THE BADGER The Badger is a fierce animal, very much respected and honored both in Northern American Native traditions and in European Celtic ones. A badger will not let go and will continue tenaciously to look for another way to tackle his/her goal, just like a good healer will not let go his/her search until the best solution is found for the person in need. Badgers have their homes underground, so that they can go to the roots of things, the good healer does the same and keeps looking until she/he can find the most profound reason for a dis-ease or a psychological issue. We use the term healer in the very broad sense of somebody who takes care of a another person, be it a MD, a nurse, a psychotherapist, a physiotherapist, a masseuse, a spiritual healer. Whenever there is a person in need and somebody who takes care of her/him, that is a healer. Sometimes the need is subtler and more profound than a simple medical intervention, the human touch is needed and it really is the Panacea that cures all diseases. We believe all artistic expressions in their beauty, science for everyday life, spirituality, philosophy, food and the healing arts are beneficial to restoring that balance, health and sense of worth that each and every human being deserves. We offer you THE BADGER, the persistent healer, all the articles come from experts in different fields, each person has his/her own idea of what a balanced life is, they are here to pass on information, give inspiration, receive your comments, suggestions, contributions. Each human being holds in his/her hands at least one of the keys, let's continue our quest!
THE BADGER
Year 6 Volume 1
April 2020
2020 has arrived with a loud bang! I started writing this introduction at the end of December 2019, long before the events that are touching us all today: This century is now getting serious! It feels yesterday that we were welcoming the new century, with all the concerns about the non existant millennium bug... And we are in our twenties, so many people have arrived onto this planet Earth and have never seen the old century, so many have left us at its beginning, so they will never experience all the wonders of the new. And yet, and yet... where are we as human species in our path of growth and development? Are we still evolving? Or are we complacently looking at our belly and admiring our navel as the centre of the world? Clearly, with such a huge population, we are doing both and a lot more in between. The BADGER has chosen to stay alert, to report and share all the storie, ideas, innovations that can make our life on earth not just more pleasant, but actually meaningful to ourselves and the planet to whom we owe our life. How many people stop in wonder in front of a rainbow? Or a magnificent full moon? Or the mystery of dawn and twilight, that time where there are no shadows and everything is possible? The world is an immense garden of delight, it is up to us to see it, hear it, taste it that way. We have created immense wounds on the earth both among people with our silly wars and in the soil with our craze for more progress and objects. We are all in this, not just the big companies, but every single person who is not in harmony with nature and its rythms. It is time to listen to that harmony again, to find the beauty in the small daily things and prepare for the momentous changes ahead of us.
I still stand by what I wrote then, but now humanity is facing a long siege, after this time we will be different, all our certainties will crumble and we will be free to be NEW. I wish you all much support, love and renewed enthusiasm in life, we need it now more than ever. This volume wants to be with us all in this time, contrary to our style, the articles have been often written with the recent events in mind. Please remember AMOR VINCIT OMNIA Love conquers all difficulties, issues, problems, separations, disease and even economical crisis. With love we will help each other out of this global danger and we will evolve as human beings. Blessings to us all
Antonella Vicini Director THE BADGER Quarterly LTD Cover photo by Antonella Vicini Graphic lay out Antonella Vicini You can find all our past volumes, videos and our blog in our website: http://www.thebadgerquartelyltd.com/ and links on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/THEBADGERQuarterlyMagazine/
CONTENTS Equinox in Harmony
F. Rico
A New Spring
G.Rael
Two Pyramids
A.Vicini
Life Craft Poetry Into the Matter Voices from the Stars Becoming Medicine Quilting Away
F. Lehrman Fisher, Andres A. Exo L.Bottagisio D.Kopacz L.Perry
Reiki Home
E. Andres
The Awakening
C. Murgan
CONTENTS Druidry Under the Skin Apothecary
P.Carr Gomm F.Gandini S.Fumagalli Jo Dunbar
Travelling
R.Vicini
Photo – Graphy
K. Bastia
Food is my Ally
A.Vicini
The Authors
short bios and photos
Thanks
and links to previous volumes
Adverts
products and services we believe in
EQUINOX IN HARMONY The New World Francis Rico 2020 Vision – the Vernal Equinox is opening! The Vernal Equinox occurred on March 19 2020. The Equinox is a moment of irresistible opening into our direct connection with waves of coherent life-affirming energy emanating from the heart of our galaxy. Just to refresh your memory: the June 2019 Solstice was the first Galactic Solstice in 230 million years, where our solar system, traveling on the wing of one of the four great spiral arms of stars that is our galaxy, moved into an unobstructed clearing – an alignment with the radiance of energy pulsing from the heart of our galaxy. This coming of “age” has long been predicted. We are being welcomed into life in a new world that is being born – as an old world is dying! We’re no longer in linear time – we’re in something flowing in a double spiral – with the momentum of past actions in our world intertwining with waves of incoming energy. (I’ll include a note at the very bottom about the covid19 ripple.) The good news is that we’re moving into an open alignment with the flowing energy of life affirming love of life for life that is the sparkling radiant energy emanating from the central spiraling vortex at the heart of our galaxy – the wild heart of creation.
Beyond the ripples of distress that we’re currently experiencing, we’re seeing something else that is undeniably true: The totality of life on our planet is in a state of emergency. And we’re obviously at a tipping point. And yet, here in the midst of chaos and catastrophe is a gift being offered to us of something mysteriously simple: This emergency is calling us to emerge! From deep within the primal flow of life itself comes this message: YES! Yes! There is a way for us to live loving, caring, and connected lives – lives worth celebrating! Yes, there is a place within each of us that is loving, uncompromised, fierce, agile, creative, and profoundly resourceful. Turn to it! The time for the emergence of our gifts is here whether we are ready or not – healed or not – cleaned up or not – awakened or not – enlightened or not! Let’s share the simplest of truths: We are light based beings! We are connected to all of life, to all that is. Radical self-care is the foundation for our capacity to care for life. We can only care for life to the extent that we have cared for ourselves. Everything is possible in the present moment. Our unique essential gifts to life become present when we do! Let us become inclusive of the best of every modality, allowing our differences to make us all more creative. You are not alone – we’re all in this together! We gather in community to become stronger and more resourceful together. In the face of the madness we are witnessing, we share love. In the face of exploitation and abuse, we are ferocious in our care for the well being of life.
In the face of destruction, we share the mysterious deep peace that underlies all being and brings us all together. There is no “us” and “them.” But there is an absolute “no more!” Virtually now and later on physically, gather with family, friends, and community, and create a gentle living ceremony. Include everyone – present and not present, seen and not seen. Find a way to allow a moment of quiet receptivity to be shared. Here is a suggestion from the old wisdom traditions: Open your gates of perception – by turning to the directions – and talk to the Sun, the Earth, the water and the sky. Greet the elements and dimensions of being, as intrinsic parts of ourselves. Then, turn to the CENTER - to harmony – to deep silence - to love without fear – to connection with Source without compromise. Breathe! Allow this great mysterious YES to flow – allow yourself to flow in sync with waves of cosmic flowing YES. This is the YES of creation loving and affirming life with waves of flowing radiance, with sparkling intelligence. Come out of silence gently – and share a poem- a song - a blessing! Remember that our circles no longer close! We are now flowing in wild double spirals that do not end. Your emergence is the blessing we have prayed for. Feral blessings with love Francis Rico
A note regarding covid19: we’re seeing the unsustainable fragility of our systems reflected back to us as the fragility of life itself – our lives in particular! Our operating systems of exploitation of life – our energy, economic, governmental, agricultural, medical, educational, and resource allocation structures are obsolete and are coming apart. What isn’t obsolete is YOU! And instead of circumstances provoking a “reactive realm” fear based reaction, it is possible for circumstances to generate a life affirming creative responsiveness within you. Your emergence in the face of the emergency we are facing is the answer to the prayers of Life itself.
Francis Rico
A NEW SPRING Geraldine Rael Greetings to our likeminded communities across the World! I pray everyone’s health is well and you are doing all the right things to keep yourself safe and healthy during our time of crisis.
I am going to share word for word some teachings of Joseph Rael, Beautiful Painted Arrow. These are my father’s teachings from one of his books calle: Ceremonies Of The Living Spirit, this gift is meant to “fuel" our spirits in this trying time.
There is a Change Coming-Embrace it.
When the unexpected happens, that's when something new can come in. That is what brings about evolution-the necessary unexpected. I believe this very deeply. In fact, I live my life always praying for the unexpected, because the unexpected always brings wonderful gifts that I never thought were possible or could happen. He goes on to say, I guess I get set in my ways, about how I think things should be. The Unexpected re-charges my energy as it gives me a whole new idea about the way things really are. Page 118
Now here is what is important about the unexpected. When we have been doing the dance in a particular way for the last three times, and all of a sudden we get this intuition that we need to do it differently, what’s really happened is that there is a crack that opens from the infinite vastness in which a gift has come through our ceremony to the planet and to the whole cosmic consciousness. We get an unexpected insight; we will feel it as a jolt; it will shake us. Now that is the real stuff, coming directly from our Maker. It hits us. That is the unexpected. The reason it does that is because that is the only way it knows to impress us with some new input, to come and touch us. Page 115
This is food for your thought. Something HAS come that has been “unexpected". No one would have known that a virus would be doing what it has done to get our attention. Something is being “said” to us, it is up to us to sit up and listen. What can we do? You can continue with your ceremonies. If you have never been a part of a ceremony, it is time to consider doing so as you will find they are INVALUABLE to your spirit. Life was created, and all of the different physical forms, or mental forms, or emotional forms are created in our search for our beauty. Beauty is the only thing that is real. Everything else we do, we are doing in order or to find beauty in ourselves. One of the ways to find that beauty is through ceremony. We have gotten away from ceremony because we went too far to the rational side. The rational mind says, Oh that’s not real, not important, it’s ridiculous. Or I don’t need ceremony because I understand what is behind ceremony. Yett something very important happens when we “dance” that form. It brings the form into the body as beauty and awakens in the gene pool the knowledge of the principle idea. The body is a part of our knowing. In the process of dancing (the motion or movement) we become the divine breath, creating new ideas for us to live by. Page 114
Singing or chanting (in a ceremony) does something special with time as it places the seeds of our aspirations into the framework of a future time and place. Most ceremonies in culture's all over the world use singing or chanting. This is because chanting in ceremony creates a pathway for beauty and awareness to merge into one essence. Chanting affects our bodies on a cellular level and it affects all the earth and the plants, as well. It clears blocks so that life energy can flow uninterrupted; it frees stuck energy in the physical world around us. Chanting also brings new energy from the Heavens, from the noosphere, into the biosphere is the result of principle ideas which lie latent in the noosphere and come to earth for materialization. Chanting connects us with those principle ideas and helps bring them info form. Chanting helps this process by unlocking their life energies and connecting them to new energies from the noosphere. We are the environment creating more enviroments for us to live in.
