ‘in-itiatic crucible’. But however much she frustrated or in-furiated us at times; we NEVER lost our utmost RESPECT for her, GRATITUDE for what she shared with us, and our eternal LOVE for her - that goes beyond the hurts of the personality.
We always knew that Helma did what she did, due to her GREAT LOVE for nature, mother Earth, human beings, the Cosmos and most of all – for SHIN.
Helma, My Friend and MentorMargaret Harley (Melbourne)
Some people come into one’s life and bring specialness and make a dif-ference. Helma was one of those people. Helma first impressed me when she lectured at the Melbourne Rudolf Steiner School with her astute anthroposophical knowledge yet humble presence. As our paths continued to meet, and from our pas-sion to care for children who struggle to learn, her influence was inspirational and her constant untiring support expand-ed my knowledge to eventually share the unique, holistic therapeutic activities that embrace all aspects of a child with interested people. This totally moved me out of my comfort zone to increase my responsibilities and to avidly read the unprecedented teachings of Rudolf Steiner to gain a very sound knowledge base and bring expertise for others to work in many educational settings. Her support to overcome my worries and concerns were filled with patience and wisdom which was priceless during many exceptionally busy times.
She also introduced me to the teachings of Shin, founder of the Ocean of Life with a very challenging workshop - Secret of Renewal at Trentham. This new approach to spirituality opened new doorways of a profound medi-tation technique, simple movement exercises that ener-gise all the sheaths of a human being; singing spiritual songs from many cultures; and expressing reverence in the celebrations of Mother Nature’s seasonal cycles, all over a period of 8-9 years under Helma’s firm and strong guidance. Often surprised and always inspired, I changed many perceptions that catapulted me to bring these new concepts to the Universal Learning College, a new school. Members of the Universal Learning College
attended special workshops that enriched us from her vast spiritual knowledge and her well thought out ques-tions that provoked our thinking to unfold many truths as well as become aware of our entirety by broaching our feelings and will.
Her ability to overcome many health adversities was exem-plary, her warm smile lit up the day as she welcomed one and all, her organisational skills a credit, her generosity a virtue, but most of all, her vision flourished with her steadfast indomitable will that has left us a legacy, ‘Evera – Centre for Renewal’. My heart is filled with eternal gratitude.
years of experiences,years of reflecting on experiences,years of gathering the learningfrom all the lived and digested experiences,all this tempers the person I am,makes me a more thoughtful adept human.and yet,
having arrived at this ripening,after seventy years of maturing,how few are the years now left me,the time for walking new ways,the time for giving wise warmth?
seven decades scarred with hard learning,how few are the active years leftto live in my ripened persona?
wisdom is wasted on the old,as youth is said by Wildeto be wasted on the young.
could the energy of youth complementthe won wisdom of age,what a civilized being might a human being be!
truly learning is wasted on the old.unless the old, like seeds reflower,carry their fruits into life again,and then with restored youthreturn,enhanced.
Thoughts of Helma...Henk Bak (Evera and Shivaland, India) February 2015There have already been many occasions for me to speak of Helma’s life and passing before we had the memori-al celebration at Evera (16 November 2014). And I had already prepared a number of speeches… what would I say where there is too much to say - more even than can be said?
That afternoon at Evera, our grandchildren Shiori and Anneke, and their cousins Oscar and Emily, read and told the stories of their Oma’s childhood, as Helma had written them 7 years ago. Stories of how she grew up with two sisters and with parents who were very much respected and loved in the village where she was born. Simple stories of little adventures; swimming in the big river, a father who could tell the time from looking at the sun, fun rolling off the dyke full of wild flowers, staying at a farm where four sisters looked after them like aunts…. And then, when Helma was nine, a baby was born, a boy….
Tineke had reminisced how Helma had been her mother – always there with care, with creative activities, knit-ting, spinning, weaving, painting, and always also nurse and doctor… And later on as a teacher and pioneer in working with nature and the spirits of nature in what she named ‘ecosophy’.
For my talk that afternoon I had taken my departure (based on a few notes I wrote the evening before) from the year her brother Willem was born, when Helma was nine. She stood in front of the mirror, hands on her hips, looking herself in the eyes and asked: “Why are boys better than girls?” To which question Helma’s whole life has been an answer. She did not fall into the trap of thinking that ‘girls are better than boys’, but lived a life that clearly showed how women and men can be equals, even though there are some aspects women are better at, and others where men are generally stronger.
Until the last months, weeks, days this theme of the eter-nal feminine and the eternal masculine was part of our conversations. It has been part of our life together and part of her meditation and teaching, pass-ing on the in-creasing clarity that Shin brings to this theme and how it plays itself out on the highest, divine level as well as in the whole of the
creative process in which nature and cosmos are contin-uously involved.
