THE BADGER WINTER 2024 - SPRING 2025

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 10 VOLUME 2

Dear Readers,

We want to complete our 10th year of activity with the second volume devoted in great part to the ARTS in all their forms.

Music, dance, theatre, painting, sculpting, performing, storytelling, beautiful healings…

All avenues are open in front of us, we only need to accept them in our experience, the rewards will be profound and life changing. This volume is also the bearer of more good news.

THE BADGER BOOKS continues its work with our second book: Mrs H and Her Students, available both in paper and digital versions on Amazon.

So much has happened in 2024, so many rich gifts have enhanced our lives with presence and, sometimes, with their absence.

THE BADGER wishes you all a wonderful festive season and a great beginning for the new year, another chance to live our lives as magnificent adventures.

Antonella Vicini

THE BADGER Director

Lay out Antonella Vicini

Cover photo Antonella Vicini

thebadgerquarterly.com@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/THEBADGERQuarterlyMagazine/

The Art of Teaching

Voices from the Stars

Performing 2nd part

The Power of Beauty L.Perry

Story Telling A.Levanti

Reflections C. Murgau

The Authors short bios and photos

Thanks and links to previous volumes

Adverts products and services we believe in

BRING A BLESSING…

Francis Rico

Well, we’re there.

Rather, we’re here!

We’re here at the long anticipated great turning point. And whether we’re entering a golden age or witnessing the end of world civilization is up to us.

The ancient prophecy is that this is the time of the Rainbows – an emerging tribe that will bring healing and a restoration of harmony to the earth. But it’s a misunderstanding to think that this is about people with different skin colors coming together.

The prophecy is clear that this is about people in their “rainbow bodies” bringing light, love, and care to the healing of our damaged world.

The call to “love in action” that is ringing out in this moment is for us to emerge as the agile, wildly creative, resourceful, and responsive beings that are essential now for the well-being of life on our planet.

And a simple choice – that isn’t a choice at all – is for us to remain sleepwalking consumers who live to eat-sleep-work-buy-stay distracted -and repeat, OR, for us to emerge into the light of our own giftedness as creative beings, and to bring everything we’ve got to caring for the preciousness of life.

We’re bringing the blessing of creative collaboration with life to life.

OK – we’re going to have to get honest here:

Let’s look at the extent to which the containment system of our “civilization” is compromising you.

The fear-based trance inducing systems that presently run our world are designed to disempower you by enforcing a state of chronic contraction and distress. In this system, you will only survive by playing it safe, staying within the lines, and not rocking the boat!

And our culture, from our earliest domestication experiences in our families, forced us to internalize paralyzing mixed messages - that we are simultaneously way too much and not enough. We’re taught to shut down our wild creativity, and to do our best to behave according to others’ expectations.

But rather than solutions being found in a psychological approach, with us taking the next 10 years for a necessary house cleaning, clearing the decks, and off-loading of the dysfunctional debris of our upbringing, we can simply align ourselves with the great life affirming Harmony of the Vast Self in the here and now – with the uncontainable YES of Creation’s ever fresh flowering upwelling into every moment!

Again, the key is in becoming honest.

By being willing to see what is, you move out of the centrifugal force field of our world’s three-ring circus of distraction, damage, and despair - and you move into a deep inner alignment with the flow of love and sparkling radiant creativity.

As Grandfather Joseph Rael teaches, we look to the guards at the gates of our perception, and instead of having them keep us “safe” and locked down, we re-assign them the job of keeping our gates of perception OPEN – with the vast resources of Creation available to us.

By aligning with Creation, we’re easily able to access our innate giftedness. We recover our agility, and our creativity ignites, along with our capacity to love and care.

We free ourselves to collaborate, cooperate, and communicate!

And we celebrate!

Okay – I agree that it seems a little weird that a celebration can happen simultaneously with our present world collapsing - on fire - or flooding - or becoming a desert.

Let’s look at what’s happening:

The very same irresistible flowing harmony emanating from Source - that supports and amplifies our unique and essential gifts to life - is exactly the same powerful energetic flow that is presently disintegrating the predatory exploitive systems that have governed our world.

These systems are failing from within, failing from their core lack of integrity – and they’ll take you down with them, unless you off load the compromises they demand of you.

Yes – it’s heartbreaking that our species has damaged life on our beautiful little planet almost to the point of no return… but the movement towards repair, restoration, renewal, and recovery of wellbeing is up to us, and it starts with something profoundly regenerative occurring within you.

And so, we’re back to you. And we come back to us - to our community of open hearts choosing to live with love, and to live without fear.

Through our broken hearts, the impossibly bright light of YES from the Vast Self shines through - illuminating our lives and bringing light to the challenges that face us.

This is what you are inviting in:

Take action!

If ever that was a time to stand up for life, this is it!

We are the ones capable of love in action – and this is the ultimate art of living. To be an artist in Spirit is to allow your life and concerns to be illuminated by the incoming waves of YES – providing the resources we need to reshape our relationships with all of life.

Our response to the challenges and emergencies we face is to step into alignment with life, and to co-create a new “reality” from our hearts - including everything we've learned and everything we've yearned for - peace, respect, sharing, well-being for all, abundance – for celebrating life in a sane, compassionate, and collaborative world.

Let every day be a living ceremony – let every day be a blessing.

Artwork By Joseph Rael

Here’s the key: wherever you are, first become quiet, and listen.

Let the song of the universe move through you – allow for a recognition of the sacred that surrounds us, for the sacred that is us.

Let yourself feel this deeply harmonious gift filling you with its vibrant luminosity. Then, sing! Include your family and friends. And whether you bring the beauty and blessing of art, poetry, music, dance, or simply pure wonder to this world, know that your creativity is the turning point of life restoring and healing life on earth.

There IS a bottom line: being in the world, wild and free-spirited, with love in our hearts, is our most effective strategy for bringing healing and sanity to our world.

With love

Francis Rico

Teotihuacan, Mexico

THE ART OF TEACHING

Antonella Vicini

The group of people ascend the steep hill, some are running ahead, some proceed slowly admiring the scenery. When they reach the top, they look at the magnificent view over the land around them and the shining blue sea in front of the ancient site that they have conquered with their steady pace.

After the initial exploration they gather around a tree and sit down, the students start asking questions and a profound exchange takes place.

Suddenly, in the clear air of the ancient city, words resonate that were once coined here, concepts, reflections, questions and answers, intense silences. Everybody feels transported to a different time, when the ancient sages first shared their wisdom with one another and then with the world, influencing it for centuries to come….

This is one of my most cherished memories of my teaching work: the discovery of Velia/Elea where the Eleatic School of Philosophy started and was one of the inspirations for Plato’s later work.

My students surprised me, not for the first time, with the depth and poignancy of their questions and the real desire for knowledge, as if they already knew how much that place could support them in their development.

It was a beautiful and meaningful experience for us all: sitting around a tree, just like the ancient ones used to do, with the support of the elements, delving in deep reflections about the world and its meanings.

This for me was, and still is, the ideal way of teaching and learning: from and in nature, so that my teaching and learning are deeply rooted, even if and especially when I need to talk about lofty concepts and spiritual goals.