In Tiwa belief, there is a direct connection between our conscious illuminations or thoughts and what our future experiences will be. By making a conscious connection with the new energies and principle ideas which are latent in the noosphere, we form a bridge between the Heavens and the Earth, and between the Present and the Future. In the singing part of the ceremony, the chanting creates a premonition of some future time by creating the future in the here-and-now time frame. In chanting, we plant the here-and-now with the seeds of our intentions for the future. Please continue reading this chapter if it is possible for you to do so. Page 93,94 & 95
My hope is that these teachings will help you to understand why this may be happening and they will carry you through this time of crisis, please remember that you CAN do something that will benefit, all that IS ‌.
Geraldine Rael Photos and editing by Antonella Vicini
HEALING WITH WORDS Two Pyramids Antonella Vicini The unrelenting sun overhead was shining almost mercilessly on the crowds, bathing the buildings in an intense glare creating intense contrasts that did not encourage amateur photography. The relentlessly clear sky was dotted with huge clouds, some seemed more menacing than others, with a threat of rain that would never come. Every building looked anthropomorphic with eyes, so many eyes looking at the innocent crowds, there were mouths as well, ready to swallow the curious ones among the tourists. Those eyes were full of the jungle with its intense shadows and bright swords of sun, like lightening during the thunderstorm, the shining rays penetrated everywhere, as if the sun itself were saying: ' You cannot escape me, nobody and nothing can escape the eye of the sun.' The tourists were spread around, some milling about the crowded market areas within the site, some were in awe of the great esplanade with its towering pyramid. What an amazing place. The woman stood a little to the side, she walked silently around the pyramid, taking photos, listening, observing, quietly thanking her life for the amazing opportunity of finally being there and, although she had never visited before, she felt at home, she was at home there. Somehow the building were speaking to her, she was not sure she could understand all the information she was receiving, but she was quiet enough for this to happen.
She knew, before being told by the very thorough Maya guide and before reading the book on the site, that this was the place of arrival and departure. Many, many people before her had arrived for centuries, perhaps millennia, to this place and other similar to it all across the globe, she knew it, she had been one of those pilgrims. She had no memories, she could not tell what mysteries were taught there, but she knew, beyond all doubts, that the entire site was there to train and prepare people to live their full human potential with body, mind, emotion and spirit in complete harmony. Her current job as teacher made sense to her, she was preparing other people to fly with their own wings, some may understand that she was offering the wings they wanted, but she was also aware that many would never use them. Perhaps they might just do their job and remember her with affection for her interest in their growth, yet some may remember her as the gate keeper, the person who had shown them the door and its magic world. She didn't mind if her job was not so glamorous, nor if she never got to see the success of her trainees, that didn't matter, that was ego speaking. She was happy with being where she was and doing what she was good at doing. She was wondering what it would take for her to achieve the highest point in the path. After achieving the highest initiation, what was left to do? Perhaps the only thing to do was leaving the physical form in order to travel the universe and return with information about the far away planets and stars where we all came from. But long ago she had taken a vow and she had promised very seriously, even if she may not have realized it that the time: she had chosen to be there for all her fellow human beings for as long as it would take them to achieve full awareness. She was still true to that promise in her everyday life personally and professionally.
It is true that enlightenment can be achieved anywhere: in a busy street or on top of a mountain, any place is equally good, but it is also true that some places push to our better heights and makes us new with their wonder. Such a place is Chichen Itza’, in spite of the thousands of daily visitors, it still retains its magic, for those who can see beyond the ruined walls. I was impressed by the faces of the tourists there, their eyes were full of wonder, just like mine. The efficient tour guide was speaking in simple terms, yet he managed to convey the vastness of the amazing skills, combined with wise knowledge, of the ancient inhabitants of the great city. Every building was a wonder and a mystery, since the passing of time and the distance in space didn't allow easy interpretations, nor risky comparisons. Yet something was clear, this superb city was one more sign/symbol of what human beings could achieve both in beauty and in technological prowess. Now, at a moment of crisis for our entire planet, now we need to go inside and find our place of initiation in our hearts, with the small circle of our loved ones, if we are alone we can remind ourselves that we are never really alone. One day the great sites of initiation like Chichen Itza’ will be open again for us, we will go there with our hearts open, our bodies strong, our emotion under control and our spirit singing in praise of spirit. At such a time we will be able to see the two pyramids: one firmly planted on Mother Earth and one rising above it with its roots in Father Sky.
This is the time for union, commitment, presence and love, boundless love for all the creatures on our planet. Thank you for loving yourself and all the sentient beings walking on Mother Earth.
Antonella Vicini Text and photos
LIFE CRAFT The School of Life Fredric Lehrman We arrive at birth with information that is inherited. Your physical body is a scrapbook of clippings from previous generations, most obviously noticed in our resemblance to either or both parents, who themselves carried features of their forebears back up the genealogical line. In my family, my brother looks like our father, while I look more like our mother, but even more like her father, my grandfather, as I described in the first article of this series. As a physical entity we were issued a vehicle called “the body” and sent out on a lifelong quest of discovery and learning. As living creatures, our genetic makeup is specific to our breed and environment. Some creatures prepare for their emergence from an egg over a considerable number of days, weeks, or months before they are ready to face the world directly. Little chicks eventually peck their way out of a shell that has already been dropped from the mother’s body into an external, harboring nest for a preparatory period of pre-natal growth. But if our mother is a doe and we are a fawn, we somehow know how to manage to stand and walk on our very first day, maybe even in our first hour. And so it is for every type of creature, each in its own way.
We humans, arriving as mammals, designed to be raised on mother’s milk, require assistance with practically everything beyond that until we finally dare to stand up, fall down, and repeat‌ until we walk. The majority of us eventually succeed in mastering that amazing skill to some degree. But then what? Animals of the land and sky, and creatures of the sea, learn directly from Nature herself. They also have ways of communicating with each other that we are slowly beginning to appreciate. They learn to access their own inborn knowledge and then stay with the herd, pack or family unit; However, there are certain species, such as the Himalayan Snow Leopard, which as adults prefer to live alone, except to reproduce.
As I write this, I am amazed and humbled by the intelligence of Life itself. We humans have now made our societies so complex that we have distanced ourselves over a few centuries quite far from this community of Nature; more and more we seem to base our survival on supermarkets, shopping malls, and convenient time-saving technologies and devices.
However our growth period to adulthood turns out, we humans have an ongoing learning capacity of seeking our most evolved self. This is a lifelong transformational process, like converting coal to diamond or iron to steel. We have a choice, if we dare, to either follow a crowd of humans into the life of a wage earner who settles for jobs that support our simplest personal and family needs; or, follow our unique destiny, refining ourselves into balanced, aware, brilliantly-integrated living vessels, sharing value with all who know of us. Where shall we start?
Let’s begin with the voice, a very personal asset, or so many people think, since public speaking is the most feared and avoided activity for the majority of people surveyed. (Death comes out second in most surveys… Yes, really!) This is because once you have spoken, your voice goes out of your body and cannot be called back. It’s too late! Your breathing and your thinking have teamed up and “left the building!”
A voice has a wide range of color, from unpleasant to annoying to terrifying to calming to seductive to healing and inspiring. Here again, we can blame it on our families, since we automatically learned to speak from the voices that surrounded us as we grew up. First are the regional accents added to personal tone of the voices we were exposed to most continuously. This automatic process is particularly evident in the early years of high school when classmates and best friends find themselves mimicking the speech patterns of the cliques from whom they seek acceptance. A well-tuned voice can create a positive impression, making the physical traits you may have inherited through your family genetics less significant. But an abrasive, constricted, or nasal voice will detract from the most attractive face. So give your voice some attention starting right now, and you will find life changing for the better. In this introductory series of LifeCraft lessons I can only offer suggestions to get you started in the right directions. Many of your unique strengths and talents may still be dormant, perhaps misdirected by bad advice from others who have been given wrong instruction themselves by wellmeaning teachers who had also been guided down the wrong roads. Here is my story: I enjoyed singing as a child, and by the age of ten had decided that I wanted to be a “tenor” and began to try to sound like one. By the time I was 20 I realized that I had nearly strangled myself trying to sing the wrong way in that high range.
It took decades of study with a long list of well-trained teachers for me to relax enough to hear and accept my own natural resonance and give it the space to untangle my muscular stress and rebalance everything to arrive at the most efficient and natural sound of my real voice. Now I will share with you the “secret” that has been the most helpful in zeroing in on that goal. There are many “good” singers who make a career in whatever style of music they love the most, and their fans adore them. But the truly great singers are a very small club, and they all sound different from each other while maintaining the most natural and free use of their vocal chords, which are part of the larynx, located in the neck halfway between your teeth and your collarbones. I could write a book about all the amazing abilities of this structure, but its basic “secret” has two parts that most people would never guess. And even if you don’t plan to sing in public, you will still be continuing to speak with people quite frequently, unless you take a vow of silence.
So try this little experiment: With closed lips, take in an easy breath through your nose and release it again without stopping to hold your breath. Repeat in a continuous manner for 2 or 3 breaths, noticing how the moving air feels and how quiet you can make it as it enters and leaves your lungs. Now do the same thing again, this time inhaling and exhaling only through your mouth, and see how easy that can be, and also how quietly the breath can come and go. You can open you mouth wider and change the shape of your lips, and see if you can just feel the air coming and going, with very little friction and almost no sound. Now, inhale the same way, but before you exhale close your lips. Let the air in your lungs fill your mouth and blow your cheeks out like a balloon.