Helma seldom referred to me as her husband, more often as companion and more recently as friend. And when I am facing a gathering of 80 people coming to celebrate Helma’s life and express gratitude for what she has meant for them, then I realize how being-her-husband was only part of the reality in which we both lived, loved and worked.
In that same year, the young Helma had asked her mother: “why do I have these feet?” (feet that made it difficult and painful for her to walk and impossible to run or jump like other children). Her mother replied: “everyone has something of a burden to carry and you would not want to swap. But don’t make a sacrifice of it.” (Words spoken in Dutch of course, with a lovely way of addressing her as ‘meisje’, literally ‘little girl’, with the flavour of ‘sweet-ie’ in current English).
In the year that I met Helma, when she was 26, she was persuaded to undergo an operation which turned out to be disastrous. It made her capacity to walk even more painful and limited and affected her balance as well. But she kept her promise, made as a young child, that nobody should ever suffer through the condition of her feet.
So she went on to become a nurse because ‘being a nurse was good enough for a girl’ and she became the one known for being good at bringing cups of tea or coffee to patients in the ward, which involved a lot of walking. And at 18 she was the preferred nurse for the ward where patients were close to death or dying. Later, as a district nurse in a rural community she did the rounds on a bicy-cle with a little motor.
Personally I want everyone to know, that through Helma I have been to many, many places, where I would never have been on my own accord. (And not only physically: she was the one who lead us to Rudolf Steiner’s work and later to Gideon and Shin.) She didn’t only let anyone suffer, she didn’t let those feet stop her from travelling and exploring, including visiting Yosemite National Park in America and - East of Melbourne - repeatedly visit-ing the Murrindini Falls, which meant a 20 minutes walk down awkward steps and back up again. It didn’t pre-vent her from dancing, pioneering Perelandra gardening, planting trees, orchards, teaching movement and doing
the exercises herself as much as possible right till the end.
Our life together has been a journey in more than one sense. And thinking back to when we first met, I real-ize how precarious the beginning of this journey was. It was nearly broken off before it began, because I could not handle the overwhelm of flowers that she left on my doorstep, which for her and her family was nothing spe-cial, but for me was apparently too much… Anyhow, we obviously got over it and from then till now flowers have been the world we live in...
And when I ask myself: “was Helma beautiful when I met her first?” I say: “yes, she was”. But what made me love her first was that she was real. And when I now often sit in and under the majestic circle of Mountain Ashes, Eucalyptus regnans (which Helma planted nearly eight years ago and now already 15 meters high) then I realize that Helma was not only real in herself, but also created wonderful and effective reality around her.
Those trees had been planted in protest against the log-ging of Mountain Ashes that was going on in Tasmania. Helma’s awareness and pain in response to destruction and suffering had been woken up in her childhood and has increased intensely since – after the 2nd world war – news reached her that 6 million human beings, Jews, had been herded and killed by the Nazi-regime. It shocked her so much, that as a teenager she never could speak about how she felt, not even to her mentor, father con-fessor Pater Visser SJ, who would allow her to sit there with him for an hour and more, without a word being said, for which she was very grateful.
The suffering of human beings through violence and the destruction of nature, through poisoning, pollution and nuclear waste, pressed her continuously to find and develop ways of healing within conventional wisdom and increasingly beyond conventional wisdom. Meeting Rudolf Steiner’s work and then Gideon’s - and Machaelle Small-Wright’s - helped deepen her understanding of the spiritual dimensions and develop her practical work ac-cordingly. By the time of Shin’s coming she was prepared to create an environment where people ‘would be able to listen’ to what was being said in a healing and synarchic
or ‘listening’ conversation. A co-creative garden arose, later expanded with 13 acres into a 15 acre ’centre for renewal’ as part of Shin’s work. Through many and varied activities of tree/shrub planting, family camps, festivals and seminars, including one with Shin, Helma began to develop a small ‘Intentional Community’ with friends (most of whom live away from Trentham and are increas-ingly active in their own communities) together with con-tinuing her medical practice nearly till the end.
When Helma told her friends at the Samhain seminar at Evera in May last year that she was ill with cancer, she also explained to us that cancer is the disease of our time. There are diseases that reflect the culture of the time: in the Middle Ages it was the plague, in 19th cen-tury Europe it was Tuberculosis, now it is cancer. Cancer is an unbounded, unstoppable wild growth - in a time and culture in which growth of everything has no bound-aries: exploitation of the earth, production of consumer goods according to wants, not needs, mining the floor of the oceans for the rare metals we ‘need’ for our mobile phones and computers, roads and genetic engineering driving farmers off their land, manufacturing of ever more sophisticated weapons and using them in seemingly unstoppable wars, etc.
