Conscious Living Magazine Spring Issue 100

Australia’s Leading Magazine for Awakening Consciousness

Cele brating ou

r

100th Issue

Established since 1989 Spring Issue 100

LouVan Stone

Celestial Sound Healer Reinvent your life with Artist Spotlight Under Water Majesty Medical Kidnapping MDMA A Treatment for PTSD

George Helou from EP7 A Taste Of

Persia Vaccine Ingredients Are they safe for our kids

www.consciouslivingmagazine.com.au

CONTENTS

CONSCIOUS PARENTING 32 -36

ISSUE 100 SPRING 2018

Medical Kidnapping an authoritarian mindset - Martin Oliver

CONSCIOUS ECO LIVING

2

From the Editors

37-38

3

Living Well Radio Podcasts Interviews with Freya Sampson, Kate Sorenson, Heather Jean, and Mitch Behan

Palm Oil App Exposes Palm Oil - Help for conscientious shoppers by Martin Oliver

39-42

A Very Important Park – the vision of 2 ordinary people

43-44

Australian COOP Platform – a new ethical style of business

FEATURES

4-6

Celestial Singer and Sound Priestess Lou Van Stone

COMING EVENTS

8-10

Ethnogenesis - Is MDMA Therapy the new Psychiatry’s Antibiotic?

47-49

12-13

Summit of Awakening - Connecting the pure essence of who you are

What does reinvention mean? And how do assumptions relate to reinvention? - George Helou

50-51

Right Voice for You - Finding your voice and sharing it in a way that is right for you - Chris Hughes

45-46

Peer To Peer Solar Trading – an emerging trend to sell household solar power to businesses -Marin Oliver

CONSCIOUS GROWTH

CONSCIOUS FOOD

CONSCIOUS SPIRIT

14-16

Sabrina Ghayour’s new book of Feasts – Discover the flavours of Persia – Reviewed by Jan Mawdesley

52-53

17-18

Food for Life – Krishna’s Café creating community in Inglewood

Your Journey of Awakening channelled from Source

by SandraJ and Rochelle

54-55

A Life-Changing Moment that lead to the creation of a vision for the future of humanity and the planet

56

Wyld Tribe – empowering women though creating relationships and community

CONSCIOUS HEALTH 19

Understanding Bioplasmic Radiation

by Gerard Bini

20–23 Ingredients in Vaccinations by Judy Wilyman

CONSCIOUS ARTS Books & Music Reviews

24–26 Fluoride – an issue that won’t be silenced - Martin Oliver

57

Featured Book Review: If truth be told

58

Featured Book Review: Intuitive

27

Have you thought about Counselling as a career?

59

Featured Music Review: Traveller

28 -29

Detoxing Made Easy by Stuart Morick

60-61

30-31

Health Consumer Reviews: EvoLove, Mangosteen, Harmony Me Energy Healing, Aroca Healing Centre

Artist Spotlight: Glen Cowans Underwater Photography - Extraordinary And Beautiful

62 – 64 Book and Music Reviews

See More Articles ONLINE - NEW Magazine Website

www.consciouslivingmagazine.com.au SPRING 2018

ISSUE 100

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From the Issue 100 Spring 2017 Publisher and Editor Patricia Hamilton

Dear Readers

Editors

patricia@consciousliving.net.au T: 08 9446 5883 Mobile 0418955396 Co Editor Jacqueline Walker jacquie@consciousliving.net.au T: 08 9446 5883 Mobile 0427 277803 Features Editor Colleen Clay editor@consciousliving.net.au Exhibition & Advertising Sales National Patricia Hamilton patricia@consciousliving.net.au Tel (08) 9446 5883 mobile 0418 955396 Perth Liz Mulvey lizmulvey@consciousliving.net.au Subscriptions & Memberships Jacquie Walker subscribe2@consciousliving.net.au Contributing Writers: Gerard Bini, Colleen Clay, Glen Cowan, Patricia Hamilton, George Helou, Sandra Junckerstorff, Jan Mawdesley, Rochelle McDonnell, Cushla Lovejoy Ph.D., Suvi Mahonen, Robert Marsh, Stuart Morick, Martin Oliver, Lou Van Stone, Jacquie Walker, Judy Wilyman.

Graphic Design Zoran Maksimovic Images: I-stock, Pexels, Pixabay Publisher Conscious Living Co-Creations Pty Ltd ATF the PH Trust ABN 30 064 748 794 103 Paramatta Road, Doubleview WA 6018

Celebration

Celebrating our 100th Edition! The first edition was back in 1989. Patricia and Jacquie would like to acknowledge the contributors and people who help bring this wonderful magazine into being over the years. In this edition we celebrate our individual uniqueness and connection with our true spirit and life purpose.

Inspiration

Find the inspiration to change your life and live the life you dream of and deserve.

Listen to the inspirational stories of our featured guests on Living Well Radio - Living in community and connecting with your tribe is what so many of us seek. Meet Heather Jean and Carli Jordan who are bringing people together and creating community. Freya Sampson, has a big vision for the health and wellbeing of planet earth and all people. Rochelle and Sandra J are living their purpose and are bringing forth a blueprint for the New Earth paradigm shift from source for living in the world. You can read about the Summit of Awakening and their vision. Larissa O’Neill and Tracy McFie are two women who have come together in friendship and have stepped into their power. They celebrate the feminine and run programs to empower other women through shared experience with spirit, sound, movement and ceremony. Rollo Meyers Park shows how two people made a difference in their community through inspiring their community to make positive change

Choice

Taking charge of your health is becoming more and more difficult as governments legislate for the common good of the community - making some health regimes compulsory while seeking to restrict access to others. Learn more about the ingredients in vaccines and discover how you can detox and live a healthy and more joyous life with a little help from common foods, minerals and drinking more water.

George Helou shows us that it is possible to reinvent our lives through action.

Tel 61 8 9446 5883 subscribe2@consciousliving.net.au www.consciouslivingmagazine.com.au

Be inspired. Step up and live your dream.

Love, blessings, joy and warm wishes

Disclaimer

Patricia Hamilton & Jacquie Walker

The publisher and editor do not necessarily endorse the opinions expressed by individual writers or advertisers.

Editorial advice is nonspecific and readers are advised to seek professional advice for individual issues.

Conscious Living Purpose To facilitate the expansion of consciousness and to co-create a world of harmony, love and wellbeing Copyright Conscious Living Magazine 2017 2 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE All rights reserved ISSN 10336826

ISSUE 100

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Listen to the Positive News

Real News not Fake!

Living Well Radio is the voice of health wellness connection and community brought to you

by Patricia & Jacquie - Conscious Living - consciouslivingmagazine.com.au. Rochelle & Sandra J Flip180 - www.flip180.com.au. Listen to the leaders in the health, wellness and consciousness revolution speaking on a wide range of topics. They share their personal stories and inspiration that motivates them to be change agents. Download the Living Well Radio APP for Android at goo.gl/HddD2g Or get it on iTunes. Listen on Soundcloud soundcloud.com/user-402986929

Eartheart - the realisation of the shared dream

When you go within, you never go without

Eartheart is a vehicle of transformation which brings into form the realisation of the shared dream in the hearts of humanity of prosperity, joy, love, peace and liberation for all. Re-membering a world in which humanity acts as the custodians of the Earth and all sentient life upon it. Eartheart also facilitates holistic healing, utilising a variety of modalities which are tailored to suit an individuals uniqueness and needs. Click here to listen

Mitch shares his journey of self discovery and life changing awareness of how to create the change you desire. Mitch Behan & Emilia Tomeo are the faces behind MJB Seminars who are dedicated to WAKING PEOPLE UP by flicking the switch for them, instilling certainty, educating them, inspiring them & in the process making sure all of this is an adventure & fun! Click here to listen www.mjbseminars.com.au

Receiving all that is yours raise your consciousness

The realisation of the shared dream - Part two Eartheart Anatomy of Divinity

Healing Centre - Show your vibefind your tribe!

Heather Jean is an Oracle of Sound universal spiritual teacher/healer, sound alchemist, author and speaker. She has been described as a modern-day medicine woman and earth mother to all. A clear trance channel of the sacred divine mother in all her aspects, she was gifted with the ability to open gateways to higher states of awareness and consciousness through sound, awakening others to their destiny and bringing humanity and the earth, love, healing, peace and balance. Click here to listen www.themagicofyou.com

Continue listening to Freya who is joined by her team to share the modalities, healing and passion for transformation, in the second part of Eartheart Interview. It is Eartheart’s purpose to guide each and everyone of us to awaken and remember our true nature. As humanity awakens we return to living peacefully & sustainably with Earth, nature and all sentient life. So be it! Click here to listen www.eartheart.com.au

SPRING 2018

Introducing Aroca Healing Centre , a space born out of love for Healing and helping . A Holistic Healing Centre with all things alternative under the one roof . Blessed to share the space with so many gifted and talented souls all trying to make a difference . Aroca is a place for you to mix and mingle with likeminded souls , for you to walk on your Spiritual journey - whatever that may be . Click here to listen www.arocahealing.com.au

Everyone needs a hand up....

The Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors have been offering training for over 25 years.

Counselling is acknowledged as being one of the most personally and professionally rewarding careers, and the need for counsellors in Australia has never been greater. Courses are self-paced, allowing you to progress at a speed that suits you according to your lifestyle commitments. Click here to listen

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Celestial

Effects Flow in Lou Van Stone’s songs

International musician LOU VAN STONE is again a headline attraction at this year’s Conscious Living Expo at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, November 3 – 5. Here, Lou talks about why she is referred to as a Celestial Musician in this Q & A session.

CL: You are a formally trained soprano and you cover many musical genres, including jazz, yet you are described as a Celestial Musician, What does that mean?

LVS: ‘Celestial’ means I am able to connect into higher realms when I sing. I can therefore bring forth music of a high frequency that will have a direct physical effect on the listener.

What I’m doing is more than singing. It’s a form of energy transmission. I’m a conduit, or ‘pipe’ for Source energy to flow through. When I sing, I open myself up, step out of the way and allow divine music in Light Language form to flow through me. It’s a wonderful feeling and completely effortless. From a state of pure channel, the most exquisite melodies emerge so easily, like water flowing. There is an everlasting supply of music and it is always different.

CL: Do you use a different approach when you write a song?

LVS: I now use the same process for songwriting. I guess it has always been a form of channeling, but I didn’t realise this was happening earlier on in my career. I find now that the songs come through effortlessly too. It’s more a question of ‘downloading’ them from Source, than writing them.

I will get a melody line and chord progression instantly.

Then the words come through in ‘Light Language’. After this, I allow some time for the English lyrics to emerge from the Light Language and the message of the song to become clear. I don’t plan to write a song about a specific theme, I wait for that to evolve. It’s great fun. I also get SPRING 2018

songs coming to me in dreams. I make sure I record the ideas straight away before the melody fades.

CL: What is Light Language?

LVS: A very good question and one that’s hard to answer with the intellect.

Light Language doesn’t function on a linguistic level.

It’s energetic and works at a high vibration level. It’s not something to be understood by the mind. Our higher self recognises the sounds and can use it as a key for energy activation, clearing and to raise our own vibration. Light Language resonates deep within our souls because it is our own universal language.

Whether it’s spoken, sung, written or expressed in any way, Light Language can be a powerful healing tool, working on a cellular level. I love the spontaneous perfection of singing in light language. I’m free of judgment about what comes through, because there are no rules. I can feel its rightness throughout my body. Not something I can truly articulate, but rather something to which my soul says a deep, resounding ‘YES’. It’s a big thumbs up, and sometimes that’s the only way I can convey it.

CL: How did you discover that you could channel?

LVS: I believe I have been channeling music for many years, but it has only been in the past 10 years or so that I’ve been more conscious of what I am doing. It has been something that has evolved naturally with growing awareness. I’m now also expressing through channeled artwork. The music is expressing itself in paintings,

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drawings and artworks on natural objects like seed pods and stones.

Meditation has played a very important part in nurturing and expanding the channeling. I have a twice daily meditation practice. I also do best when I walk in nature every day. I find it easy to be distracted with all the duties required to be an Independent Artist, so I need to put this first. This conscious life requires dedication, diligence and discipline. I know when I put my practice first, everything falls into place easily. If neglected, things start to get sticky.

‘Meditation has played an important part… I have a twice daily meditation practice.

I also do best when I walk in nature every day’ CL: What inspires you?

LVS: I get so much inspiration from nature. I live in a beautiful rainforest with my son Max and our three dogs.

Right now, I can hear the new waterfall created by the recent rains. There is a dam right in front of the house and I can see three turtles sunning themselves on a log in the water. The breeze is singing through the wind chimes, accompanying the beautiful birdsong all around. This setting permeates all of my music. It is present when I compose and record and it comes with me wherever I perform. I bottle it up and take it with me wherever I go. I feel my music is a direct extension of this energy.

Even though I classify myself in the ‘Conscious Music’ category, I am inspired by music of all genres. I passionately study music documentaries on artists from a wide range of music. I’m fascinated by the imperfection in everyone’s journey. We are so used to seeing a highly polished final product, that we can often be unaware of the struggle behind the art. I love hearing about the human aspect of their journeys. It inspires me to keep going on mine.

CL: How did you find yourself in this line of work?

LVS: In the past, I worked as a creative in the advertising industry. I loved the creative aspect of the job, making TV commercials and so on, but I realise now that I was far too 6

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sensitive for that kind of work. I started yearning to sing and began lessons.

This gained momentum and one day I had an epiphany moment, where I wanted to fall to my knees and declare that I was going to give up advertising and study singing full time.

I didn’t know how I was going to achieve this, but knew with every cell of my body that this was what I had to do.

The universe duly responded and shortly after, I became very ill, was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and was unable to work. Long story short, I left advertising and did a Music Degree.

I’m very grateful for the formal musical training I had, because it has given me such strong foundations to build from and a more interesting platform through which the music can flow. I also really appreciate everything I learned in the advertising world as I use it in my music business now.

It’s a very exciting time to be an Independent Artist; there are so many incredible online tools and courses to help us reach a worldwide audience. In order to be musicians, we need to be entrepreneurs too. I’m loving the learning and expanding.

CL: What is coming up next for you?

LVS: I have many songs lined up and ready to go for my next album that I’m naming And There is Beauty. This is a light-language inspired collection of songs. I’m launching a crowd funding campaign for this soon. I’ll also be recording a range of channeled healing CDs and guided meditations. I have a new Blissful Baby Sleep CD too. I have had many people ask me to make an album especially for sleep. I set the intention to channel the best music to help babies and children sleep. I love the result and have had some really good feedback from parents.

I have an extensive festival schedule coming up as well as a UK tour in 2018. I will also be running my Celestial Sound Healing Voyages and Light Language Activation Courses Australia-wide and offering One On One Skype Sound Healing Sessions. Exciting times.

For further information, visit www.louvanstone.com FB: Lou Van Stone Music eMail: lou@louvanstone.com Listen to Lou Van Stones Interview – Click here soundcloud.com/user-402986929/ lou-van-stone-shares-her-excitementin-performing-at-conscious-living-expo SPRING 2018

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Is MDMA Therapy

Psychiatry’s Antibiotic?

By ROBERT MARSH of Entheogenesis Australis

P

sychiatry in the modern world is at a crossroads similar to physical medicine at the turn of the 20th Century, when humanity was ravaged by now treatable and preventable infectious diseases.

We knew what the causes were, who was likely to become unwell, and how to ease their pain; yet we did not understand how to cure those conditions. The discovery of the antibiotic shifted humanity out of a dark age of premature illness and death, and into the light of modern medicine.

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WHAT MDMA IS

3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a derivative of amphetamine and a member of the phenethylamine family of chemicals that may act as stimulants, hallucinogens, and/or entactogens.

WHAT MDMA IS NOT

Ecstasy is a synthetic party drug containing additional potentially harmful ingredients.

Ecstacy tablets are not MDMA.

SPRING 2018

COMING EVENTS BREAKTHROUGH THERAPY

Dr Ben Sessa (MBBS BSc MRCPsych) believes we are on the verge of a similar breakthrough in psychiatry with the advent of modern therapies using the synthetic drug MDMA, often mistakenly referred to as ‘Ecstasy’.

Dr Sessa is a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist working in adult addiction services and with incarcerated young people.

He is currently a senior research fellow at Bristol, Cardiff and Imperial College London Universities, where he is conducting the UK’s first clinical studies with MDMAassisted therapy for the treatment of PTSD and alcohol dependence syndrome.

His work in the field has led him to the conclusion that the psychiatric profession is in many cases failing its patients, providing them with band-aid fixes, and his search for an answer to this problem has brought him to the field of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy.

“MDMA could offer us, for the first time, the opportunity to comprehensively treat trauma. Our current treatment toolkit continues to fail a large number of patients – we are in dire need of new approaches and modalities.”

With Phase Three soon commencing in several countries worldwide following the US’ FDA approval of such trials, this often-misunderstood compound is showing enormous potential in helping individuals with treatmentresistant post-traumatic stress disorder lead healthy and happy lives, free from the symptoms of their condition.

Most positively, the results from its use in psychotherapy are long-lasting: many patients report no return of symptoms months and even years after their courses.