Continue that pressure, and then simply let your lips pop open and the breath will leave with a sound … “Puh!” composed entirely of air, no voice. This time, breathe in through your mouth, but when you start to exhale, keep your mouth open and imagine that you are starting to say “of” or “if” … and just let your throat close so that no air can escape. Feel the pressure in your lungs and notice the place where the breath is being stopped. Let your lungs press a little harder against that blockage, then release that door and the breath will fly right out. What you just felt were your vocal chords and their protective glottis closing and opening. Here is the little known secret about those muscles (remember, I said there were two parts): Your vocal cords have motor nerves, but no sensory nerves. They feel no pain. When you have laryngitis and can’t speak, you feel no pain, even though the vocal chords are inflamed and swollen. But if you have a sore throat, it is the other areas of the throat that are inflamed, above the larynx and in the back of the throat itself, but you can still speak. Your throat hurts, yes, but you can still tell me about it. The other part of the secret is that the primary purpose of the “vocal chords” is not for speaking, but for closing the passageway into the lungs so that, when you swallow, the food and drink end up in your stomach, and NOT in your lungs, otherwise you would drown. In other words, you could live a long life without speaking or singing, but you could NOT live long without eating. You may have noticed that humans have invented many languages and that they can speak sounds that become words that have very precise meanings. This is simply a side benefit made possible by the vocal chords. When they are not on duty keeping food out of your lungs, they like to show off their special tricks, speaking and singing.
(The following photos are seen from directly above the larynx, positioned horizontally) They do this like two automatic doors that are open when its necessary to breathe:
Closed when you are swallowing food:
But
partially
closed
when
you
want
to
talk
or
sing:
What a fantastic stroke of good luck! You actually have a musical “wind instrument” inside your throat. Like a reed on a clarinet, the vocal chords can be set into vibration as the breath moves through them. They can be gently closed with a very light pressure, so that the exhaled breath can pop them open for an instant, thereby releasing the pressure of the breath, then letting the “vocal folds” close again until the outgoing breath pressure builds up and another puff of air is released. When this rapid opening and closing cycle happens 440 times a second, a musical note is produced which is the same frequency as the note “A” and your musical friends can tune their instruments or singing voices to it. Here’s a Youtube that will show you what I explained above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLgAQTMgZ6g (Also search youtube.com for vocal cords in action video and you’ll find several other good examples.)
So you can now start to re-educate your voice by letting all tension drop out of the act of speaking and singing, which is just extended speech. Relax your shoulders, your face, your lips, your tongue, your eyes, your jaw, and your neck; then take a breath and gently start making some new sounds, just enough to sustain natural speech, as if you were talking to someone to relax them. No need to make this sound pretty; it’s just to get your voice working with a minimum of interference. Humming is also helpful.
It will take a few minutes a day, but you will soon begin to notice a new feeling and pleasant sounds starting to form. When you are speaking correctly, it will feel very good and sound just like you, not like someone else. After practicing these ideas, your ears will also hear other voices differently. Notice what you like and keep experimenting until the change you are looking for starts to happen.
Fredric Lehrman (This article was written before the COVID 19 pandemic. We think that now it is a good time to start looking after all parts of our lives, good singing!)
POETRY Bee in a poppy Bee near drowning in more colour than we see. Working the crown in your trance you drench yourself in gold. Desire is between two poles, the flower and the hive but you must also dance so the tribe can find the flower. If there is no dancing we will not survive.
Dominic Fisher
Home Home is a place of welcome a place where I am received just as I am without judgment. Where I am loved without any need to be different a place where I am trusted to find my own way to create my own path in my own time. Home is a heart space a place of being known a place where my vulnerability is honored and love, compassion, and support abound. Home is a place of rest a place of silence, stillness, and solitude a place where I come to listen to the words of my soul where the gift of Holy Listening is practiced a place where my voice is heard and my truth acknowledged.
Home is a place of healing where wounds are bound encouragement given a place where I am held gently in honor and respect as I heal. Home is a grounding place a place of light I share with others a place of learning of deepening my connection to the System I practice. Home is a place where questions are pondered and discussions are held in an open and respectful way a place where freedom is encouraged as I move deeper into the Mystery of my Life. Home is a place of service where the gift that I am is named, welcomed, and celebrated a place where I am invited to offer all that I am and all that I am becoming Home is a place that beckons me to return.
Elaine Andres Š April 2010 Reprinted with permission.
INTO THE MATTER Andrea Exo Numbers are the tool of Nostradamus. He wrote the prophecies by hiding the truth behind sequences. Numbers are representations. Numbers are the synthesis of everything and can cause fear or overcome it. In the Jewish Gematria Covid19 corresponds to 766, in the English one it is 318, in the simple one it is 53. We could have a good time observing that 766 is equal to Dna Instruction. 766 corresponds to the manifestation of Babalon and we could look for the most complex interpretative keys to arrive (perhaps) at the truth hidden behind the veil. Or we can look at what is happening in our community and still reach deep conclusions. The latter is the path we will follow today. Today I was censored by the administrators of the city group in which I exposed the data of the infections in the area where we live. The numbers are scary in this case. I pointed out that 0.07% of the population is infected. That 658 positive people out of 973800 inhabitants are something manageable, containable. It is not as terrifying as in other places in the world where the numbers would have remained low, if we had acted promptly. I understand the removal by administrators: users could understand the wrong message and in front of a low risk interrupt isolation. On the other hand, I clearly specified below the graph that I just want people to continue behaving but be calm, without fear, so that they can read books, face isolation in their home with the certainty it is the right thing to do. Caution is needed as well as calm. We can close in reflection and learn the art of contemplation: Do without doing.
Troubling posts were visible on the community page. In these messages some people from the windows of their homes photographed other people who were walking accusing them of spreading the disease, when walking with the dog is not prohibited. Physical activity near your home is not prohibited. This latter behavior is typical of the inquisition. Typical of summary courts. And however much the people may be enslaved and cursed, not even the slave deserves to be transformed into such horror. In no way should the result justify the means used to obtain it.
Anger always finds its way. We should not be concerned about the economic strength of our nations. We should worry about who was already last in our society and eventually could explode in anger.
We are now living closed in our homes. For some women it means living with their torturers. For those suffering from drug addiction there may be a danger of self-harm, as for those who suffer from pathologies such as panic attacks. There are lonely elders. Young people with a broken heart who live closed in their own small house transformed into a cell. In large cities there is no space. And today we discover that the apartment we paid so dearly is not enough if there is nothing outside.
Or maybe the problem is that by always staying outside our house, we have hidden "nothing" inside us? Because we have this constant need to avoid the mirror. Why do we avoid meditation, perhaps in order to be in silence with ourselves? Today we have no more excuses. As Covid-19 shuts down human activities across the planet, we can begin to see the truth. The first truth is that the water is becoming transparent again and the fish reappear in the rivers and lakes. Animals invade cities and their parks. Pollution drops. Nature breathes. Not all evil comes to harm and when it is clear when the damage we have inflicted on this planet we will not have to forget about the clean air. The second truth is that we are terribly spoiled. We want everything immediately. We have filled the houses with useless goods and the only thing that could protect us now, that is the masks, are missing everywhere.
Yet the air has always been polluted. The subway has never been a healthy environment, but today we realize that every day we breathed the same air as those who were sitting in the place next to us. And that air can kill us. We won't forget it. The third and final truth is that we have discovered that we must die. Here in Italy, 688,000 people die every year. 1884 per day. Today we see covid-19 victims growing: one day it could be 200, he following day it could be 500. We almost reached 800 and we felt desperate. But another 1000 people died on the same day in indifference, like all the other days. We need to change the way we feel about death. Many people die in the same place at the same time, this is the difference. Deprived of spirituality, we are now convinced that this physical body is all we have, as if this physical body were the only fate awaiting us. If we think this way, the problem is not covid-19: the problem is that we died in the soul even before physical death. Today we don't have to work, we don't have to do anything ... Today is a good time to discover the world beyond the flesh. Our planet seemed desperate. CO2 seemed to be growing indefinitely. Then came COVID-19 and suddenly everything has changed. Let’s take the opportunity to change ourselves. It is our last hope.
Andrea Exo Edited by Antonella Vicini
VOICES FROM THE STARS Uranus in Taurus Part 2 It was the end of 2019 when our article On Uranus in Taurus included these words: “Uranus in Taurus thus acts on all levels: as a transformative moment of a cosmic cycle, a generational historical cycle, the individual ones. It works to awaken in us the Maternal Principle of the Great Feminine. Like a plow that cleaves the clods and brings stones and material not suitable for new sowing to the surface, so the action of Uranus in Taurus brings to the surface what we have buried in the unconscious depth of our cellular memory, freeing ourselves from the chains imposed by a now corrupt patriarchal wave. Unpredictable events can happen, sudden detachments and as many sudden resolutions: everything will present itself to make us fit to overcome the great obstacle that stands between us and our true fulfillment, the great obstacle we have called 'death' but which in reality is the only true principle of Life! Our response to the call of Uranus in Taurus will be to open ourselves to the healing power of the Mother's love or to remain anchored in a program that involves the destruction of nature, its trees and animals, in the name of new technologies that increasingly want to replace the divine Power of Light? http://www.laurabottagisio.com/it/2019-2026-urano-in-toro-i-parte/
Those words have become evident in what we are living now at a global level: fear and anxiety in facing an invisible enemy that only shows itself in its effects. We need courage to bear with the fears that lead us back to ourselves, to the awareness of our emotional world. So many questions might arise from this deep listening! For example, we could ask ourselves who are we, what is the meaning of our life on Earth, where we have a human experience with our soul dressed in clothes oftentimes not appropriate to our real-life expression. Coming to life, we enter linear time, where the sequence past-presentfuture dips us into a material, definite and limited reality. We cannot live without a form, because our physical body is completely enslaved by linear time. In this linear becoming, we have forgotten our soul, the container in which the Divine instills its sparkle, thus going from infinite to finite. Just as in leaving the physical world, we die to matter; in the same way we die to the metaphysical world in order to enter into matter. This is a very hard truth to face and digest, since we have cut our ties to the immeasurable omnipresence of I AM long long ago. We have almost entirely identified ourselves with the material aspect of reality, built on consumerism, generated by deceitful desires that we live as attachments to the form. In this way we have imprisoned the cosmic breath, so that it does not help our cells vibrate in unison with the rhythm of the Universe. And so our lungs do not breathe anymore‌..
They are troubled, perhaps the paradox is that the cause is not so much the invisible enemy, but the excessive reaction of our immune system. Breathing according to the rhythm of the universe means living in unison with the Powerful Presence I AM, in one Sound: “I am, I am Light, I live, I live, I live in Light� These are the words of a healing Mantra.
In order to better understand the action of Uranus in Taurus we need to go back in time a few years. In February 2012 Neptune entered Pisces, this was an important event for people who can read the signs. From that moment onwards, Neptune, the planet that dissolves the forms, has started to delicately instill in us the desire for change, a desire to go beyond our primary needs connected to our survival instincts. It started to instruct us on the passage of Consciousness that we, as well as our planet, are called to. Some of us listened to Neptune, the majority closed that door, thus they remained anchored to the illusory materialistic world. http://www.laurabottagisio.com/it/nettuno-in-pesci/
When Uranus entered Taurus in 2019 we were not prepared to welcome the birth of the Divine in us, or its manifestation through us. This means letting go of the old and worn out mental structures, liberating the soul from the chains that nail it to the old materialistic cross.