Helma always spoke with great respect about cancer pa-tients - and she had many of them in the course of her practice - as she felt that they were carrying in their illness the illness of their time, dealing with this through their own process of either healing, dying or both. And when she told her friends of her own condition, she asked us not to think of her and pray for her alone, but for all cancer patients in the world and all refugees and…
In general I think it is known that the process cancer pa-tients are going through is potentially very uplifting for all involved, including the patient her/himself. And with the remedy Iscador - the gift of the mistletoe prepared in a special way - this potential is markedly supported. Helma took her Iscador injections until six days before she died. Only during the three days in hospital and three days in palliative care did she go without. But the care was so good and Helma herself was so supportive of what doctors and nurses were doing, that the process could continue with grace and peace till the end… For which I am very grateful.
Journey to India - Bhairava NagarMargaret Harley (Melbourne)Deciding to go on a spiritual pilgrimage to India is very challenging in many ways. Australian families are not ac-customed to the concept, and often puzzled looks cross my family’s faces as to why would mum even want to go to India. For myself, the cultural experience of the people’s daily reverence with prayer or the epics about Shiva or Rama are enriching, but some occurrences can be challenging such as foreign currencies, taxi rides in New Delhi, and seeing the infiltra-tion of western commerce.
Arriving at the beautiful Indira Gandhi International Airport at New Delhi, we hastily squeezed into taxi, arriving quite late at our hotel, to rest after our very tiring journey. Arising early, we taxied for 6 hours to Hardiwar, which is located at the Himalayan foothills, to stay at a beautiful hotel on the River Ganges, and, ac-
climatize. We enjoyed the culinary array of curries, and dipping our feet into the Ganges from the Ghat, or steps, that de-scend into the Ganges for the revered ritual of to-tally immersing the body into the sacred river.
Ascending the steep mountains and travelling along narrow windy roads, we arrived at Shivaland late in the afternoon. My breath was taken away at the beautiful emerald
green colour of the Ganges. Alighting from the taxi, we descended down a small steep track, and stepped across flat rocks to clamor into the medium sized rowboat which glided rhythmically to the sound of the oars splashing in the very fast flowing river, across to the white sandy banks on the other side. We ascended a very steep zigzag path up to the entrance of Shivaland where we caught our breath, and in silence, took in the beauty of the overhanging branch-es of the trees that lined the paved path-way. We were greeted by Dilbar, the Hotel De Maitre, who very car-ingly looked after all of our needs during our
10 day stay. Escorted to our small and very clean villa (with en-suite), we relaxed and looked forward to our first meal. The restaurant’s breath-taking views of the meandering Ganges that was cradled in the steep ravines from the restaurant’s tiny alcoves, or, roof top, relaxed us and we were in full anticipation of the uniqueness and specialness of the next 10 days of meditation, move-ment, singing, dancing, chanting sacred mantras, and, to participate in the Shivaratri festival to bring in the new energies.
In Shivaland, the priest recites, every day, sacred mantras and prayers before breakfast. To en-velop and imbue myself in these sacred sounds, I reverently lis-tened and sometimes joined in most mornings with the priest’s ritual at the small temples. The Bhairava Temple houses Bhairava, the highest and most all-embracing revelation of Para Shiva, or being of truth. He has the power to overcome all en-mities and whatever has fallen out of the divine wholeness. We then walked down the small
white pebbled pathway to the Pashupati temple (see 2nd photo on page 3). Pashupati represents another revela-tion of Shiva as the Good Shepherd - protector and lord of all animals and beings. He is often depicted wearing a crown of stag antlers. Finally a few mantras were recited at the tall sacred tree just outside Shiva’s Temple. After a smorgasbord breakfast, we went to the little red room for one of many of Shin’s lectures about integral learning, the introduction of the term, Essential Being, to describe God, and many other topics. Often this was followed with morning exercises on the oval by facing the morning sun or working as a group to enliven our energies. After lunch and a quiet rest, we meditated very profoundly for quite a long period, or listened to another discourse and drum playing, sang, or moved to the various exercises held in the long hall. It was a very full day.
One very special preparation was for the all night Shivaratri festi-val which trans-forms the old to bring in new en-ergies. The sacred 1008 names of Shiva are repeat-ed; an amazing
experience. Shin personally showed everyone the unique temple that is being built and explained its many func-tions. The temple embraces the energies that are being earthed at this time. A highlight was the trip through the steep mountainous ravines to the mountain peak to see Shin’s school, Pauri where integral learning is start-ing. He is encouraging the village families to stay on the terraced farms to grow many crops such as barley and cotton instead of leaving the fields barren to seek jobs in the city
On returning to Australia, I felt the enormous impact of the 10 days as I experienced an increased calmness and harmony. The challenge is maintaining the energies in my busy everyday life. Seminars like this, are to be treas-ured, like gold, as it is a phenomenon, just to be there as a participant to better my life.