SYMPTOMS REDUCED

In clinical trials monitored closely by the FDA involving 107 patients, 61 per cent reported major reductions in symptoms – to the point where they no longer fit the criteria for PTSD. Follow-up studies a year later found that 67 per cent no longer had PTSD. These studies represent a new modality in psychotherapy combining the use of drugs and various cognitive behavioral therapies, along with new techniques developed to deal directly with MDMA-assisted sessions.

Unlike many other psychiatric drugs, MDMA is not prescribed for individuals to take in their own homes over the long-term. Instead it is administered by a medical professional as a part of the therapy session. Patients SPRING 2018

typically undertake between 10 to 12 sessions of psychotherapy, with the active compound administered just three times in total. These MDMA-assisted sessions are interspersed between traditional therapy sessions, where the material that arises is unpacked, discussed and integrated.

“What attracts me, therefore, to psychedelic medicine is that it is a perfect marriage of drugs and psychotherapy – it is drug-assisted psychotherapy. This is a radical new way of looking at treating mental illness.”

—Dr Sessa

‘The safest possible course of action… may be to regulate and supervise the sale and use of this powerful substance to the medical profession…’

RECENT RESEARCH

Initally used as a therapeutic tool, MDMA’s unfortunate scheduling as a drug of dependence with no accepted medical value, research into the therapeutic uses of this peculiar compound ground to a halt, until very recently.

Widespread use in the rave community led to the public demonization of the substance as the province of black-market criminals and societal dropouts.

This view fails to take into account that MDMA and ‘Ecstasy’ are not identical compounds. MDMA is synthesized under controlled conditions in a scientific laboratory, whereas ‘Ecstasy’ is often made under chaotic conditions and cut with a variety of potentially harmful or addictive secondary compounds. The safest possible course of action is therefore likely to be, as in the case of existing psychiatric medicines, to regulate and supervise the sale and use of this powerful substance to the medical profession, keeping it out of the hands of dangerous criminals.

Originally developed by the chemist Alexander Shulgin, MDMA quickly found its footing in couples’ therapy, earning it the moniker of “entactogen”, which roughly translated means “that which generates closeness”.

This closeness made it a highly effective tool when used as a therapy for estranged couples, bringing about profound experiences of empathy, even after many months or years of separation or fractured relationship.

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COMING EVENTS With the support of a therapist, MDMA can also enable a patient to become close to, and objectively view, interact with and unpack traumatic memories.

This opens up real treatment pathways for PTSD, which in many patients, has remained untreatable, given the intensity of their experiences.

“My work with abused children, seeing them grow into damaged and addicted adults, has brought me to the door of MDMA Therapy as psychiatry’s best opportunity for a therapeutic breakthrough.”

—Dr Sessa Dr Sessa considers the discovery of MDMA therapy to be as important to psychiatry as the discovery of antibiotics was to medicine at the turn of the last century.

No longer is it a certainty that those with treatmentresistant conditions such as PTSD will be relegated to a lifetime of palliative care, being prescribed long-term courses of psychiatric medicines to paper over the cracks of their illness.

Sixth EGA Psychedelic Symposium with international and local expert speakers will be held in Victoria in December this year.

NEW INTERVENTION MODES

There is real potential for these new forms of intervention to reduce dependency on drugs that produce sometimes life-threatening side effects and which do not address the root cause of the illness but rather treat its symptoms.

With the ACT approving previously controversial harm minimization activities surrounding these compounds, many health professionals believe this is an unmissable opportunity for our nation to reclaim its world leading reputation for its holistic and patient-centered (rather than political) approach to drug use.

Dr Sessa is the author of two books exploring psychedelic medicine: The Psychedelic Renaissance (2012) and To Fathom Hell or Soar Angelic (2015), and has written more than twenty peer-reviewed articles in the mainstream medical press.

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ENTHEOGENESIS CONFERENCE

Dr Sessa will be speaking at this years’ Entheogenesis Australis conference on the profound possibilities of MDMA therapy and on closely related topics such as harm reduction.

Entheogenesis Australis’ (EGA) 2017 Psychedelic Symposium is a uniquely Australian conference taking place from 8 to 10 December 2017, examining breakthrough research, education, harm minimization and current applications of the medical and therapeutic uses of psychedelic substances.

The conference will take place in a beautiful indooroutdoor conference facility two hours northeast of Melbourne, just outside of the town of Eildon.

The 2017 Psychedelic Symposium will feature more than 50 speakers and workshops, including international entheogenic luminaries such as Rick Doblin, Dr Ben Sessa and Kathleen Harrison, and many Australian experts.

By furthering the broader drug conversation, the anthropological and current-day uses of these substances, EGA works to promote a harm reduction and safety message among our communities, while building connections towards health and understanding.

DECEMBER SYMPOSIUM

The 2017 Psychedelic Symposium is EGA’s 6th outdoor conference (and 16th educational gathering); with its unique outdoor auditorium attracting attendees from incredibly diverse perspectives; students and academics, backyard botanists to those working within world-leading labs. The comprehensiveness of the conference is balanced by a relaxed and family-friendly vibe, as attendees explore the different conference spaces, market stalls, food options and immersive art installations.

Limited opportunities remain to secure your ticket. Visit the Entheogenesis Australis website www.entheogenesis.org for more information and to secure your place at this world-leading and utterly unique conference.

SPRING 2018

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COMING EVENTS

Summit of Awakening Enjoy music, light, love and healing energy

Guided and carried on the energetic flow of Messages from Source, this transformational day will surround you in the energy of light, love, purity and healing.

Keynotes, music, and Messages from Source, along with the guided messages of Five Songs will gently bring you to a place of being in the moment, connected to the pure essence of ‘who you are’, standing in the energetic and physical and open to receive all that is being held for you.

Received energetically, with clear guidance and direction on how the day should unfold, the Summit of Awakening is the beginning of newness, a place of healing, understanding, transformation and awakening, and filled with joy and the ‘laughter of life’.

You will experience a sense of newness that will continue to grow in you, connecting you to all that is yours to walk in, and releasing the abundance that is being held for you.

SUMMIT’S KEY FOCUS

WHERE AND WHEN

HOW ROCHELLE & SANDRAJ WORK

This event will be held in Perth, Western Australia, on 24 March, 2018 and will be the first of many.

Through messages received from Source by organisers Rochelle and SandraJ, each part of the event is clearly defined. And each part carries a specific message. What has been shown

by Source is the need for healing and transformation that extends past an initial event or healing session.

Understanding all of who you are and the connection to All that is, Source, God, The Divine, Source Energy (which ever name you choose), carries the messages given and is the key focus of the event.

Connecting the pure essence of who you are and opening all of you to the healing and transformation energy that holds all that is being held for is the message that has been given.

The keynote speakers, musicians, artists and others who will gently guide, teach and nurture you will be open energetically to the purity of ‘All That Is’. They will hold that space for you until you can give to you all that is yours to have.

Rochelle and SandraJ have been shown that there will be spontaneous healings, a strong gentle flow of energy that will create change and transformation in those who attend, guided messages, and an awakening of self during the event.

The energy that flows in and from the connection Rochelle and SandraJ have with Source guides, teaches, and carries transformation and change.

In a guided message from Source they were told: “The space you stand is one of guide and teacher. It is the holding of all that is to be given to the one who stands before you with an openness to receive. It is a place of healing, of giving and receiving of all that is being held until the one is ready to give to self.”

In workshops or private sessions with Rochelle and SandraJ, first there is awakening across the physical, the emotional, the intellect and the energetic parts of who we are.

Next there is a physical manifestation or awareness of the energy. People usually feel this as a tingling, or a sense of heat or cold, or an awareness of the energy swirling or settling like a blanket around them.

Then there is personal transformation and healing.

What is experienced is the connection to Source, to the energy to ‘All That Is’. It is in this energy and connection that change, growth and transformation begins.

Register your interest in attending the Summit of Awakening with Conscious Living is.gd/summitofawakening

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is.gd/summitofawakening

CONSCIOUS FOOD

Taste

Persia Meals created in your own kitchen

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hef Sabrina Ghayour’s new book Feast looks set to follow the successes of her debut book, Persiana, which “demystifies” Persian cuisine, and her best selling Sirocco.

Her recipes in Feast enable an important aspect of Persian culture to be experienced in every home.

In addition to being a chef, Sabrina is a food writer and delights in teaching others how to cook delicious Middle Eastern cuisine.

In Middle Eastern homes, family members and friends gather in unity, sharing infectious laughter and warmth as stories are told while enjoying food.

MEHMOONI EVENTS

As a child, Sabrina grew up in a Persian family that held many big family gatherings which are known as ‘mehmooni’. The mehmooni is a traditional style of party at which big feasts are shared and guests are invited to eat enormous amounts of delicious food prepared with passion, pride and love.

These mehmooni events influenced Sabrina’s choice of career, and have led her to help home cooks create secrets of creating Persian cuisine using the recipes in her new book, Feast.

Her experience in mass media is considerable, making her progression to author part of a natural progression.

Sabrina has had regular appearances on the BBC’s Good Food Show, Taste London and more. Her work has featured in major newspapers including The Times, The Sunday Times, the Evening Standard, the Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph, delicious.magazine, Waitrose Food magazine, 14

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“Feasts have always played an important role in the history of empires… shar ing of meals has long played a part in uniting cultures, commun ities and families by bringing people together in a convivial and unin hibited way, where all differen ces can be left aside at the ta ble.”

Sainsbury’s magazine —Sabrina Ghayour and the BBC’s Good Food magazine.

She has also appeared on BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen, BBC2’s Great British Menu and Channel 4›s Sunday Brunch.

Sabrina’s debut first cookbook, Persiana, was awarded Best New Cookbook at the Observer Food Monthly awards 2014 and Book of the Year at the 2015 Food & Travel Awards. Her follow up book, Sirocco, debuted at no.

1 and was a Sunday Times bestseller.

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PEACH, FETA & MINT SALAD WITH PUL BIBER CHILI FLAKES SERVES 4–6

4 large peaches, pitted and each cut into approximately 10 wedges 1 red onion, thinly sliced into half-moons extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon pul biber chilli flakes juice of 1/2 lemon 200g feta cheese, crumbled into small pieces 1 small bunch (about 30g) of mint, leaves stripped, rolled up tightly and sliced into ribbons • Maldon sea salt flakes and freshly ground • black pepper • • • • • • •

Put the peach slices, onion, a good drizzle of olive oil, pul biber and lemon juice into a mixing bowl, season generously with salt and pepper and mix well. Transfer the mixture to a serving dish, then scatter over the feta and mint and serve.

SPICED GREEN BEAN & TOMATO STEW WITH LABNEH, HARISSA OIL & SCORCHED PEANUTS SERVES 4–6 • olive oil • 1 large head of garlic, cloves bashed and thinly sliced • 400g trimmed green beans • 2 teaspoons ground cumin • 1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon • 1 heaped teaspoon ground turmeric • 400g tomatoes, cored and diced into rough chunks • 400g can chopped tomatoes • 1 heaped teaspoon caster sugar • Maldon sea salt flakes and freshly ground • black pepper TO SERVE • 1 heaped tablespoon rose harissa • olive oil • 200g labneh • 2 generous handfuls of peanuts, • dry-toasted until slightly scorched

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Drizzle enough oil into a large saucepan to generously coat the base and heat over a medium heat. Heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic slivers and stir-fry for 1–2 minutes, or until they soften. Add the green beans and cook for 4–5 minutes, or until they just begin to lose their rawness – they will deepen in colour to a more vibrant green and soften somewhat.

Stir the spices and fresh tomatoes into the saucepan, then increase the heat and add the canned tomatoes, sugar and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the beans are well cooked, and the sauce has somewhat reduced. Adjust the seasoning if desired.

Put the harissa into a jug and mix in enough olive oil to thin it to a slightly runny consistency.

Serve warm on a platter or in a shallow bowl, dotted with dollops of labneh and harissa oil and scattered with the scorched peanuts.

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CONSCIOUS FOOD PEACH, LIME & PISTACHIO POLENTA CAKE

Slice the peach and arrange on top of the yogurt.

Scatter over the pistachios and finely grate the zest of the remaining lime half over the top. Drizzle over the honey and serve immediately.

3 peaches 3 large eggs 200g caster sugar 3 unwaxed limes 150g fine polenta 175g pistachio nuts, finely blitzed in a food processor or mini chopper • 150g salted butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus extra for greasing

TIP Leftover cake refrigerates incredibly well covered in clingfilm, but bring it to room temperature to serve. You can always add the yogurt and topping to individual slices just before serving.

SERVES 8–10 • • • • • •

FOR THE TOPPING • 1 peach • 150ml Greek yogurt • 25g pistachio nuts, roughly chopped • 2 tablespoons clear honey Put the 3 peaches into a small saucepan, cover with boiling water and simmer for about 25 minutes, or until soft. Drain, then immediately plunge the peaches into cold water to cool them. Remove the stones, drain any excess water, then blitz the flesh in a blender until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan), Gas Mark 4. Grease a 23cm springform cake tin and line it with baking paper.

Beat the eggs and sugar together in a bowl. Finely grate the zest of 2½ of the limes directly into the bowl.

Add the polenta and blitzed pistachios, then mix well.

Stir in the cooled melted butter and, lastly, the peach purée. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 45–50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin or overnight.

Remove the cake from the tin and place it on a serving plate. Prepare the topping just before you are ready to serve. Spread the Greek yogurt straight from the refrigerator over the surface of the cake.

Alternatively, if you’re not going to eat the whole cake in one sitting you can slice the cake into portions and top each slice individually – see Tip.

Connect with Sabrina at www.sabrinaghayour.com • Twitter @SabrinaGhayour 16

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Food for Life Hand in PAW with Hare Krishna

By JOHN MURPHY For anyone journeying down the Inglewood end of Beaufort Street these days, there’s a unique place that you may have overlooked tucked away at the start of 9th Avenue. If you venture a little further past the Post Office building you will find a café with a special atmosphere. It’s an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity that greets the local visitor or intrepid traveller.

This welcoming place goes by the name of ‘Krishna’s Café’. What will then greet your senses are the delicious aromas of the pure vegetarian cuisine on offer.

Krishna’s Café has a daily offering of tasty snacks, complete meals and delightful cakes and deserts. A choice of speciality teas, coffees and juices complement

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the main fare. These are also served from a takeaway hatch for those on the move.

Combine the atmosphere and the cuisine inside and you have found a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of the day outside. The very reasonable prices make this real value for money and a very positive addition to the local area. On Sundays the café facilitates Yoga and meditation classes at 12:30 and 3pm and the sumptuous feast on offer that day is on a donation basis.

What also makes this café unique is its association and partnership with the not-for-profit organisation PAWS. (People & Animal Welfare Society Inc). PAWS is a nonGovernment organisation founded by David Reynolds in April 2000. David had previously operated a “PAWS” ISSUE 100

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CONSCIOUS FOOD café in Northbridge and Tuart Hill so if you wondered where the café went, look no further! The two have now amalgamated, or as David puts it, “PAWS is working ‘Hand in Paw’ with the Hare Krishna’s” David has been dedicated to the welfare of animals and people for the past 25 years and has regularly supported and helped fund animal welfare programmes such as protection farms. PAWS is dedicated to promoting community welfare through Ahimsa (non-violence) and is staffed 100% by volunteers.

Among a range of projects, they provide a community centre that addresses social isolation and provides support and training to disadvantaged individuals. David adds, “PAWS wishes to demonstrate and encourage interaction as well as break down cultural barriers through community growth.”

MEAT FREE MONDAYS

PAWS also extend an invitation to everyone to join them for an evening meal at their “Meat Free Mondays”. The exBeatle Sir Paul McCartney first came up with the idea of a “Meat-Free Monday”, and in the same spirit PAWS see this as an opportunity to try out a meat free meal.

David explains the philosophy behind this: “PAWS wishes to demonstrate and encourage a healthy community by providing a real alternative and food that reflects this. We aim to provide food in a respectful and dignified manner to anyone who walks through the door. This is coupled with the practice of ahimsa causing no harm to any living entity in mind, word or deed. The PAWS vision is a society wherein humans and non-human animals can co-exist peacefully without the threat of cruelty, exploitation or untimely death. The mission of PAWS in a nutshell is to introduce, maintain and promote projects that encourage environment sustainability, sensible agriculture, community welfare and education.”

COMMUNITY FOOD GARDEN

In line with this vision, PAWS have set up a community garden in Bayswater the city of gardens. Out on the farm they grow all their own vegetables and various fruits and flowers. They also have a ‘medicine garden’ which produces herbs to be used as medicines. The accomplishment here is, with the help of volunteers, they have turned a previously underutilised site into a productive non-commercial enterprise dedicated to growing and bringing the organic food source back into urban areas. David adds, “Community garden farm projects on a nationwide scale will change 18

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“Community garden farm projects on a nationwide scale will change the demographics of thousands of people through education, training and employment” the demographics of thousands of people through education, training and employment. They will also provide valuable clean produce for the sustenance of both humans and many species of wildlife. The promotion of holistic health and well being throughout the community will bring about a greater awareness of our micro and macro environments.”

In addition to this, farm has a fully equipped plant based food truck. The truck goes into action on the road at summer festivals and at various events in the city. At present they are in the process of establish a permanent slot at Curtin University.