Matter is in the service of the Soul, this is the new paradigm that we need to elaborate, while so far we have mortified the Soul in order to supply ourselves with impermanent benefits. What can we say about that part of humanity that is exploited and entirely subjugated? Uranus is the revolutionary planet that does not stop in front of anything when it is called by the Evolutionary Wave. Uranus works rapidly and unpredictably, it tears down forms when they have become too crystallized, it frees Substance, Essence, Sparkle, the Light that is in us.
Old habits must be replaced by new ones, more in tune with the new Consciousness. The Trident of Neptune in Pisces, the last sign of the Zodiac that opens us to infinite space, has a precise meaning: let’s open our cup, let’s activate the antenna of our intuition in order to access our soul that had roots in the invisible world where Love directs the symphony of Life. Let’s fill our cup with this Love and let it flow through us. In this way we cooperate with the Forces of Life that are now shattering, breaking up and aggregating in a creative process of Rebirth. (To be continued)
Laura Bottagisio Edited and Translated by Antonella Vicini
MAGIC! Prayer Humble yourself in the arms of the wild You got to lay down low Humble yourself in the arms of the wild You got to ask her what she knows And we will lift each other up, higher and higher We will lift each other up
Adrian Rooke
Adrian has sent us another wonderful gift from one of his favourite places in Albion: Stanton Drew. Enjoy this video and his magical spell. https://youtu.be/VLb0YpmwKLo
Antonella Vicini
BECOMING MEDICINE Words Create Worlds Part 3 David Kopacz “Words create worlds.” These are the words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, here is the full quote, remembered by his daughter, Susannah Heschel: “Words, he often wrote, are themselves sacred, God’s tool for creating the universe, and our tools for bringing holiness — or evil — into the world. He used to remind us that the Holocaust did not begin with the building of crematoria, and Hitler did not come to power with tanks and guns; it all began with uttering evil words, with defamation, with language and propaganda. Words create worlds he used to tell me when I was a child. They must be used very carefully. Some words, once having been uttered, gain eternity and can never be withdrawn. The Book of Proverbs reminds us, he wrote, that death and life are in the power of the tongue.”i
Remembering the Past and Learning from History “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (George Santayana)ii
Are we witnessing a rise of fascism and totalitarianism? Many say we are, and it is worth looking at what these words mean and if they apply to our current situation, which Rebecca Solnit calls a linguistic crisis.iii Are we justified in using such a strong word as “fascism” for the language and ideas that are being tossed about under the guise of a resurgent nationalism? The Director of the McMaster Centre for Research in the Public Interest, Henry Giroux, believes so. “I have no apologies whatsoever for using the word fascist politics. And I think that people who are afraid to do that become complicit with the very politics they condemn. Because if you can’t learn from history, then it seems to me that you end up in the dark,” (Henry Giroux).iv In this next installment of the Words Create Worlds series, we will turn to the work of two American authors who warn us against a global movement into fascism. Both authors have familial roots in the persecution of the Jewish people during the holocaust and the Soviet take over of Eastern Europe after World War II. We will first discuss former US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright’s book, Fascism: A Warning. Then we will turn to Yale professor, Stanley Jordan’s book, How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them. I do not intend this to be polemical, partisan politics, but rather to objectively document the current resurgence of fascistic rhetoric, in the United States and globally, in light of the history of fascism in the 20th Century. Fascism: A Warning Former US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright published her book by this name in 2018. She starts with describing her family’s experience with fascism, escaping to London in 1939 from the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia. The family returned to Czechoslovakia after the war, only to have to flee in 1948 from the communists, this time to the USA. The family lost numerous members to the Holocaust.
Albright sees a worldwide movement of leaders “intentionally undermining the institutions and democratic principles that have held the world together,” (xvii). She has chapters focusing on the rise of Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, Franco in Spain, Stalin in the Soviet Union, Putin in Russia, Erdoğan in Turkey, Milošević in the former Yugoslavia, Chávez in Venezuela, Orbán in Hungary, Kaczyński in Poland, the Supreme Leaders in North Korea, and Trump in the USA.
She defines a fascist as “someone who claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is utterly unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use violence and whatever other means are necessary to achieve the goals that he or she might have,” (245-246). Albright includes Trump in this group of leaders leaning into fascism as “we have not had a chief executive in the modern era whose statements and actions are so at odds with democratic ideals,” (5). She points out that he has “systematically degraded political discourse in the United States, shown an astonishing disregard for facts, libeled his predecessors, threatened to ‘lock up’ political rivals, referred to mainstream journalists as ‘the enemy of the American people,’ spread falsehoods about the integrity of the US electoral process, touted mindlessly nationalistic economic and trade policies, vilified immigrants and the countries from which they come, and nurtured a paranoid bigotry toward the followers of one of the world’s foremost religions,” (5). Albright notes that, in 2016, “fascism” was the most searched for word in the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary, except for the word “surreal,” showing a popular interest in understanding the meanings of these words. She describes the history of the word fascism, going back to Mussolini’s revival of the Roman consul’s emblem, the fasces, a “bundle of elm rods coupled with an ax,” (19-20). Mussolini is also credited with coining the term, “drain the swamp” (drenare la palude) by firing 35,000 civil servants (20). Albright traces the history of the words, “America First,” back to Charles Lindbergh and the America First Committee of 1940, which included “Nazi sympathizers” to resist entry into World War II (216). One of the things we are looking at in this column is how words create worlds and to echo and mimic the words of a fascist is to risk recreating a fascist state. She quotes George Orwell’s one-word description of a Fascist, a “bully,” (209).
We can look to see if the current president of the United States qualifies as a bully – does he call people names, does he push people around and try to intimidate them and always get his way? The question is whether what we are seeing in the United States, which seems to resonate on larger geopolitical trends, deserves to be called fascism. Albright states that “Trump is the first antidemocratic president in modern U.S. history,” and that on “too many days, beginning in the early hours, he flaunts his disdain for democratic institutions, the ideals of equality and social justice, civil discourse, civic virtues, and America itself. If transplanted to a country with fewer democratic safeguards, he would audition for dictator, because that is where his instincts lead,” (246). She writes that leaders around the world “observe, learn from, and mimic one another,” and that they see “where their peers are heading, what they can get away with, and how they can augment and perpetuate their power,” (246). She describes how this happened historically in the Twentieth Century and she fears that history is repeating itself and that “the herd is moving in a Fascist direction,” (246). Albright is issuing a warning, as her book’s subtitle states, she feels that in the US, we “are not there yet, but these feel like signposts on the road back to an era when Fascism found nourishment and individual tragedies were multiplied millions-fold,” (224). Albright’s Antidotes to Fascism Albright mentions a few antidotes to fascism, such as “caring about others” and “the proposition that we are all created equal” which neutralizes the “self-centered moral numbness that allows Fascism to thrive,” (66). She also says that we need to develop world views that see similarities, rather than us and them, that we need “a way of looking at the world that recognizes the humanity that we share with one another, and the interests that nations have in common,” (187).
This is similar to the idea of “spiritual democracy� that Joseph Rael and I develop in our forthcoming book, Becoming Medicine: Pathways of Initiation into a Living Spirituality.
How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them Stanley Jordan is a Yale professor and author of the book, How Propaganda Works and his recent How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them. Jordan was born in the US, but his parents fled Europe as Jewish refugees. His father lived through Kristallnacht in Germany and his mother, from Eastern Poland, was in a Siberian labor camp during the war. Jordan also speaks of the history of the America First movement (“the public face of pro-fascist sentiment”) and its roots in anti-immigration policy. He defines fascism as “ultranationalism of some variety,” with the nation “represented in the person of an authoritarian leader who speaks on its behalf,” (xiv). As does Albright, he sees the United States in a dangerous moment. A hallmark of fascist politics “comes from the particular way in which it dehumanizes segments of the population,” which leads to limiting “the capacity for empathy among other citizens, leading to the justification of inhumane treatment, from repression of freedom, mass imprisonment, and expulsion to, in extreme cases, mass extermination,” (xv). He points out that dehumanization can exist without overt fascism, but that “it should concern all Americans that as a candidate and as president, Donald Trump has publicly and explicitly insulted immigrant groups,” (xv).
Dehumanization Dehumanization is the process of treating a person as a thing, as something less than human. I have written about this process in medical and health care settings in my book, Re-humanizing Medicine. Dehumanization can spread like an epidemic. Psychoanalyst, Robert Stoller, has written that the act of dehumanizing another “dehumanizes the dehumanizer,”v (Stoller, 32).
The dehumanized individual has lost touch with what it means to be human and thus treats others as objects rather than as people. This recalls Martin Buber’s distinction between the I-Thou and the I-It relationships. The I-It relationship is a dehumanized relationship, it is profane and materialistic, treating human beings as raw material. The I-Thou relationship, on the other hand, sacralizes and spiritualizes the relationship between two human beings, it is a subject-subject relationship.vi The reason that fascism is a spiritual as well as political issue is because fascism despiritualizes human beings and the world. Just as I called for Re-humanizing Medicine, we need a Re-humanizing Politics, and a Respiritualizing Politics after the resurgence of fascist rhetoric and action. Two of the antidotes that I describe in Re-humanizing Medicine are developing a personal counter-curriculum of re-humanization (an action plan to reinvest in one’s being fully human: body, emotions, mind, heart, creativity, intuition, and spirituality), and to join the compassion revolution – a global movement of bringing heart back into health care. We could use these processes in our current geopolitical climate. Jordan’s 10 Common Features of Fascism: 1) Political invocation of a mythic past – e.g. “Make America Great Again” 2) Propaganda – to distort reality and create alternate narratives and “realities” of control 3) Anti-intellectualism – “the liberal New York Times,” casting free speech and scholarship as liberal agendas 4) Unreality – “fake news” and “alternative facts,” creating a state news organ 5) Hierarchy – us/them, the deserving and the undeserving 6) Victimhood – seeing oneself as a victim can lead to victimizing others before they victimize you 7) Law and order – warn about dangerous “others” and the need to control and contain “them”
8) Sexual anxiety – fears of racial purity and appeal to need for “strong men” for protection 9) Sodom and Gomorrah – decadent “coastal elites” 10) Arbeit Macht Frei – This German phrase, meaning “work will set you free” was inscribed over the entrance to the Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitzvii
Jordan’s book follows chapters on each of these different topics, but he reminds us that: “The most telling symptom of fascist politics is division. It aims to separate a population into an ‘us’ and a ‘them,’” (xvi). The antidote to fascism can also be found in the poison of it. Jordan writes that the “suffering of strangers can solidify the structure of fascism,” but that “it can also trigger empathy once another lens is clicked into place,” (xix). This is the much-needed compassion revolution. I often find myself musing about what would happen if all these politicians who are spreading hatred and division simply asked themselves before they spoke, “Am I speaking from the heart and out of love?” Jordan sees the root power of fascism in the separation of people into us and them. Many spiritual practices cultivate the opposite of us and them, seeking states of peace, unity, and interconnection. For example, the Tibetan Buddhist practice of tonglen and Loving Kindness focus on breaking down the barriers between self and other. Hindu Kashmiri Shaivism seeks the understanding and experience that all is Śiva, that we are all God, and that there is no “us and them.” In our forthcoming book, Becoming Medicine: Pathways of Initiation into a Living Spirituality,viii Joseph Rael (Beautiful Painted Arrow) and I discuss the concept of Spiritual Democracy, of cultivating different ways that we can move from self and other, to brother and sister, and even further to the non-dual point where we are all one. Through exploring different pathways of initiation we come to the conclusion that the spiritual path leads to a state of oneness and from this state of oneness, one feels a responsibility for all life.