Without our roots on the Earth we cannot evolve because we don’t know who we are and where we are going.

When I decided to finally write about my profession, (mind you not a chosen one, but the one that kept appearing in my life at every turn of events), I immediately went to the dictionary, like a good teacher would.

And there, lo and behold, I was surprised and delighted to find some of the same meaning I have given to my lifelong connection/love and destiny.

Here below you can find some definitions of teaching from Collins Dictionary:

The art or profession of a teacher

Teaching is the work that a teacher does in helping students to learn.

To teach someone something means to make them think, feel, or act in a new or different way.

If you teach someone something, you give them instructions so that they know about it or how to do it.

Some Synonyms:

Teaching is the basic, inclusive word for the imparting of knowledge or skills and usually connotes some individual attention to the learner.

Instructing implies systematized teaching, usually in some particular subject.

Educating stresses the development of latent faculties and powers by formal, systematic teaching, esp. in institutions of higher learning.

Training implies the development of a particular faculty or skill, or instruction toward a particular occupation, by methodical discipline, exercise, etc.

Schooling, often equivalent to any of the preceding, sometimes specifically connotes disciplining to endure something difficult.

How can I possibly write about all these aspects that only begin to describe the immense work, responsibilities and passion that teachers, the world over, must do in order to share knowledge with their students at any level of instruction?

Yet, I want to express my gratitude for this path in life that has shown me who I can be and how I can best work as a tool for spiritual advancement.

The first idea of teaching came to me when I was just out of high school, when I started to give private lessons in my favorite topics (Latin and Greek, later adding English, Italian Literature, History and Philosophy).

I immediately realized that I needed to study a lot more in order to teach others and that suited me, since I saw myself at the time as a lifelong scholar of classics.

Life has a way of showing us different aspects of ourselves, so I was soon thrown into other experiences, and yet there was always something in common: wherever I went, whatever job I was entrusted with, after a very short time, I was invariably asked to teach it to newcomers.

The funny thing was my lack of awareness at the time, I kept searching for my destiny, my “Dharma”, the way in which I could best express my qualities and skills. It took me quite some time and repetitions, until one day I looked at my life and I suddenly realized that I had fulfilled my Dharma since adolescence: I was a teacher!

And so, I embraced the noble profession of transmitting knowledge, of being a solid bridge that people could use to go from one side of ignorance (regarding any topic) to awareness and conscious use of the new information.

You may wonder why I call it the noble profession, especially if you had bad experiences in school, perhaps I need to share my meaning of teaching.

My first example of teacher was the ancient definitions of Guru in the Indian tradition: an enlightened teacher who shares his/her knowledge with those that seek it with pure heart; he/she selflessly imparts instructions, thus training the learners until they reach perfection in the field.

This is a very broad description of the simple act of teaching, but it encompasses all the aspects of real good teaching:

A good teacher, at any level in the education system, needs to spend all his/her life studying, not just the topics he/she has to teach, but also all the skills and techniques that will make his/her teaching effective and long-lasting in the students’ long-term memory.

How many hours have I spent reading, practicing, being amazed by the great masterpieces of literature and art, and how many equally fascinating hours have I spent studying communication techniques, psychology, coaching and counselling? Countless hours far more than I can recall.

This amazing adventure into the human soul has changed me, transformed me and made me into a much better human being.

From the Vatican Rooms painted by Raffaello Sanzio: Plato and Aristotle

Students and teachers under a tree

Image created with Midjourney

I believe that this is also one of the main tenets of teaching: the teacher needs to become the best version of him/herself to be respected and appreciated by the students in front of him/her, without such a profound and irreversible transformation there is only a passage of information that does not make the difference in people’s lives.

I still remember with joy and gratitude all the teachers who left me something of their experience, while I learnt how not to teach from those who showed me all the defects of cold and thus ineffective teaching.

In my life I have had the great pleasure of teaching lofty and precious subjects from the highest examples of literature and art, but I have found great pleasure and satisfaction in giving new meaning and depth to apparently arid topics in a multinational training field, where we could not talk about ideals.

The noble art of teaching is selfless, oftentimes we cannot even see the results of our work, because our students or trainees will leave our presence, before they can apply fully what we taught them.

However, this is also the spiritual beauty of it: doing the right thing by them, leaving aside our selfish need for confirmation and acknowledgement. It takes discipline and a clear purpose to gracefully let go of the pleasure of our results, but again this is something I learnt from my Indian studies:

We can act in the best possible way, following our inner Dharma, without getting attached to the fruits of our actions, only in this way can we act selflessly and receive the reward for a life well spent.

Here I have freely quoted the essence of many classical Indian texts, especially the Bhagavad Gita, a constant inspiration for my actions.

There is one last aspect of teaching that I would like to address and that is best explained by quoting one of the principles of Reiki:

HONOR YOUR PARENTS TEACHERS AND ELDERS

While it is easy to understand why we can and ought to honor our parents, since we are all part of the genealogical tree of humanity and we need to accept where we are in it, as well as the elders who can share their knowledge ad wisdom with us, if we just ask; it may be more difficult to understand why the teachers are mentioned in this principle.

As a teacher, this is my interpretation of the principle: we need to give honor to all those people who have taught us something, at any level of education, moreover we can recognize that anybody, any situation, any being can give us a teaching, since we are in a perpetual state of learning and we can then be teachable by a book, a child’s song, an animal, a sunset, a work of art, some music…..

This is the secret: we need to be perennial students of life, in that way we can always receive teaching, thus growing and developing fully into human beings.

I wish for you to have or find such a teacher on your path, so that you can discover the real Guru that always resides inside your heart.

Antonella Vicini

P

O E T R Y

Infant Joy

I have no name

I am but two days old.— What shall I call thee?

I happy am, Joy is my name,—

Sweet joy befall thee!

Pretty joy!

Sweet joy but two days old, Sweet joy I call thee; Thou dost smile.

I sing the while

Sweet joy befall thee.

William Blake 1757 – 1827

Poems and drawings from Songs of Innocence and Experience

Laughing Song

When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy, And the dimpling stream runs laughing by; When the air does laugh with our merry wit, And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;

when the meadows laugh with lively green, And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene, When Mary and Susan and Emily With their sweet round mouths sing "Ha, ha he!"

When the painted birds laugh in the shade, Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread: Come live, and be merry, and join with me, To sing the sweet chorus of "Ha, ha, he!"

William Blake 1757 – 1827

Poems and drawings from Songs of Innocence and Experience

VOICES FROM THE STARS

Pluto in Aquarius 2024-2044

Laura Bottagisio

For the next twenty years, from 2024 to 2044, Pluto will transit in Aquarius. This is an extraordinary event for the life and evolution of our planet, Mother Earth, which constantly nourishes us and bestows upon us all its unconditional love.

Humanity is at a decisive turning point. The choice that Saturn in Pisces imposes on us, before starting its new cycle from Aries, is fundamental. Each of us is called to choose whether to open a path towards the Union between Heaven and Earth, or whether to continue to perpetrate the state of separation from the Whole, thus remaining dependent on external and extreme forces that aim to keep us at their service.