Valentin Tomberg: Our Mother Prayer
Meeting A TreeBelinda Clark (New Zealand) - 2014
Once, for a short while in a still, quietness of soul outside ordinary time and focus, I met the being of a Puriri tree.At my respectful, silent greeting, gentle sensing in, hoping to converse, so clearly present was he (most definitely ‘male’) so calm and powerfully, undeniably present with me, (yet distinctly ‘other’) I was quietly amazed.
His tree was mis-shapen, lopsided,a main branch sawn off short,forming a bark-burled, ringed and flat, small door, yet his sturdy aged trunk resolutely held up other limbs, branching to canopy patches of dark leaves, not glossy – dulled by poor health.
Long had the Puriri stood in bare, sprayed ground, suffering also dirty city air, unseen by most of us, unthanked, in an astral swamp of our ignorant, fretful angst.But the Being was steadily strongtireless in his selfless task.
Larger than the visible tree I felt him, a quiet power, a little surprised at my interruption, but not unwelcoming.Rather awed, I could still silently askand inwardly hear replies.
Now, decades later, only one has stayed - for years I’d wondered how trees could hold out, and out further, impossibly heavy long limbs - arms to catch the sky.To my inward eye this Puriri revealedgreat energy flows (sensing back I see lively black carrying all colours) from deep in Earth, streaming through roots, trunk, limbs, branches, twigs and leaves, and on the way continually clearing, somehow transforming, our human dross.Don’t we often feel trees’ healing peace?
Wondering, I asked how this is donebut was firmly told, as he withdrewthat was not for me to ‘hear’.With my heartfelt thanks, farewell,a door again closed for mebut not completely.
drive per day) and they only lit fires in certain types of habitat and only when the conditions were right. They knew these things from their intimate relationship with the land which they held sacred, and this knowledge was taught to them by their elders, and they could see for themselves the results of their burns when they walked that way again the following season. If they got it wrong, the animals and plants they relied on for food would be negatively impacted, therefore they may have gone hungry. They did not use bulldozers, graders and chain-saws to prepare for the burn-offs and to ‘tidy up’ after the burn-offs.
Naturalist Bob McDonald says about the current burn-ing regimes that we are faced with the corrosion of the indigenous cultural records from loss of Aboriginal ‘scar trees’, ceremonial, birthing and marked trees,
and subsequent loss of indigenous stories. Also, Aboriginal people did not use fire accelerants
such as Napalm which was used recently at the Cape Liptrap Coastal Park; used
when this naturally damp, ferny vege-tation strip would not catch light with the usual torch lighting technique. (In other words, it would not be likely to burn under any normal conditions so why burn it just to meet the gov-ernment’s artificially created burn-off targets?) When the fire did light with the Napalm, it burned all the Melaleucas and burned into the peat layer.
In a similar situation, it is said that the original forests of Gippsland were
not flammable. Settlers of Fish Creek were not able to burn forests to clear
the land for agriculture until the railway line was cut through, bringing in a draft.
Apparently this is a common story Australia wide, in formerly wet forested areas.
Until we know more, here are some facts that need to be taken into consideration in regards to fuel reduction burns:
Researchers examined over 2000 sediment cores of 70,000 years age or more to determine fire frequency, and they found that fire frequency had increased 50 fold with the arrival of Europeans.
Eucalypts and other Australian plants have adapted to recover from fire but contrary to popular belief, they
do not thrive on being burned (just like humans are able to heel from cuts and broken bones but do not thrive on either).
Unlike native grasses that are adapted to our cli-mate and are most often green and still growing in the fire season; introduced species of pasture
grasses die off in summer. These are especially prevalent along roadsides which are increasingly
Fire, Feathers and Fur - Is it time to stop lighting fires?Angelique StefanatosIt has been 6 years since the February 2009 fires cul-minated on Black Saturday, ravaging Victoria, with 173 human lives lost and over 3000 properties destroyed. After the initial shock of this presumed natural disaster, a lot of fingers were pointed as people looked for someone to blame. While waiting for the official reports to be pub-lished, the first knee-jerk reaction of many people was to call for more fuel reduction burns in the forests. The forests themselves were looked upon by the uneducated as a source of fear and something to clean up because of their potential flammability.
Just before Easter, I was caught up in one of these so called controlled fuel reduction burns, as they set alight the forest within 300m of my house. As I lay there in the night, the acrid thick smoke settled in our valley like a suffo-cating blanket. I not only suffered phys-ically (and really wondered if my heart and lungs would make it through the night) but also emotionally, feeling the heartbreak of knowing that ‘my’ forest and the animals and birds that are my friends, were either burning, suffocating or fleeing. My emus, my lyrebirds, wallabies, possums, the rare powerful and sooty owls that we saw or heard a few weeks before the fires. I lay there gasping for air and wondering what was happening to my friends. The biggest habitat trees that had survived past logging practices (the only ones old enough to contain hollows for the wildlife to nest in) caught fire and became giant flaming canons, and then the fire-crews had to chain-saw them to the ground for safety. Whatever the human-lit fire did not destroy with its flames, the fire-crews with their bulldozers, road graders and chainsaws did. Some of the fire-crews and their co-workers actually seemed to relish the destruction and the opportunity to use their noisy machines.