Together Krishna’s Café and PAWS form a holistic and healthy alternative that is truly a breath of fresh air in this day and age.

Next time you’re passing along 9th Avenue call in to Shop 3/ 885 Beaufort St, Inglewood WA 6052.

For more information visit www.paws.org.au or contact John.Murphy@paws.org.au SPRING 2018

CONSCIOUS HEALTH

Understanding

Bioplasmic

Radiation How it affects health

I

By GERARD BINI

n our homes and workplaces, we are subjected to 25 different types of electromagnetic radiation fields from various sources.

There is technology, Earth radiation and Bioplasmic radiation of which Bioplasmic radiation is by far the biggest, yet least spoken of, radiation problem.

There are at least five different types of Bioplasmic fields including: death imprints, emotional imprints, illness imprints, juvenile imprints and negative psychic impressions.

Bioplasmic fields are electromagnetic fields that can’t be detected with a Gauss meter or radio frequency meter. Bioplasmic fields are detected with a Biotensor (Josef Oberbach) and Lecher Antenna (Ernst Lecher), which are traditional Building Biology-EMF detecting instruments.

So, what is the cause of Bioplasmic Radiation?

HUMAN BIO-FIELD

Bioplasmic Radiation is human-generated, otherwise known as bio-field radiation. Our human bio-field when we’re emotionally and physically healthy produces a negative charge. When we’re emotionally and physically unhealthy, the human bio- field produces a positive charge, and this is the problem.

When someone is either emotionally and-or physically unwell, the diseased state of their body will create a positive charge of the bio- field, which in turn leaves an electromagnetic imprint in their home. This imprint causes electromagnetic stress for all occupants, and remains within the building until the energetic circumstances are sufficiently changed by a neutralising negative charge, for instance, with a Geoclense.

Someone living in a house over a lengthy period of time while suffering from depression will leave a Bioplasmic radiation SPRING 2018

imprint that has the energy of depression. This applies to any form of negative emotional state. When emotionally sensitive people enter this space, they too will feel depressed.

Someone who has a diseased organ will leave Bioplasmic radiation of the frequency of the illness. For example, if it is a diseased liver, others entering the same space and who have a sensitive liver, will find that their liver comes under electromagnetic stress.

An occurrence of a death on a property dating back hundreds of years will leave a death imprint and a subsequent further Bioplasmic field which extends to the boundaries of the property. There may other complications with the existence of a death imprint because of the nature of the death.

Juvenile Bioplasmic radiation is caused by the emotional pain, body energies and imprints of children aged from zero to five years. Young children react negatively to juvenile Bioplasmic energy as if they have a sixth sense.

WORKPLACES AFFECTED

Negative Psychic impressions are caused by one person or a group of people who have a negative emotion towards another person, group, place or organisation.

Workplaces are notorious for negative psychic impressions that can be directed within the organisation or targeted at other individuals, groups or organisations.

Shopping centres with many competitors create an accumulative negative psychic impression which upsets electro- hypersensitive people.

Negative psychic impressions may be quite damaging to how a business performs. For example, a retailer under negative psychic impression from a competitor may affect electrohypersensitive customers to a degree that they do not re-enter that environment. Building biologists often work with retailers, rebalancing the negative psychic impressions with the Geoclense.

The Geoclense Home and Workplace Harmonizer is programmed to neutralise and dissolve all the above Bioplasmic fields. People say it’s amazing how different they feel when they’ve been able to remove all forms of Bioplasmic Radiation. This is why so many people love the Geoclense.

For further information contact Gerard Bini at: www.orgoneffectsaustralia.com.au

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CONSCIOUS HEALTH

Vaccine Ingredients

Effects on Children’s Health

By JUDY WILYMAN PhD

V

accination is a medical procedure that injects weakened pathogens and chemical substances into the tissues of healthy individuals.

This is done to produce an antibody response in the body that contributes to protection from infectious diseases.

But this response is only one part of a complex immune response that is required to protect individuals from infectious diseases.

While the government claims that artificial and natural immunisation work in the same way (1) this is not supported by scientific evidence. For example, artificial immunity produced by vaccination with inactivated agents is of shorter duration than that produced from natural infection (1) (2) (3) (4).

This demonstrates that immunity to disease is not obtained simply by raising the antibody titer in the blood – the surrogate measure used to assess the immunity induced from vaccines.

THE PROCEDURE OF VACCINATION

In the process of vaccination the attenuated, inactivated or genetically engineered pathogen is injected directly into the tissues of the body – as opposed to ingestion or respiration when an individual is naturally exposed to the pathogen. This also includes the many excipients in the vaccine carrier: preservatives, antibiotics, and adjuvant. Many of these excipients are not inert (inactive) substances and this means they will have an unpredictable reaction in genetically diverse individuals.

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to imply that vaccines can prevent infectious diseases.

However, it has never been demonstrated that the immunity produced in the population is a direct response to using a vaccine (4). This is evidenced by the fact that some vaccinated individuals do not gain immunity after a vaccine and, vice versa, unvaccinated individuals gain immunity from exposure to the pathogen – even sub-clinical exposure provides immunity to disease.

Further, it is well documented that epidemics of infectious diseases are occurring in regions where vaccines have been used for many years (5 p 19). Governments could prove the effects of vaccines in preventing disease by providing the statistics of the vaccinated and unvaccinated cases of these diseases – but these transparent statistics are never provided (4).

MORBIDITY (ILLNESS) IN CHILDREN

As the government’s vaccination schedule has expanded during the past two decades chronic illness in children has risen dramatically. Allergies have increased in the Australian population with 10 per cent of infants having a food allergy and 20 per cent of the Australian population.

Hospitalisations for anaphylaxis have increased 5-fold in the past 20 years (6).

This correlation has never been investigated by the Australian government to demonstrate that the Australian vaccination schedule is safe and that vaccination is not the cause of this significant increase in life-threatening chronic illness. This is unethical and it is because the government does not use morbidity (illness) in children as a measure of the success of vaccination programs. Governments are using the following criteria to measure the success of these programs: SPRING 2018

diseases they are vaccinated against and chronic illness, including autism, is escalating. This unsupported assumption is being used to promote vaccines to the community because governments are not required to acknowledge the vaccine failures that occur, or the increased illness (morbidity) in children that correlates directly with the expansion of the vaccination schedule.

In reality, the health of the population is significantly declining as the vaccination rates are increasing, and governments are not acknowledging or investigating this correlation. This is contrary to scientific methodology that requires all correlations to be investigated before a drug is declared safe for public use. To implement this medical procedure without this evidence is unethical and amounts to an unmonitored experiment on the population.

In 2004, 41 per cent of 0 to 14-year-old Australian children had a chronic illness (10). Autism, asthma, learning and behavioral difficulties, and autoimmune diseases had all increased significantly from 1994 to 2005. This coincides with the government’s push to increase vaccination rates in Australia to 95 per cent with the implementation of the Immunise Australia Program in 1993 (11).

Age standardised infant mortality rates up to 1995 (7 p.16) and Vaccination coverage (immunisation rates) in the population from 1995 onwards (8 p.11) Hence the government can claim vaccination campaigns are successful based on the high vaccination rates in the population and ignore the escalating chronic illness in children as they make this claim.

In 1995 governments stopped using infant mortality rates to measure the success of vaccination programs because the increased use of vaccines does not correlate to the lowest infant mortality rates. From this time onwards, vaccination coverage rates were adopted to measure the success of vaccination programs. However, this criterion is only based on the assumption that high vaccination rates equates to healthier children because governments have never investigated the link between increased vaccine use and morbidity (illness) in children.

The claim that high vaccination rates in the community improve the health of the community is not evidence based. Many vaccinated children are still getting the SPRING 2018

‘It has never been demonstrated that the immunity produced in the population is a direct response to using a vaccine…’

TOXIC AND UNNATURAL INGREDIENTS

Thiomersal, a mercury compound and neurotoxin was present in most infant vaccines before 2000 (11) (12). It is still present in some vaccines, for example the infanrixhexa vaccine given to infants (13), and specifically in multidose vials of some influenza vaccines (14). Scientists have known since 1966 that the adjuvant used in vaccines – aluminium hydroxide/phosphate – and antibiotics (in vaccines) cause hypersensitivity reactions in humans (15). Yet we are injecting antibiotics, adjuvant, thiomersal and other compounds into infants’ tissues at the most vulnerable time of their development.

Vaccines such as the HPV vaccine that is promoted to prevent cervical cancer have very high levels of aluminium adjuvant, which is a neurotoxin, and this can accumulate to a toxic threshold anywhere in the body – not just at the injection site (16).

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CONSCIOUS HEALTH The HPV vaccines have the highest risk of adverse events (AE’s) of any vaccine on the schedule. Most safety trials for these vaccines have never compared vaccinated and unvaccinated groups with a true inert (non-active) placebo (4). The vaccine clinical trials are performed by the pharmaceutical companies, and they use the aluminium adjuvant as the placebo in the unvaccinated group, which prevents the true number of AE’s from being determined before the vaccine is marketed (4) (16). This is contrary to proper scientific methodology, which requires a safety study to use a true inert placebo in the control group.

GENETICS AND ENVIRONMENT

Many adverse reactions to vaccines occur which vary in severity among individuals because of genetic factors (17).

It is known that an individual can be pre-disposed to a disease by having the gene for that disease but expression of the gene can depend upon an environmental factor (18). Factors thought to be responsible for activating genes include heavy metals, chemicals, viruses, bacteria, nutrition and emotional states and stress (18).

Many of these triggers are found in vaccines.

‘Autism, asthma, learning and behavioral difficulties, and autoimmune diseases all increased significantly from 1994 to 2005’ Veterinary scientists have correlated the increase in autoimmune diseases and cancers in dogs and cats to increased vaccine use (19).

Long-term health studies showing the effects of multiple vaccines in infants have not been done in humans or animals (1) (4). Greater emphasis is being placed on short-term epidemiological studies (statistical) with selective parameters investigating one vaccine at a time rather than the science that includes biological, clinical and ecological evidence that is showing a possible link with chronic illness in children (4) (17) (20). In addition, 20th Century public health officials did not claim vaccines controlled infectious diseases (21).

THE ‘PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE’

The underlying ethical principle of health practitioners is to promote the health of the patient. If it is biologically plausible that using multiple vaccines in infants and 22 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE

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adults could cause significant harm to a proportion of the population, as a result of genetic predisposition and epigenetics, then doctors cannot promote the health of their patients when mandatory vaccination policies are implemented. The onus of proof of safety is on policymakers before coercive and mandatory vaccination policies are implemented. This is why the precautionary principle was introduced to legislators in 1998 to protect human health and the environment (22). This principle states: Precautionary Principle: The burden of proof of harmlessness of any new technology/chemical is on the proponent NOT the general public.

However, this principle is not applied in this format in the design of the Australian vaccination policy. This principle has been reversed to protect industry interests in the government’s policy. In this format it states: The burden of proof of harmlessness of any new technology/ chemical is on the general public NOT the proponent of the procedure. That is, industry and the medical profession.

When used in this format, the public’s health and the environment cannot be protected in government policies because the general public does not have the resources to prove harmlessness of a medical intervention (4).

GOVERNMENT VACCINATION POLICIES

In 2006 the NSW government, without public consultation, implemented mandatory immunisation policies for Health Professionals (23). The government should be required to demonstrate a serious risk to the community without these SPRING 2018

vaccinations before we lose the right to decide what we inject into our own bodies. However, this is not a requirement in any country and in 2016 -17 the Australian government implemented mandatory and coercive vaccination policies for 16 diseases in Australian children of all ages (24); a policy that will result in serious adverse health events for many people.

This legislation was approved in the Department of Social Services even though the Department of Health continues to claim ‘Vaccination in Australia is not compulsory’. If vaccines are not compulsory under health legislation in Australia, how can it be mandated for some Australians in social services and employment legislation? These are discriminatory policies that are not compatible with health legislation.

The adoption of this legislation has been achieved without the Health Department or the Social Services Department providing any justification for the need for these policies and at a time when the risk of infectious diseases was very low (25).

‘The onus of proof of safety is on policy-makers before coercive and mandatory vaccination policies are implemented’ Vaccination in Australia has never been compulsory and Sweden has stated it will not adopt mandatory or coercive vaccination policies because of the serious adverse health events associated with vaccines and because they violate constitutional rights (26) (27). So the Australian public must ask why our government is violating constitutional rights in Australia without any evidence for the necessity for these policies, and knowing that these policies will result in discrimination and significant harm to many Australians.

REFERENCES is.gd/References_Vaccines_J_Wilyman For further information on the work of Judy Wilyman PhD visit www.vaccinationdecisions.net

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CONSCIOUS HEALTH

Water Fluoridation Scrutinised New groups forming to ban its use

By MARTIN OLIVER

O

f all topics that come up for discussion, water fluoridation is one of the most controversial and polarising.

While its proponents would like to say ‘case closed’, there remains vocal opposition to the practice wherever it is proposed, in Australia and overseas. Groups are again scrutinising its use and researchers’ studies are finding health hazards.

The addition of fluoride began in 1945, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, from where it spread around the US and was adopted by a limited number of other countries including Australia.

About 90 per cent of the Australian population lives in a fluoridated area, and outside of Queensland there are only limited unfluoridated pockets. Some of these held out against its introduction: in Byron Shire a council vote resulted in the shire opting out of a regional fluoridation system, and Bega Valley Shire Council has deferred a decision on fluoridation expansion because of lobbying from concerned locals.

Overseas, a number of countries have either recently discontinued fluoridation, or moves have been made in that direction.

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‘DOSE MAKES THE POISON’

The fluoride used in water is an industrial byproduct, and is supplied without any purification. As such, it contains a wide range of chemical contaminants including heavy metals.

Most commonly used in Australia are hydrofluorosilicic acid and sodium fluorosilicate, sourced from fertiliser manufacture. Another option is sodium fluoride from the aluminium industry.

As S6-class poisons, these are delivered in sacks with skull and crossbones symbols, accompanied by wording such as Danger, Warning, Poison, and Toxic. Workers handling them wear a full-body protection suit.

In Australia, suppliers include Incitec Pivot and Wesfarmers, and their offerings are supplemented by Chinese imports.

No fluoride chemical has so far been subjected to safety testing.

For fluoride’s proponents, the outdated toxicological notion of ‘the dose makes the poison’ is used to advance the shaky argument that a highly toxic chemical ceases to be toxic if sufficiently diluted.

However, synergistic interactions mean that fluoride, a neurotoxin itself, multiplies the neurotoxicity of aluminium SPRING 2018

and consequently may be increasing the incidence of Alzheimer’s. Similarly, the 2010 Sawan study in Toxicology found that fluoridated water increased the body’s uptake of lead.

Any benefit to children’s teeth is minimal, with around 0.6 decayed, filled, or missing tooth surfaces according to a lage 1987 US study. This falls below the threshold of statistical significance, and it has been argued that any benefit attributed to fluoride can be explained because fluoride ingestion delays tooth eruption.

Drinking fluoride makes little sense, given that the claimed benefits are topical rather than systemic.

So what happens to ingested fluoride? About half is excreted, with another half being absorbed by the body.

Most is calcified in the bones, and especially in the pineal gland in the centre of brain, which has been observed to accumulate concentrations of up to 21,000 ppm.

HEALTH ISSUES FOUND

A range of health issues associated with fluoridation includes: • Some severe health reactions from people who suffer from fluoride allergies.

• Osteoporosis, caused by the body taking up fluoride as a substitute for the calcium it needs.

• Neurotoxicity, confirmed by 300 human and animal studies.

• Dental fluorosis, a disfiguring loss of tooth enamel.

Among Australian 12-year-old children, about 25 per cent have fluorosis. In 2006, the American Dental Association issued a warning against the use of fluoride in making up baby milk due to the risk of dental fluorosis. No equivalent alert has been issued in Australia.

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‘Drinking fluoride makes little sense, given that the claimed benefits are topical rather than systemic’ • Endocrine disruption, including an underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism), plus pineal gland effects (decreased melatonin production.)

• An increase in blood sugar concentration, which is of concern to diabetics and pre-diabetics.

These health symptoms are multiplied in people who have reduced kidney function because they excrete less fluoride, and a higher proportion is absorbed.

LINK TO ADHD

A 2015 population study in Environmental Health looked at 4 to 17 year-olds and found that areas that have artificially fluoridated water correlate with significantly higher ADHD levels. Each one per cent in water fluoridation was found to be linked to 67,000-131,000 additional ADHD cases.

Another 2015 study was published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. This used UK data, and found that medical clinics in fluoridated water areas had nearly twice the rates of hypothyroidism, when compared to those that are non-fluoridated.

More recently, a 2017 study in Environmental Health Perspectives looked at Mexico, where fluoride is naturally occurring rather than added to water. For 300 sets of mothers and children, it was discovered that higher ISSUE 100

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CONSCIOUS HEALTH maternal fluoride levels during pregnancy resulted in lower IQ function in the child. Every increase in the children’s urine fluoride concentrations resulted in lower cognitive scores.

The York Review was a British report on water fluoridation released in 2000. Despite being government-funded, it stopped short of demonstrating that fluoride is safe. The results were misleadingly spun by pro-fluoride lobbyists, which prompted the university to put out a further statement saying: “We were unable to discover any reliable good-quality evidence in the fluoridation literature worldwide.” Similar conclusions regarding tooth decay prevention were reached by Cochrane in 2015.