In this epochal turning point, Pluto plays an indispensable role in preparing us for the true and definitive transformation before being able to access the main road that sees us as protagonists in the creation of the New World.

Pluto in Aquarius teaches us how to unite Heaven and Earth in a single immense Wave of Life in which we all participate in the Breath of Spirit. To do this we must present ourselves at the Crossing transparently and spontaneously ready to clarify the Shadow areas, that is, we must uncover our Pandora's box, the contents of which depend on how we have lived so far in our earthly expression. Attachment, Identification, judgement, these are the factors that produce Shadow.

Pluto, the great archetype of Creative Power, leads us to free ourselves from these constraints and to review those mental paradigms that limit our true creativity linked to the inspiration of the Spirit, incarnated in us and in every form of life. Listening to oneself becomes fundamental to hearing the inner Voice that guides us.

Pluto is the creative power, it is the seed in search of form, it is the planetary archetype that condenses the principle of 'desiring'. It is the force of desire that sets in motion and lights up the world in which all the latent potential of becoming dwells.

Pluto is the power of desire; it is our power of fulfillment.

If it is linked only to material acquisitions, we become prey to appearance and illusion; if, however, we make our desires of the Spirit and let ourselves be crossed and inspired by the Creative Power, we become participants and co-creators of the New Wave of Life which, in an increasingly evident way, is revealing itself before our eyes.

We will talk more about this passage of Pluto in Aquarius.

A wonderful example of how Art can be a privileged vehicle for operating according to this creative modality are the paintings by GIGI BORRI.

Laura Bottagisio

BREATHING THE WORLD

'Breathing the World' is the way of life of traditional peoples who still follow the teachings of the Ancestors. They call themselves the “Keepers of the Earth”, a relationship and commitment of Awareness and Respect between human beings and nature.

'Breathing the World' means, for native people, recognizing that we are part of a Greater Totality that contains us, and that everything is related on both a material and spiritual level.

There are many structures, languages, ways, thoughts to express with words, sounds, colors, images, movements, songs, dances and actions using the body, mind, soul and spirit.

The manifestations of the World are immensely varied and rich. There is not just one truth but many and each can coexist, side by side in Respect, Harmony and Beauty.

Gigi Borri

BREATHING THE WORLD means entering an immersive experience, a state of permanent fluidity, it means walking on paths leading us beyond the boundaries of reality

Entering Gigi Borri's painting is not an aesthetic experience: his works, with a figurative and abstract language, connect us to multifaceted worlds and act as a means of revealing territories of the vision of the shamanic world.

Space, time and reality are transfigured: the shamanic vision calls together, as in a song or a circular dance, the spirit of the ancestors, animals and plants, the energy and soul of all that is living. We see, as in a flow of thought, signs, figures, things, and immediately afterwards we recognize a thousand others which in their syncretism are all endowed with strength, intensity, sacredness and mystery.

Each of Borri's works is an initiation into the invisible and, at the same time, a subversion of the visible.

The artist becomes a shaman, and his divinatory faculty brings these worlds to the surface in a patient and astonishing descriptive work which, while reading in depth, condenses the space-time categories into colors and shapes.

Borri tells and manifests the practice of becoming a tree, man, animal, environment, matter and memory, he acts without a pre-ordained rational project, he moves in horizons far from aesthetic and artistic styles and conventions, and with his work he captures the vegetative and sensitive soul of everything that breathes and lives.

The artist brings us into flows of energy…. His painting is thaumaturgical, always aimed at going beyond appearances and becoming a means to bring closer the harmony between the physical and spiritual world, between heaven and earth, and find explanations to the mystery of life.

BREATHING THE WORLD means participating in a cosmic initiation.

Borri's works are 'maps' which, translating the experience of the sacred of distant peoples and civilizations, help us to rediscover the path of a possible reconciliation of Man with himself, with Terra Madre and with the origins of Art.

Eles Iotti (curator)

NOTES:

Gigi Borri has given us permission to reprint his ideas, photos and the introduction to his catalogue, together with some chosen artwork from his personal show:

Mostra personale di GIGI BORRI (Gigi Borri Personal Art Exhibition)

“'Respirare il Mondo, La Via dei Popoli Nativi” (Breathing the World, the Native People Way)

Parma (Italia) - Chaos Art Gallery

From December 21st 2024 to January 15th 2025

I want to thank Laura Bottagisio for sharing with us Gigi Borri’s amazing work, that perfectly fits with the Badger’s mission and path!

Here below you can find some of his artwork:

1. Vedere oltre le apparenze

2. Cantano canti di potere

3. I colori delle visioni

4. Conversazione

5. Spirito giaguaro

1. Seeing beyond appearances

2. Every night they sing power songs

3. The colors of visions

4. Conversation

5. Jaguar Spirit

DANCING ON

Interview with Alessandro Pintus

2nd part

I believe that my almost rigid belief in the work as it has been passed on to me by my teachers has not always been understood here. Since our teachers were different in styles and attitudes, it was fine to be different on stage as well.

The more I studied this tradition, so far removed from ours, the more I rediscovered my own roots. Therefore, after learning and understanding the principles of Butoh Art, it has been important for me to live them and find them in my personal roots, that’s why I worked with horses, like my Sardinian grandparents. The photos with the horse (see summer volume) belong to that period of time when I was paying homage to their lives and love of horses.

While I was working in the countryside near Tuscania, where I was also holding some workshops in nature; I found the Etruscan tombs and I started to be interested in their culture. A project started then, with the help of a local agritourism company, I decided it was time to have a good practice (socially useful work) as well as art workshops. From then on, every year I held workshops where we worked in the Etruscan tombs, cleaning them under the supervision of archeologists, and in the afternoon, we practiced Butoh.

At the end of our stay we offered a performance at the site and also in different parts of Tuscania. From mythical Etruscan animals, to the gods almighty, to the path from vegetation to animal to human in a memorable afternoon. Every time we explored both the reality of what the Etruscans had left behind and the work on our bodies.

(I recall vividly all their performances, brief accounts of them can be found in THE BADGER).

Dance for me is a tool for personal and professional growth, a way to get to know ourselves and evolve. Dance is an instrument of real culture.

I always pay much attention to the new dancers, sometimes they are very young, and I don’t want to do therapy on them, even if dance does have a therapeutic effect on people. They need to get in touch with themselves and “use” their emotional material with awareness, without being overwhelmed by it.

Letting the personal material work through us, we eventually create the work of art, and our gift is sharing it with the public.

The time you dedicate to yourself leads to knowing yourself through the work with dance: that time is always a very delicate window and you must know how to recognize that you are giving yourself such an important chance to learn and grow.

When this happens, there is a miracle: it means that the ordinary person accesses the essence of oneself, and this is of the utmost importance for any professional performer. Sometimes, when I saw great professionals on stage, at a certain point I did not recognize their flame, I could not recognize the core, I did not recognize their essence. They were good, they succeeded in their steps, the music was fantastic, everything was perfect, including the perfect body, but I was missing the heart.

When you meet the heart in the moment, if you are honest, this is the root of you as a person. I have always wanted to make this triumph in dance. I always work to help the students find this moment; when they find it, then we can talk about being Professional artists.