After seeking initiation, comes finding & receiving wisdom, and this wisdom comes with the responsibility to return to the world and to find ways of giving compassion and wisdom to others.
I will continue to write about how our “words create worlds.” In my next column in The Badger, I will review Rob Riemen’s To Fight Against this Age: On Fascism and Humanism. In working with Joseph Rael, writing our next book, Becoming Medicine: Pathways of Initiation into a Living Spirituality, I felt compelled to write about the responsibility of mystical, visionary, and shamanic experience—that we must work toward “Spiritual Democracy.” At its deepest point, mystical experience leads to an awareness that we are all one and this comes with a responsibility to challenge words of separation which ultimately lead to fascism. Mystical experience is a pathway that leads us to question who we are and gives us a responsibility to use our words wisely to create worlds where we are becoming the medicine that our world needs. As Rumi says, “We are pain and what cures the pain.”ix
David Kopacz
NOTES 1
Life Between the Trees blog, https://lifebetweenthetrees.com/2012/08/06/wordscreate-worlds-monday-morning-parable/. 1 “‘Those Who Do Not Learn History Are Doomed To Repeat It.’ Really?” Nicholas Clairmont, Big Think, 7/31/13, https://bigthink.com/the-proverbial-skeptic/thosewho-do-not-learn-history-doomed-to-repeat-it-really 1 Rebecca Solnit, Call Them by Their True Names. Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2018, pg 4. 1 “Henry Giroux: Will Trump’s Deliberate Racist Rhetoric Lead Us to Fascism?” Interview with Marc Steiner, Big Think, 7/18/19. https://truthout.org/video/trumpsracist-rhetoric-is-deliberate-will-it-lead-us-to-fascism/ 1 Robert Stoller, Observing the Erotic Imagination (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), 32. 1 Robert Audi ed., ‘Martin Buber,’ The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, 104. 1 These are the chapters from, Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them. New York: Random House, 2018. I have provided my own brief elaborations after the topic headings of Stanley’s chapters. For a quick review of Stanley’s 10 elements of fascism, which also comments on the rise of Hindutva in India, see “The ten indicators of fascist politics,” Kanishk Tharoor, The Hindu Business Line, 5/17/19, https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/talk/the-tenindicators-of-fascism/article27158525.ece 1 David Kopacz and Joseph Rael. Becoming Medicine: Pathways of Initiation into a Living Spirituality. Seattle & Marvel: Condor & Eagle Press, 2020. 1 Rumi, “We are the mirror as well as the face in it,” The Essential Rumi, trans. Coleman Barks, 106.
QUILTING AWAY The Indian Ocean: an angry beast! (The lesson it teaches us) Lida Perry I am going back to India, to the same Ayurveda Institute, the same friends and with the same goals. For a purification program that for me is first of all a prevention strategy, an investment toward my health, a way to renew my vital energy and inner fire. The benefits from last year experience raised my expectations and lasted almost the whole year, so it was not difficult to decide to make the trip. One of Ayurveda vision states:� Prevention is the first fundamental measure to sustain a healthy life�. (Franklin, MD) It also says that change in food and lifestyle practices are good remedies for many health problems. I need to be away from my context, two weeks of silence, natural surroundings, and 10 minutes from the Indian ocean. When I arrive, I find it easy to settle in, I see familiar faces and I am delighted to have the same room as last time. In the first week I stay mostly within the Institute. Getting used to the slow unfolding of time, marked by the schedule of the treatments and applications. Listening to my body unwind and open to the cleansing within and without.
In the second week I go for walks through the village, and enjoy light conversations with my friends. One afternoon someone suggested to go down to the ocean, a short walk from the Institute. The weather was friendly not too hot and not too humid, a walk to the beach was appealing. At the beach we were welcomed by a gentle local that provided us with chairs and towels and an umbrella. We settled in. After few minutes of conversation we fell silent lost in the sound of the waives and mesmerized by their endless rhythm. The sea has had always a calming and magnetic effect on me, since my childhood and the many summers spent on the Adriatic sea on the East coast of Italy. “I keep looking at this body of water, its energy is unfamiliar and unsettling. I am pulled to go and make contact with the water, feel it, get my legs wet. As I approach the water’s edge the ocean seems particularly agitated, but as I look intently, I notice that the waives come in a cycle. Four or five gently break on the shore and slowly recede, then the next wave comes bigger, stronger and it seems angrier, grabbing the sand and with it the shells and everything that is in its wake and brings it with her as it pulls back into the embrace of the sea. With caution I approach the water’s edge, the waives gently caress my feet then one comes with such force that I have difficulty keeping my balance. I feel its powerful force as it retreats, as if two strong hands are grabbing my ankles pulling me toward the deep. With some difficulty I struggle to resist this force, to untangle my feet from the yielding sand and find enough hold to go back to the dry beach. I am somewhat shaken and at the same time int awe at the show of energy, power and strength of this ocean. It is like a wild beast waiting to pounce on the ones that dare trespass its boundaries!
Back in my lounge chair I look around at the people that have come to enjoy the beach on this warm afternoon. There are many tourists, some native vendors, and few local young men that seem to be keeping an eye on the people that are braving the waives. I think, amused,” they are the Indian version the California Bay Watch!... “ they seem to know and understand the ocean’s mood. As my eyes scan the beach I notice a father and his small son sitting at the water’s edge. The son is playing in the sand, the father seems lost in his thoughts, the mother is gazing at the horizon…then all of a sudden with the corner of my eye I see one of the young Indian men that was watching the sea, run toward the child as a big angry wave is unfolding and in its powerful thrust grabs him and it is about to drag him toward its depth… at that moment just in time the young man seize the child and pulls him out of water’s embrace to the dry sand to safety. This event brought me to a place of reflection and insight.
Sometime life situations are challenging, at those times we feel as if we are at the mercy of forces larger than ourselves, bigger than our resources and strength, we experience a sense of helplessness, we are without protection before such events. Nearly every day we are witnessing nature’s powerful fury: destructive sudden hurricanes, unseasonable snowstorms, earth quakes, wild fires, record breaker torrid temperature, all of these events leave us vulnerable, unprepared unable to react and most of all we are dazed and unable to hear the wakeup call the nature was/is sending.
Because of our unconsciousness or lack of attention/care, or misplaced preoccupation, we risk to perish, be swallowed up, be engulfed by the violent rage that Nature is expressing as consequence of our negligence and lack of respect for her. Is there a spark of consciousness that will pull us out from these agitated waters from the brink of a precipice toward destruction? Maybe the hope is that our young generation will rise and run to save us!
Lida Perry Edited by Antonella Vicini
Note This article was written before the pandemic of Covid 19 started, but it seems appropriate to the new situation, if we just add disease to the list of natural elements that can lead us to a deep reflection on life, nature and our relationship with it.
REIKI HOME Beginning: The Birth of Reiki Home Elaine Andres Reiki* Home began as a small seed, a concept bursting with potential, resulting from the lived experience of Reiki students around the globe. No matter what their language or culture, Reiki students often express their practice, individually, or in gatherings, as connecting them to a sense of home. At a retreat organized by Phyllis Furumoto** and Paul Mitchell in 2009, participants were divided into four focus groups. The “Home Group” was asked to explore the questions: Does Usui Shiki Ryoho*** need/want a home? If so, how might that manifest? The discussion was so vibrant in the initial meeting that some members chose to meet during their free time and the energy of home grew.
That evening, the Home Group presented its vision of Home as a place where: • all students are welcome. • students gather in physical and virtual presence. • Reiki is shared in a safe, supportive and familiar space.
The group also discussed the need for a place to archive historical documents and photographs and the desire for a website that is available to all students. The group committed to hold the energy of “home” until the next gathering. The commitment became active, conscious and intentional.
During the year, the Home Group explored the meaning of the word “home” and shared their personal experiences. They recognized “home” is: • found in relationship with ourselves and with one another. • a state of being one with ourselves, others and the world. • expressed in student gatherings around the world. • experienced in Reiki circles, wherever two or three students gather.
Desiring to express their journey, the group asked Elaine Andres to create a definition of home. The poem Home crystallized diverse expressions of the need for comfort, security, acceptance and love. The poem became the focal point, a corner stone, for all those working with this new universal expression for home. The Home Group shared their yearlong experience at the 2010 Retreat. The energy that was nurtured and expressed by the group reached out engaging the hearts and souls of the participants. The discussion was alive and vibrant. Energy filled the room and the desire for home grew and came alive. During the next year, the group held the energy of “home” and continued to listen for direction. By doing the “heart work,” they served the global community and trusted this seed of “home” to unfold in its own way and in its own time.
New topics of conversation emerged as the group entered the unknown. Topics included the pain felt when stepping out of our comfort zone and Reiki’s invitation to express compassion. The group realized “home” is about growing a consciousness of “home” within ones self and within our community.
For over two years, the Home Group nurtured the seed and the energy of “home.” Within their care, the energy expanded and touched the hearts and souls of others. With the recognition that their work was complete, at their last meeting they celebrated their journey of learning by restating that:
• everyone is welcome. • Compassion is essential for growth. • each individual is an indispensible part of the whole. • the paradox of difference and oneness can coexist.
