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Greetings!
 This
newsletter contains a column written for Thanksgiving, but hopefully
your gratitude is still holding its own. The link between gratitude
and giving is what I’m trying to concentrate on this season.
I
hope your holidays are full of joy, love and sharing with your loved
ones.
And,
let’s not forget our common thoughts and prayers for the world, which
needs our light every day. We are in that beautiful and fragile time
when we are entering the time of the most darkness, and on the 21st we
will begin to emerge into more and more light. May the world notice
this turning and reflect it in the way we deal with each other,
personally, professionally and internationally.
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Shamanic Coaching Circles
Once
a month, you can attend a shamanic coaching circle on a week night at
my home. In a small group in sacred space, we discuss and meditate on
a different subject each time, passing the talking stick. Then we
share a fire ceremony where we offer our intentions to the
universe—usually under a full moon.
If
you are on my local list, you’ll get an e-mail with all the dates and
details. If you aren’t on this list, or if you’re not sure,
e-mail me and I’ll make sure you get all
the information.
»
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Gratitudes and giveaways
'Tis
the season, no matter who you are. The aging year is winding
down and before we move into a new one, we celebrate each in
our own way Thanksgiving and some modern version of the old
ceremonies honoring winter solstice.
As
old as I'm getting, it's still hard to find a balance between
keeping the holidays very simple and surrendering to anxiety
about choosing the right gifts, entertaining, cooking,
decorating and getting it all done without exhausting myself.
So I'm talking to myself as well as you as I muse about
gratitudes and giveaways.
My
self-assignment for Thanksgiving time is to remember the words
of a priest and former mentor, Doug Vest. My old friend shared
that for him, gratitude is "the mainspring." He is so right.
When I am out of gratitude, everything is off, and when I
regain gratitude, I am so grateful...for gratitude. Native
Americans would say that when you can't truly give thanks to
the Great Spirit as the sun sets each day, something is out of
balance inside.
I
built into our Thanksgiving fun some simple rituals I might
call gratitudes. We created a table centerpiece made of
objects from nature that everyone adds to the container. Each
person shared why they brought their particular object and
what it reminded them about gratitude.
When
my grandchildren arrived, we also did a ceremony before we got
into big Thanksgiving eating, to give thanks to the earth. We
put our prayers and some symbolic objects into a "despacho" or
Peruvian ceremonial offering wrapped in tissue paper. Then we
had a fire ceremony and offered our package to the universe.
During
this season I'm personally going to try remembering to give
thanks each time I'm aware the sun is rising and each time I'm
aware that it's setting, and I'll try to listen to see what it
has to remind me about gratitude. It's easy to write this at
this moment, here in Puerto Penasco, when the rising and
setting of the sun are major events in the midst of a lazy,
slow week. I will hold the colors of those two events in my
mind as I re-enter the more complex and exciting week ahead.
As
for giveaways, they are an old Native American tradition of
bringing something you treasure to a gathering where you give
it away. It's a reminder that nothing material is ours really,
and that we have all we need. My December circle will include
a giveaway, and as I pack up my packages to send to family,
each will include a real giveaway item.
Along
with giving in some way to those in real need, we can teach
children how to offer their own form of prayers that those who
will receive the material goods will experience joy and peace.
It's a small piece of re-balancing all the other messages they
will be getting about the holidays.
Finally,
my own challenging discipline since hearing the Dalai Lama
speak about "inner disarmament," is to create peace inside
myself. That means refusing to do war, even in our thoughts.
We must disarm inside, the Dalai Lama says, as a step toward
the peace we want in the outer world. It is so hard to do this
sometimes that I think I'll invent a ritual to celebrate every
tine I'm able to remember.
So along with the fun of the holidays, I wish for us all to be
able to use this time of year to:
-
rewind our mainspring of gratitude
-
find ways to create simple rituals
-
give away something we think is precious to someone else
-
find a child to include in these rituals
-
to practice inner disarmament
As
we enter the time close to the solstice when we experience the most
hours of darkness, we are also in preparation for a new year and the
gathering of more and more light. May our rituals and rememberings
bring us closer to the peace we all seek.
Happy Holidays!
Pam
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Future Events
Including Teaching Outside Arizona
I
have finished drafting a new workbook that will help you work with the
Sand Spirit cards and will help therapists, facilitators, teachers,
business people, artists and...you name the category of person who
might benefit. Submit your stories, testimonials, comments or
questions so that I can include them as my draft makes its way into a
real workbook. If you don't have a set of Sand Spirits yet,
click here to learn
more about the Sand Spirit cards or
to
buy one
now
for yourself or a friend.
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Announcing a New Service!
On Solid Ground
Feng
Shui specialist Ellen Schneider and I are collaborating to partner
with you to facilitate a healthy, productive relationship with your
space and land for the benefit of those who live, work and visit
there. For more information, click here.
»
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Women’s New Year’s retreat
for mind, body and spirit
Begin the year by
giving yourself time and space for creating your intentions!
Saturday, January
21st from 9:30 am-4:30 pm
If you are on my
list for local workshops, you’ll get the flyer in an e-mail.
If you aren’t on that list or don’t know,
contact me and I’ll make sure
you get the details.
»
Download Flyer
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