In my work I have opened the doors to all kinds of people, often without the perfect bodies or the correct age range, because people can witness with their art the deep search, even at times and in ways that are unusual.

There cannot be the search only for permanent employment, our little Non Company has shown that a lot can be done even by non-professional artists, who devote their time and energy to the dance.

I understand that, at a certain point we need to make a transition, this is what I have always wanted and that at a certain point by working with the students a moment can be reached in a spontaneous and unforced way in which the students wake up and it is they who they say “well now let's be serious about this”.

I prepare the content, then people will conform and work in it. I take my responsibilities, I work with people who perhaps don't even have a perfect body for dancing, they may be of different ages from 20/30 to 50/60, I want to prove they can work together as professionals, even if they are not professionals. Yet each one of them has that little flame with that quality with that content! So, it is possible to start with quality.

We may not have the structures that other companies have, but we have a big heart.

Coming to our days, I just want to mention the importance of Apocalisse Nova, a 5year project between Italy and Germany, at a time of great chaos in the world, when we looked at the real apocalypse. The entire work had to do with facing our deepest concerns and fears and finding a way out of them. The dedication and time given to this project enlivened our lives and outlook on life.

Alessandro Pintus

Edited and Translated

by

Antonella Vicini

Butoh (Hijikata's Ankoku Butoh) is a thought, a philosophy, a way of being in the world, a process of knowing the things of life and the universe.

Butoh is not a technique that can be developed according to a system. It is a personal and individual evolution, a process to go back through the body to what is "primitive" in ourselves. We need to abandon our habits and traditions and look behind them, to find something new. Butoh has never had and still does not have a fixed and well-defined way of expression. Indeed, it has always rejected any temptation to build a "system", it has never taken on a defined form, it has not opened any school. We don't intend to communicate something using the body, but to let it show its truth.

(quote from Alessandro Pintus’s website: http://www.alessandropintus.com

You can also find videos of his shows: https://youtube.com/@alessandropintusnoncompany?si=jgHllRgJNDkKOtM9}

https://youtu.be/VGPF6hGzkeM

This video is a short homage from THE BADGER for one of NonCompanny many shows.

PERFORMANCE ART An Overview

Part 2

Donatella Vici

After the theory, here comes a partial and brief description of my way of operating in creating performances.

1. USE OF THE BODY

I, Donatella Vici, have chosen to undertake this expressive path today for the great potential it can give me, for its flexibility, for its powerful communicative force that does not pass through words but goes straight to the hearts of the public.

My body is just a support that allows content to be transmitted, a channel through which a powerful, bursting energy flows, a mean that must be at the discreet service of this energy to facilitate its passage.

The body is not the main subject on which to place attention, but what it is transmitting, and its ability to transmit.

It is the artist's ability to perceive and transmit accordingly and the alchemical process behind this ability that constitutes the heart of the performative experience, and this ability is something that continually grows and goes hand in hand with the process of awareness and with the expansion of one's consciousness, age, sex and the shape of the transmitting body have nothing to do with it.

When I talk about the body, I generally place myself in a state of "emptiness" and listen to myself and begin to identify how I should use my body depending on what there is to transmit.

2. USE OF YOUR OWN IMAGE

Directly related to what has been said above is the management of one's image during the performance, i.e. how one presents oneself to the public, how the body will be dressed, how it will be made up, what its hair will be like, what it will have in its hands, in short, what will be all the elements that will characterize it in the performative action!

The performer must manage his own image with great skill, precisely because of this "sensitivity" of the public which gives great importance to this aspect.

In my opinion, the performer's face must take second place compared to the rest.

The image I create of myself is a balanced and harmonious image, where the attention to detail, materials and colors is evident, an image that is incisive, but which is present at the right level and does not take the upper hand over all the other elements that constitute the construction of the performative work.

An image that is powerful, but at the same time remains at the service of communicating the message and content that I want to convey, all of this is obviously supported from within, that is, accompanied by my way of moving and my "scenic" presence

3. USE OF SPACE

The use of space is a very important topic since it plays a leading role in the construction of a performative act and in its success.

I always and exclusively work site specific. By this I mean that my performances are entirely designed, constructed and created according to and in relation to the space in which I have chosen to intervene, It is my connection to the place that creates the performance.

Returning to my artistic research, I therefore feel a very strong need and urgency to communicate this need to rediscover our being complete human beings through a reflection on the meanings and contents of places, characters, goddesses, symbols of our past.

This is a call for us Human Beings to recover our wholeness and completeness as spirits embodied in bodies.

To return to the use of space I want to add that spaces are so significant that a performance can rarely be performed in different places without its elements changing and adapting to different spaces. Therefore, I feel I can affirm that space in some works plays a sovereign and irreplaceable role because it supports the entire performative scaffolding like a single central pillar.

4. USE OF TIME

Another important point is the use of time when planning a performance.

How long should it last? Should it have a cadenced temporal development or a crescendo or a muted beginning followed by a crescendo and a muted ending?

However, the temporal duration, despite having great relevance due to its close relationship with the impact of the work on the public, is one of those aspects that cannot be totally planned before the event.

I want to say that "time" is an element that the artist faces with his own intuitive ability by listening to the public, a listening that allows him then and there to evaluate the impact he is having and the degree of curiosity and interest in the people present, it is precisely this live evaluation and therefore this extreme "sensitivity" that allows the performer on the spot to calibrate the times by shortening them if necessary, rarely the opposite and is fundamental for the success and appreciation of the work.

Personally, I don't like performances that are too long. They are often unbearable; I find them a form of violence on the public who leave tired and exhausted

I prefer a short, but incisive message and despite this choice of mine I have still had to shorten or even vary the process precisely according to the public, who can be disturbed by external factors that are not under the control of the artist himself, but which interrupt the flow of attention.

Donatella Vici

Edited and Translated by Antonella Vicini

The following images come from a recent performance in Viterbo, in an Etruscan site.

CONTINUING MY EDUCATION

David

R. Kopacz, MD

When I was diagnosed with melanoma, Joseph Rael (Beautiful Painted Arrow), asked me, “Why did you get cancer?”

I started to stammer something, trying to think of something I did or didn’t do, something I caused or was being punished for – but he cut me off and said, “It is because you are still in training!”

This cognitive shift has given me a different framework to view the challenges of treatment and the ongoing suffering I’ve had from persistent side effects from cancer treatment.

I wasn’t sure what I was in training for, or what my training entailed, but I found it reassuring to think that no matter what happened, what I was experiencing, what went “wrong,” it was all part of my training. Maybe it is training for “becoming a true human” that Joseph often speaks of.

I’m used to lifelong learning and Continuing Medical Education (CME) as a physician, psychiatrist, integrative medicine doctor, certified yoga teacher, and certified iRest (Integrative Restoration) teacher. All these different qualifications required formal education and continuing education. But these types of CME are not what Joseph was talking about when he said that I’m still in training.

Some time ago, it struck me that we focus on training doctors in science and technical interventions (CME), but we don’t train doctors to be better people, to be more compassionate, to be more fully and truly human.

