We have recently added many new classes.   Here is a brief description of them.  You can find out more by visiting our website.

Moon Lodge: Women’s Spiritual Biology
This class explores the transitions of birth, puberty, menstruation, childbirth, menopause and death.  It seeks to help participants understand the transformative power each transition brings to their experience as women, and also helps them delve deeper into understanding the personal power which can be released in each transition. (Feb 23 & 24)

Dreams
In this class, you will learn how to explore the meanings held in dreams from several different vantage points. You will work with your dreams using an innovative method of  energetic patterns held in dreams will be presented here, and you will learn how to use these energetic patterns as a blueprint for understanding normally hard-to-access information held deep within the self. (Begins Feb 20th)

Relationships: Dissolving Karmic Patterns
Most of us are engaged in patterns of relating whose deeper implications we only dimly understand. This class offers tools to help tease out patterns, motivations and intentions underlying the most significant relationships in our lives.  The class is designed to help ‘dissolve karma’ in that you will be able to understand how to step out of automated responses and make informed choices about the way you react in relationship dynamics. There are two levels to this class, and a discount if you sign up for both. (Begins March 5th)

Tracking Spirit in the Birth Environment
This class is being offered at the California Association of Midwives (CAM) Conference in Occidental, CA. It is specifically designed for Doulas and Midwives, but not limited to these professionals.  (May 16th)

Ethnobotany of Mesa Verde
(This destination studies course takes place in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.) Mesa Verde is best known for the cliff dwellings built by the Ancestral Puebloans between 800 AD and 1200 AD. The Ancestral Puebloans had a reverential relationship to the land and to the plants that grow there. In this class, we will seek to understand the relationship of plants to this complex and varied land.  We will focus on plant identification, the practical and medicinal use of plants, and plant cultivation methods in the Mesa Verde area.  We will also study the role of the Kacina (a Hopi word meaning “life giver”) and the sacred and mysterious relationship between the land, the plants, the animals and the humans of this unique and inspiring place. (June 4-8)

Mothering
Both the experience of mothering and the experience of being mothered are primary portals of initiation. Even the choice not to be a mother shapes us in specific ways. In this class we will explore the archetype of the mother from several different perspectives.  We will seek to gain greater understanding of this elemental relationship and how it shapes us as women.  (August 2 & 3)

Huna 1: Spirits of Hawaii & Huna 2: Manifestation
This is not the first time we have offered this workshop, but because it is only offered every other year, we thought it was worth mentioning.  Huna 1 workshop is a 6-day intensive study of Huna, the shamanic tradition of Hawaii. It is a highly experiential, transformative experience that offers unique perspectives on the nature of manifestation, relationships, and healing. In this workshop we will personally explore these perspectives through the study of the Huna concepts of aka, mana, the three selves, and the nature of forgiveness.  Huna 2 takes an in-depth look at the non-material forces underlying physical manifestation in a vision-quest type of environment.

By Isa Gucciardi, PhD

One of the biggest hurdles in manifesting what you want in your life is creating clear intentions.  When it comes to setting goals, many people have a conscious “yes” operating along with an unconscious “no”.  I often find this to be true of people who say they want to be in a relationship, but cannot seem to manifest one.  These people spend lots of time and money on self-help books, dating services, even therapy, but still find themselves alone.

One client of mine demonstrates this issue very clearly.  I will refer to her as “Debbie”.  Debbie came to me after having spent hundreds of dollars on dating clubs and personal ads in her search for a partner. She had been on plenty of dates, but they did not lead to the sustained relationship she was seeking.  I asked her if she was sure she wanted a relationship, and she answered with an emphatic, “Yes!” Then I asked her what her definition of love was, and she said that for her love was giving everything to the person that she loved.

When I asked her how she felt when she gave everything, she started to answer “Good” but stopped herself saying, “Actually, I feel kind of empty when I do that.” Then I asked her if it was possible that she did not want to find someone to love because she risked feeling empty if she were to truly love someone according to her definition of love. The answer was, “Yes.”

This is an example of a conscious “yes” operating along with an unconscious “no”.  The task here was to clarify what she truly wanted when she set the intention of finding someone to love.   We spent some time examining the source of her belief that loving someone meant that you had to empty yourself out by giving the person everything. Once she recognized the unconscious “no”, she was able to shift her definition of love and realign her priorities.  Within a few months she was seeing someone on a regular basis.

Whether you want to manifest a relationship, dream job, good health, or world peace, you must first begin by addressing any misunderstandings, or conflicting beliefs you may be holding toward what you want to manifest.  You can do this through a system of inquiry that helps you see and examine the ways you may be blocking manifesting what you want.  