The people calling for more fuel reduction burns in the forests are trying to use the evidence of previous Aboriginal burning practices to say that we need more burns. However they are not taking many factors into consideration when they use this argu-ment, such as the fact that Aboriginal people walked on foot and lit fires as they walked (not travelling hundreds of kilometers by 4-wheel
being used as firebreaks but are in-stead becoming fire fuses due to these grasses. (Kirkstall CFA members are addressing this by replacing pasture grasses on roadsides with native species.)
CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) research has shown there is a group of about 1000 species of moths called Oecophorids whose caterpillars (that occur in densities of up to 400 per square meter and eat dead leaf litter) are killed by fire and take some years to come back, allowing the leaf litter to build up and create fuel loads.
Fungi, termites, cockroaches and many beetles consume vast amounts of dead timber, and mosses can hold up to 1200 times their weight in water (acting like fire-retard-ant sponges on the forest floor). In long unburned forests, these organisms are particularly dense but their role in fuel reduction and fire suppression remains unstudied.
Research now suggests that small, digging marsupials such as bandicoots and bettongs can influence how a bushfire burns through a landscape. These marsupials dig holes looking for truffles and other food sources, throwing up soil into heaps which creates a lot of micro-firebreaks, which diminishes the likelihood of a small fire spreading and turning into a wildfire. This turning over of the soil also reduces the amount of dry leaf litter on the forest floor, by burying leaves and speeding up decomposition (like a well turned compost). Their diggings also reduce hydrophobic soils (where water runs off the soil) creating moister soils. Increased burning decreases the amount of truffles and other fungi available for these animals, which have already faced pressure and local extinctions due to predation by introduced foxes and cats.
A new Honours research project by Daniel Nugent of La Trobe University has found that our iconic singer – the lyrebird, can reduce the litter fuel load on forest floors on average by 25% or 1.66 tonnes per hectare over 9 months. They do this with their rake-like feet as they sift through the litter looking for worms and bugs. Daniel said that “We put those fig-ures into a fire behaviour model and found that level of fuel reduction is enough, that in low fire-danger weather it excludes fire, but in even
more extreme conditions the fire behav-iour will be more moderate, with lower rates of spread, lower flame height and less intense fire.” Ironically, too many fires could threaten lyrebird survival due to loss of leaf litter and invertebrates on the forest floor for them to feed on.
We are already aware of the effects that human created greenhouse gases
are having on temperature increases, and the threat of bushfires due to this. But
the final nail in the coffin of the presumption that catastrophic wildfires are a natural part of
Australia comes from recent studies.
One study showed that fire severity increased with human disturbance such as logging in moist forests worldwide. And in 2014, using the data obtained from the Black Saturday fires, a study showed a strong relationship be-tween the age of Mountain Ash stands and the occur-rence of canopy consumption under extreme weather conditions. Dangerous canopy consumption that carries fires very rapidly over vast distances rarely occurred in stands of old trees 300 years old, whereas canopy con-sumption increased rapidly with younger trees from 7 to 70 years old (the age of most of the regrowth forests in Victoria after clear-fell logging). The satellite images and ground truthing that were used in this study showed that the hottest and most dangerous fires occurred in these logged areas.
We already knew that the logging of old growth forests put wildlife at risk of extinction (including all those an-imals that decrease the risk of wildfires that we heard about above) but this new study has proven that logging practices increase the risk of catastrophic canopy wild-fires – just like those that occurred on Black Saturday, that killed so many people.
So if we don’t continue with these fuel reduction burns, some people may ask how do we keep ourselves safe from fires? One of the smartest answers I heard recently from some fire scientists was to encourage governments to spend money to buy a team of 8-10 Elvis helicopters. One or more of these helicopters are normally hired from the USA over our summer period. But it was pointed out that if we had a team of these (some in NSW, Victoria, WA and SA) they could converge on the place with the most dangerous fire, dropping thousands of litres of water and putting it out very quickly (within days instead of weeks as now occurs). The helicopters could also get into rugged and remote mountainous areas, where fire-crews couldn’t. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our politicians spent money on machines that could save lives instead
of on war machines that cost lives and bil-lions of dollars!
Up till now I have not even men-tioned the huge quantities of Carbon pollution that these fires
create, or really looked at the terrible health problems that occur for people with respiratory or heart problems, and especially for the very young or very old.