The Home Group closed with a celebration and knowing that the small seed of “home” had taken form and was ready to grow into a larger expression. The work and energy passed to the newly formed Board of Directors with the intention that the seed would mature and bear fruit. And it has. Reiki Home is alive as this unfolding adventure continues.
Elaine Andres Notes by Antonella Vicini
NOTES *Reiki literally means Universal Life Energy, it is a practice of gentle, non-invasive transference of energy between people that can be performed as hands on or distant healing. It addresses body, mind, emotions and spirit. **Phyllis Furumoto was, until a year ago, the Lineage Bearer of the western tradition of Reiki. The current Lineage Bearer is Johannes Reindl. ***Usui Shiki Ryoho is the system of Reiki brought to the western world by Hawayio Takata, it is supported by The Reiki Alliance as well as many other independent Reiki Teachers around the world. For more information: www.reikihome.org
THE CONSCIOUS AWAKENING OF WATER Claudiu Murgan "Since the creation of earth, water and crystals have woven their paths into a billion-year-long tapestry that has captured the cycles of nature’s evolution. Water has observed the appearance of humans and their troubled, but fascinating development, and the energies and vibrations of everything that is part of this amazing eco-system."
What do we know about water? The basic information we learn about water in our formative years refers to her three main phases: (liquid, gaseous and solid); the processes of the water cycle (evaporation, condensation, sublimation, precipitation, transpiration, runoff, infiltration); the scarcity of her resources; and that we are seventy percent made of water.
But water hides from us many of her qualities and facets. With help of upgraded scientific equipment, research has revealed more than sixty ‘anomalous‘ (unexpected/unexplained) properties of water (e.g., highest surface tension of any liquid, best solvent on earth, defies gravity when travels up a tree's trunks, cohesion allows water to pull together and form droplets, expands rather than contracts when freezing). Structured water defies physics through her chameleontic behavior.
Does water have memory? In the 1990s, being an original thinker, Masaru Emoto, a Japanese scientist, after being introduced to the concept of micro cluster water, had the brilliant idea to freeze water molecules and study them under the microscope. He tried tap water, river water, and lake water, creating in time a pattern of the water quality based on the location of the sample. He uncovered the fact that water responds to stress, similarly to humans. A molecule collected from a river that flows in a natural setting displays a beautiful hexagonal shape, while one from tap water, which went through the filtration process and kilometers of metal pipes, had a twisted and even muddy shape. These visible and troubling differences in water’s behavior made Emoto realize how receptive and sensible water is. He went a step forward, applying more sensorial stimuli. Positive words, playing good music, and offering prayers created fully formed crystal shapes. It was “happy and healthy water." Opposite situations generated “sick water.”
The resulting images are an indomitable proof that water has memory. She retains the vibratory messages happening around her either in a natural setting or not. How does she preserve this type of information? No one knows with certainty.
The 1990s was also the time when a Nobel Prize was awarded for work related to structured water involving cellular communication and DNA integrity. The Nobel Prize winner, Linus Pauling, also reached the conclusion that ‘water changes its structure of molecular arrangements in order to encode, transmit and integrate new information.’
In all sacred texts water plays an important role. Priests, healers, and shamans of all religions and spiritual convictions have used water in their rituals for time immemorial. They had innate knowledge and intuition about water’s storage and healing properties that no other substance on earth has – a substance that’s crucial to our very existence.
These highly spiritual individuals knew that their prayers, chants and blessings would be captured by water, implicitly transferred into a medium with unlimited storing capacity, no memory glitches and a lifespan that would surpass that of humanity.
There are many records of healing properties of water, sampled from locations deemed sacred (i.e., Lourdes, France).
If water is the primordial element of creation, the initial sequence that sparked life in the first place should already be embedded into her molecule. So why would water hold onto a pattern that represents humanity’s history? Is she our potential guiding system, our silent teacher in case a reset and a new evolutionary process takes place due to our selferadication? Will she force us — or nudge us gently — to avoid the same mistakes we’ve been making, while patting ourselves on the back at how smart we are? We don’t know for sure, and perhaps we are really afraid to find out. In that moment of truth humans would look small and insignificant.
How does coherence & entanglement apply to water? Like most living systems, water displays a high degree of coherence which can be seen when water pulls together to form droplets. Our health is good when there is coherence between our internal organs and the overall energy we exude. When the balance is broken due to a specific illness, the coherence dwindles and there is additional strain on the other organs. Because we are made of water, the lack of coherence or synchronicity of such structured water molecules adds to the body’s imbalance. “Both liquid and solid crystal patterns vary in their mathematical geometries and symmetries, and these geometric patterns are expressions of the energetic information they contain,” states Dr. Carly Nuday in her book, Water Codes. In other words, water’s specific crystal structure determines the properties and the abilities to store and transmit information in an efficient way.
In quantum physics, entangled particles remain connected so that actions performed on one affect the other, even when separated by great distances. For water, the following experiment related to homeopathy could summarize both the entanglement process and the memorization property: solutions of organic materials such as plants, diluted to the point where only water remains and none of the original matter, are used as remedy with the same effects as the remedy itself. Science can't yet explain what retaining process water is using to mimic the initial properties.
How can one scientifically explain the following contradiction: it is a well-known fact that the Ganges River is highly polluted (maybe not on its entirety, but most of it) but the shape of its water molecule is a welldefined hexagon. How do you explain that the cholera bacteria (bacteriophages) wouldn’t survive in this water? Is this a self-cleansing process? It could be. At the same time there is an evolving process; water tries hard to adapt to its surroundings and to what has been poured into her.
In her book Sea Sick, the Canadian author Alanna Mitchell paints a sombre health condition of the oceans. Despite a desperate attempt to keep its marine life safe, the oceans, overwhelmed with pollutants, plastic and chemical residues, cannot adjust its molecular structure in a timely fashion. But like any other living organism, it tries to overcome such manmade changes.
Over thousands of years, we have given oceans different names for cartographic purposes and easier traveling. Are they different from each other or is there one body of water always connected, always moving and vibrating, always aware of the earth's electromagnetic pulls and pushes, always taking shape as a storm, tsunami, hurricane, et cetera? A common example of such water movement is AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation), a zonally-integrated component of surface and deep currents in the Atlantic Ocean.
In Water Entanglement, a speculative fiction novel, I take the concept of ‘one body of water’ that constantly communicates and changes structure no matter the location to the next level, turning water into a substance that is aware of herself and the environment around her.
Closing remarks Isn’t water considered the primordial environment for life creation? If that’s the case, it means she was embedded with the genetic sequence that burst timidly at the beginning into basic elements, and then evolved forcefully into what we are today. Water has witnessed Life’s process on this planet in its full splendor for billions of years. In my opinion, the cycle of water in nature is not only a process through which water offers the primary element for earth’s survival, but also a teaching mechanism for water herself. She learns about us – our good, our bad and our ugly – as we all have a bit of each in our lives.
It’s just a matter of time until water, consciously awakened by the harsh treatment she’s enduring from us, will unleash similarly severe measures as a defence system. At that point it won’t be fiction anymore, but a crude reality that we failed to acknowledge for so long.
Do we need to develop a language through which we should understand water? Could this language unlock answers humanity has always yearned to find? Is this language going to be an achievement of this century, or will we need more spiritually-developed humans for such triumph? Only time will tell.
If we want to understand water, we have to start by shifting our mentality from the concept that she is a COMMODITY. Water is life and we should consider her precious and dear to us. Treat her like your own child. Show Respect, Love and Gratitude to an entity whose age and knowledge is beyond comprehension. Aren’t we taught to respect our elders? WATER is our eldest elder. Show reverence to her and others will follow suit.
Love and Gratitude to all on behalf of WATER,
Claudiu Murgan
DRUIDRY Species Extinction Philip Carr-Gomm In this excerpt from The Druid Way, I suggest that the essence or archetype of every species might continue to exist whatever happens on Earth, and yet that does not negate the tragedy that humanity is currently causing a Mass Species Extinction. I then speculate about our unconscious desire to kill the mother that could result in humanity destroying much of Nature.
From The Druid Way: The blackbird paused in his singing, looked directly into my eyes, and then began a song that rose and fell in a way that led me into a peculiar trance-state I had never experienced before. And there, in that state, I just knew his answer. He did not speak or tell me – his song simply took me there. And there was here only different. It was no other space, no other time. We were still in the Brookland basin, the sun still shone, the small white clouds still scuttered across the sky. But there were dragonfly and butterflies everywhere: chequered skipper, large blue and Adonis blue danced their way over flowers only my grandparents would have seen. Mother Shipton moths competed with pretty chalk carpet and dark brocade moths in the undergrowth of cowslips. Stone curlews, lapwings, hawks and falcons flew high and free in the sky above.
Then I understood! Just as modern man has the arrogance to believe his planet is the only one out of millions of planets to hold intelligent life, so we have the arrogance to believe that we perceive the only reality that can possibly exist. At some level, some inner, deeper, essential level, nothing can be destroyed. We can crush and break the forms but we can never destroy the essences of things. If the world were to be blown up by madmen in Washington, London, or Beijing tomorrow, I knew then that somehow somewhere none of the splendour of nature would be lost – it would continue to exist in the inner world until the time came for it to manifest outwardly again. But then the rise and fall of the blackbird’s song drew me back to my everyday state of consciousness, and as this happened a great despair overwhelmed me, and I looked into the blackbird’s eyes and I knew why he looked so sad. This world, this everyday world exists too, and it is the only one of its kind. The essence of all that has lived here can never be destroyed and it will live forever in the inner world and perhaps on other planets and at other times, but here, now, it is unique and it can be destroyed and it is being destroyed.
The world is mortal too, like us. And suddenly I felt like a child who finally realises that his parents will die one day….Suddenly the ground beneath you falls away and you are filled with a kind of dread. It doesn’t matter that you are small and weak – you just need to know that your parents, your mother in particular, will be there for you to cling to for ever and ever. It’s all very well saying that there will always be mothers – but you want this mother here, forever.
We are the first generation to know this. To know that our Mother can die. Might die. For a child this realization will, all things being well, lead to an increasing maturity. Let us hope that our understanding of our Mother Earth’s mortality will lead us to a sober maturity rather than a nihilistic despair or an insane attempt to actually ensure her death. Psychoanalysts, after Freud, have been obsessed with our unconscious desire to kill our father (through the Oedipus complex). How strange it is that so few have observed the deeper, more sinister urge in the human heart – the desire to kill our mother.