In my recent book, Caring for Self & Others: Transforming Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, and Soul Loss, I further developed the idea of Continuing Human Education (CHE) for doctors and health care workers. I think this kind of training and education is more what Joseph was talking about.

We can train in new ways of caring for our bodies, emotions, minds, hearts, creativity, intuition, spirit, time, context and environment, and then putting all these various dimensions together and caring for the whole person. We can do this for ourselves, and we can do this for others as well.

I have thought about Continuing Human Education as a kind of counter-curriculum to the formal scientific and professional training I’ve been through.

In medical school, my counter-curriculum consisted of poetry, literature, meditation, and viewing and making art. While science and technology are good for treatment, the arts promote healing.

As psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist has detailed through his work, we human beings have two brains, two hemispheres. Our culture values and develops our left brain –objective, logical, scientific, numbers-oriented, quantitative. But our right brain is more the place of healing, spirituality, and the arts – subjective, creative, experience and values-based, qualitative.

The training for becoming a true human must encompass training both sides of our brain and then working to harmonize and balance the right and the left, the inner and the outer.

There is an epidemic of burnout, compassion fatigue, and even what I have come to call soul loss – in the health care professions, but also education, business – just about everyone these days seems stressed out and burned out. In health care we are so caught up in algorithms and protocols that we miss the humanity of the patient, and we lose touch with our own humanity. That is what I consider soul loss, not necessarily some metaphysical or spiritual meaning (although maybe it could be), but the loss of connection with our vitality, meaning, purpose, and, really, where we lose touch with who we are, with our essence, or our true humanity.

Another thing I have been thinking about, as part of my ongoing training, is that caring is not just something we do, but something we can become, and when we become caring, the carer benefits as much from the process as the person cared for.

Joseph Rael often speaks of how a healer must become a hollow bone, to allow healing to pass through the person. In this way, caring and healing are about allowing something to flow through us, rather than something that we do ourselves.

If caring comes from the person, caring can get “used up,” and the person can empty out and experience compassion fatigue. But if caring is an unlimited resource that we connect to and allow to flow through us (and that replenishes us even as we give it to others) then we won’t burn out or develop compassion fatigue. The cure for burnout and compassion fatigue is reconnecting to the limitless source of compassion and allowing it to flow through us and replenish our souls.

Going through cancer treatment, I experienced something similar to burnout and soul loss – I felt overwhelmed, uncertain, I was facing my mortality, my body was breaking down. I found that the caring and compassion approaches in the book I was working on were helpful for working with cancer, physical suffering, as well as psychological, emotional, and spiritual suffering.

While Joseph told me that I was still in training, this is also true for all of us, all of the time. No matter what happens in life, we can look at it as training for becoming a true human. Suffering is not necessarily something to avoid in life, but rather can be the fuel that we use for transformation.

Here is a practice that Joseph Rael (Beautiful Painted Arrow) gave me on soul recovery for the book, we call it a unifying practice in the book:

“Here is my contribution for working with Burnout and Soul Loss:

I did a lot of work on burnout and soul loss. I trained in hypnosis.

If you are doing soul work, you have to imagine that at this time, on planet Earth, we are separated by a river, the River of No Return. When you cross to one side to the other, you have communities on both parts. We are all separated, you know, we have the right and the left hemispheres of our brains. We are separated but still we are one. Indians call it the River of No Return. It is called that because there were two lovers from two different pueblos whose people wouldn’t let them marry and they jumped in the river and they drowned.

In order to handle burnout, when you get tired you lie down and use hypnosis, like I do. Part of you is on the left side of the river and part of you is on the right side of the river. What you need to do is to jump in the river, do it fast because there is a current.

You jump in and you swim from the right to the left and then you climb out and get the part of you that is over there and then you jump back in and you swim from left to right and get the part of you that is over there. You do it individually for clearing fatigue. You have to do it in the water because the water kills the flame of burnout. Swimming across is like making a bridge to connect the two sides.

If you are working with patients, or another person, have them do it physically. Have them lie down and imagine swimming back and forth across the river. If you are going to be in contact with patients every day, you have to bring your right side to your left side―you jump off this drop, down into the river and there is a splash as you drop into the water, then you have to go swimming together. When you get to the other side you run out to the one person on the left, then you jump back in and swim over to the person on the right. Then you are back whole.

You’ve spent 20 minutes or maybe not even that. Make it a thing you do every night. That’s the way I found to stay out of the trouble with burnout and soul loss.”

Joseph Rael (Beautiful Painted Arrow) (Caring for Self & Others, pages 145-146)

Joseph’s exercise could also be viewed as re-connecting the right and left sides of our brains, or re-connecting our minds and heart, as well as re-integrating all the lost pieces of our soul.

I have come through cancer treatment, I am now two years cancer-free, but I still have total body nerve and muscle symptoms of neuropathy and myalgias from the immunotherapy treatments I went through. At times I thought of my experience as being lost in the wilderness of the body, my world shrank down to my physical existence. I feel like I am slowly coming out of this wilderness. I’m not who I was and I’m coming to terms with the fact that – I am who I am now. I guess that is all part of the training, what Chuang Tzu calls, “the transformation of things,” and Joseph Rael calls becoming a true human, or becoming who you are. Becoming a true human is more of an art than a science – it is an art that we practice and an art that heals us in the practice. We grow, transform, and it is paradoxical that the more we grow, the more we become who we truly are.

I have written about my experiences and different ideas and practices for transforming burnout, compassion fatigue, and soul loss – all the costs of caring from living in this world – in Caring for Self & Others. Pertinent to this issue of the Badger, there is a chapter on “caring for creativity,” which uses the arts as a tool for healing. Caring for Self & Others is available through Creative Courage Press.

David Kopacz

https://creativecouragepress.com/our-books/caring-for-self-and-others/

MRS. H AND HER STUDENTS

Luisa Taddei and Donatella Vici*

The BADGER BOOKS is glad to present its second book: Mrs H and Her Student by Antonella Vicini. Here below you can find some moments of its lively presentation by Luisa Taddei and Donatella Vici.

DV: I met Antonella last year in a particular context; it was a masterclass in Persian drumming and Sufi dances with my Persian drum teacher. I noticed 2 people there and was wondering who they were, I even found out that they were friends. So, at the end of our workshop, I hugged them, even if we had barely spoken before. We have become good friends since then.

I became closer to Antonella, realizing that she is a very reserved person. One day she shared that she had written a novel, but never really publicized it. I asked for it and, because Antonella is a very kind person, she said yes, more out of politeness than a real conviction in doing so.

The book was beautiful, how could she keep it just for herself? I started to see and grasp more of the elements of her complex personality.

Without asking Antonella’s permission, I sent the novel to Luisa, whom I had known for about 4 years. I knew she was leaving on a trip to Egypt, and she would have time to read it there.

LT: My trip was one of those dreams I had had all my life: a cruise on the Nile. We were talking about a magical place with its atmosphere, it was a journey that can change you inside. And so, I began this process on the ship.

In the morning, we went to see the majestic sites, mixed with the smells of the spices, the people the voices, everything was conducive to feel many emotions.

Yet, from the first day, as soon as I returned to the ship, I started reading Antonella's novel as a counterpart of what I was living during my cruise.