You can begin your own system of inquiry by taking these three easy steps.  First, you must admit that what you’re doing isn’t working, and stop pushing for it to work.  Second, ask what it means to you to manifest your intention, and listen for the unconscious “no”.  In Debbie’s case, she believed that love was giving everything to the other person.  And third, once you identify the “no” your work is to try to understand where the “no” and the “yes” are not aligned.  Then you will be on your way to manifesting a life you’ll love.

As a stained glass artist since 1992, I understand the use of color and its connection to us on a deeper harmonic level.  As I create, my mind wanders off into conversations, situations and other realms.  Time passes quickly as I engage and become engrossed in the technical process as well as my “daydream” process.  After learning and experiencing Depth Hypnosis, I recognized I was in a state of trance, working through issues and developing new perspectives to situations.  The process of creating with glass has taught me how to “see” in a different way.  I feel the vibrancy of the colors and how its union with light resonates and harmonizes our being.  I learn about myself through participation in the creative process.  In the process of creating, issues present themselves and provide us an opportunity to observe our reactions and understand where we are in the flow of life’s energy.

My life has been on two parallel paths - stained glass and crisis intervention.  I have spent 12 years in the field of domestic violence and sexual assault.  I have worked with adults and children in shelters and on crisis lines; co-facilitated support groups; taught conflict resolution in elementary schools; and trained and supervised crisis line volunteers.  I love the empowerment model practiced by the domestic violence and sexual assault agencies where I have worked and volunteered.  The person in crisis has the answers within; it was my role as an advocate and counselor to assist him/her in accessing those answers through the exploration of options.  The component that I now know was missing, based on my work as a Depth Hypnosis Practitioner, is radical responsibility on the part of the client. 

As a Depth Hypnosis Practitioner, I continue to assist people in exploring issues and the answers that lie within--only now the process feels more complete.  I often see myself as an archaeologist of spirit. With a team of guides we remove layers, assisting the person in understanding the experience, its impact and the karmic pattern.  We are uncovering experiences and strengthening the person’s foundation with soul and power retrievals.  As the person continues with this process of “unearthing” and strengthening, s/he begins to integrate the experiences and moves towards wholeness.  I am in awe of our ability to heal and the sacredness of creating a container for transformation.  Each session is an opportunity to be innovative and to forge a connection with the energy of the universe.  This has dramatic and lasting implications as we strive to heal ourselves and the world.

 

Katharine Rossi
Phone: (401) 245-0398
Email: archeofspirit@hotmail.com

We would like to invite you to send in writing, art, & photos inspired by your practice for consideration in our Quarterly Newsletter. We especially need journeys for our "Journey On It" section. Submissions include, but are not limited to:

• Articles
• Journeys
• Poetry
• Photography
• Graphics
• Drawings

Please note that due to the number of entries, we may not be able to publish your submission. However, everything will be considered. Please email your submissions to info@sacredstream.org with the subject line "Newsletter Submissions." Thanks in advance for your contribution.

Our purpose in offering this column is to create a forum, like those created in our classes, where people engaged in a shamanic journey practice may deepen their work with the journey, and their understanding of the journey as a tool for healing. The journeys shared here are offerings meant to shed light on the reader's own process. We invite you to contribute a journey, or simply receive the journeys in the sacred manner in which they are intended. To submit a journey for consideration, please email us at info@sacredstream.org.

In this journey, I was seeking to understand how best to help my son who was diagnosed with autism.  The year was 2002, and it was my second journey in Isa’s “Introduction to the Shamanic Journey” workshop.   I went back to the Lower World entrance feeling very wiped out and wanting to sleep and couldn't go anywhere.  Maybe I felt like I was going down?  I never saw my power animal.  I kept thinking about the cartoon Pocahontas where she tries to meditate but the noises of the forest keep distracting her.  The movie has a hummingbird, a raccoon and a dog.  I kept trying to ask, “Where are you power animal?  What am I supposed to be learning?  How can I help my son?”  Then my back started hurting and I couldn't swallow and I realized my eyes kept opening.  At that point, I was totally disappointed and felt like the last journey wasn't real and never happened.  I would have rather been home sleeping instead of in this cold room with all of these strangers.