Philip Carr Gomm
UNDER THE SKIN Hunger for Dreams and Ideals Samantha Fumagalli and Flavio Gandini We Human Beings are the only animals that, once we have found food and shelter, instead of enjoying life sleeping under the sun, we continue to feel hunger and fear. Why does that happen? After quenching the physical needs, the soul still feels hunger and fear. This sensation comes to the soul closest to the body, when a small voice starts talking, whispering “My stomach is full, I can rest under a roof, near me I have my loved tribe. Now I would like to know who am I? where do I come from? Why?� These questions lead us to fears and hopes, above all to an unquenchable hunger for answers. At this point, allowing ourselves to go beyond external conditionings, we human beings have two choices: ignoring the pull of our soul so that we can continue to sleep under the sun; or we could light up our feelings and the higher mind in order to travel on the wings of our dreams and ideals. In the first case, we will be happy and free, like our brother and sisters animals. In the second case, we will start a heroic journey looking for our Self. We will cross ancestral lands, philosophical seas, spiritual woods and we will elevate our spirit to find again heaven on earth, this time together with all of humanity.
Yet human beings are not left free to think for themselves, because this natural evolution is uncomfortable and scary for the people who use the human experience on earth as a game of Monopoly or Risk. False needs are used to avoid this natural hunger of the soul. Instead of letting the soul soar on its own wings, the needs are lead back to the ancestral fears of scarcity, survival, hunger and loneliness. Therefore, the only paths to overcome these states seem to be supremacy, more power, more money, overpowering other people. Being is replaced by having, how much do I own becomes more important than who am I? Unfortunately, having does not offer a long-lasting answer, in fact the hunger becomes insatiable and unstoppable. Just like a drug that we know is hurtful to us, yet we cannot do without. We need to find the courage to start our own detoxing process, searching for a real awakening. Human beings are hungry for dreams and ideals. We need them in order to build beauty, satisfying experiences, where we can feel at ease, where we can live happily.
We can replace expenses with dreams, ideals instead of funds. Our wish is for humanity to overcome this dry land and return to a place/time of high, noble, spiritual ideals in order to create a new reality.
Samantha Fumagalli and Flavio Gandini Edited and Translated by Antonella Vicini Photo Antonella Vicini
APOTHECARY Alliaria Petiolata Jo Dunbar Alliaria Petiolata, commonly called: Garlic Mustard, Jack-by-the-hedge This is a delightful find if you are of the wandering kind who packs a thermos flask and a few sandwiches to sustain a long walk. This very common little plant is generally to be found tucked away under a hedge, looking as inconspicuous as possible, in that way avoiding attention and devouring. Unfortunately, once discovered, the wayfarer looks eagerly for Jack-by-the-hedge thereafter. The soft green leaves taste fairly strongly of garlic with enough heat to add the mustard to the name. They are delicious with cream cheese on oat biscuits, tossed into an herby omelet, and very nice with sour cream and smoked salmon. The herb was valued in the past to treat sore throats, pneumonia and coughs. Indeed, a chest infection craves garlic, which is powerfully antibiotic and anti-viral. So, this herb kills the invading bacteria, dislodges the mucus in which the bacteria proliferate, promotes the expectoration of the infected mucous and dilates the bronchi. In the case of a chest infection, if you choose to avoid antibiotics, then a really fabulous snack would be an herb sandwich.
A healthy snack to kill a chest infection: Rye bread toasted. Rub the toast on both sides with a clove of garlic. Mash an avocado and include in the mash plenty of Hedge Mustard and Wild Garlic if you can find some, as well as a ¼ teaspoon of grated fresh horseradish. Pile the mash onto the toast and eat. You will immediately feel your bronchi opening and responding gratefully to the herbs.
A NOTE ON COVID 19 The 2019-2020 Coronavirus is hitting the headlines of almost every news bulletin and seems to be causing more of a widespread panic than illness. Checking on the World Health Organisation website, there isn’t much information, but what can be gleaned is that it affects the vulnerable, as all winter flu viruses do. To bring in a little context, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says that in 2018, 2.9 million people got sick during the 2018-2019 flu season, 647,000 people were hospitalized and 61,200 died. At the time of writing this newsletter (20 of Feb 2020) thus far, 75 716 have been affected by the coronavirus, and 2130 have died. As usual, the virus will kill the weak, so strengthen your immune system, and have some anti-viral herbs to hand just in case you do catch a virus. I have found that a combination of Elderberry and horseradish to be absolutely excellent in restraining this year’s viral infections. Particularly those with sinus and chest infections.
For people feeling rundown, Sutherlandia is an excellent herb. It comes from South Africa, and grows profusely along the roadside in the semiacrid Karoo. It is famously used to treat HIV, cancer and diabetes, but I mainly use it to boost the immune system and restore stamina to those who are exhausted and feeling depleted. Liquorice is another anti-viral herb, but also is a major restorative to exhausted adrenal glands, which is so common in our over-busy and fatigued society. Of-course there are the famous Anti-Viral drops, http://www.botanicamedica.co.uk/…/Botanical…/A-VDrops.Html…. A potent blend of essential oils specifically formulated to kill flu viruses in the first stages of infection. The name of the game is LOOK AFTER YOURSELF, so eat well, don’t run yourself down (take time out for yourself), and don’t forget the power of herbs. Make your own honey-garlic: This is a rather nice recipe which I tried this winter, and it is dead easy to make.Garlic is anti-bacterial, anti-protozoal, anti-fungal and anti-viral – in our particular position, it is worth knowing that it is specifically anti-viral against the influenza virus, cytomegalovirus, rhinovirus, herpes simplex, viral pneumonia and rotavirus. Purchase a jar of good quality of runny honey, and a hand of organic garlic. Peel all the garlic cloves and push them under the honey in the jar. The first 3 days, the garlic will keep bobbing to the top, so turn the jar on its head as often as possible, trying to keep the garlic under the honey. After this you will find that the honey becomes more watery, as the garlic juices leach into the honey. As an immune tonic, take one teaspoon of this garlic honey morning and evening. It is quite strong tasting but pleasant.
Jo Dunbar
TRAVELLING WEST Raffaella Vicini This time, my job has given me the opportunity to visit the Caribbean region. I felt like the ancient sailors going west, beyond Heracles’ columns, when we finally crossed the Atlantic Ocean. After 6 days at sea with beautiful sunrises and sunsets, we arrived in our first Caribbean port. Since joining the seafaring family, my secret wish had always been to sail the warm Caribbean Seas, so rich in traditions, folk lore and pirate stories. When I arrived in St.Marteen, a beautiful place, where I had my first taste of island life: music everywhere, glorious beaches, swimming out of season (it was November by then), while small airplanes were landing in an airstrip next to the beach. Colors, smells, flavors all conjured up the feeling of being on holiday and of life more pleasant than anywhere I had been before. When I reached the Bahamas, although the atmosphere was similar, I could still detect the signs of destruction after the terrible hurricane that had destroyed the islands the year before. In Honduras I stopped at Mahogany bay, named after the mahogany trees, the area was alive with the local iguanas, chirping birds, the typical sloth portrayed on t-shirts. Another day, another port: Cozumel with its intense blue sea, its mariachi music, margaritas on the rock, chips salsa and guacamole, as well as the amazing sites of Chichen Itza’ and Altun with their Mayan history.
The Dominican Republic at Amber Cove with its amber and the waterfalls in the jungle; the Jamaican atmosphere of Ocho Rios with its smoke, reggae music and lush vegetation along its long beaches. As in every journey, there were two places that touched me more than others and remain as symbols of this great Caribbean adventure: Grand Turk and Gran Cayman. Grand Turk and Caicos is small group of islands with incredibly crystal clear waters, the main color is turquoise and cobalt blue, the golden beaches never become too hot under my feet, the friendly fish is abundant and colorful. The seven miles beach of Gran Cayman enchants with its picture perfect blue sea, as well as its beach made of shining sand. The colors and sensations received over the months in the Caribbean are impossible to forget, they are deeply impressed in my eyes and heart, it is difficult to forget them, actually I do not want to forget any of it, especially in light of the events of these days. The magnificent enchantment and beauty of those places have turned into a completely different state by the advent of Covid 19 with its load of death and despair. It is important to keep the joy and enchantment in our hearts, especially now, so that we have more strength in our hearts to face this enemy. I am now returning to Italy and my mind and heart go to all the friends and relatives, colleagues, in fact I am thinking of all the people who are suffering all around the world. My heart is crying and my soul is sad, because the desperation of one is everybody’s desperation. We cannot be defeated, we must win this war all together, only uniting our best resources we can overcome this new plague. We can become stronger than the virus around us, we can learn from it the meaning of sisterhood/brotherhood and real union.
In this light I offer you the colors of the Caribbean islands, so that those colors can give new shades of joy to your hearts and paint beautifully our world. With love Raffaella Vicini Edition, translation and photos by A.Vicini
PHOTO – GRAPHY Katya Bastia I am pleased to introduce a new, young and vibrant photographer to our series of authors. Katya is very young and she is starting now on her artistic path, but I can see she will go far in her profession. For this volume I have chosen one photo that well represents these difficult times, two beautiful lotus flowers floating on a pond, are attacked by some insects that will probably bring about their early demise. In the Indian tradition, lotus flowers are considered the most spiritual of plants because they have their roots in the mud, but their flowers bloom in the sunshine, untouched by the dirt of life. This is a powerful metaphor for these days: united, like the 2 lotus flowers in the photo, we can remember and remind each other of our common humanity, so that whatever attacks us we can transform it into an opportunity for spiritual growth.
Humanity too, after being under siege and threat for months, will eventually re-emerge out of the mud of Covid 19 and return to its fullness in beauty. Antonella Vicini
NOTE: this is the flickr link for more photos by Katya Bastia https://www.flickr.com/photos/168881459@N03/albums
FOOD IS OUR ALLY Food for Thought Antonella Vicini During these long weeks of lock down, most people have turned inward and have started cooking, sometimes for the first time ever or in a long time indeed. Cooking gives us a sense of security, that our survival is ensured, that we are not lacking in the essentials of life. It also means we can look after others and ourselves providing with love to the most basic of needs. Since the moment we are born somebody feeds us, sometimes our relationship to food goes all the way back to that time and whether we were fed in a way that made us feel satisfied and happy, or not. These long weeks with so little outer action, will allow us also look at our relationship to material life, our substenance and how we feed ourselves. There is a beautiful tradition among the Northwestern tribes in Canada and USA, it is called pot latch : instead of feeding our darkest thoughts, which I am sure are plentiful now, this tradition invites us to feed our tribe, so we move the attention from ourselves to others. Since now we cannot go out so much, due to the lockdown, we can do something for those people who are in need of food, there are many programs around the world that work in that direction. You can contact local councils, associations, organizations.