Her writing took me inside and outside of me; so, I searched for an internal and external journey, so much so, that I couldn't wait for the morning to arrive to go and see the archaeological sites and monuments and to return on board and continue my reading.

The novel talks about myths and legends with the same tone I am using while speaking to you: mixing the layers and levels of reality, just the way the author lives. The teacher, Mrs H, does what I consider a sacred profession. Even her fellow professors would like to enter her class because knowledge is transferred with emotion. By making the story come to life you don't know whether the story is real now or in an imaginary way.

When I went home and told Donatella that this book, this novel must be known by a wider audience.

Antonella cannot keep it to herself because, in my opinion, it is part of a heritage, of a key that can awaken something, a deep set of emotions and information.

The story, as the writer prefers to call the novel, in true traditional storytelling fashion, leads us into the symbols that create our reality. This attitude is missing in normal school institutions because these stories are not told with the heart, we have also lost our elder people sharing their wisdom through traditional storytelling.

Antonella uses the metaphors of the circle and square cultures, and she advocates that only from the harmonious fusion and understanding of both can young people understand themselves and evolve into complete human beings.

Knowledge and the search for it are the greatest adventures, a teacher can only accompany his/her students to the doors, it will be up to them to choose and quench their thirst and hunger at the roots of our world.

There was a movie some time ago, I believe its title was “Pay it forward”, the main point of the movie was that giving needs to happen, regardless of what we receive or who we receive help from, so we can create a circular culture of virtuous and selfless giving. I believe this is what this book does, because it is based on the real-life experiences of a seasoned teacher, who is used to giving to her students, regardless of what she will receive back. There is an endless supply of goodness/prosperity/etc….

I believe that this book is a gift for the world.

I understand that the book was born out of a dream that was gifted to Antonella, on the basis of that initial story and the trust with the person who had the dream, she started to write the novel.

AV: In the dream a teacher was telling her students ancient stories and they could see them/live them. I was surprised and touched, because she had never been in one of my classes, but that has always been my way of teaching. So, I decided to give it a go, I bought a notebook, I went outside and started writing whatever came of out my pen! I was so surprised, because the stories and the characters flowed effortlessly. Every day I wrote for 2 or 3 hours, then I promptly forgot everything about it, until the next day, when I picked up the last few lines and started again. It took me about 2 months to write the first version of the story, that was in 2012!

Imagine my surprise when, at the end of the first version, I read the entire story and realized that it made sense!

The following year I wrote it in Italian, a new version not a translation, eventually I self-published it in both languages in 2014.

Since then, I have spent a lot of time editing it, adding and subtracting from it, until Luisa and Donatella shook my world with their interest in sharing the book with the world.

I cannot say if this book is a gift to the world, as Luisa says, but for me it represents what I deeply believe: my job is to supply seeds to young and old people, so that they can create their beautiful gardens. I may never see their gardens, the blossoms and fruits, but I know that this is my way of creating beauty in the world.

Going back to the sources of humanity means returning to our unity as human beings, our being one and at one with one another: separation, divisions, hatred, wars make no sense from this circle perspective.

So, my dream is that these stories keep speaking to people, as they have spoken to me, countless students around the world, and all the readers.

LT: When we are exposed to ancestral stories, we are not the same anymore, we are touched and transformed, that’s why I think it is important that you added at the end of the book the sources of your work, so that they can continue to inspire people.

I believe that what you told me about your middle school teacher as a model is somehow reflected in the book. You told me that she taught your class how to get oriented in a new city by using maps, without getting lost. I believe in your book you have given us some maps, a way of going somewhere completely new, without feeling lost.

I also returned from my trip with new inner maps, a way to know myself better through physical travel and through dreams.

Luisa Taddei and Donatella Vici

Edited

and translated by Antonella

Vicini

NOTES:

*LUISA = LT

DONATELLA= DV

ANTONELLA = AV

QUILTING AWAY

In the Presence of Beauty

Lida Perry

A Trip to Florence

I am on a fast train; from my window seat I can look at the countryside on my way to Florence. The fields and the peaceful scenery are now left behind and we are entering the outskirts of the city.

I feel the excitement going through my body as a shot of energy, while the train is slowing in preparation for its arrival at the station.

It’s a beautiful day, the sky is cerulean, a blue so typical of Italy. The afternoon light sunbathes the church and the old buildings around the station with its golden hue. I hurry to the hotel, in an hour or so I need to be at the Accademia, I have a ticket to see some of Michelangelo’s best sculptures.

My room is in an old building that resembles a small jewel. I have been assigned a large, comfortable room, there is an armoire with carvings that embellish the doors and side panels. The headboard seems to hold on to its ancient origin with much pride and class. The atmosphere is dense with opulence and harmony, it feels like another time another space.

Even my room prepares me for my intense visit.

The hotel is not far from the museum. So, I choose to walk in the narrow streets, dodging the cars, the bicycles, and the scooters that seem to have control of the street. It is fascinating that there is so much liveliness together with beauty all around me. From the carved doorways to the red roof tiles, to the magnificent flower boxes hanging on most windows and balconies. This is a real feast for the eyes!

I hurry to the Accademia.

I enter the hall, excitement, awe, and wonder are the feelings accompanying me. My breath is caught in my throat, and, for a moment, everything is still.

On each side of the hall there are blocks of marble, at first, they look like unfinished works, but then as my eyes rest on the stones, I see that halves of human bodies emerge from the marble. Some have their chests free, for others the head is still encased in the stone. Powerful figures that seem to convey the strong effort of the human condition to emerge from unconsciousness.

This is only the beginning of a path that will bring me to absolute perfection.

I proceed, at the end of the hall there is a round space, topped with a dome, it reminds me of the layout of a church, and in the middle stands Michelangelo’s David. Much has been written about David, but the immediate experience of seeing him for the first time is overwhelming.

The harmony of his body, the energy that vibrates from it, no words can express my reactions properly.

The marble seems to breathe, every muscle, limbs and face pulse with life and has the energy of purpose and determination.

I circle the statute taking in every detail wordlessly, mesmerized. This for me is the symbol of perfection and sacred beauty of the human body.

Every guide will tell the visitors the story of how Michelangelo chose this piece of marble that nobody wanted because it was flowed and thus it created the essence of beauty.

The contemplation of beauty can really elevate our souls. Michelangelo wanted to tell us that the human potential holds beauty, harmony, purpose. This has been a transforming experience, as art always is.

Lida Perry

Edited by Antonella Vicini

ONCE UPON A TIME...

Annarita Levanti

In a small town overlooking the Ocean lived a curious and gentle girl named Mia. “Every day a new skill” was her motto, and so, every day after school, Mia embarked on new adventurous journeys in her attic with her furry best friend, Pinco the Beagle.

With a handmade crown of flowers on her head and a sturdy stick as her sword, she experienced the turmoil of the journey to adulthood.

One sunny afternoon, Mia and Pinco found a very old book covered in dust in one of the corners of the attic. “WoW”, they both said at the same time! As she opened it, the pages seemed to come alive, telling adventures and stories about the Castle of Opportunities, where each room offered lessons in bravery, wisdom, and selfdiscovery.