Politically, in Australia opposition is coming only from the Health Australia Party, and Fluoride Free WA which stood for the first time in the 2017 state election.

Although the issue of health freedom has a large constituency, at present it is not represented by any political party.

REGULATION AND ACTIVISM

Australia’s regulation of fluoridation is carried out by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), a government body that has maintained a highly profluoride stance for decades.

In 1991, the NHMRC issued recommendations about following up on anecdotal reports of fluoride toxicity and monitoring fluoride bone levels; neither of these steps has occurred. A detailed analysis of the NHMRC’s 2017 report by Fluoride Action Network Australia found what it regarded as 23 examples of bias that led to a highly favourable conclusion. Other proponents include the Australian Dental Association, Australian Medical Association, and state health bodies. One of the primary public relations sites for pro-fluoride interests is www. ilikemyteeth.org No Australian state has mandatory fluoridation.

In Queensland, a fluoride mandate was introduced in 2007 by the Bligh Government, and then discontinued in 2012 under Campbell Newman. As a consequence, at least 29 councils have removed fluoride from their water supplies, leading to a 10 per cent drop in statewide fluoride water coverage. Saving money was among their primary motivations.

The fluoride campaign is becoming more active, with numerous groups dotted around the country. For anybody interested in pursuing the issue, a suggestion when discussing the matter is to avoid getting bogged down in scientific minutiae, and to focus on the issue of forced medication.

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‘… delivered in sacks with skull and crossbones symbols, accompanied by wording such as Danger, Warning, Poison, and Toxic’ It is easier to prevent fluoride from being added than to take it out later. A better outcome is to retain decisionmaking in local hands rather than handing it over to the state health body. In the US, the InPower Movement was set up to tackle the smart meter issue, and has had some success with a sequence of legal liability letters that are sent to key decision-makers. Such a strategy could also be used in Australia.

RESOURCES Fluoride Free Australia; www.facebook.com/ fluoridefreeaustralia Fluoride Action Network Australia; www.facebook.com/fanaustralia Fluoride Free WA; www.fluoridefreewa.org Fluoride Action Network (US-focused); www.fluoridealert.org Martin Oliver is a writer and researcher based in Lismore, NSW.

SPRING 2018

Join AIPC for a

Career Pathway in

Counselling

Counselling is acknowledged as being one of the most personally and professionally rewarding careers. Today the need for counsellors in Australia has never been greater. Increasing societal pressures and eroding values have created a massive need in our communities for qualified counsellors.

The Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors specialises in providing high quality counsellor education, with a particular focus on highly supported external education. AIPC is the largest provider of counselling courses in the country over the past twenty years.

AIPC courses are a journey of self-discovery, providing deep insight into the whys and means of SPRING 2018

people’s thinking and behaviour. Participants will be well prepared to pursue a career in counselling – employed or self-employed – enjoying a strong industry reputation and linkage.

Since its inception, AIPC has been a leader in the area of flexible learning. They have a strong focus on making their programs as accessible and flexible as possible.

APIC courses are self-paced, allowing participants to progress at a speed that suits the individual, either moderately according to lifestyle commitments, or faster to graduate more rapidly. The courses can be completed externally by working through course material at home. This is particularly useful when participants have other obligations in life that occupy their time.

No matter the location or the amount of time available , it is possible for anyone to achieve the goal of becoming a qualified counsellor.

The Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors is proud to offer the following courses: • Diploma of Counselling, • Diploma of Financial Counselling • Diploma of Youth Work • Diploma of Community Services (Case Management) • Bachelor of Counselling • Master of Counselling For further information please visit the website www.aipc.net.au or call 1800 246 381.

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CONSCIOUS HEALTH

Essential

‘Detox’ Guidelines What you need to know – a Naturopath explains

By STUART MORICK Naturopath, B.H.Sc.(Nat.), MANTA

I

“

’m doing a detox.” How often have you heard that from family and friends? But what does it really mean for the body?

The advice floating around about ‘detox’ can be confusing, so knowing the essential information is important.

In general, detoxification is the process of removing substances that might accumulate in our body and cause harm, such as:

• Preservatives, additives and chemical sweeteners that might be added to food • Chemicals and toxins in products we encounter daily, such as cleansers, make-up, perfume, dyes and cleaning products • Heavy metals and other toxic elements that may be found in food and water • Alcohol, cigarettes, prescription medication and other drugs

‘Heavy metals and other toxic elements may be found in food and water’

While your body has natural detoxification processes that remove many of these substances, some remain stored in fatty tissues. These fatty tissues include the fat just under your skin, fat within your muscles and bone marrow, as well as fat around your organs, nerves and brain. This is where a ‘detox’ comes in.

If you reduce the amounts of harmful substances contained within your body and what you put into your body you will usually eventually feel noticeably better.

Through increasing the intake of nutrients that support natural detoxification we can improve and optimise the body’s own systems, significantly improving health and well-being

LIVER FILTERS TOXINS

The liver is your body’s main detoxification organ, supported by the intestinal tract, the kidneys, lungs, lymphatic system and skin. The liver filters toxins and bacteria in the blood, chemically transforming them for elimination by the kidneys.

The purpose of a detoxification program is primarily to support these systems so toxins can be metabolised and removed from the body.

But what makes a good detoxification program?

YOUR NUTRITIONAL STATUS

It should be based on safe, natural herbal supplements and nutrients that act gently on the body, supporting and enhancing natural detoxification processes. It should eliminate anything that adds load to these processes and include fibre to cleanse the intestines and bind toxins and nutrients that help restore liver function. Your nutritional status is important to your ability to naturally detoxify.

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Herbs and nutrients frequently used in detoxification programs include: • Indoles – phytonutrients found in brassicas, which are vegetables like cabbage, broccoli and bokchoy – known to help the liver speed up its first stage of detoxification (Phase 1 liver detoxification).

• Antioxidants – Vitamins A, C and E – rich sources are fresh fruits and vegetables. Processed vegetables lose much of these nutrients. Fermented vegetables such as sauerkraut or kimchee can be high in these. Antioxidants help protect the liver during detoxification.

• Calcium – needed by the liver to produce the enzymes for detoxification. Foods rich in calcium include almonds, buckwheat, sardines, turnips and sesame seeds.

• Amino Acids – such as glycine, cysteine, taurine and glutamine help the liver to perform its phase 2 detoxification function more efficiently – these can be found in fish, liver meat, beans, nuts, lentils and whole grain wheat or rice.

• Milk Thistle – assists Phase 2 liver detoxification – drink as herbal tea, or as capsules or herbal tincture from your health practitioner.

• Organosulphur compounds – readily found in allium specie vegetables such as garlic, radishes, onions, chives, and also in cress and roquette.

There are many different detoxification programs available to suit varying needs. Before undertaking anything it is recommended that you seek advice from your natural health practitioner to ensure you choose the program that is appropriate for your health needs.

Any detoxification program should be monitored and used sensibly and wisely.

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‘You can support the body’s natural processes by making a few simple healthy changes’ MAKE HEALTHY CHANGES

If you don’t want to undertake a full detoxification program, you can still support the body’s natural processes by making a few simple healthy changes: • Reduce sugar in your diet as it is usually highly processed and stripped of nutrients • Drink more fresh water – filter it if you’re not certain of the impact of the pipes that deliver it to your home • Avoid heavy metals which can be found in cigarettes, vehicle fumes and industrial waste • Choose natural personal and home care products and treatments, avoiding those containing perfumes, colours, preservatives and chemicals • Eat homemade meals that include plenty of fresh produce (avoiding anything that has been sprayed with insecticides or inorganic fertilisers).

Doing all of this will help your body’s natural ability to detoxify to be maximised, which can make a real difference to your longevity, health and well-being.

Stuart Morick’s Pure Health And Wellness Clinic is at Bayswater, Western Australia Ph: 08 9378 2774 w: www.purehealthandwellness.com.au e: info@purehealthandwellness.com.au

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CONSCIOUS HEALTH

evoLove lip love benefits A luscious lip balm that is long-lasting, protecting and nourishing. Made from safe and natural ingredients, you’ll be deliciously kissable.

INGREDIENTS

Made in Australia from local and imported ingredients: coconut oil, shea butter, beeswax, peppermint essential oil, mica powder

KEY INGREDIENTS

Shea butter – reduces inflammation, aids in natural collagen production (wrinkle reduction, stretch mark healing, heals skin irritations), deep moisturising Mica – is a naturally-occurring mineral that has been used for centuries as a natural colouring agent, from cave paintings to natural make-up. EvoLove use this in a nonnano powder form to give our gloss a beautiful colour Beeswax – has the ability to trap moisture in the skin and repel outside substances, keeping your lips covered and nourished all day long! Also a natural antiseptic and wound healer, perfect for chapped or damaged lips. Your lips feel fresh and alive and I love the gentle fragrance of the bee’s wax. evoLove: Brianna 0433 424 110 | Daniela 0408 750 653 talktome@evolove.com.au | www.evolove.com.au facebook.com/EvoLove-Selfcare www.instagram.com/evolove_selfcare

Antioxidant Rich Mangosteen Mangosteen is a dark purple fruit found predominantly in Asia.

Vitalxan”s proprietary mangosteen substance contains concentrated nutrients including antioxidants and polyphenols, which support skin function and overall body health. These nutrients combat the daily exposure to air pollution, sunlight, smoke and more, all of which create “free radicals” which can seriously damage the skin and our internal organs.

Rich in antioxidants phytochemicals known as Xanthones and Polyphenols , the Vitalxan substance has a powerful anti- inflammatory effect which is a key driver in slowing down the aging process.

Consuming mangosteen also shows potential as an internal anti-inflammatory agent since the phytonutrients are directed to the internal organs such as the brain, heart, liver kidneys and lungs.

Antioxidants have a massive effect on the body and by neutralising the free radicals allowing the immune system to boost and fight disease naturally.

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Vitalxan mangosteen is currently used by researchers at James Cook, Deakin University and the Brain Institute Brisbane to find out why it could be the next big discovery in the fight against schizophrenia.

For more information visit www.vitalxan.com.au

SPRING 2018

Connecting To

Your Energy It’s surprising what we find under layers and layers of our energy. Happiness, fear, anger, peace.

You may sense issues are there, but may not know what those energy layers are really hiding. You never know until you start to delve into their depths.

Our habits can reveal a lot about what is going on at a deeper level. For example, why you reach for food for comfort, why you are drawn to negative relationships, or why money goes as quickly as it comes?

Perhaps the medical world doesn’t have the answers for these invisible layers that surround us.

Enter Harmony Me Healing – a therapeutic modality that helps us gain more guidance by understanding what our bodies are saying This new nationally recognised alternative therapy focuses on tuning in to energetic vibrations. The sessions are often described as deep relaxation, while others

Aroca Healing Centre Born out of a love for healing and helping , the team at Aroca Healing Centre based in the northern suburbs of Perth offer a blend of all things alternative all under the one roof.

Aroca is a place to mix and mingle with likeminded souls, to embark upon a Spiritual journey - whatever that may be .

This holistic centre offers everything from Yoga to Essential Oils, Reiki teachings to Healthy Eating , Spiritual learnings to Sound Healing , Healing Practitioners , Workshops , Kids Classes , Mindfulness , Meditation , Crystals , Creative Classes , Arts and Craft and much more.

They also run Holistic Markets supporting creative Perth Souls and have their first Healing Retreat in 2018!

Says Founder, Carli Jordan :, “The Aroca journey so far has been incredible and i wouldn’t have been able to do if it wasn’t for the support of some special people, “Show your Vibe , Find your Tribe’ is a favourite saying - the Aroca Family is growing by the day and i’m truly blessed to be a SPRING 2018

consider it therapeutic as they realise what has been holding them back – secret messages held within our bodies that are intuitively delivered for our awareness.

Marnie Cate, clairvoyant and intuitive healer from Mandurah, Western Australia, has developed this modality during more than a decade. Her dedication to understanding what our energy is saying has seen her impart this knowledge through certifying more than 20 practitioners, who provide benefit to adults, children and pets. Practitioners work with colour, energy and Spirit to facilitate gentle healing.

After experiencing Harmony Me sessions, client Sarah said: “I was guided to explore my physical, mental, emotional and spiritual dimensions and really define what happiness is for me. I have never felt so free. Marnie, you have been a real blessing.”

For more information go to www.marnie-cate.com or www.facebook.com/harmonymehealing © Marnie Cate

part of it all . The most amazing/scary/crazy part is we are only just beginning ………”

Among the Aroca Tribe is the beautifully talented Leonie of ‘Frequencies Sound Healing’, an incredible Sound Healer with a beautiful Angelic Voice, who holds sacred space , sharing her gifts around Perth . A gifted healer whose special interest is aromatherapy is Kelly of ‘Sole Reflexions’ . Multi talented, she offers everything from Reiki to Reflexology , Massage to everything Essential Oils.

The Aroca team look forward to meeting everyone coming to the Conscious Living Expo in November.

For more information visit www.arocahealing.com.au

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CONSCIOUS PARENTING

Medical

Kidnapping MARTIN OLIVER puts a spotlight on a growing controversy

I

n Australia and overseas, government authorities sometimes remove children from their families. We’ve all seen the headlines, and it is unnerving to read these stories.

In most cases, this distressing step is undertaken when neglect, domestic violence, sexual abuse, alcoholism, andor drug use is involved, and children need to be relocated to a safer home.

However, there are hidden dimensions few of think about in relation to the issue of children being removed from their biological parents.

Parents are being profiled for their use of natural health therapies and false accusations of medical child abuse are being made against them.

In such a situation, children may be ‘medically kidnapped’ if the authorities disagree with their health care.

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Secrecy supports these types of questionable practices, and if society is going to challenge them, it is necessary to shine a light down a dark tunnel.

AUSTRALIA HOLDS A RECORD

Australia removes more children per head than any other Western country, an interesting record to hold. And sadly, the number of cases has seen a steep rise during the past five years. Similar trends are also occurring overseas.

Factors underlying Australia’s high figures include an authoritarian mindset, a government preference for

‘Children may be ‘medically kidnapped’ if authorities disagree with their health care’

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punitive measures against families with challenges rather than offering support, and a high degree of risk-aversion that is allowed to trump respect for human rights.

Nationally, levels of child removal are highest in the Northern Territory and New South Wales, and lowest in Victoria and Western Australia. Friday evenings are notorious for a large number of child removals, with the only possible conclusion being the headstart that this offers agencies engaged in taking children, before distraught parents are able to reach a solicitor.

Child removal is also several times higher among indigenous children, especially in remote communities.

While some of this can be explained by family dysfunction, it risks a re-run of the ‘stolen generation’.

For removal of Aboriginal children, it is far more common for staff to be accompanied by police. There are even reports of the indiscriminate removal of indigenous youth in vans.

In NSW, for example, child protection is increasingly outsourced to NGOs such as Brighter Futures and Barnados, which require parents to sign performance contracts. If the parents fail to measure up, they are liable to lose their children. The definition of ‘neglect’ can extend to being poor, and the child lacking his or her own bedroom.

One Australian woman who is involved in challenging these practices is Mary Moore from the Alliance for Family Preservation and Restoration. Also active is Dr Helen Hayward-Brown, an Australian medical anthropologist and sociologist, who has been supporting women whose children have been taken away in questionable circumstances. Dr Hayward-Brown is familiar with the situation in NSW, where the removal rate is well above the Australian national average.

To any outsider looking at the figures, with Children’s Court judges’ ruling 90 per cent of cases in favour of Family and Community Services (FaCS), there appears to be a presumption of guilt against the parents. FaCS is considered to have a zealous child protection culture, and case workers tend to have a one-sided view where child removal is seen as a success. All of this is reflected in state legislation that works against parents’ interests.

For a parent who feels that a child has been removed without sufficient justification, it is recommended to talk online to support groups and other parents for advice and help. Sadly, parents have been known to fight for years to get a child back, and obtaining a good legal team can be a very costly exercise.

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American figures show a wide range of better life outcomes for children who stay with troubled parents compared to those who are fostered.

A highly concerning 1999 figure from the UK shows that fostered children were seven to eight times more likely to be abused when compared to those who remained in a dysfunctional family setting. It goes without saying that where doubt exists that a child is being mistreated, removal is, in addition to being unjust, a far more expensive option for taxpayers than maintaining the status quo.

‘Fostered UK children were more likely to be abused compared with those remaining in a dysfunctional family’ THE MEDICAL LINK

Equally concerning are the questionable circumstances under which this sometimes takes place. There are signs that Australia’s culture of antagonism towards natural therapies and natural approaches to child-rearing are to an extent feeding into the increase in child removals.

As a result of questionable negative reviews carried out by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), and the resulting negative media coverage, there is a common but incorrect viewpoint that natural therapies and supplements are worthless. Homeopathy has recently been described in a Department of Health report as having ‘unacceptable risks’, despite being a safe modality with no side effects.

An interest in natural therapies can be flagged by the child protection system. Where information originating in the media is taken literally by protection workers, parents with natural approaches to health care could be seen as a threat to their children. Anybody who takes on board the tabloid scare stories about ‘dangerous’ supplements without seeing the bigger picture is liable to believe that they are all risky and best avoided. At least one parent has been accused of poisoning her children by giving them vitamins, even though they were medically prescribed.