Today I want to share one example I really like from my country Italy. Somebody in the south of Italy started a program called: La Spesa Sospesa, it is the same idea behind the Neapolitan habit of buying an extra coffee at a bar and leaving it “suspended�, that is available for somebody who cannot afford to buy a coffee. So I can do my shopping and add also items for some other family, at the end I will pay for the entire shopping, leaving behind the items I want to give away. The local organization will pick up all the food from the different supermarkets and prepare boxes for the families in need, who will eventually receive it anonymously.
In the streets of Naples I also saw an ingenious system with 2 baskets, one full and one empty with a simple writing on it:
WHOEVER CAN GIVE, PLEASE GIVE WHOEVER CANNOT, PLEASE TAKE
It is time to remind ourselves that humanity can win over any danger only when it recuperates its generosity towards all beings,
Antonella Vicini (I do not know the name of the photographer who shared the photo in this article, but I want to thank him/her for it).
AUTHORS
Antonella Vicini www.thebadgerquaterly.com Writer and editor of THE BADGER, author of Talking with Gods, Sages, Fairies.... (a novel published in 2014). Steeped in classical and indological studies, I have spent all my life learning from people as well as from the ancient texts that keep revealing their immortal, thus contemporary teachings. I am happy when I can share new visions and face new challenges. I am a professional rebirther and trainer (since 1987), Reiki master since 1991, stress management and leadership trainer, writer and visionary. I also lead workshops on shamanic journeying and soul healing. I am deeply grateful to all my teachers and elders. Badger Medicine Spirit
Adrian Rooke I am a person centered therapist specializing in addiction and the consequences to family, I counsel the bereaved, and supervise other counselors. I am also a massage therapist and Reiki practitioner. I am a member of the spiritual companions and practice as a celebrant conducting Handfastings and funerals. I have been a member of the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids for over 20 years, where I have served as the press officer for 12 years and a Tutor for many years. I have an interest in Wicca.
Andrea "EXO" Garella Composer, pianist, Italian teacher, he began studying piano at 9 years old under the guidance of Walter Ferrato who shared with him the art of improvisation and composition. Between 16 and 20 he reaped the fruits of his studies with long concert tours. In everyday life he works in education and training in the field of safety. He is also a licensed designer for mechanical and thermotechnical projects. He has always been interested in occultism and esoterism. He is about to publish a book where he will delve into these studies connecting such Masters as H.P. Blavatsky, Wolfgang Pauli, C.G. Jung, A. Einstein, Jeremy Narby, C. Castaneda,Rick Strassman, Jean Dubuis and more. Here you can find one of his musical pieces: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FmaMRyjF6o
David R. Kopacz, MD The focus of my work is bringing creativity, spirituality, and healing to my work with clients as well as to the larger challenges that face health care and society. I work at Puget Sound Veterans Affairs Health Care System in Seattle in Primary Care Mental Health Integration and have an appointment as an Acting Assistant Professor at the University of Washington. I am board certified through the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology, the American Board of Integrative & Holistic Medicine and the American Board of Integrative Medicine. I have worked in a number of practice settings over the years. Prior to moving to Seattle I spent three and a half years in New Zealand where I worked in Assertive Community Outreach at Manaaki House Community Health Center and also served as Clinical Director at Buchanan Rehabilitation Centre.
Fredric Lehrman http://www.nomaduniversity.com/ is one of the original “Wealth Psychologists” who looked deeply into the subconscious habit patterns that may either support or thwart personal financial success. He began teaching these insights in the early 1970’s, and his seminars, articles, and coaching have been the launch point for many of today’s best known experts and authors ever since. Fredric’s personal career has included intensive study with master teachers in many disciplines, and professional success in music, psychology, martial arts, photography, and global entrepreneurship, networking and innovation. He founded Nomad University in 1974 as a way to expand the concept of education as a life-long individual path of self-directed learning. The ideas he articulated then are now starting to appear in new schools all around the internet-connected world of the 21st century.
Laura Bottagisio www.laurabottagisio.com is an astrologer and seeker. She started studying astrology at the beginnings of the 80's with Lisa Morpurgo, she later worked with the Cosmos Institute of Milan, where she learnt about the theory and practice of Vibrational Waters. She has attended seminars with gerard Athias and Jp Brebion on new medicine and bio analogy. She shares her discoveries in her blog. She also creates tableaux with recycled materials, in this way she creates images out of emotions and inner worlds.
Philip Carr Gomm http://www.philipcarr-gomm.com/ Philip lives in the wide open landscape of the South Downs in Sussex, England, with his wife Stephanie. In his teens, he began studying Druidry as a spiritual path with Ross Nichols, the founder of The Order of Bards Ovates and Druids. Later he took a degree in psychology from University College London, and trained in psychotherapy for adults at The Institute of Psychosynthesis, and in play therapy for children with Dr Rachel Pinney. He also trained in Montessori education with the London Montessori Centre, and founded the Lewes Montessori School. In 1988 Philip was asked to lead The Order of Bards Ovates and Druids, and he combines this role in the Order with writing and giving talks and workshops.
Raffaella Vicini Born a double Scorpio, she has a degree in Law and has been working as lawyer for about 20 years. Her rational side has lead her to the law, while the deep, profound and mysterious side of her soul has guided her towards a path of personal growth (Rebirthing, Reiki, Yoga and other techniques). She loves to travel and learn about different cultures, she has met people of all colours, creeds, languages, learning and sharing their experiences.
Samantha Fumagalli and Flavio Gandini http://www.vega2000.it/ http://www.dermoriflessologia.it have been researching for over 20 years in the field of psyco-alchemy. They are the creators of DermoReflexology and DermoAlchemy. In 2000 they founded the Association Vega for the study and publication of the new discoveries. Their professional course in DermoReflexology has been acknowledged by ASI/CON since 2012 as part of the natural and holistic arts.
Jo Dunbar www.botanicamedica.co.uk Medical Herbalist for over 18 years , hypnotherapist for over 10 years. She founded Botanica Medica herbal apothecary. She has reached Druid level (member of OBOD). Author of Spirit of the Hedgerow, winner of the 2016 Local Legend spiritual writing competition, finalist in the Wishing Shelf book awards, author of Stress, Burnout and Fatigue (Self-published), and How to Cope Successfully with Candida (Wellhouse Publishing). Leader of many workshops in herbal medicine over the years. Currently running Magical Forest retreats with Adrian Rooke .
Lida Lodi Perry https://www.facebook.com/lidaperry?ref=profile Lida was born in the North East of Italy (Vicenza) after graduating from a teacher Institute she came to the USA, where she continued her education at the University of Massachusetts with a degree in Psychology and later a Master in Social Work. She worked for many years at a drug clinic in the local hospital. In 1984 she went back to Italy to work with abused children as a director of a residential facility. She moved on to work as a supervisor and Psychologist at Milan Cancer Institute where she is still consulting, while having a successful private practice as psychotherapist. She was also cofounder of the Rebirthing Institute with Antonella Vicini, she became a Reiki Master in 1992, she is still active with the local and international Reiki community.
Francis Rico www.shaman.zone.com Musician, feral shaman, and author Francis Rico combines ancient and modern wisdom assisting clients, students and fellow adventurers in awakening to the gift of their lives. His book, A Shaman's Guide To Deep Beauty, shares stories and lessons from a lifetime of dedication to the shamanic pathways and teachers of indigenous wisdom traditions. As a guide to the world's sacred sites, Francis brings insight, humor, and music along on every journey. His home lies in Northern California, where he shares the beauty of the wild coastal mesas, cliffs, and ocean.
Dominic Fisher has had poems published in a wide variety of poetry magazines in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. He won the international Bristol Poetry Prize 2018, and his collection The Ladies and Gentlemen of the Dead was published by The Blue Nib in 2019. www.dominicfisherpoetry.com and www.thebluenib.com
Claudiu Murgan started writing Science Fiction when he was 11-years old. Since then he met remarkable writers that helped him improved his own trade. Claudiu's experience in various industries such as IT, renewable energy, real estate and finance, helped him create complex but real characters that brought forward meaningful messages. Claudiu is one of the co-founders of the Immigrant Writers Association in Toronto, and the Vice President of Authorpedia.org, the world's only encyclopedia for authors. You can hear the radio and TV interview Claudiu gave in the last 12 months on his website www.claudiumurgan.com
Geraldine Rael is the eldest daughter of Joseph Rael, Beautiful Painted Arrow. She has been entrusted with carrying on his legacy of dances and ceremonies. Joseph Rael, Beautiful Painted Arrow said: “After the planted seeds have been Planted, Mother Earth and Father Sun wake them out of their dream time that they may become.� As, his eldest daughter of his lineage, I will do my utmost to keep his Visions, as he has set forth.
Elaine Andres is the dinamic creative director of Reiki Home. She is a former minister and has lived all her life dedicated to spiritual life in its many forms. She brings vision and enthusiasm to all her endevors.
THANK YOU! Thank you for reading our magazine, our tribe of committed Badgers is growing steadily Thank you! I want to thank the new and old authors who have added their voices and experiences to this great adventure, so that we can be better heard and received.
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SACRED OGHAM ADRIAN ROOKE
Quilting
is the art of creating very colorful quilts, using small pieces of fabrics stitched together preferably by hand, in different colorful and amazing patterns. My Quilts are stitched and quilted by hand to assure a more precise assembly and even thickness. It takes time to create a quilt: for a single bed at least 3 months are needed.
A quilt can be a very precious gift for a wedding, a special occasion, or for a significant person. Visit my Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/lidaperry/?fref=ts
Many of my quilts can be reproduced but not copied.
BEAUTIFUL PAINTED ARROW VISIONARY ART CARDS
THE PATH OF THE RED ROAD A Powerful Tool for Transformation
Joseph Rael
Through these beautiful and unique cards Joseph Rael (Beautiful Painted Arrow) shows us the Path of the RedRoad. A great wisdom teacher, Joseph Rael, imparts a personal message to each of us in the individual revelations of the cards. Beautiful Painted Arrow (Joseph Rael) helps us understand through the blending of two languages, two separate realities, that we each come as a gift to life. . . . His use of sound in the practices he offers is very illuminating and special.” Brooke Medicine Eagle on “Beautiful Painted Arrow”
See you for our next issue of
THE BADGER in
October 2020