Mia and Pinco eagerly began to read the old book, very soon realising that each room in the Castle had a special story that mirrored something happening in her daily life. Through the book's wisdom, she started to think and feel differently. The book magically guided her in recognising her inner gifts: strength and resources. “Everything I need is within me now”, Mia started to believe this from the bottom of her heart strongly. She didn’t know how this change would happen, she was always a shiny and timorous girl, how was possible that the stories were helping her navigate real-life challenges with newfound confidence and resilience? She didn’t know why.

Well, I know: This is the Power of Stories.

1: Mia, Pinco and the Castle of Possibilities

The Power of Stories

Have you ever wondered why stories like Mia's captivate us so profoundly? Stories can transcend time and space, touch hearts, and transform lives in ways simple facts cannot.

From the shadow of ancient campfires to the glow of modern screens, storytelling has been a fundamental part of the human experience.

Image a time when the stars were the only light in the night sky, a small tribe gathered at the end of the day around the fire. Among them was the Eldest, whose words could transport the listeners to unseen realms. With a deep breath, the Eldest began to speak, and the first storytellers were born.

In those ancient days, stories were lifelines, passing down knowledge of the hunt, the patterns of the stars, and the mysteries of life and death. As the flames danced, the tribe listened intently, absorbing every tale of fabulous hunts, legendary ancestors, and the spirits that governed the earth. These stories bonded people together in a shared understanding of the world.

Figure

Figure 2: The Power of Stories spans millennia

Centuries passed, and storytelling was a fundamental part of society and daily life. If we think of ancient Greece, where poets like Homer sang of epic journeys and divine interventions. "The Odyssey" captured the imaginations of its listeners, detailing Odysseus's long voyage home. These stories were more than entertainment; they were lessons in bravery, loyalty, and the capricious nature of the gods.

Time flowed on, and storytelling remained. Let's think of the medieval monks, who, with the soft glow of candlelight, copied religious text, preserving tales of saints and biblical heroes. These stories, rich with moral teachings, provided a guiding light in a world often wrapped in darkness.

The Renaissance brought a burst of creative energy. In the heart of England, a playwright named William Shakespeare wrote stories that explored the depths of human emotion. His plays, filled with love, betrayal, and ambition, spoke to the timeless nature of human experience. Audiences queued to see his works, finding reflections of their own lives in the characters on stage.

The tale of storytelling continued into the modern era, where the invention of the printing press brought stories to the masses. Novels became the new vessels of adventure and introspection, with authors like Charles Dickens and Jane Austen capturing the essence of their times. These stories, bound in books, transported readers to familiar and fantastical worlds.

As we reach the present day, the power of storytelling remains undiminished. Stories continue to be the threads that bind us, helping us understand each other and ourselves. They are the bridges between cultures, the links between generations, and the windows into the human soul.

Why Stories Matter

Why is storytelling so important? At its core, storytelling is about connection. Stories enable us to share our experiences, understand different perspectives, and find common ground. They help us make sense of the world and our place in it. Through stories, we can explore the depths of human emotion, confront our fears, and celebrate our triumphs.

Stories also serve as a powerful tool for education and empathy. They can transport us to different times and places, allowing us to walk in someone else's shoes. This ability to see the world through another's eyes creates empathy and understanding, bridging the gaps between cultures and generations.

Have you ever thought that, as an adult, I wished I had known this as a kid? I asked myself this question thousands of times, so I embarked on a special journey to create a Book Series that, with the power of stories, can convey concepts of personal development, beliefs, inner strength and self-discovery.

Figure 3: Storytelling creates connections

Introducing Our Book Series: A Mission to

Transform Lives

Imagine a world where every child grows up understanding their true potential and believing in their ability to overcome any obstacle. This vision is at the heart of A Tale Treasure, a series of books I am working on crafted to transform the lives of children and their families through storytelling.

A Tale Treasure is built on the belief that every child is an explorer at heart, equipped with all the resources they need to thrive. However, societal pressures and conditioning from family, friends, and teachers often create layers that cover these inner treasures. Over the years, we have forgotten about these hidden gems. Using the metaphor of the Castle of Opportunities, it's as if we neglect some of the rooms and start living in just a few, where we feel safe and confident. Sometimes, we restrict ourselves so much that we end up living only in the dungeon of the Castle, forgetting the rest.

Through A Tale Treasure, we aim to peel back these layers and help children rediscover their innate potential. Stories are filled with characters like Mia and Pinco, who face challenges with bravery, wisdom, and resilience. All the tales have an embedded personal development key that will help the young reader open their inner treasures: emotional intelligence, creativity, and strength.

Figure 4: Our Young Explorer Reader

Furthermore, our mission goes beyond the stories themselves. A Tale Treasure aims to create a rich reading experience that parents and children can share together. The parents play a key role as they are the compass alongside the kids' adventurous journeys.

We believe the bond formed over a shared story can deepen family connections and promote meaningful conversations. As parents read these tales to their children, they provide entertainment, impart wisdom, and encourage critical thinking.

To further support this journey, each book will include thoughtful activities and discussion prompts that parents can use to engage their children. These activities are designed to extend the lessons of the stories into everyday life, making the themes of resilience, creativity, and emotional intelligence tangible and actionable.

And Surprise! Parents will also work on themselves as the stories will go straight directly to their subconscious where their inner child lives.

Final Thoughts

The Story of Storytelling itself is a testament to its power. It is a story that spans millennia, crossing oceans and continents, adapting to new forms and technologies, yet always serving the same fundamental purpose: to connect us, to teach us, and to inspire us. As you sit back and reflect, think about the stories that have shaped your life. What tales have left an indelible mark on your heart and why?

Just something to think about….

Annarita Levanti

Figure 5: A Tale Treasure Logo

STREAMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Claudiu Murgan

This time Claudiu does not give us on of his intriguing stories, but something more personal:

These are thoughts and concepts that appear in my mind during long meditations. I hope each of you will resonate with certain paragraphs.

(1) - Inner Child

I never put too much thought into the Inner Child concept, let alone into healing it from a potential past trauma. This trauma never happens to us, right!

The times we are living through, times of intense energy cleansing and ascension. Require a deeper introspection into this aspect of ourselves.

The revelation of what is hidden behind emotional gates are actions of the past that crumbled and wrinkled our innocence embedded in us at the time of birth by the Divine law. The older we get, our Inner Child becomes smaller and frightened, a wimpy image of our true essence.

The yelling of a mad and impatient parent, a slap from an abusive uncle, a feeling of emptiness when family separation occurs, shrinks the Inner Child even more, puts it into a tiny but hardened box where feelings lose their meaning, lose their real name, and forget that they belong to the surface, attached to a wonderful, loving, thriving human being.

Like in a movie, the Inner Child becomes the crime weapon that is sunken into the bottomless lake of the subconscious, never to be retrieved.

Sometime, a Divine guided spark of love and light ignites our heart back into the memory of retrieving such priceless part of ourselves. The jolt could be powerful and induce enough energy to shake the box, pulverize its lock, and bring its content to the surface again. It’s a victory against all odds.