Difficulties can arise when there is incompatibility between childcare workers and parents. For example, a worker with a conservative mindset may judge some parents’ lifestyle choices as ‘weird’.

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‘A childcare worker with a conservative mindset may judge some parents’ lifestyle choices as weird’ In some cases, child protection workers have been concerned that a child fed a natural wholefood diet is missing out on the ‘normal’ unhealthy foods consumed by his or her peers. In these instances, a parent may deflect the risk of a child being taken by stocking the pantry with sugar-laden processed food that will never be eaten.

Some states have commenced mandatory reporting by hospitals of children with abnormal heights or weights, and also unvaccinated children. Non-vaccinating is now regarded as a low-level form of child abuse, and to an extent increases the likelihood of children being taken away.

For parents, one recommendation is to think carefully about contacting child protection agencies or NGOs, about one’s own children, or those of a relative or friend.

Apparently, even a casual request for advice is likely to result in attempts to remove children. Similarly, when talking to these agencies, it is wise to avoid volunteering more information than is necessary, because regardless of how pleasant the officer is, it is could be used against you.

At a time when Australian child welfare workers are being criticised in the media for sometimes failing to remove children from serious abuse, there is a strong argument for ensuring that priorities are decided wisely and objectively, and are not influenced by flawed and short-sighted ideologies.

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ACCUSATIONS OF MEDICAL ABUSE

Baron Munchausen was a fictional 18th century nobleman who was notorious for spinning tall tales.

During the 1990s, a new medical label was created called Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSbP), which accuses a parent, usually the mother, of making a child ill in order to gain attention, or as an excuse to argue with medical experts.

Following a high-profile UK court case involving a woman named Sally Clark, who was wrongly imprisoned for three and a half years after two of her young children died, MSbP has been largely discredited due to the frequency of false accusations. However, it still survives, and is sometimes known as ‘factitious or induced illness’.

Another term, ‘medical child abuse’, refers to cases where a parent is believed to have caused a child to receive unnecessary or potentially harmful medical care.

Most accusations have no valid scientific basis. In general, accusations of MSbP and medical child abuse crop up disproportionately in Anglo countries such as the US, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. Another country with a high incidence is Germany.

While the frequency of accusations decreased in Australia for a few years around the early 2010s, it is now rising sharply, with the Hunter region around Newcastle a particular blackspot. Typically, a child is removed from the parents, who may in a worst-case scenario face time in jail.

Dr Hayward-Brown is an expert in this field, and has taken on the challenging and harrowing role of supporting women who are going through the nightmare of being wrongly accused of MSbP or medical child abuse.

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CONSCIOUS PARENTING RISK FACTORS FOR BEING ON THE RECEIVING END OF SUCH ACCUSATIONS MAY INCLUDE:

• A child being unvaccinated.

• Taking the child to a children’s hospital where he or she is seen by specialists. Interacting with the family doctor poses a minimal threat of false accusations being made.

• Making several medical visits in connection with the same matter.

• Being knowledgeable, voicing an opinion and disagreeing with doctors. A parent who objects to a hospital treatment protocol is frequently notified to child protection.

• Attempting to obtain a second opinion, sometimes less kindly referred to as ‘doctor shopping’. The notion of ‘potentially harmful medical care’ tied to medical child abuse accusations can be defined as a course of action that contradicts an initial medical opinion.

• Having a child with a controversial diagnosis.

• Having a child with digestive issues.

• Having a child with a diagnosis of mitochondrial disorder. The existence of this condition is disputed, and some doctors reject its existence. Families can find themselves in the position of pawns between rival medical factions.

To an observer, the difficulties with this list would be that it appears to take normal mothering behaviour and apply a ‘guilty until proven innocent’ principle.

And observing various cases in which a child has receives medical-related harm, suffered vaccine damage, or was the victim of medical malpractice, medical child abuse accusations have at times been made against the parents, deflecting responsibility away from a vaccine or the medical professional.

The term Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) was coined for cases where babies tragically die, unexpectedly.

SIDS-affected parents can find themselves accused of MSbP. Another type of accusation is known as Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS), where there is the belief that parents have caused trauma to the baby’s head. In reality, the checklist symptoms for SBS can include birth interventions, previous injuries, accidental falls, in utero strokes, infections, vitamin deficiencies, and even vaccines.

Dr Hayward-Brown states that 80 per cent of her MSbP cases follow on from a complaint against the medical profession.

Reading this figure given by Dr Hayward-Brown, it would be hard to escape concluding that the medical child abuse label is largely a tool for discrediting and SPRING 2018

Lessons from

Ashya and Charlie ASHYA KING Ashya King is a young English boy who at the age of five was found to have developed a brain tumour.

Radiotherapy can be harmful to young children’s brains, and his parents Naghmeh and Brett opted for proton beam therapy, a more advanced type of radiotherapy that is better at targeting cancer cells. When this was denied by the National Health Service (NHS), in 2014 the parents removed the child from hospital and flew with him to Spain, where they were apprehended by police and spent some time in jail.

Following a public outcry, they were released, and organised proton beam sessions for Ashya in Prague, which were successful in achieving a remission. In 2017, proton beam therapy is no longer referred to as an ‘unproven’ therapy, with machines being installed at great expense in some NHS hospitals. Meanwhile, the NHS now appears to be refusing to treat Ashya, forcing his parents to go overseas for treatment.

CHARLIE GARD As the world watched and fell in love with him, medics played God with Charlie, a baby with mitochondrial depletion syndrome and progressively worsening brain damage.

Earlier this year, Charlie was at the centre of an ethical medical controversy. While his parents wanted to take him to the US for an experimental medical procedure known as nucleoside replacement therapy, the treating hospital, Great Ormond Street in London, refused to release him. It argued that this would cause too much suffering, and made the judgements that the procedure would not work and that if the baby survived his quality of life would be very poor.

Because Charlie had no chance of survival without intervention, two ethicists, one of whom was Peter Singer, weighed in favour of the parents, disagreeing with the hospital’s view that in this instance death was a better outcome than the chance to live. At a highly-publicised court case, several US doctors offered support for trying nucleoside replacement therapy.

Charlie died in July 2017, as a result of deterioration of his health during the legal proceedings.

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CONSCIOUS PARENTING undermining mothers. It also would be difficult to avoid the idea that this response by the medical system shares some similarities with the witch-hunts of the Middle Ages.

FORCED MEDICAL TREATMENT

Cases sometimes reach the media involving a controversy over a child’s medical care, particularly where a serious condition such as cancer is involved. This is an emotive topic where it is possible to appreciate both the views of the parents, and those of government agencies that hopefully have the child’s best interests at heart.

Typically, the parents are interested in pursuing natural approaches, and are coming up against a medical mainstream wedded to radiation, chemotherapy and surgery. Commonly, the natural avenue is viewed as a form of medical neglect. However, figures for chemotherapy published in Clinical Oncology showed that its use increased Australian five-year survival rates by only 2.3 per cent, a statistic that omits later mortality resulting from chemotherapy-induced health deterioration.

Some cases involve parents who have given medical marijuana to children for conditions such as seizures, with remarkable results, despite this not being fully legalised in Australia. When viewed from a narrow perspective, some may mistakenly view this as drugging children with a harmful substance, even though the psychoactive THC content is absent in medical marijuana.

In some instances, the child in question is in his or her teens, and is mature enough to have an informed say in his or her own treatment, but may be unwillingly forced to undergo treatment, against the parents’ wishes too, and may be taken from the family.

All of this is tough for the parents, who not only have the emotional impact of a sick child, but can also face the double-blow of being unable both to see their offspring, and to decide upon or even influence his or her health care decisions.

Unfortunately, in Australia there is a trend towards parents having a diminishing say over their children’s hospital treatment, and sometimes the option of obtaining a second medical opinion is blocked, so parents are locked into dealing with the original hospital they approached.

There is even less justification for a recent unsettling trend in Australia towards treating childhood illness as a child protection issue by default.

Dr Hayward-Brown has been informed by some parents with children in hospital that nearly half of the parents in their ward are either experiencing issues with child protection agencies, or have already had children taken away.

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‘Parents have been known to fight for years to get a child back’ FREEDOM AND CHOICE

Some parts of the world, including Australia, are seeing a global trend towards medical authoritarianism that can appear in the form of parental rights being undermined.

If this continues along its current trajectory, it could reach a point where the state eventually takes on the role of primary decision-maker, with the parents adopting more of a caretaker-style role.

Frequently, the message can be spun in such a way that the public is at risk of believing that restrictions on health choices are designed to protect us all from ‘quack’ natural therapists and ‘dangerous’ supplements. The health freedom message needs to be given a serious airing in the media, which has recently tended to show a bias against natural health.

One valuable step is to join the Your Health Your Choice health freedom campaign which has the goal of preserving access to natural therapies, and which has already attracted more than 30,000 sign-ups.

RESOURCES Alliance for Family Preservation and Restoration; www.allianceforfamilypreservationandrestoration.webs.com Dr. Helen Hayward-Brown; www.drhelenhaywardbrown.net.au MAMA (Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy); www.msbp.com Your Health Your Choice; www.yourhealthyourchoice.com.au Martin Oliver is a writer and researcher based in Lismore, NSW.

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CONSCIOUS ECO LIVING

Free App

Exposes Palm Oil Help for conscientious shoppers

By MARTIN OLIVER

O

f all crops grown throughout the world, palm oil probably comes closest to being the most environmentally destructive. And most of us buy it each time we go shopping.

For the conscientious smart phone owner, finding out in which product it’s lurking has become easier: a free App from Palm Oil Investigations (POI) is available via iTunes and Google Play.

It’s worth being diligent in avoiding palm oil because of the crop’s sinister effects on the planet.

DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES

All palm oil is grown in highly biodiverse tropical regions close to the equator, with an estimated 85 to 90 per cent cultivated in Malaysia and Indonesia, on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.

Much of the total production is linked to deforestation and peatland destruction, making palm oil a major contributor to climate change via emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. This is a disaster for biodiversity, with orangutan numbers on a downward SPRING 2018

trend. Other wildlife species under threat from the palm oil industry are elephants, tigers and From a consumer perspective, palm oil is found in about 40 per cent of items on supermarket shelves, and is widely used because it is the cheapest vegetable oil on the market. As a result of concern about the palm oil issue, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was established in 2004, and there has been some progress towards implementing sustainable practices.

‘Palm oil is a major contributor to climate change via emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide’ HIDDEN UNDER ALIASES

The simplest way for consumers to respond is to buy products without any palm oil. But this is easier said than done. For Australian and New Zealand food labelling, palm oil is permitted to be hidden under generic aliases such as ISSUE 100

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CONSCIOUS ECO LIVING ‘vegetable oil’, ‘vegetable fat’ and ‘vegetable shortening’.

Currently, the only way to be sure is to avoid every product labelled in such a way.

The Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation, overseeing food decisions in Australia and New Zealand, has twice postponed making a decision about labelling oils such as palm by name, and Zoos Victoria is running a campaign known as ‘Don’t palm us off’ that encourages people to lobby their state representative.

A 2017 Galaxy poll found that 90 per cent of Australians and 92 per cent of New Zealanders surveyed wanted palm oil to be labelled.

Another option is to buy items containing physical Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO), identifiable by a special logo. Certified product now represents about half of global production, and oil that is part-certified and part-uncertified is usually referred to as ‘mass balance’.

A weaker system, but better than nothing, involves the GreenPalm offset certificates, again identifiable via a different logo. It is particularly important to be wary of vague sustainability claims that lack accreditation.

‘The App generates an email that can be sent to the company, and better ethical choices are displayed alongside’ FREE APP PROVIDES READ-OUT

To facilitate consumers in making meaningful choices, in 2015 a group named Palm Oil Investigations (POI) launched a palm oil scanner App for smartphones following a year of preparation. Limited to items available in Australia and New Zealand, it works for iOS and Android platforms, and is available for free via iTunes and Google Play. POI remains active on this issue, and accepts donations via a GoFundMe crowdfunding page.

After scanning a product barcode, shoppers are given a read-out of its palm oil status. The options are: • • • • •

EXPANDS ETHICAL CHOICES

If the shopper is not happy with the product, the App generates an email that can be sent to the company, and better ethical choices are displayed alongside. The App even enables buyers to track and improve their ethical purchasing percentage.

Improving the database is a group effort, and if shoppers encounter a product that is missing, they are encouraged to send in the details.

Among the large supermarkets, both Coles and Woolworths have been criticised by POI because while both claimed to be using certified sustainable oil in their own-brand ranges, there were deficiencies in certification covering the whole supply chain, or in the auditing. Following complaints to the RSPO, both were found to be in breach of RSPO rules and received letters in April 2017. While Woolworths has since complied, Coles has so far not, according to POI, and is at time of writing subject to an ACCC investigation.

RSPO membership alone does not imply that oil is sustainable, and there are rules that on-pack CSPO labelling must be accompanied by both the RSPO logo and the RSPO licence number.

If hard questions are going to be raised, it is worth asking why it is responsibility of billions of consumers worldwide to attempt to stop the palm oil-driven environmental destruction of Malaysian and Indonesian rainforests, when the same outcome could be achieved at a miniscule fraction of the effort and expense by their respective government agencies.

RESOURCES Palm Oil Investigations; www.palmoilinvestigationsapp.com Palm Oil Investigations on Facebook; www.facebook.com/palmoilproductsinAustralia Palm Oil Investigations GoFundMe page; www.gofundme.com/poifundraiser Don’t Palm Us Off campaign; www.zoo.org.au/get-involved/act-for-wildlife/dont-palm-us-off Martin Oliver is a writer and researcher based in Lismore, NSW.

Palm oil-free (35 per cent of scans) Company has a no-deforestation policy (11 per cent) Certified sustainable palm oil (9 per cent) Mass-balance part-uncertified palm oil (8 per cent) Uncertified palm oil (16 per cent)

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‘A Very

Important Park’ Wasteland rescuers birth parks movement

SUVI MAHONEN describes how through example two people ignited the formation of groups that protect neglected blocks of land from predatory developers.

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n a searingly hot Gold Coast morning, my neighbour, Rollo Meyers, stood in his eponymous park in Runaway Bay, tipping water out of a wheelbarrow.

“It rained last night,” Meyers reminded me. He wore a long-sleeved white cotton shirt, blue jeans and a pair of custom-made orthopaedic brown leather shoes. “I wear them because my left leg’s longer than my right,” he told me. “I’ve had four hip replacements, but they buggered up the first one.”

He limped over to a giant fig tree, its enormous buttress roots like panelling. “This was only a tiny sapling when I planted it,” he said. “It was when my wife was still alive.”

He bent down awkwardly to pull a weed sprouting through sugar cane mulch.

“And that poinciana over there,” he said. A gust of wind from the broadwater inlet created a swell through the green ferny leaves of the tree. “That was planted 21 years ago, when my father died.”

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CHRISTINE’S BRAINCHILD

The ‘Rollo Meyers Park’ was the brainchild of Meyers’s first wife, Christine, a feisty young German woman whom Rollo met while working in London. Fair, with a cheeky smile and sharp brown eyes that saw right through his playboy grin, Meyers knew, immediately, that she was the one for him.

Within 12 weeks of meeting they were married and, four years later, he brought her home to Australia where Meyers, a dentist, set up practice in Brisbane.

‘Christine noticed the empty land; ugly, sun-burnt earth, bare but for litter and straggly bushes trailing dry, dusty leaves’ Time passed. Two children were born. A weekender was purchased – a waterfront house with its own sandy beach at Runaway Bay, Gold Coast.

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‘Poinsettia Avenue had little shade, only a few stark pines and, ironically, not a single poinsettia tree’ Soon, Christine noticed the large block of empty land opposite their house. Ugly, sun-burnt earth, bare but for litter and a handful of straggly bushes trailing dry and dusty leaves.

“You should clean it up,” she told Meyers.

“I can’t, its council land.”

“So what?” she said. “In Germany, people wouldn’t tolerate it. They would do something about it.”

He said he might, but it wasn’t until Meyers found himself forced into early retirement at the age of 48, because of severe osteoarthritis, that he began to give serious thought to Christine’s idea.

NO COLOUR OR BIRDLIFE

He found himself studying the land opposite his house at Runaway Bay. Everything was dead or dying, the loose sand settling in thin drifts over the loam. There was no colour or birdlife. No trace of fertile growth.

Gazing at the sun-scorched earth, he thought about his own poor health. He had done everything recommended to him since receiving his diagnosis of early-onset osteoarthritis. He had gone to specialists. He had given up alcohol. He was taking supplements, and had regular physiotherapy. But despite all this, he was on an inexorable journey toward becoming an invalid.

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He looked at the circular vacant lot, bounded by the close.

What if he could clean up this dustbowl? Could gardening be the physical therapy his body so desperately needed?

He saw that Poinsettia Avenue had little shade, only a few stark pines and, ironically, not a single poinsettia tree.

It would be fitting to plant some poinsettias in honour of the avenue’s name.

There was just one hurdle. The soil.

“There wasn’t any to speak of,” Meyers said. “The land used to be a marsh, and when they deepened the harbour, all the sand was pumped up onto this block.”

