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August/September 2008 Volume 52

Welcome to this bi-monthly edition of our newsletter! You will find these columns contained in our August/September issue:

Metaphors for Life
GrowthWorks
Special Events
Review

I hope you enjoy this issue of Kenosis In-spirations...

Carla Woody, Founder
Kenosis

Metaphors for Life
Many traditions understand the power of teaching through stories. Our minds find a special repository for them. We unconsciously draw from this metaphorical resource bank when we need it most -- to guide and nourish us. Here you will find such tales, quotes and prose. As they have come to me, I pass them on to you just as our ancestors have done since the world was young.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those
who could not hear the music.

— Friedrich Nietzsche

GrowthWorks
Life is nothing if not levels of learning, whether we freely enter the Perpetual School or are drug kicking and screaming into our lessons. We actually have no choice in the matter. In this column, I offer you philosophy, musings and information that you may take with you as they fit into your own lyceum.

Purification

by Carla Woody

Hopi Elder Harold JosephDuring this summer's program in Peru, Hopi elder Harold Joseph (as seen on the right) accompanied us and represented his people. There's a saying that goes something like this: "The gods laugh when you tell them your plans." Originally, others from Hopi were joining him, but things got in the way on their end. Now I know why.

Very few who have been Hopitized are initiated into a secret society that gives them the ability to do cleansings, purification of the pathways back into the past, following the footsteps of ancestors to their origins. Harold Joseph is one of these few.

If someone has been Hopitized, the ritual initiation that, in times past, took place at puberty, and that person goes back to the places from which their people migrated, they are subject to the suffering that drove their ancestors from those lands. The despair is still vibrating in the ether and enters their soul. Walking in these locations is taboo. But through special offerings by those who are chosen to perform them, the heaviness can be lifted. Consider that central to our intent with this trip was creating a space where the Hopi could connect with their native cousins in Peru to share traditions and reweave those foundational filaments that hold the world. This kind of clearing is paramount.

In a number of those places we traveled through in the Cusco and Puno regions this summer, Harold recognized symbols — in a Pachamama cave, in the way the stones were placed in an Inca structure, something carved and almost hidden, in the eagles flying alongside us — that created validation for him. Indeed, his people had been there. Signs no anthropologist had ever recognized. And he performed the rituals he was meant to accomplish so that others could come after him in these areas and be safe. Quietly, he would move away from the group or stay behind while others went on, just for a few minutes and then rejoin us.

Several times he spoke to the villagers of Mollamarka who were assembled at Salk'awasi, Don Américo Yábar's ancestral home, or to the Q'ero who were traveling with us. In a strong resounding voice that carried he'd say such things as, "You are my brothers and sisters! I'm so proud that you are caring for the earth, that you are tending your crops, when some of my people have fallen away from our ways. When I am at home and pray for rain for my corn, I pray for your corn..." For me, the tone of his voice carried vibrations that reached out, mesmerized, and encapsulated us all in a very real sense of the sacred.

Some distance outside the city of Puno, there is a legendary site known as the entrance to Lemuria, lost sister civilization to Atlantis. Hiking in, I always have the feeling I've entered some kind of primordial world where dinosaurs might rumble out from the cracks in the spiky rock formations that rise way up into the sky. Either that or those flying monkeys from the "Wizard of Oz" will swoop in from the hinterlands. All around there are large shapes that resemble various animals caught in stone.

If you climb up high enough, Lake Titicaca is visible over the rise, and beyond that, the shadowy, high mountains of Bolivia covered in deep snow. I settled in on a narrow outcropping to make my connections, sat cross-legged and gazed out across all those miles for a while — and then closed my eyes to feel what was resident. Presently, I heard small rocks falling a short distance away and peeped in that direction. Harold was making his way up a ledge. I went back to my meditating. Soon I began to hear his voice booming out in the thin air, praying in Hopi. Even though my mind couldn't grasp what he was saying, my heart understood perfectly. There was something in his delivery inviting me to join him. And when I silently merged with his words, I felt waves of emotion surging through my core and tears ran down my cheeks. There was an incredible sweetness in that moment.

Through all the times I have come, I never want to leave that place. Particularly because as dusk falls and we make our way out, the hundreds of large white birds, probably there since time immemorial, return, in twos or more, to their roost on top of the highest formations and call to the approaching twilight. And I'm convinced that if I could stay there long enough into the night the animals caught in stone would be freed, much as the toy stuffed animals in my childhood bedroom would come alive after I was asleep.

Q'ero and Taquileno weavers consultingWe look for the burning bush. But truly, it's these subtle, precious, quiet moments that open us. When individuals from different cultures share a meal and discover camaraderie, even though they don't understand each other's spoken language. And two Q'ero and Taquileño women (as seen on the right), with common Inca ancestors, put their heads together and compare notes over a weaving. Or a brown hand is extended to a white hand to offer help up the steep trail. Then the recognition comes, "You are my brothers and sisters!" How can we be separate?