I am not very good at mathematics but even to me the formula seems fairly clear:
Disruption to the previous fire practices through removal of Aboriginal people + 50 fold increase of fire frequency by Europeans + Introduction of non-native pasture grasses + Logging of old growth forests + Opening up/drying-out of country by railways, roads, farms + Introduction of cats and foxes that eat bandicoots, bettongs, lyrebirds + Inappropriate fire regimes reducing mosses, lichens, fungi, decomposing invertebrates & lowering soil mois-ture + Too frequent controlled burns encouraging growth of flammable plant species + Greenhouse gases increas-ing temperatures =
MAN MADE DISASTER.
If we want to point the finger of blame, it is not nature or the life-giving forests that we should be looking at, but we should put ourselves under the microscope. It seems clear that we need to pause and ask the question ‘Do we need to stop lighting fires?’
If you feel the answer is YES, could you please put your name to this petition asking Ministers Lisa Neville, Jane Garrett and Jill Hennessy to ‘Protect our health from burn-off smoke”:
https://www.change.org/p/ministers-lisa-neville-jane-garrett-and-jill-hennessy-protect-our-health-from-burn-off-smoke?recruiter=270070101&utm_source=share_pe t i t i on&u tm_med ium=e-mail&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive
A Jubilant YesBelinda Clark (New Zealand) - Sept/Oct 2014(To the welcoming Poplar Tree at the inner entrance to Guthausen)
A tall, vibrant Poplar treeclothed in her rustling summer greenwelcomes us with up-raised arms.
Not the branch-dense pillar, rippling upwards, of other poplars I’ve known, she stretches her slender limbs wider and higher in an open spray of vigorous delight, a jubilant song, a great sustained ‘Yes’to Life as it pours up through her,greening as it meets the Light.
From her upraised limbs,in her lovely marriage of minerals,water, air and fireharmoniously orchestrated by herspirit self’s song,fine little branches yearn up toofor sun’s gold, and refreshmentfrom rain and moon and stars,to seep into rounded leaves – green discs silvery beneath. They dance and twinkle gaily in light breezes.
I see your shimmering, tall spray of Yes from a firm base stretching and tinkling out, upright Poplar tree. Now we’ve sung and danced Andourian sacred songs – spreading lightly up and out like you do - I feel you in my deep wide high spaciousness, flowing and twinkling yet firmly rooted, in beautiful order for Life’s streaming, sprinkling a light merriment into our SHIN’S Ocean of divinely sparkling Life.
Kundalini Lecture Continued - Part 3Shin - Kundalini Lecture 08-05-2006 Translated by Henk and Tineke Bak.[In the last section, we] finished by already broaching the most sacred creative forces, however we aren’t actually ready for that yet... So I will step back again one more time.
If it were the case, that [there is] this creative energy (and that by many human beings it is simply called higher creative consciousness, or creator energy, creative in-telligence and which is by many even understood to be the actual divinity) - and, if it were the case that the different aspects of these energies are not forces work-ing blindly, but are actually knowing, wisdom filled, fluid beings constantly bestowing, continually giving them-selves to all the other following generations or simpler beings... that is, that the simpler beings live within the
higher ones - then you can perhaps also understand, why the church called a particular kind of angel (what was once designated ‘gods’ were later named ‘angels’) a ‘do-minion’. How can a [single] being be called a ‘dominion’? If it is true, that one being is a dominion, then there are other groups, other beings, other creative elements, in-telligences, and kinds of consciousness living within this dominion, which may be difficult for us to grasp at this point.
[At this moment many individual human beings are prob-ably not really able to make sense of the word ‘God’ at all. Others might, and be able to feel it. Still others will consider it to be a matter of consciousness, creative in-telligence or the interworking of radiations and vibrations
- everyone will find his or her gateway.] I will contin-ue from there.
This energy gives itself to every being in such a way that every being, every creature receives its stage or level, its combination of energies. And we can see that as it applies to the stones, the plants, the animals - and here for the moment we skip but don’t forget the intermediate classes - with each stage expressing an enhance-
ment of capacities, a higher gathering of properties, ever finer and finer. Life is added to plants, soul to animals, spirit to the human being, and to many human beings a very high presence - which we call I AM. And even if we call it Vatakushi or Sva-Atman it is the same essential being. It has many names. And if we investigate together rather than fighting one another over whether one wishes to work for the I Am or for Sva-Atman, then we will come to better understand what both concepts mean, and dis-cover that we [can] arrive at the same essential aspect of the human being from both sides. So often people fight over concepts because they haven’t understood the con-cepts. And if we aren’t attentive, what arises is like a second Babel.