SOIL, FERTILISER, MULCH

Christine encouraged Meyers to undertake a rigorous soilimprovement program. At first, they bought trailer-loads of soil that Meyers painstakingly dug through the sand.

Then they added fertiliser and mulch, and hand watered the area where the poinsettias would be planted.

As the soil became healthier they first planted edibles.

A variety of kitchen herbs, as well as vegetables – like celery and capsicum – that had been shown to help with arthritis pain. Then they graduated to fruit trees.

Pawpaws, limes, banana plants, a macadamia nut tree.

“And those – ” Meyers extended his arm toward several towering palms, beyond which boats bobbed gently in the Runaway Bay marina. “I planted those from coconuts that had washed up on the beach.”

While Meyers was happy “just mucking about”, Christine insisted that the park become a properly landscaped garden, with ordered beds, lawn and flowers.

“She was a remarkable woman,” Meyers said, stopping to pluck a grasshopper from a lemon tree leaf. “We were so different. I was a poser. She was the real thing.”

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CONSCIOUS ECO LIVING KEEPING THE PARK WATERED

Meyers waved as a middle-aged man dressed in a pair of light blue denim shorts and a white polo top approached us across the lawn. “This is Frank Gould,” Meyers said, shaking his hand. “He was my neighbour three doors down. He and his wife, Ailsa, now keep the park watered.”

“The natural rainfall just isn’t enough,” Gould said. “We don’t use any town water. It’s all subterranean. It’s a bit brackish, but most plants can tolerate it.”

“Frank is one of the many people who have worked on this place,” Meyers said, after Gould wandered away to check the sprinkler heads. “The park became a very social thing. People going on their morning walks would stop and talk. Many of them donated plants from their own gardens. Cuttings, seeds – you know? Transplants from their own yard.”

First to put their hands up were Meyers’s neighbours, Alan and Jean Leary. Then other neighbours volunteered, telling Meyers they wanted to help him care for not just that garden, but two adjacent blocks of land as well. The neighbourhood coalition started to hold regular meetings and organise working bees, birthing the Gold Coast’s first park care group – the Poinsettia Park Care Group.

I was curious about one thing: “What did the council say?”

Meyers laughed. “The council was pretty haphazard,” he said. “They didn’t even notice how much the land was improving.”

Others, however, were more appreciative. A woman named Dr Sheelagh Wennersten, who was assistant coordinator of the park care group, along with a group of other residents, approached the council with a request to dedicate the land, and formally turn it into the ‘Rollo Meyers Park’. They did this both to honour Meyers’s hard work, and to stay ahead of rumours circulating that developers wanted the land subdivided.

The council agreed to the request, and the park was officially named in 1994. Meyers no longer saw his work in the garden as simply his physical therapy, but as maintaining a community legacy.

Wennersten’s actions turned out to be prescient.

Several years later the park care group, by that time looking after six acres of public land in total, discovered that the local yacht club wanted to acquire some of the land in order to build a ‘pokies’ club and extend a carpark.

“It was devastating,” Meyers said.

PUBLIC MEETING CALLED

The Poinsettia Park Care Group sprang into action. They printed hundreds of “HANDS OFF OUR PARKS!” pamphlets, distributed them to neighbouring streets and called an urgent public meeting the following Sunday at the park.

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The response was overwhelming. “People came from all over, because they knew that if it happened to us, it could happen to them, too,” Wennersten told me when I spoke to her over the phone.

At the meeting, Wennersten and her husband proposed an idea. What if they were to name these adjacent parks after Meyers as well?

Again, the council agreed. Meyers, however, declined, as he felt that the name did not give credit to the dozens of other people who worked on the parks. A compromise was reached.

The smaller garden park would remain the ‘Rollo Meyers Park’, and the adjacent parks became the ‘Poinsettia Park’.

Despite this, the yacht club ploughed ahead with its attempt to acquire the land. Debate was passionate and, when the club’s application was finally rejected, the park care group held a large party in the park to celebrate.

‘We’ve stopped other developments over the years. And we kept the garden alive during the eight-year drought’ “I discovered how much the local community had come to value the parklands,” Meyers said.

But if the community loved the parks, there was someone who loved them even more: Christine.

Particularly the garden named after her husband just across from their home, where they’d relocated after Meyers’s retirement.

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CONSCIOUS ECO LIVING

‘… The more you give the more you get, the more you share the less you fret’ —Helen Steiner Rice

other one, on the northern side with the agapanthus and gazanias beneath it, was planted for Christine’s best friend, Daila Hoadley, when she died, in 1992.” He wiped his brow.

“We’ve stopped other developments over the years. And we kept the garden alive during the eight-year drought.”

I asked Meyers for an estimate of how much time and money he has spent on the parks through the years. He shook his head and laughed. “I don’t want to think about it,” he said.

We crossed the lawn. A short way from the ‘Rollo Meyers Park’ sign was a bench. Inscribed upon the metal plaque riveted onto the backrest were the words: “In loving memory of Christine Meyers for her loving care and nurturing of the park”.

A MAN’S GOOD LIFE

THE OLIVE TREE FLOWERED

“She had this olive tree,” Meyers said as we walked slowly back across the road to the garden, squinting in the full glare of the noonday sun. “She nursed it for nine years, fertilising it and watering it. Finally, in the last year of her life, just before she died, it flowered and produced olives.”

For more than 30 years Meyers had battled osteoarthritis, prostate cancer, dozens of skin cancers as well as three heart bypass surgeries and yet it was his wife who passed away early. Christine was only 66 years old when, in 2007, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Nine weeks later she was dead.

We reached the garden’s centre feature, a birdbath with a cherub playing a horn in its bowl. Meyers fell silent and began to pick debris from out of the profusion of yellow gazanias now growing in the bowl. Several small hard gum nuts. A curled leaf. A small white downy feather.

The council no longer allows standing water in the birdbath because of mosquitoes. The council has also removed many of his fruit trees – including Christine’s beloved olive tree – deemed an “introduced species”.

I looked down at a small white statue of a little girl, sunlit, pale and alabaster in the lovingly-tended circle of daisies beneath the bowl. It was given to Meyers by one of the park care group members following Christine’s death.

“We scattered half of her ashes under the native hibiscus tree, over there, and half of them here, around the birdbath,” Meyers said. “It was an unspoken, mutual understanding between us that this was the place where she would stay.” He feels Christine’s presence in the garden.

He stared back across the road to the second park adjacent to the sailing club. “That poinciana over there was planted 12 years ago when my mother died. And that 42 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE

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As I stood reading the numbers that marked the beginning and end of Christine’s life – 24.01.41 to 19.08.07 – Meyers told me his prostate cancer was back, after an II-year remission, and the hormone treatment specialists had put him on was not working.

“I’ve had a good life,” he said. “I’ve had two remarkable women. Christine, and my second wife, Yvonne. ” He paused. “I don’t want to be a burden to anyone. I’m planning to euthanise myself before it gets too bad.”

I looked at him, startled. “Really?”

He shrugged. “Who knows?” he admitted with a wry grin.

We stood and looked over the park. The macadamia nut tree was in fruit, heavy solid globular shells hardening. A pair of gum trees behind us. May bushes with their long stems spilling in an arch. The soft sway of an Australian native red berry tree. The tall pines. Flowers in the beds. A magnolia.

Meyers turned, hobbled to the bench and knelt at the edge of the concrete slab under the bench legs. Light through the trees shone on his silver hair and bowed shoulders. He pushed aside the dried grass and pawed at the dirt and fallen leaves on the concrete floor.

“One of the park care group members wrote a verse on the concrete here while it was setting,” he said. He sighed.

“It’s worn away with time, unfortunately.”

“What did it say?” I asked.

“It was a quote by Helen Steiner Rice.” He took a deep breath. “The more you give the more you get, the more you share the less you fret.”

He held my gaze, his eyes welling.

Suvi Mahonen is a freelance journalist based on the Gold Coast, Queensland.

For more information click here

SPRING 2018

Platform Coops

Support Ethical Business

By MARTIN OLIVER

T

he Internet era has facilitated the development of the sharing economy, also known as the peerto-peer economy.

This enables individuals to do business with one another in a decentralised fashion, using special platforms, and without intermediaries. Many companies operating in this fashion have the capacity to disrupt existing business sectors.

This model began with eBay back in 1995, and now extends to a wide range of initiatives, ranging from the small to the corporate giants.

RISE OF NEW MONOPOLIES

Growing concerns have been raised about the role of the big players such as Uber (taxis) and Airbnb (short-term accommodation). In contrast to the impression created by the ‘sharing’ name, these capitalist entities are involved in extracting profits, tax avoidance, and lobbying to overturn local regulations.

They frequently behave in a similar way to monopolies, with one player often dominating its sector while using the advantage of its incumbency to slant the playing field against new less well-funded entrants.

Meanwhile, job numbers in the so-called ‘gig economy’ sector of the sharing economy have been multiplying.

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In the US, the gig economy now represents 34 per cent of the workforce. In addition to Uber, other examples include Deliveroo (a food delivery service), and TaskRabbit (for small handyman jobs).

Regarded as contractors rather than employees, those involved in this sector have no minimum wage, no paid holidays, and no benefits. However, gig work appeals to some people who dislike employers and who appreciate the flexibility, especially if they already have another income source.

COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT

An alternative to these large corporates is ‘platform cooperativism’. A term coined by US academic and author Trebor Scholz, this is where computer technology meets the cooperative movement. Unlike corporate giants, cooperatives are collectively owned and governed, facilitating democracy, and achieving a greater level of fairness for everyone involved.

Among platform coops and other businesses with similar socially-oriented goals are: • Loomio (collaborative decision-making software.)

• Stocksy (based in Canada, offering stock photography and video footage, with higher payments to photographers.)

• Green Taxi Cooperative (Denver, Colorado.)

• Resonate (music-streaming service that pays artists 2.5 times more than their competitors.)

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CONSCIOUS ECO LIVING • Fairmondo (a marketplace for ethical goods and services operating in the UK and Germany.)

• Loconomics (located in the US, this is a platform for service professionals such as massage therapists, hairdressers and tax agents to connect with new clients.)

• Modo (a Vancouver, Canada car-sharing coop) • Fairbnb (not yet launched, this plans to be an alternative to Airbnb that is community-centred, owned by those who use it, with decisions made for the benefit of neighbourhoods.)

With online platforms representing a growing share of the world’s economy activity, platform cooperatives are viewed as a means of tackling a wide range of problems.

Revenue is reinvested locally rather than being sent off to benefit a distant corporation, and surplus profits are returned to members.

Platform cooperatives help to address issues such as extreme and increasing wealth inequalities, a shrinking middle class, and the rise of automation. At a time when the personal data market is worth US $57 billion (AUD $73 billion) globally, platform coops will be respecting privacy rather than mining and selling data. Other areas that platform coops are likely to connect up with are the maker movement, 3D printing, and the re-use of resources in the circular economy.

A BHIVE FOR BENDIGO

Bendigo is a large inland city in regional Victoria, with a population of about 110,000 people. In 2016, a core group of organisers proposed to make it Australia’s very first platform cooperative hub. One key player is ecological consultant Ian McBurney, who suspended working in his business in order to make the Bendigo vision a reality.

Known as bHive, the plans are to function as platform under which a collective of micro-businesses can operate.

Areas are likely to include car sharing, bike sharing, stuff sharing, peer-to-peer energy, skill sharing, timebanking, food sharing and peer-to-peer lending. By sharing resources within a group, unnecessary consumption can be avoided, which will have a tangible environmental benefit. One early project already underway is an organisational fleet car sharing study.

TRADING ‘VILLAGE’ APP

‘Job numbers in the so-called ‘gig economy’ sector of the sharing economy have been multiplying’ is of a local neighbourhood trading zone 200 to 300 metres around your home, one that is viewed as a defacto village.

The platform will run on a mobile app, and developers have already sketched out how it might look. bHive is evolving in stages, and in August 2017 it was set up as a cooperative.

Based on the current timeline, the plan is to launch in 2019. Before then, the organising group hopes to have raised a million dollars over a three-year period, after which it expects that the platform will be financially sustainable.

Bendigo has a strong cooperative history involving brewing coops, butter coops, cheese coops, and fruitgrowing coops. The Bendigo Bank, which has branches around the country, originally evolved from a building society. bHive is hoping to build on this past and bring it into the high-tech 21st Century.

RESOURCES bHive Bendigo - www.bhive.coop bHive Bendigo on Facebook; www.facebook.com/bhive.coop Interview with Trebor Scholz youtu.be/v2OmPKdO_qk Martin Oliver is a writer and researcher based in Lismore, NSW.

As with many of the larger sharing economy players, bHive would make use of a reputation score as a means of motivating high standards, honesty, and good communication among participants. McBurney’s vision 44 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE

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CONSCIOUS ECO LIVING

Peer-to-Peer

Solar Trading MARTIN OLIVER reports on an emerging trend to sell household solar power to businesses

T

raditionally, the supply of electricity has relied on power stations, poles and wiring. Now, ‘peer-to-peer solar trading’ enabling residential solar power to be transferred to businesses is emerging as a new contender for the energy dollar.

In recent years, ‘behind the meter’ power generation involving solar panels and batteries has becoming increasingly recognised as a decentralised alternative.

In Australia, rooftop solar now represents 5.7 gigawatthours (gWh), and has been installed by 23 per cent of households. With today’s shift away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy, modern technology and computing are playing an important role.

In May 2016, in Perth, Western Australia, Jemma Green and Dave Martin launched PowerLedger to implement the innovative peer-to-peer power trading

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system. This new energy distribution system enables residential and commercial premises to trade solar power electricity without a middleman, other than Power Ledger taking a small cut per kilowatt-hour (kWh) traded.

LACKLUSTRE FEED-IN TARIFF

At present, the best outcome for a solar household is to make use of its own home-generated electricity.

Otherwise, this is sold back to the grid in exchange for a feed-in tariff that is often lacklustre, varying from zero to 18 cents per kWh. Peer-to-peer trading has the advantages of improving solar’s financial viability, localising the power market, and cutting carbon emissions.

Exchanges can occur within a building or across a wider distributed energy network. A landlord can use a distributed platform as a means of installing solar on the roof of a rental property, and receiving a portion of the financial benefit. PowerLedger’s system adds relevance to the energy grid, which is now under threat because of

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CONSCIOUS ECO LIVING

the availability of domestic battery storage that enables householders to go off-grid.

To track the quantity of solar power generated and consumed, PowerLedger has developed its own software. One issue is that participation requires a smart meter, which may be of concern in relation to microwave radiation exposure, fire risk, data privacy, surveillance, and vulnerability to hacking.

‘Peer-to-peer trading has the advantages of improving solar’s financial viability, localising the power market, and cutting carbon emissions’ The way this fits together is complicated. In a simplified form, PowerLedger’s power trading software uses its own blockchain technology (a secure transaction system pioneered by cryptocurrency company Bitcoin).

Unlike Bitcoin’s processing system, which is energyintensive because of the computing power required, PowerLedger’s blockchain is far more energy efficient.

PAYMENT IN REAL TIME

Trading takes place with a unit of electricity called Sparkz, currently pegged at one cent. Sparkz are received by the seller into a digital wallet that can later be converted to Australian Dollars. The use of blockchain has the advantage of enabling payment transactions to take place in real-time.

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Sparkz are backed by a unit known as a POWR Token, which can be bought in bulk from PowerLedger using a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple or Litecoin. When this was being written, a sale of POWR Tokens had just completed, with each token being valued at US 8.8 cents (AUD 11.2 cents). The use of globally accepted cryptocurrencies has the advantage of enabling the project to plug into overseas initiatives.

Trials have taken place in Fremantle and Busselton in Western Australia, and Auckland, NZ, and round of testing began in October this year with 200 Origin Energy customers, whose data will be anonymised and untraceable.

However, existing laws do not require power companies to allow peer-to-peer energy transfers that circumvent the power retailer, and retailers have little incentive to allow them. Regulatory change will probably be necessary before the PowerLedger trading model can take off properly.

PowerLedger is not the only company involved in this field. Systems being developed overseas include: LO3 Energy and Grid+ (US), Powerpeers (Netherlands), WePower (Gibraltar), Solar DAO, MyBit (Switzerland), and Grid Singularity (Austria).

RESOURCES PowerLedger; www.powerledger.io Martin Oliver is a writer and researcher based in Lismore, NSW.

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CONSCIOUS GROWTH

Reinvention Occurs When

Assumptions Dissolve

By GEORGE HELOU, best-selling author and founder of the empowerment program, EP7.

W

hat does reinvention mean?

And how do assumptions relate to reinvention?

Everything is environment. Your mind, your body and your surroundings are all environment.

When you are automatically interpreting the environment of yourself and your surroundings with a set of learned assumptions, you are experiencing a version SPRING 2018

of reality that appears as the only reality, thanks to those learned assumptions.

Those assumptions contribute to a series of labels, designed to help us form an identity and through that identity we can identify what to belong to, and what to separate from.

What to belong to is meant to keep us safe and what to separate from is meant to be a threat to our wellbeing. Hence, race, religion, culture and gender can create division. For example, racism and sexism ISSUE 100

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CONSCIOUS GROWTH can thrive when we are conditioned to subscribe unconditionally to assumptions that our identity is based on a colour of skin, personality traits, where we are born or how we make sense of the unseen forces that created this existence.