© 2008 Carla Woody. All rights reserved.
Photographs © 2008 Oakley Gordon. Used with permission.

Carla Woody is the author of the book Standing Stark: The Willingness to Engage and Calling Our Spirits Home: Gateways to Full Consciousness and founder of Kenosis, an organization supporting human potential and global consciousness. Carla has long been leading people toward mind/body/spirit wholeness using integrative healing methods blended with world spiritual traditions. She may be reached by e-mail at info@kenosis.net or by telephone (928) 778-1058.



Special Events
For more information call Kenosis at (928) 778-1058 or e-mail info@kenosis.net to request a flyer. If you are interested in sponsoring a book signing and/or workshop with Carla Woody, please contact us.

August 10   One World Wisdom, Sunday talk by Carla Woody, 10 AM at the Church of Spiritual Living. Presents a message of hope and renewal from indigenous elders that each person can undertake to help awaken global consciousness. For more information on the Church of Spiritual Living, visit their website. Held 3755 Willow Creek Road in Prescott, AZ.



September 5-8   World Health Conference sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Studies of Health (IASH) will include The Spirit Keeper's Journey: Linking Identity and Indigenous Wisdom, a pre-conference institute with Carla Woody. Advance notice. Other institutes and conference workshops. Check back for more information or visit IASH. Held in San Francisco, CA.



October 11-20   La Source of Provence with Carla Woody and Jill Mitchell. Spiritual travel to France, a unique program blending the sacred historic sites of Mary Magdalen, the energy of the land, with a hearty taste of old Provençal culture — and the influential art that was born of it. Group size limited. Early registration by June 20: $2995. After June 20: $3095. For more information or to register, contact Kenosis at 928-778-1058 or info@kenosis.net.

Note: Private groups may be arranged. If you have a group of 8-12, contact us for more information.

Another adventure of the spirit!



Nov 30-Dec 10   Navigating Your Lifepath. A Lifepath intensive and Spiritual Travel Program in beautiful Bali, Indonesia with Carla Woody and Marcia Jaffe. Sponsored by the Bali Institute for Global Renewal. This unique program integrates the Lifepath work with visits to sacred sites and sessions with Balinese healers. Early registration by June 30: $2850. After June 30: $2990. To register or for more information, contact the Bali Institute at 415-331-7552 (USA phone number) or email. Also call Kenosis at 928-778-1058 or info@kenosis.net.



January 7-18 2009   Entering the Maya Mysteries with Carla Woody, Alonso Mendez and Carol Karasik. Spiritual travel to Mexico and Guatemala visiting hidden sacred places and engaging in nearly extinct ancient ceremonies with Don Antonio Martinez, the last Spirit Keeper of the Lacandón Maya. Group size limited. A Spirit Keepers Journey co-sponsored by Kenosis and Kenosis Spirit Keepers. Limited number partial young adult sponsorships available. Early registration until October 5: $2695. After October 5: $2795. Registration costs include automatic donation (tax-deductible for U.S. taxpayers) of $700 toward Kenosis Spirit Keepers programs. For more information, contact Kenosis at 928-778-1058 or info@kenosis.net.

Note: Private groups may be arranged. If you have a group of 8-15, contact us for more information.

This is an adventure of the spirit!



Ongoing   Private Consultation is available with Carla Woody in-person in Prescott, AZ or via telephone. Addressing life direction, relationship, spiritual emergence and whole health. Integrating NLP, subtle energy work and sacred world traditions to make a lasting positive difference.

Contact Kenosis at 928-778-1058 or info@kenosis.net.





Review
More often than not, the publications or music you will find reviewed here will not be new or 'bestsellers.' Websites or organizations may not be well known. But all are spotlighted by virtue of their impact and value.

The Worldwide Web of Belief and Ritual
Filmed presentation by Wade Davis on TED

This clip is an excellent adjunct to From the Heart of the World: The Elder Brother's Warning, the documentary film by Alan Ereira that I reviewed in the February/March newsletter. Wade Davis is currently National Geographic's explorer in residence and has been around for a long time. He wrote The Serpent and The Rainbow about the voodoo religion in Haiti, One River about his journey down the Amazon following the footsteps of Dr. Richard Evans Shultes, and other books of a similar vein.

For those who have been to Peru, his talk will be especially interesting. Davis lived in Chincero for a number of years and discusses a sacred run, the Q'ollariti festival, the sacred geometry of Machu Picchu and alignments of surrounding mountains.

More than anything he covers a lot of ground regarding world traditions — Buddhism, Quechua, Elder Brother, Inuit — speaking in compelling language about our commonality.

"... All people are just cultural options..."

"... They are not failed attempts of us..."

"... These are not lost people..."

"What does it mean to be human and alive?"

It's well worth 19 minutes of your time to watch. See it here.

- Carla Woody

© 2008 Kenosis LLC. All rights reserved.
Kenosis LLC - PO Box 10441 - Prescott, AZ 86304 - 928.778.1058 - www.kenosis.net
info@kenosis.net
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