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December 2010/January 2011 Volume 66Welcome to this bi-monthly edition of our newsletter! You will find these columns contained in our December/January issue:
Metaphors for Life
Carla Woody, Founder Metaphors for Life
GrowthWorks
Traversing a Thousand Lifetimes
Having recently returned from a lengthy time in Peru with our spiritual travel groups, this is a time of great reflection for me. Aside from remembering the many events, becoming aware of the threads that connected one group to the other... to the other... and then what we bring home is something to be savored in its dawning recognition. Then well aged over time to its enduring perfection. Knowing from experience that much more will float up to register, I’ll offer you these awarenesses now. The intensity level of our work is increasing — perhaps through an untold urgency — and the planes of interplay are becoming much more pronounced.
Andean Clouds
Bear with me as I give more meat to these rather cryptic statements. In the beginning I always create a framework with the groups to let them know that our work together will create a transmission of energy. So that no matter what we may be engaged in — hiking or eating together, meditating, being in circle, or even riding in the bus — a number of things are happening at different levels, even though the “deeper” occurrences may be invisible to their eyes. I encourage them to give permission for everything to unfold. (Sometimes easier said than done in the moment of experience!) And, I believe, because we have prepared ahead of time to show up with our intent, all that would fulfill it is also invited. In these times, we are engaged in non-ordinary group work. We’ve upped the ante. And as so, are being held in a vessel, colluding with resident energies of the elementals, all that is there. By being present, we offer up a collective prayer for infusion, for breakthrough. And we get it. Over the last couple of years, I’ve noticed the vibrational groundswell that pushes to the surface whatever is needed for evolution — with more profound intensity, something building. Yes, I know this sounds a bit dramatic. But it is indeed what I’ve witnessed, as well as personally encountered, and thoroughly augmented by those who self-select for these journeys. Even if they don’t quite consciously know what they’re in for, something has drawn them to participate at this level. There is a phrase that Don Américo is fond of using and said more this summer than usual. To traverse a thousand lifetimes in a few seconds… To me, this is what we’re called upon to do — fast forward the rebirthing process. But how? What is the secret? If a large part of “reincarnation” is about lessons, then perfection exists in the recognition, acceptance and retention of the learning. This must be the tsunami that moves us through successions of lifetimes in an instant. Otherwise, we’re hovering before the threshold shuffling our feet, kicking up dust. There was a metaphor I was drawn to mention in our third group because, by that time, so much had transpired over the preceding weeks of travel it especially seemed to fit. But it’s also universal. It was about the paradox I experienced years ago in India where there was such human suffering just outside the holiest of temples. The metaphoric vessel in which we were stirred and melded in Peru gave us frequent cues as to the nature of our pathway. On one level the signs didn’t seem like signals at all, merely ordinary incidents. But they weren’t.
Valley of Intent, Arequipa
Before a ceremony at Huaypo Lake outside Cusco, an eagle and a condor appeared and flew together — a quite unusual occurrence. An unprecedented event in the history of work with Don Américo, some of the Q’eros traveled with us to Puno and did despachos* in sacred sites, an initiatory pilgrimage for them in which we were able to participate. Pachamama responded, vibrated. Guardians emerged from the mountainous rock formations at dusk, the hour of power, and made themselves known, other presences as well. Many other gifts were presented, some of which we may not have been aware. How do we train our eyes to fully see, our bodies to palpably feel, our minds to courageously risk and our hearts to soulfully open — in the moment — toward the extraordinary opportunities with which we are offered? This, my fellow voyagers, is the quest of the path I walk as it may well be yours. Otherwise, when we’re in the midst of hallowed space — which we always are — the interjections of a confused mind, old wounds we may carry, immediately transport us outside the temple. And we feel separate, suffer. Or perhaps we’re not even aware of the beauty and sacredness playing out around us. During our times together, Don Américo is known to periodically call out, “Yanachacuy!” People immediately pair off, turn back to back, clasp hands and begin the process of giving and receiving energy through the spinal column, the intent being to share your very best with the other person. Thus, we elevate each other and accomplish what we sometimes don’t as easily alone. This is a beautiful process to do and the same function came out in many ways. Through words, a touch, an action, people conveyed the energy of what the other didn’t have in that moment, to be received, in order to find it, or rediscover it, within themselves. The strength of love to diminish pain. Courage to voice and act. The joy and innocence of childhood. Thus suffering is converted and we can be within the temple concurrently. This is the ayni, the sacred sense of reciprocity, that the people of the Andes speak about. The allowing and practice of it is another ticket through the collective threshold. The sense of urgency must be the cue that we’re ready. ********
*A despacho is a sacred ritual offering to the Pachamama (Mother Earth), Apus (spirits of the mountains) and others. In our ceremonies with the Q’eros, the offering bundle may be passed through our individual energy fields and touch our bodies. We open ourselves to the prayers that are being spoken before the despacho is given to purification in a fire close by.
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To join us for our May-June 2011 Spiritual Travel Program to Peru go to Heart of the Andes.
© 2010 Carla Woody. All rights reserved.
Special Events
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! REGISTRATION CLOSED. WATCH FOR 2012. Contact Kenosis at 928-778-1058 or info@kenosis.net.
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books In May 1978, I arrived in Tehran and left six months later. It was one of the high points of my life. There I experienced a rich culture and met some of the most gracious souls I’ve ever known. I grew significantly as a result of living there, albeit a very short time, and left with much sadness, having always wondered what happened to the Iranian people who became my friends.
By coming across Reading Lolita in Tehran, I was reassured that a spirit I witnessed there has certainly survived in many of its citizens. Azar Nafisi was a professor of literature who had a distinguished career at universities in Iran. She finally left her post because of oppression. In 1995, she secretly invited certain of her female students to come to a class that would be held in her home. The purpose was to study literature — some of it banned — and its relation to their own reality. In Professor Nafisi’s living room the young women had the freedom to remove their chadors and express their opinions. This is a story of growth in a circle of women in an environment where it’s dangerous to be visible and outspoken.
The book also documents the turbulence that religion and politics has had on real people since the revolution. While there are many poignant passages, the following one particularly touched me as I’ve been quite aware of the difficult transition my long-ago friends had to make as the fundamentalist regime slid firmly into place.
How can I create this other world outside the room?... Imagine one of the girls... leaving my house... puts on her black robe and scarf over her orange shirt and jeans, coiling her scarf to hide her huge gold earrings... directs wayward strands of hair under her scarf... She pauses a moment to put on thin lacy black gloves to hide her nail polish... You might notice her gait and her gestures have changed... bends her head toward the ground and doesn’t look at passersby... The streets of Tehran... patrolled by militia... to make sure that women wear their veils properly, do not wear make-up, do not walk in public with men who are not their fathers, brothers or husbands.
If she gets on a bus... she must enter through the rear door and sit in the back seats... How much of this experience affects her? Most probably, she tries to distance her mind as much as possible from her surroundings... Is she angry that women of her mother’s generation could walk the streets freely, enjoy the company of the opposite sex, join the police force, become pilots... Does she feel humiliated by the new laws, by the fact that after the revolution, the age of marriage was lowered from eighteen to nine, that stoning became once more the punishment for adultery and prostitution?
Azar Nafisi is certainly to be applauded for her courage to hold the classes she did and the message she sends — as are the women who risked their physical safety to join her. Dr. Nafisi now lives in the United States.
— Carla Woody | ||||||||||||
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