“This video expands our sense of self and our constant labelling”

youtu.be/Nj5-eoSm-y8 As you can see, when you remove a filter that forces you to assume that confronting is dangerous and to be avoided every time, you begin to act in a way leading to desirable results. This is a profound reinvention stemming from removal of just one assumption!

youtu.be/q0qD2K2RWkc REMOVING ASSUMPTIONS

Reinvention happens when you change any one of your assumptions, such as believing you are inferior, weak or unworthy because of the colour of your skin or gender.

Each time you remove an assumption based on a ‘mistruth’ and replace it with one aligned with your wisdom and the truth of your mental and biological capability, you have in effect, reinvented yourself.

This is profound because it changes the way you think, feel and act across virtually all areas of your life. Your reality changes and hence what you experience changes.

Changing just one assumption filters how you look at almost everything in your life.

For example, say you doubt you can handle confronting people who are disrespecting you, that filter will control your emotions, thoughts and actions. You will assume that if you confront you will be attacked.

This makes you feel anxious and compels you to avoid confronting at all costs. Anxiety through this filter is justified because you are convinced you need to protect yourself from all threatening situations. The ‘confrontation is dangerous’ filter will affect how you relate to all if not most of your relationships with family, friends and colleagues and beyond.

What if that assumption was blatantly wrong and was limiting your success in relationships? What if you can confront without creating conflict? Here is a video where George Helou shares how to confront in an empowering way.

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YOU VERSUS THE WORLD

Many of these assumption filters interfere with our sense of worth, capability and abundance. When we have hurtful experiences, we can tend to form assumptions that life is more threatening and dangerous than we previously anticipated and protection becomes a higher priority. ‘People can’t be trusted’, ‘love hurts’, ‘I’m jinxed’, ‘It’s a dog-eat-dog-world’ and hundreds of similar filters manipulate the environment we perceive and experience. These filters create an unbalanced and unhealthy skew towards overprotection creating a ‘me versus the world’ mentality.

‘Racism and sexism can thrive when we are conditioned to subscribe unconditionally to assumptions…’

Through traumatic events, the brain can cause us to draw conclusions that anything that remotely looks like the environment which existed around that trauma needs to serve as a warning that the event will repeat. So, we form assumptions with intense emotion which translate into habits.

As this trauma rewires our brain to protect us, we end up trapped through our perception and behaviour, caught in an overprotection mode without realising the SPRING 2018

consequences. Overprotective thinking and decisionmaking compounds into being overly defensive, distant and avoiding risks, no matter how calculated they might be.

When we are in the habit of avoiding our environment, this isolation stagnates our growth. The ability to live a purposeful life filled with meaningful connections and adventure is taken away.

Eventually, through stagnation, we experience boredom and loss of direction. Not consciously knowing how we got there, we feel lost and disillusioned. That means, without being conscious, we are only aware of the options that are ultra-safe and the ideas that would excite us are undetected because they are held outside the blinkered range. This means the imagination is not being ignited and cannot serve the heart because the brain is wired to believe that entertaining new ideas is a

‘Our wisdom… can be clarified and the contrast between the self-sabotage and the empowering state becomes clear’ liability. Hence, imagination is shut down, depriving our ability to re-imagine a world that can excite, expand and fulfil us.

In this highly stressed state, we imagine the world as an uninspiring, adventure-starved playground. The focus here should be on deconstructing the ideas that formed this way of imagining our environment; seeing ourselves as being unworthy and incapable and our surroundings as being scarce on resources and cruel.

By deconstructing how we are imagining, we can expose and assess the assumptions that were formed during traumatic events. Our wisdom from there can be clarified and the contrast between the self-sabotage and the empowering state becomes clear. This gives reason and motivation to move out of the stagnant state and into one that delivers the balance, which restores adventure.

This shift into a different state of mind is a reinvention and something nature does constantly through adaptation. A caterpillar reinvents itself into a flying creature: a butterfly. Nature shows what we are designed and meant to do.

This mind-shift inspired me to retell the fairy-tale of Cinderella because I accidently discovered that it SPRING 2018

was encoded with a hidden, empowering story of Ella reinventing herself. This is how Ella managed to attend the ball, meet the prince, and end her enslavement. (I recently released the audiobook version on iTunes and Audible, narrated by Gogglebox’s Jo Van Es.)

BEGIN YOUR REINVENTION

To dedicate yourself to a personal development journey of ongoing reinvention out of a disempowering conditioning, here are ways you can begin: 1. Read self-help books; 2. Surround yourself with like-minded people who value personal development; 3. Commit to meditating daily; 4. Spend quality time in nature every week; 5. Create opportunities for creative play; 6. See a life or EP7-personal development coachpractitioner who is trained to help you reinvent yourself. (see https://www.EP7.com.au); and 7. Attend personal development seminars, webinars, courses and workshops.

It’s worth examining your assumptions, deciding whether they are working in your favour, and taking steps to change those that aren’t.

The founder of Empowered for Purpose in 7 Steps, EP7, George Helou, is based in Subiaco, WA, and has dedicated his life to helping people build their confidence and create purpose in every area of their lives.

For mor information go to ep7.com.au ISSUE 100

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CONSCIOUS GROWTH

Right Voice

for You

A class with Christopher Hughes For most of his life Christopher (Chris) Hughes studied to sing and had determined that his purpose in life was to be a professional opera star.

As a young child he would tell people an opera singer was what he wanted to be when he grew up and would offer his very best impression by puffing out his chest to belt out a few overblown tones for anyone he could amuse.

Chris pursued this dream to university where he studied to pronounce languages he didn’t understand, learned to breathe the way he was told to, and honed his craft on a daily basis.

Once Chris got to the upper echelons of that world, he found no joy in it at all. He saw few people doing it for the fun of it and the magic it could be. For most, it was about proving something, getting it right and being perfect.

Once a week he had to sing for his peers in a master class and when he finished his performance, each one would take their turn critiquing his ability. Instead of offering the generosity of encouragement, they would tear him down. The professors encouraged this process, saying: “To succeed in the real world, you need to develop the skin of a rhino.”

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THE ENERGY OF WORDS

Chris knew something quite different was possible. He loved what using your voice and playing with the energy of words could be, and the amazing pallet of energies available with it.

Chris saw that with our voice we invite people to all sorts of things. Channelling through our bodies, glorious sound could create all kinds of feelings, ranging from a sense of engagement to happiness, and even a sense of peace.

Something Chris never saw taught in traditional singing school was “vulnerability” – which he’d noticed was the greatest tool in singing – to just be heard (on and off stage).

It’s the willingness to just be there and be present with no agenda at all. It’s the courage to show up in the world without barriers or pretence and share part of you with everyone else.

This is what Chris would like to invite everyone to experience in his Right Voice for You classes.

“It isn’t about getting anything ‘right’ – it’s about allowing your voice to come forward and contribute to the world,” Chris says.

“It’s about finding your voice and sharing it in a way that is right for you. It’s not about singing or being a star, but instead it is about allowing the gift that is you to be shared with the world.”

For further information visit www.accessconsciousness.com

SPRING 2018

CONSCIOUS SPIRIT

Your Journey of

Awakening A direct channelled message from SOURCE

Awakening, a word used by so many to describe something that seems impossible to obtain. An elusive concept, that perhaps has been lost in translation and the desire for understanding rather than a position of acceptance.

We have been given that Life is the flow of Source through all that you are and the awakening of all that is held within self. It is in this awakening that life begins.

The awakening is a moment of recognition of self in the moment that you are in, and a yearning to become more than you are in that moment. It is a reaching within self and then an opening of your hand to all that has been, receiving in that open hand all that is being held for you.

Life is living, living is Source flowing through all that is and all that will be and all that awakens in the becoming of all of self.

Many speak of the awaking, of the rise of the higher self, the connection to the unknown. There is no unknown, all is known and held within all. It is the blinding of the truth of self that holds the belief of the unknown.

Awakening to self is living in the pure flow of all that is, all that flows, all that creates and recreates, it is the living in the flow of Source.

It is in the holding of the identity of Source, of the naming of the energy that flows, of the restriction by

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words or modality, by actions and rituals that withholds the fullness that one seeks. The rituals, the modality, the words and the mantras become what is seen, it is in seeing beyond those things that one sees the pure essence of life.

When what is known and learnt becomes all that is seen and understood, the connection to Source, The Universe, God (whatever the name you use ), is at times overlooked or lost in knowledge beliefs and rituals of learning and doing.

It is in stillness, in a willingness to be, and an acceptance of what is, that the purity of life is seen.

The gathering of knowledge is not life.

The expression of emotions is not life.

The pleasure of the physical is not life.

Life begins in Core and flows from Core.

Life is Source and Source is life.

The gathering of knowledge which leads us to Source is the beginning of the awakening.

The expression of emotions in the pure release of the connection to Source is the beginning of the awakening.

The pleasure of the physical in living in the fullness of life is the beginning of the awakening.

Embracing the pure essence that is all of you, untainted by what has been, is the beginning of the awakening.

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Receiving all that is being held for you and giving that to self, is the beginning of the awakening.

It is in the expression of life in the gathering of knowledge, the pure release of emotions and the pleasure of the physical that the one seeking lives the fullness of that flow.

It is in the full expression of all of self that life is seen, experienced, known and understood.

First one must connect to the purity of self, and from this place begin to live. All else is an expression, a mirroring of what is truth. When there is no connection to Core, there is no living, no life. It is an emptiness which has the appearance of fullness, yet it is without substance, there is a barrenness where nothing grows, and what begins to grow ceases to be.

The connection to Source, the Life Energy of All that is, that is the awakening. It is the beginning of living in the flow of life, expressing all that you are, and becoming all that you will become in the fullness of All that is.

Awakening is to freely live, freely be all that is to be.

Awakening is allowing All that is, Source; to flow through the physical in your touch, your words, and the actions that carry all that is given.

The fullness of Source is All. It is without measure, it has no beginning and no end, it is not contained or controlled by thought or action, it is only restricted in its flow by thought and action.

When one seeks the breath of All that is, there is no compromise, there is no tainting of what is, it is the pure flow of All that is in the vessel willing to be.

This article was a direct channelled message from Source. ŠRochelle & SandraJ 2017 ŠMessages From Source

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CONSCIOUS SPIRIT

‘Lost’ memory reveals

Earth’s Divinity Life-changing moment leads to higher path

By COLLEEN CLAY

T

he course of Freya Savitri Sampson’s life was changed in one empowering moment that led to the launch of Eartheart, a growing Western Australian community reaching out to the globe.

While taking a break from tertiary studies, in 1999 a ‘lost’ memory welled up into her consciousness, delivering the truth of what it is to be human.

It was a thunderbolt moment. The veil of humdrum ‘reality’ dissolved: the world revealed itself to her in its pristine divinity.

ONENESS OF CREATION

Freya recognised that if she had previously not seen this truth, then most of the rest of humanity would be in the same position: moving through life without the knowledge – and wonder – of the oneness of creation.

Such a moment is described in eastern meditation traditions as Samadhi.

‘A 15-year journey of learning, studying physical and metaphysical subjects with many different teachers’ Altered at depth with her new understanding, she discovered she had an ability to “facilitate healing for people and all sentient beings”. Her energy had changed.

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she went on a journey of learning, studying physical and meta-physical subjects with many different teachers.

A range of therapies were part of Freya’s education and she is qualified in several modalities of healing including: Pranic Healing; Laughter Yoga; Crystal Dreaming; Atlas Alignment; Scalar Therapy; and Ignite Your Spirit Therapy.

Freya also writes and teaches workshops and training programs for self-empowerment.

With her profound perception of how all humanity, all creatures, all plant life, are linked to Earth, Freya saw a vision of her path forward. She had recognised Earth as an entity, the nurturing parent of us all; and all natural phenomena as a parent’s gifts to be honoured.

Her purpose became clear: it was to share this knowledge and facilitate the experience of that truth with her ‘brothers and sisters’ in order to awaken and unite all through actualising the shared dream in the hearts of all humanity.

INTEGRITY AND RESPECT

Action was the key, for Freya. While putting the therapy modalities in which she was skilled to work, she began developing the idea of a community that would accompany her in treading a path of integrity and respecting one another and the Earth.

In 2013, Freya established Earthheart, now headquartered within a building in Fremantle, Western Australia, known as the Powerhouse.

Eartheart’s guiding principles were established to honour life in all its forms.

ASSISTANCE AND KINDNESS

The foundations of these principles are to remain close to the Great Spirit, respect all living things, give assistance and kindness wherever needed, be truthful and honest at all times and take right action while being responsible for personal wellbeing: body, energy, emotion.

Within the Powerhouse, Eartheart thrives as many different modalities, events and ‘meetups’ take place, increasing the soul-nourishing energy within the building.

SPRING 2018

Freya describes herself as the custodian of Eartheart.

She sees the purpose of Earthheart as reminding each of us of our magnificence, and empowering each of us of our Sovereignty’ At Eartheart, people at all levels of consciousness are able to begin or continue their journey of expansion.

“Using multidimensional tools, holistic healing modalities and empowerment education we remove that which is holding us back from our authentic self,” Freya said.

‘As humanity awakens we return to living peacefully and sustainably with Earth, nature and all sentient life’ “A mission of Eartheart is to guide us to awaken and ‘remember’ our true nature. As humanity awakens we return to living peacefully and sustainably with Earth, nature and all sentient life.”

A PLACE FOR EVOLVING

As a school of learning, Eartheart is a place to collectively grow in empowerment. It is a place for evolving and transforming consciousness, unifying hearts and minds, connecting to a higher guidance and realigning with a higher purpose. The ultimate aim is “to transform life on Earth for the wellbeing and benefit of all life upon it”.

Aside from offering therapeutic modalities and group gatherings, Eartheart is creating awareness of and actualising mutually beneficial relations between humanity, nature, flora and fauna. Freya and volunteers offer world service such as Dreamtime Clean Up days and Empowerment training.

Eartheart is dedicated to Earth and Humanity, encouraging the living of a spirit rich life.

For further information watch this videio youtu.be/KnocpjqIr24 or visit www.eartheart.com.au

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Rewylding the Divine Feminine.

Circle & Soul-Journey Dear-Hearts, too long have we been disconnected from the Earth and from one another. Pitted against each other in competition and separation. The drive to have it all, to be everything to everyone, has seen those personal threads of connection to each other, to our planet and to sistahood unravel, fray and even break completely.

Today even with unlimited access to information and people, too many of us hear the heartbeat of loneliness, of being ultimately lost within our selves. The .. Who am I? .. Is this what I envisioned my life to be? .. I feel disconnected!

So what can we do??

We are at the precipice of great change in humanity. We are searching for that reSOULution for this disunion. That Dear-Heart starts with you, within you, lead by YOU. For we are beings of immeasurable knowledge, & healing, all that you require for your own greatest expansion into your truest self.

Our collective rewylding begins with you. As the Wyld Tribe, we invite you to explore what it is for you. The rediscovering of your true soul essence, who you are, what your beliefs & values are & how you choose to be seen.

When women gather, judgement released, open hearts & open minds sit circle, our internal world, our inner’verse shifts. We are witnessed in our story, we are held, honoured & supported for where we are in that moment. When we collectively gather, we remember our innate gifts, those that course through our blood & are held within our cellular memory.

Through ritual and ceremony, movement and sound, voice and story, we remember. We awaken those long forgotten shards of self, the past lives we have lived, our divine feminine aspects. When we sit in sacred space, walk the pathways of long ago, we remember.

You dance within stone circles & temples, watch the breeze upon the leaves within ancient groves, hear the trickle of water running through the wells & springs, the words of the Goddess held within we remember.

We invite you to explore through sound journey & meditation, sacred retreat or even upon the ancient lands themselves in Soul Journey’s, always within Sistahood.

When we remember the divine within us, we awaken, we witness the divine in another & the ripple expands into the cosmos. You and I are the reflection of one another. we are stars, sun & moon.

I SEE you Beautie for you and I, WE ARE AS ONE

SCOTLAND SCOTLAND EGYPT ENGLAND CAMBODIA NEW ZEALAND SCOTLAND ••• EGYPT EGYPT ••• ENGLAND ENGLAND ••• CAMBODIA CAMBODIA ••• NEW NEWZEALAND ZEALAND For more information go to www.wyldtribe.com or visit us of FB www.facebook.com/WyldTribe

CONSCIOUS ARTS SPRING 2017 MUST READS

Reviewed by JAN MAWDESLEY

See more reviews at bluewolf-reviews.com

If Truth Be Told

Author: Om Swami ISBN: 9780994002747 Publisher: Black Lotus Press Website: www.omswami.com What is it that drives a person to give up all they have worked for to take up the life of a monk, to step away from all they love and hold dear, to become one with not just themselves, earth and nature, but with God? In this honest, enjoyable and intriguing memoir told by On Swarmi, he explains why and what it was that encouraged him to do just that; to set a pathway through his life that was to be ultimately undeniable; SPRING 2018

something that all his life, in an almost subliminal way, he knew he would do; undertake the life lived by a monk.

Approaching his 3oth birthday, he began seriously to consider becoming a monk; casting off his worldly goods to follow a desire, which was getting stronger, more insistent every day; a desire to follow what he truly believed was his life purpose.