I finished the introductory class and did not journey again for several years, until I needed to journey in order to sign up for the next set of classes.   In the class, I was a bit apprehensive as I remembered only my frustration at my first attempts at journeying prior to this class, but was willing to try again.  So, I tried to go down and immediately realized that I have good intention but was not going anywhere.  I went neither up nor down.  I saw only flashes of white lights.  Then people from my life passed by:  my son, my mother, my husband, my childhood friends, my current friends and at one point a raccoon.  My head started pounding and throbbing till I thought my skull was going to push my eyes out.  Then I felt tears welling up, because I couldn't journey again.  Just like the first time, I saw unrelated people and animals, got no answer, and was convinced that I had made it all up in my head.  I wished I had never signed up to take the classes and was ready to give up journeying.  I had failed and had to accept it and move on.

For the rest of the day, I was troubled by this "failure" and became more and more frustrated.  I found myself thumbing through my journal and came upon the original entry.  I noticed that I had "seen" a raccoon in my journey both times!  Could this mean something?  I had no particular tie to raccoons, and on a whim I googled ADD, autism and raccoon.  Expecting nothing, I was shocked to see on my screen the name of a medical newsletter, all about learning disabilities, titled "Raccoon"!!!!!  In that moment, I gained a profound understanding of trust and faith.  My head started pounding again and my body was covered in goose bumps.  In some way, I knew that there was much more to learn and that things would become clearer for me.  I felt great, and knew I would keep journeying!!

By Laura Chandler

Robert Thurman is one of the world's leading scholars on Tibetan Buddhism. He brings great insight to Buddhist thought, effectively communicating esoteric Eastern practices and principles to a Western audience - not an easy thing to do. In "Liberation Upon Hearing in the Between", he brings humor to his perceptive commentary on the "Tibetan Book of the Dead". It's a hopeful promising look at living and dying.

In his discourse, he provocatively suggests that the Bardo state does not occur after dying, but is our current state of living. (The Bardo state is commonly referred to as the in-between state of dying and reincarnation in Buddhist teachings.) This is radical even for traditional Buddhist thought. He offers many of these jewels throughout this recording. In fact, there is so much valuable information in these teachings, you can listen over and over again, and still gain insights each time.

One of the things I love most about Thurman, and this work in particular, is his sense of humor. He doesn't take himself too seriously, and he doesn't let anyone else do so either. I have never understood why so many spiritual seekers and scholars tend to be so serious. It's as if a spiritual pursuit has to be solemn and difficult. I haven't found that in the same way with many Tibetan Buddhist teachers. Just look at the Dalai Lama, he's lost his country, his people have been severely persecuted, and he is still optimistic, smiling, and joking around. Thurman stands firmly as a master teacher in this tradition. He's going deep. He's having fun. And he's inviting everyone to join him.

What do you think of the idea of using prescription drugs to address psychological or emotional problems?

When thinking about the use of chemical substances to address imbalance, it is important to remember that there are other elements contributing to the mental, emotional, and physical health of an individual.  Typically, western thought on healing is limited to the presenting issues of a patient, and is lacking a more holistic view that recognizes other less obvious factors that may be involved.  There are many schools of medicine that recognize the importance of the spirit in treating physical imbalances.  In traditional Chinese Medicine, for example, acupuncturists seek to create a change in the movement of qi, or “life essence” to address emotional and physical illness.  Yet, recognition of the spirit in western allopathic medicine is conspicuously absent, and this absence has certain ramifications.  At the very least, some consideration of the person as a whole, rather than just the sum of their chemical construction, is imperative to making decisions with regard to prescription drugs used to address emotional or psychological problems.   

To begin to perceive the person from a holistic perspective, it is important to understand how imbalance flows across the different levels of self.  One way to describe this flow is that it moves between the spirit level, emotional level, mental level, and physical level of the individual.  If, for example, an issue that is occurring at the spirit level is not addressed on the spirit level, it may move to the emotional level of the individual. If it is not addressed on the emotional level, it may move to the mental level.  If it is not addressed on the mental level, it may move to the physical level, where most issues become evident, and where it becomes more difficult to ignore. 

The idea of spirit is somewhat esoteric, and certainly subject to interpretation (and understandably some knee-jerk negative reactions due to the co-opting of the word by various religious groups and the New Age movement).  Perhaps it would be more palatable if it were referred to as an aspect of the psyche, subconscious, or even the collective unconscious. Whatever language is employed to address this aspect of the self, it is this aspect that is the most poorly understood in the continuum of holistic health. This lack of understanding is due, in part, to a poor understanding of the way the spirit, or psyche, processes information. The spirit has its own logic, and the imbalances that arise on the spirit level are also very logical in the way they express throughout the rest of the body-mind complex.  