(2) - Ego Dump

What some call an Ego Dump, I would equate with a scream on paper when only the white, lined surface is hurt, taking in all the pain, the frustration of life up to that moment, added on top of unresolved memory fragments from previous lives.

The silent dump might not be as efficient as a jagged roar of desperation and liberation in the forgiving silence of the forest or in an open field, but it will liberate the physical avatar of the enormous pressure encapsulated by the social norms, cultural customs or beliefs that never resonated with us.

And where in time we start the Ego Dump exercise if we’d never done it before? Maybe at three years old when we realize for the first time that there is a world around us. Or a bit later after the identification of who the family members are, their rank on the food chain, and who was friendly or less predisposed to give in to tantrum session.

It’s hard to decide. At that age, innocent and without expectations, one doesn’t know rules, or labels abuse as abuse and kindness as kindness. One knows unconditional love from inside the womb and beyond, and the Inner Child will not accept anything less.

But what if the society at large has no idea of such concept? What if a derisory remark counteracts even such mentioning in passing?

Our Inner Child is relevant in a societal structure built for a ‘fight-or-flight’ mentality.

What if the adults perceive their actions as tool to strengthen the character, teach lessons, and create an able body that later on should add to that family chances of survival and perpetuation?

How one couldn’t forget the abuse, the trauma, if perceived from the other side’s perspective?

Forgiveness is achievable but letting go and healing the wounds take time.

How many of us forgive and heal before passing the baton to our own children, perpetuating the emotional abyss, most of the time with health and psychological implications?

(3) Love for God

The Love for God will keep one's heart on a wide river connecting him with the ocean, with the energy of all. Choosing the opposite of Love is like navigating on a narrow stream towards a dead end.

There is no satisfaction floating on such perilous water, where the danger of being stranded on an inhospitable land is always present.

Only the Love of God is protective, permissive, and reassuring that all is going to be one, no matter the imminent and short-lived turbulence.

Love brings Light with it, and Light is accompanied by Gratitude. The gratitude that shows where Light shines and life is abundant, thrives, and completes the circle of Love towards the Creator.

We are such amazing sparkles of energy, and we don't realize it. We enjoy putting ourselves down at the first sign of weakness, we betray the sacred within, choosing the easy path of self-loathing, pity, hate, and any feeling that will push our sail deeper on the narrow and shallow dead-end stream.

The Awakening is not easy, but achievable. One thought alone "Thank you, God will, connected to the feeling of unconditional Love, would keep our rudder in the middle of the river leading us towards the ocean of indescribable happiness.

Once we arrive in those waters, the danger of relapsing has vanished. Temptations, undesirable relationships, trauma, and any trace of energetic dirt have been cleansed by the purity of God's desire.

We are who we are and nothing less. Open your eyes to the new YOU! Be impressed by your potential.

Be impressed by your desire to Love and be in service. This is who YOU are!"

(4) Know Thyself

We learned that “Know Thyself” comes from the Greeks. I think the statement is much, much older, maybe it has to do with the origin of the Creation.

God knew He had powers, but he had not previously had the chance to test the limits of such power, or the limits of His imagination. He started to experiment by creating matter, hence knowing Himself through His creations.

We can see and feel that His imagination has no boundaries. If we imagine something, it means that it already existed somewhere in the fabric of this dimension or in a higher one; in the fabric of this timeline or in a parallel one.

This is my own explanation for everything that came into existence and is still being created as we speak.

(5) The Sword of Light

I am the sword of Light cutting through the thickness of forgetfulness. Back and forth, back and forth, the cut gets deeper and wider.

What is left is a foggy-less, objective mind.

What is left is a happy and free soul, vibrating with the innocence of a baby, amazed by the early awakening to a purpose that is hidden to many of us over countless lives.

Claudiu Murgan

Edited by Antonella Vicini

The

sword of light

(Image created with Midjourney)

AUTHORS

Antonella Vicini

Writer and editor of THE BADGER, author of Mrs H and her students. Because of my chosen field of studies in the classical and Indological worlds, 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

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.

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 health care and society face. 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.

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.

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

Annarita Levanti 100% made in Italy and now residing in England, Annarita Levanti is a telecommunication engineer with a passion for personal development and giving back. Since starting her personal development journey in 2016, she has been dedicated to exploring and sharing these concepts.

Annarita is the founder of A Tale Treasure, a brand focused on creating illustrated books for children that promote personal development through storytelling. These books aim to help children uncover their true potential and navigate life's challenges with emotional intelligence, creativity, and resilience.

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. Our next issue will be online at the Winter Solstice 2024

If you want to keep in touch with THE BADGER, please send your questions, comments and creative contributions to:

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https://www.facebook.com/THEBADGERQuarterlyMagazine

Here are the direct links to our previous issues:

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_2024_vol_1_ed

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_june_2023_new?fr=sYjlhNjM1MzQ5Nw

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_autumn_winter_2022_2023

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_march_2022_new

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_autumn_winter_2021_-_2022

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_spring_summer_2021

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_autumn_winter_2020

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger__spring_summer_2020

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_autumn_winter_2019

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_spring_summer_volume

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger____june_2018

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_march_2018

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_january_2018

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_october_2017

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_june_2017

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/march_2017

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger__year_3_volume_1__januar_633706ba22eabb

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger___year_2_volume_4

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_june_2016

https://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_march_2016

http://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_january_2016

http://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_october__2015

http://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_june_2015

http://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_year_1_volume_2

http://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_year_1_volume_1_correcte

http://issuu.com/antonellavicini/docs/the_badger_number_0

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This is a service, but we reserve the right to accept the material you send us for this section.

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For more information on how to place your ad in our pages, please contact us at:

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THE BADGER BOOKS

Our books can be found online on Amazon:

There are digital and paper copies of both our books, Italian and English versions are available!

THE BADGER PRODUCTIONS present

SPEECHLESS? NO MORE!

Speak in Public with Joy

The Natural Speaker

We are all natural speakers, this course will support the rediscovery of your innate skills and your real voice

The world needs your clear voice, whatever your occupation or level of study, being able to communicate and be understood in public situation has become the norm at every level of education and in any job.

From shy to shining, from silence to fully express yourself in a confident and professional manner, these are the goals for our beginning course in Public Speaking. Whether you are still in school or looking for your first job, adding your voice as an asset will make you stand out, because you will be a Natural Speaker.

When I was an adolescent, I was shy and hypersensitive, but when I chose to become a tour leader and I was placed in charge of a tourist group, suddenly I had to find ways to give the best service possible and make sure that they all had a good time, there was no space left for my concerns. In this course I offer you my solutions and the steps to take in order to pursue this path.

In our 10 online lessons we will discover: the power of stance with our body and breath the scope of our vision with our mind the strength and resilience in our life with our emotions the deepest values that identify us with our spirit. All these approaches applied to communication techniques will make you a Natural Speaker. Watch our trailer video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w82uM_RqYU and contact us at

QUILTING AWAY

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.

BEAUTIFUL PAINTED ARROW

VISIONARY ART CARDS

THE PATH OF THE RED ROAD

A Powerful Tool for Transformation

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”

www.millichapbooks.com

you for our next issue

THE BADGER

in June 2025