Planning his way towards what he considered his destiny was done with the precision to be expected from a businessman of his ability. On the chosen day he walked into an internet café, emailed his family and business associates, letting them know he was going away, destroyed his SIM card, deleted his email account and set out with a feeling of immense vulnerably, to discover the way forward to a ‘new inner life’.

As his story unfolds, it is very easy to walk with him as he discovers the pathway to becoming a monk, is not all he has thought, or even dreamed, it would be. He discovers several of the personages he has read about and respected from afar, are perhaps not the best role models, but the humble people who help out when needed, devote their time and effort to helping him survive and walk with him on his journey, often come with many lessons he needed to learn.

Today, Om Swami is a very different man to the young child growing up in India: he is a man who followed his calling, suffered as he sought the Divine, learned his lessons, often the hard way, discovering once he finally reached enlightenment, that there is one truth, that of the eternal truth; which is to have the right to live your life to the fullest.

Written in a manner to be enjoyed, the words come from a very personal and truthful place: that of a man facing often terrifying options, in the firm and unshakeable belief that no matter what the world and the elements choose to test him with, he would eventually see God, see the ultimate, and by doing so would become a far, far better person.

His conclusion to his time of renouncement is not what would logically be expected. Once again it is befitting of a man who had to take it to the limit, no matter what to discover the ultimate truth.

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CONSCIOUS ARTS SPRING 2017 MUST READS

Intuitive

Author: Craigh Wilson Publisher: Michael Hanrahan Publishing ISBN: 9780648018001 www.mhpublishing.com.au Intuition is something we all have and frequently use, without being aware of what it is that makes us instinctively know or understand the why and how about what may have just happened, or the reason behind the decision just made.

But what happens to your life if you can use this God given ability each day to make life better, to help understand to a deeper and more humble level, what a wonderful gift has been given to us all.

In this handbook or guide to discovering and using your intuition, Craig Wilson presents in a wonderfully warm and comfortable manner, the pathway to a better connectedness, a greater understanding and a greater 58 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE

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acceptance of the journey we, as humans, are taking as we travel across our lives.

As a gifted intuitive he has always understood the power and understanding that comes with this gift; equally he has understood that as we move rapidly through this fast paced modern lifestyle we are losing this skill, this talent and in so doing have lost the connectedness that is all important.

Interestingly, people are today more than ever, seeking inner peace, are suffering from a range of stress related illnesses and conditions and are searching for that magic elixir to cure all their ills and ailments. As Wilson says, time and time again throughout the book, Intuition, while not a quick fix, will certainly help on the road to recovery and the pathway to a happier, healthier lifestyle both physically and spiritually.

Right at the beginning there is a little ‘tick list’ to encourage you to check out just where you are placed, asking you to decide ‘are you where you had planned to be at this time of your life’. The results, if you are brutally honest with the answers could prove to be very surprising.

Now that the base line is established the rest of the book is there to help you understand and make the changes required as well as encourage you towards change in the way you not only live, but do business, undertake your responsibilities to others and enjoy the fruits of your labours, with a happy, peaceful heart.

As this is a rather challenging task, Wilson has constructed the chapters to be able to be read in one long marathon read, or simply to be opened at will and read little by little to help you make the changes as required. At the end of each of the chapters there is a little summation of all the points addressed making a really easy reference guide should you need to refresh or review.

Intuition is something that is intensely personal, very humbling and can be used to have a lot of fun. It is flexible, versatile and totally life changing, unique to you.

Enjoy your very special journey into freedom and happiness under the guidance of a master in Craigh Wilson as he encourages you to: “Be who you truly are. Be bold, and be bright.”

SPRING 2018

Reviewed by JAN MAWDESLEY

See more reviews at bluewolf-reviews.com

Traveller

Sherry Finzer and Peter Sheridan www.heartdancerecordings.com There is much discussion about sending people into space for perhaps a holiday or a look about the planets: but what may happen if this truly does occur has been transposed into a beautiful piece, Leaving Earth, created by Finzer and Sheridan which commences with the drift of flute, the chatter of people about to embark on the journey of a lifetime.

The children excited at the journey to come.

As the flute slowly helps you leave earth’s atmosphere drifting gently, ever more peacefully towards your destination, you are encouraged to hear the absolute silence, the peace to be found in places yet still unknown.

This sets the standard for the entire album composed and created by the multi ward winning Sherry Finzer, known for her undoubted talent within the new age and ambient flute genre and Peter Sheridan, a man known worldwide for his talent with low flute, having commissioned more than 100 works SPRING 2018

from eight different countries, as well as appearing on Hollywood sound tracks, chamber music recordings and landmark albums.

With Traveller this talented pair, have between them, created what could be considered as another landmark album of incredible beauty.

Spiritual Crossing is introduced with a low hum and the single rhythmic beat of a drum, then the dulcet notes of the flute once again come to entice, intrigue and to beckon: come with me, follow the sound, relax, leave your stress behind when you join me on this delicious journey moving on, moving forward, once again to places yet to be discovered.

What goes on after dark when the otherworld comes out to enjoy the hours of darkness has been beautifully captured in Nocturnal Dance, with the rich, melancholy sound of low flute, lifted occasionally by the slightly higher notes from Finzer. A steady pulse is maintained throughout which would be indicative of a piece to be used for deep meditation, as could be the following track Reverence, once again devoted to a low, slow, methodical style which resonates well into the subconscious mind and soul.

A tom-tom beats out a steady call to gather, to come to the hunt. Electronic threads are being woven within the sound to add to the rich fabric of the event; low flute joins in with a deep, chunky throb, then deep peace of timeless space! In Hunt of the Plains we are moved to a time and place that is of any particular choosing; from times ancient to times not yet arrived, when all around may be fresh and new.

The final magnificent track, Joy, clears away the somewhat sombre nature of the previous tracks, awakening the traveller to a new frontier with the joyful, playful, nature of the alto flute, underpinned by the deeper tones of the contra bass flute, balancing out the harmonies.

To a degree this is an experiment in creativity by two talent musicians who are masters of their craft, both taking enjoyment from being able to simply allow the music to evolve, to go where it will and by doing so, have created masterpiece for meditation and enjoyment.

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CONSCIOUS ARTS

Based in Fremantle in Western Australia, Glen Cowan is a passionate photographer whose inspiration is the oceans and his subjects are the breathtakingly beautiful life forms that live there. He shares his thoughts about the ocean here, and his images showcase to his skills.

Oceans Dominate

B

Our Planet

ecause planet Earth is made up mainly of water, Glen Cowans believes it was wrongly named.

“I am not quite sure why we call our planet Earth, when more than 70 per cent of its surface is water, and within that water there exists 90 per cent of all our living creatures,” he states.

The figures indicate that the seas, oceans and other waterways dominate our planet.

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AN ANCIENT PAST

“Life on this planet began in water,” Glen says. “And when I am immersed in the ocean it is as if I am visiting a beautiful alternate realm – so very different from my own.

For me, it is a place where you can feel your pulse slow as your senses seem to calm. It is as if you are returning to an ancient past, perhaps one that we share in common with all living creatures.

“To me the obvious name for this planet would be Ocean.”

It’s hard not to agree: what a beautiful alternative name that could be for our planet.

SPRING 2018

“With my photography, I’m trying to share a vicarious journey with the viewer,” Glen says.

“One where you can witness just a mere fraction of the wonders that exist under the surface of our seas and I hope that just like me, that you will discover a beauty far greater than can ever be imagined.”

Born in 1961 in Perth Western Australia, Glen developed his passion for the ocean and all that it holds when he began snorkelling at the age of 10. His interest in photography began in his early 20’s, but it wasn’t until 1994, during his first ventures into scuba diving, that he began capturing images of the ocean through his photography.

In March 2005, the turned his back on a long standing trade background and made the life-changing decision to devote his future to what he loves; the oceans and underwater photography.

His love for the ocean comes with a strong feeling of reverence for this wondrous domain.

Now today with a history of more than 36 exhibitions, a large format coffee table book and his own iconic Studio and Gallery at the Roundhouse in Fremantle, Glen has arguably become one of Australia’s most successful underwater photographers.

His work has been described as taking photography to a new level, bridging the gap between photography and art.

When asked about his philosophy he describes it as “allowing Nature to be the artist. I merely capture, as simply as possible, the seascapes, shapes, colours and life forms of the ocean and allow them to create the masterpiece.”

INVISIBLE FORMS EXPOSED

Glen’s photography becomes the viewer’s microscope, exposing colour and species with a complexity and sculptural form, normally invisible to the naked eye.

Glen’s works, photographed around the West Australian coast and from many locations all over the world, are presented larger than life as canvas giclee limited edition prints that have become highly sought after additions to collections nationally and in other countries.

Words such as “tranquil” and “calming to the soul” are often used to express the emotions of viewing his photography, and his prints have been warmly welcomed into contemporary and traditional spaces alike.

For more information and to see the complete collection view www.glencowans.com SPRING 2018

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CONSCIOUS ARTS BOOK REVIEWS YOU’RE NOT ALONE

THE NAKED WITCH

In today’s world of instant communication we are often more alone that ever, facing conflict, stress, pressure from peers, work colleges and loved ones. We are also in a time of great spiritual enlightenment, which if misunderstood can also cause stress and confusion.

For anyone embarking on a journey of self-discovery or anyone who has been on this voyage for some time, this presents or re-presents the basic fundamentals, which for the beginner, make understanding the journey less complex and for others, a reminder that, Yes, we are all born perfect and that ‘We Are Not Alone’.

The roller coaster ride that was the life of Fiona Horne tells a remarkable story about a person who is truly a survivor, who has battled the forces of darkness, to finally come into the light of peace and acceptance.

In reading the memoir of a woman who was front person for the electro-pop group Def FX and is now relief pilot for mercy missions, there are deep moments of immense sadness and joy.

As Fiona struggles to overcome her demons, she also learns to accept that the most basic, fundamental principle she has learned over her flamboyant career is: ‘Learning instead of asking, to give. Instead of holding, to let go. To trust that somehow what I needed would appear.(sic).’

Author: Rebecca Jackson ISBN: 9780995387447 Publisher: Busybird Publishing Website: www.busybirdpublishing.com.au

LAUGHING AT CANCER

Author: Ros Ben –Moshe ISBN: 9781925367843 Publisher: Brolga Publishing Website: www. brolgapublishing.com.au

BRAIN BRIEFS: ANSWERS TO THE MOST (AND LEAST) PRESSING QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR MIND

When Ros Ben -Moshe had to face the unpleasant fact that a malignant polyp had taken up residence in her bowel, she though as many do, Why me! Once the overall shock wore off and reality checked in, she had some sobering decisions to make; one of those was sit and lament or embrace everything she had ever learned, taught or read about healing, the wonderful power of love and laughter, and how both can help bring about transformation .

After her five year check-up, she decided to revisit what she wrote in her diary, offering her words, in the hope and love that her journey will help and encourage others in a similar position.

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Author: Fiona Horne ISBN: 9781925429633 Publisher: Rockpool Publishing Website: www.rockpoolpublishing.com.au

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Authors: Art Markman and Bob Duke ISBN: 9781454919070 Publisher: Sterling Website: www.newsouthbooks.com.au

There are always a thousand and one things there to be wondered, pondered or marvelled about or over, as we travel along the pathways of our lives. Sometimes the answers are there, but mostly if they are, they are something that could, or could not be possible, or even probable.

In this lively look at what really may be going on in the brain, so many of the imponderables in life may be answered. Well probably!

A thoroughly enjoyable, entertaining and informative collection of bits and pieces of intrigue and interest presented to tantalise the mind!

SPRING 2018

Reviewed by JAN MAWDESLEY

See more reviews at bluewolf-reviews.com

HIGH LOVE – STILL CONNECTED

THE MASTER THE LOVER AND ME

When Andrew Bentley lost the love of his life, Winnie in 2013, he felt he had been torn in half.

They were the other half of each other, and truly and irrevocably and believed this had been the case over many, many lifetimes. But when hearts started appearing in strange and unexpected places he began to understand that Winnie was still very much a part of his life: that their love lived on even after death.

A lovely, delicate story about love, loss and live afterwards with the addition of a wonderful, caring presence in his life.

A simple letter written many years ago, long consigned to time and forgotten; a journey to visit family, a trip to the Rockies to take some time out; three simple everyday events that were to come together to create a massive change in the life of Denise McDermott-King, the results, of which she shares with others, is at the request of the ‘Universe’.

Her story is many things. Incredible, unbelievable, relative and above all beautiful as it shares with all the divine beauty that is there in the everyday, to be rediscovered, shared and lived in fullness.

Author: Andrew Bentley ISBN: 9781785354113 Publisher 6th Books Website: www.6th-books.com

Author: Denise McDermott-King ISBN: 9781780998121 Publisher: Axis Mundi Books Website: www.axismundy-books.com

Conscious Co-Creations Conscious Living Living Co-Creations Conscious Living Co-Creations Empowering Empowering Empowering HEART BUSINESSSUCCESS SUCCESS HEARTCONSCIOUS CONSCIOUS BUSINESS HEART CONSCIOUS BUSINESS SUCCESS Join our MEET Join our MEETUP UP Fridays 2pm-4pm Fridays Join our 2pm-4pm MEET UP Bodhi TreeBookstore Bookstore atat Bodhi Tree Fridays 2pm-4pm Mt Hawthorn Mt Hawthorn at Bodhi Tree Bookstore Mt Hawthorn

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Co-CreativeConsulting Consulting Co-Creative Conversation && Conversation Co-Creative Consulting Connections Connections Conversation & Connections

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CONSCIOUS ARTS

Reviewed by JAN MAWDESLEY

MUSIC REVIEWS

See more reviews at bluewolf-reviews.com

STARDUST

VOICES FROM HEAVEN VOL: 2

All encompassing, far reaching, rich and full barely begin to describe Kerani’s latest project of incredible majesty, beauty and strength. As always she has based her compositions about one of the many aspects of the earth, this time predominantly space and all the various aspects of discovery to be explored Her work goes from strength to strength as she uses the medium of music and her incredible talent, to reach out to all people reminding them of the wonders we have in our universe, that we as the current custodians of this planet need to be more gracious and caring.

Tron Syversen and Runar Halonen have come together once again to create Volume 2 of their wonderful, healing music, combining their amazing talents of wordless vocals and immense piano and keyboard mastery, to offer a unique and sublime therapy, available to everyone.

There are three pieces that make up the recording; each of considerable duration with each able to be listened to individually, or as a continuum, dependant on the time and place of use.

Simply jump right into the vibe, the wonderful floating drone of the music, as it shifts and changes bringing with it a fresh and relaxing ambience to sooth and heal your soul.

Kerani www.kerani.nl

Runar Halonen and Tron Syversen www.tronmusic.com

SEVENTH WAVE

SERENITY

Tripping daintily across the ether Shift is a delicate and light piece to introduce the latest album from the delightful Michelle Qureshi as she once again uses her imagination, as well as a varied collection of instruments to create a series of beautiful blends and harmonies created to sooth, heal and simply be enjoyed.

As with all of her albums, this being the seventh, she has created a wonderfully soothing blend tied together with love which will appeal to anyone seeking that special music for meditation, relaxation, yoga or background ambience.

Once again the Qureshi has created a wonderful, heartfelt offering of love and pleasure to be shared.

Created in Sedona, Arizona this remarkably beautiful album has the all elements of this geographically stunning state woven throughout, creating a tapestry of sound that is as delicate as it is robust. From the vibe that is Sedona to the majesty of the mountains and the still, timeless beauty of the plains, Kollwitz has deliberately or otherwise, used these elements in this latest album, an album which is once again, different to the music he has, over many years created.

Inspired by Marshall Vian Summers book ‘Steps To Knowledge – The Book of Inner Knowing’ this virtuoso of the Chapman Stick, has shown his undoubted skill, in this hour long collection of refreshingly intriguing pieces.

Michelle Qureshi www.heartdancerecordings.com

PART OF A KINDLY PLAN Nathan Speirs www.nathanspeir.com

KINGDOM OF MOUNTAINS Mystic Journey www.mysticaljourney.com

Four musicians from diverse musical backgrounds and disciplines somehow found their way to form a group, Mystic Journey which would see them creating some incredibly soul seeking music that would go to gain world acclaim within the ‘new age’ genre, for their beautiful evocative and hunting creations.

Their music is noted for reaching deep within to take the listener, the journeyman, to another time and place, a place where to relax, to become invigorated and refreshed is nothing more than a beautiful journey of the spirit and soul.

A hauntingly beautiful album from introduction to finale!

64 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE

Michael Kollwitz www.michaelkollwitz.com

ISSUE 100

When poet Thomas Hardy wrote ‘On A Fine Morning’ in the early 1900s’, never would he have envisaged his poetry as providing the inspiration for Nathan Spiers latest album some hundred years later.

The piece asks the time old question, ‘What is solace’? His conclusion is that solace is something made up of a little of this and that in the mix of life, which brings eventual contentment and happiness and is all a ‘part of the kindly plan…...’

As this collection of songs unfolds, Speirs has taken the metaphor of a little of this and that to create an album which touches on so very many aspects of what could loosely be referred to as ambient music, in all its many faceted shades and colours.

SPRING 2018

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66 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE

ISSUE 100

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