Consider for a moment that this creative intelligence has enhanced all the creatures connected with this Earth, has bestowed on them more and more - through all the different hominids to homo sapiens, which carries within itself an especially precious gift: self-consciousness, the consciousness that you are you. [This is a consciousness that enables you to move towards something because you desire it, and enables you to distance yourself from something because you choose to, because you want to, because you decide to. Every human being has built his own world out of his own being. I cannot go too deeply into all of this, even though every part, every statement generates many implications. When I speak of the Earth, I notice that stone down there or that beautiful tree just now opening its leaves so wonderfully, sending out such fresh, young energy; and there is the air and the light and – and, and, and so on... So please understand, that with my sentences I cannot enlighten everything in one go but only parts, which can be deepened later for those who want to pursue that.
Now with regard to the human being something essential-ly new occurs; namely that he himself becomes creative - he himself can unfold his own thoughts, design his own ideas, form his own plans, develop things, internalise things - and most importantly, he can transform himself. Each of you present here, dear friends, has had this expe-rience or is constantly involved in it - i.e. in the experi-ence of self-transformation, changing oneself, unfolding,
giving form, of purification, ennoblement, refinement in the ways that you, always taking into account your indi-viduality, can or want to claim for yourself.
How many capacities do you know you have? How many talents have you discovered in yourself? Surely many more than those you can currently utilise in life. You can therefore accept that you have much, much more po-tential. I assert that the human being is not actually on Earth to earn money or to live in order to earn money. But I assume, provisionally for now, (and I intend to con-tinue to do so), that the human being has really come to Earth in order to unfold his capacities. This means that we should learn to allow one another the unfolding of these capacities. We must create a free space for one an-other such that these dormant capacities are able to be developed. The more capacities a human being has acti-vated, the more forces, qualities, gifts and endowments he has been able to develop, the richer his capacities to comprehend the world will become, and the richer, more colourful, deeper and more thorough will his world view become. The narrow image that many people have would quickly widen itself, if only they were helped towards a different, rounder, fuller consciousness. I don’t mean turning one person into someone else, who would then be better. That’s just what I don’t mean. What I do mean, is that there is so much within you that was not allowed to develop. And therefore, that through [the resultant] lack of equilibrium, through this one-sidedness, people have become ill. So we must see to it that in our environment - and of course wherever we are able to help people, or they can help themselves, as well as wherever we have responsibilities as public citizens - the imbalances within humanity and in human development are reduced more and more. After all, we want to have healthier human beings.
Kundalini, kundri, vouivre, or manna - or whatever people named it over the centuries - is also that Pentecostal Fire which descended on the Disciples, and of which it was said that ‘here in this house it trembles and shakes as it passes’. It is also a mighty eruption of light and fire… The fire of the Holy Spirit. It is not just a fire or creative energy which was only known in the far east or the far west. It was also active in Europe up to a certain time period. Since then it has only been fought and attacked. I assert that it must be healed, that it can be healed with this energy.
Let us assume, for a moment, as though it were the case that the cre-ative energy gave itself in part to all beings. I put this in the form of a debate, to keep it open. I know that it is so, but I want
to express it in such a way that doors are opened to it, that one is allowed to approach it slowly, because free-dom of development is an essential aspect. And that so much was given to the human being, that in him there lies the potential of a strong, decisive step. All beings received energies. I assert that the cows, now frolicking outside, have Kundalini. They also have chakras - and dogs and cats, too, and the same with the horses and all the animals. I assert that the trees have Kundalini, too. Their own kind of Kundalini, their own kind of ener-gies, their own simple combinations of these energies. And with it they grow, they thrive, and this energy is just now blossoming [in May in the northern hemisphere].
If you would like to have either a gentle or even a strong impression of Kundalini, one that simply gives a feeling of wellbeing, you don’t need to pay for it, - simply approach a flowering tree and enjoy it for quite a while; fully, and with every tree differently. Then you will observe what Kundalini is capable of at the level of trees, then natu-rally enhanced, for animals and then very differently for human beings. [For the human being it is markedly dif-ferent], after all it has been said in all cultures that the human being is created in God’s true likeness. Some, in America for example, have taken that to mean that they already are Gods. I beg your pardon, this isn’t a cabaret, but that is dangerous. All human beings are in truth seed-lings, divine seedlings, of a new divine generation. When this is being taken for granted by some and is understood as an external [condition], instead of a very refined, noble inner [state]; something that ultimately allows you to comprehend: ‘I Am One with the Father’. This is not just a Christian saying, but in ancient Egypt it reflected a high understanding of human and divine being. And in Sumeria, where some gods became disaffected because the Highest so strongly [directed] these energies towards human beings, so that humans could themselves awaken to free creative light and fire.
So now I arrive at a point where most books begin. That is: an energy enters the human which gives him the pos-sibility of gently transforming himself, to determine for himself his schooling, his development, his enlighten-ment, and thereby his path. The I Am and the work - all the energies that serve you.