Read On

Free Events:

Crystal Bowl Meditation (San Francisco)
Feb 10, 2008 (Sun); 6-7pm
Free
For directions, please RSVP to info@sacredstream.org

Spring Equinox Drumming Circle (San Francisco)
March 16, 2008 (Sun); 6pm
Free
For directions, please RSVP to info@sacredstream.org

Upcoming Training Programs & Workshops:

Introduction to the Shamanic Journey (San Francisco)
February 2 & 3, 2008 (Sat & Sun) 10am – 4pm
$240
This course is a prerequisite to most of our training programs!

Dreams (San Francisco)
February 20, April 23, June 18 & August 6, 2008 (Weds); 7:30pm – 9:30pm
$200

Moon Lodge: Women’s Spiritual Biology (San Francisco)
February 23 & 24, 2008 (Sat & Sun); 10am - 4pm
$295; Early Registration: $275 by Feb. 2

Spring Meditation Retreat (San Francisco)
March 2, 2008 (Sun); 6am - 12pm
$40

Relationships (San Francisco)
Part I: March 5, March 19, April 2 & April 16, 2008; 7:30pm – 9:30pm
Part II: April 30, May 14, May 28 & June 11, 2007; 7:30pm - 9:30pm
$220/part; Early Registration: $200/part by Feb. 13
** Special Discount Available: $385 if paid & registered for both levels by Feb. 13

Integrated Energy Medicine, Level 1 & 2 (San Francisco)
March 28 – 30, 2008 (Fri, Sat, Sun)
$590; Early Registration: $550 by Mar. 7

Free Teleclasses:
Teleclasses are interactive distance learning courses similar to a conference call, and taught by Isa Gucciardi, PhD. Each participant can just listen and absorb, or engage in the discussion. You do not need a computer to participate in a teleclass. All you need is a telephone and you can call from anywhere!

The Shamanic Journey: A Healing Path
January 29, 2008 (Tues); 6:00pm PST, 9:00pm EST

Ask Isa, Q & A: Women's Spirituality
February 13, 2008 (Wed); 12:00pm PST, 3:00pm EST

What is Integrated Energy Medicine?
March 4, 2008 (Tues); 12:00pm PST, 3:00pm EST

To register, contact info@sacredstream.org or 415-333-1434.

Free Talks:

Free Talk: What is Integrated Energy Medicine at Elephant Pharmacy
February 9, 2008 (Sat); 3pm in Los Altos
4470 El Camino Real (near San Antonio Road), Los Altos, CA 94022

Free Talk: Birth Family Dynamics
March 1, 2008 (Sat); 3pm in Walnut Creek
1388 S. California (@ Newell), Walnut Creek, CA 94596

Free Talk: Healing Techniques in Shamanism at UC Berkeley
March 10, 2008 (Mon); 7pm - 9pm
Integrative Medicine Program, Evans Hall, Rm 10

Free Talk: Buddhist Psychology Studies
April 5, 2008 (Sat); 3pm in Los Altos
4470 El Camino Real (near San Antonio Road), Los Altos, CA 94022

Free Talk: Buddhist Psychology Studies
April 6, 2008 (Sun); 3pm in Walnut Creek
1388 S. California (@ Newell), Walnut Creek, CA 94596

Free Talk: Huna: The Shamanic Tradition of Hawaii
May 4, 2008 (Sun); 3pm in Los Altos
4470 El Camino Real (near San Antonio Road), Los Altos, CA 94022

New England Classes: (coming in July)

Free Talk: The Shamanic Journey at ATM
July 17, 2008 (Thurs); 7:30pm – 8:30pm

Introduction to the Shamanic Journey
July 18 - 19, 2008
Cost/Times: TBA

Integrated Energy Medicine (Intensive)
July dates: TBA
Cost: TBA

Depth Hypnosis Supervisory
July dates: TBA
Cost: TBA

For more information on upcoming classes, please visit our calendar page.

Please visit our websites for more information:

www.sacredstream.org
www.depthhypnosis.com
www.hunaspirit.com

Community News & Events

On-Going Practice Group in Rhode Island

An opportunity to share experiences, get support and feedback as well as practice what we have learned in the Foundation training courses. Next meeting is on February 12, 2008. If you are interested, contact Katharine Rossi at redmoonelf@hotmail.com.

A Women's Eye

A Women's Eye (AWE) Gallery features the photography of five local artists. The gallery is located at 678 Portola Drive. Free Parking is available. Open Saturday & Sundays from 12:00pm to 5:00pm. Check their website for special exhibits.
www.AWEgallery.com