I make a small interruption here, - imagine for a moment that everything that I have said up to this very moment, now comes to you through your senses, and - through some invisible process within you - becomes then some-how understandable. Otherwise you would only hear noises, many noises, sounds of various kinds. In other words, what I say here only becomes really important within you. There, where you are, it now emerges. Absolutely everything you experience, you experience
only because you have consciousness. It is a process of consciousness. The body is a mediator, a wonderful mediator. We should honour and respect it. It has many more capacities than one realises, but it is nevertheless in consciousness that it takes place.
Everything which then becomes known, experienced, lived through, integrated, selected, absorbed and which is enjoyed, bringing happiness and strength, occurs through consciousness, through the most varied forms of consciousness. And the clamps on consciousness, those we should slowly loosen. (Continued in next issue)
Belinda Clark (New Zealand) May-Dec 2014These little seeds, de-huskedoats, sun-flower, chia, and dotsin wrinkled raisin skins,soaked now to soften -each a tiny world, completefor its potential.Each sounds its special notes.
This grain of oat, before the crush –two perfect halves embraceda tiny third.Grown naturally with carein Earth’s great rhythmic love,nourished and free of ignorant,or malicious, meddlingit can sing trueits song.
Little Linghams and spheres –fruits of plants’ pure striving,when chewed and swallowedinto our worlds, give uptheir plan, their smaller life andall they’ve alchemized from Earthfor other forms – capable of carryingmore complex Life. They well supportour songs, our inner choirs.
What then can we, so well sustained,give gladly in return? Gratitude, caring action, but much more - in-as-much-as we can offer the Highest Singer of All, within and without, devotion, listening, loving service, we can receive awakening light!
Yes, from our Seed Divine – tiniest yet limitless, most pure, high and bright – creative songs of power, insight and skills, capacities to heal our great, now sorely wounded, Earth, for all true Seeds to flourish in a symphony most sublime.
Evera Group Meeting Dates Women’s Landcare Dates 2015
Calendar of Events
Provisional dates for 2015:
Lughnasad (First Harvest) 23-25 January
Autumn Equinox 20-22 March
Samhain (Nature’s New Year) 1-3 May
Winter Solstice (Midwinter) 19-21 June (To be held at Lakes Entrance)
Imbolc-Oimelc (first stirrings of Spring) 31 July - 2 August
Spring Equinox 18-20 September
Evera Foundation Inc. AGM 2-4pm 20 September
Beltane (Spring in full bloom) 30 October - 1 November (To be held at Lakes Entrance)
Summer Solstice (Midsummer) 18-20 December
Women’s Landcare gratefully received a 2nd round of funding from the state government to continue in 2015. Due to the good feedback from last year’s participants, Women’s Landcare was invited by other groups to hold activities in new areas. Along with the usual tree plant-ing activities, this year’s events will feature a number of inspirational women as guest speakers:
March 15: Vicki Vuat from Wildseed Nursery talked about the diversity of ‘Native Vines in East Gippsland’ (Kalimna West).
May 17: ‘Fabulous Ferns’ are the theme and will be planted at the jetty. The movie ‘Dirt – A Story with Heart & Soil’ about the ‘ecstatic skin of mother earth’ will be viewed after lunch (Nungurner).
July 12: Australia’s only female lichenologist Dr. Simone Louwhoff will give a workshop on lichens including their use as natural dyes (location to be confirmed).
Oct 4: Aboriginal ‘bush tucker facilitator’ Cassie Leatham Harrap will be guest speaker at the Mitchell River Native Wildflower Garden to teach about ‘Bush Tucker & Bush medicine’ (Bairnsdale).
Nov 15: Cassie Leatham Harrap is guest speaker once again, to teach about ‘Natural Plant Fibers & Aboriginal Basket Weaving’ (Nicholson).
*As a result of her volunteer work with Women’s Landcare,
Angelique Stefanatos has been nominated for a
Landcare People’s Choice Award.
For more information and to join in, contact Angelique Stefanatos at [email protected]
Walking Meditation
Two scheduled Walking Meditation days are on the calendar at the moment:
Copyrights for all items belong to the contributors (writers, artists, photographers).
Butterfly, kangaroo, snail, autumn tree vector art from: all-free-download.com (Free Vector Art). Nest, and lyrebird from etc.usf.edu (ClipArt Etc).
All bird photos on page 9 by Greg Fyfe. River photo on page 9 and tree photo on page 8 by Henk Bak.
All photos on page 10 by Margaret Harley.
Women’s Landcare group photo by Cass Roadknight.
India photos on page 3: small temple by Angelique Stefanatos, path with large temple and river boat by Henk Bak, Canadian plum blossom by Anke Smeele-Bak.
Autumn tree photos on pages 15 and 16, Mountain Ash Grove photos and leaf photos by Tineke Bak.
Autumn grapes and quinces photos by Henk Bak.
Quote on page 1, copyright Shin and Ganga Verlag 2009 - Journey through the Celtic Year.
